Contagion (50 page)

     Jack shut the door. In Jack’s mind the man in the parka was becoming some kind of fiendish microbiological devotee. Jack didn’t even want to think about what kind of experiments were in progress with the animals he’d discovered.

     A sudden, distant high-pitched whine of electrical machinery made Jack’s heart skip a beat. He knew instantly what it was: the elevator!

     With rapidly mounting panic, Jack frantically searched for the door to the hall. The spectacle of the lab had diverted his attention from locating it. It didn’t take long to find, but by the time Jack reached it, he feared the elevator would be nearing the fifth floor.

     Jack’s initial thought had been to dash up the stairs to the roof and then exit the building after the man in the parka had entered his apartment. But now with the elevator fast approaching, Jack thought he’d be seen. That left exiting the apartment the way he’d entered. But when the elevator motor stopped and the metal doors clanged open, he knew there wasn’t time.

     Jack had to hide quickly, preferably close to the door to the hall. About ten feet away was a blank door. Jack rushed to it and opened it. It was a bathroom. Jack jumped in and pulled the door closed behind him. He had to hope the man in the parka had other things on his mind than using the toilet or washing his hands.

     Hardly had Jack shut the bathroom door than he heard keys turning the locks of the outer door. The man came in, locked the door after him, then walked briskly away. The sound of his footsteps receded, then disappeared.

     For a second Jack hesitated. He gauged how much time he needed to get to the door to the hall and unlock it. Once he got to the stairs he felt confident he could outrun the man in the parka. With all his basketball playing, Jack was in better shape than most.

     As quietly as possible, Jack opened the door. At first he only cracked it to be able to listen. Jack heard nothing. Slowly he opened the door further so that he could peer out.

     From Jack’s vantage point he could see a large part of the lab. The man was not to be seen. Jack pushed the door open just enough to squeeze through. He eyed the door to the hall. There was a deadbolt a few inches above the knob.

     Glancing around the lab once more, Jack slipped out of the bathroom and rushed silently over to the outer door. He grasped the knob with his left hand while his right hand went to the deadbolt. But there was an agonizing problem. The deadbolt had no knob. A key was required from both inside and out. Jack was locked in!

     Panicked, Jack retreated to the bathroom. He felt desperate, like one of the poor animals penned in the makeshift shelter. His only hope was that the man in the parka would leave before using the bathroom. But it was not to be. After only a few agonizing minutes, the bathroom door was suddenly whisked open. The man, sans parka, started in but collided with Jack. Both men gasped.

     Jack was about to say something clever when the man stepped back and slammed the door hard enough to bring down the shower curtain and rod.

     Jack immediately went for the door handle for fear of being locked in. Putting his shoulder into it, Jack rammed the door. Unexpectedly the door opened without hindrance. Jack stumbled out of the bathroom, struggling to stay on his feet. Once he had his balance, his eyes darted around the loft. The man had disappeared.

     Jack headed for the kitchen and the open window. He had no other choice. But he only made it as far as the living room. The man had also run there to snatch a large revolver out of a drawer in the coffee table.

     As Jack appeared, the man leveled the gun at him and told him to freeze. Jack immediately complied. He even raised his hands. With such a large gun pointing at him, Jack wanted to be as cooperative as possible.

     “What the hell are you doing here?” the man snarled. His hair fell across his forehead, making him snap his head back to keep it out of his eyes.

     It was that gesture more than anything else that made Jack recognize the man. It was Richard, the head tech from the Manhattan General’s lab.

     “Answer me!” Richard demanded.

     Jack raised his hands higher, hoping the gesture might satisfy Richard, while his mind desperately sought some reasonable explanation of why he was there. But none came to mind. Under the circumstances Jack couldn’t even think of anything clever to say.

     Jack kept his eyes riveted to the gun barrel, which had moved to within three feet of his nose. He noticed the tip trembled, suggesting that Richard was not only angry but also acutely agitated. In Jack’s mind such a combination was particularly dangerous.

     “If you don’t answer me I’m going to shoot you right now,” Richard hissed.

     “I’m a medical examiner,” Jack blurted out. “I’m investigating.”

     “Bull!” Richard snapped. “Medical examiners don’t go busting into people’s apartments.”

     “I didn’t break in,” Jack explained. “The window was open.”

     “Shut up,” Richard said. “It’s all the same. You’re trespassing and meddling.”

     “I’m sorry,” Jack said. “Couldn’t we just talk about this?”

     “Were you the one who sent me that fake package?” Richard demanded.

     “What package?” Jack asked innocently.

     Richard’s eyes left Jack’s, and they swept down to Jack’s feet and then back up to his face. “You’ve even got on a fake deliveryman outfit. That took thought and effort.”

     “What are you talking about?” Jack asked. “I dress like this all the time when I’m not at the morgue.”

     “Bull!” Richard repeated. He pointed toward one of the couches with the gun. “Sit down!” he yelled.

     “All right already,” Jack said. “You only have to ask nicely.” The initial shock was passing and his wits were returning. He sat where Richard indicated Richard backed up to the gun cabinet without taking his eyes off Jack.

     He groped for keys in his pocket and then tried to get the gun cabinet open without looking at what he was doing. “Can I give you a hand?” Jack asked.

     “Shut up!” Richard yelled. Even his hand with the key was shaking.

     When he got the glazed door open, he reached in and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

     “Now, that’s a handy item to have around,” Jack said.

     Handcuffs in hand, Richard started back toward Jack, keeping the gun pointed at his face.

     “I tell you what,” Jack said. “Why don’t we call the police. I’ll confess, and they can take me away. Then I’ll be out of your hair.”

     “Shut up,” Richard ordered. He then motioned for Jack to get to his feet.

     Jack complied and lifted his hands again.

     “Move!” Richard said, motioning toward the main part of the lab.

     Jack backed up. He was afraid to take his eyes off the gun. Richard kept coming toward him, the handcuffs dangling from his left hand.

     “Over by the column,” Richard snapped.

     Jack did as he was instructed. He stood against the column. It was about fifteen inches in diameter.

     “Face it,” Richard commanded.

     Jack turned around.

     “Reach around it with your hands and grasp them together,” Richard said.

     When he did what Richard had insisted, Jack felt the handcuffs snap over each wrist. He was now locked to the column. “Mind if I sit down?” Jack asked.

     Richard didn’t bother to answer. He hurried back into the living area. Jack lowered himself to the floor. The most comfortable position was embracing the column with his legs wrapped around it as well as his arms.

     Jack could hear Richard dialing a telephone. Jack considered yelling for help when Richard started his conversation, but quickly scrapped the idea as suicidal, considering how nervous Richard was acting. Besides, whomever Richard was calling probably wouldn’t care about Jack’s plight.

     “Jack Stapleton is here!” Richard blurted without preamble. “I caught him in my goddamn bathroom. He knows about Frazer Labs and he’s been snooping around in here. I’m sure of it. Just like Beth Holderness at the lab.”

     The hairs on the back of Jack’s neck rose up when he heard Richard mention Beth’s name.

     “Don’t tell me to calm down!” Richard shouted. “This is an emergency. I shouldn’t have gotten myself involved in this. You’d better get over here fast. This is your problem as well as it is mine.”

     Jack heard Richard slam down the telephone. The man sounded even more agitated. A few minutes later Richard reappeared without his gun.

     He came over to Jack and looked down at him. Richard’s lips were quivering. “How did you find out about Frazer Labs?” he demanded. “I know you sent the phony package, so there’s no use lying.”

     Jack looked up into the man’s face. Richard’s pupils were widely dilated. He looked half crazy. Without warning, Richard slapped Jack with an open palm. The blow split Jack’s lower lip. A trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

     “You’d better start talking,” Richard snarled.

     Jack gingerly felt the damaged part of his lip with his tongue. It was numb. He tasted the saltiness of his blood.

     “Maybe we should wait for your colleague,” Jack said, to say something.

     His intuition told him he soon would be seeing Martin Cheveau or Kelley or possibly even Zimmerman.

     The slap must have hurt Richard as well as Jack because he opened and closed his hand a few times and then disappeared back into the living area. Jack heard what he thought was the refrigerator being opened, then an ice tray being dumped.

     A few minutes later Richard reappeared to glare at Jack. He had a dish towel wrapped around his hand. He commenced pacing, pausing every now and again to glance at his watch.

     Time dragged by. Jack would have liked to have been able to take one of his throat lozenges, but it was impossible. He also noticed that his cough was increasing and that he now felt just plain sick. He guessed he had a fever.

     The distant, high-pitched sound of the elevator brought Jack’s head up from where it had slumped against the column. Jack considered the fact that the buzzer hadn’t sounded. That meant that whoever was on their way up had a key.

     Richard heard the elevator motor as well. He went to the door and opened it to wait in the hall.

     Jack heard the elevator arrive with a thump. The motor switched off and the elevator door clanged open.

     “Where is he?” an angry voice demanded.

     Jack was facing away from the door when he heard Richard and his visitor come into the loft. He heard the door close and be locked.

     He’s over there, Richard said with equal venom. “Handcuffed to the column.”

     Jack took a breath and turned his head as he heard footsteps close in on him. When he caught sight of who it was, he gasped.

     32

     WEDNESDAY, 7:45 P.M., MARCH 27, 1996

     “You bastard!” Terese snapped. “Why couldn’t you let sleeping dogs lie. You and your stubbornness! You’re screwing everything up, just when things are finally starting to go right.”

     Jack was dumbstruck. He looked up into her blue eyes, which he had only recently seen as soft. Now they looked as hard as pale sapphires. Her mouth was no longer sensuous. Her bloodless lips formed a grim line.

     “Terese!” Richard yelled. “Don’t waste time trying to talk with him. We got to figure out what we’re going to do. What if someone knows he is here?”

     Terese broke off from glaring at Jack to look at Richard. “Are those stupid cultures of yours in this lab?” she demanded.

     “Of course they’re here,” Richard said.

     “Then get rid of them,” Terese said. “Flush them down the toilet.”

     “But, Terese!” Richard cried.

     “Don’t ‘but, Terese’ me. Get rid of them. Now!”

     “Even the influenza?” Richard questioned.

     “Especially the influenza!” Terese snapped.

     Morosely Richard went over to the freezer, unlocked it, and began rummaging through its contents.

     “What am I going to do with you?” Terese asked, redirecting her attention to Jack. She was thinking out loud.

     “For starters you could take off these handcuffs,” Jack said. “Then we could all go for a quiet dinner at Positano, and you can let your friends know we are there.”

     “Shut up!” Terese exclaimed. “I’ve had it with your repartee.”

     Abruptly Terese left Jack and moved over next to Richard. She watched him gathering a handful of frozen vials. “All of it, now!” she warned. “There cannot be any evidence here, you understand?”

     “It was the worst decision of my life to help you,” Richard complained.

     When he had all the vials he disappeared into the bathroom. “How are you involved in all this?” Jack asked Terese.

     Terese didn’t answer. Instead she walked around the partition into the living room. Behind him Jack heard the toilet flush, and he hated to think what had just been sent into the city’s sewers to infect the sewer rats.

     Richard reappeared and followed Terese into the living area. Jack couldn’t see them, but given the high, unadorned ceiling he could hear them as if they were right next to him.

     “We’ve got to get him out of here immediately,” Terese said.

     “And do what?” Richard asked moodily. “Dump him in the East River?”

     “No, I think he should just disappear,” Terese said. “What about Mom and Dad’s farmhouse up in the Catskills?”

     “I never thought of that,” Richard said. His voice brightened. “But, yeah, that’s a good idea.”

     “How will we get him up there?” Terese asked.

     “I’ll bring around my Explorer,” Richard said.

     “The problem is getting him into it and then keeping him quiet,” Terese said.

     “I’ve got ketamine,” Richard said.

     “What’s that?” Terese asked.

     “It’s an anesthetic agent,” Richard said. “It’s used a lot in veterinary medicine. There are some uses for humans, but it can cause hallucinations.”

     “I don’t care if it causes hallucinations,” Terese said. “All I care about is whether it will knock him out or not. Actually, it would be best just to have him tranquilized.”