Pathogen

by Jessica L. Webb

  “Kate?”

  Andy was at the passenger side door, looking in at Kate, concern in her grey eyes.

  Kate looked down at her hand, still clenched around the door handle. She pulled at it, felt the metal give way, and a gust of cold air swept in through the open door.

  “Are you all right?” Andy said. “You’re so pale.”

  “I’m fine…I’m good,” Kate said as she got out of the truck. She couldn’t meet Andy’s eyes. “You have Dr. Din on standby for collecting samples, right?”

  “Yes, he’s with Ferris at the RCMP office,” Andy said, frowning. “That is, if Richard James allows it.”

  “Let’s see what we can do,” Kate said.

  As they approached the massive front door, it opened. A man in a long-sleeved pink polo shirt and neatly pressed khaki pants held the door open and smiled politely. “Sergeant Wyles and Dr. Morrison, Mr. James said he will receive you in his study.”

  Kate and Andy followed the man down the hall. The house was magazine perfect, the wood and glass and stone of the exterior brought inside to reflect warmth and opulence and a distinct tone of grand comfort. Kate barely noticed the details, only that the house made her feel small. She had never been in such a grand house, had never been received anywhere, and was feeling more than a little intimidated at the thought of trying to persuade the owner of this house to do anything he didn’t want to. Kate felt her lack of confidence acutely, a hard, immovable line down her chest.

  As the man led them through an open door, Kate felt Andy touch her wrist, then trace her thumb in a quick, light pattern across Kate’s palm. It reminded Kate of the first day they’d met, the first time Andy had touched her and the amazing, confusing, instantaneous connection between them. Kate remembered also why Andy had touched her. Against Andy’s explicit orders, Kate had slammed her fist into a patient’s chest, restarting his heart. She remembered being so sure of her actions, so confident it was the right thing to do. Now Kate caught Andy’s eye, silently thanking her for her absolute confidence.

  Richard James sat behind an expansive wooden desk in front of a large window that threw him into dark relief. He was an average-sized man, generically good looking, almost nicely forgettable. As Kate and Andy were shown into the room, Richard stood immediately, came around the desk to shake their hands, and then invited them to sit in one of the chairs set casually around a small coffee table. Kate was surprised and more than a little relieved by the gesture. She wasn’t exactly sure how the conversation would go with Richard behind his giant desk. As she sat in the chair, surveying the man in front of her, Kate thought this was the exact opposite gesture to what Michael Cardiff would have made.

  “Sergeant Wyles, I see you found another way in,” Richard said as a greeting. Kate noticed he didn’t seem angry, just very, very cautious.

  “Dr. Morrison can be persuasive,” Andy said, matching his tone.

  “Well then, Dr. Morrison, perhaps you’d like to tell me why you’re here. What does my house have to do with the virus circulating through Hidden Valley?”

  He was direct. Kate appreciated directness.

  “The Public Health Emergency Management team, of which Sergeant Wyles and I are both members, is trying to track down the source of the original viral outbreak. Given the data that has been collected, four of the original five cases can be traced to your property.”

  This was obviously news to the man. He sat up in his chair. “Who? Tessa, obviously, but who are the others?”

  Kate shook her head. “That’s information I can’t share with you, Mr. James. I am bound to keep their confidentiality just as stringently as I keep Tessa’s.” It was a not-too-subtle reminder, if he needed it, of her absolute neutrality.

  “Yes, of course. I shouldn’t even have asked,” he said. “I’m just shocked to hear it, that’s all.” He took a moment to digest the news. “But isn’t this thing like any other flu bug? Doesn’t it just, I don’t know, sweep into a community and then out again?” He waved his hand vaguely in the air to show how easily it could descend and retreat. Kate wished with everything in her soul it could possibly be that easy.

  “No, it’s not like any other seasonal influenza. It’s more like salmonella. There’s a point of contamination that can be tracked and then isolated. We’re hoping to do the same for the virus.”

  It was a lie. The HV1A virus was nothing like salmonella, but the PHEM team was trying to isolate the point of infection. Kate knew she had left out the most unique and alarming feature of HV1A virus, but it needed to remain with as few people as possible.

  “And you think you might find it here? In my home?” Richard asked, a perfect wrinkle of worry across his forehead.

  “On your property, yes.” Again, Kate wanted to try to give the most accurate information without revealing too much.

  Richard leaned forwards in his chair again, running his hand over his mouth. “What do you need from me?” he finally asked.

  “We’d like to bring in a team to take samples,” Kate said, without elaborating.

  “What does that look like?”

  “They’ll come in biohazard suits and collect dirt and dust, mainly, and take swabs from common surfaces,” Andy added, better than Kate at evasive responses.

  “In the house,” he clarified.

  Andy kept her eyes on Richard, her expression unreadable. “And the outlying buildings.”

  Richard held the look, obviously thinking about the virus in his home and on his property. And how it had gotten there.

  “How many staff do you have, Mr. James?” Andy jumped in.

  Kate mentally shook her head. Why had she even bothered using these diversionary tactics on Andy? Andy had them perfected.

  “In the house? Six regular staff. If you want to include the whole property, closer to twenty.”

  Kate made a mental picture of that number of staff, working and interacting on this massive farm. She thought about Chase Noonan and Keith Grange, working on more than one farm. It didn’t make sense. Out of a possible thirty people potentially exposed to a virulent bug, only three were sick? She considered her conversation with John at the NML, how different it could look if the target was a few people as opposed to an entire community.

  Kate tuned back into the conversation.

  “You have my permission, of course you do,” Richard was saying. “But why didn’t you share this with me yesterday?”

  “It wasn’t information I really wanted to share over an intercom, Mr. James,” Andy said.

  “You must think I’m a fool, acting the way I did yesterday. I will admit that Michael Cardiff’s bid for MP has me more than a little paranoid.”

  Kate felt Andy shift, very slightly, almost casually in her chair. Kate noticed because Andy didn’t fidget, certainly not in front of someone she was questioning. Going with her gut, Kate pressed him on the subject.

  “May I ask why?”

  “A long history. You’d have to be a resident of Hidden Valley to truly understand how interconnected everything is out here.” He looked back and forth between them. “It’s not a very interesting story, I assure you. Michael and I disagree on a great number of things, and at the end of the day, I just don’t trust him to do right by me, my family, or this community.” He paused, like he was considering saying more. Then he turned to Andy. “Will you be getting started on the samples today? I’d like this done before my wife and daughter get home this afternoon.”

  “Right now, if possible,” Andy said, pulling out her phone. Kate assumed she was texting Ferris and Dr. Din the go-ahead.

  “I’ll have my property manager show you around.” He stood up and picked up the phone on his desk, speaking into it quickly before setting it down again. “His name is Tony, he’ll meet you out front.” Richard reached forwards to shake their hands again. “Let me know what else I can do to help.”

  Ferris pulled up outside the massive James house less than fifteen minutes later. Dr. Din began pulling on biohazar
d gear, a puffy, thin white suit with a built-in face shield and a rubber mask which looked shockingly uncomfortable. Dr. Din didn’t seem to care as he moved efficiently, preparing his tool kit full of swabs and bottles and clear evidence bags. Ferris also began the process of putting on the suit. A second pair of eyes, Kate assumed, as well as a measure of protection.

  After seeing Dr. Din and Ferris off with a clearly suspicious Tony, Kate and Andy got back in the Yukon and began their trip back to town. Just down the road from the James Ranch, they pulled up to a flashing red light strung across the road, announcing to nobody else that it was a four-way stop. Andy leaned over suddenly and kissed Kate on the cheek.

  “What was that for?” Kate asked, laughing, grateful Andy knew how to pull her out of her own head, as usual.

  “I like working with you. It’s very helpful to have you there reading my mind when I’m questioning someone.”

  “Well, it’s probably good you didn’t decide to make out with me at the James residence.”

  Andy leaned in again and kissed Kate on the lips this time, lingering just long enough for Kate’s heart to begin racing in her chest before she pulled away again.

  “Too many cameras,” Andy said, eyes shining.

  “I didn’t see any cameras.”

  “That’s why you’re the doctor and I’m the cop.” Andy put the car in gear again, surging through the empty intersection.

  They were quiet as Andy wound their way back towards Valley General. A few fat drops of rain splattered against the windshield before the sun made a brief, bright appearance.

  “How long until the samples are back?” Kate asked.

  “Two to three days minimum, I’ve been told.”

  “And until then?” Kate asked, curious where the investigation led next.

  “We’re still looking into how the virus was transported. We’re hoping it will give us some physical evidence to follow. We wanted an RCMP officer with Dr. Din, to be on the lookout for anything that looks like it could have been used to transport the virus into Hidden Valley. We’ve still got very little to go on, no clear targets or motives or patterns in who was infected.”

  “And now that it spreads person to person, there’s no way to even guess if anyone was exposed intentionally or accidentally,” Kate added, following Andy’s thought process.

  “Exactly, which means a full ER for you and virtually meaningless data for us.”

  Kate skipped from an image of the packed ER to the graph she’d shown the team at NML to the boxes of files she’d mined on her first day in Hidden Valley. She thought about the first cases, the tenuous links they’d found between the original four cases. She wanted to trace it backwards, understand the when and where of their exposure to the HV1A virus.

  “We need to know how long.” Kate blurted the half-formed thought into the silence.

  “What do you mean?”

  “How long from exposure to the onset of symptoms. It would give you a timeline, a rough estimate of when the original four were exposed to the virus. From there…”

  “It could tell us where they were,” Andy finished the sentence for her.

  “Maybe. Hopefully.” Kate cautioned.

  “Do they have that information? The NML, can they figure that out?”

  “When we get back to the hospital, I’ll call Dr. Levesque.”

  “Good, let me know what you find out,” Andy said. The hint of the playfulness in her tone was gone.

  As they pulled into the Valley General parking lot and walked quietly beside each other, Kate’s thoughts were already in the building, two floors up with her patients, when she heard Andy mutter under her breath beside her.

  “Here we go.”

  Kate looked up at Andy’s stony expression, then saw the figure who had detached itself from the shadow of the front entrance. She couldn’t place him for a moment, then she realized it was Paul Sealy from the Squamish Herald.

  “Sergeant Wyles, could you comment on the team of scientists who are currently investigating the James Ranch in connection with the viral outbreak?”

  Andy kept walking until she was right in front of the reporter. “Did you get your invitation to the press conference this afternoon?”

  “Yes, uh, thanks for that,” Paul replied, somewhat awkwardly. Kate kept her face neutral, though she wanted to smile.

  “Then we’ll see you this afternoon,” Andy said politely but dismissively as she continued walking into the building.

  “The team led by Dr. Ahmed Din, currently on the James farm. Could you comment on what’s happening right now?” he tried again.

  Andy stopped and pinned down the man with an unflinching glare. “Let me guess, you followed the van but couldn’t get onto the property.”

  Paul didn’t answer, just lifted his chin somewhat defiantly. He was very young, Kate realized, having been fooled by the beard.

  “We’ll see you this afternoon,” Andy said again, this time firmly, and kept walking into the hospital. As Kate hurried to keep up, she saw out of the corner of her eye as Paul scribbled something furiously into his notebook.

  “Always making friends, aren’t you?” Kate said under her breath.

  “You know me,” Andy muttered.

  Kate stopped at the main desk to pick up her compulsory mask and gown when she heard Andy for the second time.

  “And again…”

  A second later and Michael Cardiff was on top of them. “We need to talk,” Cardiff said, his voice an angry hiss.

  “Okay,” Andy responded calmly.

  “Not here,” he said, leaning in slightly. Kate felt the inherent threat in the gesture, even when it wasn’t directed at her.

  “I can speak with you here or in four hours at the RCMP office downtown. Which would you prefer?” Andy said. Either Cardiff hadn’t learned bullying Andy would get him nowhere, or it had never failed him before and he had no backup plan. Kate imagined it was the latter.

  Cardiff looked around at the number of people moving around them. They had caught more than one person’s attention, Kate noticed. Cardiff and Andy were difficult people to overlook.

  “I imagine this is not information you want out in the general public, Sergeant Wyles. Please be assured that I keep your best interest at heart also when I ask for a private meeting.” His voice had lost the hiss, replaced by the slick politician.

  Andy’s eyes grew hard but her tone never changed. “You’re right. Follow me.”

  With a quick glance at Kate, Andy turned and walked towards the office that had become PHEM headquarters. Kate picked up her mask and gown and followed, sure in that moment Andy wanted her there. A witness perhaps, or another set of eyes. Or to read her mind the way she’d done with Richard James just an hour earlier.

  Andy took a seat quickly, her back rigid, her eyes not betraying a hint of the contempt she held for the man. Once everyone was seated, Andy spread her hands on the desk, gesturing for him to get started.

  “I’m hearing rumours that the virus that’s spreading in Hidden Valley was released intentionally,” Cardiff said, eyeing Andy very closely as he said it. Kate quickly covered her own shock, not nearly as practiced as Andy in the art of neutrality.

  “Part of the RCMP’s role in a public health crisis is to manage circulating rumours,” Andy said, almost immediately. “I’d like to know where you heard this.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Cardiff said with brisk wave of his hand, still trying to read Andy’s reaction. She wasn’t giving him anything.

  “I’ll let you know if it matters, Mr. Cardiff,” Andy said sharply. “Where did you hear this rumour?”

  Cardiff stared at her for a long time, passively attempting to engage Andy in a pissing contest. Andy kept eye contact, pulled out her notepad and a pen, and the sound of them smacking on the table in front of her was loud in the silence.

  “A business associate I know whose brother-in-law is on the hospital board said he heard something,” Cardiff finally offered up,
watching intently as Andy scribbled in her notebook.

  “Is that it?” Andy asked, looking up again.

  “Yes.” He seemed taken aback at the casualness of her question.

  “I will follow up on it,” Andy said, flipping shut her notebook, making as if to rise out of her seat.

  “I’d like a confirmation or a denial, Sergeant Wyles,” Cardiff said, the anger back in his tone.

  “I can’t, Mr. Cardiff, as I’m sure you already know. The Public Health Emergency Management team has strict protocols which we are following rigidly in the face of this crisis. Circulating rumours, such as the one you are presenting us with right now, is one way to induce panic in a community already in a heightened state. Rest assured I keep Hidden Valley’s residents’, who I understand you hope to make your constituents, best interests at heart when I refuse to elaborate.”

  Kate felt like cheering.

  Cardiff clenched his hand into a fist, then almost immediately relaxed it. “I suppose I should thank you for your time,” he finally said, the insult evident in his tone.

  Andy said nothing.

  He turned suddenly to Kate, leaning back in his chair, aiming for a casualness that fooled nobody. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me anything either, will you, Dr. Morrison?”

  “I’m bound by the same protocols that Sergeant Wyles just spoke about, Mr. Cardiff,” Kate said quietly.

  “Closing ranks, I see,” the man said, smirking almost suggestively.

  What is it with these people? Kate thought as the anger rose, unbidden, in her chest.

  “Are you questioning our motives, Mr. Cardiff?” Kate asked.

  Cardiff didn’t say anything, leaning back in his chair with a look on his face Kate was sure he wouldn’t have used on Andy. As it was, Kate could see Andy’s shoulders tense, her jaw lock, the protective instinct triggered. Kate had a brief moment to be thankful she hadn’t told Andy about the incident with Mona Kellar in the stairwell before she focused back on Cardiff.

  Kate tried to end it. “The situation in Hidden Valley is far too critical for you or any other resident to not be a hundred percent confident in the team leading them through this crisis. Any concerns you have should go to my supervisor, Staff Sergeant James Finns.” Kate paused. “Or I suppose it could go directly to your father-in-law,” she finished quietly.