The Sapporo Outbreak (36 page)
Skinner listened as the muffled voices in the hallway slowly faded away. After a minute or two, satisfied he was alone, Skinner flung aside the bedsheets and with
a groan swung his legs to the side. He sat for a moment while the sparks of pain in his back subsided. His legs rested on the steel frame of the bed. He could feel it, cold and hard, through the thin cotton of his hospital gown.
Skinner checked his cell phone. 2.25 a.m. He could see a long list of missed calls and messages. At least a dozen were from Steve Clark. He'd give the big detective a call later in a few minutes. Skinner heaved himself on to his bare feet, grabbed his cell phone, took a deep breath and moved quietly to the door and out into the hallway.
He glanced left and right. The clean, modern corridor was empty. In the far distance, he could make out a semi-circular desk and the top of a woman's head. Keeping his eyes fixed on the woman, he walked silently toward the door, pushed down on the stainless steel handle, nudged the heavy door inward and entered.
Inside, the room was identical to the one he'd just left. At the door was a small door leading into a private bathroom and shower. In the middle of the room, the same solid bed. Beyond a large pane of glass looking out into the cold dark winter night, the snow falling heavily over the Sapporo skyline.
Eva Santos turned away from the television, mounted on the wall opposite her bed and toward the sound. She paused for a split second, and then an enormous white smile lit up her face. "Ben. I've been asking to come see you, but they wouldn't let me. They said the police were still interviewing you."
The pain, the stiffness, the exhaustion all disappeared. Skinner felt an overwhelming surge of joy at seeing her again and almost sprinted toward the bed. Santos sat up on the bed, and as Skinner arrived she tenderly wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him toward her. "Ben, I wanted to say..."
Before she could finish, Skinner kissed her. Gently at first, and then a deeper, more passionate kiss. His hands slid around her narrow waist and he held her tight. He could feel the warmth of her body radiating up between them. Her long dark hair drifted over the back of his neck. It was sheer bliss.
A few moments later, Skinner slowly, reluctantly relaxed his embrace and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry Eva. I've been waiting to see you since we got here, but I've been stuck in endless de-briefs with every law enforcement, spook and bureaucrat in Japan."
Santos leaned forward and placed her tiny hand over his.
"It's alright Ben, I understand. I've been answering the same questions over and over, and all I could think about was you."
Skinner smiled briefly, before furrowing his brow in concern. He'd seen Santos face recoil in horror at something over his shoulder.
Skinner swivelled, painfully, to look behind. The paper thin OLED screen mounted on the wall was running a muted 24-news channel. English subtitles scrolled constantly along the bottom third.
The screen was cycling between jerky, amateurish video footage from around the world. From the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, China, Japan, Germany and Mexico, the backdrop changed but the same savage act played out.
Innocent people in streets, malls, office buildings, even schools, were being attacked by rabid gangs. The news service had hastily pixellated the footage to hide the most explicit violence, but it was clear what was happening. People were being hunted down and murdered. Bludgeoned. Ripped apart.
Skinner stared, aghast, as the ticker added more and more countries to the list of countries reporting 'outbreaks'. In the background, Skinner heard Santos softly whisper, "Oh Ben..."
Skinner felt his phone buzz.
He looked down at the glowing screen, mouthed "It's Clark," to a nodding Santos, and answered. "Steve."
"Ben. I just heard what went down over there. Holy shit! Are you and Eva ok?"
"We're fine Steve. In fact, Eva's with me now. Hold on, I'll put you on speaker."
Skinner pressed a button on his cell phone, and lay it down on the bed.
Clark's voice rumbled, "Hey Eva, how you doing?"
"I've had better days Steve. We're both a bit battered and bruised but we'll recover. What's happening at your end? We're watching news reports of attacks everywhere."
"Yeah, it's bad. I joined a response team in Palo Alto. When I got there, there were hordes of crazies pounding on bodies. It was like an army of mall shoppers all loaded up on bath salts. There were
hundreds
of them. Hundreds. Waves of them just kept coming. So far, 180 of our people are injured, 33 confirmed dead. But that number's going to rise fast.
Skinner leaned forward. "Holy shit Steve. What happened?"
"Well, in the end we had no choice. The officer in charge was down, so I had to make the call. I moved the big guns up front and took them all out. Every single crazy one of them. Mums. Dads. Even kids. It was gruesome man."
Skinner shot upright, wincing as his back screamed in pain.
"Jesus Steve. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine Ben. It got a bit personal at one point, so I'm nursing a few bumps and bruises. And the shit has really hit the fan. Nobody knows what the hell we're dealing with here. It's spiralling out of control, and everyone's frightened as hell."
"So what's happening there now Steve?"
Clark's low voice rumbled, a slow drawl. "Yeah ... that's why I'm calling. I've got some bad news. You're being flown back to Washington red-hot priority. I'll meet you there."
Santos interrupted. "Washington? What for?"
"To figure out what this is ... and how we stop it."
Santos and Skinner silently exchanged bemused looks.
Just then, three loud sharp raps on the door rifled through the room. "Doctor Santos. We need to talk."
Clark's deep voice resonated through the room.
"Sounds like your ride's arrived. Guess I'll be seeing you soon!"
Acknowledgements
This is my first novel.
Which turned out to be harder than I thought.
What made it a lot easier was the help, guidance and advice of friends and experts who really knew what they were doing. So, I'd like to take a moment to thank a few of those brave souls who waded through my bad plots and poor character construction, and despite it all, never stopped encouraging me.
Thank you to my keen and wonderfully honest editors Julie Frikken, Terri Green, Kate Edis, Philippa Ramsay and Carol Lear. Thank you to Brian Cross for proofing professionalism. Thank you to StevenP for an awesome cover design that simultaneously delighted and creeped me out!
Thanks to my wonderful long-suffering and endlessly patient wife Diane, and my two beautiful daughters Rachel and Sara. They made me tea, they listened to my rambling and they never stopped believing.
And finally, thanks to you dear reader, for taking the time to read this book. I know you have a lot to do and not enough time to do it, so I really do appreciate you choosing to read my shiny new techno thriller.
Brian (