Read The Beginning of the End (Book 1): Toward the Brink for Free Online

hormone to prevent this, and people were becoming accustomed to it, and we hadn’t had an illness for months.”
    “Never mind all that. There is no point in discussing it. We have to move, and we have to do it now.”
    Langlie explained his plan by which they, along with Baer and a handful of other execs, could escape with a sizeable fortune. “You have to get to this airport in Canada by noon tomorrow, and I don’t need to mention that you can’t tell anyone you’re going, and that includes your wife!”
    The enormity of the problem hit Dennard hard, but he couldn’t for a moment imagine leaving his wife behind.
    “I could not possibly leave without my wife. We’ve been inseparable. Besides, she knows exactly what it is I do here and supports me every step of the way.”
    Langlie received the true answer he sought, one he’d more than half-expected.
    “Do you want to spend the next twenty-five years in maximum security prison? Because we will be charged with multiple murders, make no mistake of that!”
    “No, no I don’t, but is there no way I can …”
    “I’m truly sorry, Dennard, but there isn’t any other way. Give the phone back to my man. He’ll inform you of the arrangements I’ve put in place.”
    “Yes, sir?” the Tall Man said after taking the phone back. He moved to the far end of the office, away from Dennard.
    “Are you sure he can’t hear us?” Langlie asked quietly.
    “Positive, sir.”
    “He could be a liability. You know what to do.”
    “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
    Langlie ended the call.
    “We need to get you out of here right away, Mr. Dennard,” the Tall Man said.
    Paul Dennard had always been a smart man; to become a bio-weapons developer with the CIA, you would have to be, but he hadn’t been blessed with the intuitive capability of judging the thoughts of others. That was a specialty that the field agents, commonly referred to as “spooks,” people like Langlie, had in spades.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Sir, we have a car waiting for you on the outskirts of town. You’re to drive to British Columbia. There are directions in the car, including where Mr. Langlie will meet you.”
    “I can’t just leave like this. I have things to gather from my home, and I’ll need money to get by, and … and I have to at least say goodbye to my wife.”
    “Sir, you heard what Mr. Langlie said. We are to leave right away, and no one is to be made aware of your exit. There just isn’t time, sir.”
    “All right, all right. Let’s get going then,” Dennard said.
    # # #
    “Wait, Elliot, wait!” Cindy called. She struggled to keep up with Elliot. He wasn’t quite as considerate as he was before, caught up in the urgency as he was.
    “What? What’s wrong, Cindy? We’re almost there.”
    “I need to catch my breath, Elliot. I’m not as fit as you.”
    “Okay, okay. The marchers are just over there.” He pointed to the intersection not fifty yards away. “They’ll be here in a moment.”
    He led her over to a nearby bus stop and sat her down.
    “You catch your breath. I’ll go talk with the organizer of the demonstration.”
    “Elliot, before you go … What was all that green stuff on the soldier’s face? I could see it from where I stood.”
    He looked across the street then down at his shoes.
    “It’s the sickness, Cindy. The sickness my mother witnessed firsthand when she worked at the medical center. It’s from the growth hormone developed by Baer. It’s what these people are marching against, and we’ve got to stop them from getting to the center!”
    “How can you be so sure, Elliot? I’ve read the rumors on the Internet. Those rumors say it’s so widespread because of the love Americans have for fast food and that
most
people have become infected. But none of my friends or me have become sick, and I eat a lot of fries.”
    Elliot felt his heart drop like a stone to the bottom of a well. That was the last thing he wanted to hear, especially now