Free What Remains_Mutation by Kris Norris

certain American agency. They decided they needed a specialist and got me reassigned to them…temporarily, of course.”
    Darcy slapped his hand on his leg. “I was right. You’re CIA.”
    “Not by choice. But when they make a request, it’s not really an option to turn them down. They consider it…impolite.”
    “So how does the good doctor fit into all this?”
    “Several years ago, Lelin Granger made a breakthrough in parasitic infection.” She nodded at Kace. “Right about the time he went underground. He found a way to combine organisms, creating a parasite that had all of the strengths of its constituents but none of the weaknesses. Initially, the man was using his research for beneficial means…a way of integrating damaged neural cells and allowing the host to regain control over bodily functions. When he started making significant leaps forward, concerned parties decided he needed to be watched, for his own safety. I was one of a select few agents assigned to him.”
    Darcy snorted. “You mean they decided his research needed to monitored. I imagine he was worth quite a bit to these ‘concerned parties’.”
    Harper pursed her lips. “I wasn’t privy to all the details. I just made sure no one tried to kill him.”
    “What went wrong?”
    “Lelin Granger went wrong. After a few years of laboratory testing, he convinced the agency that he needed to do live trials. They gave him access to a bio-testing farm. He was supposed to be analyzing the effects of the parasites against different neural conditions in other animals. See if he could make them viable again. But it was a lie. The parasites had been engineered for human DNA. They had no effect on the animals. Lelin managed to manufacture results and hide the truth. By the time the CIA realized the extent of what he’d done, he’d weaponized the strain and found a way to infiltrate the food chain, and a billion people were infected worldwide. Governments fell. Hell, the world had all but ended. Those still alive tried to pressure him into creating an antidote. But nothing he made stopped the infection. Eventually, the facility fell as well. I managed to get him out, and we’d been running ever since.”
    Darcy groaned, glancing over at Abby. “Holy shit. You mentioned something like this when we first met…about this thing not crossing the species barrier. He infected animals because he knew they wouldn’t get sick.”
    Abby nodded, leaning into Colby as her face paled. “The parasite could have been dormant for months, even years, and no one would have known. All he had to do was wait until the carriers were sent to slaughter. And if he picked specimens that were similar in age and fitness… He guaranteed a worldwide dispersion, courtesy of our own fast food chains.” She looked at Harper. “Did Lelin tell you how he did it? Give you any insight into his method? Maybe Kace—”
    “Could what? Replicate it? After the infection took hold, the man went completely mad. Most of the time he was catatonic. And the rare times he seemed to snap out of it, he mumbled nonsense I didn’t understand. I’m sorry. But my expertise doesn’t lie in pathogens or parasites.”
    “Maybe not, but your training means you probably remember more than you think.” Kace eased Emersyn out of his arms as he walked over to Harper. “You said at the beginning that Granger was trying to enhance it. How?”
    “I don’t know. All he ever did was rant about a new war. A second coming. But I don’t see how that’s possible. There’s no way Lelin created a new strain and released it. He’s been under lock and key for the past three years. Whatever’s going on with these anomalies, I don’t see how it could have been his doing.”
    “A second coming…” Kace tapped a finger on his lips as he stared off for a moment before looking at her. “Maybe we’re overthinking this. Lelin didn’t have to create a new strain from scratch. This could just be a mutation.