by Judith Lucci
Robert looked at Jack and joked, "Commander, where is Monique when we need her. Your medical examiner is talking to a cheesecake. Are you worried?"
"Hell no, Robert," Jack quipped. "It's talking to me too! Actually, the cheesecake and the coffee pot are speaking to me and I'm just about to answer them."
Yvette looked at her new-found friends, wishing she lived in New Orleans and not Atlanta. Even with the threats and all the work, this had been the most pleasant evening she'd had for years.
The carefree banter continued throughout dessert, but everyone at the table was well aware of the dire, extreme threats against each of them and their way of life.
Shortly after desert, Stoner bid everyone good-bye as Jack, Robert, Maddy, Yvette, and Alex moved into the living room for more coffee and conversation.
Maddy swore she had to leave soon or she’d be sleeping outside because her husband locked the doors at 11 pm. Nevertheless, she joined the others in the living for additional conversation.
The evening was pleasant, the conversation colorful and the weather perfect. Each guest had put aside their dark gathering fears, at least for one night.
Chapter 19
“Ali, Ali, call me as soon as you can. I have to talk to you. I must know what you have learned. I need information for our leaders." The panic and uncertainly in Nazir's voice was obvious and the Jihadist was ashamed of himself for being so emotional. He tried over and over again to convince himself that he had done nothing wrong, that the elders and leaders knew and respected his allegiance to the cause. But he still had a little niggling of uncertainty and the feeling was bothersome and frightening to him.
After he left the third message for his brother, Nazir stopped at the Middle-Eastern market on Carrolton and picked up tons of food for his late night guests. He returned to his apartment and laid on his sofa after spending considerable time in prayer. His knees were raw from the hours he had spent on his prayer mat. Ali had not returned his call. It was 10 p.m. and Ali's shift ended at 11. He needed to know what his genius little brother had learned about the virus. Surely Ali had isolated the virus by now. Knowing him, he had probably developed an antidote. He smiled to himself. Ali had gotten the brains in the family, but Nazir had the brawn. Together, they were an ominous duo. He checked his watch again, 10:10 pm. Nazir dialed Ali again. This time his brother answered whose voice sounded worn and frustrated.
"Little brother, what do you know? The leaders are coming tonight and we must have news for them about the virus. They are concerned. What do you know?" The anxiety in Nazir's voice was palpable.
Ali’s voice was impatient as he answered. "I have no answer, brother. I cannot isolate the virus. Nothing is working. This virus is mysterious and I cannot develop a prediction that is valid. It acts very differently in each patient. The only common thing is that the people are dying from some horrible form of pneumonia."
"Have we been betrayed by Vadim? Is it the Russian virus?"
"Brother," Ali's voice was exasperated. "I do not know. They have sent tissue slides of the dead people's lungs to pathology. We will find out the kind of pneumonia and that may help."
"When? I only have two hours before I must have answers. You must get them for me Ali. Everything rides on this. Our loyalty and commitment are at stake here. We are doing the work of Allah."
Ali was trying to be patient, but he was tired. His head hurt from using the computer and looking into microscopes for hours. "I will do what I can brother. I do not know when I will be able to come home. They need me here."
"You must be home by midnight. I demand it,” Nazir snapped.
Ali flinched at the anger in his brother’s voice. He could visualize the angry glint in his brother's eyes as he hissed the words.
“Midnight, at the latest, to meet with the leaders. They are coming from the North."
Ali was sick of it. He was sick of Holy War - Jihad, and now he was sick of the one he loved most in the world, his brother. He clicked off the phone.
Nazir was speechless with anger. He couldn’t believe Ali had hung up on him. His anger turned to fury and he called Ali’s cell phone back repeatedly.
But Ali had quickly cut his phone off so he couldn't hear the ring or the beep of a text message.
Nazir threw his phone to the floor and ground it into the wooden floorboards with his heel. He was furious with his little brother. He sobbed and prayed for Ali as he lay on the sofa, neglecting to put the food away he had purchased for the leaders. He felt as though he had failed at his life's work, but most of all he was tortured because he had failed to convince his little brother of the importance and power of Islam. He had failed Allah. His life was over.
Chapter 20
Alex stifled a yawn as she watched Jack push the blue button on the Keurig for his umpteenth cup of joe. She wondered if coffee affected him anymore. He never seemed hyped up from it like she was after several cups. If she'd had three cups of coffee after dinner, she'd be jumping out of her skin. Jack just seemed to take it for granted and it never seemed to affect him. Monique was always fussing with him about his caffeine intake, but of course, it was useless. Alex smiled as she looked fondly at Jack. Her heart warmed for him. Once her mortal enemy, Jack Francoise was one of the men Alexandra loved most in the world.
Robert had noticed Jack's caffeine habit as well and couldn't resist ribbing him about it. "Commander, it seems as though your caffeine receptor sites are either dead or broken. Does the coffee affect you at all? Keep you awake? Does it still taste good?"
Jack shook his head and replied, "This coffee tastes good, and no, it never does affect me. I’ve been abusing the stuff for years.” Jack eyed his cup critically and continued, “That swill down at the precinct is pretty bad. Hardly ever finish it. I pretty much just pour it and then it sits around all day. Crap’s so bad that it stained my coffee mug almost black and I can’t even bleach the color out." Jack took a sip, smiled, and continued, "Of course, this is pretty good coffee so I am actually drinking all of it." As Jack reclaimed his seat in the recliner in Alex's living room and pushed the lever to elevate his legs, he noticed a pensive look on Yvette's face. She seemed to be contemplating something important.
"Yo, Yvette, what's up? You're lost in thought." Jack stared at the lovely CDC doc, the mug of steaming coffee in his hand. "Have you come up with something? Have a revelation or epiphany?"
Yvette gave the group a contemplative look and shrugged her shoulders. "You know, I am totally baffled by this lung condition that is killing the virus patients. They're not bleeding out or dying from the virus. Instead, they are getting this horrible pneumonia and then checking out. I just don't get it. There is something that we're just not seeing. We’re missing something and it’s key to this whole thing."
Robert and Maddy nodded.
Yvette turned to Maddy and asked, "Maddy, do you have any idea what the lung tissue looked like on autopsy from that patient that died this morning?"
Maddy shook her head. "Not really, at least not in great depth. I briefly glanced at the histology reports and took a quick look at the slides under the microscope. It looked like a poorly differentiated pneumonia or an advanced lung disease. It was strange, different. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. What about your people? What have they found?"
"The CDC team found pretty much the same thing.” Yvette stopped to think for a moment and continued, “We probably need to do some more tissue slices and further histological studies. The tissue should tell us what's going on. The lung changes are the key to solving this viral complex. In the meantime, I just had the craziest thought."
The group looked at her expectantly but Yvette was silent, obviously deep in thought.
"What the hell, Yvette? What gives? You know we need all the help we can get." Jack was impatient and edgy.
Perhaps the caffeine was getting to him. Alex’s blue eyes met Robert’s grey ones, and they both smiled. It was uncanny how each knew what the other was thinking. It
had always been like that, even during their marriage. What in the hell had happened to them? Why had their marriage ended? Alex jerked herself back into reality, refusing to ponder this never ending issue when the entire city of New Orleans was under siege.
Yvette glared at Jack, with eyes like a hungry wolf circling in for the kill. Her voice was icy. "Give it a rest, Jack. I'm thinking and just trying to put some stuff together." Yvette's voice was sharp and fatigue was evident in her face. She turned to Robert and Maddy and asked, "Do you guys remember the case of Dr. Mary Sherman from back in the mid-1960s?”
Maddy shook her head.
Robert responded, "Of course. Dr. Sherman was an internationally known cancer specialist and researcher at Tulane. She was Dr. Alton Ochsner's star doc. I think he recruited her from somewhere in the Midwest. Dr. Sherman was well respected as a skilled physician, researcher, and scholar. She died tragically, was murdered in fact, and I don't think they ever figured out who killed her."
Jack didn’t seem to be paying attention, still recovering from Yvette’s scathing attack.
Alex's windows shook as Jack slammed his recliner into the floor and jumped quickly from the chair, his face flushed with excitement. It seemed as though he had returned to reality. "Of course, I know who she is! Mary Sherman. Dr. Mary Sherman. Of course. My father was on the NOPD when they investigated her murder. It was strange. She was found dead in her bed in her apartment over on St. Charles. Her arm and rib cage were burned away. She had also been stabbed in the heart. It was bad. Brutal.”
Jack paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and continued, “Huge cover up, initially by the NOPD, and then the entire city and state for that matter. The Feds covered it up too. The crime was never solved. People went through a lot of trouble to cover up her death.”
Yvette nodded and urged Jack to continue.
“Details of her death were withheld and officials sealed her autopsy for 30 years. Lot of cover up stuff going on back then in New Orleans. I remember it really well because my dad was so pissed about it. They pulled him off the case - well, not just him, but everyone connected to it. Basically, the Feds just came in and took charge. Totally disregarded the investigation the NOPD was doing."
Robert nodded and continued, his voice grim, "Yeah, you're right Jack. Whoever murdered her also set her house on fire, specifically her bed. I think the stab wound in the heart is what killed her though, because her heart hemorrhaged suggesting she was alive when she was stabbed. The fire didn’t kill her. That’s for sure."
Maddy shuddered. "Oh, my God. What in the world? This is shocking. Why would someone kill a famous physician? Who would do this to her? I don't remember this story at all. When did this happen again?" Alex could see that Maddy was searching her mind as she mentally clicked through her younger years. Her face remained blank.
“It was in the mid 1960s. It was the talk of the town for years,” Robert replied. “It’s hard to believe you don’t remember.”
Maddy responded, her voice indignant, “Really, Robert? I’d like to remind you all that you’re ‘senior friends ' by a few years, and in the mid 1960s, I was focused on cotillions and boys. No time for something awful like murder to enter my adolescent, boy-crazy, hormone- addled brain.”
Yvette raised her finely etched eyebrows and said, “Calm down, sweet thing. No one’s mad at you for not remembering. I’d rather have been dancing than learning about some horrible murder as well, and, by the way, we’re not that much older.” Yvette finished a bit chagrined at the thought of being a ‘senior’ anything.
Maddy gave her a bright toothy smile and quipped, “If the shoe fits, wear it and stop fussing, Dr. Charmaine. You’re older than my oldest sister.”
Yvette rolled her eyes, as Robert looked between them, and wondered if he had started an argument of some sort. He just didn’t really understand women.
Alex had totally missed the playful exchange between Maddy and Yvette. She was astounded. Crap like this in New Orleans never ceased to amaze her and it totally creeped her out. Could there be a city anywhere else in the world with so many hidden skeletons, monsters, and tales of intrigue? "What in the world are you all talking about?" she exclaimed. "Why would someone kill this poor woman? What on earth was she doing to merit such a horrible, brutal death? I agree with Maddy. Shocking!"
Maddy nodded as Alex continued.
“To be a female oncologist in the 1960s was amazing in and of itself, but to be a murdered female oncologist and Alton Ochsner’s protégé to boot is astonishing, and to hear about such a heinous crime being covered up is unbelievable! What kind of bullshit is this?” Alex’s voice was harsh and her face was white with indignation. She rarely cursed but when she did, people noticed.
Jack and Robert's eyes met in a gesture of understanding.
Robert began his recall of the gory story. "I was pretty young when this happened, but I remember it well because my mother and Dr. Sherman were good friends. Mary Sherman was a very community-minded and generous lady. She offered medical services to the children's cancer clinic as part of Charity Hospital's outreach. My mother championed this clinic as part of her charity work. It was around the time my father was considering to run for Governor and my mother was working really hard for the city of New Orleans. She and Mary became friends and Mary often came to tea at our house."
Alex nodded, well acquainted with the elder Mrs. Bonnet's numerous good deeds. "But Robert, why did someone kill her like that? Burn her up? Stab her in the heart? What was she doing? She had to have made someone really mad."
Jack interrupted, "Yeah. She did. She had a lot of people pissed off from what I can remember. There's all kinds of stuff associated with her murder. Lots of conspiracy theories, many related to the cause of cancer and the death of John F. Kennedy. Some of them are probably true. Ed Haslam, a New Orleans native, has been documenting this case for years. His father, an orthopedic surgeon was a close friend of Mary Sherman. Ed remembered her well and probably never recovered from the agony her death caused his dad. According to Ed, Mary and Alton Ochsner were working on a virus to cause cancer. A virus to….”
Alex interrupted, “A virus to cause cancer? Don’t you mean a virus to cure cancer? Why in the world would someone be developing a virus to cause cancer? That’s ludicrous!”
Commander Francoise glared at Alex. His face was beet red and his eyes flashed with anger. “Counselor, if you would be quiet and not interrupt, I could finish my story! Can you put the liberal lawyer crap away for a few minutes and let me continue?” Jack demanded in a condescending tone.
Alex flushed red and was angry as well. Tempers were getting short and she knew she needed to grab on to hers. There was too much stuff going down in the next few days to be bitchy. Besides, the last person she wanted to alienate was Jack Francoise. She took a deep breath and said contritely, “Sure, sorry, Jack. I’ll try my best, but that being said, you know it’s hard for me to be quiet,” she added in an attempt to end on a light note.
“I’d appreciate that,” the Commander smirked as he looked fondly at one of his favorite people in the word and realized what an asshole he had just been. “Sorry, Alex, that was uncalled for.”
Alex smiled and nodded for Jack to continue.
“There supposedly was a secret, clandestine lab full of mice that Mary Sherman was using to research her cancer-causing virus. The lab was run by David Ferrie, the guy you may remember from the JFK movie released some years ago by Oliver Stone. David Ferrie was played by Joe Pesci. Supposedly a good friend of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, David Ferrie was the ‘supposed’ researcher who oversaw Dr. Sherman's experiments. The story is he injected the mice with cancer-causing organisms and kept the records. In fact, Ferrie was performing medical research on the hundreds of mice he kept in his apartment at least according to New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison."
“Jim Garrison, the legendary DA who was ousted from power?" Alex asked incredulously. "This story is becoming more
and more unbelievable! It's turning into a fairytale, and a bad one at that,” Alex protested as she held up her hands and shook her head. "Wait, wait, wait! Why would a world renowned oncologist oversee the development of a cancer-causing virus? Particularly in a secret mice lab in New Orleans. It makes no sense. The thought is simply absurd!" She stopped as she saw anger flame onto Jack’s face and heard him take a deep breath. Oh, crap. He’s really going to give it to me now. As Alex braced for an angry tirade from Jack, Robert intervened.
Robert stood to make his point and positioned himself between Alex and Jack. He’d seen Alex and Jack go at it before, and even though they loved each other, and something good and useful generally came of their altercations, Robert was not about to let things get out of hand at this point. He continued in a reasonable voice. "I know, it sounds crazy, outrageous even, but there's credible evidence that Ochsner was part of a CIA project. Of course, back then it was called something different, INCA or something like that, to create a cancer-causing organism to use against Fidel Castro and the Communist population in Cuba. I think INCA was a part of the OSS which became the CIA in 1947," he added.
Alex had just about had it. She kicked off her high heels and listened to them thud on the wooden floor. She was tired, her grandparents were arriving tomorrow, and this entire evening was turning into fairytale land. She sighed deeply and tried to massage away the beginning of a headache, induced by either stress or caffeine. It certainly wasn’t the wine. If she’d known this story was coming up, she’d have consumed a lot more, just to tolerate the evening. All of this virus stuff was irritating her and rubbing her the wrong way. It was the stupidest, most absurd story she had ever heard. It was downright outrageous, and would be comical if New Orleans wasn’t facing domestic and international terror threats and if patients weren’t dropping like flies in her hospital. Alton Ochsner had been a leader in New Orleans healthcare and his legacy today, The Ochsner Clinic, was a premier facility for modern healthcare, clinical practice, and research. The organization was a paragon of excellence. What a waste of time. Alex looked around and wished her company would go home. She still had to straighten the kitchen and sort out this fantasy bullshit in her head. She wearily returned her attention to Robert who was staring at her.