The Perfect Pathogen (21 page)

CHAPTER 35

Ben’s plane was right on
time at 8:25 a.m. and Natalya was at the airport to meet him. Just like old
times, thought Ben as he saw Natalya standing on the other side of customs.
Only this time there wasn’t the hug and kiss that he remembered so well. “Maybe
she will warm up to me,” he thought.

“Hi Natalya, how are you?”

“We have been very busy here, like you I’m sure,
with trying to isolate and find a cure to what is causing this epidemic,” said
Natalya.

“It has been very frustrating not having a firm
lead that could point us to the cause so we can start to work on the solution,”
said Ben. “But that’s why I am here I hope.”

A few minutes later Ben was claiming his luggage
and they were in Natalya’s car heading for her office, as Ben had flown
business class and was somewhat rested on arrival.

“I did some inquiring into the mammoth and fluid
samples you are interested in. It seems the mammoth is now in Washington, D.C.
and the samples are in New Delhi at a private laboratory. Several months after
the mammoth was discovered it was moved to India for evaluation. The
archaeological dig where the mammoth was found was sponsored by India and
Japan. I can get in contact with the lab if you can convince me that this is
worth our time,” said Natalya.

“I can show you why I think this is important.
When we get to your office I will describe everything to you. I brought some
graphs and blood sample data with me,” said Ben.

Pausing a bit, Ben then asked, “How is Natasha?”

Natalya was quiet for a moment and then said, “She
is doing fine. Her grades are good and she really likes school.”

“Does she know I am in town?”

“Yes, I told her. I asked her if she wanted to see
you and she said yes, so I thought that this evening, after you have rested and
freshened up, you can come by the house and have a visit.”

“That would be really great,” said Ben. “I’d like
that very much.”

He was actually going to get to see his daughter,
Ben thought. Even if the mammoth tests are negative for SDX, the trip will have
nevertheless been worth it. He could still see her smiling face, as the
memories of their time together flashed across his mind.

“Here we are,” said Natalya at last.

She pulled her car into a private space in the
front courtyard of the massive Soviet-era building. They went in through the
front entrance, picking up a visitors badge for Ben on the way in. Ben recalled
the last time he was here with her. He would come over for lunch on many days,
since this wasn’t far from the U.S. Embassy.

“What hotel are you staying at,” asked Natalya.

“I am at the Marriot Aurora. I like the location
since it is so close to everything,” said Ben.

“That is a good location. I will drop you off
after work and then you can take a cab to my place, if that is alright with
you. I have to be home by six to take care of the kids,” said Natalya.

Ben suddenly wondered what she meant when she said
kids, then he looked around her office until he spotted it. On the shelf behind
her desk was a picture of Natalya with two young girls. He recognized Natasha,
she looked to be about ten, but who was the other girl with her he wondered?

Pointing to the picture, Ben said, “That is a nice
picture of you and Natasha. Who is the young girl with you?” asked Ben

“Her name is Nadya,” said Natalya.

Not wanting to pry further, Ben didn’t ask where
she came from and Natalya wasn’t providing any answer yet either. It didn’t
appear that Natalya was married. She wasn’t wearing a ring. Maybe Nadya was a
friend or adopted, he thought.

Natalya had a longing look in her eyes that went
right over Ben’s head. She had been afraid that just being in the same room
with him would stir up the embers of her love for him, and she indeed was
right. She began to perspire slightly and then excused herself.

“I need to freshen up,” she said. “I’ll be back in
just a minute.”

Ben went over to the conference table and started
to pull all of his materials out of his suitcase. He flipped open his laptop
and brought up the data and the graphs. He figured he had one shot at
convincing Natalya of his and Katie’s hypothesis. Little did he know that
Natalya was already convinced. If he was going to fly halfway around the world
to prove a point, the point was already proven.

Not having a direct test for SDX, Ben started to
explain the reasoning behind their use of the blood tests to determine who was
and wasn’t infected. Then he went into the longevity project data and showed
her how about five years ago the blood work on people in different regions
around the world started to show abnormal readings for certain tests. The first
area where this occurred was Siberia, followed by India. When he said this to
Natalya he immediately made a connection to something that Natalya had said
earlier.

“Where did you say the fluid samples from the
mammoth are?” asked Ben.

“They are in New Delhi,” said Natalya.

“Bingo. What I just explained to you was that the
initial infections were in Siberia. About three months later the blood work in
India started to show the infection. About three months after that the
infection spread to China and Africa. I was wondering why it showed up in India
second, and what you have just told me would agree with the statistical data we
have analyzed,” explained Ben with an excited grin on his face.

“Ok,” said Natalya. “That’s very interesting, but
what else do you have?”

Ben explained the graphs next. He had graphed the
timeline for the infection in each of the ten regions from the longevity study.
When he matched up the dates on each graph, the lines formed one continuous
solid line. He explained that this showed the infection growing in strength
over time. He went further to spell out that he thought if someone became
infected today, they would have the same abnormal blood test levels as someone
who had been infected five years earlier due to the current virulence of the
pathogen.

Natalya was impressed with the data and Ben’s
analysis. She was eager to get the mammoth’s blood checked for the six specific
tests that showed the signs of SDX.

“So what is the next step?” asked Natalya.

“I would like to have the following fifty blood
tests performed on the mammoth’s serum sample,” said Ben, as he pulled up a
list of blood tests on his screen. “My colleague in Washington has a screening
program ready to compare the mammoth’s blood to that of a healthy elephant,
along with an average of the tests we have analyzed for victims of the disease
and living subjects.”

“Why are you comparing this to living subjects?”
asked Natalya.

“I may not have made it clear when I was going
through the data, but we have tested over 5,000 blood samples from live donors
and they have all been positive for SDX except for one young girl. We haven’t
determined why she wasn’t positive, but we expect we will find another person
who is also negative and then we can compare the two of them.”

“I assume you tested yourself, didn’t you?” said
Natalya.

“Yes I did and I am positive.”

“And I assume you think I would test positive
also, is that correct?”

“Very likely, I am afraid so,” said Ben. “All the
more reason for urgency in finding a cure.” 

Natalya sat down at the table and put her head in
her hands. He could see she was experiencing the grief that he himself felt
when he initially understood that his days were numbered.

“But who will take care of my kids?” said Natalya.

“Let’s not worry about that right now,” said Ben
as he gently touched her shoulder. “Let’s concentrate on finding the source and
potentially a cure.”

“Are the kid’s positive too?” asked Natalya.

“I am afraid so,” said Ben, registering now that
she said “kids.”

They sat in silence until Natalya was ready to
resume their discussion. About five minutes later, Natalya pulled herself
together and said, “Ok, let’s get to work. I will call the lab in India and
tell them to look for an email from you. You send them an email with the blood
work you need and then instruct them where to send the results for analysis.
Here’s the address.  I am going to run the six key tests on my blood. When we get
the results, I want you to analyze them with me to see if I am really
positive.” said Natalya.

“Ok,” said Ben. He had forgotten how assertive she
could be when she got on a roll. He prepared his email to the lab, copying
Katie and Natalya and pushed the send button.

Natalya had just finished a phone call she made.
“I talked with the Director of the lab and he said it will take him about two
days to prepare the sample and then run the tests. He wanted to know why and I
told him I wasn’t at liberty to discuss it, but he understood it was of utmost
urgency,” said Natalya.

Then Ben said, “I know we just barely touched on
this, but I was hoping that we could keep this between just you and me until we
have some hard evidence. My hierarchy at the CDC don’t want this to go public
until we have some idea of where we are heading with the cure portion of the
research.”

“My boss knows you are coming here to discuss some
hypotheses regarding the epidemic,” Natalya countered. “What would you propose
I tell him?  That you were joking?  I am going to have to tell him something.”

“I suppose you are right. Maybe I should brief him
too. I can leave out the part about everybody being positive,” said Ben.

“That would be ok,” said Natalya. “I can live with
that for a little while. Eventually, we need to tell the masses something
though. Our people think we are hiding our research from them, when the truth
is we don’t have anything to tell them,” said Natalya.

For the remainder of the day Natalya shared the
work that they had been doing in an attempt to isolate the cause of SDX. She
was right, they had made almost no progress. They were coming to the conclusion
that this was something they had never seen before and might never find.

Later, near the middle of the afternoon, Ben said,
“I am beat. I am going to head over to the hotel and get a little rest and
freshen up. What time should I come over this evening?”

“How about seven. I want both of the girls to be
up to see you,” said Natalya.

“Ok, I will be there at 7:00 p.m. sharp,” said
Ben, definitely registering now that Natalya had two girls.

On the way to the hotel he called one of his old
friends, Dan Block, who worked in the CDC branch of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
He needed to set up access for this evening so he could make the call back to
DC.

“Hi Dan. How’ve you been?” asked Ben.

“I’m doing just fine, Ben. I got your email and
you are now all set up to make a call this evening. You can use my office, or
your old office I should say. I have a secure connection.”

“That will work out great. Thank you for hooking
me up,” said Ben.

“So, you are doing some super-secret research I
hear. Anything you can share with me?” said Dan.

“I am afraid not my friend. I have direction from
the White House not to discuss the program with anyone outside of the core
group doing the research.”

“Obviously it has to do with SDX, right?” said
Dan.

“Well, I guess I can tell you that much. Yes it
does. We are trying to locate the origin of the disease and we need some help
for our counterparts at Russia’s Ministry of Health.”

“And you just happen to know their chief
Infectious Doc really well,” laughed Dan knowingly.

Ben smiled to himself and said, “That was a long
time ago. This trip is professional business only.”

Don said skeptically, “Uh huh, right.”

“Well thanks for everything Dan. I will also stop
by and see you tomorrow sometime if you are going to be around.”

“Sure, just give me a ring and I will break away
from what I am doing so we can catch up,” said Dan. “Meanwhile, one of my
officers will meet you at the Marine Guard Post One.”

“That will be great. Thanks again,” Ben said.

Shortly after the call he arrived at the hotel.
Entering the hotel Ben felt a little nostalgic. He remembered wining and dining
Natalya here on occasion. It was as comfortable as he remembered. When he got
to his room he went to lay down and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

CHAPTER 36

Katie spent the morning
going back over the data and running the new blood tests through the computer
to check for negatives. They had all been positive and it was starting to make
her question Hope’s results again. What could be different about her that would
keep her from getting infected and why hadn’t she seen another negative?  She
had analyzed over 8,000 blood samples now and they were all negative. She would
have to put this question aside for a little bit longer. She needed now to
start analyzing the age data of the deceased so she could try to figure out the
life expectancy of the remaining population.

The news of the Secretary’s suicide had blown her
away. The Secretary didn’t seem depressed to her. Katie never was able to come
to grips with how bad life would have to be for someone to be convinced that
taking their own life was the best answer. But then, she had never really
understood the science behind depression either. She imagined there were quite
a few more people depressed now than there were a couple of weeks ago. The
worry for one’s family, let alone oneself, could drive many normal people over
the edge, she reasoned.

The worry about her own family drove Katie to work
even harder now. Her goal was to provide an avenue of hope while other experts
worked on determining the cause of the epidemic and then finding a cure. She
had complete confidence in her medical colleagues and knew that someone,
somewhere, would discover the antidote for SDX.

Katie went by Sarah’s office to see if they were
going to have a call today at the normal time.

Sarah said, “I think the call is going to be delayed
for about an hour because of the Secretary’s death. The acting Secretary is now
Dr. Lawrence Hill and he will be stopping by to see us in about forty-five
minutes. We are to give him a full brief on where we stand with our research. I
will let you lead the discussion since you are closest to the data, if you
don’t mind Katie.”

“Ok. Will that be in your conference room?” asked
Katie.

“Yes. You can bring the data tables up on the
screen. Do you have Ben’s graphs and charts concerning his hypotheses regarding
how the disease is killing everyone at the same rate?”

“I do. We went through all of that right before he
left, just in case it needed to be briefed. I will run over the information
again before I set up the computer for the briefing,” said Katie.

Katie took a deep breath and brought up the
subject that had been bothering her. “Do you really think Jennifer would have
killed herself?  I thought you said she and the President had made up and that
she was happy with the way the discussion was going to proceed with the
public?”

“That is what she told me on the phone,” said
Sarah. “I don’t understand. It just doesn’t make any sense to me either. I
always thought her to be of sound mind and as steady as a compass on a calm
sea,” said Sarah. “Damn strange if you ask me,” she added.

“Do you think that maybe someone wanted her out of
the picture?  I don’t put it past some of the people we are dealing with to do
something dastardly,” said Katie.

“There are a few people I don’t trust but I don’t
think anyone would stoop to that level. We can’t let our imaginations run wild
here, Katie. We are also running out of time. You need to get ready for that
brief. We can talk about this later if it is still bothering you. I will see
you in about a half hour.”

As Katie left for her office she knew Sarah was
right. No one would ever go that far. It was all in her mind. She needed to
concentrate on preparing for the briefing. She hurried down the hall not
knowing exactly what was waiting for her. But she figured nothing could be as hard
as having to brief the President.

Dr. Hill arrived right on time. Katie conducted
the briefing and he took it all in, asking very few questions. He didn’t seem
shocked at the news that he was probably a carrier of SDX and it was only a
matter of time until he died, if there was no cure. His reaction, or, rather,
lack of reaction, seemed strange to her considering he mentioned that he knew
nothing about the research and that the Secretary had kept this close hold
because of the sensitivity of the information.

At the end of the brief Sarah asked;

“So, based on what you now know Dr. Hill, do you
think the public should be briefed?  The White House was dead set against it,
but before the Secretary’s death she called me and told me the President had
agreed to release some of the information.”

“I will talk to the President to see what he wants
to do. I haven’t been involved with the policy surrounding this epidemic, only
the medical research, and so I am not ready to make a judgment until I hear
what the President has to say,” said Dr. Hill dryly.

Katie wasn’t impressed with his response. She was
still hopeful that the public would be made to understand that the epidemic was
more than serious.

“How is the medical research going?” she asked.
“All we hear is no progress.”

“We haven’t been able to isolate anything out that
could be a cause. No virus, no fungus, or bacterial infection. It is really
strange. Like an invisible bug that is attacking bodies. I guess I should say
our bodies now, based on what you just said during the briefing,” said Dr.
Hill.

“What information do you need to get us on the
right track?” asked Katie naively.

“If I knew that, we would have already asked,”
said Dr. Hill. “As hopeless as it sounds, I still have confidence that some
bright mind will figure this out. We now have over 260 teams worldwide working
on this. If your information gets out then they will know that their life
depends on this research. That can be quite a motivator.”

Katie realized this was probably true. But she
didn’t like this man’s bedside manner.”

Dr. Hill stood up and thanked Katie and Sarah for
the briefing. “I’ll see you on the 3:00 p.m. call.”

“Yes, see you then,” said Sarah.

“I have a 2:00 p.m. call scheduled with Ben. Do
you want to join the call?” asked Katie.

“No, you go ahead. I have a few other things to
look at before the DVC.”

Katie headed back to her office to prepare.
Another run of live blood tests had just completed and they were all positive
again. She was hoping she would see something different, and was starting to
find the constant positive results depressing.

In Moscow, Ben had just arrived at Natalya’s front
door. The Nanny opened the door and he recognized her from years earlier. “Hi
Anna, it is good to see you again,” said Ben.

“You too, Mr. Ben. Welcome. Ms. Natalya is waiting
in the living room with the girls. I will show you the way in case you have
forgotten.”

“Thank you Anna,” said Ben.

Ben entered the living room and there sat Natalya,
Natasha and four year old Nadya. After brief hellos, there was quiet for some
time, with Natasha staring at Ben. Then Nadya took off in a run with her arms
wide open and jumped into Ben’s arms as she said “Daddy.”

Ben was a little confused. He looked to Natalya,
and Natalya just nodded her head to say yes. “Oh my god,” thought Ben, “I have
a second daughter.”

At Natalya’s coaching, Natasha slowly walked over
to Ben and put out her hand. Ben took it gently and shook it.

“Hello father. Why haven’t you called me?”

Again, Ben looked at Natalya, angry that she
hadn’t explained to his child that she had forbidden him to call her.

“It was a misunderstanding Natasha and I will
never let it happen again,” he said. “I am very sorry.”

Natasha wasn’t buying it for one minute, but she
let it go for now. Natasha had seen the shock in Ben’s face when Nadya had run
towards him. She didn’t understand exactly why he was so surprised, even though
she knew he had never seen daughter number two. Surely he must have known?

Ben couldn’t keep from staring at Nadya. He was so
excited. Natalya had some explaining to do. Why had she kept this a secret from
him?  It didn’t make any sense to him.

They all had dinner together and afterwards, Ben
broke out the photo album he had brought along. Natasha sat on one side,
Natalya on the other and Nadya sat on his lap. This reminded him so much of
when Natasha was younger.

Ben flipped through the pictures, going right back
to when she was seven. The pictures of Natalya and him together made them look
very cozy, but he knew better, and he was still bitter. But his delight at
discovering he had another daughter was softening him. But he couldn’t help
wondering what Natalya was planning. He was trapped in her lair.

After they finished going through the photo album,
Anna took the girls off to bed. They both gave Ben and their mom kisses
goodnight. Ben was enjoying this immensely.

After the kids left the room, Ben turned to
Natalya, looking at her properly for the first time.

“So why did you keep this from me. My own
daughter, and you weren’t even going to tell me she was born!”

“Well, initially I was so mad at you, all I could
think of was how much I hated you. And then when Nadya was born, I was afraid
to tell you because of her disability. I thought you would reject us. So, I
took the safe route and just kept it to myself. We Russians can keep good
secrets too, you know. I figured that someday in the future our paths would
cross and I would be able tell you then.  That day came sooner than I thought,
and now with the news you gave me today, we may not have much time left to
share as a family.”

Ben was a little puzzled. He accepted her
reasoning, but what was this about a disability. He had noticed something a
little different, but he didn’t see any developmental issues.

“What disability are you speaking of?” asked Ben.
“She seems perfectly normal.”

“Well, she has had some health issues and luckily
they have all been easily fixed. She is mosaic, Ben. She has some of the
characteristics of Down Syndrome, but not all. As you can tell she looks pretty
normal. She has to work really hard to learn, but she is a survivor. She works
until she masters each new task. You would be so proud to see her work,” said
Natalya.

“I think she is a lovely little girl and so full
of life. I wish you had told me earlier. When did she find out I was her dad?”
asked Ben.

“When you called Monday and agreed to come to
Russia for a visit. I told her that her daddy was flying all the way from the
United States of America to see her. She was so thrilled.”

There was a brief silence.

“Where do we go from here?”

“You tell me. Right now we have some pretty
important work to do. When are you scheduled to go back to the U.S.?”

“Within the week. But this is all happening really
fast. I need to figure out how we can best make this work for all of us,” said
Ben.

“The easiest thing would be for you to just stay
here. We can commute together and you could work out of my building if you
like. We could set an office up for you. Once the epidemic is under control we
could decide where to go from there. What do you think?” asked Natalya.

“Where will I stay?” asked Ben.

“I have a guest room you can use. I can have Anna
prepare it for you.”

Ben wanted to scream yes, but he wasn’t sure how
his office back home would react. He probably could do most of his work from
Russia. He would have to use the U.S. Embassy’s secure DVC for the daily calls,
but that would be after hours so it shouldn’t be an issue. His mind was
buzzing.

“I have a call to make to the office this evening.
I will broach the subject with them, and I think your plan just might work,”
said Ben.

Natalya now had a broad smile on her face. She was
close to getting back the man she had never stopped loving, plus she thought
this would be the best thing for the girls.

“I have got to go. I will come to your office
tomorrow morning around ten if that is ok?” said Ben.

Ben got up and walked to the door. Natalya
followed him. Just before reaching for the knob he turned around and Natalya
was right there. He put his arms around her and embraced her, pulling her close
to his body. She kissed him gently.

“I have to go,” he said. He could so easily have
stayed, but it was all so sudden, and there was so much to think about. He
released Natalya and moved to the door. As she closed it behind him, she felt
disappointed, though of course she understood. But she was determined to get
her own way. Tomorrow would be another day.