Wired - Douglas E. Richards [50]
Desh shook his head irritably. “That’s bullshit and you know it!” he snapped. “Getting the secret of extended life is the primary purpose of the Op.” Before Smith could respond he added, “Suppose I had her in my sights, and I knew for certain that killing her would end the bioterror threat. Would you have me pull the trigger?”
“It’s not as easy as that,” replied Smith. “We need to know what she knows about the Ebola plot. Taking her alive could well be the only way to stop it.”
“You’re ducking the question. I asked a hypothetical. Would you support killing her if you knew, with certainty, that this would end the threat? Suppose, even, it was the only way to end the threat.” He stared intently at the wiry driver. “Well?”
Smith hesitated. “It still isn’t that simple. If you killed her, you might stop the murder of several million people, but at the expense of extended life for all of humankind now and in future generations. Where do you draw the line? Would you save two million people from dying an average of thirty years sooner than otherwise, even if you knew it was at the cost of preventing more than six billion people, in this generation alone, from living longer? Say an average of seventy years longer?”
“I see,” said Desh in disgust. “So it’s just a tradeoff. An easily solved mathematical calculation.”
“Not necessarily. But there are important considerations that need to be made. Who’s to say that humanity will ever have this chance again?”
“So if two million people have to be sacrificed for the greater good, so be it?”
“Look, the point is we’re talking about a hypothetical here. It’s unlikely that killing her will stop the bioterror threat. In fact, it’s more likely that killing her before she can be interrogated will end any chance we’ll ever have of stopping it. So no tradeoff needs to be made. Capturing her alive is critical to stopping the Ebola threat and to getting the secret of life extension.”
“Maybe,” said Desh dubiously. “But I doubt it. She’s the only one capable of perfecting the virus they’re planning to use. Unless it’s ready to go, everything I know tells me that killing her will end the threat. But regardless of whether you believe that or not, just do me the favor of not pretending this is mostly about bioterror.”
Smith frowned. “Even if I conceded your point, how does this change anything? Kira Miller is still out there somewhere, and we have to find her.” He paused and then added pointedly, “And you could be the key. She took a huge risk capturing you. The question is … why?”
“I don’t have any idea.”
“Another move that doesn’t make any sense,” said Smith in frustration. “If all she wanted was muscle, she could have as much as she needed at any time. You’re not wealthy or highly-placed. As good as you are, with her brilliance and resources and unknown benefactors, you had very little chance of finding her. Given everything we know, you don’t merit even becoming a pawn in her chess game, let alone a piece of higher value. But the risk she took was uncharacteristic, so we must be missing something.”
“I’m just as mystified as you are.”
“I doubt we’ll ever figure it out,” said Smith. “Her enhanced mind can work on a plane that we can’t come close to reaching. The question is,” he added pointedly, “are you still important to her for some reason?”
“Why do I suddenly feel like a worm right before the fisherman sticks it on a hook?”
“Look, Mr. Desh, you represent an unprecedented opportunity to finally get a handle on this woman. We have to seize this chance. Will you help us?”
Desh considered. There was still something about Smith that he didn’t quite trust. His gut told him there was far more to this story. But regardless of Smith’s ultimate motivations, there was no question Kira Miller had to be stopped. And Desh knew that, alone, he was overmatched. And even if he refused to help further, this wouldn’t stop Kira from coming after