by Judith Lucci
Jack looked closely at Alex, anticipating an irate outburst. Instead, Alex was calm, thoughtful.
"I saw the organ grinder. The man with the monkey. I saw him just before the first suicide bomber blew up and I'm sure the bomber didn't pull the trigger himself. I think someone else did," Alex added. “Anyway, the organ grinder was standing behind where the Commissioner was stationed on the outskirts of Jackson Square. The organ grinder was quiet. He just stood there as the bomber exploded in front of me, his finger in the air."
"Humph, interesting," Jack, said. “I'll have to check the video footage. Of course we have about 100,000 hours of video footage of that day. I may not get to it anytime soon."
Monique, who had been silent, asked, "What about the terrorist who delivered the canisters. Where is he? Is the government tracking him?"
Jack grinned happily. "This is the newest and best part. We think we found him just a few days ago - dead. At least we have a body that fits the description of Syed, the fourth Jihadist who came to New Orleans with Habib the day before the attack."
"So, he's dead?" asked Alex hopefully.
Jack nodded. "We think so. We had enough left of his face to run an image through facial recognition software and it matched with images taken in the Quarter. He was also matched on the CCMC cameras so we're pretty sure he's the one that infected all of the sterile supplies at the hospital. We also saw him on footage at the Hotel Burgundy. We're confident it's him, but are waiting for the final ID from Bodine and Stoner."
"Enough of his face? What do you mean?” Robert questioned.
"He's been dead for a while. Several weeks at least. He was tortured and thrown in Bayou Savage in New Orleans East. He washed up, but the fish had feasted on him. We did have enough of him left to convince us he was killed slowly with Novichok and Simian Virus 40, the same virus we're sure is carried by Vadim's monkey. It appeared he had been tortured over a long while. There was evidence of a viral antidote that the killer would use to perk him up and then inject him with the virus again to prolong his death."
"So, Vadim killed him," Robert surmised. "Have we decided Vadim is the Organ Grinder with the monkey?"
"Maybe," Jack opined. "It's looking that way but, honestly, we're not sure. But more importantly, this killer was someone who had knowledge of how viruses work and the experience in developing an antidote. We have suspicions on someone other than Vadim, but then, of course it could be Vadim."
Alex's quick intake of breath startled herself.
Robert looked at her and said, "What, Alex? What's up? Do you know something about this?"
Jack looked at Alex intently, "This man, Syed, is most likely the man who beat your grandmother. We isolated his image on a camera near your house and a partial fingerprint places him there as well."
Alex blurted. "It seems obvious the Organ Grinder would have information about the virus. Especially since you are pretty sure he killed the terrorists." She tried to be convincing.
But Jack eyed her carefully. He could read her like a book. He knew she was aware the suspect was Ali. He continued to stare at her indefinitely.
Alex was paralyzed with indecision. She needed time to think. Oh my God, did Ali kill that man. He's such a gentle boy and he'd been so helpful that day. They had worked for hours caring for the sick and injured people in the MASH unit. After the last ambulance had left, Alex had called Martin's Cab and they had given the young man a ride home. He had told her he had no family and that his brother had recently died. He'd seemed apologetic that day and admitted to her that he was a Muslim. He tried to apologize for what had happened. Since then, she had learned he was one of Tim Smith's grad students at Tulane. She knew he'd done it. In her heart, she knew Ali had killed the evil sadist who had almost taken her grandmother's life. But, she didn't care. Syed had also killed Ali's brother and she believed Ali was the one who had sent messages about the Novichok to her phone and the FBI command center.
As Jack continued to watch her shrewdly, she seemed to shrink into the chair. He decided to let it go. Finally he said, "Yvette, you're up. That's all I got.” He gestured for her to take over.
Yvette reached for a file folder in her briefcase and shuffled through some papers. "Well," she began, "We've finally identified the virus. It's a mutant viral form of Ebola and Simian Virus 40. It's taken us weeks to positively identify it."
"So, it's a monkey virus, correct?" Jack asked.
Yvette hesitated, "Yes, but it also has components of Ebola and, strangely, enough it is closely akin to the virus Dr. Mary Sherman was developing back in the 1960s."
“Really! How interesting is that," Robert exclaimed. "That's amazing, Yvette. Are you sure?"
"I couldn't be more sure and there's even more." Yvette's eyes glistened with the anticipation of sharing her news.
"What, what is it. Spit it out Yvette," Jack roared. "We're tired of waiting and I want to party."
Alex echoed her agreement and Monique gestured impatiently for her to continue.
"Well,” she said, her voice a bit smug, "we know why the patients were dying from lung disease at CCMC. Remember, we thought it was some sort of pneumonia." Everyone nodded and she continued, "Well, they were actually dying from advanced lung cancer!"
"Lung cancer, how can that be?" Robert's voice was incredulous.
Yvette nodded her head. "It all goes back to Dr. Mary's monkey virus. We, at the CDC, believe the virus used in the attack last month was a highly mutated form of Mary Sherman's virus that actually caused advanced lung cancer. That's what was killing our patients, not the virus itself.
"But how do you know? We thought it was pneumonia," Alex questioned.
"The histology showed us. Under electron microscopes, it became clear it was advanced cancer, not pneumonia."
The group was quiet for a moment considering Yvette's information.
Monique asked, "But Yvette, did Dr. Sherman's virus cause cancer?"
Yvette nodded. "We think it did. Remember how Bob Marley's friends swear he died from a "galloping" brain cancer after touching a rusty nail infected with the virus? Also, Jack Ruby died from a "galloping" lung cancer shortly after he was apprehended. It's believed, though the evidence is anecdotal, that both had been infected with Sherman's virus."
"Are you sure about this?" Alex wasn't convinced. "How do you know?"
"It's a matter of record," Yvette persevered. "Besides, we, at the CDC have injected the virus harvested here from New Orleans into lab rats and they are dying from advanced lung and brain cancers in a very short period of time. The more often you inject them, the quicker they die. The evidence is almost conclusive, but not quite. We still have a bit of work to do, but I can pretty much assure you that the virus that killed people at CCMC last month was mutated from the virus Mary Sherman was testing in New Orleans. It's all over but the shouting, folks. It's the same virus.”
"Oh my God, what are we going to do? This is pretty bad news," Robert opined. By the way, is the virus contained?”
Yvette nodded, “Yes, it is most definitely contained and we have an antidote for it as well. It shouldn’t be a problem in its current form. Of course, there’s always the possibility of someone mutating it and starting over again…” she replied as her voice trailed off.
Jack groaned at that possibility as he turned to Yvette. "Can I assume you have shared this information with the FBI and other feds?"
"Yeah, most assuredly," she replied. "All of them know and we're working on it."
Great, just fucking great, this adds another layer of complexity to fighting crime in New Orleans, Jack thought. He turned to his friends and said, "OK, everyone, now you know the whole story, I insist on bottoms up and let's party. After all, this is the Big Easy and we love to party in New Orleans." With a flourish, Jack raised his glass and cut off his cell phone.
Everyone cheered, raised their glasses, and the party began.
From the Author
Thank you so much for reading Viral Inte
nt, the third book in the Alexandra Destephano Medical Thriller Series. I hope you enjoyed it. Since reviews are very important to Indie authors. I would be delighted if you would go to Amazon.com to review my book.
To err is human and to forgive is divine. I can honestly say that writing novels is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and I’ve done a lot of things. Even though my books are professionally edited by three editors and reviewed by at least five others before they are published, you may find an error. If you do, please email me at [email protected] and I will immediately correct it or if you’d rather, contact me on my webpage at http://www.JudithLucci.com.
I always want to hear from and connect with my readers. Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, ideas for new books, or just plain anything. I am happy to answer any questions. You can follow me on Twitter at Judith Lucci Writes @ Judith Lucci, on FB at
https://www.facebook.com/judith.lucci or check out my Amazon Author Page at http://www.amazon.com/Judith-Lucci/e/B00AUVN0GK.
Once again, many thanks for reading my book!
Judith