Pax was right, but it didn’t make Ash’s choice any easier.
“It’s still a lot of ground to cover,” Chloe said. “What if we split up? One group to Amund Ringnes, one to Yanok. Once one of us decides our location either is or is not Bluebird, we can regroup.”
“We’re already too small as it is,” Pax pointed out.
“That may be,” she said, “but do we have the time to check them one after the other?”
They went back and forth, neither fully able to convince the other they were right.
Finally, Ash said, “I’m reluctant to split up a group this size, but Chloe’s idea has merit. I’d like to think about it for a bit so let’s table it for now, and I’ll make a decision when we get closer.” He checked the time. “I want to head out as early as the weather will let us tomorrow. Let’s eat up and get some sleep. We’ve got long days ahead.”
22
I.D. MINUS 80 HOURS
MUMBAI, INDIA
Sanjay had been working from daybreak until nearly ten p.m. every day for the last three days. According to the Pishon Chem managers, the schedule for everyone was likely to stay that way until they finished dispensing the anti-malaria spray. Thankfully, Pishon had thought ahead, and set up a dormitory complex on the grounds of the old factory they were renting so that the workers could stay there instead of going home each night.
The main reason things had become busy was due to the dozens and dozens of shipping containers that had begun arriving daily at the factory. Each was packed full with barrels of the chemical that was to be sprayed throughout the city. Sanjay and several dozen other temporary employees had been given the responsibility of unpacking the containers, and loading pre-determined numbers of barrels onto trucks that would take them south to Goa, north to Ahmedabad, and several locations right there in Mumbai.
The managers had assured everyone that working with the barrels was completely safe, but had also gone ahead and issued special gloves and paper surgical masks so that Sanjay and the others would feel even more at ease. While the gloves came in handy, most chose not to wear the masks, as they were more a hindrance in the humidity than a help.
Sanjay was supervising two teams of ten men each. Their job was to load the trucks with however many containers were assigned to each, so he was nowhere near the container drop-off zone when the accident occurred.
By all accounts, it was just a minor mishap, a truck hauling away an empty container scraping against another truck whose container was still full. Similar kinds of accidents happened in the city countless times a day. It was so minor, in fact, that Ayush, who was in charge of the delivery area, didn’t even report the incident to the Pishon Chem managers. Not at first, anyway.
In a process that had become routine, the slightly dented but still-full container was removed from the truck and placed in the delivery area, waiting to be unloaded. When its turn finally came an hour and a half later, the door was unsealed, and a crew started moving the barrels out.
Because the contents of the barrels had been carefully designed to omit no odor, the men didn’t discover the barrel with the broken seal until they neared it toward the back of the container. When they saw that some of its contents had been sloshed onto the walls and floor, they rushed out of the box, worried that they had been poisoned.
Ayush rushed over. “Why have you stopped? There are still barrels inside.”
“One of them is open,” someone said.
“The poison is everywhere,” another added.
“What if we breathed it in? Are we going to die?”
The others began shouting variations on the same question.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ayush told them, patting his hands against the air to calm them down. “Show me.”
“It’s there,” one of the men said, pointing at the open container. “Go see for yourself.”
Annoyed, Ayush approached the container and looked in. It took him only a second to spot the mess.
The managers had briefed him and the other leaders about the spray. While it was apparently deadly to mosquitoes, it was harmless to human beings in all but extremely large doses. Did this qualify as that? He didn’t think so, but it was probably better to check.
“Start on the next container,” he ordered.
“But what about us? Should we see the doctor?”
“No. You are fine. The spray cannot hurt you. It is meant for mosquitoes, not humans.”
“It still might be dangerous for us.”
“It’s not. But to be sure, you keep working and I will go check with the managers. They will tell us if everything is okay or not.”
“You promise?”
“Of course, I promise.”
The manager in the office at the time Ayush entered was a man named Dettling.
“Yes?” he asked as Ayush stood in the doorway waiting to be noticed.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, sir, but one of the barrels had opened.”
Dettling looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. The seal has broken on one, and much of what was inside has spilled into the container. The men who were doing the unloading are concerned and want to know if they should see a doctor. I told them everything would be fine, but I had them move on to a new container so I could ask you what we should do with the open barrel first.”
“Did they breathe it in?”
The tone in Dettling’s voice worried Ayush. “I think probably, yes. They were in the container for some time before they found the bad barrel. Is that a problem? I’ve been told the spray is harmless against us.”
“No, no. It is harmless. It’s just…supply is so tight…uh…losing even one barrel could be a…problem.” He paused. “Go back out and tell them everything is fine. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
As soon as Ayush left the office, Dettling rushed over to the door and shut it. He didn’t use the phone on his desk, but instead retrieved the sat-phone from his briefcase to make the call.
He was greeted with a recorded message, then a prompt. He said, “This is Dettling. Mumbai. I-7.”
Dead air for a few seconds, then a click. “Go ahead,” a live voice said.
Unconsciously, Dettling touched the spot on his upper arm where he’d received his KV-27a vaccination. “We have an accidental breach.”
“Explain.”
SANJAY WAS BONE-tired when he dragged himself back to the dormitory at a quarter after ten that night. The only thing that kept him from heading straight up to bed was the growl in his stomach.
In the cafeteria, he piled the food onto his plate and carried it over to one of the common tables. Often, he had dinner with his cousin, but Ayush wasn’t around.
Though the room was packed, few were talking. It seemed as if the only energy anyone could muster was used to move food from plate to mouth.
Once Sanjay was done, he made his way up to the dorm. He was assigned to a room that held ten people total. He shared it with others who had been given supervisory roles, including Ayush. Only Ayush wasn’t there, either.
That was unusual, but not enough for Sanjay to think anything was wrong. Within five minutes, he was deeply asleep, unaware that Ayush and all the others who had been in contact with the contaminated container had been moved to the basement of a building three miles away, out of sight of anyone who might raise an alarm.
