CDA’s lobby was full of three men in dark suits and sunglasses. They didn’t look very friendly, so I took the road less traveled. Also known as the freight elevator. It didn’t make a damn bit of difference.
“This way, Mr. Kelly.”
Two more guys wearing dark suits and shades were waiting on the third floor. They led me down the same blank corridors, past the lab where I had gotten my first taste of black biology, and into yet another conference room.
“They’ll be right with you.”
The suits left before I could ask who “they” were, or why “they” all wore sunglasses during a thunderstorm in March. Three minutes later, the door opened again. It was Molly.
“Sorry, Michael.”
“Not a problem. When did the Men in Black show up?”
She tried to smile, but her features wouldn’t cooperate.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“Come with me.”
She walked me down the hall and back into the lab. I didn’t see any of the government types along the way. In fact, I didn’t see a soul.
“Everyone go out for a liquid lunch?”
“They’re over at our level-four facility.”
I skimmed her eyes and saw dark shapes, swimming fast just beneath the surface. ”What’s going on, Molly?”
“We might have a release.” Her voice caught on the words, but they tumbled out anyway.
“Of a weapon?”
She nodded and glanced at the door.
“Are they coming back here?” I said.
“Pretty soon. We’ve been down at Cook all morning. They decided to take it back here for a conference call with Washington.”
“Then you better hurry.”
Molly took a breath. “Ellen told me she saw you last night.”
“What did the blood turn up?”
“It’s still not entirely clear. Cook County morgue picked up two bodies yesterday. Homeless men. Both were originally thought to be dead of natural causes. They get a lot of that in the winter.”
“It’s not that cold.”
“Yeah, well, an orderly didn’t like the look of one of these guys. So he called us. Blood work finally came back early this morning as definitive for some sort of anthrax exposure.”
“Just the one?”
“The other was asphyxiated, but they’d both been exposed.”
“Where were they found?”
“About two blocks from the Clinton entrance to the Blue Line. The thinking is they might have been sleeping in the subway. And then there’s the cop you mentioned to Ellen … ”
“Donnie Quin?”
“His blood came back positive as well. How did you know to have him tested?”
“He was on the West Side yesterday. And he was dead. Just a hunch, really.”
“Yeah, well, it turns out Quin found the bodies of our two homeless men and called them in. We’re still putting together the rest of the timeline, but it looks like the Blue Line might be a point of origin.”
“Your tests said the anthrax we found was irradiated. Harmless.”
“It was.”
“So?”
“The incubation period for weaponized anthrax is five to seven days. This thing apparently kills in a matter of hours. And it appears it might be transmissible from person to person.”
“So it’s not good old weaponized anthrax.”
“It might be something more.”
“How much more?”
“Ellen’s still working on the blood. But people are getting scared.”
“Where’s Danielson?”
“That’s what we’d like you to find out.”
“Who’s ‘we’?”
“Ellen and me. And the mayor.”
“The mayor. Of course, the mayor.”
“We spoke an hour ago. He’s concerned, Michael.”
“I bet he is. Danielson put you all in the subway yesterday morning, and now he’s disappeared. You’re worried he set you up.”
“You were there as well.”
“You gonna push on me now?”
Molly’s eyes ran away and hid. She twisted her hands in a bunch.
“Why don’t I just leave town?” I said. “Let you track him down yourself?”
“Ellen said … ”
“What did Ellen say?”
“We can’t just leave.”
“Why not?”
“First off, as of this morning we’re no longer in charge. In fact, we feel like prisoners in our own lab.”
“Have you tried to leave?”
“I get the feeling it would be better if we didn’t. Especially Ellen.”
“Why did you bring me in?”
“Ellen wanted one of us to have a face-to-face with you.”
“See if I was worth trusting?”
“Homeland was going to pick you up anyway. They want to control everything until they’re ready to go public.”
“Yeah, well, now I’m stuck here.”
“Not necessarily.”
A radio squawked in the hall, followed by the low murmur of voices.
“Come on.” Molly walked me into a smaller prep area and pointed to a door. “That’s a fire exit. If you go down two floors, it lets you out into a paper-processing plant.”
“The envelope factory?”
“Yes.” She held up a couple of keys. “One of these should get you into their facility. They have an internal loading dock on the ground floor.”
“When are they going public on the release?”
“I don’t know. Like I said, things are starting to escalate. One of us will call when we get a chance.”
The sounds from the hall were closer now.
“Get going.”
I moved toward the fire exit just as the handle turned and the door opened. A compact man with hair the color of burnt straw stood in the stairwell. He wore a suit made of brown tweed and talked into a Bluetooth mike slung around his ear.
“I got them. Meet you downstairs.”
He walked us back into the main lab and pointed toward the corridor. “Molly, why don’t you give us a minute?”
She left without a look back. The small man pulled out a couple of chairs. We both sat.
“And you are?” I said.
“James Doll, Homeland Security.”
Doll had a face worthy of his name. Eyes like glass, rouged cheeks, and a shiny round chin. His features were screwed on tight to his face, and I swore his lips moved only when he blinked.
“Where’s Danielson?” I said.
Doll stood up. He wore shoes with wooden soles that clicked on the lab’s floor when he walked. Doll stopped in front of a monitor with a screen saver of Magilla Gorilla on a tricycle. He studied Magilla for a moment and, apparently, got all he could out of it. Then he turned back to me.
“I’ve heard about you, Mr. Kelly.”
“Where’s Danielson?”
“Funny. That’s what we want to ask you.”
“You have some sort of pathogen release in the city.”
“We’re aware of the situation.”
“Then you’re aware that what you do in the next hour or so will determine whether a lot of people die. Or just a few.”
“A task force has already been assembled and is discussing options.”
“I need to talk to them.”
Doll raised his right eyebrow and leaked out a smile. “Not a chance.”
“I can help you.”
“How?”
“I don’t think the release had anything to do with Danielson.”
“No?”
“I think he got played.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“And you want us to let you run around and dig up all the answers?”
Doll waited. I didn’t say a word.
“I know. Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?” Doll sat down again and patted a small yellow mustache smooth. “Our priority, Mr. Kelly, is twofold. Identify the pathogen, if there is one. And contain it. Dr. Brazile and her people will focus on the first task. It’s my job to take care of the second.”
“How?”
“We’ve already identified sections of the West Side and Oak Park. People will be told to stay in their homes. Target areas will be isolated until the threat is brought under control.”
“Quarantine?”
Doll smiled. His teeth matched the mustache. “I like to think of it as a really bad snow emergency. As for you, quarantine is the perfect way to describe what we have planned … ”
A woman’s scream, thin and high, tore through the corridors. It was a sound I’d heard before—broken, ragged nails of sorrow, digging furrows in flesh, willing anything to make it not so. Footsteps hammered down the corridor outside the lab. Doll hesitated for a moment, then ran toward the pain. Like most humans, he just couldn’t resist. I took out the key Molly had given me and headed in the opposite direction. Toward the fire exit, the stairs, and the streets.