‘Neil Struthers, Chairman of the Parish Council here. What public health problem may have arisen?’
It came to me through my irritation that he could probably make trouble if he wanted, so affixing a more respectful mien to my face, I said,
‘I do appreciate your concern, sir – in fact, I think we may need the help of someone in your position with this…’
That was more like it – his face relaxed into its (probably) habitual superciliousness.
‘In what way?’
‘Your local knowledge, for a start. If you could get the Village Hall unlocked, and cleared if necessary, I’d be very grateful. Major Gibb and I will join you as soon as possible and explain exactly what the situation is.’
He took a breath as though considering it… ‘Very well. I’ll do that now, Dr Smith, and see you in what – ten minutes?’
I nodded.
As he went off, I hurried over to Gibb and explained… ‘So if you could come up to the hall as soon as you can, we’ll find some way of neutralising him. He may even come in useful.’
Gibb chuckled. ‘Now that would be an inspired piece of management.’
‘How’re you doing?’ I asked.
‘Oh, getting there.’ He nodded at the Land Rover as it departed with a full load of soldiers. ‘They’re setting up road blocks here, here and here –’ he showed me on the map – ‘While the rest’ll see to the tracks and footpaths and so on.’
‘Join me as soon as you can,’ I said. He grinned again and clapped me on the shoulder.
I went back to the car and we drove round to the hall. Struthers was already there, shepherding a group of women out. They all looked pretty fed up. I asked the others to unload the equipment and then joined him.
‘The Pilates group,’ he said, adding, ‘Fortunately.’ He went on, ‘It would’ve been a different matter if it had been the mother and baby group – them, you don’t mess with.’
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
He assured the group leader she’d get her money back, then we went inside. There was a main hall that would do for vaccinating and several smaller rooms that should be OK for Gibb, and also for any people we thought should be isolated. Struthers showed me where benches and chairs were stored.
‘Anyone else due to use it?’ I asked.
‘A couple more groups this evening,’ he said. ‘I’ll phone and put them off, maybe stick a notice on the door as well. Now, you were going to tell me what this is all about…’
I explained how several people from the area had been admitted to hospital with a mysterious virus infection, and how we thought the source of it must be Newton-on-Exe.
‘What virus infection exactly?’ he asked.
‘We’re not absolutely certain yet,’ I hedged – then through the window, I saw Gibb making his way to the entrance.
I beckoned him and we waited till he joined us.
‘All done?’ I asked him.
He nodded and I turned back to Struthers. ‘It resembles smallpox,’ I said, ‘although until we - ‘
‘Smallpox! I thought that was eradicated years ago…’
‘So did we,’ I said drily, ‘but apparently not. That’s why, as a temporary measure, Major Gibb has set up road blocks around the village.’
It took a moment to sink in, then – ‘But you can’t… what about people coming home from work…?’
Gibb said, ‘We’re more interested in preventing people from leaving than coming in.’
‘Until we’ve got things under control, we have to do this,’ I said. ‘It would only take one infected person to go to another town and it could start all over again there.’
He said in a milder tone, ‘You realise that could have happened already?’
‘Indeed. That’s why we’re here, not just to vaccinate everyone, but to trace all the contacts – wherever they are.’
I left him with Gibb to explain how the roadblocks would work and went to look for Anne. She was with Clare Searle, who’d just arrived.
‘Good to see you, Clare’ I said.
‘I can’t believe it’s actually happening…’
‘I’m still having trouble,’ I said.
I introduced her to Emily and Tom and asked her to set up a vaccination chain with them.
‘We’d better get over to the County Stores,’ I said to Anne.
She nodded. ‘Shall we take Marty Gannon?’
I asked where he was and she said she’d last seen him keeping the kids away from the helicopter.
I had a thought. ‘Let’s take him,’ I said, nodding at Struthers. ‘He might be more useful, since they know him.’
‘Shouldn’t we vaccinate him first?’
‘Good idea – can you do it now?’
While she led him away, I told Gibb what we were doing. ‘Do your men know to let the ambulances in? I’m phoning for a couple now.’ Should have done it earlier… ‘And there’ll be more people coming to help…’
‘As I said to our friend, we’re more concerned with stopping people leaving than coming in.’
We talked for a few minutes about who’d be allowed in or out, then Anne reappeared with an ashen looking Struthers.
‘Never could abide needles,’ he mumbled.
Becoming more human by the minute...
‘Are you OK to come with us?’ I asked.
He nodded and we went out to the car.
The County Stores was a newish building on the outskirts of the village, and being up-market, was architecturally less offensive than most.
Struthers, recovered by now, took us to the manager. I asked her if she’d had any staff go off sick lately.
‘Well yes, three of us have just gone down with ‘flu, it’s put us under a lot of pressure.’
I asked for their names, addresses and work shift patterns, and a list of all the store’s staff. After she’d done that, I told her we were going to have to close the store and seal it up.
‘But why…?’
I gave her the story of the mysterious viral infection… ‘Some of you may have to go to hospital to be checked,’ I said, ‘but before that, you all need to go to the Village Hall, now, to be vaccinated. Please.’
Looking utterly bewildered, she came with us to tell the rest of the staff, while Struthers persuaded the handful of customers to do likewise.
After they’d gone, I went with the manager as she locked all the entrances, then gave me the keys.
‘What am I going to tell Head Office?’ she asked me, still very disorientated.
‘Give me their number and I’ll make sure they’re told.’
She found it for me, then took herself off to the Village Hall. I phoned Fenella and asked her to deal with it, then Anne and I sealed the building with yellow warning tape. It read: Danger of Infection – Keep Out!
I said, ‘My worry is that some idiot’s going to ignore this and try and do a bit of looting.’
‘Get Marty onto it,’ she said.
We found Struthers waiting by the car and drove to the nearest of the addresses. A worried looking man let us in.
‘She’s ill,’ he said when we asked for his wife, ‘she’s in a bad way.’
She was. A glance was enough to tell us she had smallpox.
‘Can’t you do something?’ her husband asked pathetically.
I told him to stay put and that an ambulance would be along within half an hour to take them both to hospital. Anne asked him about other contacts and whether he could remember her works shifts.
Then Struthers directed us to the next address. Same result, except that it was a daughter who let us in. A quick examination, instructions, then onto the next. Same result.
We could hear the ambulance sirens as we drove back to the Village Hall. The first of them arrived at the same time as we did.
‘How many can you take?’ I asked the driver.
‘Four max.’
I gave him two of the addresses and the third to the next. I phone
d for more ambulances, then went inside to find Brendon had arrived, together with Marty Gannon, who’d left a squaddie in charge of the chopper.
The vaccination chain was ready, so I found Struthers and asked him what the population of the village was.
‘Around three hundred…’
Anne called me over and showed me the shift patterns – all three of the new cases were working in the store on 20th February –
‘That’ll be when it was done,’ I said. ‘I think we’ve got enough for TV and radio messages, you know: would anyone who was in the store on or about that date … What do you think?’
She nodded. ‘What about ring vaccinating, shall I start now?’
I thought for a moment… ‘If the population’s only three hundred, I think it’s safer to simply do the lot – especially as so many of them’ll been to the County Stores.’
‘Have we got enough vaccine?’
‘I brought a pack of five hundred.’
‘Can we get it done tonight?’
I nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Then I’d say do it – while I start chasing up the contacts outside the village.’
‘How many are there?’
‘At least a dozen so far, but that’s going to go up, isn’t it? We’ll need more tracers…’
‘I’ll see to it. How many in the village?’
‘Double that.’
‘Make me a list of them so that I can make sure they’re done here, then go. Take Brendon with you. You can use his car.’
She nodded and started on the list.
I found Struthers and Marty and asked them to start on a house-to-house to get the villagers to come for vaccination.
‘What, every house?’ Struthers asked.
‘As many as you can. Keep a list and I’ll try and get someone to relieve you. Have you got your phone, Marty?’
He gave me the number and they went off. Anne gave me her list, then she and Brendon left too.
Gibb was on the phone, presumably to one of his patrols, so I dug out my own phone, called Fenella again and told her I thought we had enough for radio and TV alerts.
‘I agree. Shall I do it now?’
‘Please – and could you send some more team members from the other areas to the hospital? And we need more here,’ I added, ‘especially contact tracers.’
She said she would, then I called Brigg and told him what we’d found at the store.
He said, ‘I’m going to need to come and look at the air conditioning with an engineer, there may be something there to help us.’
‘Now?’
‘While there’s still daylight.’
I looked at my watch – just after four, which gave him a couple of hours …
‘Come to the Village Hall first to get the engineer vaccinated,’ I told him, then went to keep Gibb up to date with the people I’d need to come and go through the road-blocks.
‘Anyone tried to sneak out yet?’ I asked him.
‘A couple. We turned them back with no trouble.’ He hesitated, said, ‘The trouble may come tonight – it’ll be more difficult to stop them in the dark.’
‘They’d have to be on foot, wouldn’t they?’
‘Yeah, but some might still try.’
‘Just do your best.’
He nodded and I left him to it.
People had started to come in for vaccination. Tom was wiping arms and applying vaccine, Clare was needling and Emily was sticking on plasters and taking their names. I realised it would move quicker with someone to help us with that, so I went and asked Gibb if he could spare one of his men to scribe. He found one and I set him to it. And the line moved that little bit faster…
My phone went – it was Sarah…
‘Herry, where are you, I’ve been trying to get you…’
‘It’s all right, you’ve got me now – what’s the problem?’
‘It’s Mum, she’s really ill, she’s come out in this terrible rash…’
I closed my eyes for a beat, then – ‘Stay where you are, I’ll be with you in five minutes.’
‘Five… but where are –?’
‘I’ll be there, OK?’
I shut her off, phoned the ambulance station and asked them to divert one of the ambulances, then went to find Gibb…
He was in the room he’d commandeered…
‘A word?’
‘What’s up?’
‘I’ve got a problem…’
He glanced at the soldier with him – ‘Jenkins, lose yourself a minute.’
Jenkins did that and I poured out the story… ‘I want to go myself, make sure she and my daughter are OK, but I don’t want to be accused of favouritism…’
‘Surely, it’s another contact,’ he said. ‘You’ve got every right to go and check it out, haven’t you?’
‘I shouldn’t leave…’
‘Go on, we’ll be fine. I’ll be here and you’ve got your mobile, haven’t you?’
‘Thanks,’ I said, and hurried out.
I stopped long enough to tell Clare I was checking another contact, then, drove off.
But I should have remembered Sod’s third law – that shit always hits in triplicate…
Chapter 33
A few minutes after Herry had gone, Gibb went to the main hall to check things were going smoothly. They were - the line of vaccinees was moving and, from the smile on Private Benton’s face, he was enjoying himself working with the two women –
‘Sir, sir!’ Jenkins calling him from the office – ‘It’s roadblock two, urgent…’
He took the phone from Jenkins and listened for a moment, then –
‘I’ll be there,’ he snapped, and shut the phone off. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck…’
‘Problem, sir?’
He looked at the vaccination line a moment, then made up his mind and went over to Clare –
‘I’m sorry ladies – and gent – but I’m going to have to borrow Benton for a while. We’ll be back as soon as we can. You two, come with me.’
They hurried out, clambered into the Land Rover and drove off.
‘What is it, sir?’ asked Jenkins, who was driving.
Gibb said between his teeth, ‘Some stupid bastard’s run the block and Cousins is down.’
‘Dead?’
‘Not yet, according to Parsons, but he will be if we don’t get him to hospital. We’ll bring him back to the hall for an ambulance –’
‘Couldn’t one of the ones coming in pick him up on the way, sir?’
‘They’re all coming from the south, Jenkins, while we, you might have noticed are travelling north.’
They roared up through the woods and rounded a bend to see the roadblock ahead. Cousins was lying on his back on the road and Parsons was putting something under his head.
‘Benton, you help Parsons get him onto the stretcher, Jenkins – help me find something more substantial to put across the road…’
*
In the Village Hall, all went well until a good looking, well-dressed man approached Clare.
‘Are you in charge?’ he asked diffidently.
She nodded.
He lowered his voice. ‘I wonder if I might trespass on your goodwill – I’m expecting an important international call and I didn’t realise how long the queue would be – I wonder if you might stretch a point and fit me in here?’
‘Bloody cheek,’ said the woman first in the queue behind him.
‘Oi, you, get to the back,’ came a voice from behind her.
Clare looked up. ‘I really don’t think we can,’ she began, ‘It won’t take long –’
‘You ‘eard ‘er, Prince - ‘ another voice – ‘Get to the back.’
Prince turned round. ‘I wasn’t aware I was speaking to you,’ he said…
Whether it was his bearing, his accent, or some prior knowledge of him – it was enough. The second protester came up and shoved him backwards – ‘You can wait like the rest of us –’
‘I s
aid - ‘ Prince’s fist smacked into his nose, then the other into his gut – ‘I wasn’t talking to you…’
Two other men grabbed Prince and wrestled him to the floor, but as he went down, he clutched the edge of the table and the arm wipes, vaccine and waste containers went flying –
Tom tried to intervene, but was shoved roughly away –
Prince lashed out with his foot and caught someone’s shin –
A woman grabbed her husband as he tried to join in – ‘Don’t you dare Jim Payne…’
Clare shouted, Emily screamed and people crowded round the fighters –
Then a stentorian voice cracked out and everything stopped –
‘What the HELL is going on?’
It was Brigg; he pushed through the melee and dragged one of the scrappers to his feet – ‘YOU – get over there against the wall, YOU – get up, get over there, you too…’
Stunned, pugilists and wrestlers alike did as they were told… and Rebecca had a sudden insight into what old fashioned coppering really meant –
She pulled herself together – ‘What happened?’ she asked Clare, who quickly explained.
‘Right,’ said Brigg, ‘you three are under arrest, the rest of you, back into line – now!’
As they meekly did as they were told, Rebecca became aware of an ambulance siren… ‘You – ‘she said to the first man in the line – ‘Help him get the table up, and you – you can help her clear up the mess…’
The table was righted, the detritus cleared away, and order gradually restored.
‘Where are Major Gibb and Dr Smith?’ Brigg asked Clare. ‘I was told they’d be here.’
‘They were called away.’
‘Both of them? Surely they’d have left someone here… Ah!’ he said as Gibb came in. ‘Where the hell’ve you been?’ he asked him in an undertone.
Gibb curtly explained… ‘I’ve just got him into that ambulance, but it’ll be touch and go …’
‘What about Dr Smith?’
‘Called away to a new smallpox case,’ he said. ‘He should be back any minute… What happened here?’
‘While you were away,’ Brigg began, and told him…
‘Jesus wept,’ Gibb muttered in disgust.
‘Is there anywhere we lock these heroes away?’ Brigg indicated the sullen males standing in disgrace by the wall.
Bad Medicine- A Life for a Life; Bed of Nails; Going Viral Page 58