The Genesis Plague (2010)

over himself, the tent instantly filling with a putrid smell. The two marines standing guard close to him immediately backed away.
    ‘Jesus, Doc,’ the first marine said. ‘What the hell’s wrong with this guy? It’s like he’s dying or something.’
    The second marine cringed while craning his head to get a better look at what came up from Al-Zahrani’s stomach. ‘Not sure what he ate last, but there’s an awful lot of blood in there. That can’t be good.’
    Overwhelmed, Levin didn’t respond. Could this really be happening?
    ‘Doc? You all right?’ the first marine asked.
    ‘I … I’m okay.’ But this was a complete lie. If such a high profile captive died under his watch, there’d be hell to pay.
    ‘Aren’t you going to give him some drugs or something?’
    ‘I already did.’ He hesitated. ‘I’m just not quite sure what’s wrong with him.’
    ‘Crawford probably poisoned him,’ the second marine said, deadly serious. ‘Doesn’t want those contractors to get paid.’
    The second marine pointed his chin at the oozing wound on Al-Zahrani’s hand. ‘Hey, how about this: maybe he got bit by a snake? I’ve heard there’re some really nasty vipers in these mountains. I think I might have seen one of them squirming around when we were clearing the rubble.’
    Levin gave the comment serious consideration. Native to Iraq were six species of highly venomous snakes - five in the Viperidae family, or ‘vipers’, and one in the Elapidae family, or ‘cobras’ - most of which were common in the deserts and grasslands. Iraq’s northern mountains, if his recollection was correct, were home to the Kurdistan vipers and Persian Horned vipers, both highly poisonous. But since most troops took precautions to not antagonize snakes, and given the fact that vipers had a tough time biting through combat boots, he’d had no practical experience in diagnosing or treating snake bites.
    He mentally recollected facts from the acclimation training he’d received prior to his first deployment to Iraq. Viper venom was a haemotoxin - primary target: blood cells. When bitten, a patient would develop severe pain and swelling around the bite. Left untreated, massive internal bleeding could occur.
    So maybe a snake bite couldn’t be ruled out. But the most obvious symptom would be the wound itself, thought Levin, and the infected gouge in Al-Zahrani’s hand looked nothing like the twin punctures left behind from snake fangs. Unless, perhaps, Al-Zahrani had ripped off the snake hard enough to tear away flesh. Even so, could venom act so quickly? Were Iraq’s mountain vipers that poisonous?
    ‘A snake bite,’ Levin muttered. ‘Maybe. The snake you saw … did it have two horns protruding out from above its eyes?’
    The marine was quick to respond. ‘Nope.’
    ‘What did it look like?’
    ‘Maybe a metre long. Its skin was yellowish with big brown spots … kind of like a giraffe.’
    Kurdistan viper, thought Levin .
    ‘Then there’s something you can give him for that, right?’ the first marine asked.
    ‘Yes. Yes, there is.’ Protocol dictated that snake-bite victims were to be stabilized in the field, then flown back to the nearest command base for treatment. Therefore, antivenoms for the region’s snakes had become a standard provision, compliments of Israeli Intelligence.
    Levin used his sleeve to wipe sweat from his forehead, then scrambled to open his medical case. After rummaging for fifteen seconds, he found the correct snake-bite kit. He quickly skimmed the directions, then used the kit’s saline ampoules to reconstitute the freeze-dried antivenom powder. He filled a syringe and hurried over to Al-Zahrani. He gave it a second thought, but said, ‘I guess it can’t hurt, right?’
    ‘Go for it, Doc,’ the second marine encouragingly replied with a wink and a nod.
    Levin injected the antivenom into a thick vein on Al-Zahrani’s forearm. Panic set in the moment Levin stood back to reassess the situation. Had he acted too hastily? If Al-Zahrani hadn’t been bitten by a viper, would the antivenom exacerbate his condition? ‘I’m not sure if this will work,’ he told the marines. ‘We’ve got to get him to a hospital, immediately.’ He addressed the first marine, saying, ‘You need to convince Crawford to transport him. Tell him what’s happening in here.’
    ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ the marine replied noncommittally, then hurried out from the tent.
    ‘Wouldn’t that be a