MAYA HOPE, a medical thriller - The Dr. Nicklaus Hart series 1

by Timothy Browne, MD

  Chapter 69

  * * *

  Release – One Month Later

  Nick scanned the lead article of the USA Today newspaper as he sipped a soda in the surgical lounge of the MED.

  He read that it took the virologists three weeks to identify the M2H1 virus from blood samples of the ferrets and some of the villagers. Typically, it took three months or longer to sequence a complete viral genetic code, but thanks to a new process and many sleepless nights, the virologists did it in weeks instead of months.

  Last time he talked with Katelyn, they had chatted about the progress of the international team and decided that understanding as much as they could about the virus in such a short time was light years away from deciphering the intentions of the people behind it. Could they mass produce it? What were their plans for it? And would they truly ever use it? The one thing the Centers for Disease Control understood was that the clock was ticking.

  Starting from the seed of original virus to an FDA-approved vaccine could take months or even years. At least South Korea, China, and the United States had agreed on a cooperative agreement to work together on the vaccine.

  Nick took another swig from the soda can. His cell phone rang. It was Katelyn.

  “I was just thinking about you,” Nick said.

  “Hello, Nick.”

  “Katelyn, I’m so glad to hear from you.”

  “You as well, Dr. Hart.” She had returned to her formality. He wanted to correct her, but thought better of it. She sounded tired and depressed.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in Tokyo.”

  “You get to have all the fun,” he said, trying to lighten her up.

  “Dr. Hart, they have released the virus.”

  Nick was stunned. Stunned that they would actually release it. Stunned that she would tell him. He didn’t know what to say. He looked around the room at the other doctors and nurses enjoying their break and realized the world was about to change.

  “Can you even be telling me this?” He didn’t know what else to say. “Do you think it was the North Koreans.”

  “Presidents of various countries will announce the news tomorrow. I wouldn’t be surprised if the news leaked somewhere sooner. And yes, it was the North Koreans.”

  “Where was it released?”

  “We have confirmed two cities for sure. FOCO has offices in eleven major cities, so I think we have to assume that there may be others. The FOCO offices around the world each have one missing employee. Every one of them turned out to be Korean. They had been hired with South Korean credentials, but we suspect they are assets from the North. A worldwide manhunt is underway for these people.”

  Putting on his analytical hat, Nick asked. “Are you certain they released it?”

  “Fairly certain. In both offices we found foggers like they use for spraying mosquitos with traces of the virus in them.”

  Nick thought about the trucks he had seen in Guatemala driving up and down the streets billowing huge clouds of pesticides. “And you’re sure it’s the North Koreans?”

  Katelyn paused. He could tell the wheels in her head were spinning.

  “Look, Dr. Hart…Nick. The world may get a bit crazy when the news hits. I have been called to testify to the Subcommittee of National Security of your Congress in a few weeks. I would not be surprised if you’re called to testify as well. You were there.”

  “Great, just what I need.”

  “That and a little notoriety. I’m just warning you, the news sharks will descend on you. At least I have the protection of my badge. Please do not repeat what I’m about to tell you,” she said firmly. “The Chinese dragged their feet and, only after the virus was released, admitted that the funding had come from North Korea, and when a note about the release of the virus surfaced out of the North, it led us to Pak Song-ju, North Korea’s Minister of Cabinet General Intelligence.”

  “Never heard of the guy,” Nick said.

  “We know him well. He is the equivalent of your CIA director. We suspect that Professor Kwon, North Korea’s leading microbiologist, had his fingerprints all over the project. And the third man in the van was a Korean with the last name Suk, he was one of Kwon’s colleagues.”

  “Did you find the man?”

  “Yes. At least we found his body. A week after you left San Benito, Suk was found in Belize City. He had hung himself. He left a note indicating his remorse for development of the virus.”

  “A lot of good that does. How did you find him?”

  “The FBI raided his room when the NSA traced a call that had been made to North Korea from a hotel in Belize.”

  “The long arm of justice I guess,” Nick said. “I guess he got what he deserved.”

  “Yes, I guess. I think he was a pawn in whatever evil drove this. It kind of reminds me of Judas Iscariot and his suicide after his betrayal of Jesus.”

  Chapter 70

  * * *

  Three Months Later

  Nick’s breath fogged the airplane window, and he wondered if the lights below were New Orleans. Just as Katelyn had warned, his world was getting turned upside down. The announcement was made as scheduled and it consumed the media. Nick had done a handful of interviews for the major news channels, trying to adhere to the briefing the State Department fed him.

  Katelyn had kept Nick informed about much of what was happening that was kept from the general public. It was not clear whether or not Kim Jong-un was involved. The only ones they knew about for sure were from the top leadership: Pak, Kwon, and Suk.

  It took weeks to verify their worst fears—the M2H1 virus was released in all eleven major cities from FOCO facilities. The virus had spread quickly, as its instigators had expected. It caused a mild upper respiratory illness that lasted as long as a typical cold. In fact, it was difficult to tell the difference. When measured against a regular, run-of-the-mill summer cold, epidemiologists found the virus almost impossible to track.

  The global population had only begun to wrap their heads around the possibility of a future without babies. Waiting on his plane, Nick read the news on his smart phone that a successful vaccine was still months away, and no date of dissemination was announced. No one knew if it was too late to contain the virus.

  There were preliminary reports of scattered infertility, but not enough to send the markets crashing. Nick remembered the villages they’d visited and concluded that much of the world was in denial. The shock wave would eventually hit.

  He’d taken precautions and told his financial planner to sell every bit of stock he owned and put his money in gold. Its worth had already doubled. But Nick wasn’t sure gold would matter in the long run. He was reminded of a scripture Buck taught him from the Book of Matthew: ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

  The flight attendant interrupted his thoughts, and he declined another soda and snack. He turned back to stare through the fogged window.

  The last time he spoke to Katelyn, she sounded discouraged. There had been no way to stop the release of the virus. Buck and Nick had been hailed as heroes, but Katelyn and her team had not fared as well. There was always a scapegoat, and her agency was it.

  Nick would travel to Washington, D.C. next week to testify before Congress about the release of the M2H1 virus. He would face many members of Congress who had already called for sanctions against North Korea.

  A lot of good that would do now that the virus was out there.

  He hated the thought of a full day of testimony, but Katelyn would be there, and he looked forward to having dinner with her. It would be the first time he had seen her since leaving San Benito.

  Some turbulence startled Nick, and the pilot turned the seatbelt sign on. Nick checked his watch. They would land in M
emphis in another hour. He still hated to fly.

  Since his return, Nick’s partners at the MED had been happy to let him catch up on his share of the call, and it seemed like all he did was work. On the bright side, Anita Roe was finally off his back. Even she regarded Nick as somewhat of a celebrity because she recognized it was good for the hospital’s image.

  Buck was scheduled to pick him up at the airport. He and Buck had become best friends; Nick found he spent more time at Buck’s house than in his lonely apartment. He hoped the ER call tomorrow night at the MED wouldn’t interrupt their weekly Bible study. Nick was learning to pray without feeling self-conscious, and he was learning to believe in something besides medicine and science.

  Nick reached into his front pocket, pulled out his phone, and scrolled to a picture of himself and Isabella standing in front of the Hope Center. Maggie had taken it just before he’d left. It had been the third time he returned to the Hope Center, and each time he had dreaded leaving. When he was there, no one from the press bugged him, and he liked it that way.

  He was thankful his patients were doing well, especially the children with corrected clubfeet. Their pins had been removed, and they wore their splints faithfully. There had been only two minor infections, one in an adult and one in a child, but both responded well to antibiotics and were healing.

  Isabella was still at the Hope Center where she had blossomed, making friends with the other children and becoming a real chatterbox. When some of the skin around her incisions died and sloughed off, the team had put her on a regular wound care program that helped her healing. To send her home to dirt floors was not an option. Besides, at the Hope Center, she was one very happy little girl. In any case, Nick thought she would be able to return home in another couple months. But at that time, she would be wearing shoes.

  He had promised Anna to send pictures of the kids; he hoped he’d remember. Anna was fully recovered and had been accepted to medical school at five different programs. She would have been accepted on her own merit, but the glowing letters of recommendation from Nick and Maggie helped seal the deal. She could take her pick, and she decided on Emory in Atlanta because of its outreach to the poor.

  Her parents had long forgiven them all and became huge supporters of the Hope Center. They had already planned an outreach to the center with their church. Anna told Nick that when she showed her father around the orphanage, it was the first time she had ever seen him cry. Nick knew what it was like to receive a redeemed heart.

  He scrolled over a few pictures to one he took of Maggie singing with the children. He chuckled to himself when he thought of Maggie’s answer to a question that had been in his heart for months. One quiet night when they were sitting on their bench at the Hope Center, he had asked the burning question: You ever think about remarrying? He had asked plainly without suggestion or innuendo, but the question had made her cry.

  When she’d worked through her tears, she said, “You think I could find someone willing to adopt seventy-three kids?”

  They chuckled until she turned serious. “You know, I miss John about every second of every day. I ache to have him hold me. But you know, in my mind, he is still alive.”

  She swirled the ring still on her finger. Forever Yours was engraved inside as well as on her heart.

  They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, Nick turned to her and said, “I want you to know that I am always here for you, and if you ever need anything…ever…all you have to do is ask.”

  “Anything?” she teased him.

  He blushed. “You know what I mean,” he said, trying to take his foot out of his mouth.

  “I love you, Nicklaus Hart, and I know John loves you for caring for me, but I’m doing okay. I feel stronger day by day, and I know that I will be with John again one day.”

  Epilogue

  * * *

  Good News

  Eight Months Later

  “Dr. Hart! Dr. Hart!” Isabella yelled. She practically ran to him and threw her arms around his waist. She still limped, but it was good to see her upright. She’d grown several inches over the last eight months, a result of good nutrition and a lifted spirit.

  Nick tenderly kissed the top of the head.

  “Hi, mija,” he said. It meant my daughter in Spanish. It was how Nick felt about her. Nick had learned some Spanish, leaving cucaracha in the dust, and he liked to practice it.

  With the world economy in a slump, it was difficult to get to Guatemala, but Nick had refused to miss this occasion. Isabella’s wounds had finally healed, and she was going home today.

  He knelt beside her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I get to go home today, Dr. Hart,” she said in English.

  “Isabella, your English has gotten so good.”

  She pulled away, looked at Maggie, and beamed. She looked back at Nick and said very seriously, “I am going to work very hard in school. I have decided to become a doctor like you.”

  “I have no doubt you’ll be a good one,” he told her, marveling at her transformation. “Maybe this will help you.” He gave her a brightly colored backpack.

  When she took it, she made a funny face, exaggerating the weight of it. Everyone around them laughed. Isabella was very smart and had a quick wit; Nick thought she’d make a wonderful doctor—if not a talented actress.

  Using both hands, Isabella put the backpack on a nearby chair and opened it. She rolled her eyes and grinned. “That is why it is so heavy,” she exclaimed. Nick had filled the backpack to the brim with school supplies, including a calculator and a new watch. Isabella grinned from ear to ear and threw her arms around him again.

  “God bless you, mija,” Nick said, fighting back tears.

  Isabella’s parents thanked Maggie and Nick over and over again. Her mother held Isabella’s sister, Elsa, whose clubfeet had corrected perfectly. But Elsa was not happy to see the doctor and buried her face into her mother’s neck.

  Nick patted her back. “God bless you too, Elsa.”

  When the time came for the family to return to their village, Maggie and Nick said their goodbyes. She put her arm around Nick’s waist as they waved to the family.

  “She practically wet her pants waiting for you,” Maggie told him. “Hope you feel pretty good about helping that family.” She hugged him tightly.

  “So should you,” he put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her back.

  “How long do you get to stay?”

  “I’m afraid I have to turn around and go back tomorrow. It’s kind of crazy out there. They’re talking about shutting down the MED. I’m not sure we understood how fragile the economy really was. The pregnancy rate has dropped fifty percent in the last three months alone. It’s all the cable news channels report, and the more they talk about it, the greater the fear grows, and the bleaker things get. I even find myself growing into despair.”

  He looked at Maggie and was surprised she was smiling.

  “I have someone else to show you,” she said and pulled him toward the clinic.

  When they entered the clinic door, they found a young mother standing in the exam room holding a bundle wrapped in blankets.

  “Another clubfoot, huh?”

  “You’ll see,” Maggie said. She held out her arms to the mother who smiled and handed her the bundle. Maggie carefully unwrapped the blankets to reveal a baby in its diaper. She put the newborn in Nick’s arms.

  The baby whimpered slightly from exposure to the air. Nick cradled it in one arm and examined it, starting at the feet. He was surprised to find two perfectly shaped feet and straight legs. Moving up, he checked both hands and inspected the fingers.

  He was confused.

  “She looks perfectly healthy. What am I missing?” He was about to ask more questions when he noticed an elderly couple sitting on the other side of the room. The man was vaguely familiar.

  He smiled at them and looked at the baby. Then he looked at the baby’s mother and at Maggie. His brain worked to connect the
dots. Maggie grinned at him, as if willing him to make the connection.

  Then he remembered where he had seen the old man. It was the chief and his wife from El Zapote.

  Nick’s jaw dropped. “Are you saying—?” He looked at the baby again.

  Maggie’s smile expanded, and she nodded enthusiastically, announcing, “This baby is from El Zapote!”

  Nick was astonished. “Are you sure? Were both her mother and father exposed?”

  “Absolutely. Both her mother and father were there at the time of exposure, and both came down with the symptoms.”

  Nick looked down at the baby, at this hope for the village and for the world. “How could it be?”

  “Is it possible the effects of the virus wore off?” Maggie asked. “I believe God restored their fertility.”

  Nick nodded. “This is incredible. This is awesome news,” he exclaimed, letting his tears fall freely. “God bringing redemption to the world through a baby. That is good news!”

  * * *

  Postscript

  * * *

  North Korea

  The two officials from the State Department who briefed him were dead serious. He’d spent time with them since the release of the virus and even considered them friends. He had never seen them so serious.

  “Why me?” Nick asked.

  “Who knows.” The taller one answered. “You’re the man on the Wheaties box right now. Kim Jong-un probably watches Fox News, like the rest of us.”

  Nick never saw a hint of a smile, but he did detect anxiety and curiosity.

  “The decision is strictly up to you; we know there is considerable risk.” The older official said. “Rarely does any request come through official channels for a visitation to North Korea. The North Korean diplomat in New York delivered it to us himself. Even the diplomat seemed puzzled, but he reassured us that the invitation had come from the highest level of his government.”