What Lies Behind (15 page)

Chapter 29

FLETCHER WAS TRYING,
and failing, to make sense of the information from the SD card. He stared at the screen, watched Sam scroll through the data. He had to take her word he was looking at vaccination schedules.

“Why would they do that?” he asked. “Why would they take the chance? This can’t be quiet over there, people talk. Look at the massive Ebola outbreak last year—that was on every television station and in every paper around the world. How are they keeping this quiet?”

Sam was more pragmatic about things. She had a strange way of being able to separate herself from the case, to see it objectively. It was a skill that was turning her into an investigator, one he used to think he had, until his world blew up this morning.

“I think they’re using the Ebola outbreak from last year as cover. The symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever and this new bug are very similar. And as a result of the outbreak last year, the CDC and WHO fast-tracked human trials for an Ebola vaccine, too. They got desperate, and were given permission for compassionate use on the drugs they had that weren’t fully tested. ZMapp, for example. It worked in several severe cases, boosting the immune systems, effectively curing them of the disease. So they sped things up, trying to find a way out of the epidemic.”

“Could someone be trying to create their own vaccine? Using human trials?”

Sam shook her head. “There are always people who will offer up a cure. And there are always people who will be desperate enough to take them at their word. No, Fletcher, this is purposeful. I think Girabaldi is correct—this is the testing ground for a biological attack.”

“Are you sure?”

She turned to face him and shrugged. “Until we find all of Amanda’s notes, I don’t think we’ll know anything for sure. But we have to prepare as if an attack is coming.”

Daniels was messing with the computer, scrolling through the pages. “There’s something else that could be going on.”

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

“It could be one hell of a money-making scheme. If they have tainted vaccines, and they had engineered a cure, they could be slipping the illness into other inoculations or medicine, then selling their lifesaving medicine.”

“True, it would be a boon to the bottom line of a company who was first to market with an all-encompassing vaccine. But this? All these deaths? It’s catastrophic. If I were approaching this as a scientist, to me it looks like there is a completely new bug being given in the standard vaccines. I think Amanda was probably onto something. A mysterious man in the African bush, hundreds dead and the lead investigator and her pet doctor murdered? I think we’re dealing with someone who’s trying to cover their tracks.”

They let that sink in.

“Fletcher, should we call Girabaldi? Tell her what we’ve found?” Sam said.

Fletcher shook his head. “Hell, no. This is the information she’s after, I’m sure of it. This is why she sent us off to investigate the case, hoping we’d uncover something, then she’ll swoop in and wrap it into her little cover-up.”

Sam sat back in her chair and regarded him thoughtfully. “I don’t know, Fletch. If what Amanda brought in does contain live viruses, we could have a major problem. Some infected with hemorrhagic fevers take up to twenty, twenty-five days to become symptomatic. People could be exposed and moving around the country, the world, and not know it. That could be the attack plan.”

Daniels looked completely terrified. “You mean they could be bringing this new hemorrhagic fever into the country, and we wouldn’t know?”

“Sure. It happens more than you’d think, sick people coming in from infected areas around the world, but we have such superior medical facilities and health standards that a full-blown outbreak here is extremely unlikely. But if someone’s passing around a new disease without knowing it? That’s a potential problem, sure.” She turned to Fletcher. “Do you think Girabaldi’s in on this? That she knows what’s happening and condones it? And is trying to make sure the information doesn’t leak?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what to think. She had the Africa desk at the meeting this morning—clearly he’s in on it. What’s the guy’s name...Kronen?”

“Kruger,” Sam said absently. “The on-site HAZMAT folks said the vials of viruses we found at Cattafi’s place were simple vaccines, and so did State. What if... Let me see the computer again, Daniels.”

He handed it over, and she looked through the pages of material, reading slowly this time, trying to make sense of the numbers and letters she was seeing. There was a medical shorthand here that she was thankfully familiar with. She looked for the pages that would have the behavioral risk factors, which could indicate how the disease might be spreading after the vaccine inoculations. She didn’t see anything strange or out of place there. She went on to the reporting schedules. The files were far from perfect; self-reporting of this infection was practically nonexistent outside of the major population centers due to the ultraquick mortality, so the numbers were skewed to a representative sample of subjects vaccinated at a specific station in Uganda. But from what she could tell, ninety percent of those inoculated died within the first week. These entries were all labeled HR—high risk.

She scrolled faster, and at the very end of the file was rewarded with a small statement that made the blood leave her head.

Her voice was pitched higher than normal; she could hear the lingering fear in the question. “Fletcher, where are the vaccination vials we found at Cattafi’s place?”

Fletcher raised an eyebrow at Sam. “What is it? What did you find?”

“Are you familiar with the concept of grafting?”

“Skin grafting?” Fletcher asked.

Daniels spoke up. “No, you mean the grafting done with wine, or roses. Creating new species by mixing two distinctly separate breeds.” Sam and Fletcher both looked at him. He shrugged. “My mom is a gardener. She specializes in hybrids.”

“Well, that’s helpful knowledge, because that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Diseases can act in the same way. You have a host disease, and you can graft a secondary disease onto it. It’s a bit more complicated than wine or roses, but the disease can be made weaker, or create a hysteric response that allows it to be conquered. Or it could grow stronger, and become a superbug. Usually it happens by accident, but it looks to me like that’s what they were doing. Trying to perfect a superbug that can be spread by casual contact, even making it airborne. It’s one hell of a sophisticated weapon.”

“And it could already be here on our shores,” Fletcher said.

She took a deep breath and nodded.

“Sam, tell me there’s a list of names and companies so we can start shutting them down.”

“There isn’t,” Sam said, closing the laptop. “Amanda may have found out what they’re up to, but she hadn’t identified where the drugs are coming from. Fletch, we need those vaccines secured. If she’s brought in samples of the actual superbug, we could all be in danger.”

Agent Daniels pushed his plate away, appetite lost. “Sir, ma’am, there’s no way we can keep this information quiet. There are too many lives at stake.”

Sam nodded. “I agree with you, Agent Daniels. Amanda Souleyret was killed for this information, but I’m not inclined to hand it over to the very person who’s asking for it. Not until we know she can be trusted. We need to keep this close hold for the time being, until we know who we can share it with. Are you okay with that?”

“If you say so, ma’am.” He didn’t look convinced.

Fletcher gave her a speculative look, then grabbed his phone and dialed. He put it on speaker.

“Hart here.”

“Lonnie, where is the material taken from Cattafi’s apartment?”

“Off the top of my head? I don’t know, but I assume it’s been taken into evidence by the crime scene unit.”

“Get on the phone to Mel Robertson, have the bags pulled and waiting.” He glanced at Sam. “We’re going to, uh, get an outside, independent review of the material. Okay?”

“Okay. But what prompted this?”

“Too much to explain right now,” Fletcher said darkly. “Just go do it, and I’ll fill you in shortly.”

“Will do,” Hart said, and rang off. He called back within a minute.

Fletcher answered with a brusque, “You got ’em?”

“Fletcher, we have a problem. I’ve got Mel on the line.”

“What’s the problem?”

Robertson had a deep voice, and he sounded seriously pissed off. “HAZMAT took them. Claimed we were incapable of proper storage.”

Sam felt her heart race. “Do you know who at HAZMAT took them?”

“I do, and I called them, but they’ve already handed them over to the CDC. Those vaccines are halfway to a field lab, or Atlanta.”

“Son of a bitch.” Fletcher slammed his hand on the table.

“Lieutenant, what aren’t you telling me?”

“Those vials just became the most important piece of evidence we have. Mel, I don’t want you to panic, but they may not have been safe, after all. I need you to find out exactly where they are, who has them and have them call me immediately. But no one outside, and I mean no one, can know about this. You read me?”

“Loud and clear. But when you say they aren’t safe, what the hell do you mean?”

“Those vials might be carrying a live disease, Mel. One that could be used against us.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from both men on the other side of the line. Robertson spoke first. “Jesus. Are we in danger? We were all exposed, even with the precautions we took. Everyone at the crime scene, you and Dr. Owens, too. And anyone who might come into contact with the courier. If this is airborne, we—”

Fletcher interrupted him. “I know. Find them, Mel. I don’t care what you have to do. Just make sure this stays internal. We can’t have the media up our asses about it. Not until we know for sure what we’re dealing with.” He hung up. “Great. That’s just great.”

Sam ran a hand along his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Fletch. From what I’m seeing, they haven’t managed to make this airborne. I’m pretty sure we’d need to be injected, or come into contact with the blood or vomit or other bodily fluids of an infected body. Can they be engineered if they fall into the wrong hands? Yes. But these hemorrhagic fevers aren’t airborne. I do think we’re safe. If I didn’t, I’d be jumping up and down right now, insisting you pull out all the stops on a public health alert.”

He was still white. “I hope you’re right, Sam. We need to go double-time into this investigation. We need to find Bromley and talk to him. Find out exactly what he and Cattafi had stirred up.”

“I’ll call his office.”

Sam used her phone to find the GW website and looked up the number. A young woman’s voice came through the line. “The Office of International Medicine Programs, how may I direct your call?”

“My name is Dr. Samantha Owens with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I need to speak with David Bromley immediately.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, but Dr. Bromley isn’t in the country. Can I take a message? He’s been checking in, but I haven’t heard from him today.”

“I know he’s not. Where is he exactly?”

“Let me see...” There was tapping; she was looking it up on the computer. “Cape Town, South Africa. He’s doing something for the Infectious Diseases Research Training Program. I don’t know when he’s expected back, but I do see he has office hours next week. Should I put you down for an appointment?”

“Do you know a student of his named Thomas Cattafi?”

“Sorry, ma’am, no, I don’t.”

“All right. This is an extremely urgent matter. Can you reach Dr. Bromley for me?”

“It’s hit or miss with the time changes, but I can try.”

“If you could reach out to him, that would be a huge help. Please ask him to return my call immediately. Thank you.” She rattled off her name and information and hung up. Shook her head at Fletcher.

“We’re out of luck, for the time being, anyway. They’re going to try and track him down.”

Fletcher ran a hand along his chin. “Should we try on our own? Send someone to him?”

“Let’s give her an hour, see if she can get through.”

“We just can’t win, can we?” She saw him thinking, deciding what they should do. After a minute he said, “We’re going to have to share the information about the vaccines soon enough. They want us to investigate these murders—that’s what we’re going to do. Let’s go to Souleyret’s house, see if there’s anything to be seen, then I’d like to check in on Cattafi. And where the hell is this mythical sister, huh?”

“We need to let Baldwin know what we’ve found. Him, I trust. He can help us decide what to do with this information, and maybe help us get a contact at the CDC to do an independent assessment of the vials from Cattafi’s place. And he’ll have an idea of whether Girabaldi is on our side, or her own.”

“Call him, then, but from the road.” He stood, put out a hand to Daniels. “Marcos, you can head back to Quantico now. Keep your mouth shut, you hear me? We’ll take it from here. Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it.”

Sam saw the kid was disappointed to be dismissed. He was having fun, despite the horror of the information they’d just discovered. “Yes, sir. But I’m happy to hang around in case you need anything else.”

“Fletcher, maybe Agent Daniels could start looking for Souleyret’s sister for us. Save us some time? Since he’s already here.”

Daniels gave her a small smile. “I can find her.”

Fletcher ran a hand through his dark hair. Sam saw the gray at his temples had spread, and felt a small shock. He’d aged in the time she’d known him, which wasn’t very long, all things considered. A few months, really, cherry blossoms to autumn leaves.

And in that time, she’d never seen him as rattled as he was right now.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. That’s a good idea. Since you’re already in this, Marcos, let’s get you in all the way. You can work from here—you’ll have everything you need, especially privacy. Do you need to call your boss? Tell her we need you?”

“She’s already given me the day, sir. I’m yours. Do you have any information on the sister?”

Sam slid him the thin file State had given them, and the one from the FBI. “Here’s everything we have on her. The sister’s name is Robin. Robin Souleyret. Find her, and I’ll buy you a drink.”