Milwaukee Deep

The call came through into the Oval Office. Crane, who sat at the President’s desk, picked up the phone – it was David Fanning.

“Sir, the deal’s complete – the package has been loaded onto the cargo plane and we will leave Zagreb in just under three hours – can you confirm that our contact will rendezvous with me at LaGuardia?”

“Affirmative – I’ve arranged for the package to be moved off the cargo plane prior to customs’ check. My men will then take you to the drop off point,” replied Crane.

“Very good, Sir.”

“Now what time will you arrive in New York?” Crane asked

Harry Bell stormed into the Oval Office and disrupted Crane’s conversation…

“Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s Harding on line two – he’s got Michael Burton!”

Crane looked up at Bell, seemingly unmoved by the news from the President’s aide.

“David, hold the line,” and Crane pressed the hold button.

“Line two, Sir,” Bell almost shouted.

“That will be all,” Crane said looking at Bell.

“Sir?”

“Leave now!”

“Yes, Sir,” and Bell hurried out of the room.

Crane took a deep breath and pressed down on line two.

“Harding, what is it?”

“Sir, we got Michael Burton.”

“Is he dead?” asked Crane.

There was a slight pause.

“Yes, Sir - I pulled the trigger myself.”

“Good news, Tom. Get on a flight to DC so we can wrap this all up face to face.”

“I’ll be on the next available flight, Sir.”

“Good. And Tom – good job,” and Crane put down the receiver.

He took a moment to compose himself, looked at the phone and saw line one still flashing.

Clearing his throat, he picked up the receiver once more and released the line.

“David, you there?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Now where were we?”

“My arrival time, Sir.”

“Yes, now when was that?” Crane asked

“Fourteen hundred hours, Sir. Tomorrow, New York time.”

“Good. My men will meet you then, and escort you to the drop off point. There you’ll plant the weapon.”

“I’ll set detonation for thirty hours after I set the weapon in place. That should give me and all of your men enough time to leave New York City.”

“Fine. Call me when you’re on route to the drop off point.”

Jensen walked into the front office where Sam and Anthony sat….

“We’ve got a problem,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked

“I think both of you should come with me.”

Sam looked over to Perks and without speaking both men got up and followed Jensen out of the room.

“Phil, what’s the matter?” Sam asked

“It’s Michael, ten minutes or so ago he had another one of his seizures, pretty much the same as the one we witnessed days ago.”

“Is he all right?” asked Perks.

“He is now, but for a moment there I had my doubts.”

“Why, what happened?” asked Sam

“He went into cardiac arrest. His heart stopped beating for just under two minutes.”

“His heart stopped?”

“Yes, robotics revived him – you should have seen it, it was amazing - it’s a pity we don’t have access to that type of technology in our hospitals.”

“So if he’s okay then what’s the problem?” asked Perks.

They reached the door to the containment room which led to the chamber where Michael lay asleep.

“Come in here and I’ll show you.”

Jensen made his way over to the computer that sat in the far corner of the room.

Sam had a quick glance through the containment room window into the chamber. Michael lay on the metal bench covered from head to toe in tubes and wires.

“Can he feel that?” Sam asked looking over in the direction of the chamber.

Jensen could see Sam’s face change as he asked the question.

“No, Sam, he’s sedated…he’s okay, trust me.”

Jensen turned his attention back to his computer.

“Now when Michael went into cardiac arrest, the scans showed a very interesting thing,” he said.

“And what was that?” asked Perks

“When his heart stopped beating, the tumour attached to his heart decreased in mass by an incredible sixteen percent.”

“What?” queried Sam. He knew it sounded remarkable but he needed to check that it was an extraordinary occurrence.

“That’s right, sixteen percent, but hold on it gets worse.”

Jensen pulled up another file on his laptop.

“I’ve done some research on Ganton’s autopsy. The cardiac mass attached to Ganton’s heart was deemed to have been ruptured in some way. Now the assumption I am making here is that Ganton’s tumour was the same as Michael’s – it was regressing and it would have regressed completely if the rupture had not occurred.”

“Where are you going with this Doc?” Perks asked.

“Just bear with me, please - now Ganton had a strain of the virus, but the report states it was not the same as the one that Michael is now carrying, right?”

“Correct,” replied Sam.

“Yet Ganton’s blood carried the virus that killed those people in the swimming pool – the assumption that the report makes is that it was only because of the rupture that the virus did not formulate as it should have.”

“Hold on I’m confused,” Sam said, “So are you saying that Ganton did carry the same virus as Michael”

“Yes I am – but in its infant form. You see I believe that the virus is incubated in the cardiac mass and that mass, which somehow decreases in size over time until it disappears, then releases the complete virus into the bloodstream via the heart.”

“And because of that rupture in Ganton’s case, it did not completely evolve as it should have, which is why we’re still all here,” Perks added.

“Exactly,” Jensen replied.

“So why is that a problem?” asked Sam

“Well that isn’t - the problem lies with what just happened regarding Michael’s cardiac arrest. Based on my calculation if he died on that table right there and then, the virus would have been released in just under ten minutes.”

“So hold on, that would mean if the CIA had killed Michael as planned, we would all be dead,” Perks added.

“Exactly,” replied Jensen, “Michael escaped from where he was a walking time bomb.”

All three men took a moment to absorb the information.

“Jesus, we’re lucky things didn’t go to plan,” Perks finally said breaking the silence.

Sam shook his head slightly.

“What is it?” Perks asked

“Well that’s the thing though, isn’t it,” said Sam.

“What?”

“Has this all been a plan?”

“What are you talking about, Sam?” Jensen asked

“I’m saying… I’m asking the question.”

“What question?”

Sam looked at both men.

“Did Michael really escape or, God help us, was he released?”