Dust to Dust (28 page)

‘Yup.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘No more Sci-Med. I’ve resigned.’

‘Oh, God,’ exclaimed Tally, now fully awake. ‘Do you really mean that?’

‘Yes. Does it make a difference?’

‘Your name has been the last thing on my lips every night before I went to sleep. I always wished you well but I never really thought I’d see you again …’

‘Let’s make sure that never happens?’

‘Deal.’

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Although
Dust to Dust
is a work of fiction, it is based on scientific fact. A study of the CCR5 protein – a chemokine receptor on the surface of T4 cells – has shown its absence (the delta 32 mutation) to be responsible for immunity to infection by certain viruses including HIV. A sudden huge increase in the numbers of people carrying the delta 32 mutation in Europe in the fourteenth century, just after the time of the Black Death, has given rise to the suspicion that Black Death was not caused by the bubonic plague bacterium as is popularly believed but by an as yet unidentified virus.

In November 2008, a German haematologist, Dr Gero Huetter, announced that he had reversed the HIV+ve status of a patient he was treating for leukaemia by giving his patient a bone marrow transplant with material obtained from a donor who carried the delta 32 mutation from both parents. At the time of the report, the patient had been HIV-ve for two years and had not been given any anti-retroviral drugs, the standard treatment for AIDS.

About the Author

KEN M
c
CLURE
is the internationally bestselling author of medical thrillers such as
The Lazarus Strain, The Gulf Conspiracy, Hypocrites’ Isle
and
White Death
. His books have been translated into over twenty languages and he has earned a reputation for meticulous research and the chilling accuracy of his predictions. McClure’s work is informed by his background as an award-winning research scientist with the UK’s Medical Research Council.

Other Titles by Ken McClure

 
The Dr Steven Dunbar Series

WHITE DEATH

THE LAZARUS STRAIN

EYE OF THE RAVEN

THE GULF CONSPIRACY

WILDCARD

DECEPTION

DONOR

LOST CAUSES

Other Novels

HYPOCRITES’ ISLE

PAST LIVES

TANGLED WEB

RESURRECTION

PANDORA’S HELIX

TRAUMA

CHAMELEON

CRISIS

REQUIEM

PESTILENCE

Writing as Ken Begg

FENTON’S WINTER (also a Ken McClure title)

THE SCORPION’S ADVANCE (also a Ken McClure title)

THE TROJAN BOY

THE ANVIL AGREEMENT

Copyright

This ebook edition published in 2011 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
www.birlinn.co.uk

First published in 2010 by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd

Copyright © Ken McClure 2010

The moral right of Ken McClure to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

ebook ISBN: 978–0–85790–041–8

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Table of Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-FOUR

TWENTY-FIVE

TWENTY-SIX

TWENTY-SEVEN

TWENTY-EIGHT

TWENTY-NINE

THIRTY

THIRTY-ONE

THIRTY-TWO

THIRTY-THREE

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-SIX

THIRTY-SEVEN

THIRTY-EIGHT

THIRTY-NINE

FORTY

FORTY-ONE

AUTHOR’S NOTE

About the Author

Other Titles by Ken McClure

Copyright