Sector C (21 page)

“Step Four: All import and export of any livestock animal subject to the slaughter order or not is hereby halted. The same parameters for domestic travel apply.

“Step Five: All human travel in and out of the tri-state area is hereby halted for an undetermined length of time not to be less than 72 hours. This includes all ground, air and water transport. No mail, no deliveries, no personal or business travel. I call on all businesses within the affected area to manage and prioritize products, especially those for which there is traditionally a limited supply. Likewise, I call on charity service groups such as the Red Cross to identify people most in need of these types of items and ensure critical supplies such as drugs and infant formula reach them. Like with any other national disaster, price gouging and other ethically questionable practices during a time of crisis will not be tolerated. 

“Step Six: When avoidable, do not congregate. The transmissibility of this disease among humans has not been adequately determined. This means we do not yet know whether VTSE can be transmitted through casual contact, drinking after another person, or through more intimate activities. Therefore, the recommendation is to limit or suspend trips to the malls, concerts, sporting events and anywhere else large numbers of people can be expected. Businesses are encouraged to cancel conferences and conventions that can reasonably be postponed. Mass transit travel such as by bus, railcar or plane is discouraged. However, none of these actions are prohibited. Schools and churches in the tri-state area may elect to suspend classes and services, while those outside the area may reasonably continue to hold them.

 “As of this time, it is not known what further orders may be given concerning excluded livestock animals or household pets. It is the intent of the CDC, the Department of Agriculture, and the Federal and State Governments to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of this disease but not to go to extraordinary measures beyond need. We mean to use a surgical knife not a bludgeon to deal with this outbreak.

“However, that does not mean our direction or our mandates will not change as we learn more about VTSE and how best to combat it. Finding a preventive and cure will be the priority of all our domestic resources.

“Steps you can take now to prevent contracting this disease are to throw away any meat or dairy products if you do not know where or when they were processed. Go to your doctor if you experience any neurological problems such as unexplained muscle tremors, seizures, hallucinations, or persistent memory gaps or loss. However, let me stress that having these symptoms does not mean you have VTSE. Nor does it mean someone you love or your coworker or your classmate or the stranger walking by your house has it. Do not panic if you have or see someone who has these symptoms. There are any
number
of diseases or complications that are not contagious that VTSE can look like, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or stroke.

“Be vigilant, but don’t be stupid.

“I will hold another press conference in 72 hours to update the nation on the progress of this crisis. Sooner if events warrant it. Thank you.”

Donna turned down the volume as the camera followed the president stalking off the podium without acknowledging the anxious questions that trailed him.

Mike took a deep breath, already envisioning the chaos and panic gripping the Midwest and beyond, before saying simply, “It’s started.”

IT WAS GINGER’S WHINING that brought Lisa to the laundry room. Newspapers covered the linoleum floor and in a discarded packing box under the folding table a Miniature Schnauzer bitch lay with the six pups she had whelped just two weeks before.

This morning, though, when Lisa looked in the box she saw that the pups were scattered over the blanket, rooting at each other for warmth and comfort rather than nestling snug beside their mother. Ginger looked up from the blanket with frightened eyes. She was panting, droplets of drool dripping off her tongue. She was also shivering, and her entire body trembled spasmodically. One spasm, count to three, another spasm, count to three, and another — as regular as heartbeat or breathing.  

“Oh God,” Lisa breathed. Then she called to the dog. “Ginger, come here. Get up. Come on now. Ginger, come.”

The tiny-framed dog with the rather prominent teats raised her head in response. Her front feet paddled helplessly in front of her as she tried to obey.

“Ginger?” Lisa laid a hand on the dog’s head. Heat welled up beneath her palm. She ran her hand along the dog’s muzzle, feeling the bitch’s hot nose. The dog tried to lick Lisa’s fingers but wasn’t coordinated enough to do much more than loll her tongue in their general direction. Lisa’s heart beat faster. She placed a hand over the dog’s front paws to still them. The warm feet went limp under the pressure but started paddling again as soon as she removed her hand.

Her chest clenched, Lisa hurried back into the living room where her husband, John, was pulling on his work boots as he watched the recap of the president’s address.

“Something’s wrong with Ginger,” she told him and the fear in her face told John in a glance it wasn’t good.

He laced up his left boot and followed Lisa back into the laundry room.

One look at the prostrate dog with tendrils of drool hanging from her mouth and spasms that rippled across her leanly muscled body had John scowling and tramping to the bedroom. Lisa knelt down and scooped the puppies into a corner of the box, knowing only too well what was coming next.

“Mom, what’s Dad doing?”

Lisa heard her oldest child’s voice as John reappeared in the doorway, the Remington Yellow Jacket cold in his determined grip. “Stay in the house, Chuck,” John called over his shoulder, making sure by the tone of his voice that Chuck and his little sister both knew this was one of those times to obey without question.

He stooped under the folding table and grabbed Ginger up by the scruff of the neck, lifting her clear of the box. The little bitch yelped at the unexpected pain as she hung in his grip while he maneuvered the back door open with the same hand his rifle was in.

Lisa used a corner of the blanket to cover the pups to keep them warm.

The yelping stopped.

Faintly from the living room, she heard the TV announcer saying, “
This has been a special report,
” right before the sharp crack of the Remington ripped through the morning air.

TRIPLE E STAFF AND CLIENTS gathered in the media room to watch the presidential address once word spread that it wasn’t just Del Campo trying to get more face time to bolster his flagging popularity but real news.
News that, most importantly, had a direct impact on all of
them
.

 Those who started dialing or texting before the end of the speech connected with their parties. The others who waited found their wireless towers had hit capacity.

While waiting for a connection, one hunter took the philosophical approach. “Well, I’m scheduled to be here through Thursday anyway. They can’t reasonably ban travel more than 72 hours.”

“They just need time to set up checkpoints and security,” another agreed. “Make sure people aren’t trying to smuggle out food or animals.”

“Do the restrictions apply to these animals? I’ll be able to ship my rhino home, right?”

Walt Thurman smiled graciously. “Your animals will be held in cold storage while the taxidermists mount them. It’s going to take a few weeks to get through all of them anyway. I can’t imagine that the shipping ban will go on longer than that, but if it does they’ll be safe here. Once we get the all-clear, we’ll get them to you as quickly as possible.”

“Damn!”

Walt’s smile froze as he scanned the group to identify where the outburst had come from.

Steve Steinman was just pocketing his phone when he looked up to find several pairs of eyes on him. “Sorry,” he muttered. 

“Problem?” asked Walt.

“I have 23 stores in this region and they’re all panicking. If they can’t get merchandise, they can’t sell and the sales managers don’t get SPIFFed. We’re gonna take a real hit. All I can say is that this epidemic thing had better be worth the hype; otherwise, the economy’s gonna go all to hell over nothing. Market’s gonna bottom out over this as it is. I’m gonna see if my pilot can get the company plane off the ground. If the commercial jets aren’t flying maybe the private ones can.” Steinman yanked his phone back out and stared at the
Connection Signal Status: No Signal Detected
message on the screen.
“Bloody hell!

“Obviously,” Walt said into the ensuing silence, “Triple E has been caught by the short hairs same as all of you. If business requires you to leave early, just let us know what your new itinerary is and we’ll rearrange your shoot schedule to accommodate. I know we’ll all work together as we learn more.”

“You won’t be serving us any more contaminated beef, will you?” The tone of the question made it a joke. The group laughed nervously.

Walt chuckled. “No, we’ll take cow and buffalo off the menu and see if our chef can’t find some novel ways to serve up poultry and fish.”

That simple reassurance eased fears far more than it should have. The hunters in the room were all educated professionals, but indoctrination in lavish lifestyles left them a step removed from reality. Epidemics happened to the masses, not to executives earning seven- and eight-figure salaries. The disease and accompanying sanctions were assaults on their businesses and on their personal comfort, but not on their persons. They hadn’t traipsed through the Dakota countryside or wandered through any cow barns to get to the Triple E compound, so they couldn’t be infected. And the compound itself was secured with gates and guards and towering fences. That, coupled with the amount of money they were spending to be there, effectively bought their protection.

Plus, they could treat this retreat just like any conference or convention they attended where they still ran their businesses virtually. In fact, since most of the executives ran their companies remotely most of the time anyway, being bunkered here wouldn’t matter
a twaddle
when it came to effective management.
So
long as the government didn’t try to hold them here forcibly beyond 72 hours, they were content to pay lip service to the veneer of being good corporate and U.S. citizens.

In fact, some of them were already considering how they could capitalize on their confinement and what messages of concern and support they could send their workforce from behind the front lines.
Hero
was a word that sat comfortably with them.

Del Campo, Walt thought, had missed a perfect grandstanding opportunity. Had the president made his speech from somewhere in Montana or the Dakotas, he could have announced that he, too, had been caught by the short hairs and would have to abide by the injunctions same as everyone else. He then could have continued to run the country from within the middle of the crisis area, keeping attention on himself as much as on the epidemic. Public sentiment would have galvanized his constituents and his popularity rating would have soared. But that short-sightedness, in Walt’s opinion, was why he and his cabinet would be lame ducks in a couple of years.

“If they’re killing the source, how long do you suppose this whole thing will last?” one of the executives asked. That question sparked a spirited, if uninformed, discussion among the group as they speculated as to the exact nature, transmission route and incubation length of the new disease.  

Walt took the opportunity to signal his employees aside. “I want a board meeting this afternoon. Make sure Dr. Volkov is there.”

IN THE TRUCK ON THE WAY to the Spalding Ranch, Donna was white-knuckling the steering wheel, the familiar contour of it reassuring against her palms. They were nearly to the ranch when they ran up on a convoy of jeeps and SUVs headed in their same direction. Each vehicle carried a handful of somber-faced men and women with an equal number of rifles pointing rudely up beside them.

“I’ve seen the simulations,” Mike warned. “It won’t be easy on the animals. The Guard will go in fast, get out fast and get on to the next herd.”