CHAPTER TWENTY
“General Yashim, thank you for seeing us,” said Logan. “My father says to tell you hello.”
“The giant of giant killers,” smirked the old man.
“I am grateful for his friendship. The two men you are chasing passed through Israel and into Syria by bus, posing as aid workers. When they arrived in Syria, they made their way across the country by train and to Al Taibeh.” He shook his head looking off into the distance.
“We’ll find them,” said Conor.
“I know that you will but what they’re doing,” he said still shaking his head in disbelief, “it’s horrible.
These people in some of these areas, they knowing nothing other than marrying their own kind.
Cousins, close and distant, and yes, sometimes closer.
But they know nothing else. Killing them serves no purpose. ”
“That’s the problem, sir. These men believe it will cleanse the world of certain illnesses and diseases, and more importantly, thin the population,” said Fitch.
“It would do those things but I’m going to bet that they also believe it will create an impact on the environment,” said the general.
The men all nodded, realizing he was right. The populations put a strain on the environment, food sources, oil, gas, everything. It could be seen as a desired outcome to many governments.
“Do we know where they are now?” asked Sor.
“We believe they’ve continued by train, east. What we don’t know is if they plan on making stops along the way and repeating their crime. If I had to guess, and I’m not a man prone to guessing games, they are headed to India.”
“India,” whispered Pax. “They could wipe out millions in areas of India.”
“Yes, they could,” said the general. “I’ve notified counterparts along the route, hoping they can find the two men. Some of them will opt to protect them, you must know that. This man, Wadston, seems to have a penchant for disguises. We’ve struggled to put together a photo of his real identity.”
“We thought we knew his real name,” said Saint. “Isaac Wadston is the name he used to get onto military bases and ships, always when General Fitzwilliam was with him. But we don’t know if that’s truly his birth name.”
“Well, if I might offer you some advice, always go back to the source.”
“If you’ll forgive us, General, that’s what we’re trying to do,” said Logan. “We’ve gone back to when we believe they first met.”
“Yes, that’s logical but what about their starts in life. Who were their parents? Are they still living? Do they have siblings who could help them? In our country, when we can’t find someone we simply contact the family members and someone always knows something.”
“Hold tight. Checking records now.” The calm, reassuring voice of AJ made them all smirk. The general just stared at them, not questioning a thing.
“Well, I guess we’ll be making our way via train in order to follow their path,” said Saint.
“I’ve arranged a private car for all of you, courtesy of our government. You will have private dining, sleeping, and bathing quarters without anyone bothering you.”
“Won’t that make it rather obvious?” asked Logan.
“On the contrary. We all know that your teams hate the obvious and hate any spotlights. People will think that you are famous actors or singers, not military men. Follow their trail and you’ll figure out where they are going to make their next kill.”
The men thanked General Yashim as he left them at the train station. The moment they boarded, the train began to move out. It had been waiting on their newest guests.
Everything was luxury. The bedding, kitchen area, baths, and even the windows had been blacked out to prevent onlookers. The general had thought of everything.
“We’re trying to get drone footage of where their train has stopped and if they got off or stayed on,” said Saint. “It’s difficult because the train did have multiple stops and is moving slowly.”
“Well, that’s a good thing for us,” said Fitch. “The general arranged for ours to only stop at major cities or if we request the stop.”
Logan had just set up the communications space when the cameras launched, showing the faces of AJ, Tanner, Hiro, Ham, and Cowboy.
“How is everyone?” asked Ham.
“We’re good,” nodded Logan. “On a private train headed east, all arranged by the general.”
“That’s good. The boys here have some news for you.” Ham nodded at AJ and he turned the camera to focus on him.
“When we heard the general talking about going back and looking at Fitzwilliam and Wadston’s history, we had a thought. What if they’re related?”
“And?” frowned seven men staring back.
“They’re more than a little related. Their parents were second cousins, which makes them cousins as well as brothers.”
“Holy shit,” muttered Logan. “Do they have abnormalities in their biology?”
“Some. Nothing too obvious. Wadston changed his name when he was in high school, already showing great promise in DNA research.
He seemed drawn to figuring out things even back then.
His thesis in college was about the complex mutations and advantages of inter-marriage for which he earned praise and criticism.
“His professors believed that his thoughts about the advantages, a purer race of people, shared positive traits, etcetera, were dangerous ideas and could promote more inter-family-marriage.
“Fitzwilliam suffers from ulcers, often bleeding ulcers, hearing loss directly related to his time in service, and uncontrolled shaking of his hands. He’s been taking medications for all of it, with very little success.
It was Fitzwilliam that recommended Wadston as the civilian physician on many bases and ships.
As we all know, there’s been a shortage of doctors and nurses in service and they’ve often taken on contractors to fill the gaps. Wadston was one of those.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” said Sor. “If they are the product of intermarriage, they should be proponents, not opponents.”
“You would think,” said Ham, “except they had four siblings, all who died as a result of illnesses, diseases and physical deformities directly related to their parents marrying, or so we believed. Except after review of death certificates and autopsies, we believe they were murdered. Most likely by Isaac and Leo.” Logan stared at the others.
“Damn. We have to stop them.”