Read The Genesis Plague (2010) for Free Online

initiated the analysis. The program deconstructed the photo using virtual lines that measured eighty nodal points between the irises, the ears, the chin and nose, and various other facial landmarks. Ten seconds later, the ‘face print’ was complete. Using an encrypted signal, he linked to the military’s satellite network and routed an inquiry to the FBI. Meat’s limited clearance enabled him to pull Al-Zahrani’s biometric stats from the agency’s database. Then he instructed the program to compare the biometric statistics.
    ‘As close as I’ve ever seen to a precise match,’ Meat reported. ‘See for yourself.’
    As Jason verified the results, excitement and concern came in equal measure.
    ‘Imagine if we catch this fucker alive,’ Meat said. ‘We’d be goddamn heroes. Not to mention the bounty. Shit. Ten mil? Forget this soldier-for-hire gig. We could all retire.’ He flitted his eyebrows.
    ‘Right. You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself,’ Jason scoffed. ‘The hunt’ gave them all purpose, and allowed them to exorcize their demons. Back home, a small fortune would do little to dispel the haunting memories that drove them here to begin with.
    Meat considered the dream, then dickered it down in his mind to settle for something more realistic. ‘I’d at least take some R&R … eat some cheese steaks instead of MREs and vermin roast. Maybe even shit in a toilet instead of a trench with sand flies nipping my ass. You know, take a dump with dignity.’
    ‘I’d settle for a proper shower,’ Jason said, scratching at his beard. Getting back to business, he asked, ‘Hey, where’s the Snake?’
    ‘Over there,’ Meat said, pointing to a bulky case loosely covered by a goatskin.
    Jason went to retrieve it. ‘Give me hand with this. I want to get up that hill … see if we can’t peek inside the cave.’

5
LAS VEGAS
    It took a lot to fluster Randall Stokes. Plenty of years spent skulking behind enemy lines to stare down the Devil made most of life’s stressors seem mundane. However, when the caller had conveyed what had transpired in Iraq, a sour taste came to the back of the preacher’s throat.
    There’d always been the possibility that someone might accidentally stumble upon the cave installation. Precisely the reason so many security protocols had been built around the programme, including tripwires for unauthorized persons attempting to breach the main hatchway.
    But what had happened just an hour ago was something even Randall Stokes could not dream up. Such an incursion fell far outside the limits of possibility - the outlier of outliers. The caller had indicated that a US helicopter gunship had misfired a missile - a freak accident. But Arab militants storming into the tunnels? Stokes thought. Certainly this was God’s plan. It was the only plausible explanation. Has the time already come?
    Seated at his desk and directed towards his oversized LCD computer monitor, Stokes drafted a secure e-mail. The brief message stated in cryptic terms that countermeasures were to commence immediately. Step one: a comprehensive clean-up.
    There was an outside chance that some random clue left behind might trigger an investigation. Regrettably that meant that outside contractors who’d worked on the project - the most vulnerable links - would need to be eliminated, quickly and cleanly. Because if the media were to somehow get wind of what was happening at the site, one of the scientists might get cold feet and ignore the restrictive confidentiality agreement he’d signed.
    Stored on his computer’s encrypted hard drive were the vital statistics for each scientist - everything from birth certificates, passport information, credit history and social security numbers, to work history, credentials, family contacts and last known addresses. There were passport photos and biometric data too. Stokes attached all eight ‘A-list’ profiles to the e-mail.
    Just as he was about to click the SEND button, the