“I’ve been trying to reach you for days,” Cage said, hardly bothering to hide his anger. He was in the clinic, between patients. The waiting room was full. “You bastards with your fucking quarantines.”
“We did what we thought was best,” Eric replied. “Best my ass.”
“Cage, give me a fuckin’ break here.”
“Why the hell should I?”
“Look, you want me to just hang up? I don’t have to put up with this crap.”
“All right, all right. Hold on a second, will you? Let me get this on another phone.” He transferred the call from the clinic line to his own phone, then walked down the hall to the staff room, closed the door, and sat at the table. “Why did you call, anyway?”
“I’m calling to help you out, you ungrateful son of a bitch.”
“Yeah?” Cage said. “And how are you going to do that?”
“You want some Core Fever vaccine for that shitty little clinic of yours?”
Jesus. “Of course I want some vaccine. How soon can I get it?”
“A few days. Shipments are already starting to come down from New Hong Kong, and it shouldn’t be too long before their people get production going in labs here on the ground.”
“New Hong Kong, those fuckers. You’ve been in bed with them from the very beginning of this, haven’t you?”
“Cage, come on.”
“They were your source, weren’t they, for all the info on Core Fever? The source you said you couldn’t reveal.”
There was a long pause, and then Eric finally spoke again. “Let’s just say they helped us quite a bit. Look, what’s the point in slamming them? They were the ones who identified the virus and made the antibody tests possible. They’re the ones with the goddamn vaccine, for Christ’s sake! You should be grateful.”
“I am not grateful,” Cage said. “What I am is suspicious as hell. Aren’t you? I mean really, Eric, the odds that the Core Fever virus is so close to some virus that they’re studying that they’ve got a bloody vaccine all ready to go for it? What the hell is really going on?”
Another long silence. When Eric spoke again, his tone was cold. “Look, Cage. You want some vaccine or not? I told you before I don’t have to listen to this crap. I’m trying to do you a favor. You think the vaccine is going to be readily available? Not for a long time, not until production really gets up and running.”
“But aren’t they going to make it available here in the Tenderloin first? This is the source of the damn disease, remember? The highest concentration?”
Eric laughed. “Get real, Cage. Do you think anyone here or in New Hong Kong gives a shit about the Tenderloin? Over the next couple of weeks or so, the only people getting the vaccine will be those with pull or money, preferably both.”
“You bastards,” Cage said, shaking his head to himself. “You quarantine the Tenderloin and bottle up the worst of Core Fever inside it, and then you don’t give us the vaccine.”
“I’m trying to give you some of it, Cage.”
Neither of them said anything for a while. Cage tried to calm himself down, not lose his temper. Any vaccine he could get would be a godsend; he couldn’t afford to lose that.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you’re trying to help me out here. Probably risking your job, right?”
-Maybe not this time. They know the first batches should go into the Tenderloin. But listen to me, Cage. I’m doing the best I can. Yeah, it’s all a mess, and it’s not fair, but I am trying to do right by you, by some of those poor people inside with you.”
“Have you been vaccinated yet?” Cage asked.
This time there was only the slightest hesitation, then Eric said, “Yes. Am I supposed to be ashamed of that?”
“No,” Cage replied grudgingly.
“Thank you.” Then he said, “Okay, I’ll call you as soon as I can get a batch of the vaccine to you.”
“Thanks, Eric.”
“You’re welcome, you son of a bitch.”
“Later, when the worst is over, maybe we can have a normal conversation again, yes?”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll call you.”
Cage broke the connection and went back out front to take the next patient.
CHAPTER 40
Carlucci felt like they were bringing Caroline home from the hospital. In a way, that’s what they were doing. She was still weak, though walking around a bit now, and she’d agreed to stay at their house for several days rather than go back to her apartment. Andrea had extended her leave from the law firm, and even Carlucci was taking time off from work.
They were all four walking around in a dead woman’s apartment he could not forget that, though he had never actually met Nikki and it felt awkward. Andrea was fussing over Caroline, trying to make sure they had everything together. Cage had arranged for a car to take them to one of the police gates; there, outside the Tenderloin, would be a police car to take them home.
Cage came up to him, glanced at the two women. “I’d like to talk to you in private for a minute.”
Carlucci nodded. They went out into the hall, which was deserted, and Cage closed the apartment door.
“About this vaccine,” Cage said. “I don’t know whether the cops are going to get an early crack at it or not, but I’m going to be getting some in the next day or two. So, if it looks like it’ll be a while, you and Andrea can come by the clinic and I can take care of it for you.”
“How the hell are you getting vaccine?” he asked Cage. Cage smiled. “Like everything else, it’s who you know.” down from New Hong Kong, and it shouldn’t be too long before their people get production going in labs here on the ground.”
Carlucci shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m sure I’ll find out when I get back.”
“Think about it, though,” Cage said. “I’ll even go out to your place if you want. Caroline was lucky. Your other daughter wasn’t. Most people won’t be.”
Carlucci nodded. “I’ll find out what’s happening through the department, and then I’ll talk to Andrea about it. Thanks. I appreciate the offer.”
Cage shrugged and smiled. “I told you before, when you got Nikki into St. Anthony’s, that I owed you.”
“Not anymore,” Carlucci told him. “You’ve more than paid back with Caroline.”
“I didn’t do anything. There wasn’t anything I could do. It was her own immune system that did the work.”
“No,” Carlucci insisted. “It was more than that. You stayed with her, you took care of her. You kept her alive. If you hadn’t been there, she would have died.”
“Maybe.”
Carlucci knew there was no “maybe” to it. Cage had saved his daughter’s life. He stepped forward, put out his arms, and hugged him. Cage didn’t seem completely comfortable with it, but he didn’t pull away. Carlucci released him and stepped back, grinning.
“I’m Italian,” he said.
Cage smiled, maybe a little sheepishly. Then his expression got serious again. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. Some things that have gotten lost in the past few weeks.”
Carlucci nodded. “Go ahead.”
“The first time we met, you were trying to find out about Cancer Cell, and I was trying to figure out if there was some disease about to break out. Well, we know about the disease, and Cancer Cell doesn’t exist anymore. But there’s still a lot of weird shit around, a lot of things that just plain stink. I don’t know whether you’re digging into anything anymore, but—”
“I’m not done with Cancer Cell,” Carlucci told him. “What do you mean, they don’t exist anymore?”
“Everything they had was in the Core. Everything got destroyed when the army went in. I’m not sure how many of them even survived. They didn’t all come out voluntarily.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Caroline. When she feels up to it, ask her about what happened when she was in there with them. Food for thought.”
�
��I will.”
“But there’s more. I don’t know if there’s a connection, but all this crap about New Hong Kong identifying Core Fever and having a vaccine for it, Christ, that stinks too. It’s too damn much of a coincidence. I thought at first that maybe they were just trying to capitalize on Core Fever, and this would be some cooked-up vaccine that they’d sell to the government but wouldn’t do any good. But that can’t be. If it turned out to be useless, there’d be hell to pay, and even New Hong Kong can’t afford that much bad publicity. So it’s got to be a real vaccine for Core Fever.”
“Well, I’m not done with New Hong Kong, either. I’ve still got a murder case that’s tied in somehow to all this.” He paused, wondering how much he should tell Cage. But he felt as if he had to tell someone, and he couldn’t tell Andrea or Caroline. Not yet. “And another murder case,” he finally said. “My daughter Tina.”
“Your daughter?” Cage said, confused.
Carlucci nodded. “A few days before she came down with Core Fever, someone showed up at her apartment claiming to be with St. Anthony’s and claiming that there was some kind of supplemental vaccination booster program going on. And this guy gave her an injection of something.”
“Jesus Christ.” Cage looked stunned. “There was no ‘booster’ program, was there?”
Carlucci shook his head.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, yet. I’m going to do everything I can to find out.” He felt suddenly very tired, and he sighed heavily. “But first I’m going to get Caroline back home, and then I’ve got a funeral to arrange.”
“I’m sorry,” Cage said.
Carlucci nodded. Cage understood; he’d lost someone, too.
CHAPTER 41
“I’ve found her.”
It was Istvan. Carlucci was in his office, his second day back at work, four days after Tina’s funeral. “Where is she?”
“No,” Istvan said. “Not on the receiver.” He paused for a moment. “You remember the place, the last time we talked?”
In the middle of the rioting, the room on the third floor of the vacant building near the DMZ. “Yes,” Carlucci said. “I remember.”
“Meet me there. Tonight, ten o’clock.”
“All right.”
Then Istvan hung up. Carlucci put the receiver down, staring at it. Istvan was probably right to be cautious. Ten o’clock. It was going to be a long wait.
By nine Carlucci was so alone in a dark, secluded section of Golden Gate Park, near the Panhandle, that he couldn’t see how anyone could be tailing him. From the cover of a small stand of bushes at the edge of the park he watched Fulton Street, looking west. When one of the electric buses appeared a few blocks away, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked to the bus stop just before the bus arrived. He boarded alone, then got off under the multilevel freeway ramps near Van Ness.
From there he made his way on foot along streets that had been torn up and half burned by the riots. Few street lights were working, so the streets were lit by lights from apartment and restaurant windows and dozens of barrel fires fueled by wood from buildings that had been abandoned long ago or damaged in the recent disturbances. He wasn’t exactly comfortable walking the streets, but everyone was wary, so they all tended to avoid each other. Finally he reached the border of the Tenderloin, worked his way past the ruins of the old quarantine perimeter, then up a few blocks to the vacant building.
The entire block was deserted and dark, lit only by a couple of amber street lights. Carlucci remained outside the building for a few minutes, listening, watching. Then he ducked into the entrance and crawled through the opening he and Istvan had found before. Once inside, he felt his way to the stairs, then up to the third floor. Faint light came in through the windows, casting the vaguest of shadows, showing the ruined furniture. But there was no movement.
“I’m here,” Istvan said, stepping out from the back corner. He was alone.
“I was hoping she would be with you.”
Istvan shook his head. “She’s scared, Lieutenant. She won’t tell me why.”
If she was scared, then she was probably the person he needed to talk to.
“What’s her name?”
Istvan shook his head again. “I promised her I wouldn’t say. I promised I wouldn’t bring you to her.”
“Then what the hell am I doing here?”
“You’re going to talk to me.”
“Talk to you.”
“Yes. You’re going to tell me how to convince her that it’s safe for her to meet with you.”
“And how am I going to do that?”
“You’re going to tell me exactly why you’re looking for her, and what you’ll expect from her, what you’ll do to her. The truth. Then I’ll talk to her again, and she’ll decide. If she decides yes, I’ll make arrangements for a meeting. If she decides no, our business is ended.”
“I told you,” Carlucci said. “I’m investigating the murder of her friend. She’s the only lead we’ve got left.”
We just want to know if she knows anything about Naomi’s murder. If she’s so scared that she’s gone to ground, I’d guess she does.” He shrugged. “That’s it. 1 just want to talk to her about it.”
“And if she does know something? What will you expect of her? Testimony in court?”
“I don’t know. You know that, Istvan. It depends on what she knows.”
“And if she does know something crucial, and you want her to testify, and she doesn’t want to, will you take her in with force?”
“No. I’ll try to convince her, but I won’t try to force her to do anything she doesn’t agree to. You know my word is good.”
“Is it? How many times have you promised not to ask for my help again?” Istvan looked out the window at the deserted street below, and then he shook his head. “Go,” he said. “I’ll call you when I know.”
CHAPTER 42
They were sitting on several hundred doses of Core Fever vaccine, and they didn’t know what to do with it. Cage, Paul, and Madelaine were at the table in the staff room, surrounded by beer and soda bottles and melting ice they’d removed from the refrigerators to make room for the vaccine. The fans were blowing, but they had the door closed and locked, and the room was hot. If word got out on the street that they had Core Fever vaccine, they’d be overrun.
“Okay,” Madelaine said. “Here’s an idea. We don’t tell anyone about it. But every patient who comes in, we vaccinate. Whatever they come in for, whatever we do for them, we also give them a shot of the vaccine. If they’re sick with something, it’s easy, we tell them it’s an antibiotic. Same thing if we’re treating a wound of some kind. A broken arm, ah, let me see, I don’t know… okay, we tell them it’s a shot of some special hormone that promotes bone healing or something like that. We improvise. We have Franzee keep a running list up front so we don’t vaccinate anyone twice. We get enough people coming through here we’ll go through the vaccine pretty damn quickly anyway.”
It actually sounded like a pretty good idea to Cage, and he said so. He looked at Paul. “What do you think?”
Paul sighed. “I suppose. If someone already has Core Fever, the vaccine isn’t going to do them any more harm. It’s a wasted dose for us, but that’s a lot better than what would happen if we made an announcement. But this is all bullshit. The feds should be starting here, vaccinating as many people as they can as quickly as they can. They’d be able to provide the security to keep things under control.”
“Of course it’s bullshit,” Cage said. “But we do what we can with what we’ve got. We should be glad we’ve got anything the way those bastards are.”
Paul gave a twisted smile. “Friends in high places.”
“Better than nothing.”
Paul shrugged. “All right, let’s do it that way.”
“Good,” Cage said. “And we’ll start right now with the two of you, and then you can send Franzee and Buck back here and I’ll vaccinate them. When Mike and the o
thers come in on their next shifts, we’ll take care of them, too.”
“What about you?” Madelaine asked.
“I’m going to pass,” Cage said. “If I haven’t gotten it by now, with my exposure, I never will.”
Madelaine shook her head. “That’s stupid, Cage.”
“No it’s not. I really believe I don’t need it. Someone else does.”
After vaccinating all four of the others, Cage stayed for a while in the staff room, sitting alone at the table with another beer, one of the fans blowing on the back of his head. He missed Caroline. He missed her a lot.
He missed Nikki, too, so much sometimes that he wanted to smash his head against a wall. But Nikki was dead, and he knew he would never see her again. Caroline was still alive, he knew she was out there, but he had not seen or talked to her since her parents had taken her back to their house.
He was confused about his feelings for her. They had not known each other that long, and most of the time they had spent together had been while she was deathly ill. So how well could he know her? There was guilt along with the confusion. Irrational, he knew that, but he felt it nonetheless. Guilt over Nikki, who had died not that long ago. They had been friends, deep and close friends, and he had loved her.
He shook his head and finished off the beer. There was too much going on even to think about getting involved with someone, especially someone who might not return the feelings. He didn’t know what, if anything, Caroline thought about him. He had been her doctor, though he had never really thought of her as a patient. So, better not to call her, better not to pursue anything.
Christ. It was all excuses. He was hopeless. Cage thought about having another beer, then decided against it. He would work for a while in the clinic instead. Vaccinate some people against Core Fever. Save some lives. That was, after all, why he was a doctor, wasn’t it?
CHAPTER 43
The DMZ was a mess. The disintegration of the quarantine and the rioting that followed had left chunks of brick and stone and shattered concrete littering the sidewalks and alleys, some of it swept into piles, some not. Most of the broken glass had been cleared away, and plywood was nailed over half the windows on the street level. Building walls were pocked with bullet holes, and rust-colored patches of dried blood were everywhere.
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