“What’s this?”
“This particular example is called Salvia, also known as ‘sage of the diviners’, and is native to the Sierra Mazateca in Oaxaca, Mexico. We can’t just run to Whole Foods and grab some.” He clicked to the next slide. “This one is Ayahuasca, and unless you’re planning a trip to the Amazon, it’s useless to us.”
“Why don’t you skip to the ones that we might be able to find closer to our location?” Andre asked.
David inhaled deeply and sighed. “That’s sort of the problem. Magic mushrooms and peyote are probably the two most common to the Americas, but…” he shrugged. “It would be really easy to misidentify and possibly poison somebody.”
Tamara raised her hand. “What about nutmeg? I’ve always heard that it can be psychoactive in large doses.”
“I’m afraid that it mimics ecstasy more than LSD,” David replied.
“Morning glories,” Irene stated flatly. “I may have known a few hippies in my day, and they swear that morning glories gave them nearly an identical trip to LSD.” She glanced around the room then seemed to stiffen. “Of course, there was a lot of giggling when they told me these stories, so I can’t really—”
“We’ll keep it on the table of possibilities,” Andre said, urging David to continue.
David nodded. “Actually, morning glories were my go-to because they contain D-lysergic acid amide, or LSA. That’s a precursor to LSD.” He crossed his arms and eyed the crowd. “So, anybody know where we could get our hands on some morning glories?”
Andre turned to Irene. “So we use the flowers themselves or…the stems? The leaves?”
Irene shrugged. “They only said ‘morning glories are the bomb,’ then they broke into insane laughter.” She gave him a sad look. “I’m sorry. I was in graduate school and couldn’t afford to risk…” She sighed. “I never tried it.”
Andre sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I think our best bet would be to have Captain Hilliard send the remaining supplies with the Engineer Corps when they come.” He glanced to Carol. “We can use it as a control while we research natural forms that might also work.” He glanced to David and gave him a quick nod. “Good work researching this. Your next objective is to find us an available source and learn how to extract what we need.”
“On it, sir.” David closed his laptop and waved Randy out of the conference room.
Andre slowly stood and nodded to Irene. “If you don’t mind, perhaps you could look over their work?”
“Of course.”
He turned to Tamara. “Please notify Lieutenant Davis that we will be needing those supplies from NORAD and see if he can arrange them being shipped here. You should also inform him that we’ll be needing to leave the compound to search for…” He turned to Carol. “What were the flowers again?”
“Morning glories.”
“Right.” He turned back to Tamara. “Can you let him know please?”
“Right away.”
When the researchers had all left the conference room, he turned back to Carol. “Is this what we’ve been reduced to? Searching for illicit drugs?”
She cracked a smile. “Unless you can find something else that can break the hold on these people, yes.”
“Great.” He tucked his notepad into his pocket. “My kingdom for an old fashioned drug dealer.”
“Hey, Fuckchop.” Simon beat on the door of Big Tony’s trailer. “Rise and shine, Einstein. We gotta talk.”
Tony threw open the door of his trailer and blinked in the early morning light. “What the hell, Simon?”
“I took a vote. You’re out of here.” He turned to leave then turned back. “Today. No fucking around. Pack your shit and get out.” He turned away again and started across the campground.
“What the…hey!” Tony yelled as he stumbled down the metal steps, his feet nearly tripping on his loose laces. He stood at the base of the steps in only his boxers and his unlaced biker boots. “You said you didn’t want to be in charge. Who the hell are you to be barking orders at me?”
Simon sighed and turned slowly. “Things have changed since yesterday, man.” Simon gave him a tight lipped smile and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but your presence is no longer desired.”
“Huh?” Tony wiped at his eyes as his brain tried to connect dots. “I don’t—”
“See, that’s just it, Tony. You don’t have to understand, you just have to pack your shit and go.” He glanced at the window and saw Lana licking her lips as she watched Simon stand up to the much larger man, her eyes full of excited sexual tension. “And take that dumb broad with you.”
“Hey, now! Wait a goddam minute. You can’t talk about her like that.”
Simon scoffed as he turned his attention back to Tony. “Oh yes I can.” He slipped in closer to Tony and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m the one who saved her skinny ass back in the world, and I’m the one who dragged that conniving little cunt here. I can call her whatever the hell I want.” He reached up and grasped his shoulder, pressing his thumb hard into the pressure point. As Tony winced and collapsed to his knees, Simon increased the pressure. “You can leave peacefully or I can do the same thing to you that I did to the three idiots that ignored me when I told them to stop. You can ask Trent how that worked out for him.”
Tony looked up at Simon and knew that he meant business. “Okay, okay, man!” He pulled away from Simon’s grip and fell to his hands and knees. “I-I’ll do it.”
“Good dog.” Simon patted his head as he walked past him. “By the end of the day, Tony.” He paused a few feet away and stared up to the sky. “Please don’t make me kill you.”
“You won’t have to.” Tony swallowed hard. “We’ll be gone before you know it.”
“Thank you.” Simon marched back across
