Family Secrets: Books 5-8

by Virginia Kantra

  What now?

  Doctors White and Gant will continue to study the blood and tissue samples weve taken thus far, and Dr. Helm will assist the nurses in patient care. I cant stress strongly enough how important accurate documentation of their recovery or rejection of the antibiotic is to our research of this new disease.

  And what are you going to do?

  She stiffened, more than a little. Yesterday I sent unprepared personnel into the field to collect data. That was a mistake. As soon as all the deputies who participated in the search have received a proper dose of antibiotic, as a precautionary measure, Im going to examine the homes and workplaces Deputy Morris visited yesterday.

  You are not! Luke insisted before he had a chance to think about what was coming out of his mouth.

  Faiths finely shaped eyebrows raised gently. Excuse me?

  Its not safe, he argued in a calmer voice.

  This is my responsibility, Luke, she said, finally reverting to her use of his given name. Im certainly more prepared for the task than this boy was. I should have done that job myself, instead of sending civilians to search for something they dont understand.

  Mice and birds, Luke snapped. Whats not to understand?

  I dont know, Faith confessed.

  Luke glanced back at the deputy on the hospital bed. Faith was right. Deputy Morris was a boy. Is he going to make it?

  I cant say just yet, Faith said pragmatically, and then she turned away too quickly.

  Luke followed her. Wait. He caught up with her easily. Are you really going into the field to ferret out this contagion by yourself?

  Yes, she said, so sternly he knew she was gearing up for a fight.

  Luke did not argue with her, not this time. Im going with you.

  Five

  F aith couldnt imagine why Luke had insisted on coming along, but she said nothing to dissuade him. He was very proprietary about his patients and his town, and had been since her arrival, so she supposed he wanted to be involved in all aspects of the investigation.

  Besides, she had a feeling they could argue all morning on this point and she would not win.

  He drove her to the house where Angela Carter and her son Benjy, both patients in the Carson County Clinic, resided. It was one of the homes Tyler Morris had examined yesterday. Faith was determined. If she didnt find anything here, shed move on to another house the deputy had examined. If it took all day, all night, all week, she would find the source of the virus the media called Rockland Fever.

  Again Faith saw spitting icy flakes. They pelted Lukes windshield at irregular intervals, not enough to call a snow shower but a definite sign that winter was coming. The temperature was rising slowly, and it would soon be a few degrees too warm for snow, but what about tonight and tomorrow night? This would not be a quickly solved case; she could very well be here for weeks. Once the antigen was isolated and they knew if the development of a cure or a vaccine was possible, she would like to take her time and examine all the patients more carefully. She wanted to follow their progress as they recovered. It wasnt every day that a new and lethal virus surfaced.

  The sheriff followed in his own patrol car. Talbot had been every bit as insistent about the matter as Luke had been. She could have told them both that she didnt need assistance, but neither of them would have listened to her. Men.

  Faith felt more confident of winning an argument with the sheriff than with Luke. Something about the small-town doctor made her struggle to maintain her usual composed demeanor.

  When she and Luke went inside the Carter house, each of them properly outfitted in protective gear that covered them from head to toe, she insisted that the lawman remain behind. Sheriff Talbot did not argue with her. Perhaps he was more intelligent than he appeared at first glance.

  Angela Carter was a single mother, a widow Luke said, who lived in a small, neat house with her young son. At the front door Faith began a systematic search. Now and then she glanced at Luke, who seemed to be doing nothing more than watching her. If that was his only purpose in coming along, hed wasted his time. She didnt need a watchdog, and she never had. For as long as she could remember, she had been able to take care of herself.

  For as long as she could remember.

  After a few awkward moments, she dismissed Luke Winston and threw herself into the examination of the house. The only clutter was the occasional baby toy that had been deposited by a chair or under a table. There was no evidence of a rodent invasion, no birdsdomestic or wildinside or outside the house. As Faith mentally dismissed her audience and threw herself into the search for the contagion that had affected the entire county, the pieces of this maddening puzzle began to drift and twist and rearrange.

  She was missing something. Something important. Never in her life had she confronted a case so infuriating. Science made sense in every way. It was logical. The answers were always right there, waiting to be discovered. Why was this puzzle so difficult?

  When she had been through the small house twice, she returned to the kitchen and placed herself in the center of the room. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the complete silence that filled the house, and she let her mind go.

  Her mind was the one thing she could depend on, no matter what. Everything, everything, could be explained rationally. There was a discovery waiting to be made, and she was close. So close. She recalled in great detail everything she had seen in the makeshift laboratory in Lukes clinic. Every blood sample, every tissue sample. The physical reaction of every patient to the antibiotic she had administered. There was a source for the virus, an end to the epidemic, and it was here in this house. Somewhere, somehow, it was here.

  Luke was here, too. She was aware of his presence, and yet he did not disturb her. He remained quiet and motionless, and he waited on the opposite side of the room, as if he knew he would disturb her if he stood too close. For a moment, just a moment, she was vaguely distracted, as if a butterfly flitted and danced in her peripheral vision. Yes, she did feel something awkward and unexpected for Luke Winston, but it wasnt real. She had fabricated a spark, a trill of passion, because shed been thinking of babies lately. That was all, that was the explanation. What she felt wasnt real. It couldnt be.

  Her eyes flew open. Not real. Its not organic, she whispered.

  What? Luke took a step toward her.

  She looked at him, the revelation that had just come to her making her heart pound furiously. The source of the virus, she said breathlessly. It was manufactured. Thats why the deputies didnt find any evidence of diseased mice or birds in the patients homes. The virus was manufactured in a laboratory.

  How can you be sure? Luke asked, his gloved hands flexing, the eyes beyond the mask growing hard. She couldnt blame him for being upset. An epidemic was a disaster, but it was a natural disaster. What would bring bioterrorism to Carson County?

  There was always something about the samples I studied that didnt ring true, Faith said, excitement making her voice just a touch too loud. The fact that so many were affected at once, that they lived miles apart, that the symptoms were exactly the same in all cases. She began to glance around the kitchen. She would have to search the house again, and this timeshe had no idea wh
at she was looking for. How would such a virus be delivered? Different neighborhoods had been affected, all at approximately the same time. With a new virus, those first afflicted usually trickled in one at a time over a period of weeks, even months. Luke had had twenty-two patients in a span of four days.

  Her search quickly took her to a stack of mail on the kitchen table. The stack had been disturbed, which, if she were correct, explained Tyler Morriss affliction.

  She found the offending envelope, an advertisement for a vacation resort in Florida. When she very carefully removed the slick flyer, a single page featuring an appealing photograph of turquoise water and white sand, a small amount of greenish-yellow powder drifted to the table.

  Faith turned her head to stare at Luke, and for the first time she was really and truly glad that he was here, that she was not alone.

  Her voice remained soft as she told him, The homes and workplaces of your patients must be evacuated and cordoned off immediately. Anyone whos been in an affected area must be brought into the clinic for treatment. Her heart pounded too hard. Luke, we dont know how many of these time bombs are out there. She imagined mail left unopened, or disposed of improperly, that greenish-yellow powder just waiting to be inhaled.

  Ill talk to the sheriff, Luke said.

  Hes going to need help, Faith said as they walked toward the front door. Ill make a few phone calls.

  They stepped onto the front porch, and Sheriff Talbot moved anxiously forward.

  Faith drew her mask down and off. Effective immediately, this town is quarantined.

  Luke had thought his life and his town hectic before, but things very quickly got worse.

  Bioterrorism. It was not a word he had ever expected to hear in relation to Carson County. The National Guard had arrived within hours of Faiths phone call, along with two government officials who set up shop in an abandoned building half a mile from the clinic. The State Patrol blocked the roads out of town, and military helicopters occasionally flew overhead. Their job was to keep people out of Carson County; and more important, to keep the virus in.

  A haz-mat team would soon arrive to sweep the area and contain the contaminant. Every last grain had to be found.

  What had been news became big news. Since the area was quarantined, the three reporters who had remained in town after the initial wave of interest were getting exclusive stories. Since they werent going anywhere anytime soon, they communicated by phone, fax and laptop. By afternoon the news was on every channel, along with an old photo of Faith and a snapshot of Luke that someone had dug up.

  The resort advertised in the mailing Faith had found did not exist. The only fingerprints found on the envelopes and the slick ads had belonged to the victims who were dead or ailing. Postmarks revealed that the mailings had been made from a Tampa, Florida post office over a period of four days, which accounted for the timing of the appearance of symptoms. The FBI would continue to investigate, but Luke suspected that investigation would take them nowhere.

  Three unopened envelopes had been found, by lucky people who had either been out of town or who had a bad habit of letting their mail sit for days at a time.

  One other deputy became ill, but he did not become as sick as Tyler Morris. Faith treated and admitted him. The clinic, which had been overcrowded since this epidemic began, was filled to overflowing. Soldiers, deputies, patients, doctorsyou couldnt turn around without running into someone. Sometimes literally.

  Benjy was moved into Angelas room, and they were both better for it.

  Faith worked nonstop, as dedicated as hed ever seen any woman. Or any man. She was organized, she was efficient. And man, did she know how to take charge. At the moment, this was her clinic and her people, and he didnt mind at all. She was a wonder to watch.

  Not that he had much time to watch her, or anything else.

  Other people in Carson County continued to suffer from ordinary illnesses and accidents. For the past week, Luke had been able to treat them over the phone or via Molly, but some things could not be put off. Danny Mann broke his finger, and Lydia Potters coughjust an everyday annoying cough, thank Godwas getting worse. No one wanted to enter the clinic, not when it was filled with very sick people and heavily guarded by armed men.

  Luke set up a makeshift clinic in a vacant building two blocks down from the Carson County Clinic. Molly assisted, leaving the Bozeman nurses and their own Betsy to work at the clinic with Faith and her team. Together he and Molly managed to see a dozen patients in the temporary clinic. He would never have thought an afternoon like this to be calming, but it was nice to get back into something resembling a routine.

  Though he told his patients that all would be well, they were scared, and rightly so. Luke assured them wholeheartedly and honestly, knowing Faith was doing her best. He could sincerely tell his patients that the town was in the best of hands.

  When the last patient had been seen, he and Molly locked the front door of their temporary clinic. Hed set a broken finger and prescribed cough syrup and antibiotics and a cream for Joe Petersons persistent rash. Hed listened to a dozen heartbeats and listened to frightened concerns about what was to come. His day had been tame, he knew, compared to what Faith had likely been through. He did not envy her, reliving this scenario again and again. But that was her jobassisting in the fight of one epidemic after another.

  He and Molly walked toward the clinic. For a few moments, they said nothing. Their minds were in the same place, though.

  Think well make it, Luke? Molly asked.

  Of course we will.

  She snorted, as if she saw right through his outward confidence and discovered the hidden doubts. I keep thinking about this movie I saw once, where a bunch of people got sick and no one knew what the disease was. It turned out to be created in a lab, just like this one. In the end it killed everyone. Well, almost everyone. The star survived. I think there was a sequel, but it was pretty bad. Anyway, the important point is, everyone but the movie star died.

  Thats fiction, Molly. Fiction, Luke said.

  Yeah, but they say truth is stranger than fiction, and Im beginning to believe it.

  She had a point. Why on earth would anyone want to attack here? There were no military facilities anywhere near Carson County. The only government here was that of a small county and an insignificant town. There was no logical reason for them to be attacked.

  As they reached the clinic, Molly headed for the entrance. Luke caught her arm. Go on home, he said. You havent left this place in days.

  I took a couple of hours yesterday. Molly brushed a strand of wind-blown hair away from her face. Im fine.

  None of them was fine, but Luke didnt share that observation with his nurse. Sleep in your own bed, hug Harry, eat something sitting down

  Later, she said, reaching for the door and brushing past a very young private who recognized both Molly and Luke and let them enter the building without question.

  Tonight, Luke insisted. I want you to go home tonight for at least eight hours.

  As they stepped onto the elevator, Molly gave him a grim smile. After you, chief.

  Faith had spent most of the afternoon studying the lethal powder theyd found in Angela Carters home, and in many others. Fortunately her antibiotic was an effective treatment, as long as the infected person received it soon enough. Deputy Morris was stable thoug
h not as improved as shed like, but the others were doing well.

  As long as there were no more cases, theyd be fine. Of course, the hazardous materials team that had arrived with the military would search every home and business in the county, to make sure there were no more envelopes of this contagion out there, waiting to be inhaled or handled with unprotected hands.

  She kept the virulent powder in a Plexiglas container, wore protective gear at all times, and had chased everyone from the lab hours ago. Here in the lab she could ignore the melee that was going on all around her and concentrate on her job. Now that she had the virus in substantial form to study, she should quickly be able to discover if a vaccine or an outright cure was possible.

  She tried to tune out everything, but in the back of her mind she worried about the people here. Rockland and the rest of Carson County would never be the same.

  When the door to the lab opened, Faith snapped her head around. Molly barely peeked in. You have a phone call.

  From whom?

  A man. Said his name was Molly hesitated as she tried to recall the name. Jake Ingram, she finally said quickly.

  Never heard of him, Faith snapped. Take a message.

  Molly shook her head. I tried. He says its urgent.

  Take a number and Ill call him back.

  Tried that, too. He says its a matter of life and death.

  Every day of her life presented her with a matter of life and death! Fine. Faith began to strip off her protective gear as she walked away from her work area.

  While she scrubbed at the sink on the far side of the room, Molly said, Take it in Lukes office. Itll be quiet there and you can sit down. Ill bring you something to eat and a cold drink.