Genetic Bullets: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 3) Read online

  A Rossler Foundation Mystery

  Genetic Bullets

  A Thriller

  By JC Ryan

  This is the third book in the Rossler Foundation Mystery Series.

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  Copyright 2014 by J C Ryan

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13:978-1500596347

  ISBN-10:1500596345

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  As a way of saying thanks for your purchase, I’m offering you a free eBook which you can download from my website at www.jcryanbooks.com

  MYSTERIES FROM THE ANCIENTS

  10 THOUGHT PROVOKING UNSOLVED ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES

  This book is exclusive to my readers. You will not find this book anywhere else.

  We spend a lot of time researching and documenting our past, yet there are still many questions left unanswered. Our ancestors left a lot of traces for us, and it seems that not all of them were ever meant to be understood. Despite our best efforts, they remain mysteries to this day.

  You will find some fascinating and thought-provoking facts about archaeological discoveries which still has no clear explanation.

  The Great Pyramid at Giza, The Piri Reis Map, Doomsday, Giant Geoglyphs, The Great Flood, Ancient Science and Mathematics, Human Flight, Pyramids, Fertility Stones and the Tower of Babel, Mysterious Tunnels and The Mystery of The Anasazi

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  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 – We have to go back

  Chapter 2 - A healthy and hale young man of only sixty-eight

  Chapter 3 – They MUST go before we go

  Chapter 4 – We demand

  Chapter 5 - My code name is Latet

  Chapter 6 – Team building

  Chapter 7 – Meet the parents

  Chapter 8 – Three passions at Paradise Valley

  Chapter 9 – The stele in the city

  Chapter 10 - That isn’t Arabic, it’s Aramaic!

  Chapter 11 - What is it, Traci?”

  Chapter 12 - We’ve got a situation on our hands

  Chapter 13 – It means jihad

  Chapter 14 - What kind of hell had they dug up down there?

  Chapter 15 - It’s about to hit the fan

  Chapter 16 – “What’s coming is bad”

  Chapter 17 - We all have it

  Chapter 18 – That’s the real McCoy

  Chapter 19 – Time to tell the President

  Chapter 20 - This is what we’re going to do

  Chapter 21 - I’m here to kill it

  Chapter 22 - Heterozygous and Homozygous

  Chapter 23 - Death to the Infidels

  Chapter 24 - It’s important and urgent

  Chapter 25 – Ben is sick

  Chapter 26 - Ten thousand suicide bombers

  Chapter 27 - The time is upon us

  Chapter 28 - Let Rebecca tell you He’s cured?

  Chapter 29 - Nigel I have the commander here

  Chapter 30 - There you are, you son of a bitch!

  Chapter 31 - That damned virus has mutated?

  Chapter 32 - Do I have the legal ability to order that?

  Chapter 33 – We’re going home!

  Chapter 34 - As if the microbes had been dumped from the air

  Chapter 35 - The homecoming

  Chapter 36 - Let us strike on their sacred holiday

  Chapter 37 - We’ll figure it out when we get back

  Chapter 38 - Anything that could go wrong

  Chapter 39 - What the hell’s going on, Daniel?

  Chapter 40 - I’m terrified

  Chapter 41 - May Allah let me …

  Prologue

  In the Year 24,500 of the Ninth Cycle

  Jaasiel walked in the gardens surrounding the hospital where his beloved had lain ill for seven turns. So many had fallen to this illness, but the doctors counseled hope, for there was nothing else to be done. Others railed against the isolation, though that was what brought them here in the first place. This was a beautiful place of peace and tranquility; a place to withdraw from the hurly-burly of business and crowds. Here there was no hunger, no violence, no striving; only peace and beauty.

  But now this quiet, peace, beauty and isolation threatened their very existence. Someone had come here ill, and exposed another. That one exposed two or three others. Soon everyone whose forebears came from the lush valley of the land to the north of the sea and between the impassible mountain ranges were ill, and many had died.

  Adnah would die soon, too, God willing. How she suffered! Jaasiel could see no hope for her recovery. Her body burned; she cried out for relief from the pain. It would have been an act of kindness to press her pillow to her face and let it end. He could not do it, though, and the inability was bitter. He loved her too much to be without her, and not enough to set aside his selfish wish to keep her alive by any means possible, so that, in the event of a miracle, she might be restored to him.

  This agony of indecision and grief made him careless, or perhaps it was because Jaaseil himself was ill, though the symptoms had not yet made themselves known. In any case, his decision was taken from him in that moment, as his foot slipped off the path and he stumbled, then fell. Instantly, before he even had time to register the pain of being burned alive, he was swallowed by the fumarole that steamed beside the path. There should have been a barrier, but Jaaseil didn’t have time to register that thought.

  Not even a scream passed his lips, though an exhalation of surprise disturbed the algae on the surface. His last thought, cut off almost before it formed, was that his beloved would soon be with him in eternity.

  Chapter 1 – We have to go back

  Professor Charles Summers was unaccountably nervous. It annoyed him, because he knew he had widespread support for what he was to present to the Board of the Rossler Foundation today. In fact, partial funding had already allowed him to begin the planning, and everything was set to go except for final funding for the expedition itself. Today’s presentation was just a formality.

  There was little that could go wrong, except that the expedition director, JR Rossler, was a bit of a wild card. Sometimes he didn’t filter his observations, and Summers had reason to understand that he could be volatile. Nevertheless, he’d proved himself both courageous and resourceful on the last trip, and when he requested the position, Summers was happy to take him on this time. Especially since JR’s older brother, Daniel Rossler, was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Rossler Foundation, under whose auspices the expedition would take place.

  Firmly setting aside his nerves, Summers straightened his tie for the last time and stepped out of his office to head for the Board room. As he passed the next office, the door opened, and Dr. Rebecca Mendenhall joined him.

  “Showtime, Dr. Summers.”

  “Indeed, Dr. Mendenhall. Thanks for your support.”

  “Charles, there’s no need to thank me. I’m as eager to get back there as you are. I keep dreaming of a tropical paradise surrounded by Antarctic ice, and the secrets you might find under all those vines.” She gave a ligh
t laugh. It was true, against all odds. The place she dreamed of was as real as the building the two stood in, although a place of mystery, certainly.

  It was also the place where she had come to value JR Rossler as more than a troubled family friend. The dangers they had faced together had served to give JR back his self-respect, stolen by events beyond his control in Afghanistan. Her admiration had become love. Now the thought of being with him in that place again, after all that had happened since then, was like going back for a do-over to perfect an event that had gone wrong, erasing the ugliness of being attacked and having to kill or be killed.

  Besides, it would help JR overcome his demons. His Afghanistan-induced PTSD had worsened in a way, though he had learned to control the self-destructive behavior. He no longer drank himself senseless, or chased anything in a skirt. Rebecca was responsible for that. More than anything, he wanted to keep her respect. He still had moments, though, when he despaired of being a normal person with nothing bothering him but the petty concerns of daily life. That occasional depression was driven by his nightmares of killing the men who had attacked them. Only going back to the place and facing the demons rationally would set him free, Rebecca was convinced. As a medical doctor with significant experience in treating PTSD patients, she had reason to believe she was right.

  Summers and Rebecca arrived together just as Daniel was calling the meeting to order. They hurried to their seats. Across the table, JR winked at Rebecca, who acknowledged him with a smile. Daniel finished his opening remarks and turned the podium over to Summers.

  He cleared his throat. Now that the time was at hand, his nerves were steady. He was prepared; it only remained to begin.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to speak in behalf of the Rossler Foundation’s latest project. I hope you will agree with me that it is vitally important that we complete it as soon as possible. Briefly, we are seeking funding to return to Antarctica, this time to locate and excavate ruins in the hidden valley that we found during last season’s ill-fated expedition. We believe that the only way to honor those who lost their lives earlier this year is to finish the job we went to do at that time.

  “For those of you who have joined this august body since those events, let me briefly recount what occurred. As you all know, the body of knowledge that we refer to as the 10th Cycle Library contains accounts of a civilization that flourished thousands of years ago and was superior in many ways to our own. Their records contain statements that even earlier civilizations existed.

  “Based on the momentous changes the discovery of the 10th Cycle Library has brought us, we would like to believe that you are with us in our desire to uncover the truth of any site that may contain information about those earlier civilizations. The 10th Cycle Library led us to go looking for a site mentioned in the annals, a site purported to be of 9th Cycle origin. We have reason to believe, both from those records and from inscriptions we found in the cave system that led to a wondrous hidden valley, that 10th Cyclers were quite familiar with this valley.

  “The very fact that the valley exists challenges all modern day evidence that Antarctica has been covered in ice for millions of years. We owe it to the world today, as well as to the 10th Cyclers who went to so much trouble to let us know of their existence, to reveal it at last. In fact, this could be one of the most important and exciting scientific expeditions ever undertaken.

  “We now know where the ruins we sought are located, although we didn’t find the location in time to begin exploration last season. As you know, we were attacked by mercenaries sent by the Orion Society, and barely escaped with our lives.

  “Now we are seeking funds to return to finish the job we started. Most of the surviving members of the first expedition are on board and eager to get there as soon as the weather breaks. In front of you are detailed plans for a three-stage expedition, which we hope you will have taken the opportunity to study before now. I will now accept questions.”

  “Why three stages?” asked the member from Australia.

  “We anticipate needing a large crew of excavation workers,” Summers replied. “In order to preserve any and all historically important details in the valley, we propose to house them for the most part in the canyon where we found the cave entrance that leads to the internal valley. That will require that a semi-permanent base camp be constructed for that purpose. As you can see, the first phase is construction. We are using pre-fab buildings flown in by helicopter, as well as heavy equipment that will prepare the site for the buildings. It shouldn’t take longer than a month, including accounting for bad weather at the beginning of the summer season.”

  The member from Chile objected. “Last year you encountered heavy winds as you crossed the Ross Ice Shelf. For nearly a month, as I recall. How can you expect construction to occur in those conditions?”

  “You’re correct, we did,” Summers conceded. “However, last year we were crossing on the ground, in Sno-Cats with trailers attached, which meant that the wind conditions were a bigger problem than they will be if we encounter them this year. The Sikorsky choppers we’ve chartered were built for heavy loads in heavy weather, and of course flying means they won’t be exposed for as long as we were. We anticipate no problems in getting them in and out of the canyon on days when the wind is more subdued. Inside the canyon itself, the canyon floor is somewhat protected from the winds, which generally blow from a direction across, not into, the mouth of the canyon. Are there any more questions?”

  “Yes,” said Australia. “You’ve explained one phase. What about the other two?”

  Someone hadn’t done his homework, reflected Summers. He gathered his patience to answer.

  “The second phase will be just the core group of scientists, including myself and several others, to locate where excavations should take place and begin experiments on the flora and any fauna or human remains that we might find while excavation takes place. Once we find the ruins we expect to find within the valley, we’ll bring in the third phase, the excavation crews and support crew. There is no need to house and feed over fifty extra men for the week or two it will take to map the valley on our own. Does that answer your question? Are there any more?”

  “Yes,” came the answer from a different, and unexpected quarter.

  “JR? What’s your question?”

  “What are we going to do about the Orion Society?”

  Chapter 2 - A healthy and hale young man of only sixty-eight

  Three months earlier

  JR and most of the rest of the surviving members of the expedition were feted and interviewed almost mercilessly after their return. It was to be expected. They had been presumed dead, their survival a miracle in itself. Expected or not, though, some fared better than others. Cyndi Self, the IT specialist and electrical engineer, with her bubbly personality, happily gave interviews whenever asked. Angela Brown, the cartographer, was more retiring, and hated to give on-camera interviews, although she was willing to talk to print journalists.

  Robert Cartwright, the geologist, had flown home from Christchurch while the others returned to Boulder. Maxhulin, aka Roosky, had left Antarctica before the others, having left soon after the avalanche that trapped the other in the valley. Summers was used to giving interviews, but reluctant to talk about the end of the expedition because he feared he hadn’t acquitted himself well, while Rebecca flatly refused, citing her schedule and the disruption for her patients as the reason. However, her real reason was different. JR was in near-seclusion, his family protecting him from requests for interviews for reasons of their own.

  Because everyone expected a new expedition to be mounted at the earliest opportunity, Charles Summers interviewed the survivors to determine their interest in returning to Antarctica despite the fact that they had almost died there. Not surprisingly, everyone wanted closure, and everyone eagerly signed up. That Rebecca and JR had been the first to do so surprised everyone, though.

  JR was a special case. He hadn�
�t volunteered for the first expedition originally, but his reasons for going were inarguable. That his brother felt crushing guilt over the near tragedy was beside the point. Because JR had played a pivotal role in the survival of the five remaining members, his legal troubles stemming from a disorderly conduct charge prior to leaving on the first expedition were now behind him. But his PTSD had been triggered again. Unlike before, when his nightmares were of atrocities he’d witnessed but had not participated in, this time he suffered from nightmares of killing the Orion Society squad that had been sent to kill them.

  Rebecca had witnessed some of his actions, and fully understood his angst. From a psychological perspective, she was intrigued by this manifestation of the specialty she was interested in pursuing. As a woman, her heart hurt for him, the man she had come to admire and love. As a friend of the family, she took every opportunity she had to observe his progress and to be near him. Perhaps it was inevitable that the handsome and psychologically damaged young man and the beautiful and intelligent young woman who loved him would reveal their feelings to each other. Within a month of returning, Rebecca had invited JR to move in with her, welcoming him into her arms as well as her home.

  Once she had him under her influence daily, Rebecca used every tool in her considerable arsenal of medical and psychological arts as well as her generous love and affection to heal him. Her goal was to help JR understand that his actions had been in defense of her and the others, even though the fact that he was outnumbered forced him to use stealth. His sense of honor had been damaged, but Rebecca constantly reminded him that they had been both outnumbered and without weapons adequate to defend themselves. Her mission was to restore his confidence and his self-respect. The return to Paradise Valley, as they had named it, would help to accomplish that.

  Meanwhile, Charles Summers, the lead scientist in both the original expedition and the planned one, wasted no time in beginning to plan for the next one, aided by an interim grant from the Rossler Foundation. They’d brought back sufficient evidence in the form of photos on their cell phones to convince Daniel and the small committee that approved small grants that another expedition was required.