Free The Doomsday Box by Herbie Brennan

mass manufacture of any vaccine from its development stage takes about six months on average. This one contains some very rare ingredients, which would slow the process down even further. The existing stockpiles would protect a few hundred people at most. The virus is currently spreading like wildfire. A global pandemic is a day or two away at most.”
    â€œSo there’s nothing we can do?” Opal was beginning to panic. “This Cobra person has sent some sort of superbug through time to help the American germ warfare program, and now it’s going to wipe out half the world?”
    â€œThat’s about the size of it, but there is something you can do,” Carradine said firmly. “If you’re prepared to accept the mission, you can go back in time and stop Cobra before he sends through the doomsday box.”

Chapter 15
Carradine, the Meeting Room, Montauk Underground Complex
    A ll of us?” Opal asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIncluding you?”
    Carradine shook his head. “I’ll have to stay here and operate the time-gate machinery, otherwise you have no way of getting back.”
    Danny looked at him intently. “You want us to go back to the Middle Ages?”
    They were moving toward the critical question already, and Carradine wasn’t sure he was prepared to answer it. “I don’t think so,” he said simply.
    But Danny, of course, wasn’t going to leave it alone. “So how do we stop him?”
    â€œWell,” Carradine told them, “the first thing to say is that Cobra isn’t a mad dog—he’s not some sort of Joker character fighting Batman. He might be misguided, but he didn’t plan to infect the world. So I figure—”
    Fuchsia interrupted to ask, “What was Cobra’s real name, Mr. Carradine?”
    It was something he didn’t want to get into at the moment. “He used different names. He spent most of his life undercover.” He glared impatiently at Fuchsia. “Anyway, I figure what we need to do—what you need to do—is get to him before he sends through his little doomsday box, let him know the results of his actions, make sure he understands what will happen if he goes ahead. Once he realizes he’s about to put the entire world in danger . . .” Carradine spread his hands. “As I said, he’s not a mad dog. He’ll never send the samples through after that.”
    Danny asked, “So you do want us to go back to the Middle Ages?”
    Carradine shook his head. “Forget the Middle Ages, Danny. First off, we don’t know where to find him in the Middle Ages—he could be anywhere from China to England—and we don’t even know exactly when. Once the project closed, we lost our lock on him. Second thing is, if you did go to that time frame, you wouldn’t survive a week. You don’t have the right clothes; you couldn’t even understand medieval English, let alone speak it. You don’t know the customs of the period, don’t know how to behave, don’t have any money. You’d have to steal food or starve, and the second time they caught you, they’d hang you.”
    â€œWhat would they do the first time?” Danny asked.
    â€œCut your hand off,” Carradine said bluntly.
    Danny held up his hand and stared at it fondly. “You’ve convinced me.”
    But apparently he hadn’t convinced Opal, who said, “Cobra managed to survive. Obviously.”
    â€œCobra spent months—actually over a year—preparing for his first trip to the fourteenth century. He studied Middle English, Latin, and Old French. He read social histories of the time. He had clothes specially made in the style of the period. He had a purseful of genuine coinage. He carried medieval weaponry—sword and a dagger, as I recall—for his own protection . . . and he could use it: he went through a course of special