Kill Them Wherever You Find Them Read Free Page B

of the Ukraine.
    Sasha was one of the truly honest bureaucrats
who only wanted to do right by his employer and family. Honest and
morally centered, he had never cheated or taken a bribe, though
such opportunities abounded at the government run lab. His wife
hinted that they might be better off if he would just play
along and relax his sense of morality a little bit. He knew
that had he lined his pockets with bribes and kickbacks, as so many
others had done, he would not have placed his family in such a
difficult financial predicament.
    The imminent loss of his job caused financial
stress in his home and emotional fractures in his marriage. Things
had been increasingly worse since the announcement of the
decommissioning of the lab earlier in the year. Now everything
seemed to be coming to a head. Months of looking for a new job
yielded a few false hopes but, ultimately, no results.
    The previous week he was visited by two men
whose conversation in his office revealed that they knew far too
much about the secret lab than they should have. Somebody talked,
probably a disgruntled past employee; this came as no surprise.
They also knew the schedule and precise route of the military
convoy due to remove the remaining hazardous materials. Maybe the
source of information was someone in the military being
paid-off.
    Continuing their one-sided conversation they
offered Sasha a considerable sum of money for samples of two of the
deadliest bio agents before their scheduled transfer. The men
exuded something malicious, not unlike the subtle yet undeniable
presence of emergent evil lurking, waiting, calmly observing its
prey.
    Tattoos unique to those who had served years
of hard prison time littered the neck and arms of one of the men.
Bald and thick-muscled with a pronounced eyebrow ridge, he was the
diametric opposite of the smaller, bespectacled, soft-spoken man
making the offer. The mountain of tattooed muscle, the Enforcer as Sasha thought of him, never spoke so much as a
single word.
    The temptation to agree to their lucrative
deal nearly overwhelmed him. He realized that they could see an
intense inner struggle, given the enticing amount of money in
American dollars.
    Considering the financial straits under which
his family already struggled , he wanted to
take the money but knew that the two deadly biologicals, in the
hands of the men before him, would be intended to kill on a large
scale rather than used for scientific research. How much money is a
single innocent life worth? What about thousands or tens of
thousands of innocent lives?
    Sasha declined as politely as he could,
hoping they didn't take note of the fear in his voice or hear his
heart thudding against the ribs of his chest. Then he asked them to
leave with as much feigned courage as he could muster.
    They complied without contesting his
response, exiting with the smug smiles of those who had carefully
planted seeds they knew would surely bear fruit. As they left the
large brute of a human casually dropped a calling card on his
desk.
    They seemed so sure of themselves, so
absolutely certain that he would have a change of heart. Sasha
hated their smugness – especially that of the smaller man – as if
they knew him, as if he were in some special way a kindred spirit
whose thoughts they were able to divine and manipulate to their own
ends.
    He realized they would almost certainly
return. When they did, their next visit would, without the
slightest shadow of a doubt, be accompanied with physical pain to
replace the generous financial incentive. He also knew that he was
the only person capable of filling their request, now that the last
of the scientists and lab assistants had been let go.
    Just seven were currently employed, Sasha
along with three guards for the day and three for the night shifts.
The guards didn't have access to the heavily secured materials that
he had. His two visitors would either have to get the pathogens
they wanted from him or risk attempting a