The Hidden Agenda Read online

  Chapter 2

  About two hundred miles away, in the small town of Huntsville, Ontario, Jack was having a typical day. Well, it was a new normal after an ongoing global tragedy. He was on a well-deserved break at work. It was a beautiful April morning, with the sun shining in the woods. It was a beautiful day for kayaking in the local lakes, but the trails, lakes, streets looked deserted on this Sunday morning.

  As Jack poured his morning coffee, his second of the day, in the Huntsville police department's break room, he heard an emergency dispatcher calling out for a conflict resolution. Two people were fighting in a grocery store across the street from the police department, and the store manager had called the police. The cases of panic shopping, brawls, and shouting matches resulting from a shortfall of goods were growing across the country. Jack answered, "This is Inspector Wilson. I am right across the street. I will be there in one minute."

  Dispatcher acknowledged.

  Jack put down his coffee and called for his partner, "Let's go. We have some knuckleheads across the street. Let's set them straight."

  Jack entered the store with his partner, Mathew Higgins. He saw about twenty people standing, yelling, and some taking pictures and videos of two people on the ground. The shorter man had pinned down a much larger man. Both men were shouting at each other but not really hitting each other.

  Jack was appalled to see these men as soon as he entered the store. The fact that people are dying all around, and two people fighting over milk cartons was foreign to him in Huntsville. Jack thought of his grandfather, who had worked all his life to bring the community together. The memory of his grandfather's loss was fresh and agonizing to him. Jack had succeeded in not thinking of Marvin for the last two days by burying himself in work. But the action of these brawling men was a trigger. Jack was furious. He started brisk walking towards these men with his right hand on the holster.

  Matthew looked at Jack's enraged face, and instantly said, "Let's treat this as a verbal conflict, issue warnings only, and get the hell out of here."

  But Jack ignored Matthew. Jack put his arm on the smaller man's shoulder and pulled him back hard. The man was thrown about two feet away, rolling twice before hitting his back on the nearby shelf. The pancake mix boxes on the shelf came down, crashing, hitting the man on his head. The bigger man got up and took five steps back, scared of Jack's actions. Matthew was frozen on the spot. He had never seen Jack, one of the most patient officers on the force, loose control. Jack did not seem to realize what he had done. The smaller man was not seriously hurt, but he was definitely ill-treated by the law enforcement officer for no good cause. It was a recipe for a media disaster. The man got up quickly. He started shouting at Jack, furious on how he was thrown away, "You sir are going to be in trouble. You have no idea how to treat a citizen." He was now in Jack's face. Jack looked right in his eyes, and before anyone realized, Jack took out his gun and pressed it against the man's chest. The man was as scared as a rabbit. His face had turned pale and white. He backed away, shocked, stammering, "You can't. You can't."

  At the sight of the gun, Matthew jumped into action. He held Jack's gun hand and calmed him down. He carefully took the gun out of Jack's hand and pulled Jack back away from the crowd. He then called for two more officers. As soon as the officers arrived, Jack was taken away from the scene.

  The last few months have been very shocking and tiring for young Jack. He had lost more in the previous few months than most do in their entire lifetime. After graduating, Jack, 27, was commissioned as an Inspector in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Jack, an average height guy, could be firm when needed. He had gathered his strength by logging woods with his grandfather. Jack was a computer engineer, and after graduating from Queen's University had enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces. He took early voluntary retirement from the Army and had joined the RCMP academy. He graduated top of his class and was offered a very prestigious posting in Ottawa headquarters. Still, Jack asked for an assignment in his hometown. He wanted to be with his grandfather and his sister. Many people had suggested Jack was probably killing his career with this request, but Jack did not care. His love for the family, especially for his grandfather, took precedence over his ambitions. He was working for a domestic intelligence department for the last year.

  Town of Huntsville is a small township within Muskoka municipality in Central Ontario. The town was a popular destination in summer. With over sixteen hundred lakes, it was known for large multi-million dollar cottages. Jack and his family, the Wilsons, were popular among the locals of Huntsville. His late grandfather, Marvin Wilson, owned a small restaurant that was known for serving fresh fish caught in local lakes. Jack's younger sister, Julie, 23, worked as a nurse at the local Muskoka General Hospital. Jack's father, David, was a cop at the local Huntsville Police Department and had passed away when Jack was ten years old. Jack could barely remember his mother, Samantha, as she had passed away from the complications during his sister's birth. Marvin alone had raised two kids and meant the world to the siblings.

  Marvin opened up the restaurant back in 1953 right after he had returned from Korea, where he served for six months. Marvin never really fought on the frontline. He was deployed at the young age of nineteen to South Korea for two months before the ceasefire was signed. But he was still a war veteran and a local hero. Marvin was known for his barbecue parties every Sunday at his restaurant, where he brought together hundreds of people. He served free food for the less fortunate in the community, a tradition he had set about thirty years ago. Marvin had a strict and disciplined routine for seven days a week. Every morning he used to go for a walk. He had reduced to walking and walked only ten kilometres now that he was in his eighties. In his younger days, Marvin used to jog for thirty kilometres daily. He still drove himself around town, bought his grocery, and cooked his dinner. Marvin was a tough old cookie, with no known health issues. He had never been hospitalized in his healthy, disciplined life of eighty-six years.

  But six weeks back, things changed. Marvin suddenly started feeling severe flu-like symptoms and was admitted to the local Muskoka General Hospital. Doctors diagnosed Marvin with a new virus that had caused havoc in China, some countries in Europe. The illness caused by this virus was still not so significant in the United States and Canada. North American countries had barely acknowledged the outbreak in China. They called the virus as the Chinese virus, blaming their unhygienic lifestyle. Marvin passed away within four days of getting infected.

  Soon after Marvin was diagnosed with the illness, ten other people from Muskoka county were admitted. Twenty-three more people around the area were complaining of similar but mild symptoms. Marvin's death had sent a shockwave across Muskoka county. A healthy, active, local hero and war vet dying suddenly due to unknown diseases made everyone think. Gradually, the whole world was on high alert. The government was putting testing systems in place, planning for the extra infrastructure needed in hospitals. They were planning to close borders for non-essential visits. Businesses were told to close down. Jack thought some apocalyptic event was taking place as the whole world was going on lockdown. The number of infected people was now over forty thousand, deaths were in thousands.

  Jack was utterly devastated by the loss of his grandfather. He felt like he lost his anchor and was sailing in the ocean aimlessly. Still the next day, he was called on duty. This was a state of emergency, and his responsibility towards the nation took precedence over his emotional state. Jack was asked to enforce the laws of social distancing, which was the only possible solution to contain the virus. This role was way below his pay grade, but Jack did not care about the job level. The people of Muskoka were still learning the meaning of terms like social distancing and quarantine. Few of them were causing inconvenience for some law enforcement officers, and Jack had just been the victim of that inconvenience.

  Later that afternoon, the video taken by a bystander was out in the media. The local news channel was running the story more
than they were covering the deadly virus. The breaking news, "Police Officer, OR a tyrant," was flashing in big letters. Jack was called into his Chief's office. Chief Arjun Singh was an old family friend of the Wilsons. Singh had seen Jack go through adolescence and knew his actions were an anomaly.

  He sat Jack down and calmly said, "Son. Marvin was my friend, and I miss him a lot. I can only imagine what you are going through. But we are police officers, with a pledge towards our citizens. In these times of crisis, we are supposed to give them hope, a sense of safety. We are NOT supposed to terrify them to death. What you have done is unforgivable. Effective immediately, you have been demoted to constable and will be responsible for documenting the reports. I am sorry son, this was the best option I had to avoid a lawsuit against you. Once these difficult times are over, you can go through the disciplinary training at Ottawa and maybe work your way up the rank again."

  Jack did not protest the decision. In his mind, he knew he had reacted poorly to the situation. For the first time, Jack had allowed his emotions to get better of him. He walked out of the office with head down, surrendering to the punishment.

  Chapter 3

  Emily was rigorously going through the intelligence documents trying to find a perfect excuse to travel to China. She was at it since arriving at the office at six in the morning. The empty office was helpful in the recon of available intelligence without any inquiries from her colleagues. When the World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a pandemic, her bosses at Health Canada gave Emily complete autonomy to lead the task force to do contact tracing.

  Emily was ready to give up on discovering a useful intelligence report to use as a reason for her visit to China. She sat in her magnificently decorated but a messy office, sleep-deprived, hungry and with her head in her hands. There was a knock on the door. Emily jumped in her seat. She checked the time on her wristwatch, it was 8:30 AM. Emily's frustration level grew after realizing the amount of time she had blown on her personal agenda. Hiding the frustration in her voice, Emily said, "Come in."

  Megan walked in, glowing from a good night's sleep. Emily felt jealous. Megan was Emily's personal assistant for over a year now, but still needed a lot of mollycoddling in all her tasks.

  "Good morning, this report came in last evening for you from the intelligence office. Chris handed it to me personally just before I left," Megan said, looking at an Instagram feed on her phone. Megan just held out the report in her other hand casually. Emily's face was turning red.

  "Megan. Would you focus and hand me the report?" Emily yelled at her. Megan straightened up and put the report on Emily's desk. Trying to fix her ignorance, Megan asked meekly, "Emily, you do not look well. Can I get you a coffee?"

  "Yes, please."

  Megan walked out, scrolling on her phone. Emily started digging into the report. As she finished her report, she called out for Megan. As Megan came inside running, Emily shouted, "When did Chris give you the report?"

  "Around 5 last evening", Megan said, realizing her sluggish work attitude.

  "I was in the office till past midnight yesterday night. Why did you not give it to me as soon as you received it?"

  Megan stood in front of Emily in silence, looking down at her feet.

  Emily continued raging at Megan, "Sometimes I feel you just do not understand the importance of our work. There is a pandemic killing the world for God's sake. Pull it together and delete that damn app on your phone. Go get my coffee now, and I sure hope you get it right."

  Emily reread the report. An idea struck in her brain. This report gave her what she was looking for in the last few hours. She rushed into her boss's office. Dr. Richard Hernandes was sitting in his office, memorizing the note cards. Emily joyfully greeting Richard, "Good Morning Dr. Hernandes. Preparing for another press conference?"

  "If they had told me I was to address the nation every day instead of working on science, I would have never accepted this job."

  "Well, someone has to do it," Emily gave out a fake laugh.

  "Yes, my dear. You look like you are dying from something. Try and get some sleep. I do not want my best team member to fall sick while solving the mystery of unknown viruses. That being said, what new problem have you got for me today?"

  "New report suggests, Chinese company Wuhan Pharma might be close to the vaccine. I know a Canadian scientist, Dr. Michael Chung, is working for them on a different project. I would like to talk to him."

  "Please go ahead, you do not need my permission to do that. Get on a video call prompt." Dr. Hernandes said, confused about why Emily was asking such trivial questions.

  Emily knew that the awkward part was about to start. She had to convince Dr. Hernandes on why she needs to meet Dr. Chung personally. Emily could not refer to the truth she found out from her father's letter. At least, not until this pandemic is over.

  With all her hopes tied to the next argument, Emily said, "Sir, I think I will need to travel personally. Dr. Chung is a significant personality in the medical field. He has been bought by his employers, and if he knows even ten percent on vaccine development, China will go to lengths to keep him on their land."

  Dr. Hernandes looked unconvinced. He was worried about authorizing an international trip in a global lockdown. Additionally, Emily was a precious team member and sending her away would be foolish.

  Emily read the expressions on Dr. Hernandes' face and continued to sell her idea, "Sir, I know this might sound like a waste of time and resource, but if we can get a renowned scientist back and he helps us develop a vaccine of our own, the press would run with the story."

  As soon as Emily mentioned the word "press," Dr. Hernandes looked interested. Emily knew immediately that she had struck the chord. She kept quiet, patiently waiting for a reaction.

  Dr. Hernandes gave it a long thought, then started shaking his head. This worried Emily. He looked at Emily, "We cannot justify the cause of your personal visit on a bunch of ifs. We do not know for sure if Dr. Chung has knowledge of the said vaccine. We, in fact, do not even know if such a vaccine exists. Sometimes I do not trust Chris's report. He was wrong about the information on spread at the start of this nightmare."

  Emily kept quiet. She was waiting for Dr. Hernandes to express all of his concerns.

  "We cannot tell the Chinese government, the real reason for your visit. If your theory about them protecting the existence of a vaccine is correct, we will just be tipping them off. Do you have an alternate strategy?"

  Emily was relaxed after hearing the last question. She was expecting this question and had an answer ready.

  "Yes, Dr. Hernandes. I have already thought about this. We do not tell the Chinese government the real reason. There are twenty-three Canadian still stuck in Wuhan. They were infected in the initial outbreak and are now in quarantine after recovery."

  Dr. Hernandes impatiently said, "I am not sure where you are going with this."

  Emily was frustrated with her boss for the interruption. But she calmly continued, "We tell the Chinese government that we have to check on these patients and bring them back if they can travel."

  Dr. Hernandes looked more convinced than before. Emily knew her reasoning was working well. She continued, "Dr. Hernandes, I would like a police officer to accompany me to China. For obvious security reasons."

  Without questioning Emily's demand, Dr. Hernandes replied, "Do you have anyone specific in mind, who is willing to risk an international journey with you?"

  Emily looked at her boss in amusement. Dr. Hernandes quickly explained, "No, No, I meant the risk of travelling in lockdown, risk of getting infected due to international travel."

  Emily laughed at Dr. Hernandes' urgency to explain. "Sir, I understood it the first time. And yes, I do have someone in mind. You remember Marvin Wilson from Muskoka county?"

  "Yes, of course. Marvin was our index case. What about him?"

  "His grandson is an RCMP inspector. Or was an inspector. He was recently demoted over civil violen
ce to constable. I think he will have enough motivation to bring back Dr. Chung and help us find the vaccine."

  Dr. Hernandes was satisfied entirely with the idea. He looked at his press notes and said, thinking out loud, "Emily, this assignment cannot come from Health Canada. It will be bad press if our cause for the visit comes out. We cannot have people think that we are focusing our resources on twenty-three people who are safely recovering outside the country, while thousands are dying here at home."

  Emily agreed to her boss but had not thought of this problem. She hoped this concern would not hamper her plans. Dr. Hernandes assuming command of the assignment, said, "Do not worry. I will brief RCMP Commissioner Ryder, and he will run the task from his office. I will make sure he brings on the grandson of our index case."

  Emily let out a sigh of relief. She looked at her boss with a broad smile on her face. "Thank you, Sir. I hope I succeed and do not disappoint you. We can all get some clarity from my visit to Dr. Chung."

  Dr. Hernandes return the smile, "Emily, you will not disappoint me ever. I am thankful to have a team member like yourself. Just remember, we have loads of work in our motherland. Plan the assignment and return in four days with or without Dr. Chung. Understood?"

  Emily nodded in agreement.

  "Off you go then. Try and get some sleep. I need to prepare to get ripped off by our media."

  Emily walked out of her boss' office, almost hopping out of excitement. As soon as Emily entered the ladies' room, she started checking the stalls. Upon making sure that she was alone in the washroom, Emily pulled out her father's letter from her pocket. She read the letter calmly for the first time. Small drops of tears rolled down her eyes. Gazing at the white piece of paper, she said,

  "You will be proud of me, Mom!"

  Chapter 4

  Jack was adjusting to a new life of constable. He quickly realized, doing more paperwork and less of police work was not so much fun. Jack, who occasionally joined other inspectors in making fun of people in the records department, had discovered sympathy for his new colleagues. Jack was a patient man. He decided to focus on some good things in his life and look for silver linings in his mundane job of preparing and filing reports. Jack never had the ambition of becoming a top officer and was happy to come home at six in the evening, cook dinner with his sister. It was not the same without Marvin, but Jack and Julie spent most of their time reminiscing their childhood memories.