The Judas Strain (Page 37)

Lisa had seen many such images back in medical school.

A virus.

"We discovered it in a sample of the cyanobacteria from the toxic tide. It turned the innocent phosphorescent sea bacteria into a flesh-boiling, poison-spewing killer. And within such windblown steaming clouds of toxin, the virus spread onto land, beginning the slow alteration of the island’s bacteria into monsters."

"And now we’re seeing it happen among the patients," Henri said. "Turning our own bodies against us."

Devesh tapped the screen. "The ultimate betrayer of life. This organism has the capability to travel through the planet’s biosphere, transforming all bacteria into lethal, life-destroying organisms. It’s nature’s neutron bomb, a viral explosion with the potential to wipe out all higher life-forms, leaving behind only a toxic soup of deadly bacterial ooze. If unchecked, we’ve already seen a peek of what the world may become on the windward side of Christmas Island."

"And if it should spread . . ." Henri’s face had paled. "We’d have no way of stopping it."

Devesh finally stood and retrieved his cane. "Perhaps. But we’ve barely begun to analyze the organism. The good news is that so far the virus appears to be short-lived and does not infect human cells. Only bacteria. So the virus poses little direct risk to us. It hijacks a bacterial cell, uses the cell to churn copies of itself, then leaves behind the toxic plasmids. Outside the cell, the new virus is fragile. It can easily be killed with simple disinfectants and controlled with good hygiene."

Lisa pictured the work crews moving through the ship in cloud of disinfectant. They were sterilizing the ship.

"But unfortunately, the virus leaves behind a killer in its wake. Deadly bacteria that divide and multiply, each a new monster added to the microbial world, contaminating the biosphere forever with never-before-seen life-forms."

Henri placed a worried palm on his forehead. "If the viral exposure breaks free into the general biosphere . . . we’re talking about a thousand different new diseases hitting the world simultaneously. A plague with the capability of changing faces faster than we can react. The world has seen nothing like this before."

"That’s not necessarily true," Devesh countered cryptically.

Henri focused back to their captor.

"My employers and I believe this is not the first outbreak of this Judas Strain. There are historical reports from the region of a similar outbreak. Back almost a millennium ago." His voice lowered to a contemplative whisper. "The stories were accompanied by some strange and disturbing claims."

"What historical reports are you talking about?" Lisa asked.

Devesh waved away her question. "It doesn’t matter. We’ve got others looking into that question, following that historical trail. We must stay focused on our goal. Our mission aboard the ship lies not in the past, but the present. My employers orchestrated the evacuation of the island, arranged to have Mr. Blunt’s cruise ship detoured here. We needed to isolate the currently infected in one place. Here we have the rare opportunity to study how this disease unfolds. Its epidemiology, its pathology, its physiologic effects. And we’ve a full shipload of test subjects."

Lisa backed away a step, unable to mask her horror.

Devesh leaned on his cane. "I sense your distaste, Dr. Cummings. Now you understand why the Guild had to act. When faced with an organism of such virulence, there could be no hand-wringing. No politically correct response to such an onslaught. Action must be swift, and hard choices made. In Tuskegee, did not your own government allow people infected with syphilis to die of the disease while scientists dispassionately recorded the suffering, the advancing symptoms, and the eventual deaths? To survive this, we must be as brutal and cold. Because, believe me, this is a war for the survival of the human species."

Lisa sought some counter to his words, too shocked.

Henri interceded, but not in the manner Lisa had expected. "He’s right."

Lisa turned to the toxicologist.

Henri’s eyes remained locked on the screen depicting the microscopic image of the Judas Strain. "This is a planet killer. And it’s already loose. Remember how fast the bird flu circled the world. We have a week, possibly only days. If we don’t find a way to stop it, all life—at least all higher life—will be wiped off the earth."

"I’m glad we have a meeting of the minds," Devesh said with a bow of his head in Henri’s direction. His eyes found Lisa’s. "And possibly when I show Dr. Cummings here her role in our endeavor, she may also find the same such enlightenment."

Lisa frowned at his puzzling statement.

Devesh swung away toward the door. "But first we must join your friends up in the radio room. We have some fires to put out."

7:02 A.M Washington, D. C.

Painter stared at the news reports on his three plasma screens: Fox, CNN, NBC. All reporting on the blast near Georgetown.

"So everything is fine," Painter said, standing behind his desk. He held the earpiece more firmly in place. Lisa’s voice was faint, traveling from halfway around the world. "You scared Jennings in R and D. He was just about ready to have the island firebombed."

"Sorry for the false alarm," Lisa said. "It was nothing more than laboratory contamination. Everything is fine here … or at least as fine as a shipload of burned patients might be. The initial conjecture is a bloom of something called fireweed. It’s been plaguing these waters for years, spews off a corrosive pall, clearing beaches. This was just a perfect storm of the weed. The matter should be resolved in the next day or so, then Monk and I will head back."

"That’s the first bit of good news I’ve heard all day," Painter replied.

His eyes kept flickering back to the plasma screens on his walls. They showed the fires being finally put out in the woods behind the safe house. Fire trucks arced water from engines parked along the forest’s fire road.

Lisa whispered in his ear. "I know you’re busy. I’ll report in again in another twelve hours as scheduled."

"Great. You get some sleep. I imagine the sunsets out there must be beautiful."

"They are. I… I wish you were here to enjoy them with me."

"Me, too. But it won’t be much longer until you’re back. And right now I have a fire of my own to put out."

On the screen a news helicopter swung away to reveal the charred remains of the safe house for the morning news. He had already heard the report from the arson investigators. Tire tracks in the backyard had led to the discovery of an abandoned Thunderbird, the same convertible in which Gray had arrived on the scene a couple hours ago. It seemed he had not fled to the streets, but into the woods. But where did he go after that? There had still been no sign of Gray, his parents, or the wounded Guild operative.