The Wuhan Mission

The anti-viral drug needed merely to be tweaked in a few minor ways to be effective on the virus he had engineered for the Chairman. The beauty of the antidote was that it could be administered before or after infection, and would cure most patients if introduced before too much damage was done to the respiratory system. However, in the back of his mind there lingered the concern that the antidote could not work beyond a certain timeframe on a ‘mutating virus.’

By the end of the day he would have the antidote which he would color green, to prevent any confusion when the special travel vials tubes were handed over for mass production.

As Dr. Wu opened the bio-hazard safe and slid the test-tube rack out, placing the green antidote vial into a vacant slot, he thought about the version of the virus he had labelled: “SARS-CoV-X” that had the ability to mutate. He had colored this version ‘red’ and nicknamed it the “Red Virus” in his notes. He had marked it for incineration. According to his limited experiments with the Red Virus, the antidote would likely only work for a year or so until the virus had mutated enough to be invulnerable to it. There would be no antidote that would offset the virus after a couple of mutations. As the virus changed, the antidote would also have to change. That’s why the red version had to be destroyed when work was completed. He would have loved to have worked with the Red Virus for a while to see the extent of its ability to mutate, but alas, the Chairman had put him on a deadline.

*

The three men in cheap suits passed through the front doors of the Virology Building. To Xue Lin, they looked different to most men, awkward, nerdy with unfashionable glasses and poorly cut pant cuffs that were all slightly the wrong length. Xue Lin ran a mental profile as they emerged from the security area with their briefcases still in hand. They walked, talked and dressed like scientists.

“If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck…” thought Xue Lin.

Dr. Wu appeared at his lab’s security door between the two guards, opened it and ushered the three visiting scientists into the secure area. All of them, including Wu, wore stern faces, almost scared. There were no smiles, no warm greetings, and not really any polite interaction at all. It was extremely odd. Xue Lin ran more scenarios in her head as she’d been trained to do. She needed to be flexible with her plans. Things were developing now and she could be forced to move up her schedule.

The three scientists followed Dr. Wu through the security door, and out of Xue Lin’s line of sight.

Inside Wu’s secure lab, the men all sat down at the central table and opened their briefcases containing folders of confidential files. One of the men extracted a folder and spread the contents on the table for Wu to examine. Dr. Wu picked up the first page which had a heading:

Central Military Commission

Directive: Vaccine 5G 2.0

Authors: Dr. Wenliang, Dr. Wang, Dr. Xiang, Dr. Wu

*

The following morning Xue Lin wore her new running shoes to break them in a little and she had finally gotten around to sharpening her metal chopsticks. They now had deadly, razor sharp points. The front security guard had become accustomed to a small reading in the metal detector whenever Xue Lin went through, and no longer stopped her to examine them.

She went straight to the break room to make her green tea. It was always quiet in there at 9AM as all the workers wanted to be seen at their desks at the start of the day. On her way back to her desk she slowed as she passed near the security area. The three brown suits had just shown up again at the building. Today was their third visit. She returned to her desk and went back to her official work as the men made their way through security and up the hall to Dr. Wu’s lab.

*

Dr. Wu felt a little more relaxed this morning as he greeted his three new colleagues. Today they would complete “Vaccine 5G 2.0” for the Chinese Communist Party. None of them, including Wu, had verbally expressed any sentiments regarding the intended use of the tainted vaccine, though each could surmise an obvious shame in each of the other scientist’s faces. It was never safe to criticize the Party as it was every citizen’s duty to inform on those who talk critically about the Government, and one could never predict when someone close would inform, either out of spite or to save their own skin.