He turned to his laptop and initiated a series of slides showing the windsocks located at the top of the stadium and on the field during a game the previous season. They revealed the wind swirl through the interior of Levi’s Stadium in a cyclonic motion.
After the slides worked their way through to the last one, Wagner turned off the PowerPoint presentation by slamming the laptop shut. He turned to his men.
“Security officials have initiated what they call layered defenses, a series of overlapping measures designed to thwart potential attacks. They are primarily focused on hassling their own fans with deterrent measures like pat-downs, metal detectors, and bag checks.
“Throughout the stadium complex, they rely upon undercover police, bomb-sniffing dogs, camera surveillance, and crowd-control measures. Frankly, these measures are designed to prevent the lone-wolf gunman or the bomber wearing a vest—both of which are prepared to commit suicide. We don’t commit suicide. We are soldiers who enter battle to win and then move on to the next battle.
“The only way their security measures can prevent us from succeeding is if we are sloppy or lose our focus. If every one of you does his job efficiently, and quietly, we will not expose ourselves to the sarin or the scrutiny of law enforcement.
“I will take your questions, and then it will be time for us to get on the road.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
The Den
Fort Belvoir
Like Professor Bale, Harper and Kwon arrived at Fort Belvoir early. Ghost escorted them into the conference room while Jackal answered the Gray Fox team’s questions about the entity-relationship model she’d developed.
“The only way I knew to create this monster was to start at the beginning,” she explained. “I had the benefit of Kala’s notes before she arrived today because I had a lot of gaps to fill in, especially as it related to the ratlines.” She pointed at a three-foot-by-five-foot map with lines drawn in various colors originating in Germany and stretching as far away as South Africa.
“Did her research point to any particular part of the world where the Germans emigrated to after the war?” asked Cam.
“She and I actually collaborated on that one because I had access to government records that would’ve taken her many months to find. Immediately after the Armistice was signed, the Allies—France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the U.S.—divided up Germany in order to begin the reconstruction.
“However, the first goal was to achieve security, so they began arresting people whom they believed to be a potential threat. We arrested one hundred fifteen thousand. The Brits, a hundred thousand. The French only arrested twenty thousand. However, it was the Soviets that caused panic across Germany, as well as in Washington, London, and Paris.
“Out of the one hundred twenty-two thousand arrests made, nearly half either died in Soviet internment camps or were executed. Despite the West’s objections, the Soviet internment program continued until 1955.
“This resulted in a mass exodus of Germans out of the country. Most legally came to America, while others sought European countries similar to their own, like Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. Then, as we’ve discussed before, South America was attractive because of its similar geography and climate to their native Germany.”
“And the Nazis?” asked Bear.
“All over, but the vast majority of them landed in South America. Those who made their way to Rome, Syria and Northern Africa eventually emigrated to Brazil or Argentina.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Harper Randolph and her partner at DARPA, Dr. Li Kwon. Everyone got reacquainted and then settled around the conference table to allow the Virus Hunters to bring them up to speed.
Harper took the floor. “Initially, based upon our investigation of the deaths on the Sea Searcher I and historical knowledge of chemical weapons production by Nazi scientists, we presumed the nerve agent to be sarin or a sarin compound. Our chemical analysis confirmed this as being a perfectly constructed compound of C4H10FO2P.” Harper shook her head and rolled her eyes before she continued.
“Aw, shit. Sorry, I wasn’t showing off. I’ve been so wrapped up in this thing that I forgot my audience. It’s just some nasty shit.”
“How nasty?” asked Cam. “It’s been lying on the ocean floor for eighty years or so.”
Harper replied, “Remarkably, the purity and potency of the sarin was as if it had been produced recently. The titanium containers held up under intense pressure and corrosive surroundings.”
Kwon added, “It was the potency of the sarin that resulted in the death of everyone on board the ship. Even the slightest contact resulted in ingestion and death. It is a tremendously efficient killer.”
“How does it kill, technically speaking?” asked Cam.
Harper responded, “While sarin is unique in potency, it is not in mechanism. By that, I mean there are other drugs, pesticides, poisons, and even toxic plants that work in the same way. Generally speaking, these are known as cholinesterase inhibitors.
“The nerves in our body communicate with one another by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters. The amount of any particular type of neurotransmitter helps determine whether a nerve fires or not.
“Nerve agents like sarin alter these neurotransmitters. You can look at the sarin as inflicting a kink in the lines of communication. The nerves still instruct our bodily functions to do the things they normally do, but with altered speed and frequency.
“These neurotransmitters are like common bees who die after they sting. When the bee stings, it can’t retract its stinger. It not only leaves behind the stinger but also part of its digestive tract and muscular system, resulting in its death.
“After the neurotransmitter sends its signal, an enzyme comes along and destroys it as part of the process. However, nerve agents like sarin block those enzymes. For example, when a neurotransmitter sends a message to produce tears because your eyes
