The Perfect Pathogen (22 page)

CHAPTER 37

Ben arrived at the Embassy
a little before 10:00 p.m. As promised, the duty officer was waiting at Marine
Post One. Ben made his way to his old office and logged onto the computer.
First thing, he wanted to catch up, for he hadn’t seen any news or email since
earlier in the day.

Shock spread quickly through his entire body when
he saw the headline “U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Commits
Suicide over Failure to Stop Epidemic” flashing up on his screen

He couldn’t believe it. He had known Jennifer for
years. She would never have done this. Her ego was too big. Something must have
gone terribly wrong.

Noticing the time, Ben picked up the handset on
the Secure Telephone Unit, or STU, and placed a call to Katie.

“Hi Katie, this is Ben.”

“Hi Ben. Your call is right on time,” said Katie.

“I just read the news regarding the Secretary. What
happened?”

“Nothing is really clear, but from what we have
heard, she shot herself last night. It doesn’t make sense to any of us, but we
don’t know what was going through her head. She didn’t even own a gun.”

“I have known her for years and I find it really
unbelievable,” said Ben.

“We are just getting over the upset. I had to
brief her replacement earlier today. His name is Dr. Lawrence Hill. Do you know
him?” asked Katie.

“Yes. I have worked on some projects with him.
Smart guy, but very political. That’s probably why he is where he is now,” said
Ben.

“So, what have you found out?” asked Katie.

“There is some interesting news. The mammoth was
found close to Ust’Nera in the thawing permafrost. The team that conducted the
research was from India and Japan. About three months after they located the
mammoth, it and all samples were moved to New Delhi, India, for further
research.”

“Aha,” said Katie. “That matches up perfectly with
our analysis. That could explain why the infection spread to India first instead
of China or Mongolia which are closer to Ust’Nera.”

“Assuming the mammoth is the source of our
problem, of course,” Ben said. “That still has to be determined.”

“It is looking more and more likely, you’ll have
to admit now Ben,” said Katie.

“Yes it is. The samples in the lab in New Delhi
are being prepared for testing. They expect results in about two days,” said
Ben.

“Great!  How did your briefing with your
counterpart go?” asked Katie.

“She bought into everything we are doing. I had to
brief her boss also, but he agreed to keep this close hold for at least a week.
You can pass that on at today’s call, if you don’t mind.”

“I think I will leave that up to Sarah. Every time
I open my mouth, Jim Redman seems to pounce on me. I am going to maintain a low
profile going forward.”

“I hear Redman holds a grudge for quite a long
time, so it may be too late for you I’m afraid,” chuckled Ben.

“I just want to stay off his radar. He gives me
the creeps, frankly. I will let Sarah handle the dirty work. Getting back on
topic, I have now analyzed the results of over 10,000 live blood samples and
they are all positive.”

“Well, at least the hypothesis regarding the
greater population being infected is proving to be very accurate,” Ben said.
“Have you made any progress in determining the rate at which the pathogen is
speeding up the life cycle?”

“I am still collecting data. I should be able to
start looking at this in the next several days. I have already developed my
strategy and I think I can come up with a pretty good estimate by region. It
will be just an estimate though. Each specific area will vary based on life
expectancy and age of that particular population, if I have this right,” said
Katie.

“When you get your hypothesis and formulas down on
paper, send me an email and I will review it to see if there are any holes. 
Always helps to have a second set of eyes.”

“Great idea,” said Katie. “Anything else?”

“Please let Sarah know that I might have to extend
my stay. Something has come up,” said Ben.

“Sounds mysterious.  Do you want me to see if she
is available for a call right now?”

“If you don’t mind, that would be great,” said
Ben.

“Just a second.”

Katie dialed Sarah’s number. “Hi Sarah, Ben wants
to talk to you. Should I have him call your STU in your office?”

“Yes, but tell him I will only be here for another
ten minutes.”

“Will do,” said Katie.

“Ben you are good-to-go. She will be in her office
for the next ten minutes.”

“Thank you Katie. I will email you with any news I
receive tomorrow. You do the same for me. Take care.”

Ben hung up and Katie wondered what it was that
Ben needed to discuss with Sarah that he couldn’t share with her. Still, they
had only known each other for a week or so, so no big deal.

“Hi Ben,” answered Sarah. “What’s up?”

“Hi Sarah. I just briefed Katie, and now I want to
run a personal request by you. You know that Dr. Natalya Gorky and I used to be
a couple and that we had a child together, remember?” said Ben.

“Yes, I do recall that, and then you had a big
blow-up a few years back and you moved back to headquarters in DC from the
Embassy in Moscow.”

“That’s the gist of it. Well, there is a new
development. What we didn’t know when I left was that Natalya also was pregnant
at the time. I now have a second daughter who is four years old. Natalya has
asked me to stay for a while so that I can bond with my new daughter and heal
some old wounds with my twelve-year-old daughter. She will give me an office in
the Ministry of Health building and I can use the Embassy for my calls and
secure work. What do you think?” asked Ben.

“I want to say yes, but we are in the middle of
this epidemic Ben. Do you really think you will be able to pursue all of your
work from that location?” asked Sarah.

“I guess what I am saying is let me try it and if
it doesn’t work, then we will have to make alternate plans. Okay by you?” he
asked.

“Well, if you can work it out with the Embassy we
can give it a try. How long are you thinking?” Sara said.

“Let’s start with thirty days and go from there,”
suggested Ben.

“Ok, you’ve got it, but you are going to have to
make this work, no matter what, or we are going to ask that you get back here
immediately. You are one of our best Ben. We need you on this,” she emphasized.

“Roger that. Thank you Sarah. This means a lot to
me. Good-bye.”

Katie had about 35 minutes before the big DVC so
she decided to stop by the cafeteria for a snack and something to drink. She
decided again on a Snickers bar and Diet Coke - two of her favorites. As she
was checking out, she got the distinct impression that someone was watching
her. She looked around the room and it was virtually empty, lunch having
finished over an hour earlier. Chiding herself inside, she hoped she wasn’t
starting to get paranoid.

She went back by her office and then up to Sarah’s
conference room. Sarah was just returning from her earlier meeting, and was
standing in her office.

“You are just in time Katie. I need you to give me
a quick brief on Ben’s call.”

“What, didn’t he call you?” asked Katie puzzled.

“Yes, but we didn’t have time to discuss his
findings. I had to go to a meeting,” said Sarah.

“Well, in a nutshell, he is having the mammoth
samples tested for SDX. Once the results are ready, they will be sent to me. I
have the normal blood test results for an elephant in hand now, the closest
relative to the mammoth, and these are already plugged into my algorithm. I
should get the results in about forty-eight hours, maybe a little sooner,” said
Katie.

“That’s great news,” said Sarah.

“But, what I find more interesting is that he verified
the baby mammoth came from an excavation site near Ust’Nera and was
subsequently moved to New Delhi, India.”

“…And?” asked Sarah

“And our data shows the infection started near
Ust’Nera and then spread first to India, then China and Africa. Either this is
a great coincidence or the baby mammoth has something to do with the spread of
SDX,” said Katie.

“And where is the baby mammoth now?” asked Sarah.

“Right here. The Museum of Natural History on the
Mall.”

Sarah sat down, taking this new information on board.

“Ok, how do we package this for the DVC in ten
minutes?”

“I recommend we deal with just the facts. We are
testing the serum samples. The baby mammoth is in DC. Ben is pursuing all
documentation regarding the tests on the baby mammoth. We should have
definitive proof in about two days,” said Katie.

“All blood bank samples from across the U.S. have
been positive, is that correct?”

“Yes that is correct,” said Katie.

“How many?”

“Over 8,000,” replied Katie.

“Ok, let’s see how the call goes with the acting
Secretary.”

At 3 p.m., right on time, the pictures of all of
the conference rooms appeared on the large screen TV. The regular cast of
characters were present, but minus the Secretary now.

Jim Redman, NSA, started the call.

“Welcome everyone to today’s update. Before we
start, I would like to say how sorry we are about Jennifer. We all knew and
loved her. Please, let us mark Jennifer’s death with a moment of silence.

Katie wanted to puke, thinking about the absurdity
of Jim acting like he was in love with Jennifer. He really was a two-faced
jerk, she thought.

After a brief pause, Jim continued.

“Ok, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to
introduce Dr. Lawrence Hill, the acting Secretary for the foreseeable future. I
believe most of you know Larry or have met him recently. Larry, I will turn the
meeting over to you.”

“Thank you Jim, and thank you to all who spent
time with me earlier today, bringing me up to speed with our progress
combatting this epidemic. I do not like to spend a lot of time in meetings, so
I will run this one more as a discussion rather than a roll call. That said, I
will have a lot of questions, so bear with me. So, let’s start. Who has
something new to offer?” Larry asked.

The sound of silence was deafening. When Katie
finally spoke it was in response to some unsubtle non-verbal prodding from
Sarah.

“Dr. Ben Shah convinced the Russians to give us
permission to sample the baby mammoth’s blood that was taken about five years
ago. I expect the results in about forty-eight hours. I will analyze the
results for signs of SDX. If the mammoth can be linked to SDX, then we believe
it is probably the source of the pathogen, based on its movement in the early
days after its discovery. It was moved from Siberia to India, which is
consistent with the analysis of the aging data. That data shows the infection
followed the same route. The remains of the baby mammoth in question are
currently on display at the Museum of Natural History in DC.”

Sarah was a little surprised at how far Katie had
gone, but was pleased by the immediate reaction of the Acting Secretary and the
CDC Director in Atlanta. “Now, that’s very interesting,” they both said nearly
in unison.

“If the mammoth is indeed linked to SDX, then I
think we will need to take possession of the remains for testing,” said the CDC
Director, Bob Gleeson.

“Know also that Ben is pursing all of the
documentation that describes tests run on the mammoth corpse over the past five
years. That should be able to reveal some information also,” said Sarah.

“We also still have positives on all blood testing
thus far, over 8,000 samples,” added Katie.

“Good work,” said the Acting Secretary. “But we
still need to find out what causes the disease. We know that almost everyone
has it. We may know where it came from and we have a possible carrier of the
disease. Now, I need someone to tell us what it is.”

CHAPTER 38

Katie went back to her
office. She was now in a holding pattern waiting on the collation of the
mortality data for her life expectancy calculations, and the mammoth blood
sample results which would confirm the link to SDX. She would continue to
receive test results on the blood bank samples The test results of the
submarine crew had come in, but there were no surprises. They were all
positive. She was losing hope of finding a negative specimen anytime soon. She
decided that the best thing she could do today was make sure she left at a
reasonable hour so she could spend some time with her family tonight. She was
home just before sunset, for a change.

The following day was uneventful. Still no
negatives on the mass sampling and no mammoth test results. Beth had managed to
put together the reported U.S. death cases: over 300,000 were now being
reported daily. Somewhere between 2% and 3% of the entire U.S. population had
died since the start of the epidemic ten days earlier. Mortuary services were
now overwhelmed and the use of mass graves, albeit marked, had begun.

Katie started to analyze the data she had so far,
but it soon became clear that she needed a better way to categorize individual
deaths. Katie worked with Beth to limit the data to three major fields - Age,
gender, and date of death. With these three fields she would develop a formula
to estimate the date of death based on age. It would be difficult, but she
expected she could get in the ball park with her initial estimate. She figured
she could calculate the slope of the line delineated by death date and age, and
then she would compare male-to-male and female-to-female. Once she had the
slope, she would extrapolate the line until she had the expected death date of
everyone aged from 1 to 100. With this data, she would then be able to
calculate how many people would die on any given day. It seemed unbelievable
that she could do this, but in Katie’s mind this was a basic algebra class
question. All she was missing was the data, and she hoped to have that soon.

Ben arrived at the Russian Ministry of Health
headquarters about ten in the morning. He was feeling well rested and excited
about his extended stay in Moscow. He found Natalya busy at work in her office.
He knocked gently and she looked up. Her eyes sparkled and he knew she was
happy to see him.

“I am here and I am ready to get to work,” said
Ben. “My boss agreed to let me stay in Moscow for the next thirty days, if your
offer is still open.”

Natalya smiled broadly. “Of course it is. It will
give us a good opportunity to collaborate on the epidemic research. And you can
ease yourself into your children’s lives. I am so happy that you are willing to
do this,” said Natalya. “Are you still at the hotel or did you check out?”  She
wanted to find out how sure he was that this was a good idea.

“I checked out. I have my bags right here, outside
your door. I will take them to your house when we leave his evening,” he said.

“That will work out great. Grab your bags and let
me show you the office I have set up for you,” said Natalya.

Natalya walked Ben down the hall to a vacant
office. There was a computer set up on the desk and some basic office supplies
on a book case. In addition, Natalya had placed a picture of the two girls and
a picture of Natasha with Natalya and himself on the corner of the large desk.

“I thought you might like something to brighten up
the office, so I took the liberty of providing some photos. I hope you don’t
mind.”

“These are great shots of us and the kids. I
didn’t have this picture of you, Natasha and me. Where did you get it?”

“It was the time we went ice skating together in
Gorky Park. The attendant took the picture for us.”

“Well, he did a great job,” said Ben.

“I will leave you to get down to business. If you
need help with anything please let me know. Your computer is connected to the
internet. They wouldn’t allow me to have it hooked up to our network because of
security. I hope you understand.”

“Completely,” Ben said. “Thank you.”

Ben got down to business straight away and was
soon busy obtaining all of the data and reports associated with the baby
mammoth over the last five years. He hoped to find something that would show
him a pathway to further investigation. He reviewed his email account and saw
an email from the lab in New Delhi.

“Dr. Shah, the samples have been prepared and the
tests are in progress. We should have all the results to you within the next
twenty-four hours. I have attached some reports based on the research we
conducted when we first obtained the mammoth. I hope you find this information
useful. Cordially, Dr. Vishnu Patel.”

Ben clicked the forward arrow and sent the email
on to Natalya, Sarah, and Katie to keep them in the loop.

Ben clicked on a file entitled “Preliminary
examination.”  As Ben read through the report, he realized that the excavation
team had been directed to the area by a team of construction engineers who had
found the mammoth while preparing for the construction of a new above-ground
oil pipeline. The mammoth was partially exposed and it appeared that someone
had been there previously, because some of the internal organs were missing.
They weren’t sure if this happened during the current era or shortly after the
mammal had died. The mammoth had been almost perfectly preserved because of the
peat bog environment in which it died. They believed that the receding
permafrost, caused by global warming, was what led to the discovery of this large
mammal. The mammal still had blood in its body which remained frozen. Some of
the blood was extracted and saved, with the thought of research and possible
cloning of the animal in the future. The blood had been kept in a frozen state
since its discovery and never tested because of moral concerns surrounding
cloning.

Ben wondered why someone would have harvested the
internal organs of the mammoth unless it was for food or some religious rite.
He would have to look at that later. But right now he didn’t see any glaring
signs of hope. He did wonder why the mammoth had died so young. Maybe it was
killed by SDX or maybe it had been infected by a disease from humans or other
animals. He hoped the blood work would offer some clues.

It was almost lunch time and Natalya stuck her
head in Ben’s office. “Join me in the cafeteria?” she asked.

“Just give me a minute. I have to call a colleague
at the U.S Embassy to arrange for a meeting this afternoon. I will stop by your
office as soon as I am off the phone.”

Ben reached Dan Block and set up a meeting for two
p.m. in his office. It would be good to catch up, but he also needed to
establish a process for use of the Embassy offices during his stay in Moscow.
And he was also waiting for Dan to tell him, “I told you so!”

Ben stopped by to get Natalya on the way to the
cafeteria. She grabbed her cell phone and they took the elevator down to the
basement floor. The room was crowded and some people stared as they walked into
the room together.

“I take it you don’t come down here often,” said
Ben, noticing the attention.

“Not with a man, I don’t,” replied Natalya. “They
are probably staring because you’re so handsome,” she said with a smile and a
wink.

Ben had always loved Natalya’s smile. It lit up
any room. He was starting to get hooked on her again, and this was only his
second day in Moscow. Maybe he never really got over her.

“It has been a long time since I have eaten the
local fare. I will let you order for me, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I think I remember what you like,”
said Natalya.

They got their meals and moved to a table by
itself in a corner, out of the main line of sight of the large crowd.

“So, how is your research going this morning?  I
got the email you forwarded and it looks like they are making good progress
towards getting the blood results,” said Natalya.

“Yes, it was good news. I read the preliminary
investigation report and it was very interesting. I am starting to wonder if a
disease similar to SDX caused the extinction of the mammoth in the first
place.”

“It could have, I guess. Something had to kill
them off. We have started DNA testing on a group of victims to see if there is
anything that could lead us to the cause. The difficulty will be in identifying
what has changed, since we don’t have a baseline on most people,” said Natalya.

“Since everyone is infected, I would recommend you
do the DNA testing on people for whom you do have a baseline, not just the
victims. Maybe there’s a possibility of doing gene therapy to eliminate the
intruder gene, if there is one,” said Ben.

“Good idea. I will have them include testing using
known subjects as well.”

“How were the girls this morning?” asked Ben.

“They were up early and ready to go. Nadya even
asked if you were coming back today and I told them both that you were not only
coming back, but that you might stay with us for a while. They were both very
excited.”

“I am glad that Natasha is warming up to me.  I
wasn’t too happy that she thought I didn’t call, but I guess you had to handle
that they best way you could, since you had her to raise by yourself,” said
Ben.

“It has been really hard. She has asked about you
from time to time, and then Nadya with her special needs. But it is much easier
now. They are more self-sufficient and Anna, as always, is wonderful with
them,” said Natalya.

“Well, I am here now and I will do what I can to
ease the burden. I look forward to spending some time with them tonight.”

“How about me?” asked Natalya with a glint in her
eyes.

“Well of course, I especially look forward to
spending some time with you,” said Ben.

Natalya reached across the table and placed her
hand on Ben’s. “I am glad you are here. And I especially look forward to your
company too,” she said.

They finished lunch and Ben caught a taxi to the
U.S. Embassy. He called Dan en route and he was waiting as Ben entered the
atrium.

“Hi Ben, and how did your dinner go last night?”
asked Dan teasingly.

It was as if he already knew he was going to be
shacking up with Natalya and the kids.

“It went well. We had a good time and she had a
big surprise for me,” said Ben.

“Oh yeah, what surprise?” asked Dan.

“I have a second daughter. I didn’t know it but
Natalya got pregnant right before I left for the states,” said Ben.

“And this is a good thing?” asked Dan.

“The best. You should see how beautiful she is.
She is four years old now and her name it Nadya. Such a pretty name,” said Ben.

“If I am not mistaken, the name means hope in
English, doesn’t it? Maybe that means there is hope that you’ll get back into
Natalya’s pants,” kidded Dan.

“Oh man, don’t be so crude,” said Ben as he
punched Dan. “You are talking about the mother of my children.”

“Just joking, you know. So what are your plans? 
How long are you staying for?”

“I am going to be here at least thirty days.
Natalya has offered to let me stay in her guest bedroom.”  As Ben said this he
knew he would get an immediate reaction from Dan.

“Va-va-voom and he scores!!” said Dan.

“Knock it off, wise guy. Let’s get down to
business,” said Ben. “I am going to need an office to use periodically to check
my secure email and to make calls to the U.S. Also, I would like to be able to
participate in secure DVCs, if that is possible. What do you think?”

“My man, this is Moscow,” said Dan proudly. “We
have it all. I will have to get your access upgraded with the Regional Security
Officer so that you can enter the controlled access area.”

“If you can do that it will be great,” said Ben.
“I expect I will be by here at least daily. We’ll have to go to lunch sometime
soon.”

“Can you brief me at least a little more on what
you are doing here? I know it has to do with SDX, but what tack are you
pursuing?” asked Dan.

“I’m not allowed to talk about it right now, but I
am hoping that will change in the next day or two. Once it does, I promise to
give you a detailed brief.”

“Ok, if I have to wait, I have to wait,” said Dan.

The next several minutes were spent reminiscing
about old friends and family, then Ben said good-bye and caught a cab to take
him to the GUM mall so he could pick up something special for his girls. All
three of them.

Back in Washington D.C. the two p.m. DVC happened
per usual. No one had anything new to report. The acting Secretary updated them
on the release of the WHO’s death toll data. The daily global toll had climbed
to four million and the U.S. was hovering around three hundred thousand per
day. Based on her initial work, Katie expected the death rate in the U.S. could
get as high as one and a half million per day. Things didn’t look good. All
they could do was hope for better news tomorrow.