The Cobra Event

by Richard Preston

  strategic weapon. A weapon capable of destroying an army or a city or a nation.

  Sverdlovsk accident. An industrial accident resulting in the release of powdered weapons-grade anthrax into the air that occurred during the night of April 3, 1979, in the city of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia, causing at least sixty-six deaths.

  swab. The central tool in the arsenal of the biological-weapons inspector, used for rubbing and sampling surfaces. Looks like a long Q-Tip, but has a wooden handle and a foam tip. When used with good laboratory backup, can potentially reveal the presence of black biology.

  tech agent (F.B.I. term). An F.B.I. agent who specializes in the operation of technical equipment, much of it electronic surveillance gear and communications equipment.

  transmissible. Contagious.

  United States Public Health Service. An unarmed branch of the U.S. military services, and one of the oldest. Now a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Its responsibilities include the operation of the Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.).

  UNSCOM. United Nations Special Commission.

  Unsub (F.B.I. term). Unknown subject; unknown perpetrator of a crime.

  USAMRIID. United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The Army’s principal biodefense lab.

  viral glass. A term used by the author to describe a glasslike material containing highly concentrated dry virus particles.

  virus. A disease-causing parasite smaller than a bacterium, consisting of a shell made of proteins and membranes and a core containing the genetic material DNA or RNA. A virus can replicate only inside living cells.

  weaponized, weaponization. A very difficult term to define in the area of biological weapons. Many experts define true weaponization as the act of mass production, preparation, and loading of biological material into a bomb or warhead or other delivery system. In this book, I deliberately use the term “weaponization” to also refer to genetic engineering of a microorganism for the purpose of creating a weapon. By my definition, the creation of a recombinant virus for use as a weapon is de facto weaponization.

  Acknowledgments

  The number of people who contributed to this book seems astonishing. It is a reflection of the necessary complexity of any federal bioterror action.

  I am profoundly grateful to my editor at Random House, Sharon DeLano. Her editorial judgment went into every detail, from the wording of sentences to the order and structure of scenes, and she contributed some important ideas, especially in the characters of Tom Cope and Alice Austen, and toward some of the twists at the end.

  In the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drew Richardson, the head of the Hazardous Materials Response Unit (H.M.R.U.) at Quantico, and Randall S. Murch, chief scientific officer of the F.B.I. laboratory in Washington, provided generous amounts of time and help. Randy Murch invented the term “universal forensics”; Will Hopkins’s description of it at the SIOC meeting follows Randy’s own words to me, although the angry skepticism voiced by the man at the White House does not exist in reality. Other H.M.R.U. people at Quantico gave help, especially David Wilson and Anne Keleher, and I owe thanks to Bruce Budowle, Cyrus Grover, Keith Monson, Kenneth Nimmich, and John Podlesny for their time. At the New York field office, Joseph Valiquette showed me around and gave me a lot of his time. At the F.B.I. laboratory in Washington, thanks to William Bodziak, F. Samuel Baechtel, Jennifer A. L. Smith, and Deborah Wang. I am also very grateful for the cooperation and assistance of the staff of the F.B.I.’s Public Affairs Office.

  At the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Richard Goodman, Stephen Ostroff, and Ruth Berkelman have been supportive friends and helpful minds. I spent many pleasant days interviewing officers of the Epidemic Intelligence Service: Frederick Angulo, Lennox Archibald, Susan Cookson, Marc Fischer, Cindy Friedman, Jo Hofmann, Daniel Jernigan, Elise Jochimsen, David Kim, Orin Levine, Arthur Marx, Paul Mead, Jonathan Mermin, John Moroney, Don Noah, Pekka Nuorti, Nancy Rosenstein, Jeremy Sobel, and Joel Williams. Others at C.D.C. generously gave their time: Dan Colley, Marty Favero, Randy Hanzlick, Brian Holloway, Robert Howard, James Hughes, Rima Khabbaz, Scott Lillebridge, William Martone, Joseph McDade, Bradley Perkins, C. J. Peters, Robert Pinner, and C.D.C. director David Satcher.

  Dr. Frank J. Malinoski encouraged me from the very start of this project. As an eyewitness and participant in several sensitive visits to Russian biowarfare facilities, he provided me with key insights into the reality of biological weapons in Russia. Many thanks also to Judy Malinoski for her personal support.

  At the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, Peter Jahrling provided extremely valuable insights, and thanks to USAMRIID commander David Franz. At the U.S. Navy Biological Defense Research Program, in Bethesda, James Burans provided a great deal of supportive friendship, not to mention unmeasurable hours of answers to my questions; and many thanks to William Nelson, David Frank, Gary Long, Beverly Man-gold, and Farrell McAfee. Former undersecretary of the Navy Richard Danzig encouraged me in a literary sense: he helped me believe that the subject was important and that words could be found. Many thanks also to Pamela Berkowski.

  At the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, many thanks to Ellen Borakove, David Schomburg, and Robert Shaler. At the Medical Center at Princeton (New Jersey), I am indebted to pathologists Elliot Krauss and Thamarai Saminathan and to diener Daniel Britt for allowing me to participate in a human autopsy. My notebook from that day is stained with blood and cerebral fluid, for they permitted me to have a hands-on experience as a reporter. And many thanks to Daniel Shapiro.

  The New York subway historian and expert Joe Cunningham helped me with the final chase scenes in the subway, and we spent many happy days tramping all over the city, especially above and below ground on the Lower East Side, inspecting tunnels, pacing out distances, mapping action. Robert Lobenstein of the New York Transit Authority gave generously of his time, and I am also grateful to Roxanne Robertson for her help and supportive friendship.

  For expertise with the virus, I am especially grateful to Malcolm J. Fraser of Notre Dame University. Whatever scientific follies exist here are my fault and certainly not Mac Fraser’s.

  At the Chelsea Garden Center in New York City I had valuable help from Betsy Smith and Nina Humphrey—it was Nina’s idea to use forsythia as the plant that produced the grain of pollen in the story. At the New York Botanical Garden, many thanks to Kevin Indoe for help with the pollen grain.

  Other experts gave interviews and time: Lowell T. Anderson, Anthony Carrano, William E. Clark, Sr. Frances de la Chapelle, Freeman Dyson, D. A. Henderson, Stephen S. Morse, Michael T. Osterholm, Marie Pizzorno, David Relman, Barbara Hatch Rosenberg, H. R. “Shep” Shepherd of the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Foundation, Jonathan Weiner, and Frank E. Young.

  Some of my most important sources did not wish to be named. I hope they will accept my profound thanks here. They know who they are.

  A number of people gave help under trying circumstances as this book was being published. At Random House, special thanks to Joanne Barracca, Pamela Cannon, Andy Carpenter, Carole Lowenstein, Lesley Oelsner, Sybil Pincus, and Webb Younce. Also at Random House, Harold Evans, Ann Godoff, and Carol Schneider deserve thanks for their early enthusiastic support. At Janklow & Nesbit, special thanks to Lynn Nesbit, Cynthia Cannell, Eric Simonoff, and Tina Bennett. I am very grateful for the heroic work of the staff of North Market Street Graphics, especially Vicky Dawes, Lynn Duncan, Jim Fogel, Steve McCreary, and Cindy Szili. Nicole LaPorte, Matt Lane, and Harold Ambler gave emergency assistance. Many thanks to copy editor Bonnie Thompson, and thanks to my personal assistant Cheryl Wagaman for her deft work.

  Above all, loving thanks to my wife, Michelle, ever my guide star.

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  THE COBRA EVENT

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  “UTTERLY TERRIFYING…

  Why did I stay up until 2 A.M. finishing this book, scared out of my wits all the way? Probably because Preston has inadvertently created a new hybrid of fact and fiction…. Wonderfully readable.”

  —Newsweek

  “If it’s blood and the macabre that entice you, the first attack of Preston’s man-made ‘Cobra’ virus in Chapter 1 is a grabber.”

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  “METICULOUSLY RESEARCHED and as timely as today’s headlines…Shows Preston’s flair for making epidemiological sleuthing as suspenseful as any detective story.”

  —People

  “THE MOST FRIGHTENING BOOK OF THE YEAR…

  A fast-paced storyline that propels readers through the book…Preston takes fans of medical thrillers to a new level. He’s like Robin Cook on steroids. If even ten percent of what he writes about is true, the world is a much scarier place to breathe in these days.”

  —Copley News Service

  “[A] contagious thriller…About twenty pages in, you’re reading about biological weapon tests in the South Pacific, and you start thinking about all the stuff you breathe in every day and how invisible it is and what a cinch it would be for some nutcase to turn your entire town into a Hot Zone…. Don’t bother trying to comfort yourself with the idea that this is science fiction…. Most of the science in this novel is fact. Even the government’s response in The Cobra Event is patterned on an existing plan to combat biological terror…. Just as The Hot Zone reminded us of our vulnerability to exotic, natural infections, Preston’s novel means to awaken us to the truly scary threat of germ warfare…. Preston convinces us that it can happen here.”

  —The Miami Herald

  “The elements of the plot thicken suspensefully.”

  —The Boston Globe

  “CHILLING…BLOOD-CURDLING…

  Preston’s writing flows like a steady stream from a jugular vein, and his detailed images of gruesome death scenes and morgue visits are enough to make even the toughest skin crawl. If Patricia Cornwell is the queen of the coroner genre, Preston’s her newly crowned king…. Fascinating reading.”

  —Rocky Mountain News

  “Compulsive reading…A fine thriller about an all-too-believable biological terrorist attack…FBI and CDC staffers will probably read Preston’s work with the same enthusiasm the Pentagon is said to read Tom Clancy’s military techno-thrillers.”

  —San Antonio Express-News

  “Preston knows something about terror that Stephen King does not: disease. The opening chapter…is as harrowing as the climax of any King story.”

  —Pitch Weekly

  “This exciting tale of bioengineered viruses on the rampage leans on the sort of cool, fact-packed prose usually associated with nonfiction—or with the sort of cautionary science thriller aced by Michael Crichton…. Preston knows how to explode from the gate: his opening…will plunge readers into shock.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “A PLOT THAT IS ALL TOO REAL…

  This is truly scary stuff, and Preston has obviously done his homework…. He’s one of the few voices in the wilderness about the threat of bioweapons and our vulnerability to them. If even part of what he describes in The Cobra Event is possible, and he swears it is, then he has done us all a favor.”

  —The Denver Post

  “This thriller reminds me a lot of Michael Crichton’s first novel, The Andromeda Strain—updated for the end of one millennium and the beginning of another…. The Cobra Event is as fresh as today’s headlines.”

  —The Register-Herald (Beckley, WV)

  “A fast-paced, fascinating novel of biological terrorism…It’s a scary book—well written, with lots of factual material about the state of biological weaponry and the almost nonexistent defenses we have against them.”

  —The Ellenville Press

  “Preston’s previous book, The Hot Zone, featured emerging viruses. The Cobra Event features biological weapons, and it’s packing a glossary. The man is scary.”

  —Booklist

  Richard Preston is the author of three nonfiction books, The Hot Zone (about the Ebola virus), American Steel (about a revolutionary steel mill), and First Light (about modern astronomy). He is a contributor to The New Yorker and has won numerous awards, including the McDermott Award in the Arts from MIT, the American Institute of Physics Award in science writing, and the Overseas Press Club of America Whitman Basso Award for best reporting in any medium on environmental issues.

  The Cobra Event is Richard Preston’s first novel.

  By Richard Preston

  FIRST LIGHT

  AMERICAN STEEL

  THE HOT ZONE

  THE COBRA EVENT*

  THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER

  *Published by The Random House Publishing Group

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  A Ballantine Book

  Published by The Random House Publishing Group

  Copyright © 1997 by Urania, Inc.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Ballantine and Colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  The Cobra Event is a work of fiction. The characters and companies in it have been invented by the author. Any resemblance to people living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  www.ballantinebooks.com

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-96350

  This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-49813-7

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