“Okay.”
“Just …”
“Just what?”
“Be fast. If the laptop is powered up more than an hour, it will begin to heat up the components, which could possibly compromise the seal.”
“Jesus.”
“If you’re pulled aside to wait, power down if the wait seems too long,” Elias said. “Frederic, if you don’t want to do this. I’ll fly out and bring it to you.”
“No.” Frederic shook his head. “No, I’ve done this before only using a different name on the biohazard box.”
“We can go back to Chicken Pox if you want?”
Again, Frederic shook his head.
“Remember, just as a precaution, when you retrieve the samples …”
Frederic finished the sentence. “Open the battery case in the laboratory to retrieve the lithium shells.”
“Correct.”
Though Elias was calm about it, Frederic was not. He wished his American friend luck with the ban and made his way to the airport.
He held that laptop close to him at all times.
Perhaps it was the reason he was pulled aside at TSA, he looked nervous, probably even acted that way. Frederic was a classic movie buff and even he reminded himself of the bomber in the classic 1975 movie, Airport. The guy in the movie cradled his suitcase with a bomb just like Frederic did.
After patting him down they put him in a back room. Frederic was nervous when they pulled the battery case from the laptop and examined it, checking the seal and the tamper stickers placed over it.
His heart raced out of control when the agent did that. Frederic kept telling himself the virus was sealed in glass then sealed in the battery shells. It was safe.
He was told to boot up with the power cord and Frederic did. He thought that would be it, then the agent left.
The minutes ticked by, the laptop remained on. Just as it hit the forty minute mark, Frederic reached to turn off the laptop. He wasn’t about to take a chance. But then a supervisor walked in. Looked at the computer, had Frederic open and close a few apps, then the supervisor thanked him and apologized for the inconvenience.
“As long as I don’t miss my flight,” Frederic said pleasantly.
“And I am sure you understand why we had to do this, Doctor.”
“Absolutely.” Frederic booted down and placed the laptop in its case.
They released him and he made his way to the gate.
He sat in the boarding area, tapping his feet with that case tight to his chest. When they called his flight, all anxiety left him.
He and the virus were home free.
Flight 2770 to Paris
Frederic was seated in row one seat F, his favorite seat on the plane. There was ample room and even in first class, less people around him. That particular flight didn’t have the privacy shells around each seat, nor did it have the sleeping seats, like a lot of overseas flights, but it was roomy.
No one took the seat next to him.
The flight was only a little over seven hours, it would fly by.
He was seated and having his preflight drink when he realized how tired he was. He only had a couple hours sleep the night before and combined with jet lag, Frederic was exhausted and welcomed the flight as a chance to sleep.
He had three drinks before zoning in to the white noise of the plane and falling fast asleep.
He didn’t know how long he was out, but they were somewhere over the Atlantic when the plane experienced severe turbulence.
A huge jolt woke Frederic and he clutched the laptop.
He looked to his right, rain pelted against the window and the continuous flashes of lightening lit up the sky.
Ding.
“Folks,” the Captain spoke over the intercom. “We apologize for the inconvenience. We ask that you remain seated and buckled. We hit some rough air and we should be through this storm momentarily.”
The more the plane swerved and jolted the more Frederic kept thinking it was a sign, he wasn’t supposed to be doing this.
He wasn’t worried about dying, he worried more about where the plane would crash. His scientific mind kicked in wondering how long the virus could live under water if the plane went down in the ocean.
It was bad enough that the plane felt as if it were shaking apart, but then the flight attendant insisted he stow the lap top in the overhead compartment. Reluctantly he agreed, handing it over like a child giving up a security blanket.
She took it and placed it above, then took her seat.
A few minutes later, the turbulence stopped.
Frederic ordered another drink. He downed it and was just about to get his laptop when he felt confident enough that it was fine, but instead Frederic went back to sleep.
Not long after, the turbulence began again and before the pilot could issue a stock, ‘we’ll be alright just hang tight’ style announcement, a huge bump and tilt of the plane popped open several overhead compartments sending baggage to passenger’s below.
One of those items was his laptop.
People screamed cries of fear, but all Frederic could do was watch as the laptop slid side by side and up and down the aisle.
He got up to retrieve it but was told to, “Sit back down”. The entire time he watched the laptop.
What seemed like an eternity was in reality no more than ten minutes. It was enough to send the flight into disarray and passengers into a state of panic.
The first chance he had, he raced for the laptop. Amidst the pandemonium and injured passengers, he focused on that.
“Is it alright?” The flight attendant asked. “Maybe you want to check it?” she reached for it.
Quickly, Fredric said. “It’s okay. It’s fine. Doesn’t matter. It’s just a laptop. I’m fine.” He tried to hide his heavy breaths and barely was able to calm down when they were asking if there were any doctors or nurses onboard.
For as much as he didn’t want to place down the computer, Frederic did, he volunteered to help and check on passengers that were hurt when baggage came toppling down.
It was the right thing to do and it took his mind off of the virus the remaining two hours of the flight.
Paris, France
Upon landing safely, the plane erupted in applause, a sign of gratefulness that they made it in one piece. Frederic didn’t feel like he made it in one piece. He was exhausted, his body hurt from the bumps and bruises he received during the turbulence and his head ached from dehydration after drinking so much alcohol.
He grabbed his carry on and lap top and was one of the first to leave the plane. After making it through the terminal and customs relatively quickly, he spotted his driver in the baggage claim area.
At this point it was morning, and while he wanted to go to bed, he couldn’t.
“Take me straight to the lab,” he told the driver.
“Sir, Doctor Ana suggested maybe you might want to go home first and sleep.”
“I’ll sleep at the lab. Please, take me there as fast as you can.”
The driver followed instructions, and Frederic held tight to the case in the back seat for the hour drive to the lab.
Ana was waiting inside the doorway when the car pulled up. She was a younger scientist with silky dark hair.
Frederic moved with haste.
“Your flight made the news. Fourteen injured. Are you alright?” she asked.
“It was the flight from hell,” Frederic replied walking at a fast pace.
“How was your trip?”
“Intense. The Americans are going to initiate the ban. I feel it. The hearings were, in my opinion, a formality.”
“You said you brought something.”
Frederic paused in walking and lifted the laptop. “I did.”
The hallways were bustling with those starting their day. Frederic and Ana headed toward the restricted elevator area and used their bio scan ID to enter the carriage that would take them below.
“As soon as I hand this over,
I need coffee,” Frederic said.
“You look exhausted. You need rest.”
“I need this out of my hands.”
Ana looked at him curiously, but said nothing else until they made it below.
In the Bio Safety Level 4 area, they changed into hazmat suits and Frederic handed the case to a science technician with instructions on how to handle the contents.
He and Ana stood in the observatory room adjacent to the contained cabinet lab, watching through a thick barrier window.
It was there he told Ana why he handed over a laptop.
“Oh, Fred, no,” she shook her head. “Do you realize you violated every single ethics policy?”
“I am aware, and I am stressed. I have a bad feeling,” he said standing close to the window. “It is not the first time we did this.”
“But is it with something this big.”
The observatory room had a panel of monitors. Some showing the workers and the halls, others showed what was seen on microscopic scans.
He pressed the intercom button to speak to the techs. “Let me know when you have extracted it.”
The tech, in protective clothing removed the battery case and placed it in the chamber. “Opening the case now.”
There was a camera inside the bio case and Frederic watched as the worker reached inside, opening it.
“Stop,” Frederic said, then with a couple clicks on a computer keyboard he zoomed in. “Oh my God, is that case cracked.”
“It appears so,” the tech answered. “Just a small one on the exterior.”
“How are the shells?” Frederic asked.
The tech opened it. “They appear fine.”
“We’re opening it inside the chamber, Fred,” Ana said. “You said the samples are inside the battery shells. Those alone are protection.”
“This thing is bad. It scares me.” He pressed the intercom again. “Dan, before removing the sample, do me a favor and place down the battery case for a slow scan.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fred,” Ana said. “Are you looking for X?”
“Of course.”
“It’s inside the shells. I’m sure …”
“It was a horrific flight,” Frederic replied. “I just need to be sure.” He switched the screen to watch the scan. In the right hand corner were alerts where the scan would pick up any biological presence.”
The scan was slow and beeped when it crossed something.
It was amazing what it picked up.
A beep. A pause. A microscopic close up of the image followed by a flash of green lettering blinked with the words, ‘human saliva’.
Beep. Green lettering. ‘Mustard’
Beep. Green lettering. ‘Dermatophagoides’ or dust mites.
Beep.
Red.
Unknown.
The word and image shot straight into Frederic’s being causing an internal jolt harder than anything he felt on the plane.
He knew what it was. He knew what he saw. The computer didn’t. But he did.
An emotion he rarely felt swept over him … panic.
“Oh my God.” Hurriedly, he grabbed his ID badge and swiped it on the control board. It unlocked a small plastic lid that covered a single emergency button. “It’s on the battery case. It was external.” After lifting the plastic lid, he slammed his hand on the small red button. Immediately, buzzing sirens blasted continuously. With a turn of his body, he grabbed the phone and pressed a button. “Security, seal the building. Seal the grounds. Everything. No one gets in or out,” he said. “We have a breach.”
9 – PUSHING THROUGH
July 28
Franklin, PA
The official name for it was Newton’s Cradle, but Luke Bridges didn’t know that. Nor did he know the purpose of the stainless steel balls dangling on strings was to demonstrate the power of collision, had he known, he probably wouldn’t have been playing with them.
The cradle sat on his desk, which was under his bedroom window.
Luke would swing the balls slightly and mindlessly.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
All while staring at nothing outside the window.
Just staring.
“Luke,” his mother called out to him.
“Yeah,” he answered in a zoned out state.
“I’m heading to work. Do you need anything?” she asked.
“No.”
“Maybe if you went to Steve’s house …”
“No.”
“Honey, I …”
“Mom, I’m not going to kill myself if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m worried about you.”
“One day at a time,” he said. “I have to face this. I have to deal with it. I have to … atone.”
“Luke, it was an accident. An accident.”
“I know. I’ll be alright. I’ll stop by the store later to see you.”
“Please do.” Melinda entered his room, kissed him on the cheek and then left.
Luke never turned around to look at her.
He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror, let alone anyone else.
He replayed that day over and over in his head.
Was he preoccupied? Did he do something wrong? Maybe if he had been paying attention or driving a bit slower.
It didn’t matter that people told him the impact wouldn’t have killed that woman. It didn’t matter her head smacking off the concrete was what did her in.
If Luke hadn’t hit her, she wouldn’t have cracked her skull on the sidewalk.
A part of him wished he had died that day instead.
It was so hard to live with the guilt. To open his eyes every morning only to remember he took someone’s life.
Every time he dreamt it was of that day. Every time he closed his eyes he heard the ‘thump’ of hitting her. He heard it and felt it in his soul.
When he was driving and hit her, he saw a mere flash of her through the corner of his eye. Instantly he went into a state of panic, jerked the wheel and hit the gas instead of the brake. He impacted something. It ended up being a pole, but he didn’t remember.
No amount of replaying that day in his mind helped.
His mother worried about Luke killing himself because he had sunk into a state of depression and despair.
Taking his own life would be an easy way out of the pain.
The Hader family wasn’t relieved of their pain so easily, why should he?
His public defender told him to plead not guilty. All the video cameras and witnesses would attest it was nothing more than an accident, but Luke didn’t listen. He felt as if he had to pay for what he did. A penance just wasn’t strong enough.
Maybe he sought Matt Hader’s forgiveness because he knew he wouldn’t get it. Matt would hate him and verbally deliver punishment after punishment.
Matt did. Luke was okay with that. He deserved it.
Despite the fact Matt wouldn’t take his apology or even look at him wouldn’t deter Luke from continuously trying. If he had to apologize every day for the rest of his life he would.
Hailey Hader’s father was a different story.
It was her father, Luke expected for his face to face with him to be far worse than Matt’s.
He knocked on the door and Stew didn’t shun him. He listened to Luke apologize and then Stew said. “It was an accident, son. I know this. My daughter was a forgiving woman. She wouldn’t want you to carry this burden. And I’m sorry you have to carry it.”
Then Stew embraced him.
Like tried to stay calm, but he cried the entire way home.
If he had been drinking, doing drugs, speeding, texting, just about anything, Luke would understand why he deserved to feel horribly. But he hadn’t been. He was only on his way home from lunch with his mother.
That was all.
Why it happened he would never understand.
The priest at the church told him one day he would stop thinking about it every second, it would
stop hurting and the reason for it all would become clear.
Luke didn’t want to stop thinking about it, nor at that moment did he want the pain of the memory to stop.
His guilt was an unbearable and unbelievable burden to carry.
He had a picture of Hailey Hader and the newspaper article on his dresser mirror. He looked at it every day and remembered her every day.
Her family could never forget.
Neither would Luke.
10 – DELUSION OF EMPTY
National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), Boston, MA
More than anything, Elias wanted to wait up for the phone call from Frederic that he had made it safely home, but the hearings and traveling left him exhausted and he fell asleep not long before Frederic’s flight landed.
He probably would have called or even checked his voice mail first thing upon rising, but he was awakened by his phone at five am.
It was Abe, his lab assistant.
Officials from the US Department of Health were there.
Without hesitation, without coffee, Elias hurried to the lab.
“I guess shortly after midnight they voted to reinstate the ban,” Abe told him. “I guess they didn’t want to waste any time. They’re asking for me to hand over X, they have a stack of papers they’re showing me.”
“Keep them waiting,” Elias said. “Don’t let them touch anything.”
A stack of papers four hours after a decision? Totally insane. Under what normal circumstance did the government move that fast? To Elias, their minds were made up and the papers were drawn beforehand. It was as if they were going directly after X. And Elias, while the only scientist there to admit he created an X virus, he certainly wasn’t the only one with an X virus.
Making a viable X virus to defeat before Mother Nature could deliver one was like chasing the Holy Grail.
Plague Book: One Final Gasp Page 4