Vector (3 page)

The agent was a small man with delicate features, certainly not the masculine stereotype Jack had grown up with. The agent's clothes were conservative but neat. All three buttons of his jacket were buttoned.

In most respects he was the visual antithesis of Lou.

"What's going on here? " Jack questioned. "I can't remember the last time I saw the sergeant here this early." Murphy laughed and started to protest, but Lou interrupted.

"There was a homicide last night that the FBI is particularly concerned about, " Lou explained. "We're hoping the autopsy may shed some light."

"What kind of case? " Jack asked. "Gunshot or stabbing? "

"A little of everything, " Lou said. "The body's a mess. Enough to turn even your stomach.

"Has there been an ID? " Jack asked. Sometimes with heavily damaged corpses identification was the most difficult part.

With raised eyebrows Lou glanced at Gordon. Lou didn't know how much was confidential about the case.

"It's okay, " Gordon said.

"Yeah, there's been an ID, " Lou said. "The name is Brad Cassidy.

He's a twenty-two-year-old Caucasian skinhead."

"You mean one of those racist screwballs with Nazi tattoos, a black leather jacket, and black boots? " Jack asked. He'd seen such riffraff on occasion hanging around the city parks. He'd seen even more of them back home in the Midwest when he visited his mother.

"You got it, " Lou said.

"Skinheads don't all have Nazi regalia, " Gordon said.

"Now that's certainly true, " Lou agreed. "In fact, some of them don't even have shaved heads anymore. The style has gone through some changes."

"The music hasn't, " Gordon corrected. "That's probably been the most consistent part of the whole movement and certainly part of the style."

"That's something I don't know anything about, " Lou said. "I've never been much into music."

"Well, it's important in regard to American skinheads, " Gordon said.

"The music has provided the movement with its ideology of hatred and violence."

"No kidding? " Lou said. "Just because of the music? "

"I'm not exaggerating, " Gordon said. "Here in the U. S. , in contrast to England, the skinhead movement started as just style, sorta like punks, posturing to be shockingly offensive in appearance and behavior.

But the music of groups like Screwdriver and Brutal Attack and a bunch of others created a change. The Lyrics promoted a screwed-up philosophy of survival and rebellion. That's where the hatred and violence have come from."

"So you're kinda a skinhead expert? " Jack asked. He was impressed.

"Only by necessity, " Gordon said. "My real area of interest is ultraright-wing extremist militias. But I've had to expand my focus.

Unfortunately, the White Aryan Resistance started a fad of recruiting skinheads as shock troops of sorts, tapping into that well of hatred and violence the music has engendered. Now a lot of the neo-fascist militia groups have followed suit, getting the kids to do a lot of their dirty work as well as getting the kids interested in neo-Nazi propaganda."

"Don't these kids usually beat up minorities? " Jack asked. "What happened in this guy's case? Did someone fight back? "

"Skinheads have a tendency to fight with each other as much as they attack others, " Gordon said. "And this is a case of the former."

"Why so much interest in Brad Cassidy? " Jack asked. "I'd have thought that one less of these guys would just make your law enforcement lives that much easier." Vinnie stuck his head in the room and informed Jack that if Jack was going to continue jawboning, he was going back to his New Yort Post.

Jack waved him away.

"Brad Cassidy had been recruited by us as a potential informant, " Gordon said. "He'd plea-bargained a handful of felonies in return for cooperation. He was trying to find and penetrate an organization called the People's Aryan Army or PAA."

"I've never heard of them, " Jack said.

"I hadn't, either, " Lou admitted.

"It's a shadowy group, " Gordon said. "All we know is what we've been able to intercept off the Internet, which, by the way, has become the major method of communication for these neo-fascist nuts. All we know about PAA is that it's located somewhere in the New York metropolitan area, and it's recruited some of the local skinheads. But the more disturbing part has been some vague references to an upcoming maor event.

We're worried they might be planning something violent."

"Something like the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, " Lou said. "Some major terrorist thing."

"Good God! " Jack said.

"We have no idea what, when, or where, " Gordon said. "We're hoping they're just posturing and bragging, which these groups tend to do.

But we're not taking any chances. Since counterintelligence is the only true defense against terrorism, we're doing the best we can.

We've notified the emergency management people here in the city, but unfortunately there's little information we can give them."

"Right now our only positive lead is a dead skinhead, " Lou said.

"That's why we're so interested in the autopsy. We're hoping for a lead, any lead."

"You want me to do the post right now? " Jack said.

"I was on my way to do an infectious case, but it can wait."

"I asked Laurie to do it, " Lou said. He blushed as much as his dark, southern Italian skin would allow. "And she said she wanted to do it."

"When did you talk to Laurie? " Jack asked.

"This morning, " Lou said.

"Really, " Jack said. "Where did you get her? At home? "

"Actually she called me, " Lou said. "She got me on my cell phone.

"What time was that? " Jack asked.

Lou hesitated.

"Was it around four-thirty in the morning? " Jack asked. The mystery about Laurie was deepening.

"Something like that, " Lou admitted.

Jack took Lou by the elbow. "Excuse us, " he said to Gordon and Sergeant Murphy. Jack took Lou out into the communications room.

Mariorie Zankowski gave them a quick look before going back to her knitting. The switchboard was quiet.

"Laurie called me at four-thirty, too, " Jack said in a whisper. "She woke me up. Not that I'm complaining. Actually it was good she woke me up. I was having a nightmare. But I know it was exactly four-thirty because I looked at the clock."

"Well, maybe it was four-forty-five when she called me, " Lou said. "I don't remember exactly. It's been a busy night."

"What did she call for? " Jack asked. "That's a rather strange time to call, wouldn't you say? " Lou fixed Jack with his dark eyes. It was apparent he was debating the appropriateness of revealing what Laurie had called him about.

"All right, maybe it's not a fair question, " Jack said, raising his hands in mock defense. "Instead, why don't I tell you why she called me.

She wanted to have dinner with me tonight. She said it was important that she talk with me. Does that make any sense given what she said to you? " Lou blew out through pursed lips. "No, " he said. "She said the same thing to me. She invited me to dinner, too."

"You're not pulling my leg, are you? " None of this was rational.

Lou shook his head.

"What did you say? " Jack asked.

"I said I'd go, " Lou answered.

"What did you think she wants to talk to you about? " Jack asked.

Lou hesitated. It was again apparent he was uncomfortable. "I guess was hoping she wanted to tell me she missed me. You know, something like that." Jack slapped a hand to his forehead. He was touched. It was obvious Lou was in love with Laurie. It was also a complication, because in many ways Jack felt the same way about her although he was reluctant to admit it to himself.

"You don't have to say anything, " Lou said. "I know I'm a sap. It's just that I get lonely once in a while and I enjoy her company. Plus she likes my kids." Jack took his hand away from his forehead and put it on Lou's shoulder.

"I don't think you are a sap. Far from it. I was just hoping you could shed some light on what's up with her."

"We'll just have to ask her, " Lou said. "She said she'd be a little late arriving this morning."

"Knowing Laurie she'll make us wait until tonight, " Jack said. "Did she say how late she'd be? "

"No, " Lou said.

"Even that's weird, " Jack said. "If she was up and dressed at four-thirty, how come she's late? " Lou shrugged.

Jack went back into the ID room with his mind spinning about Laurie and terrorism. It was a strange combination. Realizing there was little he could do about either for the moment, he got Vinnie away from his paper for the second time and vowed to get his day underway. He looked forward to concentrating on a problem with an immediate resolution.

As Jack and Vinnie passed Janice Jaeger's office, Jack leaned inside.

"Hey, you did a good job on this Papparis case, " Jack said.

Janice looked up from her desk. Her dark circles were as impressive as always. Jack couldn't help but wonder if the woman slept at all.

"Thanks, " Janice said.

"You'd better get some rest, " Jack said.

"I'll be leaving as soon as I wrap up this case."

"Anything extra we should know concerning Papparis? " Jack asked.

"I think it's all there, " Janice said. "Except for the fact that the doctor I talked with was pretty upset. He told me he'd never seen a more aggressive infection. In fact, he'd like a call after you do the autopsy. His name and number are on the back of the information sheet."

"I'll call him as soon as we have something, " Jack promised.

Once in the elevator Vinnie spoke up. "This case is starting to give me the creeps. It's reminding me of that plague case we had a few years ago. I hope this is not the start of some kind of epidemic."

"You and me both, " Jack said. "It reminds me more of the influenza cases we saw after the plague. Let's be extra careful about contamination."

"That goes without saying, " Vinnie said. "I'd put on two moon suits if it were possible." Vinnie was already in his scrubs, so while Jack went into the locker room to get out of his street clothes, Vinnie went to don his moon suit.

Then while Vinnie went into the autopsy room, or pit as it was called, Jack went through all the material in the folder, particularly Janice Jaeger's forensic investigator's report. On this more thorough reading Jack noticed something that he'd missed the first time through. The deceased had been in the rug business. Jack wondered what kind of rugs and where they were from. He made a mental note to bring the question up with the forensic investigators.

Next Jack snapped Papparis's morgue X-ray onto a view box. As a total-body film the X-ray was not much good diagnostically. In particular, the chest detail was indistinct. Regardless, two things caught Jack's attention. First, there was little evidence of pneumonia, which seemed surprising in view of the history of the patient's rapid respiratory deterioration, and second, the central part of the chest between the lungs, known anatomically as the mediastinum, seemed wider than usual.

By the time Jack got himself suited up in his biocontainment moon suit, with its hood, plastic face mask, and battery-powered HEPA filtered ventilation system, Vinnie had the body on the autopsy table and all the appropriate specimen jars lined up.

"What the hell have you been doing out there? " Vinnie complained when Jack appeared. "We could have been done by now." Jack laughed.

"And look at this guy, " Vinnie added, nodding to the corpse. "I don't think he's going to get to go to the prom."

"Good memory, " Jack said. Jack had used that line when they'd started the plague case Vinnie had referred to earlier and it had become a staple of their black humor.

"And that's not all I remembered, " Vinnie said. "While you were out there dicking around I looked for arthropod bites. There aren't any."

"Such recall! " Jack commented. "I'm impressed." During the plague case Jack had told Vinnie that arthropods, particularly insects and arachnids, played an important role as a vector in the spread of many infectious diseases. Searching for evidence of their involvement was an important part of the autopsy on such cases. "Soon you'll be taking over my job."

"What I'd like to do is take over your salary, " Vinnie said. "The job you can have." Jack did his own external exam.

Vinnie was right, there were no signs of bites. There was also no purpura, or bleeding into the skin, although the skin did seem to have a slightly dusky tint.

The internal exam was another story. As soon as Jack removed the front wall of the chest the pathology was apparent. There was frank blood on the surface of the lungs, a finding called hemorrhagic pleural effusion.

There was also a lot of bleeding and signs of inflammation in the structures located between the lungs, which included the esophagus, the trachea, the main bronchi, the great vessels, and a conglomeration of Lymph nodes. This finding was called hemorrhagic mediastinitis, and it explained the wide shadow Jack had seen earlier on the X-ray.

"Whoa! " Jack commented. "With all this bleeding I don't think this could be the flu. Whatever it was, it was spreading like wildfire." Vinnie nervously glanced up at Jack. He had difficulty seeing Jack's face because of the reflection from the overhead fluorescent lights glinting off Jack's plastic face screen. Vinnie didn't like the sound of Jack's voice Jack was rarely impressed by what he saw in the autopsy room, but he seemed to be now.

"What do you think it is? " Vinnie asked.

"I don't know, " Jack admitted. "But the combination of hemorrhagic mediastinitis and pleural effusion rings a bell in the back of my mind.

I've read about it someplace, I just can't remember where. Whatever this bug is, it's got to be something mighty aggressive." Vinnie instinctively took a step back from the body.

"Now don't go freaking out on me, " Jack said. "Get back over here and help me get out the abdominal organs."

"Yeah, well, promise me you'll be careful, " Vinnie said. "Sometimes you work too fast with the knife." He reluctantly stepped back to the table.