Absolute Power

Absolute Power 4: Crusade (Part 1) By Joan Banks

Judicious use of the clutch didn't help anymore. A car did not coast forever on flat roads. Through all the verbal coaxing and threats, the car finally died.

"Out of gas?" Sarah asked.

"Ya think?" Debby snapped back. "Now can we do something about this?"

"Hey, I'm sorry. We were too close to the last obvious spot. Too close together and BAM! Casper shows up. Or maybe that goon of his, your friend, Stan."

"Lay off, will you? The guy isn't all bad."

"Yeah, right." Sarah got out of the car "Remember to put it into neutral this time, okay?" She positioned herself against the trunk.

"It was only that one time." Debby protested, "And we almost got all of the hand dents out of the trunk. Okay, we're in neutral. Hey!"

The car lurched forward as Sarah pushed. Luckily no other cars were on the road or they would be very surprised to see the cute young girl pushing a car at fifty miles an hour.

"Two miles!" Debby called out the window. The car lurched forward with even more speed. Suddenly the passenger door opened and her friend, windswept and covered in a thin layer of dirt, pushed through the wind and got into the rapidly moving car.

The car lost momentum just outside of a small town. It wasn't much of a town, really, just a gas station, motel, a small store and a tavern. In front of the tavern were about twenty motorcycles.

"Arm wrestle?" Debby asked Sarah hopefully. She loved the arm wrestling bet.

"Too close. It'll have to be the shots." Sarah shook her head.

"I hate the shots." Debby muttered under her breath. "I always have to do the shots. I pee for hours after shots!" she ranted, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. She turned back to her friend. She was gone. The door of the ladies room at the gas station slammed shut and clicked.

Five minutes later Sarah emerged, looking like a bikers dream. She wore a halter-top that barely contained her (now D cup) breasts and shorts that barely covered her butt cheeks. She wore thigh high boots with a five inch heel.

"How do I look?" she asked Debby.

"Forgot your whip." Debby quipped. Sarah looked embarrassed. "Just kidding, you look great. Now give me a minute."

"Light isn't so great in there." Her leather-clad friend said, "Be careful."

Twenty minutes later two scantily clad women entered the bar. Instantly every male eye gravitated to them. Every woman in sight hated them on sight. Beers were waiting at the bar.

It wasn't a bad way to make money, Debby thought. They were drinking their free drinks and flirting with the bikers in the room. Debby made a point of drinking much more than anyone around. At one point, after Sarah returned from the bathroom, the two women shared a knowing glance. The game was on.

"None of you guys can hold your alcohol." Sarah blurted out in the slurred yell that denoted drunkenness.

"Maybe you've had enough, Sar." The bartender tried to quiet her down. She pushed away from the bar and yelled louder.

"I could out drin' any... one in the place!" she said louder. Debby tried to quiet her.

"Oh yeah." One of the bikers pushed to the front of the gathering crowd. "Put your money where your mouth is."

"I..." she swallowed "...am so sure that you can't hold your booze that I would bet that even Deb!" she pointed to her quiet, really drunk friend "Could out drink anyone in this room that you name!"

"I got a hundred bucks says you can't."

"Don' got no money." She said and belched. "Tell you what. Each of you gives me a hundred if we win. We sleep with anyone who puts up the money if we lose."

"What do you mean sleep? What exactly?" one of the others chimed in eagerly.

"You know..." she made a crude thrusting gesture. "Horizontal mambo. Do the nasty. Bumpin' uglies." She held her hand next to her mouth and made a mock whisper "You know... sex. Shhh." She stumbled back to her barstool.

"I'm in."

"Me too!"

Ten of the men held cash into the air. The bartender held the money on the bar and produced a large bottle of tequila.

"I don' kno'" Debby protested. "I jus' wanna go sleep."

"You gotta. Or we gotta sleep with these guys."

"Okay." Sleepily she pushed her way to the table. The other seat was empty. The chanting began.

"Mongo, Mongo!" the crowd chanted. An old biker, probably 300 pounds turned the chair backwards and sat straddling it. He put his money on the table. He had a scraggly beard, and bandana tying his long graying hair back, and surprisingly clear eyes. He smiled.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." He smiled crookedly, exposing many missing teeth. Debby gulped. The money was handed to the bartender and the game was on.

Mongo took the bottle and poured each of them a shot of the tequila. He took his and poured it down his throat, not even bothering to swallow. He slammed the shot glass upside-down on the table. Debby stared at the shot glass. She belched and everyone laughed. A slightly angry/determined look crossed her face and she also threw the shot down her throat. She slammed the glass on the table as well. Mongo just smiled at her.

An hour later they were still at it. A mountain of shot glasses covered the table. Everyone expected Debby to just fall over dead, but she kept plodding along.

Sarah smiled and stayed near the bartender.

"You gonna stop her?" the bartender asked.

"Why? She's gonna win." She smiled. What the bartender didn't know is that Debby now sported several invisible enhancements. Her gag reflex was totally missing and her liver was working at ten times a normal person's capacity. Her bladder had 5 times the normal capacity and her taste buds were dulled.

Debby could do this all night. She wasn't drunk in the least.

Debby and Sarah ran like their lives depended on it. The car was parked on the street, doors unlocked, facing in the direction they wanted to go, east. Sarah took the wheel and Debby bustled into the passenger seat.

"You forget something..." Debby asked "We're out of ga..." The engine roared to life.

"Did you think all I did was go to the bathroom?" Sarah smiled. She started driving down the street at regular pace, well within the speed limit.

"Uh... faster?" Debby pounded the floor with her foot as if there were an accelerator on her side of the car.

"No need." Sarah smiled that grin that Debby sometimes wanted to knock off of her silly young face. Motorcycles roared to life.

"Sarah!" Debby was panicked. Sarah laughed. The motorcycles were out in the street and catching up fast.

Sarah stopped at the stop sign, checked the intersection, and started forward. The roar of the cycles was almost deafening.

"SARAH!" Debby was not happy one bit.

The roar stopped. She heard the sound of swearing fading off into the distance. Debby punched Sarah in the arm.

"Why do you do that?" she asked. Sarah ignored the question.

"What'd we get?" Sarah asked her miffed friend. Debby took out the money and fanned it out.

"Eleven hundred dollars cash, a plate of hot wings, and apparently about fifteen gallons of gas."

They were still laughing when the police pulled them over.

"I don't believe what I am hearing. You're insane!" Stan's wife, Molly blocked the child's bedroom with her body.

"You aren't taking my baby away!" she was hysterical. Without losing her position in front of the door she grabbed the cordless phone. Her hands shook as she looked down at the numbers.

"Molly, honey. You don't understand..." he tried his soothing voice. Speaking calmly in the middle of a fight is a similar technique to using a fake accent to get people who don't speak your language to understand. It doesn't work.

"What is there to understand?" she shrieked "You think..." she lowered her voice "You think she is a MONSTER!" she emphasized in her near whisper. "How can you say that!"

"She's not natural, honey. We don't know what she is. We thought we did, but now we don't." His calming voice was still not getting the desired effect.

"What she IS? She's a little girl, Stan. She's a bright, beautiful, scared little girl. And she needs a mother and a fath..." RING! The phone in her hand rang.

"Hello?" She said, her voice shaking. "He's right here." She handed the phone to Stan. "It's Casper."

He grabbed the phone. Holding his hand over the receiver he whispered, "Don't call him that!"

"This is Stan." He spoke into the handset. Molly maintained her vigil in front of the door.

"Is everything alright, Stanley?" Casper asked, his voice rasping mechanically.

"Sure, Mr. Collins, just fine."

"We are ready to begin. Come to the center now."

"I understand." Both of them hung up. Molly was now holding the child in question, Sarah, in her arms. The girl was acting scared. ACTING, he knew that the child's actions were fake. Molly was fawning all over her. When Molly couldn't see, the five year old winked at him and smiled an evil smile.

The situation will keep, he thought, but for how long?

His wife would hear nothing from him. So, without a word, he grabbed his jacket and left the house. He was unsure of what he was leaving and even more unsure of what he was getting into.

"Time to get up, ladies!" The Sheriff struck the bars, jolting both of them awake. The man opened the cell door and placed two large envelopes on the table. A small TV was on the desk. A pretty young weather girl was reporting an occluded front going through...

"Blood test came up negative." He sniffed "Go figure. Fifteen people swore up and down that you were plastered last night. There wasn't a trace in your system." He handed them inventory sheets for their personal belongings in the envelopes. Both women opened the envelopes and started going through what was inside.

"Where's the rest?" Debby asked. There was only $500 in the envelope. The Sheriff looked at the inventory sheet.

"Say's here $500. That's what you got." He turned to Sarah "So what were you drinkin' last night, Ginger Ale?"

"Yeah, Ginger Ale. So where's our money?"

"Miss Sarah Brooks." He picked up Sarah's envelope, now empty, and read the name "For someone who doesn't exist, you sure are asking a lot of questions. Fraud is a serious offence in these parts..."

"Fine." Debby finally relented "Now where's our car?"

"Impound lot. It'll be open at 9. Lotta people wanted to mess it up last night. Wanted to mess YOU up last night, as a matter of fact. Billy will be around..."

"Shh!" Debby held up a hand. She was focused on the news.

"The Pediatric Flu has taken on epidemic proportions. We here at channel 7 know of only a handful of children under the age of 10 who have not yet contracted the disease. Pediatric wards are overflowing and it is only a matter of time before the first casualty. What this reporter wants to know is:"

"Where is the Whisperer?"

Far away, Casper Collins laughed a sinister laugh and gestured to Montgomery to switch the television off.

Debby's old hospital was a far different place than what they remembered. Large corrugated hoses led from several windows into large machines that looked like industrial air conditioners. The area around the hospital was a hum of activity. Hundreds of people in biological protection suits continued about their daily business. Debby and Sarah, in their nursing garb, proceeded through the main door. Right inside, a man in a National Guard uniform stopped them.

"ID's?" he asked. His face had no humor in it. He was only about 20 years old but his eyes looked worn, older.

"We've been on vacation. We don't have the new ID yet. We're here to get it."

"New ID's have been used for the last six months. Name?" It was like talking to a robot.

"Debby Waters." He checked the list.

"You're not on here." He shook his head "I take it your friend isn't either?"

Sarah shook her head.

"Listen." He continued "I know you probably have a kid in there." He said to Debby. He looked at Sarah "A little brother or sister, right? The quarantine is real, folks. I'm sorry. If you go in, you don't come out. Let the doctors do their work." He snapped their pictures with a digital camera.

"I am sending this to the other guards. You're not the first two to try this. I'm so sorry. I'm sure everything will be okay." His words didn't sound convincing. Knowing they were beaten for the moment, they turned and left.

They parked in front of Kristens' apartment until she showed up. She invited them up.

"So what are you doing here?" Kirsten asked.

"Are you kidding?" Sarah and Debby asked in unison "We're here to help."

"You didn't hear?" she asked them. "They've been showing it every fifteen minutes on CNN." She switched on the set.

"...the result of a weakening of the immune system and the introduction of alien microbes into the bloodstream. This is the only explanation for the Pandemic. There is only one possible cause, the people known as whisperers." The scene cut to a map of the Denver area.

"Here are the known centers for the disease. Each one is the center of places where Larry Jacobs supposedly healed hundreds of people. Microbes found in every patient have no known natural origin. Their only explanation is an extra terrestrial construction. These whisperers are out to dominate and destroy the human race." The scene changed again to an old man in an isolation chamber, Casper Collins. He looked as if he were already dead but he just didn't have the sense to stop moving.

"My scientists are working around the clock to find the cure to this evil menace." He wheezed a terrible rasping breath, "These people must be stopped and captured. Only then can we hope to survive as a species. If you know the whereabouts of someone or suspect someone of being one of these creatures, call this number below." An 800 number flashed on the screen. "Do not try to apprehend them or communicate with them. They are very dangerous. Here are the known whisperers." A picture flashed up, a split screen of Larry and Sarah "There are no doubt others. God help us all."

Kirsten just stared at them.

"What?" Debby asked, "You don't think that's true?"

Kirsten thought for a minute.

"Is it?"

"No, of course not!" Sarah yelled. Kirsten started sobbing.

"I'm so glad. After what you did. If it was all because your people wanted to invade..."

"I am getting so sick of people saying there are so many of me!" Sarah started on a tirade "It's me! Only me! I am the only one!"

"But what about Larry Jacobs?" tears still on her face, Kirsten asked matter-of-factly (as if this proved her wrong). Sarah turned beet red, and Debby stifled a giggle.

"What?" Kirsten asked.

"I'm Larry Jacobs." Sarah said. Kirsten and Debby just laughed.

"No, really. What?" Kirsten asked falling to a seat on the couch.

"It's true!" Sarah said, hands on her hips in a very female pose.

"I'm sorry... sir..." she started laughing again "There is no way in the world you are a man." Sarah's blush turned into an angry flush. She took a deep breath and sat on the chair, arms crossed across her ample chest.

"It's true." Debby said, still laughing, "It was the only way he could help people."

But why are you still... you know?"

"A girl?"

"Yeah. I mean are you a little..." Kirsten held her hand in a limp wrested gesture.

"No! I got stuck this way. I can't change back."

"Why?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Debby interrupted "We've been searching for..." she looked at Sarah. Sarah nodded her assent "...for the Genie who gave her... him these powers. He could tell us why she... he's stuck."

"Just use she!" Sarah said, "It'll confuse people a lot less."

"A Genie?" Kirsten was surprised "Why didn't you wish for a million dollars? Why didn..." she stepped over to Sarah.

"I'm sorry honey." Kirsten put a hand on Sarah's "I never would have guessed. Your mannerisms are perfect."

"Practice makes perfect." Sarah said glumly "but I don't have to like it."

"Okay, Sarah." Kirsten's tone was suddenly serious and she stared directly into her eyes "Can you help these children?"

"I can."

"Then let's get you into the hospital."

Dressed in isolation suits, Sarah and Kirsten entered the pediatric ward. Air filters in the suit were loud and cumbersome, a backpack that you carried around with you.

"Are you ready?" Kirsten's tinny voice asked. Sarah nodded. They entered the first room.

The room, designed for four beds, now sported ten. Maneuvering between them was difficult. Sarah picked up the chart of the first child. The readings were a nightmare, Jessica Stevens, age 8. She showed an increasing temperature, lowering blood pressure and a host of other problems. The diagnosis: Whisperer Flu 1A".

"These are the first cases. We've found nearly fifty varieties 1-A through 1-AQ."

"Nice touch on the name." Sarah sneered (although no one could see it).

"That's new. Can we do anything?"

"Whisperer 1-A." Sarah said. "Okay, let's go."

"That's IT?"

"Yep. What's next?" Kirsten led Sarah throughout the wing, healing as they went. An hour later, they checked out and left.

"I found a place for you and Deb to stay." Kirsten said on the drive home, "My one bedroom won't fit all of us. One of the nurses was in there before the exposure suits. You can housesit until she is out."

"Is she okay?"

"Fine, not a symptom. Adults don't catch this."

"Debby! How you doin'?" Bull was ecstatic at greeting her. Well out of character, he gave her a bear hug.

"We're fine, Bull. You?" she returned the hug and tried to loosen his grip on her.

"Can't complain. Outta the car business now, anyway." He got the hint and let go. "Into helpin' people now."

"Can you do us a favor?"

"Anything."

"I could use a few items that I can't get at Wal-Mart..."

House sitting was a great idea, Debby thought. A comfortable place to unwind and maybe, just maybe, put some order into our lives.

She awoke from her nights sleep refreshed and invigorated. There were two more hospitals that Kirsten could get Sarah into today, and she and Bull had some 'projects' to complete.

Sarah wasn't in her room, she noticed. She knew that Sarah was still upset about her talk with Kirsten yesterday. Talking about being a 35- year-old man trapped in the body of a 19 year old girl made it all the more real. Apparently she would never be Larry again. Sarah was quiet and moody all night.

Debby walked to the living room. She noticed from the hallway that the lights were on. She stopped. Poking over the top of the couch was a man's head. Kirsten was very specific; no one would be coming to the house. Not knowing what else to grab, she took a plunger from the bathroom.

She held the plunger over her head, ready to crack it down on the mans' skull. She went back into the living room.

"Put you hands on top of your head." Debby commanded. The man's head jerked a little but complied.

"Get on your knees facing the television." He did.

"Deb..."

"Quiet! Now if you answer my questions, I may not shoot you." The man stood and turned so fast that Debby couldn't even react. The plunger was grabbed from her hand and she was confronted by a face from her past.

"Careful with this thing." The man smiled, "It might go off."

"Larry?"

The phone woke Kirsten up from a sound sleep. Knowing that they had helped all those children helped her to finally sleep the whole night through. The phone was an unwanted interruption.

"Hello?" she answered. "I understand. I'll be there soon."

"Damn!" She swore, slamming the phone into its hook. She dialed again furiously.

"Debby. It's Kirsten. Tell Sarah it didn't work. They're all sicker than before. She made it worse."

The screen in Stan's office flashed to life.

"Stanley." Casper Collins stern voice reverberated through the speakers. Stan, who was leaning over his desk, fell back into his chair.

"Why do you do that?" Stan asked, "Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Oh, we don't want that. I need you for the campaign now."

"You know how I feel about this, Casper." He crossed his arms and glared at the monitor.

"Stanley, my boy. You know I would never hurt children. They will all be fine."

"How? You've starting this pandemic. There are so many flu's out there that they don't even have names for all of them yet."

Casper paused for a moment and then continued.

"You aren't looking at the big picture. Not seeing the forest for the trees. It is a very simple thing to do, after we get what we want."

"How exactly will you pull off that miracle?" he was not convinced.

"I need you to prepare one of the vehicles." Casper ignored the question. "Armored transport with driver security. Have them on a 30 minute alert."

"I am not calling anyone until you answer my question."

"This is tiresome, Stanley. Has YOUR child contracted the disease? No. That darling little child will not be harmed during this entire process, not even a sniffle."

"You're avoiding the question."

"Very well. Do you understand disease vectors?" Casper asked. Stan thought about his son, Jimmy, and the terrible disease that took him away from them.

"Yes."

"Good. Now what we have engineered is a mother virus, something we haven't seen before. Every time it finds a system that is not infected with one of its sub viruses it generates a new one. Our friend will not be able to keep up with the changes. The symptom virus can be cured but the mother virus, XPG 4037, will make something nastier each time."

"How does this get her into our hands?"

"That's the beauty, she's to blame. She cannot show her face in society again, a Typhoid Mary. We give out the cure when she becomes one of our team. She will not be able to go anywhere else."

"How long will that take?"

"That depends on you and how quickly you get the transport ready! I anticipate two to three days at maximum."

"The news said the first victims could die within a day..."

"This is a war. Soldiers die! There deaths will make our hold all that much stronger." Casper stopped for a moment to breathe from a mask at his side. "I hope your family remains healthy. Get me that transport."

The old man cut the connection.

Instantly Stan tried to call his house. The phone was busy. For ten minutes he tried. No luck. He had to stall for time. He picked up the phone and called the motor pool.

"Prepare transport 7G. Protocol Mask."

With that single phone call, he sentenced people to their deaths. He was taking away their only hope. But it may have given him a chance to save his wife and the child. He lay his head down on the desk in despair. The phone rang.

"Hello?" it was his wife "Honey, you're okay! I need you to get out of there, fast. Don't pack a bag just go to your Mothers'. Hurry!" His wife calmly agreed and hung up the phone.

He sighed in relief. At least his wife would be safe.

"Larry, is that you?"

"Yes and no." His voice sounded strange. There was a lack of depth in the resonance. It was like his voice but not really. His face was smooth, like a woman's and he held his arms in distinctly female poses.

"This is as close as I could come." He said in his androgynous voice. "I'm still not... a man. If you know what I mean."

"Oh... OH!"

"And there's this." He took a steak knife off the coffee table and cut his arm. "Heal." He said.

The form of Sarah popped back. A young, vivacious woman stood where the simulation of a man had been.

"I just fall back into this." She started to cry, falling back onto the couch. "So close! I'm still stuck!"

The phone rang. Debby answered it.

"Oh, hi Sarah." She said. She listened for a moment. "Oh my God."

She hung up the phone and stared in shock.

"It didn't work." She said in a dead tone "The children are dying."

Bull and Debby sat at the library. Debby was still in shock over Sarah's failure but she continued to research on the Internet. On a whim, she checked the email.

There was one message. The mail had no return address. It read:

If you want to see an end to this then phone me at

1-800-555-4848.

Sincerely yours,

CC

"I can help with this." Bull said, "We need to see an old friend."

"A simple matter of misdirection." The old man said to the group. Debby, Sarah, Kirsten and Bull sat in various chairs around the coffee table. "We're calling from Istanbul for all they will know."

A mass of wires stuck out of the speakerphone on the table. Various wires patched into antennas and one went into the back of a computer in the dining room.

"I love what you've done with the place." Sarah said.

"I believe the time for secrecy between us is through. Your appearance has changed quite a bit since our last meeting."

"Yes." Sarah said, "It is one of the things I can do."

"You should have seen her before." Kirsten snorted, trying to lighten up the mood. Sarah and Debby glared at her.

"Fine, we are among friends here." Sarah explained to everyone about her stuck transformation. Bull was taken aback and seemed uncomfortable with the idea.

"You're a guy and you're stuck as a chick?"

"That's about it."

"Geez, sorry man. At least you picked a good one."

"We better get to the call. So, how does this work?" Debby redirected the conversation.

The man, known to all of them as 'Mr. Z', continued his explanation.

"We direct the signal through a network and misdirect its apparent origin. It is very technical but untraceable for a call under twenty minutes."

"That should be all we need. Dial the number."

The phone rang once. An operator answered.

"Hold please." Light jazz music came on.

"Ah, the mysterious whisperer, at last." There was joy in the old man's voice "You no doubt know who I am?"

"Casper." Debby answered.

"Yes, Deborah, it is I. You like my little play?"

"What play is that?" Sarah snapped, "People are dying. Children are dying."

"Of course they are, my dear, and you want to help them. That is the whole point really. Now I suppose you are wondering what it will take to get this whole mess over with?"

"Of course." Sarah leaned over the speaker. "What kind of monster are you?"

"I want you, my dear." Casper ignored the question "You turn yourself over to me and the clinics will get the antidote. Very simple."

"Why should we trust you?" Bull interrupted.

"Sounds like a party there." Casper's glee showed in his response "You just have to. I don't want to have to kill children. Come to Eastside Hospital in two hours. You'll know what to do. And do come alone. The antidote will be sent to the Center for Disease Control as soon as you arrive. Do have a WONDERFUL day!" Casper cut the line and Mr. Z did the same.

The entire group erupted with ideas. There was no way that they could trust this guy, but what choice did they have. Kirsten wanted to check out the CDC angle and left to try and find out what could be done there. The antidote might already be found, after all.

After forty minutes of fighting, Bull pulled Sarah into the kitchen.

"I've got an idea..."

Casper looked up from his phone and smiled. Everything was falling into place!

"Montgomery?"

The lumbering giant walked up to the crippled old man. He stood quietly.

"Go with Dr. Drake. He will prepare you for plan B."

Montgomery's eyes opened wide in fear. He took a step back.

"Don't argue, Montgomery, this is what you were built for. Accept your destiny, my son!" Casper touched a button on the desk. Six large men, although none approached the size of Montgomery, entered and led the quiet man out of the room. His eyes were full of panic and fear. Fear of not doing what Casper wanted and fear of what would happen if he did.

Casper rubbed his hands together anxiously.

"Excellent, if she comes through eternal youth for me. If she doesn't then Montgomery is still an excellent physical specimen. I can't lose." He punched a button.

"Stanley! Send the transport to Eastside hospital."

"Uh... yes. Yes sir." Stan waited for the telltale click of the severed line.

Carefully Stan disconnected his eavesdropping circuit. He knew he must act now.

Sarah stood in front of the hospital. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt she didn't attract much attention. Since she was not trying to enter, the guards ignored her. Debby and Kirsten watched from the shadows of an alley across the street. Sarah just waited.

The armored car looked like something from some futuristic war movie. The plating was as thick as vault doors and there was no driver apparent. The carrier moved on two tank tracks that crunched the edge of the sidewalk as it stopped just beyond Sarah. A loudspeaker blared.

"Get in." The back door of the transport opened like the mouth of a whale. Inside was a single chair, bolted to the floor. The arms and legs of the chair had large clamps where her arms and legs would go. She would be trapped.

"Get in." The voice said again. She walked into the vehicle, tripping on the door. The door closed and she was caught in the darkness.

"No!" Kirsten yelled. Debby held her back. "What're you doing? She's our only hope."

"Just wait. I know it's hard, just wait."

Inside the vehicle a light kicked on and the voice sounded again.

"Sit." Reluctantly, she sat. The clamps snapped around her arms and legs with a life of their own. Her wrist was pinched in one of the shackles. It bled profusely. After a few moments the bleeding stopped.

With no more word, the truck drove off.

"Make the call." Debby told her, a tear down her own cheek.

"How can you be so calm?" Kirsten yelled at her.

"Just make the call." Debby said.

"Charlie, phone!" the CDC Watch Captain yelled across the room. The room was insane with activity. Everybody had a theory about these mystery illnesses but no one was gaining any ground.

"Who is it?" Charlie Kirk asked, loud enough to be above the noise of the room.

"Some girl. Says you should have gotten a package."

"I didn't get any package." The other man turned back to the phone.

"Lady, we didn't get nothin'. What?" he yelled to Charlie again.

"She says it's real important."

"Divorce papers?"

"No, the cure for the Whisperer Flu!" Both men laughed. He turned to the phone again.

"No lady. If we get a cure, we'll let you know." He hung up the phone "Crackpot."

"Hello! Hello!!" Kirsten screamed into the phone. She dropped it to the ground. "They didn't get it. Sarah gave up for nothing."

Someone exited the shadows behind Debby. A woman put her hand on Kirsten's shoulder.

"Not for nothing." Sarah said to the shocked woman on the ground "Now we know."

"But who? I mean I saw..." Kirsten's tears were drying, but she was still confused "So that's..."

"Bull." Sarah said solemnly "We can only pray that he can hold out."

Bull rode in the twilight darkness of the transport. Slowly it moved down the streets. Pretty smooth ride, Bull thought, gotta get me one of these. Despite the smoothness of the ride his breasts bounced slightly with the vibration of the vehicle. His hair was now around shoulder length and had a tendency to fall in front of his face. He tried to blow it off, but that only worked for a few seconds at best. The shackles were padded, at least, but there was no way he was going to get free on his own.

Stan's car tore through the streets of Denver, at least it tried to. Roadblocks were set up every few blocks surrounding the hospital and it took copious use of his GeronTech ID to get through. He didn't know if he would make it in time. Seeing another road block ahead, he pulled into an alley and almost killed the very people he was looking for. Staring in his headlights were three women, two he knew, and those two would make everything work out fine.

He nearly strangled himself on the seatbelt when he got out of the car. Releasing it he ran up to them screaming.

"Don't. It's a trap!" He yelled. Sarah held both arms to his sides and lifted him into the air.

"I should kill you now." She said, a murderous fire in her eyes. Debby stopped her.

"Sarah, this doesn't make sense." She said, "Let's hear what he has to say. Put him down!"

Sarah thought about it for a moment and dropped him.

"Don't get in that transport." He said, "Collins has no intention of giving out the antidote."

"No kidding." Kirsten chimed in; she looked at her friends "I take it this is one of Casper's Cronies?"

The other women nodded. Stan rubbed his arms.

"Was." He said, "I was one of his cronies. God help me but I ain't no more." He pushed himself to his feet. He handed a notebook to Sarah.

"This," he said, "is the genetic structure of the mother virus. I've been spying on Casper for weeks now. It replicates at an amazing rate. I don't know if this is what you need but..."

"Does it have a name?" Sarah said, "All I need is a name."

An endless time later, the transport stopped. Bull could tell they were backing up to something. There was a shudder and a sharp click. The motion stopped. The shackled unlocked and the door opened. The light in the hall was blinding. There was no one in sight.

There was a heavy seal between the transport and the door. The passageway had no doors and the walls looked to be a heavy gauge metal. Bull walked forward. He was so scared he barely noticed that his walk had shifted to a more feminine gate. Bull went into the room at the end of the hall. The door locked behind him.

"Sarah. Is it?" Casper Collins voice spoke from everywhere.

"Yeah." Bull replied.

"You no doubt are wondering why I've asked you here." Casper started laughing, which soon degraded into a hacking cough.

"Pretty obvious."

"Well, you are going to stay here with me, happily."

"How's that?"

"You see, the disease YOU caused will take its first victim in approximately one hour. There is no antidote. You will be the most hated person on the planet." He laughed again. "I am the only one who can protect you so you will gratefully stay with me. Permanently." He fell into a fit of coughs again. There was a click of the closed connection and Bull heard nothing more.

Bull didn't respond. Come on Sarah, he thought, you gotta come through.

Molly and five year old and Sarah walked into the front entrance of GeronTech's research facility. Her husband, Stan, had gone crazy. That was the story that Casper had told her. The only safe place for them would be here, with Casper.

The guards let them pass without comment. Molly felt safe.

Casper was such a nice man.

There was no time for niceties anymore, Sarah thought. Taking the cell phone from Kirsten she told them to go to her apartment. Increasing her speed and stamina she left in a flash of wind.

Doors and guards were no longer an obstacle. She ignored them. No guard in the world could have even seen her let alone be able to stop her.

She was a flurry of grabbing charts and speech. She cured them of the XPG 4037 first and quickly recited anything that was on the chart.

She covered every hospital that she could remember and occasionally checked in Kirsten and Debby to see if she missed anything. She was just through calling them from a supply closet when a man entered.

"I know who you are!" the man screamed.

"Quiet!" Sarah said, "And get out of my way!" She had two more hospitals to go to, and the patients were near critical.

"Not until you do somethin' for me." He said.

"What? I don't have time for this."

"I want a third eye." He pointed to his forehead "Right here. Now you can bust past me but there is a small child just on the other side of that door. My friend won't open it 'til I say. Now give me my eye!"

"You're crazy!" she said. She couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not.

"Maybe. You willin' to take the risk?"

"You don't need it!"

"But I want it."

"Fine." She said "Third eye in the forehead." She didn't want to see the result. It was going to be gross.

Nothing happened. Not a thing changed.

"Third eye." She said. Nothing.

"Weird." She said. Deciding to take the risk, she pushed past the old man and opened the door. It wasn't even locked.

"My dear." Casper's voice was little more than a whisper "Your silence buys you nothing. Cure me and some may live."

"You're lying." Bull replied.

"Fine. Cure me and YOU will live." His hoarse voice had an evil harshness to it. Bull stayed silent.

"Such a lovely girl." Casper said, Bull almost gagged "It is a shame to lose such beauty in the world. Very well, if my life signs don't improve in the next two hours, the room you are in will become a vacuum. I doubt very much if even you can survive with no air."

Casper moved his head to tell the tech to turn off the mike. He complied.

"Doctor, this situation is degrading rapidly. Prepare Montgomery for the transfer. I will live somehow."

"A brain transplant is a tricky thing, Mr. Collins. There's only a ten percent chance of..."

"Did I ask your opinion, doctor? Just do as you're told."

"Yes, Mr. Collins" the Doctor left, knowing that a brain transfer, while theoretically possible, will most likely kill this man and the donor. Still, with any chance of success at all, he was obligated to try. Such was his agreement with this old devil of a man.

To be continued in: Absolute Power 5 - Crusade (Part 2)

joanbanks@ivillage.com http://www.geocities.com/dejahcarter