The Perfect Pathogen

by Mark Atkisson

  “Just a minute doctor. Let me see if he is in,” replied his assistant.

  “Hi Ben, how the hell are you,” said a familiar voice at the other end of the line. “I was wondering when I would hear from you? I’ll bet a thousand bucks you are calling about the epidemic,” said Zhang.

  “Indeed sir. Good to hear you voice again Z. I was reading a story on the internet about an uprising in China and the people in the report said that it was caused by the government not sharing a vaccine that had been developed for SDX. Is there any truth to the vaccine part of the story?” asked Ben.

  “If it was true, we would have licensed it, and we would be selling it around the world already my friend. The truth is, we don’t know what is causing the disease. We haven’t been able to pinpoint a virus, fungus or bacteria responsible for the deterioration of the health of so many or our elderly people,” said Zhang.

  “Z, neither have we here,” said Ben. “I was hoping you had something. Any leads at all?”

  “I am afraid not, and to make things worse we are losing over two million people at day,” said Zhang.

  “My god, that’s unfathomable,” said Ben. “And it looks like it will only get worse. Well, if you come up with anything, please let us know and I will do the same for you.”

  “We are just starting DNA testing on the victims. Maybe that will yield some results, but I don’t know though. What tack are you taking?”

  “Blood and DNA testing along with lab studies and autopsies of the victims. We have a Pandemic Task Force set up at Johns Hopkins University, headed by Brian White. I believe you know him,” said Ben.

  “Sure I do. I have been to several conferences where he presented. Top notch pathologist.”

  “Well, we need some innovative ideas and we need them fast. His teams are our best hope right now,” said Ben. “And, of course, there are other teams on the task too, public and private.

  “I am afraid we are out of ideas at this stage over here. Maybe someone, somewhere will make a discovery soon,” said Zhang hopefully.

  “Thanks for taking my call Z, let’s keep in touch.”

  “You bet. It has been good talking to you again. Goodbye Ben.”

  Ben hung up now convinced that the Chinese were no further along in finding a cure than they were in the U.S. He imagined they had some theories, but it was too early for them to share them at this point, just like the U.S. side.

  His next call to Natalya would be much more difficult. He hadn’t talked to Natalya in over five years, after they had their nasty breakup. The short version of a long story was that they had met when he was posted to the CDC’s office in Moscow. Natalya worked at the CDC’s counterpart office in the Russian Ministry of Health. When they met, they were both up-and-coming doctors in their respective agencies. They dated off on and on for a couple of years, and then it got serious when they had a daughter together, although they never married. She was pissed, because a pregnancy was a serious crimp on her professional plans. Things went downhill from there. Soon, he wasn’t allowed to see his daughter which made Ben angry every time he even said Natalya’s name. So now, he would have to swallow his pride and remember that this was an official call. He needed something and he knew he could count on her support as a professional.

  It was a little after midnight when he called Natalya at her home. It would be about eight a.m., Monday morning. He knew she didn’t normally get to the office until about nine, so she should still be at home, he thought.

  Natalya answered the phone, “Aló.”

  “Hi Natalya, this is Ben calling.”

  Ben could feel her sneer through the phone line as a long pause ensued.

  “What is it that you want?” Natalya said abruptly in her no-nonsense, Russian manner.

  “I am calling on a professional matter regarding the SDX epidemic,” said Ben, remaining calm.

  After another short interval, Natalya spoke again with a tone more relaxed. She became almost friendly, Ben felt.

  “What can I do for you?” she said.

  “Like you would surmise, we are working hard on this outbreak that is killing so many elderly people. Our study so far has given us some leads. We are tracking down each one and one lead is traceable to the Sakha Republic. It seems that a baby mammoth was found there in 2010,” said Ben.

  “Oh yes, I remember that. What does that have to do with SDX?” asked Natalya.

  “Well I am not sure, but let me share my hypothesis with you. Based on an analysis of some old blood data taken as part of an aging study, we think the infection originated from the area of Ust’Nera and Susuman, in the Sakha Republic. We also think this infection started five years ago. So, there is this mammoth and your researchers took a blood sample at the time. I would like to see if we could test that very sample to rule out a connection,” said Ben.

  Natalya thought for a while. “Well, Ben, you know I am going to need more data and a bigger explanation before I can get that sample for you. It will take some time just finding out where it is stored now.”

  “Natalya, unfortunately, I can’t give you much more over the phone,” Ben admitted.

  “Then Ben,” said Natalya, “I think it would be best if you book a ticket and come to Moscow as soon as possible, if you are serious about this.”

  Ben instantly understood why he needed to come to Moscow, and his heart jumped for a moment as he realized that maybe he would get a chance to see his daughter, Natasha.

  “I think there is a pretty good chance that the mammoth is somehow linked to the disease. I will book the next flight out and I should be there within twenty-four hours. Any chance I will get to see Natasha?” asked Ben.

  “We will have to talk about that when you arrive,” Natalya said, her abrupt Russian manner returning.

  At least she didn’t say no outright, Ben thought. Now he hoped that after she heard what he had to say about his theories she would agree to his visitation.

  “Ok, I will email you with my details. If you are convinced, then I would like to make a trip out to Sakha Republic as part of my itinerary,” said Ben.

  “If what you say makes sense, then I will be happy to escort you, for this thing is really giving us a run for our money, as you Americans fondly say. We have to solve this puzzle as soon as possible,” said Natalya. “See you soon then.”

  Natalya hung up the receiver with a big smile across her face. She had wondered for a long time how she could entice Ben to come back to Russia, and now she had him. What to do with him when he arrived was the only question.

  Ben hung up the phone feeling excitement. He was on the trail of this killer and he may now even get to see his daughter. And who knows, maybe there will still be a spark between him and Natalya, he hoped. The only reason they had a falling out in the end was because Natalya had wanted him to change his allegiance to Russia and move to Moscow. Ben couldn’t do that and Natalya didn’t understand why. Well, things were different now, and he and Natalya had joint interests to boot. He would see where it went from here.

  Ben made the arrangements and luckily he could catch a non-stop flight on Monday afternoon and would be there early morning on Tuesday. This would also give him time to share his latest findings with Katie and gather up his data to take with him to Moscow.

  Ben walked over to his book shelf and pulled down a photo album. On the cover was a picture of Natalya, Natasha as a baby, and him. As he leafed through the album, he thought about all of the fun times they had had together. Then the album abruptly stopped when Natasha was about seven. She would be twelve now and he had not been a part of her life for the last five years. He wondered for a moment about what he had missed in those lost years. Soon he would find out.

  Ben took the album to his bedroom and placed it on the night stand. He would catch some rest now and then get up, pack, and head to the office. It would be a long day, but he would try to sleep on the plane, so he could be ready to go when he arrived in Moscow.

  CHAPTER 31
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  Katie awoke the next morning refreshed and ready to conquer the world. She rolled over and saw Rob staring at the ceiling.

  “What’s wrong,” she said.

  “I am just worried about what is going to happen to our parents and our family. I don’t have any control it seems,” he sighed.

  Katie rolled over and gave Rob a long hard kiss while sliding her hand down between his legs.

  “Let me relieve your worries,” she said as she climbed on top of Rob.

  Minutes later they were both panting with ecstasy.

  “No time for afterglow this morning. I have to get moving. I got so many things to accomplish so I can get home at a reasonable time,” said Katie.

  She jumped up out of bed and headed into the shower. Rob lay there thinking what a sexy, beautiful, wonderful wife he had. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He was still grinning when Katie exited the bathroom to get dressed.

  “We need to get you out to the farm more often honey. I like what it has done for you,” Rob said with a chuckle, finally getting out of bed.

  “We will be there all weekend coming up, so be prepared,” she said while laughing.

  Five minutes later Katie kissed the kids goodbye and was headed out the door. She noticed a white car drive by as she got into her car but didn’t think twice about it. Probably someone lost on their dead end street again, she thought.

  Driving into work all she could think about was Hope’s blood test results. She wanted to find out if it was possible that she wasn’t infected with this disease, and if not, why not? Pulling into the office parking space, she noticed that Beth was already there. She didn’t know what she was going to do without Beth’s assistance in the her new office downtown.

  Katie opened her email and did a quick scan for anything from Sarah, Ben, or Patti, her lab technician friend from church. All of the death notices were now being auto-forwarded to a file for Beth, so Katie didn’t have to wade through those hundreds of emails.

  The first thing she saw was an email from Patti. It was Hope’s blood test information. She opened it and quickly scanned the data for the six key indicators. She didn’t know what to think. Again, they were all normal.

  She printed out the results and went back to her other email. Then she saw the message from Ben entitled ‘Hope’s blood test’. She did a quick scan, noting how Ben had done an in-depth analysis of Hope’s first test and also had concluded the test was good and that she was not infected. Double confirmation.

  Next she saw that she had three emails of blood bank test results. She wanted to start running these through her algorithm as soon as possible to see if she could detect any other samples that were negative, just like Hope. This would take about two hours so she should do this before anything else.

  After about thirty minutes she had the blood tests all set for analysis. There were 3,000 sets of data in the emails each representing 3,000 separate people. She figured this to be a fairly good representation of the population as a whole at this point, drawn from across North America. She was expecting to get another 2,000 sets of data each day for the next week, so this would broaden her database significantly. It wouldn’t be long now until she found other samples that were negative for SDX, she thought.

  Katie opened the email from Ben again and clicked on reply.

  Hi Ben,

  You were right. I just analyzed the second blood test result for Hope and she remains negative for SDX. The question now is why? On another subject, I should be downtown by about eleven today and I would like to discuss my data, and our next steps. I’ll stop by your office as soon as I arrive, if you are available.

  Happy Monday,

  Katie

  Katie hit the send button and then went to check on Beth. Beth had all of Katie’s important documentation either packed in boxes for her to take or scanned into the shared drives for the office. Beth was simply a miracle worker -- everything that Katie needed would be at her fingertips.

  “Beth, what did you do, work all day yesterday?” Katie asked.

  “Well, not all day, but I was in here for a substantial part of the day. Hey, I know the work you are doing is important for the success of the search for a cure for this epidemic, so it was the least I could do. And don’t get all sappy on me,” said Beth. “Okay?”

  Katie came over to Beth and gave her a big hug as a tear of joy ran down her cheek.

  “Stop,” Beth protested. “You’re going to make me cry too.”

  Drying her eyes, Katie went back into her office and dug through her things.

  “I am going to take a load down to the car right now,” said Katie to Beth. “I’ll be back shortly.”

  When she returned, Beth had the final three boxes together and ready for loading on a hand truck Katie could use now.

  Katie then went into her office to check the progress of the blood bank data analysis, as Beth made ready the rest of the items Katie would be taking with her downtown. Katie saw that the analysis would take another five minutes, so she finished loading up the car in order to be able to take off as soon as she had the results.

  As Katie re-entered her office, Beth was on the phone. Katie could hear Beth saying, “I am sorry Mr. Hughes, but Dr. McMann is not in right now. If you leave me a message I will ask her to return your call.” Then there was a pause and she heard Beth say, “Ok, suit yourself, goodbye.”

  “Who was that?” asked Katie.

  “It was Marvin Hughes from the Post. He had questions for you again. He didn’t want to leave a message and he didn’t even want me to tell you he called. He said he would catch up with you, whatever that means.”

  The thought of the white Chevy Malibu filled Katie’s head, followed by a slight remembrance of a small white car in her neighborhood this morning. An unnerving chill went through her body. She hoped Marvin wasn’t stalking her just to get answers for his story.

  As she was pondering what Marvin was up to, she noticed that the data just finished running. She went to the report page and scanned for the number of tests that were not abnormal for the six key indicators. As she glanced across the page her head dropped and she let out a long sigh. The number of samples with abnormal results for the six tests was 3,000. Every sample was indicative of SDX infection. Her hypotheses that everyone had the indicators and was therefore a carrier of SDX was probably accurate. The fact that she could identify no other samples that were comparable to Hope’s was very disappointing. Hope couldn’t possibly be the only one not infected. She immediately decided that the sample group was too small. Maybe after analyzing the next batch of 2,000 people there would be another negative.

  Katie emailed the blood bank results to Ben and then packed her briefcase and went to say goodbye to Beth.

  “I expect I will be by the office off and on, maybe once a week. Take good care of everyone in my absence, Beth. Don’t hesitate to call or email if you need something,” said Katie.

  They hugged again and Katie walked down the hall towards the exit.

  About thirty minutes later Katie pulled into the parking lot of the main headquarters building, relieved that this time nobody seemed to have been following her. She was more than a little spooked by the thought that maybe Marvin Hughes was watching her every move.

  As she walked down the hall towards her office, she saw Ben coming out of his. She waved and Ben turned, smiled and started walking toward her.

  “You’re here just in time, Katie. There is a secure DVC at noon today,” said Ben.

  “I thought they normally have it at 2 p.m.?” said Katie.

  “They do, but Jim Redman moved it up because the Secretary has a meeting with the President at 2 p.m. I just finished briefing Sarah on my findings. If you have time now, I can get you up to speed,” said Ben.

  “That would be great. Come into my new office digs,” said Katie with a smile.

  “I think it would be better if we went to my office,” Ben countered. “I have some visual aids on my computer tha
t I would like to use to explain my new theories to you.”

  “Sure,” exclaimed Katie and they headed down the hall.

  Ben went through yesterday’s analysis. He was able to call up each graph individually and explain that each represented different start dates, but the lines all had the same slope. Then, with a touch of a key, he laid each graph on top of the other and they formed a congruent curve.

  “Do you know what this means, Katie?” asked Ben.

  “I think so,” said Katie. “It means that it doesn’t matter when you got infected, because if it was later, your infection will begin now at the higher level as those who were infected on day one.”

  “You are as bright as I thought you were,” he teased. “So that is why people are dying simultaneously throughout the world instead of sequentially based on when they were infected. Indeed, so far there is nothing about SDX that makes sense.”

  “So you have solved riddle one. Now for riddle number two, how come Hope is negative but over 3,000 samples from the blood banks are positive?” said Katie.

  “No kidding. Did you send me the data?” Ben asked.

  “I sure did, about an hour ago, ‘said Katie.

  “Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to read my email yet. I was in briefing Sarah. I’m going to have to think on that for a while. Interesting. Maybe the sample was too small, that’s about all I have off the top of my head,” said Ben.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” said Katie. “I will have another 2,000 samples to analyze by early this evening. Maybe they will bear some fruit. Any other revelations up your sleeve?”

  “One maybe. I looked at your data pinpointing the origin and I am in synch with your thoughts. I did some searching on the internet and I found an article that spoke about a baby mammoth that was found in 2010 in the Sakha Republic of Russia. I think there may be some connection to SDX. The researchers involved were able to take a serum sample from the remains which is stored somewhere. I am leaving for Moscow later today to meet with my counterpart at the Russian Ministry of Health. If I convince her about our hypotheses, she will help get me access to the sample so it can be tested.”