The team decided they still wanted to see if Kazin was involved in all of this. Colt was able to procure something that generally resembled Kazin's walking stick. All that was missing was the crystal ball that sat atop it. But Maddie spied the stopper of one of the cognac bottles in the mess tent, and the two of them were able to rig up a reasonable facsimile of the Kazin's stick. Now they just had to swap it out for the original.
They drove to the farm as the sun dipped below the horizon. Kazin seemed to be waiting for them, along with a half dozen of his men. Vivienne waited in the car - the last time she'd been around Kazin he tried to purchase her from Colt and Ralph, and if he did something like that again she'd probably shoot him in the face.
Colt bought cognac with them, and he along with Maddie and Ralph took it inside Kazin's home to have a drink - they told him they'd be bringing the British soldiers the next day to clear out the farmers, so Kazin was in a fine mood. While he was distracted getting glasses, Maddie switched out the walking sticks. After a quick drink the party departed and headed back to the British base.
Once there they attempted to pull the top off the walking stick but were surprised to find that it didn't come off - contrary to what Maddie saw in her vision. Vivienne convinced Captain Lancaster of the danger they were all in and the need to abandon the camp. He was upset about leaving the survey camp behind, as they were all Europeans, but he understood that all of their lives were at risk. Because a mudslide blocked the road about a mile down the mountain they'd all have to leave on foot, and do so at first light to ensure they got far enough away to get out of the blast radius of the Haftorang device.
Speaking of which, Colt decided to bury the device inside one of the camp's tents. After a fitful night of not really sleeping, everyone was ready to go first thing in the morning, and so the group and the British garrison began the walk down the mountain.
As their watches approached 11:30 they entered a very small village - mostly just a main street. When the Haftorang device went off, it was surprisingly quiet. Looking back they saw a column of fire rise up out of the jungle into the sky before spilling back downward and incinerating everything it touched. The sound and smell of the burning followed as roughly 100 square miles of jungle caught fire. The locals were terrified, but at the same time transfixed by the sight.
There was a telegraph station in town and Lancaster used it to contact the capital - they had already been alerted of the impending disaster by Caduceus and trucks were being sent up the mountain. The team, however, wasn't sure how the British would treat them, so when the quarantine crew arrived and began isolating the soldiers, Ralph hotwired a barely-running truck and the team barreled down the mountain toward the capital of Jesselton.
As the reached they city they saw three cargo planes flying in over the ocean. Following their path they made their way to the airport, driving across the tarmac as the last of the planes touched down. Talking their way through security, they reached the Caduceus team, which insisted on testing them for the yellow death. Ralph and Vivienne came up clear - the testing drops did not discolor their tongues. Maddie, however, had her tongue turn yellow, the sign of infection, and she was immediately quarantined. Colt's tongue, however, turned bright green, to the surprise of everyone. After checking a laminated card, the doctor shrugged and said Colt was no danger, but offered no further explanation.
Maddie faced a death sentence, but the Caduceus team said they had brought a treatment with them. Given that she had no options, Maddie agreed to undergo the treatment, and a day later was well enough to rejoin the others, as well as Dr. Victor Goncalves, the Caduceus team lead.
They were brought in for questioning by the outgoing governor Arthur Richards, as well as the incoming governor Douglas Jardine. Lancaster was there too, so they knew that anything Lancaster knew, the governors also knew. The team gained a bit of credibility because Vivienne recognized Jardine's name - she'd read his book, “The Mad Mullah of Somaliland”, while in college, which he found flattering. It turned out the British weren't that upset about the amount of jungle burned, nor the hundreds if not thousands of locals who perished, but about the loss of the Europeans in the survey camp, which was causing a diplomatic situation.
After being kept under wraps for a week, they were called back to the governor's mansion and surprised to learn they had all been awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service for their work in saving the garrison and stopping the outbreak. It was an unexpected but welcome honor. After a party and some heavy drinking they were allowed to return to New York with Goncalves. Lancaster was sad to see Vivienne leave - he had been recalled to London and was reconsidering his military service, her work with Caduceus having inspired him to do something more. He provided her the contact info for his uncle in London, who would always know where to find Lancaster even if he was deployed.
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