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Authors: A. J. Colucci
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fire ant and Siafu.”
“How’s that?”
“I’ll let our guest explain,” Russo said. “Some of you have met General Leonard Dawson.” Russo motioned to a domineering-looking figure beside him. “The general is actually quite familiar with these insects and he has come here today with some vital information.”
The two-star general sat a head taller than the rest of the group. He had a frame as wide as a doorway; a powerhouse in full uniform. He took command of the table with a booming voice. “Two years ago, the United States military was tipped off about a secluded laboratory in Bolivia. We sent in a surveillance team, which located a sprawling compound—over ninety thousand square feet—camouflaged inside the Amazon jungle. Naturally, we believed it to be a drug operation and immediately organized a raid with the Bolivian government. However, the incursion was a disaster. There was a shootout. A fire erupted, causing major explosions.”
The general turned to Agent Cameron. “That’s when the FBI showed up. Turned out they had been investigating the lab for several months.”
Agent Cameron said, “We had been following a money trail, millions of dollars from an unidentified source in the United States. Our information pointed not to drugs but to ecoterrorists. A scientist working at that lab, Dr. Phillip Laredo, had strong ties to radical environmental groups. As specialists in ecoterrorism, my team was assigned to the case.” Cameron’s jaw clenched. “Until the military got wind of the operation and swooped right in.”
The general cleared his throat in annoyance. “It was not a successful mission, that’s true. Everyone inside the lab was killed. Except for the ants. Millions of them, living in a tank the size of an Olympic swimming pool. The Bolivian government wanted the insects destroyed, the whole place burned to the ground. So the army complied. We gassed the ants in the tank and firebombed the compound. Some of the specimens were collected and brought back to the United States. That’s when we discovered something disturbing—outside of the tank, these ants are indestructible. I can tell you without a doubt, the ants we collected are the same species we’re facing here in New York.”
Paul looked flabbergasted, as if this was all news to him, crucial information he should have been given before anyone else. He said to the colonel, “You gassed the ants?”
“They can be killed in a tank,” Dawson replied. “Certainly not in a city.”
“So you’ve been studying the specimens for two years?”
“We analyzed them for several months. But they died off rather quickly.”
“Surely you learned something about them.”
The general motioned to a uniformed officer by his side. “This is Colonel Tom Garrett. He was working with the team of army scientists studying the specimens and following up on leads with the FBI. Anything we learned in two years, he can share with you.”
Garrett was a tall man in his sixties, with a pasty complexion and dour expression. His salt-and-pepper hair was stiffly sprayed. Despite his chicken-like neck, the cut of his uniform hinted at an athletic frame. He glanced around the table and his gaze lingered on Kendra for just a moment.
“I’ll tell you what I know,” he began. “We believe the project was going on since the 1980s, funded by a group known as Earth Avengers, an extraordinarily sophisticated and clandestine sect of ecoterrorists. These people had access to an unprecedented amount of money, resources and highly trained entomologists. From what the FBI uncovered, it seems their goal was to create man’s ultimate natural enemy. One which could fight back against human destruction of the planet. The insect they created was a genetic mutation of the Siafu and fire ant, which they named Siafu Moto, Swahili for ‘driver ant-fire.’ The result of their work was the most deadly, indestructible creature on earth. The ants live underground and
“How’s that?”
“I’ll let our guest explain,” Russo said. “Some of you have met General Leonard Dawson.” Russo motioned to a domineering-looking figure beside him. “The general is actually quite familiar with these insects and he has come here today with some vital information.”
The two-star general sat a head taller than the rest of the group. He had a frame as wide as a doorway; a powerhouse in full uniform. He took command of the table with a booming voice. “Two years ago, the United States military was tipped off about a secluded laboratory in Bolivia. We sent in a surveillance team, which located a sprawling compound—over ninety thousand square feet—camouflaged inside the Amazon jungle. Naturally, we believed it to be a drug operation and immediately organized a raid with the Bolivian government. However, the incursion was a disaster. There was a shootout. A fire erupted, causing major explosions.”
The general turned to Agent Cameron. “That’s when the FBI showed up. Turned out they had been investigating the lab for several months.”
Agent Cameron said, “We had been following a money trail, millions of dollars from an unidentified source in the United States. Our information pointed not to drugs but to ecoterrorists. A scientist working at that lab, Dr. Phillip Laredo, had strong ties to radical environmental groups. As specialists in ecoterrorism, my team was assigned to the case.” Cameron’s jaw clenched. “Until the military got wind of the operation and swooped right in.”
The general cleared his throat in annoyance. “It was not a successful mission, that’s true. Everyone inside the lab was killed. Except for the ants. Millions of them, living in a tank the size of an Olympic swimming pool. The Bolivian government wanted the insects destroyed, the whole place burned to the ground. So the army complied. We gassed the ants in the tank and firebombed the compound. Some of the specimens were collected and brought back to the United States. That’s when we discovered something disturbing—outside of the tank, these ants are indestructible. I can tell you without a doubt, the ants we collected are the same species we’re facing here in New York.”
Paul looked flabbergasted, as if this was all news to him, crucial information he should have been given before anyone else. He said to the colonel, “You gassed the ants?”
“They can be killed in a tank,” Dawson replied. “Certainly not in a city.”
“So you’ve been studying the specimens for two years?”
“We analyzed them for several months. But they died off rather quickly.”
“Surely you learned something about them.”
The general motioned to a uniformed officer by his side. “This is Colonel Tom Garrett. He was working with the team of army scientists studying the specimens and following up on leads with the FBI. Anything we learned in two years, he can share with you.”
Garrett was a tall man in his sixties, with a pasty complexion and dour expression. His salt-and-pepper hair was stiffly sprayed. Despite his chicken-like neck, the cut of his uniform hinted at an athletic frame. He glanced around the table and his gaze lingered on Kendra for just a moment.
“I’ll tell you what I know,” he began. “We believe the project was going on since the 1980s, funded by a group known as Earth Avengers, an extraordinarily sophisticated and clandestine sect of ecoterrorists. These people had access to an unprecedented amount of money, resources and highly trained entomologists. From what the FBI uncovered, it seems their goal was to create man’s ultimate natural enemy. One which could fight back against human destruction of the planet. The insect they created was a genetic mutation of the Siafu and fire ant, which they named Siafu Moto, Swahili for ‘driver ant-fire.’ The result of their work was the most deadly, indestructible creature on earth. The ants live underground and
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