The Perfect Pathogen (9 page)

CHAPTER 14

Katie sat for a while,
wondering if maybe she would be the only one of her family to have the markers.
That would be good. But then she realized if that was the case, she would have
to isolate herself from them to keep them safe. And that she was going to die.
The thought winded her, and she started to sob, trying to catch her breath. She
was going to die. She didn’t know when. But she thought it would be soon.

An email from Dr. Shah popped onto her screen, and
she breathed deeply, trying to calm herself as she opened the message, curious
to know what the doctor’s thoughts were regarding the relevance of age in this
disease.

Hi Katie,

These are important questions you have asked and I have
been pondering these same questions myself. This material is not ready for
prime time, but this is what I am starting to think. It is really very simple,
though complex. It appears that all of the victims we have examined died of one
form or other of an old age-related death. This brings to mind the question, if
the deaths were “normal” then why so many, so quick? I can’t prove it now, but
my hypothesis is that this disease we are chasing is accelerating the process
of death. That is why it is affecting the elderly for the most part first. Of
the younger people who have died, I’ll bet mostly they had a pre-existing
condition that would have shortened their life on its own. With this disease
they are just approaching their end faster now. How fast you might ask? It will
take some time to figure that out. You may be able to help in that area since
you are familiar with the aging data. As I said, this is not yet ready for
prime time so please don’t share with anyone.

Best regards,

Ben

Katie sat at her computer with her mouth agape.
This was an interesting bit of information that could help her with her
hypothesis. She decided to write back to Ben, realizing this was the first time
she had ever seen him use his first name.

Hi Ben,

I wanted to share some additional information with you
that may help you prove your hypotheses and maybe narrow down the timeframe.
This information is strictly for your use only. Please maintain its
confidentiality. I ran the test on my own blood and when compared with the
victims, my results fall right in the middle of the range created by the
deceased for the six markers. Not a good sign for me, I fear. I have been
collecting data from blood tests for the past seven years. The algorithm I am
using today is a modified version of the one I use to predict longevity. Four
of the six tests that I have identified as key indicators of this new disease
are among the data I collected for the longevity study. A cursory look at some
of the longevity data shows that the levels for these four tests in my data
started to increase as far back as five years ago. My hypothesis at that time
was that these abnormal levels were a normal effect of aging, and I was not
overly concerned because it didn’t seem to be affecting the longevity. I
certainly did not see a pattern in them that concerned me. Now I believe these
abnormal readings could be a key to determining where and when this disease
started. I am sure you can see why it is important to me to determine how
quickly this disease, or whatever it is, is going to kill me.

Please respond soon,

Katie

After a few minutes, Ben replied.

Dear Katie,

First of all, your blood test is not definitive. We are
still in the early stages of evaluating all the data. Secondly, we will find a
cure. Your other data is very interesting. When do you expect to provide a
complete analysis that we could use to look at a world model for the spread of
this disease?  I think this is critical to finding a cure, particularly if the
blood tests are accurate.

Best regards,

Ben

Katie typed out a hasty replied

Ben,

I hope to give it to Sarah by late Saturday. I will be
working late every day, but on Sunday I am going with my family to visit the
grandparents. It is something we have to do. They may not be here very much
longer.

Wish me luck,

Katie

Katie picked up the phone and called Sarah.

“Hi Sarah. I analyzed my results and they indicate
that I am positive. Of course we haven’t validated the tests yet, but that’s
what I have found out. Has a decision been made yet on expanded testing?”

“Yes. They want to start small and then see what
we have. I have had my blood drawn too. We are looking at blood from a group of
people we believe have been exposed, and a group that haven’t. You should have
those by noon tomorrow. The Chief of Naval Operations has offered  a submarine
crew just returning from a three month deployment at sea for testing. They
should be a fairly good bet for a non-exposure control group. We will include
them in the second round of testing. We are making a renewed effort at figuring
this out, and we won’t let you hang out there on your own,” said Sarah.

“You don’t have to convince me. I know how
important this is to everyone. We’ll know more tomorrow. I’ll call you as soon
as I analyze the live test data. And Sarah, I am sure you are feeling the way I
did yesterday when I was waiting for my results,” said Katie. “We’ll get to the
bottom of this.”

“Yes, it is a little scary,” said Sarah. “But the
fact that we are doing any testing at all is a testament to your brilliant
work. Thank you again so very much. The Secretary will be giving her press
conference in about five minutes, so you should tune in. Talk to you tomorrow.
”

Katie walked into the conference room. Beth was
there with a couple of others from the office. The TV was already on and the
press were waiting for the Secretary’s remarks.

Katie had read the briefing paper. There wasn’t
much new, just her information, some speculation from Dr. Shah, and a gruesome
description and pictures from some autopsies. She didn’t expect any of those
facts would see the light of day at this point.

The Secretary briefed on the actions being taken
by the CDC and our partners in Europe and Asia. Everyone was working together
to find the source of the illness and develop a remedy. She cautioned that work
in these areas is always slow. She then briefly touched on the WHO paper and
produced some statistics from the U.S. She reiterated that this was mainly a
disease of the elderly and the infirm. As hospitals were starting to get
overwhelmed, she encouraged people to seek alternative care from their doctors
as out patients, when required, and she reported that several organizations
were setting up mobile clinics to help. She emphasized the importance of
routinely checking on the elderly to ensure they were OK.

After her initial remarks she opened the floor to
questions.

A journalist from the Washington Post asked the
first question.

“Madame Secretary, you didn’t mention anything
about when you thought you would have some conclusive proof regarding what was
causing this epidemic. When do you expect to have something concrete to tell
us?”

“We have the best minds around the world working
on this. For example, the President has set up a Pandemic Task Force at Johns
Hopkins University headed by the premier pathologist in the United States, Dr.
Brian White. He will be coordinating the efforts of seven teams which have been
established. I would be surprised if we didn’t have something concrete within a
couple of weeks but it will take much longer, probably several months to
develop an antidote or effective vaccine,” responded the Secretary.

The next question was from a cable news channel.

“How long do you expect this to go on?  I am
seeing thirty to forty funerals a day in my community alone. Aren’t you
concerned about our capacity to handle all of the dying?”

“Yes,” came the reply, without hesitation. “We are
watching that closely. We are in contact with the Health Departments in every
state, and we are reassured that contingency plans are in place in each
locality should the death toll exceed local capacity.”

“What types of contingency plans are we talking
about? Mass graves, like in the 1919 flu pandemic?” asked another reporter.

“It is possible that we may have to resort to mass
graves if the death rate continues to increase. But this would be in an extreme
circumstance. I emphasize that each state has a plan. I recommend you contact
your state health department if you have a specific question.,” replied the
Secretary.”

The Secretary answered a few more questions and
then ended the press conference. Katie thought she had done pretty well, given
the tough subject. Now it was back to work for her. It was already 6:30 a.m.,
but she needed to feed in the latest data.

She freshened up and made her way downstairs to
meet her family, and greeted them as they walked across the parking lot. Hope
ran up to her mom and gave her a great big hug.

Katie just smiled and said, “I love you honey. I
wish I was at home a bit more to have more of these hugs! But I am doing some
really important research.”

“Will our tests be included in your research?”
asked Hope.

“They sure will. I am so glad you all came. Let’s
get the tests done and then we can head out to dinner.”

The boys said in unison, “Food!  That sounds
great!”

After having their blood drawn, they all jumped
into the Pacifica and headed to the restaurant. Katie was famished, as were the
kids. She noticed Rob looking at her strangely as she wolfed down her food. She
looked over and just smiled.

“This is the first time I have had anything good
to eat all day,” Katie admitted.

“I didn’t say anything,” replied Rob.

“You didn’t have to, it was your look. I can read
you like a book you know.”

“As I can you,” said Rob as he smiled again.

Katie leaned back and relaxed. It was nice to have
the whole family together for dinner. It felt like it had been forever since
they ate together, even though it had only been five days ago. Those five days
already seemed like an eternity.

“Is everyone up for a trip to see grandma and
grandpa this weekend?  I thought we would go over on Sunday,” said Katie.

“Great,” said Brett. “I always love taking that
trip into the country. And this is the time of the year with the leaves just
starting to change colors, not too hot and not too cold.”

“Well, it is settled,” said Rob. “We’ll leave
first thing Sunday morning.”

“But what about church?” asked Hope.

“I think the good Lord will forgive us if we miss
just this once,” said Rob.

CHAPTER 15

Back at her desk, Katie
tried to concentrate on her email, but her mind was full of Rob and the
children. She felt that she should be with them, but knew that what she was
doing here was vital work, and she had to stay. Katie remembered the times Rob
had asked what she would do if she found out she only had six months left to
live. It was a game they played from time to time. She tried to think of her
answers, and thought of how she would say that she would spend time with
friends and family, travelling and having adventures. She had never once said
she would spend it working long hours.

While she was waiting for the final data run of
the night to finish, she put together an outline of how she was going to
analyze the longevity data for the last seven years. Normally, she would think
about this for a couple of weeks and then put together a detailed plan. She
didn’t have time for that now. She needed a plan that she could start to
execute tomorrow morning.

After forty-five minutes she had a pretty good
idea where she was headed. She would look at the information on the four blood
tests only. She would work based on location to determine when the test results
started to deviate from the norm. She would do this for each of ten different
regions of the world where she had concentrations of data. She expected by the
end of the day that she might have some basic idea of where the pathogen
started and how it moved from there. Of course, it may have started in multiple
locations. But the odds are it would have started in just one area. It was a
long shot, but it was the only game in town right now.

She was just getting ready to leave when an email
popped up from Ben.

Hi Katie,

I have done some more work on the age issue and if your
model for the blood testing is accurate, and you do have the disease, I believe
you have at least six months to live. You won’t be going anywhere soon and we
will find a cure before it is time for you to check out. We can talk more
tomorrow at the meeting Sarah called for 10 a.m.

Best regards,

Ben

“Meeting at 10 a.m.!” Katie said out loud. “What
meeting?”

While she was out with the family she had missed
another email from Sarah. She now had to be downtown. What a hassle! What Ben
had said was good news, of sorts. She looked forward to hearing his further
explanation tomorrow morning.

As she got in her car she remembered that Rob had
asked her to call when she left.

She dialed and Rob answered. “Hi Sweetie, are you
on your way?”

“I am just pulling out of the parking lot. I
should be home in less than forty-five minutes.”

“I will be up and waiting. I know you said you had
something to talk about that you couldn’t on the phone.”

“Yes, you never know who is listening. Chill a
bottle of wine and we can sit outside and spend some quality time together.”

Rob hung up, a little puzzled. He couldn’t
remember Katie ever using the term quality time. But then he thought everything
they did together was quality time anyway, so why not?

As she pulled into the driveway, Rob was there
waiting. He walked over to the car to greet her and help her with her things.
She had a somber look on her face and Rob knew that meant there was something
very serious that they needed to discuss.

She got out of the car and gave Rob a long deep
kiss and then said, “No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you
more than life itself.”  Then she held him tight for several minutes as tears
ran down her face.

“Honey, everything is going to be alright,” said
Rob. “It’ll be just fine.”

“No it’s not!” said Katie with a slightly raised
voice. “We have to prepare for the worst. We can’t just gloss over this.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Rob with a
quizzical look and confusion on his face.

“I’m sorry, Rob, my emotions are running wild.
Let’s go inside and get something to drink and we can talk more”

“Ok. I chilled your favorite chardonnay, would you
like some?” said Rob.

“Yes, that would be great. Maybe it will take the
edge off.”

Rob poured them both a glass of wine and they sat
down to have the conversation of their life.

Katie looked at Rob with sad eyes and started.

“I believe I am infected with the disease. That’s
why I asked you and the kids to come give blood samples too. I wanted to see if
it has been transmitted to you yet. If it hasn’t, then we can possibly take
action to protect you and the children.”

Now it was Rob’s turn to be indignant.

“You knew you were infected and didn’t tell me,”
he said in a raised tone. “When did you find out?”

“This afternoon.”

“…and you didn’t tell me when we went to dinner.
How could you keep this from me?”

“I wasn’t certain and I didn’t want to upset you
or the kids,” Katie replied.

“Well, are you certain now?” asked Rob.

“I am pretty sure. The last data run was
consistent with the rest. We’re doing expanded sampling now to see where it has
spread. I may have been infected by Herb.”

“What do you mean “may have been”?  Do you know
how the disease is spread?”

“Well, that’s the problem. We still don’t know
what is causing the disease or how it is spread. Everything is speculation at
this point. The only hard facts are the blood samples I’ve been working with.”

Rob held his head in his hands as he started to
ponder the possibilities. His anger started to subside as he realized that he
might be losing Katie, and life without her would be unbearable. What if he and
the kids were infected too, he thought?  So far, everyone who got the disease
had died. Were they all going to die?  Had he unknowingly infected the kids at
the Center?  He was in contact with hundreds of people every day. Too many
thoughts…Katie’s voice brought his attention back.

“Honey, the good news is that the doctor leading
the scientific investigation to determine life expectancy thinks that the
disease works somehow on the aging process. He believes that I will live at
least six months and that gives them plenty of time to find the cause and
develop a cure,” said Katie.

“Sounds like a lot of speculation at this point.
When will they have some firmer facts? What if this has spread to everyone?”
asked Rob emphatically.

“Well, I have a feeling it may have,” said Katie.
I’ll be putting together information from the aging project, and my preliminary
look at the data indicates that the change in blood results could have started
as long as five years ago. That would have given plenty of time for the disease
to have spread around the globe, without anyone even knowing.”

“What does this all mean?” asked Rob. “Are you
saying that maybe everyone in the world is infected and without a cure everyone
could die?  If that information was public, then there would be chaos in the
streets.”

“Now you know my dilemma,” said Katie. “There is
so much to consider. I am trying to make sense of all of this so that maybe the
source can be located.”

Rob poured them both another glass of wine. He
could see that Katie was starting to relax and he was hoping he would too. The
information she was sharing was all too shocking. What if she was correct in
her thinking?  He could only hope she was wrong.

“So, if your hypothesis is correct, we are
probably all infected. That about the gist of it?” he asked.

Katie nodded. “That would be my hunch at this
point. And I really hope I am wrong. We should know more tomorrow when I get
your blood test results, and the results from the expanded serum testing
program that we are running. I didn’t actually get permission to test you and
the kids. I took the liberty of doing it because Patti from church works in the
lab and she was doing this as a favor for me. The main expanded testing is
being run out of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.”

“When will you have our results?”

“By tomorrow evening,” said Katie.

“What if our results are negative?  What will we
do then?”

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it,”
said Katie, knowing full well if that was the case then she wouldn’t be coming
home anymore, at least not until a cure was found.

“Can we hold off telling the kids anything right
now, since there is no certainty about you or us?” asked Rob.

“Yes. I think that is the best tactic at this
point. No reason to upset them when we don’t have all of the facts. Where are
they anyway?”

“They’re all still doing their homework,” said Rob
as he yelled to the kids that mom was home.

The kids all came out to see their mom for the
second time this evening.

Hope looked at her mother.

“Mom, your eyes are so red, like you have been
crying. Is everything alright?”

“I am just tired because of the long hours I have
been working.”

“Well, when I am tired, I get some extra sleep.
That might work for you too mom,” said Hope.

“That’s a great idea Hope, but I have to work
tomorrow. Maybe I can sleep a little later on Saturday,” said Katie.

She gave all the kids a hug.

“It’s almost time for all of you to get to bed.
You do have school tomorrow, right?”

“Yes mom,” they all said as they headed down the
hall to the bathroom and their rooms.

“…and you young man,” said Katie to Rob with a
smile, “I have something special in mind for you tonight,” as she grabbed his
hand and they headed to their room on the other side of the house.