Day 8 in Frederick, Maryland
The Dangerous Mission
The parameters of the mission were crystal clear. Of course there would be many casualties, as would be the case in every war. This was no different. Or so Lieutenant Commander David Hawkins reminded himself, as he sat back in his seat on his flight to China. In his hand he clutched a Diplomatic pouch.
The son of a Canadian Baptist preacher and an equally devout English mother who’d both come to America when they were young, David grew up in Missouri and was taught the difference between right and wrong at a very early age. In his house, justice was paramount; it was a very Republican brand of due process.
The environment that he was raised in demanded truth, honesty and a sense of fairness. His parents always kept their only child updated on world events, albeit with a very right-wing view. Over time, David began to notice faults in his parents’ beliefs. He began to question ‘authority’. His stance during high school shifted profoundly from the version of his parents, so far so, that it was borderline radical.
When David was 18, he joined the Navy, where he applied immediately for The Seals. It had been a dream from when he was young, one of the few things that he had held on to from the strict life with his parents. The training was intense, nearly a year long, but David was one of the amazing 1% that actually made it through.
It was during his deployment in Afghanistan that David started to really question the leadership of his country. When one of his close buddies died needlessly on a botched and pointless mission, he began to wonder what they were even doing there. George Bush had been the President at that time, and David’s seriously negative view of the ‘Republican Ideal’ began to really take shape.
After Afghanistan, David was recruited by the C.I.A., he felt right at home and fit right in. His knowledge of the Middle East coupled with his
near-perfect Arabic and Farsi made him the ideal candidate for field work. Add to that his skill with a firearm, his unwavering loyalty and his determination to make the world a better place, and the Agency had themselves a super-soldier.
All things considered, those were good years for David.
The country was led by a man that believed in fairness. David actually questioned every decision, but for the most part agreed with them. He was proud to represent America. But then in November of 2016, the unthinkable happened. A pumpkin colored reality TV series host became the leader of the free world. To David, George Bush was both a hero and a saint compared to apricot face.
He talked to his friends as well as his more left leaning colleagues about the situation. They all believed that this man was probably more dangerous than any terrorist. They complained bitterly that he didn’t trust any of the troops or their leaders to make the right decisions. But it was when he outright threatened Iran that David got truly worried.
“What can we do about this mad man?” David asked one of his colleagues with whom he discussed this matter with before.
“He is out of control,” his colleague replied.
“He can not get re-elected” David said, the anger inside him spilling over.
“I think there is someone you should meet,” his friend told him.
A meeting was arranged between David and the House Majority leader. Here was a man who stood by the Clintons during the impeachment trial. A man who backed same sex marriages before his daughter came out of the closet. When he’d lost his wife to cancer, he was furious with the current administration for rescinding Obama care for ordinary Americans.
He also did not want to see this man get re-elected through protest votes and upon false hopes and promises. In his view, the American government had become a bad joke, with an oompa loompa clown at the helm. He remained very close friends with the former Secretary of State, whose name is not included here for security reasons.
Both of these upper echelon people knew full well that the country had been doing fine prior to this joker taking the reins. The economy was chugging along at its own speed. Immigration was not the demon it was being made to look like. The nation as a whole was starting to heal a little until this fool came in, sowing deep divisions.
Fear was his weapon. Passing off blatant lies as fact became an everyday thing. The term ‘fake news’ became common place, mostly to cover his own tracks. But as yet, he’d not been tested.
Nearly Every President in the last 230 years faced a crisis of some kind. How they dealt with it was what really mattered. The fact was that no man or woman could represent the interest of every single American, but if you could trust them during a crisis, then everything from a blonde bombshell or sex scandal to a pre-marijuana-Era toke could be overlooked.
This man had faced no real crisis of any kind. He clearly tried desperately to stage one — repeatedly. He’d even gone so far as pushing the nation to the brink of nuclear wars, but every time, other leaders backed down. There was no crisis, only chaos. It’s as if America had collectively gotten up to get popcorn in between DVD box set episodes, waiting for this uninteresting ad campaign to end. This didn’t suit his TV show personality. The leaders of this covert group — of which David was brought in to — were convinced that a real test would see this man crumble like dust.
It had been decided that a real emergency was needed. One that he’d not staged himself, waiting in the wings to ‘come to the rescue’. Something on the scale of a major disaster or a world war. The jester currently occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue once compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, yet the only divide in the nation during his reign was the one he’d created and managed.
But devising a way to see how this man would act under real pressure was proving difficult. Massively destructive storms that were due to hit huge urban areas thankfully turned away at the last minute. The economy was good and people were employed. Another avenue would need to be explored.
It wasn’t until nearly the end of his first term that an answer was found. It was considered by all as very radical, but an election was looming and something had to be done.
This was about the same time that David was brought in to the fold.
In fact, it happened only a week after they had spoken to the man at the The U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. This unit at Fort Detrick in Maryland had supposedly been decommissioned by Nixon in 1969, but they’d secretly continued research on Anthrax vaccines, Machupo virus, Ebola and various strains of Corona viruses.
Albert Hines, an epidemiologist at the facility, was overheard one day — talking about the tangerine president in a very derogatory way. He was called in to the office. He assumed that he’d receive an admonishment or perhaps even lose his job. He walked forlornly down the corridors of the complex, expecting the worst.
To his surprise, he was met with a very powerful Washington figure. He was offered a drink and a chair. No one seemed angry at all. He was asked to give his honest views on the current administration. At first he held back, being naturally cautious, but after some prodding, he let his real feelings be known.
The meeting went on well past quitting time, but he was being fed and well treated. He had no one to go home to as his parents had long since passed and he’d lost his wife to muscular dystrophy two years prior. This came up in the conversation too, as his insurance had radically changed under the current leader.
“So,” the man from the government asked, “what kind of virus could we release that would put immense pressure on this clown?”
“Seriously?” Albert asked.
“As a heart attack” he replied.
He was flanked by two men with a lot of stripes and medals on their military uniforms. They listened intently and asked more questions then he’d expected. They knew their shit, probably as well as most of his colleagues. They didn’t want to wipe out the planet, only to put pressure on the administration. They wanted him to feel horrible for repealing Obama-care, which had resulted in many people putting off seeing a doctor for far too long.
“I’ve been working with various Corona viruses” Albert said.
“Isn’t that a beer?” one of them replied.
“Well, yes, it’s a beer brand name, but it’s also a fairly nasty virus” Albert said.
“Would it put pressure on the system?” the square jaw military guy said. He looked like a Ken doll.
“Oh yes” Albert replied, “one in particular would likely kill many older people, especially those with respiratory problems.”
“So honestly, how could we go about this?” the government guy asked.
“Seriously?” Albert asked again.
They were dead serious. Albert could not believe that these people were willing to sacrifice thousands, if not millions, in order to remove the President. But the more that they talked, the more it made sense. Besides, Albert would know how to protect himself and he had no older people close to him anymore.
“But if you release this in America, people will start digging and discover that we still exist” Albert said.
“So what do you suggest?” Military Ken Doll queried.
“China,” Albert replied, “that will make it plausible.”
Albert explained that it could be released in a city call Wuhan, one of the only locations in China where they were still working with deadly viruses. Once released it would likely spread quickly to America due to all the Chinese traveling. The lunar new year period was selected as it would mean many more air travelers. What they’d not taken in to account had been Europe, but no one in that office cared. After all, they didn’t speak English. And who cared if some Chinese people died, they were never friends with America.
Albert was sworn to secrecy and invited in to the fold. Subsequent meetings included the former Secretary of State, who expressed no desire to ever run for the presidency again, but only to be issued protective gear (for herself, not for her husband).
In November, Albert met Lieutenant Commander David Hawkins for the first time. It was his first ever contact with a secret agent man and it made him feel important. He gave him instruction on the handling and use of ‘agent C’, as it had become known.
It had been determined that an automatic release in a market would make it look more like a natural event. A team from Special ops worked with both Albert and David to create a device with would not only self destruct after use, but would also pose no harm to the man carrying the consignment.
It was ready in three days, proof of the power of those that had a vested interest. A round trip first class flight was booked, with a stay for 7 days so that it would appear like a holiday. A diplomatic passport was arranged. Everything seemed to be in place, although no one had any idea what the outcome might be.
A #wallcrazyfiction story written in isolation.
Stay tuned. https://medium.com/wall-crazy-fiction
