Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [140]
The image of Lola, heavy with her impending child, sprang into her mind. If the Group achieved their goal, the baby would face a grim future where every path had been mapped out in advance by someone else. No choices, no opportunity to find its own way through life . . .
‘Can they actually do it?’ she demanded. ‘I mean, if they got hold of the meteorite, and assuming it really is possible, how long would it take them to carry out this plan? Years? Months?’
‘Weeks,’ Glas told her.
‘Yeah, I was afraid you’d say that.’
‘Could be worse, could’ve been days,’ Eddie offered.
‘They’ve already done a lot of the preliminary work,’ Sophia said, stepping forward, ‘by farming it out to genetic research companies they control – in pieces, so nobody sees the full picture.’
‘Until it’s too late,’ Glas added ominously. ‘They are doing the same thing as the Frosts, and Khalid Osir and his brother. The theoretical work has already been carried out. All they need is a sample of the DNA to put it into practice. As soon as they obtain the meteorite, the plan will begin.’
‘So how long would it take to infect everybody?’ Eddie asked.
‘The virus would spread like any other highly infectious pathogen, such as an influenza strain. It could reach every country in the world within a year, and potentially have infected the entire worldwide population in three.’
‘What about a cure?’ said Nina.
‘The Group won’t develop a cure. That would defeat the purpose of the virus. But they will have an immunising agent, a vaccine. They want to be sure they can choose who will be part of the elite. And like the virus, the vaccine will also work at the genetic level, passing down through generations. It will be the ultimate hereditary dynasty, monopolising power over mankind – over the human will. They must be stopped. At any cost.’
‘You were part of the Group,’ Nina said accusingly. ‘Couldn’t you have talked them out of it?’
‘The Group is, believe it or not, a democracy,’ Glas replied, clearly disgusted by the irony. ‘I was the only member who opposed the plan. When I took my opposition further than just words, they . . . retaliated.’ He looked down at his useless legs. ‘They sent their new attack dog after me – Stikes. My people got me to safety, but only after I had been shot. I was lucky to survive.’
‘They tried to kill you?’
‘They tried to destroy me, in every way. My life, my reputation, my business, were all attacked. I was turned into a criminal without trial.’
‘I know how that feels,’ said Eddie.
‘And you know what it is like to be on the run, Mr Chase.’
‘Yeah. I didn’t have my own personal submarine to use as a hideout, though.’ He waved a disparaging hand at the vessel around them. ‘Only way you could be any more like a Bond villain is if you had a white cat.’
‘It was the only place I could hide from the Group. I’m a businessman, not a soldier – my survival skills are in very different fields from yours. But even from here, I have been able to continue working against the Group. One of my subsidiary companies operates a Spanish fishing fleet; we surface and take on supplies from its trawlers out at sea.’
‘And when you surface, you also give orders to your people, right?’ said Nina in a cold voice. ‘Orders like “Kill Nina Wilde”.’
Glas nodded. ‘But that order can now be rescinded. All you have to do is one thing.’
‘Destroy the statues.’
‘Yes. Without them, the Group will not be able to find the meteorite. And without the meteorite, they cannot carry out their plan. Humanity’s freedom will be protected.’
‘It still leaves a bunch of powerful arseholes in control, though,’ Eddie observed.
‘But at least it will be possible to resist them.’
‘So we destroy the statues,’ said Nina. ‘Then what? Warden and his buddies will be kinda mad at us.’
‘They will. But in the end, they are businessmen