Black Flagged Apex

by Steven Konkoly

  And in the end, that was all that really counted for Alex.

  Arrival

  Chapter One

  Friday, November 2, 2013

  Alex was jarred awake by a loud pulsing vibration. He squinted in the darkness and labored to turn his head toward the source of the persistent buzzing sound.

  Shit, my iPhone.

  The phone’s display illuminated a half empty glass of water on the nightstand. He watched, still helpless, as the phone moved closer to the edge with each vibration. Breaking through the murk of a broken sleep cycle, he reached for the phone to check the caller ID. Maine Medical Center. A jolt of adrenaline shot through his body, and Alex headed out of the bedroom to the hallway.

  “Alex Fletcher,” he answered in a whisper.

  “Oh…Alex. It’s Dr. Wright. I thought I’d get your voicemail.”

  Dr. Wright was the head of the Maine Medical Center’s Infectious Disease Department.

  “No problem, Dr. Wright. I usually don’t keep my phone on the nightstand. Just happened to end up there tonight,” he said, closing the door to the master bedroom.

  “I’m glad you’re awake, Alex. I’m fairly confident we’ve seen our first cases of the new pandemic flu tonight. Cases started rolling into the ERs early this evening.”

  “You said ‘ERs’. More than one?”

  “Yes. Three cases at Maine Med. Two came from Westbrook and one from Falmouth. And one case at Mercy, patient walked over from somewhere in the west end. I also have a confirmed case at Maine General in Augusta and possible cases at Eastern Maine Med up in Bangor.”

  “Confirmed as what?”

  “Confirmed as nothing I’ve ever seen before. That’s why I think we’re dealing with this new virus out of Hong Kong,” Dr. Wright said.

  “That’s more than six cases. How did this pop up here first and not Boston? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “Boston has been hit with several dozen cases, possibly more.”

  “What do you mean? I didn’t see anything on the news, or on any of the websites. We’ve been keeping an eye on this,” Alex said.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, but I know for a fact that Boston has been slammed. A friend of mine at Mass General called to tell me to get ready. He said that area hospitals in Boston saw dozens of cases trickle in overnight Wednesday, with more showing up as the day progressed. Several dozen more by the time I talked to him.”

  “Why didn’t the media catch this yet?” he asked.

  “Well, between you and me, and I don’t have to remind you that this entire conversation never happened—”

  “Of course. Absolutely, Dr. Wright,” Alex said instantly.

  “We have been instructed by the state health department to report all cases directly to them so they can coordinate resources and notify federal health agencies. I assume that direction filtered down from DHS. They also asked us not to notify the media, in order to avoid a panic. I can understand part of that logic, but if you ask me, I think they’re trying to keep this under wraps because they’re not prepared. Unfortunately, this is the only direction we’ve received so far from the state or feds. Or maybe that’s a good thing for now. Aside from rushing us more useless avian flu detection kits, nothing else has been done. Alex, I have to let you go. I have a long night ahead of me.”

  “Sorry to hold you up. Thank you for the call, Dr. Wright. I really appreciate the heads up, seriously. The preliminary case fatality rates in Asia look high.”

  “Yeah, we’re not taking any chances. This is different than the avian flu, which was bad enough. It makes the swine flu look like a common cold. And thanks for making a trip over here yesterday, especially considering the fact that the state’s anti-viral stockpiles will fall under federal control if the flu spirals out of control. Your samples will really come in handy.”

  “Could you use some more? We’ve been instructed to keep our distribution of TerraFlu to a minimum, but I have no problem hooking you guys up. Really.”

  “I’ll take whatever you can give me at this point, but I don’t want you to get in trouble with Biosphere, Alex.”

  “I’m not worried about them. What time works for you tomorrow? My schedule is pretty clear, so I can make a trip over any time.”

  “How about 12:45? I plan to be back from the hospital at that point. My first patient is at one. We could take care of it then,” Dr. Wright said.

  “Works for me. See you at 12:45. Good luck tonight,” Alex said and waited for a reply, but the line was already dead.

  He headed back into the bedroom and looked over at Kate, who was soundly asleep. He walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. She barely moved.

  He left the bedroom and walked to his home office, activated his computer, and checked the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Still nothing.

  He checked the International Scientific Pandemic Awareness Collaborative (ISPAC) website and navigated to their pandemic activity map. The map had changed dramatically since he’d last seen it and was now interactively linked to Google Earth.

  Color-coded symbols represented reported flu locations, and when you passed the mouse over one of the new icons, basic information appeared in a text box, which could be further expanded for more detailed information. Light blue: cases of interest, yellow: initial outbreak, orange: small-scale outbreak, red: medium-sized outbreak, violet: large-scale outbreak.

  He zoomed in on North America.

  Cases in Canada, Mexico, Central America…wait, wait, look at this, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. He looked at the East Coast and saw no colored icons. Alex adjusted the map to focus on southern California and placed the cursor over the yellow Los Angeles icon.

  “Los Angeles. Population 4,089,245. Isolated outbreaks. 190+ cases reported. Uncontained. Isolated outbreaks among ethnic Asian populations.”

  In a separate desktop window, he navigated to the Los Angeles Times homepage. He looked for the California/Local section. Here we go. He found an article and began to read:

  Hong Kong Flu Hits Asian Community.

  “Cedars-Sinai confirms at least a dozen cases of Hong Kong flu. Mainly confined to Asian community. UCLA Medical Center confirms several cases. Mainly Asian community. East LA Doctor’s Hospital sees its first cases late in the evening on October 31. Community leaders decry nearly one day delay in reporting cases to the public. Employee at Cedars-Sinai contacts Los Angeles Times with information about suspected flu cases. Cases were being kept isolated from other patients and under a tight information seal. Times reporters launched an immediate investigation into all area hospitals, uncovering several dozen more cases.”

  Looks like a cover up.

  Alex put the cursor over the yellow San Francisco icon. “San Francisco. Population 853,758. Isolated outbreaks. 100+ cases reported. Uncontained. Isolated outbreaks among ethnic Asian populations.”

  He then moved the cursor south to San Diego and placed it over the yellow icon.

  He changed the view to China and saw that dozens of southern coastal cities were shaded either orange or red; Hong Kong and the surrounding areas were shaded violet. He passed the mouse over one of these areas. “Greater Guangzhou city. Population 12,100,000. Massive outbreak. 8,000+ reported cases. Uncontained. Containment efforts focused on Guangdong Province.”

  8,000 plus cases in one city? I thought there were only 26,000 altogether in China yesterday?

  Alex passed the mouse over a few more cities in the area around Hong Kong and saw similar text fields. He quickly added up the other numbers and calculated roughly 77,000 reported cases in southern China.

  He zoomed out of China and settled on a world view. Colored dots appeared to sweep outward in a concentric wave from Southeast Asia. A solid perimeter of blue dots extended from Japan, through South Korea and Vladivostok, then reached across northern China and connected with Pakistan and India. India was covered in blue dots and yellow dots; orange icons appeared centered over several major citie
s within India. Oddly, Java Island contained no dots. He placed the cursor over Java.

  “Java Island. Population 150,000,000. No reports.”

  Something’s up over there.

  Beyond Asia’s ring, blue-colored dots littered every continent, concentrated on nearly every major city. He almost wished he hadn’t seen the map. He felt his stomach churn as a wave of anxiety blanketed him. Still, he walked back to the bedroom and lay down next to Kate, feeling secure lying there with her. He closed his eyes and started breathing deeply in a futile attempt to induce sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Friday, November 2, 2013

  Alex’s body shuddered, and his eyes flashed open. He searched the bright room to confirm that he was still lying in bed with his wife, Kate, in their Scarborough, Maine, home. His heart pounded through his shallow breath. He touched his forehead with the back of his right hand and wiped the sweat on his gray T-shirt, leaving a dark stain near the neck.

  Jesus. I don’t ever want to see that bridge again.

  He turned his head to look at his wife. Kate’s face was turned away; she had the covers pulled up over her neck, and all he could see was her jet black hair.

  Thank God she didn’t wake up. I don’t need her starting in on the VA counseling again.

  He’d successfully dodged a phone call to the Togus Veteran’s Hospital for the better part of nine years.

  He sat up in bed slowly, careful not to wake Kate. The sky to the east was clear, and the room was aglow with pre-dawn light. Alex slid out of bed, walked over to Kate’s side, and kissed her on the forehead. Her head stirred slightly, and she settled back into the pillow, her mouth forming a nearly imperceptible smile. She looked peaceful buried under the covers, and he watched her for a few more moments, trapped by her tranquility. Kate slept soundly every night. His heart was still thumping rapidly as he walked quietly to the master bathroom.

  Several minutes later, in his home office, he sat down to check for any updates to the flu situation and navigated to his internet homepage. He scanned the national and international headline summary section of the homepage and shook his head slowly.

  China Acknowledges Deadly Disease Within Border; China Imposed Quarantine To Keep Deadly Disease Out; Unknown Disease Spreads Through China; China Admits WHO (World Health Organization) Teams To Outbreak Areas; Deadly Disease Outbreak In China.

  No surprises here. Only took them two days to acknowledge what the rest of the world already knew.

  He clicked on an Associated Press article and shook his head again.

  Fucking Chinese.

  **

  Alex exited the kids’ bathroom dressed and freshly showered, having lost his bid for the master bathroom. He quietly descended the hardwood stairs and eased into the kitchen unnoticed. The smell of coffee overtook him as he surveyed the area. A small sauce pot simmered on the stainless steel gas range, cooking what he really hoped was something other than Kate’s lumpy oatmeal. A red toaster just to the left of the stove promised to deliver a more suitable breakfast alternative. A glass of orange juice, two open bread loaves and several containers sat in disarray on the black granite kitchen island. Kate moved quickly between the island, refrigerator and stove.

  Kate was dressed in a knee-length navy blue skirt and a pressed French blue shirt. Her navy blue suit coat lay folded over the back of one of the black high-back stools at the kitchen island. Her hair, arranged in a tight ponytail, starkly contrasted her deep blue eyes and fair complexion. Compared to Kate, Alex looked like he just returned from a Caribbean vacation, owing to a mix of Sicilian and Irish genes. His black hair was not as pure as Kate’s, but his eyes shared the same deep blue color. The toaster popped.

  “Toast’s ready!” Kate said, as she turned around and saw Alex. “Oh, hey. Good workout?”

  “Not bad. Quick one. I didn’t get up in time for a run…up a little late last night. I got a call on my cell from one of my infectious disease doctors,” he said.

  “What time?” she asked, eying him warily.

  “Just past midnight. He thinks this mystery flu has already hit Portland,” he told her, putting both hands on the island.

  “What makes him so sure? We haven’t seen anything on the internet, or the news.”

  “I think we might be a day behind the West Coast. After I talked to him, I saw some articles published out of LA referencing possible cases, and the ISPAC website lists LA and San Francisco as having several dozen confirmed cases of the new flu. Dr. Wright also said that the cases didn’t resemble anything he’s seen before. I think he tried to run some lab tests and came up empty.”

  “Did he say that?” Kate pressed.

  “No, but he definitely said the cases didn’t resemble anything he’s seen before. I don’t think he was talking about symptoms.”

  Alex heard some mumbling from the great room and glanced toward the sound of the voice. He saw that the family room LCD TV was fully operational, set to the Military Channel. Their twelve-year-old son, Ryan, scurried into the kitchen to collect his breakfast. He was already dressed for school, in faded blue jeans and a red long-sleeved rugby shirt. Ryan shared the same hair color as his father, but little else. He was born with emerald green eyes and his mother’s fair skin.

  “What’s up, Mr. Man?” Alex said to his son.

  “Not much, Dad. Hey, are you picking me up today after cross-country?”

  “Yep, 4:45, right?”

  “Sure, but around back so I don’t have to walk around to the school pickup circle.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t want to add another hundred yards to your workout.”

  “None of the parents pick their kids up at the circle, Dad.”

  “You are as right as your mother.”

  “You’re in a slightly antagonistic mood this morning,” Kate said.

  “Yeah, I feel like pushing it today,” Alex replied.

  He smiled at Kate and raised his eyebrows. Ryan continued past his dad and pulled a plate out of the cabinet over the coffee maker. He slathered a piece of toast with butter and raspberry jam.

  “Did you see what’s going on in the Orient?” Alex asked.

  “Nice. Could you find a few more politically incorrect terms to slip into your conversations? Don’t listen to your dad, Ryan,” she said, turning back to the range.

  Ryan looked up at his mother, then shifted his glance to his dad. Alex raised his shoulder and mouthed the words, “I don’t know.”

  Ryan returned to the family room and the volume from the great room TV increased.

  “Mom, can you get my juice for me?” Ryan yelled over the noise.

  “Can you grab that for his royal highness?” Kate said to Alex.

  “Surely, my royal queen,” he replied and delivered the glass to his son.

  “Hey, should I teach Ryan the Chinese national anthem? Me Chinese…me play joke?” Alex asked.

  “You could probably skip it, and we’d all be fine. So what’s happening in China?”

  “They finally admitted to a full-scale outbreak of some mystery virus in the south, and they also claim to have imposed their one-way travel ban because they were confident the disease didn’t originate in China. They were trying to keep it out,” he said, shaking his head.

  “How does that make any sense? So they tried to keep the virus from entering their own country, but did nothing to keep it from spreading outside of China?”

  “Apparently, they’re convinced the epicenter is somewhere else. Hey, give them a break. At least they didn’t keep it a secret for three weeks like in 2008. I read an Associated Press article, and one of the Chinese officials sounded proud of their new transparency efforts, like they did a much better job handling the issue this time.”

  Alex lowered his voice. “It’s unbelievable really. Just like in 2003, when they put their first astronaut into orbit. Who gives a shit? It took them forty years to finally steal enough information about our rocket program to put a human in space. Congratulations. A
nd now? Well, now they only sit on information critical to mankind’s survival for two days, instead of weeks. I don’t think we can ever trust them. I have a bad feeling about this one,” he said.

  “Whatever it is, we’ll be fine,” Kate answered.

  “Hey, I’m gonna eat and run. Emily’s in the shower, so she should make the bus. I promised the folks at the Mercy ER that I would stock them up with TerraFlu, so I want to hit them early. I guarantee that Biosphere is going to ask us to stop signing over samples,” he said, pulling a coffee mug from the cabinet.

  “Is that a big deal? I mean, aside from making your day easier than it already is.”

  “Very funny. Samples are scarce already, but eliminating them in the face of a pandemic crisis will not be perceived as a cool move by Biosphere.”

  “Can’t the doctors just write a prescription for the pharmacy?”

  “Sure, and at this time of year, the pharmacies should be well stocked with anti-virals, but most of the offices are looking for any reason to stop seeing reps, and they barely tolerate us as it is. It’ll get ugly quick if Biosphere restricts samples.”

  “They won’t buy off on the ‘greater good of the community’ speech? Stockpiling drugs for the national pandemic response?” Kate asked.

  “Would you?”

  “Probably not,” she admitted.

  “Especially when they know for a fact that they won’t see any of it when the shit hits the fan. Health and Human Services will swoop down and grab it all for selected treatment centers,” he said.

  “Sucks to be you today,” Kate taunted.

  “Let’s hope not,” Alex said as he walked over to fix some breakfast.

  “Seven o’clock. Turn on the Today Show,” Kate said to him.

  Alex found the remote and turned on the kitchen TV, just in time to see Matt Lauer appear on the screen. “Someone better say something about the fact that the Chinese sat on this for two days.”

  “Good morning, on Friday, November 2nd. The news dominating the thoughts of all Americans today comes to us from Southeast Asia, where the evidence of a growing pandemic virus is mounting. Earlier this morning, Chinese government officials verified that an unidentified flu strain has caused several major outbreaks in the southern coastal regions of China. They have also confirmed that the cases are not caused by a strain or variant of the H5N1 avian flu. This announcement sparked uproar in the scientific community, where fear of another pandemic is rising.”