The scene is a couple uninhabited islands midway between
South Africa and Antarctica. Prince Edward and Marion Islands. Only a small
research station is present. On a corner of Marion Island, a small yacht that
ferries mineral poachers around in search of rare gemstones goes digging around
in an easily accessible chasm of a coastal rock pillar. A combination of
drilling and acid breaks open a chamber containing multiple storage vesicles. The
lead geologist, Katrinka, grabs three intact vesicles thinking if someone went
to such extremes to hide whatever is inside, the contents must be worth
something. Breaking open the reinforced concrete vault damages a number of the other
containers releasing contents into the air.
Minutes after opening the vault, Katrinka is back on o board
the yacht. As she works to secure her discovery in the ship’s lab, she hears
the crew erupt. Blood and internal viscera are being vomited up, flesh is being
singed from the inside. With 20ish minutes, the entire crew is dead. Katrinka
sees this through the lab door window and immediately dons her personal protective
gear, boards the yacht’s small helicopter to escape. But not before arming the
ship’s self-destruct device sending a ball of flame into the atmosphere and sinks the yacht, the
heat of which helps send the emancipated contents into the atmosphere.
A commercial flight falls out of the sky over the southern
Indian Ocean crashes nose-first into a remote corner of Marion Island. The
research station head and his helicopter pilot go over to investigate. The
helo pilot becomes ill, but not fatally. The station head was mostly sealed in his
cold weather gear at first, but quickly pulls on his PPE, just in case.
The two explosions do not go unnoticed. Air traffic over the
south Indian Ocean is locked down. South African military and intelligence
organize to investigate. But so do the Chinese as they are keen to expand their
influence in that region. As do the Russians, because they have connections
with South Africa in part to stymie the Chinese.
And the Americans.
The President can’t send anything in publicly unless asked
by Pretoria. But that doesn’t mean they’ll sit idly by. You never know.
The traditional Op Center morphed into mobile strike force
in Sting of the Wasp (2019), previously
reviewed by the MRB boys. Black Wasp is a single, small, mostly autonomous group
that avoids the military bureaucracy and Congressional oversight by answering only to the President and funded by a non-existent budget line. They
are tasked to find out what’s going on.
The Chinese have a navy vessel in the area and are the first
to arrive. Katrinka has managed to get back to the mainland and hands over two
of the containers to her boss. From what she saw, she’s sure they contain some
bioweapon and other countries might be interested in purchasing it. Her boss, a
native South African whose political views are exceedingly anti-white, has
other more local ideas.
The bulk of this book is the speculative research into the what,
how, and why of the contents of the find and then what to do about it. The
source of the contents is quickly uncovered. A treatment for HIV gone bad. A
virus had been engineered years ago to hit HIV, but it turned out that the cure
was worse than the disease. Not knowing exactly the best way to destroy the
creation, it was sealed up tight and buried in one of the most remote locations
on the planet. Dumb luck that it was uncovered. The dang bug has a short, but
deadly life span when exposed to the atmosphere. It rose rapidly in the air
when released and the jet flew right through the cloud. Within 15 minutes, every person on board was dead and the plane crashed.
Consistent with anything having Clancy’s name attached, this
techno-thriller is told at a breathtaking, breakneck pace. Two-thirds of the
book is planning and speculation. Once Black Wasp arrives in South Africa, the
whole issue is contained within maybe 24hrs. But not before a mainland release
of the toxin creates South Africa’s own version of 9/11. Love Clancy? You’ll
love this.
ECD
No comments:
Post a Comment