The Perfect Pathogen (26 page)

CHAPTER 43

It was a little after 11
p.m. and Jim Redman had just arrived at his home in Arlington. He got home
about this time every night, unless there was some major crisis in progress. He
dropped his briefcase by the door and went into the kitchen to grab a cold
bottle of Corona and slice of lime from the refrigerator. He pulled the bottle
opener from a drawer, pried open the top and then he pushed the lime into the
mouth of the bottle, giving it a lite shake just like every other night. He
dropped his jacket on a chair and kicked off his shoes in the living room on
his way to his office. Entering his office, he flipped on the lights and eased
around his massive desk, taking a seat next to his computer. He glanced out of
the picture window at the swimming pool and hot tub in his back yard, thinking
he might take a quick swim and sit in the tub for a while before he checked his
email.

He swung his chair around and, startled, saw
Nicholas standing next to his book case in the shadows. Nick stepped forward.
He was holding a gun with a silencer at this side.

“I thought I told you never to come here?” said
Jim.

“You did, but I am here to collect the rest of my
payment,” said Nicholas.

Jim was confused. “What are you talking about? “I
paid you in advance, like always. Is there a problem with the payment?”

“Yeah, it isn’t enough,” said Nick. “You forgot to
tell me that I am infected with the disease that is likely to kill me within a
month.

Jim began to panic.

“Well, I didn’t think that would do any good,” he
said nervously, trying to cover his sudden fear.

“How about my family, Jim?  You know I have a
family. I need to take care of them. How much cash you got in your safe?”
Nicholas asked.

“What safe?” asked Jim.

“The one behind the curtain. What, do you think
I’m dumb?”

“I’ve got about twenty thousand in there,” Jim
replied.

“That will be a good start. Open the safe and give
me the 20K,” said Nicholas.

Jim reached in his desk drawer and withdrew a key.
He walked over to the curtain that hid the wall safe and drew it back. He
inserted the key and manipulated the combination until the door opened. He
reached into the safe and withdrew twenty thousand dollars in 100 dollar bills.

“Looks to me like there is more in there. Bring it
all out,” said Nicholas.

Jim withdrew two more stacks of $100 bills.

“Looks more like $40K, Jim. You shouldn’t have
lied to me, I don’t like it when you lie,” said Nicholas, smacking him with the
handle of his pistol. “This is going to cost you another $40K when I come
back.”

“But I don’t have another $40K in cash,” said Jim,
blood now in the corner of his mouth.

“Maybe you should sell some of that vaccine you
have. I’d bet you could get millions for that now. It does exist, doesn’t it?”

“Of course it does,” said Jim unconvincingly as he
walked back over to his desk and sat down.

“Lying to me again,” Nick replied now with anger
in his tone. “Now you’re going to have to come up with another $100K and I want
it in the next two days. You can put it in the normal spot and I will have
someone pick it up.”

“How about if I just write you a check,” said Jim
as he reached in his drawer and pulled out a snubbed nose thirty eight pistol.
Just as he was raising the pistol into shooting position, he heard two quick
thuds as the two shots Nicholas fired struck his chest, knocking him against
the back of his chair. As Nicholas watched, Jim’s face went blank and he
slumped forward, landing face down on his desk, blood quickly pooling around
his head where it lay on his large desk pad. He still had his pistol in one
hand and the money in the other.

Nicholas relieved him of the $40k and whispered,
“You should have taken my deal, at least then you would still be alive.”

Nicholas slowly turned and began walking towards
the door. He suddenly heard a loud blast and felt an explosion in his chest. He
dropped the money and his gun, clutching his gaping chest wound. When he looked
down he saw a large section of his chest was missing. As he gasped for air, all
he could say was, “Oh shit.”

As he lost consciousness, Nick turned and saw
Jim’s gun fall from his hand. “At least it cost that son of a bitch six or
seven months,” he thought. “This only cost me a month.”

“Not a bad trade,” he said out loud as he slumped
to the floor.

Katie arrived home at about 11:30 p.m. She had
stopped in Upper Marlboro at the McDonalds Restaurant, just off Route 4, on the
way home to get something to eat and to clean up. She was scared that Rob would
know that something was wrong and she didn’t want to talk about what had just
happened. She wanted to forget about it. Forever.

As always, Rob was waiting up for her.

“I am glad you are finally home,” he said. “Why
didn’t you call to let me know you were coming?”

“I forgot to call before I left the office and
when I went to call you with my cell phone, it was dead,” Katie lied, as she
had turned her cell phone off in case Rob called because she needed time to get
her composure back before dealing with any questions.

Rob poured Katie a glass of wine and they sat and
talked. After a pause, Katie explained that there was now another person who
was negative and that person also had Down Syndrome. She had received
permission to have all the staff and students at the Center tested. Patti from
church was going to stop by about noon and draw blood samples from everyone who
was there and was willing.

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Rob, after some
thought. “It will at least rule out any coincidence. I‘ll help round up
permission arrangements in the morning. If all of our Downs students are
immune, then what would that mean?”

“Well, if we don’t find a cure, it means that they
will have to survive on their own,” said Katie matter-of-factly.

The wheels started turning in Rob’s head. “If you
think that is a real possibility, I think I should then prepare for the worst
case scenario. I will have to see what would need to be modified at the Center
to make it a self-sustaining environment that could be totally operated by any
surviving students.”

As they sat and talked Rob noticed a mark on
Katie’s neck.

“What happened to your neck?” asked Rob.

“Oh, it is just a rash. I think it must have been
caused by that turtleneck sweater I wore yesterday. I noticed it when I got up
this morning. I put some cream on it but it just seemed to get a little worse
through the day. I am going to put some Neosporin on it tonight and hopefully
it will be gone in the morning,” lied Katie.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’m bushed,” said Katie. “And tomorrow is another
big day. Let’s hit the sack.”

They both went in to check on the kids. They were
all sound asleep. Katie went to each kid and gave them a kiss good night. As
she kissed Hope, she stirred and rolled over and looked at Katie. “I love you
mommy,” she said.

“I love you too, Hope. Sweet dreams.”

Meanwhile, back in Arlington, the Police had
received a report of gunfire in Redman’s neighborhood. The police did a
door-to-door check on the politicians, high-ranking military personnel,
businessmen and newly minted entrepreneurs that favored this part of town,
checking to see if everyone was alright.

There was no answer at the Redman house, so the
officers checked the back of the building, scanning the pool area before seeing
the back doors were left open. A few minutes later an officer was on the radio
reporting what looked like a double homicide. “Or maybe a robbery gone bad,”
added the officer on the radio.

Around midnight the Chief of Staff at the White
House received a call informing him that the National Security Advisor had been
shot dead in an apparent robbery attempt at his home.

The President was still awake and was shocked when
he heard the news.

“Meet me in my office in ten minutes,” he said.
“We need to let the staff know and discuss a successor. This is a tragedy. Jim
was a faithful and honest friend. I’ll miss his counsel.”

The Chief of Staff felt the same, but he knew
there would be no tears shed by the President’s Cabinet, who all saw Jim as a
pariah.

Within the next hour, the President had his
Cabinet on a secure teleconference. “I feel it is necessary that we fill this
vacancy as soon as possible. I would like possible nominations from all of you
no later than eight this morning.”  The discussion continued for about another fifteen
minutes and then the President ended the call.

The President looked earnestly at his Chief of
Staff.

 “Do you think I am moving too fast?  Jim was
always concerned that the other world powers would think we were weak if we
shared too much information with them about the epidemic. Should we look for
someone who is like-minded?”

“Sir, I think the biggest threat to national
security today is the epidemic. If we don’t do something quick, there will be
no world powers. Unchecked, this disease has the ability to wipe out our entire
species from the face of the earth. Whoever you choose must be the right person
to help you lead us through this crisis. I am not worried about attacks from
other countries. I am worried about our survival,” reiterated the Chief of
Staff.

“Thank you for your frank opinion, Harvey. I’ll
have a lot to think about tonight. You should try and get some sleep. We are
going to have a big day tomorrow,” said the President.

CHAPTER 44

Ben and Natalya were up
early. They saw the kids off to school and then headed to the office.

“I hope we get those blood results soon. I am
interested to know if Nadya is negative or positive,” said Ben.

“And what if she is negative?  Who will take care
of her if we are gone?” asked Natalya, a concerned shadow crossing over her
face.

“Let’s hope it never comes to that,” said Ben.
“When we get into the office, who should I see about planning the trip to
Ust’Nera?” asked Ben.

“I will take care of that. Just give me a list of
things you want to take and we can plan on leaving tomorrow morning. How many
days do you think we need there?” asked Natalya.

“I think two days on the ground would be adequate.
I guess the real question is who has the equipment to analyze the soil and
plant samples I would like to take?”

“The research lab in this building has the
capability, I think,” replied Natalya. “They have been doing some spectrograph
measurements on the body tissue of the victims which hasn’t reaped any
profitable information. This should be a good change of pace for them.”

Ben went down the hall to his office. He sat down
at his computer and reviewed his email. He saw an email from Katie and opened
it. It was the physical exam results of the blood donor in Austin, Texas. He
scanned the exam for any clues. There in front of him was the link - Down Syndrome.”

Ben rose from his chair and made his way back to
Natalya’s office.

“The second negative also has Down syndrome,” said
Ben. “So, there is every likelihood that Nadya is also negative.”

Natalya thought she would be happier, but this information
magnified her anxiety tenfold with her new concern over who would care for
Nadya if she wasn’t around anymore.

“That’s great news. Now what do we do?” asked
Natalya, thinking out loud.

“We go to Ust’Nera and try to find some clue as to
what is causing this epidemic so a cure can be discovered. That’s what we do,”
said Ben reassuringly.

Always the optimist, thought Natalya.

“Ok, let me get to work on our arrangements. Don’t
forget to provide me a list of supplies you will need for the trip.”

“I got it,” said Ben.

The morning passed quickly as Ben researched the
items he would need for this exploratory journey. He knew the exact location
where the mammoth was found, but figured he had better have the exact GPS
coordinates anyway. He emailed Dr. Patel in New Delhi to see if he had the
information.

After doing an exhaustive search for the
instruments and sample bags he thought he would need, he decided to check the
world news to see if here were any developments regarding the epidemic. All he
saw was the same old articles. No new information except that the WHO had
reported that the current daily death toll worldwide stood now at 7 million
people.

Ben was about ready to log off his computer and
walk down the hall to see if Natalya wanted to grab a bite to eat for lunch
when a Breaking News banner flashed across the top of his screen. “
U.S
National Security Advisor Found Dead in His Home
.”  Ben quickly clicked on
the banner and the article came up. It was only two paragraphs long, but from
what Ben could surmise, someone had tried to rob Jim Redman in his home and it
resulted in both Redman and the burglar being shot and killed. It seemed very
strange to Ben that two of the President’s top advisors would die in the same
week. He was sure there were others that were asking the same question
regarding this coincidence, including the FBI.

The alarm went off at 6 a.m. and Katie rolled out
of bed. She dreaded going to work after what happened last night, but couldn’t
just lay in bed awake like she had for the last two hours. How was she going to
handle it the next time she saw that murderous bastard on the DVC?  And the
worst part was she couldn’t say a thing about it.

Changing her routine a little, she went in to
check on the kids. They were all asleep, safe and sound. That was a relief.
When she returned to the room, Rob was sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Are you okay?” asked Rob.

“I was just checking on the kids. I had a dream
that someone had kidnapped them all and I just wanted to make sure they were
ok, and they are. It must be all of the trauma and late hours at work,” said
Katie.

Rob knew something was wrong but wasn’t going to
broach the subject at this early hour. He would see how she was when she
returned home this evening.

About thirty minutes later Katie was out the door,
in the car and on her way to the office. She had kissed Rob on the way out the
door and promised him that Patti would be by the Center at noon to test
everyone.

She was feeling a little stressed out, so she put
on her favorite George Winston CD. It always seemed to calm her nerves and put
her in a better frame of mind. It was her mood therapy and she found it a lot
easier than talking to a person. She figured that by the time she got to work,
she would be back in good spirits, or at least not as whacked out as she
currently felt.

Katie arrived at her office about forty-five
minutes later. She turned her computer on like always, processed the blood bank
test samples and then began to check her email. There was an email from Ben,
and she quickly began to process the data he had sent her. She thought maybe
Ben had planted a test with manipulated data to make sure her test process
worked. She emailed him back with the results.

Hi Ben,

Here are the results from your blood tests. Test number
three was negative. I assume you put in a reference sample as a quality
assurance check on my analysis process. Don’t raise my hope like that! Any good
news?

Katie

Moments later she received a reply from Ben.

Katie,

Number three was not a QA test. It is young girl, four
years old, named Nadya who has Down syndrome. I had her tested on a hunch,
after you told me about your daughter yesterday. This provides an additional
data point to confirm your conclusion in the email I received from you earlier
today. Another thing I think you should know is that Nadya is my daughter. It’s
a long story, but I will keep it short. When I traveled to Moscow I planned to
see my daughter, Natasha, who is twelve years old. What I didn’t know was that
my girlfriend, Natasha’s mother, was pregnant with Nadya when we broke up five
years ago. This revelation is why I privately asked Sarah to extend me here for
thirty days. My girlfriend, Natalya, is suffering great anxiety over who will
care for Nadya if a cure isn’t found. Did you go through that with Hope?  I
know this is a lot of information, so please accept my apologies for not
sharing this with you sooner, but I only realized we had this in common
yesterday. On another note, tomorrow I’m traveling to Ust’Nera, the discovery
site of the mammoth. I will be collecting soil and plant samples. I hope they
will provide some insight into what is causing SDX.

Keep up the good work,

Ben

P.S. What did you think about the news concerning Redman?

Katie finished reading the email. As she was
processing the information, she felt the sweat form on her forehead as she
realized she was having another anxiety attack thinking about how Hope would
survive without Rob and her.

Feeling sad, she now remembered what Rob had said.
He was going to do everything in his power to make the Center self-sustaining.
He already had a good jump on that with the installation of the pods, but he
still had a lot of work to do. That brought a smile to her face and it reminded
her about why she married Rob. He was quite a guy who could do just about
anything he set his mind to and she knew right then and there that he would
prepare the way for Hope to survive.

Katie was a little confused about the Redman
comment. She figured that maybe the President had nominated him to be the
Secretary of Health and Human Services. “Just what I needed,” she thought.

She shot a quick email back to Ben, explaining the
plans that Rob was making to provide a safe place for her daughter and other
survivors to live. She finished the note by telling him that she still had
bouts of anxiety over this issue and that he was welcome to bring his daughter
to the U.S., if he wished. Hope would be happy to care for her if things ever
came to that.

Katie clicked send and then decided to go to
Sarah’s office to see if she knew what was going on with Redman.

“Hi Sarah, I got an email from Ben and he asked me
what I thought about Redman. What happened, did he get a promotion?” asked
Katie with a tinge of sarcasm.

Sarah looked back at Katie, clearly shocked. “What
are you talking about?  Jim is dead.”

For a moment, Katie was lost in a whirlwind of
different emotions. She didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. She never
wished for anyone’s death before but in this case she thought it was well
deserved.

“I didn’t know. If I did, I would have never made
a joke. I am so sorry,” said Katie. “How did it happen?”

“What we’re hearing is that a burglar broke into
his house. There was a struggle and then it appears that they shot and killed
each other. There was forty thousand dollars in cash lying on the floor next to
the thief.”

Katie wondered if this was the same man who almost
killed her last night. She couldn’t be sure and she wasn’t about to say
anything that would jeopardize her family.

“That is horrible,” said Katie, now truly shaken.

“I understand the President wants to appoint
another NSA as soon as possible because of the SDX epidemic. I hope he makes a
choice that is more in line with the problem,” said Sarah.

“Well, we will have to wait and see,” said Katie.
“Did you get my email regarding the blood donor in Texas?”

“Yes, looks like they have something in common to
help guide us toward finding the cause,” said Sarah.

“That, plus Ben sent in some tests from Moscow.
One was negative. It is his four-year-old daughter who also has Down syndrome,”
Katie said. “Looks like the picture is getting clearer where there is a number
who have Down syndrome. Patti from the lab is testing the staff and students
from the Center at noon today. We will have those results tomorrow. I think
with them we will have some concrete evidence. It is probably time we go public
with this information. It surely is the right thing to do now. If it is ok with
you, I will bring it up at today’s DVC.”

“That will be fine,” said Sarah. “I doubt if
anyone will object with your assessment. This is pretty cut and dry and we need
the world community to know, so we can start the researchers looking in the
right direction.”