Read Online The Virus by Steven Spellman - Free Book Online Page A

and
estranged daughter. What can it possibly hurt now? Besides, what
information we can get out of him and the comatose astronomer over
there may be of some assistance to us. If so, they may be
responsible for saving billions of lives, not to mention the future
of mankind. Either way, I say let ‘em in on our dirty little
secret.”
    Lieutenant Dan looked back
at Geoffrey as if thinking this over. Even lost in thought, his
face was like his jaw: Hard and firmly set. It didn’t look as if
the doctor’s logic was winning out. A terrifying thought entered
Geoffrey’s head. By the looks of things, he was already on the
wrong end of the whole, ‘I could tell you but then I’d have to kill
you’ thing. The doctor had already shared that there was a ‘dirty
little secret’ (one hell of a dirty little secret, as
far as Geoffrey could tell), that was carefully guarded by the
government, so Geoffrey had been effectively stripped of all hopes
of maintaining plausible deniability, but he still hadn’t been
given enough information to make such a risky position even
remotely worthwhile. In short, he had been given too much
information for his own good, but not enough for his own
welfare.
    The doctor must’ve read
the concern on Geoffrey’s face because he continued to persuade the
lieutenant general, “Listen, Lieutenant Dan—that’s what everyone
around here calls you, right? Well, look, I’m certainly not trying
to tell you how to do your job, as I certainly wouldn’t appreciate
you advising me on how to perform mine, but don’t you think this
kid has a right to at least know? Even in what you do, even in war,
there are rules, aren’t there? I don’t claim to know all the
idiosyncrasies of your chosen profession, but if I’m not mistaken,
I think one of your men told me something like it’s unlawful to
shoot an enemy combatant while they’re parachuting down and can’t
defend themselves.” Lieutenant Dan gave a reluctant grunt
acknowledging that fact.
    “Well, if
the enemy deserves at least some kind of consideration, doesn’t this
young man?” the doctor asked rhetorically. “Neither he nor the
astronomer in there knew what the hell they were getting into when
they started messing with that fragment. That fragment may be the
very reason he never sees his family and friends, everyone he’s
ever known, alive, again…” Geoffrey’s eyes widened considerably and
he stopped breathing involuntarily at the sound of this
assertion. Damn, I really should’ve been a
doctor like my dad told me! he thought to
himself.
    The doctor continued, “The
least we can do is tell the poor bastard what’s going on
here.”
    Lieutenant Dan looked at
Geoffrey, and for the first time, Geoffrey saw his
frighteningly-cool demeanor give way to something even more
disconcerting; genuine displeasure. Uncomfortable beads of
perspiration presented themselves all across Geoffrey’s forehead
almost instantly. The lieutenant general looked displeased. He
stepped around the doctor toward Geoffrey’s chair, and his
(Geoffrey’s) life flashed before his eyes. One of the lieutenant’s
deathly huge hands lighted upon Geoffrey’s shoulder. With the
slightest clamp of his fingers, he sent a hot jolt of pain through
Geoffrey’s arm, elbow to neck. Geoffrey winced but didn’t budge:
Not from resilience so much as the fact that the lieutenant general
was so strong that he was virtually holding the intern’s entire
torso upright with his single vise-like hold.
    Lieutenant Dan narrowed
his eyes and leaned in toward Geoffrey. Geoffrey’s heart beat as if
it would burst from his chest any moment. Lieutenant Dan had a look
on his face as if his body was building up too much pressure and he
planned to release it into Geoffrey’s face. Instead, with a deep
sigh, he abruptly released his painful grip on Geoffrey’s shoulder
and straightened up.
    “The
doc’s right, Mr. Summons. That meteorite fragment you found marks
the change of the entire