Chapter Eighteen

Thorn

Air France, French airspace

Saturday, Twenty Zero Three Hours

T horn tapped his finger on the file that Lynx had marked #1. He scanned down the medical journal article about members of the American diplomatic corps who had been stationed in Cuba and had recently returned to the United States with odd symptoms. They called this "The Havana Effect" and referenced the term neuroweaponry.

"Neuroweaponry." Thorn moved his lips as he pronounced the word to himself. That seemed every bit as dangerous and difficult to contain as biological weapons.

There was a mystery that the scientific community was grappling with. More than two dozen officials from the American diplomatic corps were living and working in Havana when they heard a series of strange sounds. They remembered the specific events because they couldn't figure out what could make those particular noises. They also remembered them because soon after those noises occurred, the officials started experiencing some fairly alarming medical issues. They had cognitive issues including forgetfulness and poor focus, as well as physical issues like dizziness, headaches, and hearing loss.

Here was another word that he hadn't come across before… "neurosensory dysfunction," which the article went on to describe as mostly effecting balance.

And what's more, the article said this experience was not unique to Havana. US diplomats out of Guangzhou, China were reporting the same symptoms.

At first, the scientists thought that the diplomats were the victims of microwaves. It wouldn't be the first time, Thorn thought. In the 1960s, Russia had shot microwaves toward the US embassy. The US government knew this was transpiring in real time, but the reaction was simply to monitor the diplomats' blood. Only after their white counts started elevating were any actions taken. The staff hung curtains in the windows that reflected microwaves back out into the atmosphere rather than allowing them to penetrate the interior.

Thorn looked out the oval window at the lights twinkling far below him. If they knew it was happening, why didn't the government send the curtains right away? Why did they let their diplomats get microwaved? He shook his head. Crazy.

He scanned down the page to find where he'd left off. His eye caught on the name Dr. David DuBois.

Here it was talking about DuBois and peer reviewed research. David DuBois, after performing his studies on all the effected diplomats and officials, had concluded that they didn't have brain damage. They weren't suffering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He thought that what they were seeing could be isolated to the individual's damage in the inner ears. He believed that the balance issues came from the otolith organs in the inner ear and that would explain the dizziness the officials described.

Thorn took a minute to humanize that information. What would it be like to be one of those officials, going about life in a healthy way and, all of a sudden, have issues with balance, forgetfulness, headaches, and hearing loss. That would be disabling to Thorn. He wouldn't be able to do his job. He wasn't sure what kind of job someone could hold down under those circumstances. How bad were the symptoms, scale of one to ten? Thorn wondered. Could they drive? Could they walk? Could they make safe decisions? Thorn hoped, that as he moved through the files, he'd find answers to those questions. It sounded like someone had taken out a large number of diplomats on not one but two diplomatic missions.

Thorn finished the last paragraph, which stated that DuBois's findings stood counter to those found in other medical facilities where the subjects were examined.

Swiping his finger across the screen, Thorn found he'd read to the end of the first article. He wanted to know what the other facilities had concluded.

He opened the next file that Lynx had marked as #2. She must have had a reason for placing them in a specific order. This article was also from a military medical journal. Thorn's finger traced down the page as he read along ? twenty-one American service members from an undisclosed location were the subjects of the study team headed by David DuBois, M.D. PhD.

The article began with the notation that all of the subjects had newly arrived to the theater of operation and none had a previous blow to the head.

There was a list of symptoms. Most of them were described in medical vernacular that Thorn didn't have the background to follow. He'd have to research those terms later when he had some down time. Or get Nutsbe to write a report in lay-speak. Thorn picked back up when it mentioned headaches, sleep abnormalities, and auditory symptoms. He swiped through the pages to find the conclusion. As he took a sip of his water, he read, "While these individuals present with the dysfunctions that are indicative of brain trauma, their symptoms do not fit the military definition of traumatic brain injury, further inquiry is required." The researchers suggested MRIs be taken to see if that offered further information.

Why didn't they do MRIs right away? Thorn wondered.

The third file was a letter filled with redactions, referring to our allies Great Britain, Germany, Canada, and France, all of whom were reporting instances in their Chinese embassies where their diplomatic officials had heard something odd then became symptomatic.

There was David Dubois's name again.

DuBois had asked to be allowed to examine those who heard the sounds and became symptomatic and those who heard the sounds and did not become symptomatic.

The allies declined, raising objections over DuBois's past ethical breaches.

Breaches, huh?

The rest of that letter was blacked out with redactions.

Thorn opened a fourth file. This one was about Senator Billings. Thorn had seen Senator Billings in the halls of Iniquus back in DC almost a year ago now.

Gage was just signing on with Iniquus as he finished out his contract with the Marine Corp. Gage sent up a distress signal to Panther Force Commander, Titus Kane, asking for Iniquus's help safeguarding his fiancée Zoe Kealoha. Zoe, a DARPA scientist, was at risk in a kidnapping scheme. Turned out that Gage had arrived at her apartment just in time to hear her screaming bloody murder, and he'd had to neutralize two men later identified as Israeli special forces thought to have been KIA ten years before.

It seemed to Thorn like there might be some parallels here.

Both Dr. Zoe Kealoha and Dr. David DuBois were DARPA scientists.

Both worked in the medical realm of research.

Both had a kidnapping attempt.

And, both had a link to Israel. Zoe, through a group of black ops, and DuBois was in the scope of a Mossad operator calling herself Brigitte.

Thorn scratched his cheek. And now, something was going on that threw Senator Billings' name into this mess.

Granted, Senator Billings wasn't directly connected to Zoe Kealoha in any way. It was more that Zoe rented lab space at Montrim industries. Turned out DuBois did too. Okay, that wasn't a big leap, many DARPA scientists did. But in terms of Senator Billings, he wanted to fight Montrim because they were working on an apocalyptic weaponry system. The specifics of which weren't released to the public, but Thorn bet Gage knew.

Thorn decided to ask Gage about the system under development as soon as an encrypted communication was in place.

He made a mental note, then turned back to the file to read more about the senator in the newspaper article:

At a congressional hearing to discuss the Cuban health issues, Senator Charles Billings, R-Wisconsin, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, sought information concerning the decision to put the diplomats and other officials affected during their service in Havana under Dr. David DuBois's care. "After all," the senator is quoted, "it seems problematic that our diplomatic corps, who are suffering from concussion-like symptoms associated with a brain injury, should be assessed by a doctor who does not subscribe to the standard assessments for traumatic brain injuries. I find that odd. Don't you? And he's got some ethical baggage he's toting along."

Gary Hooper, the medical director for the State Department, responded that they had reached out to Dr. DuBois, bringing him back from his teaching position at the American University in Beirut, to do his work here in the United States, in particular to add his qualifications and unique background to assessing the State employees.

Hooper later asserted that the State Department had come to the conclusion that the injuries were not caused in the acoustic systems but had affected a wider spectrum of the brain process.

Congress has taken issue with the State Department's handling of this mysterious and concerning health anomaly. They noted that it was in the purview of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, to review and advise.

In December, the CDC began its inquiry. However, a congressional aid, who spoke on background, indicated that immediately upon hearing the reports, the CDC agency representatives had travelled to China but had not done so in Cuba.

Speculation has run from mass hysteria to new weapon's systems.

DuBois's task was to identify the mechanism of the symptoms. He and his team indicate that a neuroweapon was used both in Cuba and in China. Possibilities include microwaves, microbes, energy-weapons, and drugs. They also believe that it could have been a combination thereof. Though, DuBois believes that the likelihood is that an ultrasonic weapon was deployed, a means of emitting an electromagnetic pulse.

Wait a minute; here it is again, they're questioning this guy's ethics.

Thorn read through the article a second time. He'd have to ask Nutsbe and Lynx to look into just what ethical baggage Senator Billings was associating to DuBois.

And there was something just on the edge of his memory. Something from the halls of Iniquus…It seemed to Thorn like it was a story he'd heard about some puzzle that Lynx had solved that had to do with China and sound. Who was on that case? It had been Echo Force he thought, and Striker and Lynx were brought in when that task force had failed to resolve their mission. He needed to ask Lynx if she could tell him that story or if it was classified.

The focus here seemed to be Cuba, but Thorn had a feeling in his gut that if this new weapon system was being deployed, that Cuba was just a testing ground, and that what was really happening had to do with China. But then why Omega?

He put both things on his mental list, to ask Gage about Billings, and Lynx about the Echo Force case once he got them on a secure line.

Closing the folders, Thorn slid his phone back in the thigh pocket on his tactical pants.

He stared out at the night sky.

It was reasonable to say that none of these articles matter at all. Maybe they didn't even edify the situation. They simply talked about what David DuBois had been up to in his body of work.

Right now, what really mattered was finding this woman who was going by the name Juliette DuBois and figuring out if she was in trouble and needed their help or if she was the enemy who needed to be taken down.