Free Eden Plague - Latest Edition by David VanDyke

in Miguel’s direction, never taking her eyes off Durgan. “Infect him and you won’t have to worry about him hurting anyone anymore. How many times have you bailed him out of jail?”
    “Ah, but if I did that, he might want to run off too. One of the reasons he’s staying here, one of the reasons he is so angry with you, is that he
does
want the Plague. He just doesn’t want the side effects. If you alter it properly, if you give me a strain that we can use, he’ll be off your back. I’ll make sure he gets reassigned to some other project. In fact, I probably won’t have any choice. He’ll become so valuable to…those above us, they will want to use him for special tasks.”
    “You mean he’ll become a more effective thug.” She spat on the floor in Miguel’s direction, and laughed as he jumped back. “Wow. See? His biggest fear is that his evil will be cured.”
    “Come on, Elise. You’re a scientist. You don’t believe in evil.”
    “Oh, I’m beginning to come around. Just because evil has a basis in neurology doesn’t make it any less horrifying. I’ve seen that ‘good’ – to give it a simple name – can come out of a virus. That means evil is just mental illness. And you’re sitting here refusing to cure someone who is certifiable, because he’s useful to you. What does that make you?”
    Durgan’s voice was droll. “You are a master of the obvious, Elise. You know you are right. Miguel
is
useful.” His voice hardened. “And unless you want to suffer, you’ll stop even talking about spreading your infection. If I have to, I’ll have you confined and your food intake reduced. I can keep you at the edge of starvation for as long as I need to.”
    Fear shot through her but she refused to let it show. “I won’t be able to help in the research if you do that.”
    “But perhaps it would motivate the others, knowing how much discomfort you are in. And if that doesn’t work, perhaps I will reverse the roles.” Durgan leaned forward, his balding head shining with the sweat of stress – or perhaps it was excitement, power. “Perhaps I will have Miguel abuse someone you care about. Roger. Arthur. Or…how about Bobo?”
    In spite of her resolution not to show them any fear, she blanched.
I can’t let them hurt Bobo.
The chimp would never understand. She would never trust a human again. And even though primates could be carriers, it didn’t affect them exactly the same. They didn’t heal fast like humans did, not in body or in mind.
    She couldn’t let them do it.
    “All right,” she whispered. “I won’t cause any more trouble.”
    Durgan’s face broke out in a big, false smile. “You see? I knew you could be reasonable. Miguel, go get Karl.” When the man had left he went on, “You like Karl, right? Well now that we’re all friends again, he can be your minder. I can be reasonable too.”
    “Thank you,” she ground out. The courtesy cost her something. Self-respect, perhaps. But what could she do? Until Daniel showed up – and she hoped he would – she was helpless.
    ***
     
    The next morning at the cabin the men awoke at dawn. At least, Zeke and Daniel did. Spooky was already up and around somewhere.
That guy doesn’t sleep much,
thought Daniel.
    Zeke talked to Spooky for a minute before they started their morning run, out of Daniel’s earshot. He realized he wasn’t really one of the team. Not yet. All he’d done was fast-rope down to a bad situation and save Zeke’s life on a Kandahar mountainside, and knock off a bunch of Taliban. He hadn’t done any actual ops with him or his people.
    Zeke and Daniel walked down a trail that connected to a jogging loop. Daniel hadn’t run for exercise since the IED explosion, and he was eager to see how healed up he actually was. Zeke was an indifferent runner, and he was getting kind of flabby, but he wanted to see too. They started off slow, real slow, just a little airborne shuffle, but pretty soon Daniel had to hold down