Dead Island

Charon sneered. ‘I wouldn’t expect you to understand.’

‘Oh, we understand more than you think,’ Purna’s voice dripped contempt. ‘I know how people like that operate, and they’re not opportunists. They might have been once, but when your financial profile achieves a certain level, you no longer passively sit around, waiting for something to happen. You make things happen. You stoke the fires. And if misery and chaos is big business, then you make damn sure you’re the one creating it.’

‘So they start wars?’ asked Sam. ‘And they created this virus to use as a weapon they can sell to the highest bidder?’

‘Of course they did.’ Purna shot Charon a contemptuous look. ‘Isn’t that right?’

Charon inclined his head. ‘Partly. But the Organization didn’t create the virus. The virus was already here, on Banoi. The Organization invests a huge amount of money in research and development. They probe every branch of science looking for potential new weapons, and they have eyes and ears everywhere.’

‘And they heard about the virus?’ said Sam.

Kevin nodded. ‘The first of the infected to come back from the dead were taken off the island and tested.’

‘Yerema’s rapists,’ said Purna, glancing at the girl.

‘Precisely,’ replied Kevin. ‘And tests showed that in all three of them the virus — Pathogen K — could not be isolated because it was constantly mutating. And so in order to create a usable biological weapon, a stable form of Pathogen K had to be found so that a vaccine could be developed.’

‘Because without a vaccine the virus would be useless as a biological weapon,’ said Purna.

‘Which is where you guys came in,’ said Charon, spreading his hands expansively. ‘It was discovered that, despite the aggressive nature and constantly mutating state of the virus, a tiny percentage of people were completely immune. The Organization therefore used its resources to scan blood records the world over. They even created a multi-national blood drive event under a variety of banners and initiatives to cast their net still further. Ultimately you four were selected from millions of potential subjects. It was discovered that you possessed the most vigorously resistant immune systems, strong enough to withstand close proximity engagement with the infection. Plus you fitted the required demographic survival profile.’

‘You mean we were young and fit and we wouldn’t get sick,’ said Sam.

‘Precisely.’

‘So you dropped us into the middle of all this shit just so we’d get the original stable form of the virus for you?’

‘Dropping a trail of crumbs for you to follow along the way, yes,’ replied Charon smugly.

‘I assume West was in on this?’ asked Purna.

Charon smirked. ‘Mowen too. Such a shame about poor Dr West, though he served his purpose. I’m sure the vaccine he developed, combined with his notes — which you were thoughtful enough to bring along with you — will prove invaluable.’

‘So all that shit about Ryder White’s wife—’ said Sam.

‘Oh, that’s all true,’ said Charon, still smirking. ‘It’s always more convincing if you conceal a few droplets of truth in an ocean of subterfuge.’

Sam frowned. ‘So this Ryder White guy works for the Organization too?’

‘No.’

Sam stared at Charon for a long moment and then shook his head. ‘I don’t get it.’

‘I think I do,’ said Purna. Narrowing her eyes, she said, ‘It wasn’t Ryder White who contacted us, was it? It was you.’

‘Guilty as charged,’ said Charon, holding up his hands.

‘So Ryder White don’t know squat about us?’ asked Sam.

‘Oh, he knows there are operatives on Banoi, trying to locate a stable form of the virus in order to develop a vaccine that he hopes will save his wife. If he hadn’t been furnished with that information, the island would have been destroyed and all our hard work would have been for nothing.’

‘All your hard work?’ yelled Sam. ‘You make it sound like this fucking virus is some kind of achievement.’

‘And so it is,’ said Charon. ‘The ultimate biological weapon, for which potential buyers will be willing to pay untold sums of money?’ He laughed. ‘What’s not to like?’

Sam looked as if he was about to explode, but before he could say anything, Purna glanced at him quickly. ‘Hang on, Sam.’ Turning back to Charon, she said, ‘What do you mean, if White hadn’t known we were looking for a vaccine, the island would have been destroyed? Destroyed by who?’

Charon sighed, as if her lack of understanding was becoming tiresome. ‘After analysing the virus, scientists working for the Organization were able to predict that once the plague was introduced into the general population, it would spread quickly. Exactly how quickly they weren’t sure — and in the event it achieved pandemic proportions far more rapidly than anyone had anticipated — but they at least knew that the potential was there, and so were able to instigate various precautionary measures.’

‘Such as?’

‘It’s not a widely known fact, for obvious reasons, but for some time now western governments have been running scared of the possibility of terrorist groups developing biological and chemical weapons so devastating that, if unleashed, they would decimate the populations of entire countries. In order to counter act this, certain measures have been agreed upon, measures that would be met with widespread horror and condemnation if their existence were made public. Suffice to say that a pandemic with no fore seeable cure — such as the one currently rampant on Banoi — would ordinarily trigger the execution of security protocols, resulting in the nuclear cleansing of the infected area.’

‘Nuclear cleansing?’ sneered Sam. ‘You mean they’d blow the fucking place sky high? Murder thousands of innocent people?’

‘In order to protect the majority, yes,’ said Charon. ‘But I’m only the messenger boy, not the instigator here — so let’s not get bogged down quibbling about the moral issues.’

‘You said “ordinarily”,’ said Purna, ‘which I’m guessing means that because of these “precautionary measures” you mentioned, what was supposed to happen hasn’t happened in this case?’

Charon nodded.

Purna looked as though she was about to ask him another question, then her eyes widened. ‘Oh my God.’

‘What?’ asked Sam.

Looking intently at Charon, Purna said, ‘Let me take a wild guess: Ryder White would be the man in charge of ordering the nuclear strike on Banoi, right?’

Charon’s smile was confirmation enough.

‘Don’t you see?’ said Purna to a stillbemused Sam. ‘The reason Banoi hasn’t been wiped off the face of the earth is because Ryder White’s wife is sick, and he’s delayed the order because he thinks the cure might be on the island. But the question is, why did she get sick in the first place?’

Sam felt like the kid in class who doesn’t get what everyone else seems able to grasp — and then all at once he did get it. ‘Because they made her sick,’ he said, nodding at Charon.

‘Exactly.’

Sam shook his head in disbelief. ‘Bastards.’

‘Oh, please,’ said Charon wearily, ‘less of the bleeding heart bullshit. It was purely a practical decision. The Organization simply needed a way to buy some time. It was discovered that Ryder White’s wife was the physician here, so the infection was planted in the prison. As the doctor treating the sick prisoners it was inevitable she would contract the virus sooner rather than later — and hence the nuclear threat, luckily for you, was allayed.’

‘So where are White and his wife now?’ asked Purna.

‘In the sick bay, waiting for news that you’ve arrived with the vaccine. As soon as your friends wake up, I’ll give him a call, whereupon he will radio for a helicopter to take us all far, far away from here.’

‘And what happens then?’ said Purna. ‘What happens to us?’

Charon patted his pocket. ‘You’re my insurance,’ he said, ‘in case the vaccine doesn’t work.’