“What you have to consider is that the human body is a very complex machine, an organism, that relies upon all aspects of its parts to hit on all cylinders to function. The introduction of a powerful nerve agent like sarin throws the body into circuit overload. It forces the neurotransmitters to overreact.”
Harper paused as Cam raised her hand. “What does it look like?”
“Death?”
Cam nodded.
“First, our smooth muscle functions and normal body secretions ramp up. The nerves to those areas keep firing, yelling go, go, go! The nose runs. The eyes pour out tears. The mouth drools and then vomits. The bowels and bladder evacuate themselves repeatedly until bile is actually secreted. And all of that occurs in the first ninety seconds to three minutes. And it’s just the beginning.
“The victim will have no idea what is happening to him. Sarin has no smell or taste. The odorless, colorless gas or liquid, either one, then begins to attack the body’s internal organs. The victim’s chest tightens, making it difficult to breathe. Vision blurs until partial blindness occurs. All of this is followed by severe convulsions, paralysis and eventually death.”
“When?” asked Gunner. “How long after exposure?”
Harper replied, “Depending on the level of exposure, one to ten minutes.”
“Jeez,” groaned Bear.
“Well, even if the exposure was not great enough to kill them, they still could face the risk of permanent damage to their internal organs as well as their brain. Remember, neurotransmitters are an integral part of brain function. In fact, pharmaceutical cholinesterase inhibitors are used in the treatment of dementia patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the brand names you might recognize are Cognex and Razadyne.”
Gunner leaned back in his chair and studied Harper. She impressed him with her ability to explain complicated science in layman’s terms.
He asked, “What can someone do if they’ve been exposed to sarin?”
Harper delivered her response with an unemotional, serious look on her face. “Run from the source, get naked, and jump in the swimming pool.”
For a few seconds, everyone at the table seemed puzzled by her response, unsure whether to question her sanity or to laugh out loud. It was Bear who broke the awkward silence.
“Hey, that sounds like my kinda party!”
With that, everyone but Harper and Kwon began to laugh. Gunner turned his attention back to Harper and noticed she hadn’t joined in. Then she made eye contact and shot him a slight smile.
“Okay, perhaps that was in poor taste under the circumstances,” she said finally. “However, you will never forget my advice, will you?”
Cam nudged Bear with her elbow. “He won’t, that’s for sure. You have no idea how many times in the future he’s gonna use sarin exposure as an excuse for getting naked.”
Kwon, who remained stoic throughout the laughter, explained, “With sarin, fresh air and higher ground is your friend. Because sarin is heavier than air, it will sink to low-lying areas. It’s best to get above the cloud. If you’re exposed to a liquid form of sarin, then you need to cleanse yourself as quickly as possible.”
“Naked and in the pool, right?” asked Bear with a smile.
“Well, for starters,” replied Kwon. “A shower with soap would be better. Also, rinse your eyes to prevent blindness.”
Gunner stood to stretch his legs. His back was still bothering him from time to time as a result of the tussle with the other diver at the U-boat wreckage. He addressed Kwon. “I understand you’re ex-military.”
“SEAL Teams.”
“Were you guys ever issued RSDL kits?” RSDL was an acronym for Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion. It came in a flat, tear-open package and was used to remove or neutralize chemical warfare agents from the skin.
“Yeah. You?”
“Not while with the Air Force, but we packed them in our kits on a mission to Syria. Glad we did, right, guys?”
Cam nodded and explained, “We were in Ghouta outside Damascus to flush out Russian operatives. We ran into a cloud of some nasty shit. The RSDL saved our asses that day.”
Bear chimed in, “With this sarin floatin’ around, I’m gonna stock up as soon as this briefing is over.”
Harper continued. “Listen, deploying sarin in a civilian setting or on massive scales will be catastrophic not just in terms of loss of life but also the impact it will have on America’s psyche. We’ve been through a lot of crap in recent years, and the last thing our nation needs is to be constantly looking over their shoulders for a gas cloud or in their water glass for something that might kill them.”
“Roger that,” agreed Bear. “How can they deploy this stuff?”
“There are many methods of dissemination,” replied Kwon. “For starters, there’s indoor air, which is most likely what happened in Azerbaijan. We spoke to our colleagues at the CDC before our arrival. All of the evidence points to a sarin deployment via the air handlers. And, to ensure the terrorists’ success, they manipulated the fire-suppression system to soak the occupants of the embassy. What would normally be a plausible response to an air deployment actually compounded the victims’ problems.”
“It can also be aerosolized,” added Harper. “This is both an indoor and outdoor method of introducing sarin into confined surroundings. If outdoors, the most likely method will be liquid spray, aerosol, or as a vapor.”
“What about the water supply?” asked Jackal.
Kwon nodded. “Absolutely. Food can be contaminated as well, both at the growing stage and during the packaging process. If sarin is released into the air as an aerosol near farms, the agricultural products being grown will be permanently contaminated.”
“To sum up,” began Ghost, “they can come at us in any of a number of ways, and the sarin could be absorbed into our bodies by inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, or even through the eyes.”
“With ingestion being the least common method of absorption, but still possible,” Harper added.
Now it was Ghost’s turn to get up and wander the room. “Guys, I have to brief the president and his