The Visitor (29 page)

The cell phone, which was solely for the call from the baron, which Andrew had been carrying with him day and night, was sitting in its charging stand on the table. Andrew got up and grabbed the phone.

“Hello?”

“Master Saunders? Baron here.”

“Yes! Good evening!” Then Andrew remembered the time difference. “Is it evening?”

“Actually it’s morning here in Taipei. How have you been?”

“I married Shanta today!”

“My congratulations. She is one of the most charming women alive, to be certain. You are such a lucky man.”

Andrew knew why the man was calling. “Is it time?”

“Yes,” Baron said. “Everything is ready. Transfer the money to the same account, and I’ll verify that it came. Keep this phone until you hear from me further to confirm the payment. Then dispose of in a way that no one can possibly find it.”

“Will tomorrow be soon enough for the wire transfer?” Andrew wasn’t sure if he could do it at night, and he wanted to get back to his bride who was now stirring.

“That’ll be fine,” Baron said. “My best wishes to your new bride, Mrs. Shanta Saunders.”

“Thank you, Baron.”

When the called ended, Baron turned to Tak. “Andrew Sanders and Shanta Laxshimi just got married.”

“Love is in the air,” Tak said.

***

“What are we going to do with that ridiculous American diplomat Christine Rhyes-Walters from the State Department, who thinks fungi is going to end the drug traffic?” Doctor Dorogomilov asked.

“We have to see her,” Dr. Volkova said. “And we must not let on that anything unusual had been going on here. There will be Kazakh officials as well.”

“Should we tell her now that I have already created it?” Dr. Dorogomilov said.

“I don’t think so,” Dr. Volkova said. “They will tell the press, and there might be journalists and others wanting to come here and interview you. She will want you to go lecture others in the United States and elsewhere on how to make it. And if you don’t go, it will arouse suspicion. It is best to say you are making great progress. Perhaps after you get your money, you could forward your work on it to some scientist in the West to verify that it works. Let him make the announcement and donate the formula to the world. We don’t want anyone coming around here.”

CHAPTER 20

Nikolay began his talk for the twenty people in his now-crowded St. Petersburg office. Extra chairs were found so sixteen of them could sit, whereas the monster-sized Yageltchuk, Opanasenko, Timoshenko, and Zuhk stood behind Nikolay’s desk, as they would be the leaders of splinter groups who would spread out in the Tibetan cities. The sixteen additional people consisted of eight men and eight women, all carefully selected.

“Tibet consists of six million Tibetans and seven and a half million Chinese. Nearly all of those seven and a half million Chinese have moved there after the 1949 Chinese invasion, and ninety per cent have moved there since 1990. That includes thousands of soldiers that China brought in to maintain control. The military bases there, however, are non-hardened, that is, they are not built up with concrete, as they would have been had the Chinese government expected to defend a war. Rather the bases were built just to house troops should there be any problems with demonstrations or control of the Tibetans. Practically all of the people who have moved into Tibet of late are Han Chinese, which is what we call the Chinese race. They were and are still encouraged to go there by China to dilute the Tibetan population and culture. Racially, in Tibet, nearly all are either Tibetans or Han Chinese. There are extremely small minorities of a few other races who do not matter.

“We will be spreading Ebola virus around. The Chinese who have moved into Tibet have all moved into the few major cities and work in commerce, mostly in stores selling to tourists, owing hotels, owning or working in restaurants, and things of that nature. In the downtown areas, the Mandarin language is spoken, as nearly all the government officials are Chinese, appointed, of course, by China, with Beijing actually ruling the country. In the rural areas, Tibetan is the spoken language. The vast majority of Tibet is not populated, consisting of huge mountain ranges on the south and, on the north, the arid plateau six thousand meters above sea level. Travel in the winter is next to impossible, but as we go in the summer, one might see Tibetan herdsmen drive pack animals, yak, or sheep far distances. The newcomer Chinese have not had any interest in joining the hard life of the nomadic Tibetans or the rural farmers who farm barley or raise yaks or sheep.

“So infecting Chinese is made easy by the Chinese themselves, as they are concentrated and also live and mix with other Chinese exclusively. This is a perfect country for this task. Even though the country is large in size, only a tiny portion has any concentration of people, and those are the areas where the Chinese have moved to and where the military’s soldiers are based. We can infect nearly all of the areas where the Chinese are in just two weeks and rely on them to spread it to others.”

Nikolay held up a bottle, a perfect replica of Essentuki, a well-known Russian mineral water, named after a town that had a spa. “These are special liquid-nitrogen-cooled canisters. The outer layer is insulated with a high-tech material, and there is an inner wall forming a chamber filled with liquid nitrogen. The contents are very cold Ebola in a fluid medium.

“I’ll give each of you three of these canisters to put in your check-in baggage. I’m supplying a piece of bubble wrap to wrap each one, which will not be suspicious as the bottle is supposed to be glass. These containers are metal made to look like glass. You will be given two bags, one carry on and one small check-in size. Make sure you leave enough space in your check-in bag for three of these and for a smaller, flexible bottle. The nitrogen keeps the contents at close to two hundred degrees below zero Celsius. The Ebola inside is a clear fluid, one that will not freeze up like water, and is preserved by the frozen temperature. It will live for some time at room temperature once it is out, possibly as much as several days, but we want to preserve it as much as possible. We will only take out each day as much as we need for that day.

“Regarding customs, should anyone at customs in Tibet, for any reason, ask why you have the water, you tell him that you were informed by the tour organizer that the water in Tibet is not safe to drink, and the tour host provided the mineral water for your own health and safety. The Chinese customs officers in Tibet will never have seen Essentuki and will have no reason to suspect you.

“I’m also providing you with one of these traveling water bottles.” He held up a half liter water bottle. It had an insulating, thin, foam- rubber sheath around it with a sports logo on it. Each had a shoulder strap that allowed the bottle to be slung under the shoulder.

“The top unscrews and, in the hotels in Tibet each day before you leave, the bottle will be filled with the estimated amount that you will need for that day. The top has a squirting type of lid.” He held one up, demonstrating. “These are made to allow you to squirt water into your mouth like a cyclist. By squeezing it, it can shoot the liquid six to eight feet.”

He squirted water from it to demonstrate. “But don’t waste it, as you only need just a drop, not a cupful for each person you infect. I’m putting in your bag a small funnel, so you won’t spill this exotic stuff in the hotel rooms. Put several teaspoons into the sport bottle and fill the rest with water. Then you can refill when it is empty.

“Naturally you don’t want to be seen standing back and squirting the bottle on things. You will have to be as subtle as you can. For example, at an open air market, you can start handling foodstuffs with some of the virus on your hands. While cooking the vegetables may kill the Ebola, the vegetables will be first handled by someone and, if that person is Chinese, they will most likely catch it. Therefore, it should not be necessary, although it is better, to put it on things that will not be heated such as fruits and nuts. When paying, give a note with some of the virus on it. In public buildings, you can squirt a little on your own hand and then just rub the doorknob, door push plate, or any railing that looks like it is used often.

“Now, I’m giving each of you a cheap digital camera so as to look like tourists, and you can use them as an excuse to get in close and pretend to take photos. Also you will have six cartons of luxury western cigarettes. Two cartons are the most you are supposed to bring in, but I have checked and there are no reports of anyone being hassled over excess cigarettes or liquor. We are especially keen on targeting soldiers, as they will be in contact with more soldiers as they return to their base at night and this will render the military helpless very soon.

“We also want to hit the police. An excellent way to infect someone is to offer him a cigarette. Either squirt the filters or put a drop of the fluid on your finger and pull out a cigarette with that finger. Then pass it to the Chinaman. If he takes it and puts it in his mouth, he will be infected. If the person doesn’t smoke, offer him money for him to stand beside you while another one of you takes a picture of you together. Smear Ebola on the note or coin you offer him. The money will pass the virus to his fingers and should end up infecting him.

“Now, you are all selected because of your ability to blend in and not be suspected, which does not include knowledge on how to travel lightly. So I’m going to tell you how. I’m passing out these bags.” He reached down and picked up two lightweight bags. One was the correct size for carry-on bags for planes, and it had the name of a tour agency written on it.

“These are all you will take. It’s the hot season there, and you will not need warm clothes. I’ve purchased a bunch of wash-and-wear clothes from which you can choose what you want. You should only take the slacks you wear and one extra pair. You should only take the shirt you wear and two extra. Three undergarments in total. One sweater or sweatshirt. Only the one pair of shoes that you will wear. Make sure they are your favorite sort of walking shoes and, preferably, ones that are broken in so you won’t get blisters. Some of you may want hiking shoes with thick, soft soles, some tennis shoes. That’s up to you.

“The clothes that I’ll be passing out are all drip-dry and can be washed in the hotel room at night and hung up. They will dry before morning. As I said, take a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt, but wear the one you take. You don’t have to take the clothes that I’m passing out, but if you take your own, I want everything to fit in the check-in bag because, once we land, you will transfer the bottles from the check-in bag to the carry-on. You also need to leave room for six cartons of cigarettes, three liter and a half bottles, and the squirt bottle.

“This is not a fashion trip. I don’t give a shit what you look like. You are not going over there to find a fucking spouse. The Tibetans do things like eat Cordycepts fungus for their health, a fungus that kills the brains of insects and most likely theirs as well. So forget about falling in love. Anyway, if you veer off your duty, you will have to answer to me, and you will not like that. You won’t fall in love with me.

“If you can’t get everything in the carry-on, then re-organize and cut back until you can. You must be mobile to do this job, and not laden down with heavy or extra bags.”

There were several groans in the room at not being allowed to take all their favorite things.

One of the younger men asked a question that he had already been told the answer to. “Are you absolutely sure that this will not infect us?”

He apparently needed reassurance, and Nikolay had expected the question. “The best answer to that is that I’m going with you and will be right there the whole time. I’ve personally witnessed the effects of the Ebola on the Chinese, as opposed to others, and am convinced enough to join you and be part of the operation. It will not affect any of you. And this is not something that you might get a bit of, like a cold. This will either do you in or not affect you at all. And it won’t. So shut up and stop asking the same question.”

He scanned the group to see if there were any more questions. “Very well, then. You will be picked up between seven and eight tomorrow. We’re flying to Lhasa, Tibet. I don’t want anyone to forget his or her passport. I’ll have your tickets and visas tomorrow, and some spending money for the trip.

“Now, I remind you that you were selected because you were considered reliable, and I want to emphasize that, no matter what, no one is to hint or tell anyone that they will be coming into money right away or do or say anything that will arouse suspicion and lead to questions. You are not to spend any great deal of your money immediately upon return so as to make your friends connect the trip to your new money. If we hear of any breach of confidence, no matter how slight, you will be visited by one or more of us here and you will be killed at once.”

***

The meaning of the word Lhasa was “goat dirt,” Nikolay read in a paperback book on Tibet as he practiced what he was to do on his way in from Russia. The name, it said, for the city that was three-thousand-six-hundred feet above sea level, meant that the city was built on dirt carried by goats. The highest mountains in the world were in Tibet, and the average elevation of the entire country was four-thousand-nine-hundred meters, or sixteen-thousand feet, the highest country on the planet.

The tour group got off the plane at the Gonga Airport in Lhasa, Tibet, and entered the terminal. The group all had the same travel carry-on bag, with the name and logo of a travel agency on it, and all were wearing the wash-and-wear clothes that had been provided. They all looked mostly the same, except for the four giants, Yageltchuk, Opanasenko, Timoshenko, and Zuhk, for whom Nikolay had purchased special clothes, as they were all 5X or 6X size.

No one hassled them at customs. They got their check-in bags, small as they were, and assembled.

Nikolay decided to start in the airport. He took his luggage into the bathroom, beckoning for one of his male operatives to follow, so as to show him how not to waste the super substance.

Once the two of them were alone in the bathroom, Nikolay took out the sports bottle. He produced the tiny funnel, the size used to fill a pocket flask with whiskey, from his pocket. He opened the Essentuki bottle carefully, as it was the first time he had opened one. The contents, extraordinarily cold, gave off a slow moving, white-colored fog, due to the temperature difference. The fog exiting the special bottle gave off no discernible odor and rose above the opening, then slowly sank around the bottle, as though it was heavy.

He poured a teaspoon of the special contents into the flexible sports bottle. He closed up the supply bottle and then topped off the sports bottle with water. He then opened a packet of cigarettes, pulled the ones in the front row out slightly, and squeezed a drop of fluid onto the tips of the filters. Pushing them back in the pack, he was ready.

Outside in the terminal, the group had assembled, waiting. Nikolay got their attention and led them toward the exit. As they approached the doors, they could see the Tibetan tour guide, who had been hired through a travel agency, holding up a small blackboard with the name
Bogomazov
written in chalk, just outside.