Part Ten

"What is this?" said Vic, angrily. "What is causing it? I mean, it can't be coincidence!"

A large part of her anger was due to Michelle being among those taken. The doctor replied while Vic, realizing she was on the verge of losing control, took a series of slow, deep breaths.

"There's outbreaks of cholera in several African countries, but that's not what this is," said Captain Spaulding. She looked tired. "Neither is it any of the other common intestinal diseases. Technically, we are labeling it gastroenteritis, which is simply a general description based on the primary symptoms. It doesn't appear to be bacterial or viral. It may be a prion, but that's doubtful. Our working hypothesis is that the cause is a nonbiological contaminant in the food supply. Perhaps something put in the dirt the vegetables were grown in as a makeshift fertilizer, or even a deliberate poison. Fortunately, the UNHCR units based here are well-equipped and trained to handle diseases and toxins in water. We will find out what is causing this."

"No offense, Doctor," said Major Lee, "but I think we need to bring in a specialist. Someone who is an expert on poisons."

"We have one on island," said Captain Spaulding, nodding, and not in the least offended. "Dr. Julia Rampler. She's with the regular UN forces. I've already called her."

"Meanwhile," said Major Lee, turning to Vic, "you and I - as we are among the few unaffected and we both have combat experience - need to plan."

* * *

"It's a toxin, all right," said Dr. Rampler, later that same day. "Old-fashioned arsenic. More specifically, arsenic trioxide. Given the other contaminants we found, it probably came from ordinary - if also old-fashioned - rat poison. Likely left on the island during one of the early construction periods. Being an elemental poison it hasn't lost any strength. It's possible the poisoning is accidental, but that seems very unlikely. I suspect the arsenical compound was somehow applied after the vegetables were washed. They were put aside to drain while the cooks got busy with the rest of the meal. There were people coming and going continuously during that period, so discovering who did the act won't be easy.

"We're treating everyone affected with arsenic-appropriate chelation. As well as giving them fluids and other medications to treat symptoms and make them comfortable. The dose was, fortunately, not large except in a few cases. Most of those poisoned should be well on the way to recovery in a couple of days."

"That's good news," said Major Lee, nodding. "Not only that you've identified the poison and started treatment, but that you have a likely source. That should help us to find the culprits."

"Then that's our next order of business," said Vic, who, after all, had more experience in criminal investigation than did the Major. She sounded very determined, which was understandable, given that Michelle was among the prisoners. "Something to keep in mind is that water is likely important in all this. The attackers and hostages will all need it to drink, and will have to avoid flooded areas."

Clean water was a valuable commodity on the island. Though the highest point was occupied by the hotel, there were a few pools on that and other slopes which were used to gather and distribute rain water. Originally, the distribution was through a system of pipes. Rusty water could still be seen dribbling from some of the sprinkler heads in the lower parts of the island. These days most of the water which left the ponds simply ran out over the ground, through channels carved by the water itself.

This unplanned distribution of water meant ruin for some parts of the planned resort, while other locations had dry pipes. Entertainment areas and elegant bungalows were flooded and now part of marshes, many of them brackish. This cut down on the areas where people could actually live... or hold prisoners.

"Next, we need to interview the witnesses of the raid," said Vic, focussing on the basics. "They may have important information even if they don't realize it. Then we need to talk to - and check the backgrounds on - all those who didn't get sick."

"You surely don't think this was an inside job," said Major Lee. In spite of evidence he was inclined to defend his people.

"Doesn't matter what I think," said Vic. "That's the procedure. If nothing else, we need to eliminate suspects."

"All T.O.W.E.R. personnel are carefully vetted! So are general UN people!"

"Which reduces the chance of someone on the inside being involved, but doesn't eliminate it. Now, let's get busy. We may not have much time."

As their investigation proceeded a pattern emerged. Vic, Major Lee and a couple of others who had partaken of the poisoned vegetables had not been affected due to superhuman metabolisms. Most of the rest of the healthy were in that state because they normally did not eat the raw vegetables. Some who did eat but not get sick likely just had naturally high tolerances for the toxin. As the twentieth most commonly encountered element many people had previous low-level chronic exposures to arsenic, if only from contaminated drinking water. However...

"These five," said Vic, reading from a hand-written list in her notes as she circled names on the printed list of UN personnel, which was laid out on Major Lee's desk. "They all changed their eating habits for that one meal. Which was obvious enough that several people noted the change. One of the suspects said he'd been told to eat less fiber by his mainland doctor. Which the doctor has denied. These five all atypically avoided the fresh vegetables, even though they all had eaten them before. Two of them are among the three who are missing. Another simply didn't show up for morning roll call. In fact, he hasn't seen since he went to bed last night."

"Three of those on this list are not a surprise," said Major Lee, reluctantly, as he took the sheet Vic had used as a reference. "At least to me. They have a pattern of odd behavior. Those two, though... Brown and Wilniewczyc are good soldiers. Now they're missing and suspected of collaboration. Also, there are some people I would suspect who aren't on that list."

"That's why you follow procedure," said Vic, firmly. "To reduce subjectivity."

"I can see that. I guess. Now, where do we go from here? Arrest the remaining two and question them?"

"These five might not be the only collaborators," said Vic, sounding tired and aggravated. "Or this could all be coincidence. In fact, there might not be any UN collaborators. No, for now we don't tip off the two who are left that we suspect them. We watch them, covertly.

"The witnesses said there were twenty to thirty attackers, all masked," Vic continued, more thoughtfully, "all in military-style outfits, with military-style weapons. However, only a couple of them spoke, and they had careful, BBC-style accents. So they could have all been from off the island. Perhaps mercenaries, hired for one job."

"Which is?"

"No idea. It has to be something which they expect to require some time, though, or they wouldn't have taken the hostages to keep us from acting against them. They might even have been here for a while already, and are planning some operation for which they need hostages. Or experimental subjects."

That last gave Vic a twinge which she barely concealed. What was happening to Michelle!?

"What could their purpose be?" said Major Lee, desperately. "We've been all over this island! There's valuable stuff left, sure, but nothing worth - literally - an operation of this scale or this much desperation."

"Maybe..." said Vic, frowning. "Maybe it's something they think is here. What rumors are there about treasures on the island? I don't mean those Commander Walters spread; everything else people say about this place."

"Uhm, that there are various secret mad science laboratories in hidden locations," said the Major, now also frowning. "There may actually be some reality behind that, since we have found a few deliberately collapsed tunnels. Also, that Mobutu left fortunes hidden in secret locations. Nothing more specific, at least that I'm aware of."

"Wait. When they were rounding people up at the hotel, did anyone report that they took anything else? Has anyone even checked the hotel storeroom?"

"No; but they will, now!"

* * *

As it turned out, there were many items pegged as valuable which were now missing. Discovering what was missing was easy, given the detailed inventory made as part of the effort to find the owners.

"They must have had an entire second team in here to cart so much off in such a short time," said Vic, impressed.

"They knew exactly what they wanted, too," said Lee, sourly, as he and Vic looked over the storeroom. "There was very little searching. They just took what they wanted. They must have had a copy of our list."

"All the more reason to suspect either collaborators or some sort of security leak," said Vic, nodding. She was a bit worried that many of the items taken were musical instruments. Were they after the guitar she had claimed? Could the delay in their operation be due to them not finding that?

Vic shook her head. No, that was ridiculous. They must be after something else. A single guitar couldn't be that valuable, to anyone.

"Are you all right?" said Lieutenant Spivak, who was helping them search the storeroom. He was one of the first to recover from the poisoning, and was still obviously not at full capacity. Vic suspected he had checked himself out of the hospital early from a strong sense of duty.

"My wife has been kidnapped and is being held by persons of unknown purpose and dubious morality," said Vic, angrily. "Of course I'm not all right. However, I'm diverting my concern into activity. After we rescue our people I'll have my breakdown."

"Uhm, okay," said Spivak, not at all put at ease by this.

* * *

Another inventory made by the UN and its contractors listed chemicals and pharmaceuticals the new owners had found at various locations on the island. Given that most of the UN personnel were still recovering from their arsenical misadventure, only a couple of two-person teams were assigned to inspect these stockpiles. One of those teams was composed of Vic and Lieutenant Spivak. The second building they checked showed signs of recent access which was not in the records.

The pair came in - carefully - through the front door, for which they actually had keys. This meant their entry was much quieter than if they'd had to break in. There were no signs of current activity, but they were still cautious. Both were in their protective gear - the Lieutenant in his T.O.W.E.R. issued helmet and soft body armor with plates over vital areas - and Spivak had a short assault rifle and a handgun. Vic, of course, was in her own armor and had her martial arts weapons. She had a tonfa in each hand as they made ready for their entrance. They opened the front door and looked inside, peeking around opposite sides of the frame. Spivak shone his weapon-mounted light around; Vic used the light amplification function of her helmet.

"Looks clear," said Spivak, quietly.

Vic tried the wall switch. There was no response.

"No power," said Vic.

"No surprise," said Spivak, turning on his chest-mounted electric torch to augment his weapon light.

They entered cautiously.

"Smells like the pool at a cheap motel in here," said Vic, wrinkling her nose inside her helmet. "My filters haven't activated, though, so the fumes are presumably at a safe level."

"There does seem to be a strong odor of chlorine," said Spivak, with typical English understatement, coughing.

They opened - carefully, being mindful of traps - all the windows, to let in light and fresh air. The pair soon realized that the place had not only been cleaned of all evidence, but literally sterilized.

"Dozens of empty gallon jugs of bleach," said Spivak, sourly, noting the containers scattered around. "Floor's still wet with it. Probably came from the stores here. We won't get any evidence from this place."

"We do know two things from this," said Vic, firmly. "They must be in a DNA database somewhere - at least some of them - or they wouldn't have taken the time and effort needed to clean the place this thoroughly. They were also here for a while, and might also have used this building as quarters."

"I hadn't thought of that," said Spivak. "Either of those, actually. Anyway, the storeroom should be through that door."

It was. Much had obviously and recently been removed. Including all the boxes of rat poison the inventory said should be there.

"Well, that confirms that deduction," said Vic, sourly. "Actually, two or three of them. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any useful evidence here. At least, nothing which could be found without a good forensic team. Hopefully, that can come later."

* * *

Meanwhile, Major Lee and several of the others who had not been affected by the poison were applying different resources to look for both the hostages and those who had taken them. This included using drones developed for military reconnaissance and disaster survivor searching to check the entire island. This was made easier by the reduced activity, since so many of those who were supposed to be on the base were in the infirmary. However, it was still a long slog. Even with IR scanning to help, there was a lot of island to search.

"Just got confirmation that headquarters - with help from several UN member nations - has established a discreet cordon around the island. So the kidnappers can't get away and reinforcements for them can't get in."

"Excellent," said Lee. "Now, let's see if we can find the mercenaries with technology before Vic does that with detective work."

* * *

Actually, both Lee's people and Vic and Spivak were using a mixture of detective work and technology. The mix was different for each group, though.

"They probably cleaned the place at least two days ago," said Vic, after she and the Lieutenant had completed their search of the odoriferous building. "That was before the raid on the hotel. Which means they were already planning to withdraw from there to another place. Where are there isolated buildings which could be used to hold prisoners and house maybe fifty mercenaries?"

"The workers' quarters, on the south part of the island," said Spivak, after a bit of thought, nodding assuredly. "They're just barracks and a kitchen, easy to secure. There's also housing for their overseers nearby. All isolated from the rest of the island, so they're not likely to be noticed."

"I think we should check there next," said Vic.

"No argument."

They were sitting on a low wall outside the storehouse, with their helmets off, the golf cart nearby. Just appreciating the fresh air after the fumes in the building.

"I'll notify Major Lee..."

"No," said Vic, putting her hand on his as Spivak reached for his HT. "Nothing by radio. That could be intercepted. Also, there might be compromised people at the headquarters."

"I keep forgetting you're older than you look," said Spivak, impressed. "As well as more experienced. Yeah, all of that makes sense."

"Oh, my paranoia goes all the way back to my college days," said Vic, rolling her eyes. "Nothing like being the target of a mastermind to make one careful."

"Yow. We've had to deal with a few of those, in T.O.W.E.R., so I understand where you're coming from."

"So, what's the layout of these barracks?" said Vic. "Is there someplace we could look them over without being spotted?"

"Yeah," said Spivak, nodding again, slowly. "A low ridge in the woods nearby. Actually separates the facility from the rest of the island."

Vic stood, grabbing her helmet.

"Let's go tell your boss, then make ready for a trip south."