Page 90

“For the sake of expediency and efficacy, I can designate only two more people to accompany me. This is a difficult decision, for all the people I work with are the absolute best. As such, I am offering no rationale for my choices.”

I look around the room. While I sense anxiety in the air, I see nothing but stoic expressions on each and every face. Then I continue speaking.

“Burbank and Jericho, please prepare for the expedition. Margo, same for you. We’ll be leaving in the next five minutes.”

There will be no exchanges of “safe travels” or “good luck.” That’s not the way we operate. What’s more, everyone understands the gravity of the situation.

Before I end this meeting, I have one more piece of information to impart.

“I am about to contact Dr. Anna DaSilva. I’m asking her to join us in East Africa. You all know that Dr. DaSilva is the world’s leading expert on the Newbola virus. She understands the complexities of the new strain calledNewbola Strong and has created the antidote as well, although it hasn’t moved into mass production as yet.”

There are nods of agreement in the room. I know I have everyone’s support. Then I say something I have never said before to my family and friends.

“Please say a prayer.”

CHAPTER 114

OUR PLAN IS to start in Nairobi, Kenya, then travel together to Zanzibar in Tanzania.

My good and able associate from Finland, Gutta, was able to supply us with a self-powered hypersonic aircraft. So my four colleagues—Margo, Dr. Anna DaSilva, Burbank, and Jericho—make the journey to Kenya in fewer than four hours.

I, being uniquely self-powered, was able to make the journey in less than a minute by manipulating space and time.

Every second is vital to our success. We share no warm greetings. Instead, we take a jet-powered open safari vehicle. Gutta explained to me before the trip that it is on loan from a covert engineering unit in Russia. When I asked him how he managed to obtain use of this extraordinary transport, he responded in direct and simple Finnish.

“Lamont, esität liikaa kysymyksiä.”

The translation is equally simple: “Lamont, you ask too many questions.”

Because I was close to Ambrose’s location when I engineered our face-off on the Atlantic Ocean, Tapper was able to triangulate the satellite signal that was used to deploy Terrageddon, narrowing down the area where Ambrose could be.

Now we are standing halfway up a twelve-hundred-foot mountain only miles outside the city of Zanzibar. I would not even call the location “rugged.” Overgrown, with a great deal of orange flowers and scraggly green bushes; there are no sounds of animals or birds. The air is humid, but not unbearably so. That’s it. That’s the location. Not pretty, but not ugly or scary, and certainly not rugged.

Burbank, Margo, Dr. DaSilva, and Jericho set up a very primitive camp under what I identify as a huge rubber tree but what Jericho informs us is specifically called aFicus elastica.

Then Dr. DaSilva speaks. Her voice is uncommonly harsh and impatient.

“If I might have your attention, lady and gentlemen,” she says. “The four of you are so focused on finding the master of Terrageddon that you seem to have lost interest in the equally important, perhaps even more important, reason we are in East Africa. The scourge of Newbola Strong.”

“Of course,” I say. “We—”

But Dr. DaSilva interrupts. She has a speech she is bursting to unleash, and there will be no stopping her.

“Am I the only one who saw the dead camels and waterbuffalo on the side streets of Zanzibar? Am I the only one who saw the infected children and their parents resting on piles of dirt and garbage? We were only in the city for a few minutes and it was a lesson in devastation.”

“Of course,” I say once again. Silence follows. Then Dr. DaSilva continues, but this time her voice is sad, soft.

“By all means, find Ambrose. But, please, find him quickly. Always remember, there is more than one way the world can end.”

CHAPTER 115

AS ALWAYS, OUR plan is designed to be as efficient as possible. We break into two teams: Margo and Burbank are one team, Jericho and I the other. Dr. DaSilva will remain to guard the vital vaccine bundle and to stay in constant touch with both her laboratory in California and Maddy, Hawkeye, Jessica, and Tapper in New York.

As a simple first step, Jericho and I will walk south; Margo and Burbank will head north. So we split up.

Our mountain, as explained, is not much of a mountain, but it is slippery with patches of mud and wet greenery. A thick mist begins to fill the air, and the temperature feels like it’s climbing. Jericho and I remain comfortable and enthusiastic. Are we afraid? Of course we are. Or, better put, I know that I am anxious. That being reported, I believe we all feel more secure because of the fortification from Dr. DaSilva’s vaccine.

Jericho and I have very helpful devices at our disposal. Our handheld equipment supplies us with notifications ofany human presence, change in soil type, or variations in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Our device also keeps us connected to Margo and Burbank on their exploration, as well as Dr. DaSilva back at the camp.