Chapter Ten
Taiwo and Kemisola jumped startled when the lights came on. “They did it.” She said in a breathless whisper as if she couldn’t believe it.
“I guess they did. Do you have the code to open this door?”
She nodded hurrying to the keypad. It opened with a four digit password like an ATM card. She quickly typed in the number and the doors swung open with a soundless whoosh.
His eyes widened at the array of scientific equipment stretched out in front of him. Kemisola hurried in lugging the cylinder of prototype vaccine with her. Taiwo stepped into the room as the doors swung closed behind him. He took position in front of it with his back to the room and his weapon held at the ready. Kemisola went about preparing the aerosol, cooking up the ingredients in a machine that looked like a giant oven. Taiwo gritted his teeth with his finger curled around the trigger of his gun as the seconds ticked by.
Mako got to the landing of the staircase when a hand grabbed his ankle bringing him crashing to the floor with a slam. He gasped and turned, drawing his sidearm in one smooth motion. Squeezing the trigger twice, the infected man’s grip loosened as his head exploded and the body slid down the stairs.
Mako was up in a thrice racing upwards. Two of his men hurried after him. One had an infected riding piggy back taking chunks out of his neck. The man’s screams reverberated down the hall. Gritting his teeth, Mako turned firing twice. The infected and his man fell, disappearing down the long staircase. The man running beside him shot him a long look.
“He was already bitten. There was nothing we could do for him.”
The two that remained raced to the R&D department. The door was closed. Taiwo and Kemisola were nowhere to be seen.
“They must have gotten in.”
Mako nodded the look on his face grim. They reached the door at the same time and began to pound on it.
“Who is there?”
“It’s us you fool! Open the door.”
The growls and slurs coming from the staircase were impossible to ignore. They’d soon be upon them. He turned aiming his weapon. Their heads were just starting to appear. The door swung open with a whoosh. He backed in firing his weapon. The door closed as the first infected reached it.
“Tell me you have something __” He snapped swinging on Taiwo and Kemisola.
“In a few hours we’ll have the beginning of something.” She said unperturbed as she watched the machine countdown on a digital clock kind of thing. Sort of like the timer on a microwave.
He walked over to get a better look. The number on the timer read 6hrs 15mins. His eyes grew wide and incredulous.
“Are you kidding me?” He yelled.
“No unfortunately.”
His face seemed to grow blacker as he stormed off going to stand beside Taiwo at the door. The thuds outside were growing louder.
“Let’s pray they don’t get through that door before that stuff she’s cooking gets ready.” Taiwo said in a grim tone.
“Even if the door holds, how do we get out of here after she finishes? Have you stopped to consider that?”
Having no answer to that, Taiwo lapsed into silence. The hand holding the gun tightened over the barrel. Either way you looked at this, they were screwed. A cold silence filled their ranks.
Abuja
Five and a half hours later
President Abdusalam stood at the window of his office looking down into the expansive grounds of Aso Rock, the Nigerian Presidential Villa. Five men stood behind watching. Three were his security team, two his political advisors.
“Any word from General Mako?”
“None sir __”
“Do you think the mission failed?”
“It’s too early to tell. The doctor did say that preparing the vaccine would take a couple of hours at least.”
“But we should have heard word from them.”
“It’s hardly surprising. Civilian communication is down to almost five percent, and we all know it was never that good to begin with. Let’s give them some more time.”
A long pause followed the advisor’s words.
“Do we have more troops in the area?”
“Yes __ we’ve mobilized almost ten thousand soldiers to march onto the LCDCP at your command.”
“What about air support?”
“We have six helicopters providing support and four tanks to aid our troops on the ground.”
“I want them to start moving in as soon as we receive confirmation the vaccine is in play. The helicopters will move in for immediate extraction and administration.”
“Sir ___ are you saying what I think you are saying?”
Abdusalam gave them an angry almost impatient look.
“Sir it sounds like you are thinking of administering the vaccine immediately. Do you think that’s wise?”
“And I suppose you are going to tell me why that’s a silly idea?”
“Sir it’s untested. Remember what happened with the last vaccine.”
“Kemisola assures me it will work. The prototype has been tested and it works perfectly.”
“But sir __”
“I’ll have no debate over this. It will be administered immediately. I don’t want to hear anymore on the subject. Is that understood?”
They nodded looking unconvinced.