1
The Vial23
Kazakhstan 4
8:22 p.m.5
They checked their watches and Kalashnikovs one last time. The soldier on the right side of the door peered in to survey the room. Inside the concrete block building, four men, dressed in white laboratory coats and protective headgear, stood behind an elaborate Plexiglas enclosure. One man worked his hands inside the enclosure with glove extensions. He finished a process of pouring a clear liquid into a quarter inch thick cigar shaped glass vial. He screwed a cap on the vial and placed it in a small clear box near the end of the table. The second man pressed a green button on the console and a fine mist of chlorine bleach sprayed over the vial. The man, using the gloves, removed the vial from the small clear box and placed it in another similar but larger box. The third man pushed a red button and a spray of alcohol saturated the vial. The gloved man removed the vial and rubbed it with a linen cloth. When it was dry, he placed it in a compartment at the end of the table. The fourth man removed the vial from the compartment and then each of them removed their head protection.6
Aleksei Gudnov stared through the night scope of the SV-98 .308 caliber sniper rifle. He used it to keep track of the two Russian Spetsnaz GRU soldiers as they prepared to enter the makeshift laboratory. Some movement just to the immediate left of his comrades caught his eye. He shifted the rifle a few degrees and saw three security officers lifting their weapons at the soldiers.7
Gudnov aimed his rifle at the first security officer closest to the soldiers, sighting the man’s head with the PKS 7x scope. He squeezed the trigger. The silencer made a slightly audible noise as the .308 round exited the gun and blew a one-inch hole in the man’s temple. Aleksei immediately targeted the next man, shooting him in the neck. The last man was a direct hit to the forehead. He moved the scope to his comrades, Nikolai and Sergei. They stared at the dead security men and signaled to Aleksei.8
Once they saw that the vial had been removed from the Plexiglas enclosure, they rushed into the building, firing their AK 47s at three of the white suited men. Sergei walked calmly up to the frightened fourth man and held out his hand. The man placed the vial in Sergei’s hand and lifted his arms in surrender. Sergei placed the vial in his jacket pocket and rushed out the entryway with Nikolai at his side. Nikolai stopped, turned, and gave a short burst of the Kalashnikov, creating a diagonal line of red holes across the remaining man’s chest.9
Aleksei trained the scope on Sergei and Nikolai watching them intently as they raced towards his position. He carefully aimed the crosshairs on Sergei’s forehead and pulled the trigger. Because of the silencer on the SV-98, Nikolai failed to realize Sergei’s head was now a bloody mess of brains and skull fragments. He continued running towards Aleksei. Aleksei shifted the sight towards Nikolai and fired the seventh of ten rounds left in the clip into the small space between Nikolai’s nose and lip. Before Nikolai’s body hit the ground, Aleksei stood, and ran towards the men. He searched Sergei’s pockets until he found the vial. He placed it in his pants pocket and ran towards the narrow road where the three men hid the car.10
He opened his cell phone as he drove off.11
“It’s done,” he said. “I have it.”12
The next morning, he took the seven-hour train ride from Astana to Moscow and then drove the remaining distance to the Sheremetyevo International Airport. He entered the departure lane and parked the rented Ford Mondeo. A striking six-foot blonde opened the passenger side door and sat down. Aleksei handed her the vial in exchange for a briefcase. He opened the briefcase, saw the money, and nodded his head. The woman slipped the vial between her breasts and stepped out of the car. As Aleksei drove off, she entered the terminal.13
Aeroflot flight SU 756 from Moscow to JFK International departed on time. The Siberian native, surprised at the airlines’ efficiency, relaxed in the business class seat. Her pale green skirt hiked up her thighs as she adjusted her seatbelt, attracting a gaze from the man seated next to her. She hadn’t noticed the squat, bespectacled man behind her with his ornate gargoyle walking stick propped up next to his seat.14
After a stop at Charles de Gaulle Airport to change planes, the flight continued on its journey to New York City. She slept most of the way to New York, waking occasionally to mentally count the money that would soon be hers.15
On the final approach into JFK, the woman felt a slight pinch just above the back of her right ankle. She reached down, grabbed near the wound, but felt nothing. When she looked at her hand she noticed a small stripe of blood on her index finger. Suddenly she felt a severe pain across her chest. She crossed her arms and stood to catch her breath. The poison completely shut down her respiratory system as she fell forward on top of the man next to her. The squat Russian behind her walked around the aisle seat, pulled her to the floor, and declared in a heavy accent, “This woman is having a heart attack. I am a doctor. Someone call the flight attendant, please?”16
He immediately began compressions on her chest. He placed his mouth over hers and attempted artificial respiration, while blocking the view of her upper torso from the other passengers. He removed the vial from between her breasts and placed it in his pocket.17
Four minutes later, while the jet was landing, he declared her dead. Dr. Viktor Melnikov told the New York Airport police everything he knew about the unfortunate young lady and excused himself, saying he was late for a medical conference at the convention center.18
An Asian man standing next to a black Escalade held a sign labeled “Dr. Melnikov”.19
“I am Dr. Melnikov,” he said, sliding into the back seat of the SUV. “Please, I am in a hurry.”20
The chauffeur looked back over the front seat at Dr. Melnikov, lifted his revolver with its attached silencer, and shot twice into the doctor’s forehead. He placed the gun back on the front seat and exited the airport. He continued to drive south for a half hour. He pulled off a side street, removed the glass vial from the doctor’s pocket, pulled the bloodstained body out of the backseat, and placed him in a small gully on the side of the road. He stopped to admire his work, smiled, and continued his drive to Washington D.C.21
The chauffeur arrived at the Japanese embassy a little past nine p.m. A distinguished looking gentleman met him at the main entrance gate to the embassy. The chauffeur exchanged the vial for a manila envelope filled with money. The men bowed and the gentleman returned to the embassy as the chauffeur drove off.22
The assistant to the Japanese ambassador walked into the embassy foyer past the guards and went directly into the library. He stooped over an open cabinet that enclosed a safe. He dialed the combination and opened the one-foot thick metal door and placed the vial on an empty shelf. He closed the safe door, spun the dial, and before the dial finished spinning, he shut the cabinet door.23
The next day, the United States Deputy Secretary of State arrived at the embassy for a meeting with the Japanese ambassador. He was there for some tea and to discuss an import tariff bill pending in Congress. The two men sat across from each other separated by a beautiful sixteenth century serving table. A servant, working in the kitchen, placed a teapot and some cups onto a rolling service cart and rolled it out of the kitchen towards the receiving room. While passing the library, the servant looked around, slipped into the room, and opened the cabinet door hiding the safe. In less than thirty seconds he had opened the safe and removed the vial. He closed the safe, placed the vial in his pocket, and walked back to the hallway.24
In the receiving room the servant served the Deputy Secretary first, then the ambassador. While serving, he purposely dropped a small cake on the ambassador’s pants cuff and shoe. As the ambassador bent to brush the cake off of his pants legs, the servant slipped the glass vial to the Deputy Secretary who immediately placed it in his pocket.25
An hour later, the Deputy Secretary thanked the ambassador for the meeting and left the compound. He walked across the street to where his driver parked his car. He gave the driver directions to a non-descript warehouse two miles outside of Washington D.C.26
They arrived fifteen minutes later and the Deputy Secretary motioned for his driver to stay in the car while he walked to the entrance of the building. A man, dressed in a khaki colored gown, answered the door. When he saw the Deputy Secretary he held his hand out. The Deputy Secretary placed the vial in the man’s hand, turned, and walked back to his car. The man handed the vial to a young woman dressed in a white biological suit, complete with a portable air supply strapped to her back. She placed the vial on a large sponge atop a stainless rolling cart. She rolled the cart through automatic doors into the laboratory. The walls of the laboratory had several large pieces of electronic equipment, each blinking illuminated displays. Five men, all in identical biological suits, stood next to a large table of instruments. They were waiting on the vial.27
She was pushing the cart towards the men, when suddenly, the left wheel caught on an electrical cord that had been carelessly left draped across the floor. The cart tipped, ejecting the vial onto the white tiled floor. The men scrambled around the table trying to get to the vial before it fell into a floor drain in the center of the room. It traveled in a circular motion around the drain, eventually falling through the ribbed metal cover into a pipe under the floor. The vial slid twenty feet down the six-inch PVC pipe eventually landing in an even larger green colored pipe that connected several buildings in the area into the sewer system. It continued down the pipe, mixing with raw sewage, urine, and garbage collected from toilets, drains, and garbage disposals in the area. A small crack developed in the vial as it smashed against a bottle, also being sucked down the pipe towards the nearby wastewater treatment plant. The glass vial shattered as it slammed into a concrete lift station, its deadly contents mixing harmlessly with the excrement of the citizens of Washington D.C.2829
Author notes
ACTION/DRAMA
A contest entry
- PIF Contest - Pick Your Genre! by Paragonz Shadow.
600 points, ended February 29, 2008, 10 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Very good. It could use a little more dialogue for my taste, but its still a very good piece. I really like how you described everything in such great detail. Keep up the good work.
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Interesting
Grammatically, this was very well written. If I may make some suggestions, it could use dialogue, like Kat222 said. Also, the characters, one by one, became non-essential to the story. But, some stories don't need characters. It was entertaining...that's my final word.
beginning: 4, language: 5, plot: 4, ending: 5, dialog: 1, characters: 1.
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I have no words lol
this was the best thing I have read in a long time.. and I don't know if my sense of humor needs adjusting but it was funny as heck!!!!
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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it was very well written but at times it was hard to follow. Also, I would like to say that it is hard to read a story that has bright white writing on a dark black backround; it left lines on my eyes as I am typing this. but overall this is a very good story that I can picture as a movie.
beginning: 4, language: 5, plot: 4, ending: 4, dialog: 4, characters: 4.
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This was a great descrptive story/chapter. i would only say that maybe you should use a little more dialogue to show what is going on instead of telling us with the description. although this isn't something i'm usually interested in, it is very well written. good job!
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