Pandemic

by Robin Cook

  “No doubt,” David said.

  Jack glanced around at the impressive interior of the sports car, with its sumptuous leather seats and swank-appearing dash. “Nice wheels,” he said, trying to sound contemporary like Warren.

  “It’s not bad,” David said offhandedly.

  “It’s the most impressive car I’ve been in,” Jack said. “What model is it?”

  “It’s a Lexus LC 500 coupe,” David said. “I’d asked for a Lamborghini but had to settle for this. As usual, my father didn’t even ask for my opinion. That’s the way it has always been.”

  Jack didn’t respond. He guessed it would be difficult not to be spoiled growing up with a billionaire father. He felt immensely grateful for having been rescued from a potentially lethal predicament, even if it was due to a feud between an overindulged child and a megalomaniacal father. The real victims of the whole ordeal were those who had died and those who might still die from this new retroviral disease.

  Once they had crossed the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan, David exited onto the West Side Highway, heading south.

  “You seem to know where you are going,” Jack commented. He hadn’t given David the address.

  “I’ve been living in the city for five years,” David said. “I know my way around. And I know you live at Sixty-three West 106th Street. Kang-Dae sent me a copy of the dossier my father had ordered on you.”

  With some difficulty, Jack suppressed his knee-jerk irritation at the violation of his personal space that Wei Zhao’s investigation represented, but the thought reminded him of the bizarre shooting incident the night before. He mentioned it to David and then questioned, “Is that something you know anything at all about?”

  “I heard it was a close call,” David said, suggesting he knew a great deal more than that.

  “How so?” Jack asked, but it seemed as if his worst fears were being confirmed. If it was a close call, then Jack had been involved.

  “Let me put it this way,” David said. “Our group became aware of a possible plot to have you taken care of. We weren’t entirely certain what that meant, so we decided it best to provide you with protection from a possible assassination attempt if that is what it meant. We were committed to not let anything to happen to you. We felt strongly that you were our best hope that my father and his minions wouldn’t be able to sweep the current problems with Carol Stewart under the carpet. Unfortunately, it turned out that we were right, and it was a good thing we had some people there.”

  “I see,” Jack said, trying to maintain his composure. It was now obvious he had come within a hairsbreadth of being shot.

  “Come what may, my father fully intends to dominate what is going to turn out to be an extraordinarily lucrative porcine transplant business,” David continued. “In that light, it might be wise for you to look to your own security over the next few days. Our group can continue to help, but realistically speaking, we are amateurs in comparison with what my father and his team are capable of marshaling. He’s motivated. From his point of view, he thinks the societal good that will result in terms of lives saved and quality of life improved justifies everything he is doing.”

  A chill passed down Jack’s spine and his pulse quickened as he began to truly contemplate the extent of the risks he had been so blithely assuming. He hadn’t appreciated the extent that his actions and behavior had been propelled by a combination of his own inner demons and stresses both personal and domestic.

  David turned off the West Side Highway at 96th Street. They rode in silence all the way to Central Park West and then onto 106th Street. Only when Jack’s brownstone was in sight did Jack begin to truly relax.

  David pulled over to the curb. Jack reached for the door handle, feeling extraordinarily lucky. He opened the door, got out, but then leaned back inside.

  “I want to thank you for rescuing me,” Jack said. “It truly was a rescue. I was in a hell of a lot more danger than I was willing to acknowledge. Thank you.”

  “You are welcome,” David said. “And I want to thank you for your perseverance, as I think it will prove to be key in helping us thwart my father’s exit from China.”

  “If that happens, it will be inadvertent,” Jack admitted. “All my activities were in response to a combination of my own needs and a desire to speak for the dead, meaning Carol Stewart. That’s what we forensic pathologists do.”

  “I understand,” David said.

  “I have one specific request,” Jack said. “Would you personally see to it that the CDC gets the rapid test and the cure for the specific gammaretrovirus first thing in the morning? I want that mini-pandemic to be a thing of the past.”

  “I will see to it personally,” David promised.

  Jack reached into the car and shook hands with the youthful Ph.D. student. “I hope your dreams come true in your life in China,” he said, “and it all turns out as you hope.”

  “Thank you,” David said. “Be safe!”

  Jack closed the car door and waved as David laid a small strip of rubber on the pavement as a final statement. Jack watched the car’s taillights quickly diminish in size and intensity before the car turned on Columbus Avenue and disappeared from sight. For a moment Jack stayed where he was, thinking about all that David had said. The main thing that Jack took from it all was that China was undoubtedly going to play a major role in his children’s lives.

  Turning toward his building and raising his eyes, Jack looked up at the façade. He was glad to see the warm, incandescent light streaming out of the window in the study on the fifth floor. It meant that Laurie was most likely working, and the image filled him with a renewed sense of appreciation and love.

  EPILOGUE

  THURSDAY, 10:25 P.M.

  With a powerful sense of fatigue and an even stronger sense that he was lucky to be alive, Jack started up the stairs in his building. Still hearing David’s warnings echoing in his ears, he seriously considered calling Detective Lou Soldano the moment he got in the apartment to find out if it might be possible to get a police detail to guard his house and family. Yet, as he rounded the first landing and started up the second flight, his mind switched to the idea of calling Warren. Jack had had the opportunity to see Warren and his boys in action on multiple occasions, and in terms of guarding the neighborhood and just knowing what was going on, no one could come close. By the time Jack got to the door to his apartment, he’d made up his mind. It was going to be Warren, not Lou, that he would count on.

  Once he had his key out, Jack paused to buck up his courage. He expected Laurie to be rightfully annoyed with him for multiple reasons, including not having contacted her all day. If the tables had been reversed, he knew he would have been seeing red. Feeling appropriately penitent, he opened the door.

  The first thing he noticed was a wonderful sense of calmness. There was no noise, and in particular there was no sound of TV. That had to mean that the in-laws were most likely in bed. Jack glanced over at the guestroom door. It was closed, and there was no line of light beneath it. He looked at Caitlin’s door. It, too, was closed, but hers had a line of light, so she was obviously still awake. But since she was in her room, the children had to be in bed.

  After hanging up his jacket and slipping out of his shoes, Jack climbed the next flight of stairs. As the kitchen and great room progressively came into view through the balustrade, he could see both rooms were vacant. There was only a single table lamp burning next to the couch. He’d not seen his home quite so peaceful in the evening for weeks. Before Sheldon had shown up, Dorothy would have the great room television on until all hours, sometimes watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and even The Late Late Show with James Corden.

  In his stocking feet and as silent as a cat, Jack walked down the hall toward the study. The door was open, and a bit of light spilled out into the corridor. Both the children’s doors were closed. When he got to
the open office door, he could see Laurie bent over the desk, poring over construction blueprints. She was facing away from him. So as not to frighten her, he knocked softly on the open door. The ruse worked, as she twisted around calmly, probably expecting to see JJ. When she recognized it was Jack, her expression rapidly changed from relief to irritation.

  “Where in heaven’s name have you been,” she demanded.

  “Vacationing in the beautiful Garden State,” Jack said, incapable of allowing an opportunity for a bit of sarcasm to pass. It was a reflex response almost beyond his control.

  “Let’s not make this worse than it already is,” Laurie snapped. “Why haven’t you called or responded to one of my blizzard of texts? Were you deliberately trying to terrify and antagonize me? What the hell were you thinking?”

  “I wasn’t doing a lot of thinking, I’m afraid,” Jack said. “I was mostly reacting.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Laurie said sharply, clearly losing whatever patience she was trying to maintain. “Why the hell didn’t you contact me just to say you were okay?”

  “All right, try to calm down,” Jack said, keeping his tone as soothing as he could. “I’ll explain everything.”

  “I have been worried sick about you,” Laurie blurted. “And I’ve had to deal with that while trying to manage one of the absolutely worst days of my professional life, which you also bear a good deal of responsibility for causing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said, as sincerely as he could.

  “Is that all you can say?” Laurie demanded.

  “To be truthful, I haven’t had one of my better days, either,” Jack said.

  “And what on earth do you mean you were mostly reacting and not thinking? And why New Jersey? What the hell were you doing in New Jersey all this time?”

  “I was revisiting Dover Valley Hospital and GeneRx, and I have to say I have learned some astonishing things.”

  “It’s after ten o’clock at night,” Laurie said. “What have you been doing at Dover Valley Hospital until ten o’clock without so much as a call or, God forbid, a single text to say ‘I’m still alive’?”

  “It would have been difficult to call or text since my phone was confiscated,” Jack said.

  “Why?” Laurie demanded. “Who took your phone?”

  “Listen!” Jack said, trying to sound more in control than he felt. “I’ll tell you everything, and believe me, there is a lot to tell. But first I’d like to hear how you have fared here in the city with the flu pandemic false alarm.”

  “Luckily, things are getting back to a semblance of normal,” Laurie said as Jack grabbed his own desk chair, pulled it over to Laurie’s desk, and sat down. “The subways are mostly running again,” she continued. “The buses are back in service. The airports are functioning relatively normally. The schools are also open—or will be tomorrow. Theaters are open. And the media has been extraordinarily helpful in getting out the message that there is no pandemic flu or any viral outbreak spread by aerosol.”

  “Thank God,” Jack said. “But it is still being reported that there is a kind of mini-pandemic brewing. Correct?”

  “Absolutely,” Laurie said. “The media has made it clear that although most of the deaths have been here in the New York metropolitan area, there have also been similar deaths in London, Rome, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.”

  “I hadn’t heard it’s also popped up in California,” Jack said. “Good lord, I don’t know whether to be impressed or appalled. Considering the fluidity of the youth culture of today, I feel like a stodgy prude.”

  “There was a death in each of those California cities,” Laurie said. “And I have to give the media credit for getting the general public to understand that the NYC subway played absolutely no role whatsoever.”

  “That’s appropriate,” Jack said. “Associating the outbreak with the subway as if it had something to do with its cause is an example of journalism at its worst.”

  “It’s a tabloid tactic,” Laurie said. “People harbor an atavistic fear of subways, like basements. Making the association probably sold more papers, which ultimately was the goal.”

  “Whatever,” Jack scoffed. “It was irresponsible and certainly contributed to the panic, considering how many people rely on the subway.”

  “The regular media made up for tabloid irresponsibility,” Laurie said. “They have gone out of their way to make it absolutely clear that the disease spreads by body fluids like HIV and not by the respiratory route. The initial fear that it was a rapidly fatal respiratory disease is what made this disastrous false alarm as bad as it was. All day today, while we have been struggling to control the situation, all of us, from the mayor on down, have marveled that no one seems to have anticipated this kind of false alarm could have happened. Even that bogus incoming-missile alert that happened in Hawaii in January 2018 didn’t make anyone realize in retrospect that all the planning, drills, and exercises directed at the feared reoccurrence of a 1918 Spanish flu pandemic would have set the city up for a false alarm of this magnitude. The expense that this has caused is beyond belief, especially when the losses that businesses sustained are factored in.”

  “Has any solution been proposed?” Jack asked.

  “Not specifically,” Laurie said. “But in general, it is recognized that there has to be some sort of failsafe mechanism in place so this doesn’t happen again. We can’t have a single watch commander in the city’s Emergency Operations Center sitting in front of a switch capable of unleashing the whole shebang.”

  “What about my administrative leave?” Jack asked. “Did that come up again?”

  “No, and I didn’t try,” Laurie said. “Nor do I plan to, at least not for a few days. This has been a serious debacle and heads are going to roll, and it could be mine. Both the mayor and even the Commissioner of Health are looking at me. Particularly, the mayor sorely needs a scapegoat even bigger than you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jack said with true sincerity. “I’ve certainly learned my lesson about loose talk.”

  “I should hope so,” Laurie said. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re home.”

  “Thank you,” Jack said. “What about the CDC? Did they show up even though it was a false alarm and not a flu-like respiratory problem?”

  “They did for sure,” Laurie said. “And they are centering their attention on the real outbreak. But tell me! Have you had anything to eat?”

  “I haven’t,” Jack admitted.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “I should eat something, I suppose,” Jack said.

  “Caitlin made a pasta tonight,” Laurie said. “There is some left over. Are you interested?”

  “Sure,” Jack said.

  Together they walked out of the study and down the hall to the kitchen. While Laurie got the pasta out of the refrigerator and put it into the microwave, Jack sat at the countertop. He used her mobile to place a quick call to Warren.

  “I have to make this very short,” Jack said when he got Warren on the line. “I just got home after a harrowing day. The problem is that I’ll be needing some serious protection for me and my family from a kind of Chinese Mafia. What happened last night out in the street wasn’t an accident. The person who was shot was gunning for me. I’ll call back later to give you the full story, but first I have to tell the story to Laurie. Can you supply the protection? It has to start now.”

  “I suppose,” Warren said. “But I’m sure as shit going to need to hear why.”

  “I promise I’ll give you all the details a bit later,” Jack said before he disconnected.

  “What was that about?” Laurie asked with concern. She had paused with her hand on the microwave door when she’d heard what Jack had said. “Why do we need protection?”

  “I’ll explain it all in a minute, as it needs a bit of background,” Jack said. He put Laurie’s phon
e down on the countertop. “First tell me what the CDC has done.” He reasoned there was a grace period before the bad guys found out he’d managed to fly the coop and might have managed to get home.

  Laurie eyed Jack for a moment, unsure if she were willing to let the protection issue wait. Jack assured her again he’d tell her everything but wanted to know what the CDC did.

  “They did a lot, and I give them full credit for taking total command,” Laurie said. As she spoke she got the pasta out of the microwave and put it in front of Jack. “They are incredibly organized and efficient. A full team arrived here this morning from Atlanta, headed by several Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers, and went to work immediately. They are all really incredible. Already they have made significant headway identifying all the possible contacts here in New York City. And two additional teams went out to the West Coast to do the same thing. And with their sister organization in Solna, Sweden, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the same thing was accomplished in London and Rome.”

  “Has the CDC identified the virus yet?” Jack asked. “Or has the Public Health Laboratory here in the city?”

  “I don’t believe so,” Laurie said, “but I understand they think that they are on the brink.”

  “I already know what the virus is,” Jack said. “So we can give them an important leg up. It’s a type of gammaretrovirus B that has the ability to infect human cells.”

  Laurie’s jaw went slack and slowly dropped open as she stared at Jack in disbelief. “How on earth do you know what kind of virus it is?” she questioned.

  “My Jersey Boys told me,” Jack said. “Kidding aside, researchers out at GeneRx in Dover, New Jersey, were able to identify the virus rather quickly because they had an idea what it was. And what’s more, thanks to CRISPR/CAS9 and an entire team of molecular biologists working around the clock, they already have devised a rapid test to diagnosis it, as well as a cure to get rid of it. So we’ll be able to give that to the CDC as well, which should go a long way to improving your standing vis-à-vis the mayor and the Commissioner of Health.”