Outbreak

by Davis Bunn

  Della opened her mouth, stopped, closed it again. Holding back on whatever it was she was about to say.

  “The Kenny I knew as a kid, the Kenneth Bishop you were hired by the Post to investigate, is not the same guy who sent us here. To Africa.”

  She nodded slowly. “That almost makes sense.”

  “The only way we can understand what’s happening here is if we start over,” Theo said.

  “Do you really believe people can change that much?”

  “Until all this began, I would have said no. Definitely not.”

  “Small shifts, sure,” Della said. “But such a seismic revolt as this? A businessman known for his ruthless killer instincts becomes . . . What has he become?”

  It was Theo’s turn to nod. Rocking his entire body. Feeling that closely in sync with her. “That is the question we have to answer. It’s the only way we’ll ever figure out what’s going on.”

  twelve

  They left the galley together as the ship’s crew started arriving for their midday meal. Theo asked Della to bring Avery upstairs to the main deck. He wanted to speak with Bruno. Then the three of them needed to talk.

  The bow area was larger than Theo’s house and lined with fiberglass lockers bolted to the steel deck. The starboard side was dominated by a massive crane-and-winch system, with two boats stored on either side. The dinghy and inflatable that had carried them here were both lashed to the stern. Clearly this was a highly functional vessel, operated by a man who paid attention to safety and detail. Bruno, Henri, and two crew members had spread out a tarp beneath the pilot’s cabin and were field-stripping weapons. Theo asked, “Where are we headed?”

  “Port of Bissau is our first choice.” Bruno wiped a rag down the length of a rifle barrel, then peered into the muzzle. “But the situation is fluid. We’ll know more before we arrive. All flights from the Bissau airport to Europe were canceled last month. The troops on airport duty took a bribe from a human trafficker and forced the paying passengers off an Air Portugal flight sitting on the runway. They loaded in a group of Syrian refugees and ordered the pilots at gunpoint to fly them all to Lisbon.”

  Theo squatted down next to the tarp. “I actually don’t know what to say to that.”

  “Trevor claims the situation in the capital is back under control.” Bruno pointed to the mirrored glass shielding the cockpit from view. “Supposedly the European flights are operating again. But we won’t know for certain until we get there.”

  “Please tell me you won’t be dumping us and flying off to your next gig.”

  Henri grinned as he ratcheted the trigger mechanism back into place. “Don’t fret yourself, man. Worry is a big part of our job.”

  Della appeared from the interior shadows, leading Avery. Theo stood and asked, “How long until we arrive?”

  Bruno pointed toward a green shadow on the eastern horizon. “Three hours before we’re portside. We’ll need another hour to check things out. Then you can disembark.”

  Theo stepped away from the crew and motioned for Della and Avery to join him by the bow rail. He could see by the tentative way the scientist approached that Avery remained trapped in the fear of what they had just left behind. And what it all might mean for his future.

  Theo told him, “It’s really important that you hear what I’m about to say. I am on your side. No matter what. After all we’ve been through, I hope you’ll accept this as the truth.”

  Avery tasted the air. His overlarge larynx bobbed up and down a couple of times. His chin trembled slightly.

  Theo said, “You’re a scientist. I don’t need to talk to you about how to fashion your study.”

  “There’s nothing to work on,” Avery said. “I lost all my samples. The data we were collecting, the computers we stored our findings on. Gone.”

  Theo suppressed a smile. The guy had just survived a firefight. In Africa. And what upset Avery most was losing his test results. “We have a new issue. A mystery that’s tied to where we’ve just come from. And I’m hoping you’ll help us solve it. For this to work, we need to be clear about something. Two things, actually. I am absolutely certain that my brother was a cutthroat assassin when it came to his business practices. He took no prisoners. It was all about the bottom line. Do I think he was previously involved in promoting the opioid epidemic? Yes, I do. I’ve no evidence to support it, but I think that it’s probably all true.”

  They were both watching him intently now.

  “Point two. Something has changed. Something in my brother is different. Otherwise none of this makes any sense. The cost of this operation, setting you up with a lab. In Africa. Bringing us here. This ship. Bruno’s crew. None of this is the work of a man whose only concern is increasing profits. Either he’s changed or . . .”

  “The deaths,” Della said. “It’s not just about those villages.”

  Avery turned to her. “Why are you here?”

  “I wish I knew. I’m in the company’s marketing department.”

  Avery stared at her. “I don’t understand. Mr. Bishop sent somebody from PR to a crisis zone?”

  “The question is, why did he send anybody.” Theo looked from one to the other. “Kenny suspected we would be facing something really, really big. He has an idea, a shred of evidence, a rumor, news of some report. Something. And it terrifies him. So he’s sent you, Avery, to find the key linking everything together.”

  “But I failed.”

  “Hold that thought. And you, Della, you’re here because he wants to have someone who can now get the word out to a global audience.”

  “A warning.”

  “If he’s right. If it’s real,” Theo agreed.

  “And what about you?”

  “He’s sending his wife and children to Asheville. He’s bailed out my failing company. He’s asked me to get my team ready. Just in case.”

  Della asked, “In case of what?”

  “Exactly. That’s what we have to discover. So here’s what I want you to consider. That we stop letting Kenny pull our strings. We decide who, when, and what. We work together. As a team.”

  Della thought Theo’s delivery was stellar. A genuine man laying out what he thought was the best way for them to move forward. She admired him for being so honest. It was hard, she knew from experience, to express something with such conviction when there was every chance the reality was very different. She had been in this position too often. Trying to convince editors that they should invest in a concept that could very well prove to be totally wrong. Theo spoke with a raw honesty that touched her deeply. She could see he wanted Avery to stay with them through whatever came next. But Theo also wanted the scientist’s involvement to be founded upon truth.

  But Della could also see that Avery was not convinced. The scientist remained trapped inside a fear and tension and fatigue so potent, Della was not sure how much Avery actually heard. His entire body remained clenched. His grip on the railing turned his knuckles bloodless.

  If Theo noticed Avery’s nerves, he did not show it. His voice remained casual as he asked, “How often have you spoken with Kenny?”

  “Three times.” Avery wrestled with the railing. “The first time, he called me in the middle of the night. A recent report I submitted confirmed something he’d heard from another source. He didn’t want to tell me anything more, because he wanted me to examine the evidence unclouded by what were still just rumors. Then he sent me out here.”

  Theo was rocking now, back and forth. But instead of tension, Della could see the news genuinely excited him. “After that?”

  “I phoned him when we returned to this boat after discovering the fishermen. Mr. Bishop asked what we had done with the bodies. Like it was the most natural thing in the world to find nineteen fishing vessels with no one alive in them. I told him the skipper had fired the boats. He said he wanted me to go onshore and identify the illness that had caused this. I said no, I wasn’t . . .” Avery sighed, reliving the argument in his head.
<
br />   “What did my brother tell you?”

  “He offered to give me whatever new position I wanted. And a half-million-dollar bonus. If I could identify the infectious strain. But I couldn’t. And now I want to go home.”

  “I know you do.” Theo took hold of the railing too. “When was the third time?”

  “Just now. But I didn’t speak with him. I phoned his private cell number like he instructed, and this lawyer answered.”

  “Preston Borders,” Theo said.

  “Right. He asked me to stay and assist you in your efforts.” Avery glowered at him. “But you’re not a scientist, are you?”

  “I’m a professor of economics.”

  “So you don’t have a clue.” Avery released a tight tremor. “I’ve never seen anything like . . . I’m scared.”

  “You probably should be,” Theo agreed. “The danger is very real. And if I’m right, the threats won’t end just because we’re out of Senegal.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Avery’s voice rose to a near yell. “I’m a scientist. I work inside a lab.”

  “Because you need to make a choice based on the reality of our situation,” Theo replied. “While you still can. Before the next threat takes hold.”

  “No.” Avery chopped the air between them. “I’m out.” He scurried across the bow, wrenched open the metal door, then shouted at them, “I’m finished with this. You can send me samples. Or not. Right now I don’t care. I just want to go home.”

  Theo stared at the open doorway, clearly disappointed. “This isn’t good. We need him.”

  “We’ll find another scientist, if we have to,” Della replied.

  He looked at her. “We’ll find a scientist.”

  “That’s right. I’m in. For what it’s worth, I thought you were right on target. So what comes next?”

  “We need to speak with the captain.”

  She followed him up the exterior stairs and through the door and into the cockpit’s cool wash. Trevor stood by the front windows, scouting the green shoreline. The skipper lowered his binoculars and said in greeting, “I’ve ordered a fresh set of clothes laid out in your cabins. And a razor for you, Dr. Bishop.”

  “Mind if I ask a couple of questions?”

  Trevor went back to searching the way ahead. “Long as you make it snappy. The Bissau port’s only tug has broken down.”

  The woman standing on duty by the wheel said, “The harbormaster’s drunk, most likely.”

  “Whatever. We have to berth on our own. The shoals along this coastline shift constantly.”

  Theo asked, “When my brother booked your vessel, what exactly were your orders?”

  “Correction. I was not hired by Bishop Industries. I have never even spoken to anyone from that group.”

  “So who hired you?”

  “I was specifically ordered by my owners not to ask.”

  “Any idea why?”

  “I don’t like to speculate when it might risk my paycheck.”

  Up ahead, Della watched islands gradually separating themselves from the mainland, and then a wide green delta came into view. She heard Theo ask, “So then what were your orders?”

  “Simple enough. Take Dr. Avery Madison to the Casamance delta. Do whatever he told us to do and then bring him back. After we found the fishing vessels, we received new orders to drop him off. Then a third set of orders arrived, telling us to hold off the coast.”

  “But Avery didn’t know you were still on duty when Bruno brought us out.”

  Trevor nodded. “Control of this vessel was shifted to Bruno. He told us to lay well off the Casamance River mouth, tell no one, and maintain radio silence.”

  “Who transferred control to Bruno?”

  “An interesting question,” Trevor said, “and the answer is, I have no idea. I received a cable from our headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. It’s part of the ship’s log now, if you want to check it out.”

  “No, that’s okay. Thanks.” Theo squinted at the approaching line of green.

  “Was that all?”

  “Just one more question. Are there ocean currents that bind together the different continents?”

  All of the crew were watching him now. Trevor said, “That’s another interesting question.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “Absolutely. In the days of sailing vessels, ocean crossings were set to the calendar of wind and currents. In these waters, the seasonal trade winds are matched by three currents, strong as rivers. These are the northern and southern equatorials, and the Benguela Current.” He pointed to his right. “Farther south runs a fourth, the mother of all currents, the Circumpolar Arctic. That one goes right around the world. Its proper name is the Thermohaline Circulation. People in our line of work call it the ‘great conveyor belt.’ A billion gallons a month, according to the latest reckoning.”

  “Do all seagoing captains know this?”

  “Highly unlikely. But this is a research vessel. I’m obliged to know more than most.” Trevor lifted the binoculars. “Now you’ll need to excuse me. I’m about to get very busy keeping my ship afloat.”

  Theo thanked him and ushered Della outside. When the door closed behind them, he asked, “Did you get the impression he wanted to avoid telling us something?”

  “I don’t . . . maybe.”

  Theo stayed where he was, two steps down. “Will you do something for me? Use the sat phone and call Kenny’s office. Ask to speak with my brother, tell whoever answers that it’s urgent.”

  “What should I tell Kenneth?”

  Theo hesitated long enough for the individual palms lining the shore to become visible. Finally he said, “If they connect you with Kenny, lay out the facts. Ask him what we should do next. But my gut tells me you won’t be given that chance.”

  thirteen

  Della placed the call, then returned to her cabin to shower and change clothes. She emerged wearing another ship’s uniform of a white T-shirt with the vessel’s name and logo on the pocket, white canvas deck shoes, and pale jeans. No belt and no jewelry except the watch she’d worn on the trip over. Her passport was in her back pocket. The clothes she’d been wearing had been washed but were left unironed, stowed now in a ship’s canvas carryall. Everything else she’d brought with her from America was in a plane somewhere. She made a mental note to ask Bruno about that, but for the moment, simply being here alive and safe was enough to make the location of her suitcase and makeup and laptop and other personal effects just so extremely unimportant.

  She found Theo seated on a bench on the main deck. The cockpit’s overhang offered shade, but the heat was still fierce. He wore an outfit identical to her own. She seated herself next to him and said, “I assume we’re dressed okay for the flight home.”

  He gave her a long look. “You turn those clothes into a fashion statement.”

  She liked having a reason to smile. “Well thanks, sailor.”

  “Did you speak with Kenny?”

  “No, as a matter of fact. I was patched into some lawyer’s office.”

  “Preston Borders.” Theo bounded to his feet. “What did he say?”

  “He listened to my report. He asked what we intended to do next. I told him we were coming home. Borders wants you to call him. Then he hung up.” She watched him rock back and forth on his feet, heel to toe, almost dancing in place. “Is that good?”

  “It confirms something. I think.” He held up his hand. “Don’t ask me anything yet. Please. I need . . .”

  Theo stopped because Avery walked over. His expression was funereal. “Claudia says I have to help.”

  Theo continued rocking. “And Claudia is . . . ?”

  “My wife.” Avery’s oversized larynx bobbed once. “I called her to say I was done with this. That I was coming home and we could restart our lives.”

  Theo grinned. “What did your wife tell you?”

  “She wouldn’t even let me finish. She ordered me to come back and tell you that I w
as in. For our kids’ future.” Avery shook his head. “She doesn’t get angry very often. When she does . . .”

  “Remind me to thank her,” Theo said. “First chance I get.”

  “Hello?”

  “Susan, it’s Della.”

  “Oh, hey, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you.” The Post’s former business editor coughed. “But the baby’s had the flu, and then she gave it to both me and Harry.”

  “I need to talk with you about Jerry.”

  “I know he’s a pain, but there’s really not much I can do.” Susan’s fatigue inserted a grainy roughness to her normally sultry, smooth voice. Like she had become so weary she had forgotten what it was like to be fresh or alert or rested. “It’s Jerry’s department now. They’ve already warned that when I come back, I’ll be reassigned to another—”

  Della cut in with, “I’m going to call him when you and I stop talking. Jerry will probably fire me. I want you to know my side. That’s all.”

  She filled in her former boss as quickly as she could. Less than two minutes, start to finish.

  Susan Glass was a heavyset woman with a debutante’s manner, very prim and polite, her Greenville upbringing lacing every word with a honeyed Southern accent. Even now, when she was brutally tired. “Where are you calling me from now?”

  “On the boat that rescued us from Casamance. Entering the river mouth leading to the Port of Bissau.”

  “Spell those places for me, would you, dear?” In the distance, a baby began crying. Susan lowered the phone and called, “See to her, please. I’m on the phone. Thank you, darling.” She came back on with, “What are you going to do now?”

  “Soon as I’m done with Jerry, Theo is going to contact his brother. We’re starting over.”

  “Well, I don’t see how you have any choice. Not with all the lab samples back there in the burning village.”

  “I’m not talking about just the disease or whatever it is. I mean we’re restarting the investigation of Kenneth Bishop. Something’s happening, Susan. This is much bigger than a question of whether Kenneth once owned part shares in opioid pill mills. We need to get to the bottom of why he’s become so concerned with a problem on the other side of the world.”