“I’d love to see it,” Osborne said.
Calvin squatted down to open the box. Osborne pulled him back up by the shirt collar.
“Never mind the gun. I don’t care about your fake jewelry or even the drugs you hide up in the caves. I’m looking for Eva.”
“My mother? You touch her, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
Calvin squirmed his way out of Osborne’s grasp. Osborne made a show as if he had let Calvin go. Osborne was strong enough, but his reflexes were no match for this young brave. In fact, if Calvin had any real meat on his bones, he could easily have kicked the professor’s ass.
“Calm down. Calm down. I’m John Osborne, an old friend of your mother.”
“I heard of you. Think you’re a big ladies’ man,” Calvin said.
“You’ve heard about this new sickness, right?”
“Yeah. What’s it got to do with the old lady?”
“She’s a healer. Public health is stumped. Eva lived through the Sin Nombre before. They just want to talk to her and see what she knows about herbal remedies and such.”
“Sure,” Calvin scoffed.
“Real deal, man. Watch the news. This bug is spreading like crazy, and everyone who gets it, dies. Eva’s been exposed, but she never gets sick.”
Osborne could see Calvin was impressed. Then, he shrugged. The deadbeat Calvin was back. “I don’t know where she is. She’s got more hiding places than a rattler.”
Osborne took a pen from his shirt and grabbed Calvin’s arm. He wrote a number on the boy’s skinny wrist. “If you hear anything, call me. If Public Health asks me anything, I’ll have to mention the caves. If they go looking for Eva up in the caves, who knows what they might trip over.”
“I’ll ask around,” said Calvin.
“Good boy. Hey, clean up your act, and I’ll hire you on a dig.”
Osborne walked back to the rental car he was using until he had time to find another vehicle. It occurred to him how lame he must look to Calvin; the big tough Anglo, strutting off toward a Toyota Camry.
* * *
In the first five weeks of the pandemic, cases were reported from Oregon to Tennessee. In a normal year, about 36,000 people die in the U.S. from influenza. The mutated Sin Nombre, now being called SN2, had claimed eight hundred lives in twelve states in three weeks.
Travel had been slowed to a trickle into and out of all the southwestern states. National parks were closed to reduce tourist travel. Private attractions were still open, but barely. Face masks were required in all public places, including stores and banks. Restaurants were nearly empty. People were afraid to eat food they had not prepared themselves.
Chapter Thirty-Four
CNN Special Report:
Hospitals in the Southwest are reporting serious shortages of medical supplies such as gloves, masks, gowns, ventilators, and body bags. Other states, not yet so hard hit by the pandemic, are sending all the supplies they can spare. The EU has sent shipments of medical supplies, which are being transported to hospitals and care centers set up in school gymnasiums by National Guard units in several states. The Department of Homeland Security officials have noted varying levels of preparedness from state to state. More populous states, which often have more emergency supplies on hand, are expressing surprise at how quickly the virus is spreading in states more sparsely populated and with fewer concentrations of people than in crowded urban areas. So far, no requests for supplies or personnel has been turned down. How long that will be the case depends on how quickly the contagion can be contained.
* * *
Rachel’s living quarters at the medical center had been upgraded from the recliner in the mammography changing room to a real bed in a corner room on the obstetrics floor. No maternity cases were admitted to the University Medical Center, as long as it was the hub of medical services for the pandemic.
Osborne had been kind about bringing over more of Rachel’s clothes. She suspected he wanted to paw through her delicates, but he swore he resisted the temptation. As he volunteered that information without being asked, Rachel was convinced that he more likely had succumbed.
Rachel kept in touch with Osborne, because he was looking for Eva Yellow Horn.
“I can call in the local police, even the National Guard. I might have some authority to compel tribal police,” Rachel told him by phone.
“When you say ‘I,’ you mean the CDC, I presume.”
“Of course.”
“Good. For a moment, I was terrified of you. Now, I’m back to my previous level of adoration,” Osborne said.
“You joke in the face of a national disaster?”
“Hey, I’m the one out here with the bugs. You’re in your germ-free lab. A little compassion, please.”
“OK, a little.”
“Don’t call in the authorities, just yet. I’ve got feelers out. I may find her still.”
Rachel had been put off at first by Osborne’s inability, or was it refusal, to take seriously what was possibly the most deadly pandemic in human history. She came to believe that Osborne was being as serious as he could, and he needed to be a little flippant just to cover for his great relief at escaping death by Sin Nombre. It was a vulnerability she found slightly endearing. She needed someone who could take her mind off the gravity of the race she was in, the race to find a vaccine against the mutated virus that was killing everyone it touched. Besides, Osborne was probably the only one who could find Eva Yellow Horn. Whether he would find her in time was the big question. If Sin Nombre was not stopped soon, it could mutate again. It was entirely possible that by the time Eva was found, the virus could have changed to a form that even her antibodies could not kill.
* * *
CNN Special Report:
The Public Health Departments of the states most affected by the SN2 virus have joined forces under Dr. Jesse O’Brien, who is here with us by phone from Albuquerque.
Commentator: Dr. O’Brien, what can you tell us about your quarantine order, issued just last night?
Dr. O’Brien: In consultation with the DHS, HHS, and the CDC, I have ordered a quarantine of all residences where a patient has contracted the HPS known as SN2.
Commentator: HPS is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Dr. O’Brien: Yes.
Commentator: And that is not influenza?
Dr. O’Brien: It is not.
Commentator: So, you’re saying anyone who has had the influenza vaccination against H1N1 or even H5N1, is still unprotected?
Dr. O’Brien: That is our information at this time. The CDC has a lab operating here in Albuquerque, and all the resources of university medical centers in the other affected states are available, too.
Commentator: Some are questioning your authority to order a residential quarantine.
Dr. O’Brien: Since about 2005, states have been required to have in place pandemic plans. This was mandated as a condition for receiving grants for bioterrorism. So, these plans exist. The catalyst, if you will, to put those plans into effect is the activation by the Department of Homeland Security, of the NRP, or National Response Plan. This is a plan for national disasters of which pandemic is one. Once the DHS activates the Plan, federal agencies with responsibility for disaster response are coordinated under DHS. Since this is a disease we are dealing with, HHS takes the lead, along with the CDC.
Commentator: One Senator from Arizona has questioned these measures being initiated without the Presidential Stafford Act. That is, basically, the President declaring a state of emergency. If you recall, there was confusion back in 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, about what help the states could get from the federal government without this presidential declaration.
Dr. O’Brien: A pandemic has a different protocol. Actions in what is called the Biological Index Annex can take place without the Presidential
Stafford Act and even a public health emergency being declared by the Secretary of HHS. That’s all moot anyway. As of this morning, President Obama declared a state of emergency. We have all the authority we need.
Commentator: We are also hearing questions about bioterrorism. Due to the lethality of the disease, there’s still one hundred percent mortality, is there not?
Dr. O’Brien: Yes, to my knowledge at this time.
Commentator: Some Republicans in the House, specifically, I believe, the Tea Party Caucus, are saying no virus would have that level of lethality, unless it was bioengineered. In other words, they believe the SN2 virus has been altered to be a super bug, deliberately, in a laboratory. Your reaction to that?
Dr. O’Brien: I don’t doubt nature’s ability to change itself. Viruses mutate. It’s what they do. That’s why we take them so seriously in public health. Dr. Rachel Bisette is heading up the CDC’s lab in Albuquerque. Her team is analyzing blood samples from all known patients. Her report to us is that we are dealing with a mutated Sin Nombre virus. What we need now, quite frankly, is a survivor: someone who we know has been exposed to the virus but has either not become sick or has recovered. CDC has surveillance authority over all domestic influenza viruses. That means labs and doctors report cases of influenza deaths, especially pediatric deaths. Since the SN2 is not influenza, we are just putting those surveillance protocols in place. It’s possible someone, a family member or health care provider, listening to your broadcast has been exposed but not become ill. Perhaps, someone knows a person who has survived the illness. We are asking those people to contact their personal physician or local public health department, wherever they are. They can even contact the CDC in Atlanta, directly. We need the public’s help, and we are asking for it.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ted called Rachel every night at ten o’clock. He made her take a break every night, for half an hour. Some nights, they listened to music together over the phone. Some nights, they talked on Skype. Ted was worried about how tired Rachel looked.
“I’m OK. We have big bowls of vitamins everywhere. The team here is top drawer, so I’m actually delegating,” said Rachel.
“Good for you. Is there anything Socoro can do? I have to ask. Walcz made me promise.”
“Yeah, go to Switzerland and help them make Tamiflu. That’s the only place it’s manufactured, you know.”
“Really?”
“It’s the anti-viral we have stockpiled that has the least side effects.”
“It also has a nice, friendly name. You’re using it on SN2 patients?”
“I’m not saying over Skype. Some people think we ought to use it as a prophylactic for health care providers. It’s about all we have at this point. The problem would be, if we were using it, as a prophylactic we would have to give multiple doses, and we don’t have enough in the stockpile. If we start doing that, and I’m not saying we are or will or even might consider it.”
“I get it. You can’t say.”
“By the way, you did put those recipes in a safe place, right? The ones in my desk.”
“Yes, I took care of it. I don’t really understand why you’re so protective of your recipes. I mean, I’ve never eaten anything you ever cooked.”
“They came from my dad.”
“That explains it. No, the recipes are very safe.”
“Good. Let’s see, what else can we talk about over an open line. Seen any good movies, lately?”
Rachel looked forward to her talks with Ted and not just because of the welcome break. He was so calm in the face of authority. In the last few weeks, Rachel talked to the biggest of the big shots at DHS, HHS, Public Health, the CDC, and the General of the New Mexico National Guard. There were meetings and plans, plans for meetings, and meetings about plans. It was all necessary, but it was not what Rachel signed up for. In her internal struggle between research and patient care, being a Public Health Official never entered her head.
Now, though, Rachel was totally focused on finding a survivor or someone with immunity. Why didn’t Eva Yellow Horn step forward? She knew the whole country was looking for her. There were deaths among the Native American population. Why wasn’t she helping? The only reason Rachel could support, logically, was that Eva was dead herself. If that were true, then the virus had won an important victory. Osborne said he had some leads, so Rachel had not given up hope, yet, of finding her, but that thread of hope was being stretched to its limit.
* * *
CNN Special Report
Commentator: Today marks the end of the first week of residential quarantine in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, California, and Oklahoma. Homes where a resident has died of SN2 have been under quarantine by order of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The quarantine is not voluntary. The picture you are seeing now is the front yard of a home in West Texas. We are not allowed to give the location, according to quarantine orders. You see the National Guard vehicle parked across the driveway, barring the family from exiting in their car. Motion detector alarms have been installed on all the doors and windows, and cameras are set up around the house, so no one can get out or in except through the National Guard. We have an exclusive interview with the family inside. These are the surviving members of the Yager family. The oldest son, Dylan, was a victim of SN2. He passed away nine days ago. We will be speaking to his father, Wayne, his mother Steph, and his twin sisters age nine, Lily and Lori. Mr. Yager, Wayne, has set up the call to our studio through Skype. We should be seeing the family now. Hello, Wayne.
Wayne: Hello, Can you see everyone OK?
Commentator: We can. Mrs. Yager, Steph, welcome. Thank you for allowing us to come into your home, electronically. Lily, Lori, hello to you both.
Steph: We’re happy to be talking to someone from the outside world.
Commentator: We thank you. First, of course, our condolences on the loss of your son, Dylan. Wayne is holding up a photo of Dylan. Can you tell us a little about his illness?
Steph: Dylan played football. He came home Friday night, two weeks ago tomorrow. He had a slight fever and a little cough. He said he felt OK, and I didn’t think too much of it. He’s fifteen, old enough to know how he felt.
Wayne: Dylan played well that night. We all went to see him. One thing, though; he rode home with us instead of with the team on the bus. That was my first clue that he was sick. He always went home from games on the team bus. He wouldn’t have ridden home with his parents and little sisters if he had felt one hundred percent. They won the game. The bus ride home would have been fun for him.
Commentator: How fast did Dylan’s illness progress?
Wayne: Very fast. He slept in the next morning, Saturday. That wasn’t unusual. Saturdays, his coach has a short meeting with the team at ten o’clock. He brings in donuts, and they go over the game. They don’t view the tape, that’s later in the week. They just talk about what worked and congratulate the players who gave extra effort. Then, the coach would hold a sort of study hall to make sure the boys were getting their homework done. It sounds weird, a study hall on a Saturday, but the boys didn’t mind. They’re always home by lunch time, so they spend the weekend with the family.
Lily: Dylan wouldn’t wake up when we called him. Dad went to his room to tell him to get his butt out of bed.
Steph: Wayne called me into Dylan’s room. I took his temperature: 99.8. He said his chest felt tight. He was coughing. He skipped the Saturday team meeting and stayed in his room all day.
Wayne: When his mother checked on him, after lunch, he was sleeping. We thought we’d let him sleep it off.
Steph: I did go in about 2:30 to get him to drink some juice. He drank the whole glass down.
Commentator: When did you realize Dylan’s sickness was something more serious?
Steph: I guess it was on Monday, when he didn’t g
et up for school. Dylan called downstairs for me to bring him a glass of water. When I went up, there were drops of blood on his pillowcase.
Commentator: He was coughing up blood?
Steph: Yes. I called the pediatrician, and he told us to take Dylan to the ER right away.
Wayne: When we got to the ER, people met us at the door. They put Dylan in a wheelchair and took him in through a different entrance, not through the regular ER lobby.
Steph: We had been there a couple of times before, once when Dylan stepped on a nail and when the twins were born. They were early.
Wayne: That’s when we knew something was really wrong. They made us put on masks, caps, and gloves. We had to sit in a waiting room away from the other ER patients and away from Dylan. They wouldn’t let us in the treatment room with him. I thought that was odd, since Dylan was a minor. His parents should be in there with him, but we were kept out.
Commentator: Did the doctors tell you why you were kept away from your son?
Wayne: They did. It was to protect the hospital workers.
Steph: They asked us about everyone Dylan had been with since he came home sick on Friday night. It was only us, his family. Dylan didn’t go out anywhere. He didn’t even go to church that last Sunday.
Commentator: Did the rest of you go?
Steph: We went, but we didn’t think we were spreading anything, or if we were, it was just a cold or mild flu, something like that.
Commentator: Had you heard about the SN2 virus on the news?
Wayne: We knew there were viruses in New Mexico and in Colorado, but we didn’t know how serious it was or that it hit anyone around here. This is a very clean community.
Steph: Wayne!
Wayne: Sorry, I don’t know what I meant by that.
Commentator: Is it true that Dylan was overtaken by the virus very quickly?
Steph: He was gone in forty-eight hours. We only got to see him once after he went into the hospital.
Commentator: We’ll take a short break. This family has been through so much, and they are so brave to speak with us. When we come back, we’ll ask the Yagers about life under quarantine.
Blood of the White Bear Page 16
