The Viral Epiphany (12 page)

           
Jim could only look at Dr. Goodfellow for a long moment.
 
“Then what about all the medical reports we send in from the Strike teams?
 
What is the point?”

           
“Jim, that data is vital, absolutely vital.
 
That’s how we will determine our response. That’s the only way we can perform our mission of protecting the population of the world, the entire world, which includes us, by the way.”

           
Before Jim could reply there was a knock on the door and then a secretary interrupted. “I’m sorry to bother you, sir. We’ve just had an urgent message from the Bangkok Health Services Department.
 
They say there is an extraordinary emergency developing there.
 
They are asking for help.”

Thirteen

2000 Dead in Bangkok

Mystery Disease Baffles Health Authorities

Stephen Itagaki read the headline of the
Asahi Shimbun
newspaper that covered half of the front page, and then sat at his desk, motionless, holding a cup of
cappuccino
in his right hand. The sip he had meant to take a moment ago was forgotten. He was no longer even aware of his upraised arm.
 
He was completely immersed in the lead story:

 
          
A strange and extremely virulent form of dengue hemorrhagic fever is striking terror throughout Thailand.
 
The victims, young and old, male and female, have all died extremely gruesome, bloody, and rapid, deaths.
 
So far no one has survived the disease…

Stephen was utterly transfixed as he read the article, but it was only when he reached the end of the story that he began to feel a certain sense of terror himself and his heart began to race:

Villages are being quarantined throughout Thailand under new emergency measures.
  
Reports of the disease are now coming from even the most remote parts of the country, and now most ominously, there have been reported over one hundred deaths due to the disease in nearby Malaysia and Singapore.

The Thai health authorities have mounted a full-scale investigation concerning the origin of this new strain of dengue, and there is some encouraging news. According to a spokesman for the health authorities in Bangkok they have determined that the very first person to die from the disease was a young man from Tokyo who had come to Bangkok on an organized sex tour. He has been identified as Sam Tanigawa
.
The health authorities are now aggressively pursuing this lead to try to find out how and where the disease originated.

“Sam!” Stephen said aloud as he read his employee’s name
.
“That’s why he never came back…”

Stephen hadn’t given a thought to Sam after the baby mammoth died.
 
He had simply concluded that Sam was like a lot of the young men these days – undependable. Besides that, with the baby mammoth dead, he didn’t need Sam anyway.

 
He let the newspaper fall to the desktop. His hand shook as he put the still full coffee cup down on his desk, and some of the hot, black liquid spilled onto the desk. He didn’t bother to wipe it up.

Those people,
he thought
, it says they’re all dying in blood, pools of blood. That’s like the mammoth!
  
Sam must have died like that too…but they’re wrong; it can’t be dengue hemorrhagic fever.
 
This has to be something very different – this must be what killed the mammoth too!

He quickly stood up and looked out the window towards the front entrance and parking lot of the building. Everything seemed normal outside.
 
He turned back toward his laboratory and saw, at the far end of the room, the gleaming stainless steel doors of the walk-in refrigerated storage area and pictured the baby mammoth that now lay there on a cold examination table, perfectly preserved at minus thirty degrees Fahrenheit.

They’ll be coming soon,
he thought and looked back to the window.
 
A flood of thoughts cascaded through his brain.
 
Don’t panic,
he told himself.
We just need a plan.
 
But we need it now!
 

He picked up the paper and reread the story.
 
The article didn’t say that Sam had worked for Stephen. That was good. The reporter hadn’t found out that piece of information yet, but Stephen knew that the Thai authorities would be asking for help from the Japanese police. It wouldn’t take long before they would be sending someone over to the institute.
 
The police would certainly have a lot of questions, but the reporters would probably have more.
 
Many of them had come to the zoo when he had tantalizingly promised them the “story of the year”.

Then the mammoth had unexpectedly died and he had decided to keep all the information secret until he could understand what had happened. He stonewalled and told them that the zoo would be issuing a statement at a later date.
 
He refused to take any questions.
 
Many of them left in an angry mood, but some were more than angry; they were suspicious.

Damned reporters,
he thought
, they will smell something as soon as they make the connection with Sam. They’ll be all over this place…and the police,
he hesitated for a moment,
the police…they won’t be far behind, will they?

“Shaylin,” he said as he pushed the intercom button on his desk, “get in here right away.
 
We have a problem.”

Moments later his young assistant entered his office.
 
The urgency in his voice had been unmistakable.
 
She looked at him wide-eyed, waiting, but Stephen only stared at her, his mind elsewhere for a moment.
 
Finally she said, “Yes, sir?”

His eyes focused on her and he took a deep breath. “Shaylin, we have a problem.”

“Yes, sir. You said that.” She could see that he was upset, but there was more.
 
There was something about the way he stood now, something about the way he looked.
He looks frightened!
she thought.

“No, Shaylin.
 
I mean we have a problem – you and me.
 
You were part of this too you know, a major part.
 
It wasn’t only me.”

“What do you mean?”

“The mammoth. Remember how the mammoth died?”

“Yes, of course. It was very tragic…all the blood…and the suddenness too.
 
It was very sad.”

“It was a disease.
 
You understand?
 
A disease.” He looked at her sharply.

“Yes, sir.
 
Of course.
 
It must have been,” she said.
 
“Isn’t that why we preserved the body? I mean, I thought we were going to try to understand exactly what killed it.”

“Shaylin, you don’t understand.
 
Remember Sam? He died of the same disease in Bangkok.
 
I’m sure of it.”

“Sam? The caretaker boy?
 
How do you know he died of that disease? And what disease is it?”

Stephen reached down, picked up the newspaper, and showed her the headline.
 
“It’s all in here.
 
He must have contracted some awful disease from the mammoth and then he died of it in Bangkok.”

Shaylin had a perplexed look on her face.
 
“He died of a mammoth disease?”

“Yes.” Stephen said more softly. “I’m sure of it.” He walked back to the window and looked out again. Everything still appeared normal.

“But sir, you know very well that people don’t normally get animal diseases.
 
Are you sure?”

“Something must have happened,” he said while still gazing at the parking lot. “There must have been some mechanism and the disease was transferred to him.”

“Even so,” she replied, “it shouldn’t have caused a problem.
 
It was a mammoth disease, not a human one.”

Stephen didn’t say anything for several moments.
 
Then he turned to her. “You are right, Shaylin.
 
You are right. The disease that killed Sam must be somewhat different from the disease that killed the mammoth.
 
It must have mutated in Sam’s body.”

“Mutated? Then it must be a virus, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I think so.
 
It has to be.
 
Sam must have had some other virus in his blood too, maybe flu – I don’t know.
 
These two viruses probably shared their DNA and produced a hybrid.
 
It happens all the time, except usually the new virus is not very successful for one reason or another.”

“But sometimes they are.”

“Yes, like the bird flu virus that caused the influenza pandemic during the First World War.
 
Sometimes they are very, very successful.”

Shaylin’s eyes drifted back down to the newspaper on Stephen’s desk.
 
She read the heavy black headline again and then looked at Stephen, her eyes now revealing a dawning recognition of horror. “All those people – dying in Thailand! Nobody knows what this is! They don’t know this is something completely new, do they?”

Stephen merely nodded his head and turned back to the window. “We have to leave,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.

“Leave? What do you mean?”

“They’ll be coming for us,” he said as he looked at the countless rows of low-rise buildings that went on and on until they finally faded away in the dusky smog that clung to the horizon.
 
“The police.
 
The reporters.
 
Everyone. They don’t know everything yet, but they’ll figure it out.
 
We’re in trouble, Shaylin.
 
We don’t want to be here when they come.”

“But I was only your assistant, sir. Surely they wouldn’t blame me for this disease, would they?”

Stephen turned and glared at her for an instant then his face softened, “Shaylin, of course it’s not your fault.
 
You only followed orders. I know that. But do they?
 
Think about it.” He paused as if considering his next words. “I have an idea.
 
We can turn this around.
 
We can be heroes!”

“What?”
 
Shaylin could feel herself beginning to tremble. “You just said we’re in trouble!
 
Now you say we can be heroes?
 
I’m sorry, sir.
 
I don’t understand…I think I should leave now.
 
Maybe I can explain to the police…”

“No!
 
No, wait! Shaylin.
 
What if we found a way to stop the disease in its tracks?”

She looked at him in disbelief, yet a faint glimmer of hope was dawning within her.
 
“I don’t understand, sir. Please explain. How could we possibly do that?”

Stephen smiled brightly and pointed to the refrigerated storage room that held the body of the mammoth. “Right there.
 
The mammoth has everything we need.
 
I just need time and a safe location.
 
I just need a sample of its tissue.
 
It is sure to be permeated with the virus.
 
That’s all we’ll need.
 
I can make a vaccine!”

“A vaccine?” Shaylin looked at him and felt hope begin to rise. Stephen was, after all a world-renowned expert in the biosciences.
 
She thought about his words for a few moments and then said, “Yes…maybe so. I know you are capable of many things, sir. But how long?”

“Don’t worry about that.
 
We can do it. I’m sure.
 
Trust me on this.”
 
Stephen was becoming more energized as he talked.

Maybe he’s right,
she said to herself,
the police and reporters will certainly be coming for us, and if we stay here we will probably be thrown into prison – or worse.
 
But the disease will still spread.
 
The health authorities won’t know what to do.
 
It will be catastrophic, but we can stop it if Stephen is right.
  
We really can!

“OK,” she said, “let’s give it a try, but where will we make the vaccine?
 
We can’t possibly do it here.”

Stephen smiled; there was a look of relief on his face. “I know.
 
I’ve been thinking.
 
I have a friend who has the perfect place.
 
He has a world-class lab – all the facilities – everything we need.
 
Even better - they’ll never think to look for us there.
 
We just need to get a quick tissue sample from the mammoth and get out of here.”