Page 58 of Broken Wheels
Josh nodded. “We were never supposed to talk about what we were doing, not with anyone, and especially each other. But Luke had gotten the ball rolling. The other guys thought it was cool, and they started whispering about their parts too. Pretty soon my brain was assembling all those bits of information in my head. Two days later, I finished early and went traipsing through their computers. The firewall stymied me, but I took that as another challenge. It wasn’t long before I found my way through it and into the repository where all parts of the project were being kept.”
Then he realized how quiet the room had become.
Josh glanced around the table. All three men leaned in, as if they were hanging on his every word. He felt as though he was on display, and squirmed under their scrutiny.
A hand gripped his knee, and Josh blew out a breath. Dixon was there. Dixon had him.
“One of the projects I found had the codename of Achlys. If you don’t know what that means, she was one of the first-born immortals, the protogenoi of Misery and Poison.”
Dixon held a hand up. “Okay, you just lost me. Protogenoi?”
“They were the eldest of the Greek deities and were usually personifications of certain aspects of the universe. Achlys is also the keeper of the death mist and resides in Tartarus. And before you ask,” he said to Dixon, “in Greek mythology, Tartarus is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans.” He smiled. “Think hell.”
Gary managed a chuckle. “I learn something new every day around you.”
“So what was the aim of this project?” Michael asked.
It took Josh a moment to finally utter the words.
“They were working on a toxin that would kill anyone who comes into contact with a surface contaminated with it.”
“That’s horrific,” Dixon said with a gasp.
“I think horrific is an understatement, but what made it worse? They wanted to create an airborne pathogen. To be specific, they wanted to create versions that could be used on food, on water, in the air. Anything we eat, breathe, or touch could be affected. This would be a death no one could get away from. Something that could be sprayed from an airplane or launched in a missile and spread over hundreds of miles when it impacts with the earth. A weapon to be used to decimate the population of cities. Not the buildings, mind you. It was meant to kill the people, leaving everything else intact.”
The room had fallen silent again, not that Josh was surprised.
He nodded. “That way, they could move into a ready-made city, to populate it however they wanted. I was horrified by the implications, especially when I found out they’d already been running limited tests.” He stared at their ashen faces. “Have any of you heard about Kingsman, Georgia?”
There were no words, only shaking heads.
“It wasn’t a big place, only one hundred fifty or so people. The reports I read said that what happened was an accident, that the blast was meant to be contained to Vashlovani National Park. Kingsman was never the target, not that it mattered in the end. Every single man, woman, child, and animal in that town died, and the government covered it up.”
“How?” Michael demanded. “How could they possibly explain it?”
“They said it was a poisoned well and made noises about how it was such a horrible tragedy. Which it was, but one they caused. To cover their tracks, they demolished the town, but that didn’t mean they gave up on the project. Yes, things had gone completely off the rails there, but then they came up with a plan. They decided to have us—the basement-dwellers—solve the problem for them.”
“That’s monstrous,” Michael gasped.
Josh gave a slow nod. “Yes, it is. And when I found out what we were being asked to do, I freaked. I couldn’t sit back and let this happen. So I made a decision. I offloaded every file I could find to a private server I kept, plus I backed it up to a thumb drive I carried with me. When we left for the day, I went home and locked the door, trying to figure out what to do.” He’d spent that night waiting for them to break down the door. Again. “I knew I couldn’t go back there. Not if they were using us to hurt—kill—people. So I made a few phone calls to our handlers.”
“What did you tell them?” Dixon asked.
“I told them I knew what we were doing. Then I mentioned Kingsman and told them I had copies of all the relevant data. I said that I was out, and that if they came after me or my family, I would release it all to every news agency on the planet.”
Michael let out a low whistle. “Now I understand why they might want you out of the picture.”
Another nod. “I told them I was sure Russia and China would take a rather dim view of this. I insisted they shut the project down. What I really wanted was for them to admit what had actually happened in Kingsman, but that wasn’t even up for negotiation. I wasn’t happy about that, but I had to take what I could get. They cut me loose, but kept a close watch on me.” He looked at Gary. “Do you remember the story about the toaster incident?”
“Yeah,” he rasped.
“That really happened. It wasn’t anything bad. I just forgot I had bread in it. Then it got stuck, so I tried using a wrench because it was the closest thing at hand. Bad mistake. There were never any flames, but there was quite a bit of smoke. Which, of course, my tails saw. That was why there was a helicopter there, and men in black suits. I’ve been under scrutiny my entire adult life, because of what I know. When I got Tanner’s mail, my first thought was they’d restarted the project. I tried contacting the handlers. They weren’t taking my calls.” He paused. “I tried to look into it, but couldn’t find any trace of them.”
“We need to talk to someone,” Michael said. “We can’t let this happen.”
“And who would you suggest we speak to?” Dixon countered. “If this is the government, do you think they’re simply going to say, ‘oh yeah, our bad,’ and shut it down again? Doubtful.”
“He’s not wrong, Michael,” Gary added. “Look at what happened with Porter. The government has no problem lying if it suits their interests. Doesn’t matter which political party is in charge, they all have things they don’t want people to know.”