Virus Hunters 3: A Medical Thriller

by Bobby Akart

  “Alternative music,” the youngest agent explained. “Anyway, their next stop is Tokyo. From there, we can get you on any number of flights to DC or even Atlanta.”

  Hughey stepped forward. “I know you’re anxious to make phone calls. Let me add that we have room accommodations for you in the complex. They’re not fancy, but I suspect they’re better than what you’ve experienced in the last week. Each room has a telephone and, of course, a full bathroom with a shower.” He looked directly at Harper when he said it. She reflexively scowled. Watch it, buddy. I’ll sick Barker on ya.

  Kwon removed his jacket. “We checked our weapons at security. Do you have someone who can clean them for us?”

  “I’m not sure you’ll need them, Dr. Li. If you leave the embassy compound, you’ll be escorted by armed personnel with diplomatic credentials.”

  “We have some tissue samples to examine,” interjected Harper. “What kind of relationship do you have with the local hospital? Do they have a pathology department?”

  The other agent answered her question. “I anticipated this, Doctor. We have been in contact with Dr. Keyoor Gautam with Samyak Diagnostic. He is the nation’s expert in clinical pathology and will willingly assist you. More importantly, he can be trusted not to reveal his findings to others.”

  “Good, thank you,” said Harper. “Also, I need help researching the background information on a climber who died on Everest. We believe he is one of the first humans to contract the new disease I’m investigating. Can someone help me with that?”

  “Yes, Doctor,” the youngest agent replied. “That’s one of the things the agency does best—fill in the blanks.”

  Harper and Kwon provided the agents the documentation found on Maclaren’s body. They also were escorted to a secure area accessible only by CIA personnel to store the tissue samples until Harper could decide what to do with them. Part of her was anxious to study them, but she knew the right thing to do was to securely ship them back to the CDC.

  Finally, they were escorted to small, but efficient, apartment-style rooms, where she was finally able to make her way into a shower. To top it off, she was furnished a variety of jeans and sweatshirts to wear while her clothing was being laundered. She couldn’t resist choosing the goofiest one, featuring a cartoonish yak accompanied by the words yak swag.

  Squeaky clean, dressed and refreshed, she called Atlanta first.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  United States Embassy

  Kathmandu, Nepal

  “Did you miss me?” Harper was grinning ear to ear when she heard Becker’s voice on the other end of the line. The response she received was not what she expected.

  “I’m sorry. Who is this?”

  “Aw, shit, Becker! Don’t mess with me. I had to sleep in a yak hotel!”

  Becker began to laugh. “Gak?”

  “No, yak!”

  “What’s a yak?”

  “You know, it’s like …” Harper’s voice trailed off. She really wasn’t sure whether it was more cow or ox or just its own kind of critter. She came up with her best description. “It’s a really hairy cow with curly horns.”

  “Oh, like my aunt Ouiser?” asked Becker with a chuckle.

  Harper was genuinely confused. “Weezer? Who?”

  Becker dodged the question. “Never mind. Welcome back to the free world.”

  “I guess. I’m kind of locked down in the embassy until they can figure out how to get us out of the country without the Chinese catching us first. I guess we stirred up the pot a little too much.”

  Becker was not surprised. “I heard a little something about that from the Bergermeister. He had to give an interview to ABC the other day, and he got blindsided with a question that he couldn’t answer.”

  “What was it?”

  “They wanted to know where you were.”

  “Did he tell them?”

  Becker laughed. “Nope, it was the first time he followed my advice. He demurred.”

  “Huh?” asked Harper, who was confused. “Demurred?”

  “Yeah, it’s a new word I learned from the Washington Post. You know, those reporters really are smarter than the rest of us common folk. They use hundred-dollar words like demurred.”

  Harper laughed. “That’s legalese, isn’t it?”

  “For lawyers maybe, but not WashPo. Demurred means he took issue with the question.”

  “Why didn’t they just say that?” Harper was amused by the whole conversation. The two epidemiologists had a lot more important matters to discuss, but somehow, in this moment, the two best friends needed some playful banter to reconnect.

  “Beeecause it sounds a whole lot worse than took issue with. The whole interview was designed to make the CDC, and especially you, look bad. Anyway, the Bergermeister got fussy with the reporter, defended your honor like a good boy, and then began to talk about something ABC had no interest in.”

  “Which was?” asked Harper.

  “Genetic markers and such.”

  Harper burst out laughing. “Yeah, I bet that shit sailed right over the head of the hundred-dollar-word crowd. So tell me what’s new.”

  “Um.” Becker paused for a long moment. Harper waited and then asked if her assistant was still there.

  “Becker?”

  “Yeah, still here. I’m eating dinner.”

  “Something good, I hope,” said Harper.

  “M&M peanut. I’m branching out.” She paused while she finished eating the two piles of three blue M&M’s, her new favorite.

  Harper shook her head and smiled. She missed Becker. “All right then, me first. Listen, some of this has to be between us. I’ll tell Joe in my own way, and I sure as heck don’t want Reitherman to know what I’ve been through.”

  Becker was still chomping when she spoke. “Maybe you shouldn’t tell me the deets? If I don’t know, the Bergermeister won’t be able to torture me for answers.”

  Harper ignored her silliness. “Let me just say that we got lucky. A whole lotta lucky. But, when it was all said and done, I think we located patient zero.”

  “That’s great! Are you sending us the body?”

  “Well, not exactly. Parts. Kinda small parts.”

  Becker lowered her voice to a whisper. “Crap. Incoming.”

  “What?”

  Then she spoke louder than necessary. “Perfect timing, Dr. Reitherman. I have Dr. Randolph on the line. Let me put her on speaker.”

  The ambient noise coming through her phone’s earpiece immediately changed to a hollow, airy sound.

  “Good evening, Harper. I trust you’re safe.”

  “Yes, sir. Thanks. I’m on a secure line, so I can speak freely. I’m at the U.S. embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal. The CIA has provided us a place to stay until they can figure out a way to get us out of the country. It appears our cover was blown along the way.”

  “So I gather. Don’t care. They shouldn’t hide things from the world health community. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have to go to such extreme measures. You may have covered this with Elizabeth already, but will you fill me in on what you’ve found?”

  “Yes, sir. To begin with, we located the doctor who first began releasing information on the disease through their social media. The trail actually led us into Tibet, where I met a military doctor, sort of, who had a corpse stored in a refrigerated locker at this medical facility. The deceased was an army pilot who’d flown a rescue mission to Mount Everest.”

  Harper heard Dr. Reitherman shut the door and slide a chair across the linoleum floor. “Is there a connection to our four index patients in Las Vegas?”

  “Yes, sir. They were part of a team that had to deal with a gruesome accident near the summit on the Chinese side of Everest. Two men became ill. Check that, possibly several people suddenly got sick, causing a chain reaction. The four soldiers, our Las Vegas patients, brought one of the dead men back to the hospital in Tibet. The corpse was sent to a hospital in Xinjiang for study, which is where this Dr. Zeng got
involved.

  “Let me also mention, I have four vials of tissue samples in my possession; plus I have another four vials being shipped to Becker via DHL Express. They’re coming to her home as part of a handbag purchase.”

  Becker perked up. “Really? Presents?”

  “For both of us. I don’t know if the samples will help, but I needed to try another means to get them to you, just in case.”

  Neither Becker nor Dr. Reitherman commented on Harper’s statement. They understood the meaning.

  “Have you identified the deceased?” asked Dr. Reitherman. “We can get started on contact tracing.”

  “Nothing yet, sir. However, I do have a lead and a theory. The second man, a possible companion of the first climber who fell, also died in the accident. We’d hoped to retrieve his body, but it was frozen and too dangerous to recover. We did get several samples of lung and organ tissues. I have them refrigerated and ready for transport.”

  “Could you identify him?”

  “He’s Australian. White male. Name is Maclaren. We turned over his identification and other personal effects to the CIA guys here to conduct a full background check as well as a reconstruction of his travel itinerary.”

  “Good, let me know how we can help. When will you be returning to the States?”

  “As soon as the CIA guys give me the green light. If it looks like it might be a few days, then I’ll pack these vials in dry ice and get them to you overnight if I’m stuck here.”

  Becker and Dr. Reitherman spoke to one another for a moment before addressing Harper again. He asked, “If you don’t have anything to add, we can bring you up to speed on what we’ve learned.”

  Harper breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t going to be pressed on the blow-by-blow details that led to her discoveries. She wouldn’t get off so easy with Joe.

  “What’ve you got?” she asked.

  Dr. Reitherman replied, “First of all, this Dr. Boychuck has been a tremendous help on the ground. Our people were experiencing some pushback from the local hospitals. Woolie stepped in and made things happen.”

  Becker blurted out, “He’s weird.”

  “Eccentric,” said Harper. “Weird is a little harsh.”

  Becker couldn’t help herself. “To-may-to. To-mah-to. He’s weird.”

  Dr. Reitherman continued. “There have been several more victims of the disease, although indirectly. You know how it goes. The patient’s weakened immune system from another illness allows the novel virus to invade their respiratory and cardiovascular systems.”

  “That was nice of him to send the bodies to us for study,” said Harper.

  “It was a package deal,” interjected Becker. “They arrived yesterday.”

  “Boychuck is there?” Harper asked.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes.” Becker was sarcastic in her reply. “Weird, I tell you.”

  “In a brilliant sort of way,” added Dr. Reitherman. “His ability to cut to the chase, pardon the pun, is extraordinary. I like him.”

  Harper could visualize Becker rolling her eyes and crossing her arms as she sat back in her chair. She broke the awkward silence by changing the subject.

  “I understood the subject of genetic markers has become introduced to the public. Tell me what you’ve learned.”

  “Once again, our team, with an assist from Woolie, gained approvals from the patients and loved ones to access their pharmaceutical records. A pattern started to develop.”

  “What was it?” asked Harper.

  “I’ll let Elizabeth explain since she was the one who created the working theory,” he replied.

  “This virus has similar functional host-cell receptors to SARS. Specifically, angiotensin-converting enzyme number two.”

  Harper added, “I can see that. The ACE2 enzyme typically attaches to the outer cell membranes of both cardiovascular and respiratory organs.”

  Becker continued. “Through our analysis, we learned the protein coding gene was prevalent in patients whose immunities were compromised by other illnesses. However, here’s the odd part. Many of the elderly patients, those most susceptible to things like influenza or even COVID-19, have managed to fight this thing. It’s the healthiest patients who’ve succumbed to the disease.”

  “You’d reached that hypothesis before Harper left for China, am I right?” asked Dr. Reitherman.

  “Yes, sir. That’s why I suggested Becker study the pharmaceutical records of the infected.”

  “We did and found a common thread although there’s a lot of work to do before its conclusive.”

  “Spill it, Becker,” demanded Harper.

  “Most, although not all, of the survivors were taking ACE-inhibitor medication like lisinopril or enalapril.”

  Harper’s body tensed as she took a deep breath. “The medications are slowing the activity of the ACE enzyme, which decreases the production of angiotensin II. The blood vessels widen, raising flow capability, thus increasing the amount of blood the heart pumps.”

  Dr. Reitherman finished the concluding thought. “It lowers the heart’s workload, giving the patient a longer period of time to fight the virus.”

  “Wait,” said Harper. “Are you implying the ACE inhibitors don’t prevent the spread of the disease?”

  “Correct,” replied Becker. “They simply slow the progression. We’re still missing the genetic markers from the original host and any intermediary host. Even if your dead climber was patient zero, it doesn’t mean the disease started with him. We’re still lacking that one critical piece of evidence to completely define the genetic traits.”

  Harper, deep in thought, was startled by a firm rapping at her door. “Hold on, please,” she said into the phone. She cupped the mouthpiece and addressed the person in the hallway. “Yes?”

  It was Kwon. “The CIA has a dossier on the dead climber for us to review. You’re gonna want to see this right away from what they just told me.”

  “Okay!” Harper returned to the call. “Hey, there might be more news later. Sorry. Gotta run.” She hung up and bolted out the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  United States Embassy

  Kathmandu, Nepal

  Harper and Kwon rushed back to the conference room where they were first greeted upon arrival. The CIA contingent was larger this time. It included Hughey, the two agents Harper had labeled Kath and Du, as well as several other analysts, who were poring over reports and photographs. The door was immediately closed behind them, and they were directed to seats at the side of the table.

  “You guys work fast,” quipped Harper as she got settled into her seat. One of the analysts offered them bottled water, and they both readily accepted.

  Hughey wandered the large room wrapped in acoustical wall tiles. He shoved his hands in his pants’ pockets as he spoke.

  “We do have a vast network of resources to tap into. There are times when our agents need information on the fly and waiting isn’t an option. Fortunately, your subject was an ordinary citizen with no nefarious intentions. Other than a drunk and disorderly charge outside a Melbourne bar years ago, this Aussie kept his nose clean.”

  “So he was just another climber?” asked Harper.

  “Yes, to an extent,” replied Hughey. He pointed at two identical file folders in front of Harper and Kwon. “Those are for you but cannot leave the embassy compound when you leave. I will forward them to your stateside offices, if you wish.”

  Harper opened the file just as Kwon did the same. Their eyes darted up and down the pages and quickly moved into the meat of the research. Kwon was the first to comment.

  “He was traveling with his friend and coworker Mooy. They are both from Melbourne, worked for an outfit that does archeological digs around the world. I suppose they had a love of climbing, right?”

  One of the analysts responded, “Yes. Maclaren more so than Mooy. His passport was recently reissued, so you wouldn’t have been able to see the prior travel stamps. Our guess is that this was a bucket lis
t item that he took advantage of since he was working in the region.”

  Harper focused on his employment history. “Would that be this TPE Program referred to here?” She tapped the paperwork and looked around the room.

  “Yes, ma’am,” replied another analyst. “Our cursory research revealed that two climatologists co-created the Third Pole Environment program, or T-P-E. The program’s purpose was to study the climatology of the Tibetan Plateau. According to their research papers online, the plateau contains the Earth’s largest repository of ice outside of the North and South Poles, hence the reference to a Third Pole.”

  Another analyst joined in the discussion. “The Tibetan Plateau and the Himalaya Mountains hold thousands of glaciers whose meltwater feeds seven different countries. From what we can determine from their online research papers, they believe there is evidence of drastic changes in these glacial areas contributing to climate change.”

  “Maclaren and Mooy were scientists?” asked Kwon.

  “No. they worked for a subcontractor that conducted core drilling. The company name is Black Diamond Drilling, an Australian outfit that services mineral exploration and the geotechnical sectors of the drilling industry.”

  Kwon asked, “Where is this TPE program located?”

  “The facility is located in Gar County, a fairly small community in Ngari Prefecture. It’s in the far western part of the Tibetan Plateau at the base of the Himalayas not that far from the Indian border.”

  “I wanna go there,” Harper said.

  Impulsive.

  “That’s not really possible,” Hughey said, shaking his head.

  Harper shot back, “Anything is possible for you guys. We need to make it happen.”

  Impetuous.

  “Dr. Randolph, it’s entirely too dangerous under the circumstances, especially in light of its proximity to India’s border.”

  “Mr. Hughey, either you help us or we’ll go it alone. We managed just fine in China before. This will be much easier, I’m sure of it.”