Chapter-16 Geneva, 46° 12′ 23″ N, 6° 05′ 38″ E WHO office

A woman in her 40s, wavy blonde, thick glasses, in a chic jacket, wearing a fashionable scarf, and carrying a designer tote bag, stood in front of the receptionist at the WHO headquarters saying she wanted to meet the WHO Director-General immediately.

"The Director General is not available. There are some important meetings to attend today. Sorry," The blonde-haired receptionist looked at the woman in front of her in amazement and a little jealousy. Huh! A loaded person with too much time to spare.

The jet set-looking woman smiled sarcastically.

"Tell him I will donate 1 billion euros for research on Mollivirus sibericum. If he doesn't want to see me now, I'm going to Solna Sweden to meet my colleagues at the ECDC."

The receptionist became nervous. She could not tell whether it was real of just a bluff, either way she could be an instant hero or a loser. She knew exactly what Mollivirus sibericum was. At least from the news lately.

"Let me call the Director General again. How may he address you?"

"Tell him I am from the Buckingham Palace."

The receptionist who was already nervous hastily grabbed the phone in front of her.

"The Director General will see you now at his office. Please follow me Madame..."

Doctor Cecilia was amused and pleased with her effort in putting everything she had on. Her friends used to say that she had an aristocratic look. That day she proved them right.

After being invited to sit down, Cecilia observed the middle-aged man in front of her carefully. A man with white hair with a stern and sharp face. From his look, Cecilia guessed that the man at the top of the WHO leadership was an Arab descendant.

"My name is Adli Aslan, I've only been in the office for 2 months, and let me be clear that I doubt whatever intention you said to my secretary. Now, considering all the efforts from you and me, this better be a matter of life and death and not some juvenile prank that someone is eager to post on their social media."

The man glared at Cecilia but he smiled politely. Cecilia felt a little awkward. Well now, he can read you Cecil.

"Yes, I'm sorry that I had to do that." Cecilia took her shoe off and pried the Congo Basin notebook out of her left shoe, and her discussion notes with Cathy from her right shoe and handed them over to him.

Adli was amazed and grinned widely. He was then convinced that this woman in front of him was serious. He took both notes and read them. Silence then filled the cool room for a moment. Soon Adli raised his head and glared at her.

"Miss Cecilia, or whoever you are. This is far more powerful than 1 billion Euros. Are you sure?"

"Doctor Adli, I'm a medical doctor. Why would I bother coming here if what's in my notes is a lie?" Cecilia stared back at him.

Adli Aslan slumped back to his chair. Those two little notes could be a trigger for global mass death if ignored. He believed this woman.

"Okay fine. So what do you propose we should do?"

"The situation has become more complicated, Doctor Aslan. Not only we need to be prepared to mitigate the pandemic, we are also dealing with many interests that are already involved." Cecilia explained at length about the DGSE, the GRU, the CIA, MI6, the pharmaceutical giants, and those who she suspected were still waiting for the incident to cross with their interests later.

Adli Aslan sank deeper into his chair. Then his body straightened up suddenly.

"This is what I'm going to do. I will assign you to the Mollivirus sibericum and Afrormosia bacteria emergency response team, and from now on we will call it MS-AB-30. You can recruit your team members. The WHO will assist you below the radar. Think of me as your officer at WHO. I will pull some strings so this office will allocate all the necessary resources to support you." Cecilia was flabbergasted. The Director General was pacing back and forth after handing the note back to Cecilia.

"WHO has a wing of the secret research organization. The Professor Sato you mentioned earlier is our most credible person. I suggest that you include Sato san in the team. Also your cousin Cathy. And Doctor Akiko of course. I will arrange for you to meet in one secret location to start consolidating and putting together a crash program. You have to move fast. This could be the next world war without weapons."

Doctor Cecilia rose from her seat. She shook Adli's hand with a firm grip. Doctor Aslan smiled. He liked the spirit of this woman.

"But remember! MS-AB-30 doesn't exist, and it is a secret within a secret. You only report to me Doctor Cecilia."

"Rest tonight. You are free to choose any hotel you want. We'll make sure that you have adequate amount of money in your account, and tomorrow you will fly to Pandora."

The Director General's last words sent Cecilia out of the WHO headquarters with a mountain of hope. She hoped that she was not too late to do something. Cecilia's heart was pounding. While waiting for her limousine, Cecilia looked around the lobby and the busy streets. It was lunch time. She started imagining how the situation would be if it was under quarantine.