Kaitlin leaned against the wall in the deserted corridor, listening to the applause rumbling through the closed doors of the lecture hall. Atlanta was warmer than NYC at this time of year; a balmy seventy-five degrees but unpleasantly sticky with it. She’d never visited Georgia before, wasn’t sure she wanted to this time.
She felt so grateful for Amelia. Her friend’s family was loaded, but Kaitlin knew that she’d have loaned her the cash for the flight even if Amelia was down to her last few bucks. She was endlessly generous and despite the huge amounts of money Amelia had grown up with, she was the most grounded, down-to-earth person Kaitlin had ever met, making friends with anyone who crossed her path, regardless of their status or background.
The applause drained away and a low voice began to speak, tearing Kaitlin’s thoughts away from her friend and back to the task in hand. She drew herself up and was ready when the door opened and a man in his mid-fifties stepped out after completing his talk. This was the guy Dennison suggested might be a good contact. Marshal was slim and bald, with silver-framed glasses that had no doubt once been fashionable.
‘Professor Marshal?’ She showed what she hoped was a disarming smile. She’d become pretty good at them since she’d started on this path.
‘Yes. Do I know you?’
‘No, I’m sorry. My name is Kaitlin Le. Do you have a minute to talk?’
‘A minute. Are you attending the conference?’
No doubt he was curious about her young age. Understandable. She ignored him. ‘I actually want to talk about Dr Aziz.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘I’m studying biology at Georgia Tech and I was really interested in Dr Aziz’s work. I’m so sorry to hear that he was on Flight 702.’
‘It’s a huge loss. He was an excellent scientist.’
‘Do you know why he was coming to America?’
‘For a conference – one that I was chairing, actually. On immunology. He was to be a keynote speaker.’
‘That’s fascinating. Do you happen to know what his speech was going to be about?’
‘As you’re aware, Dr Aziz’s expertise was in human resistance to biological attacks. His experiences in Damascus … well, he was very motivated. Seeing all the suffering from those chemical attacks, he feared that there were plenty more coming. Something worse.’
‘What do you mean?’ Don’t push too hard. Play dumb.
‘Chemical attacks are hard to escape, but you typically know they’re happening and they’re not always deadly. It’s not the same for biological attacks. Mohammad’s fear about biological weapons was that by the time we noticed a population suffering, it would be too late to reverse. He wanted to get ahead of it.’ Marshal showed a wan smile. ‘He’d always been a bit doomsday about things, to be frank. And looking at the situation in Syria, well … who was to say he was wrong?
‘The problem is, if you look at a chemical attack, you know how it’s going to work. You know how long it’ll be effective. What the range is, the likely casualties and so forth. With biological strains, it’s a whole different story. You don’t know how things are going to work. How the virus may spread and mutate.
‘Viruses are very strange things, neither quite living nor exactly dead. They need to invade living organisms to replicate. You simply can’t control them once they’re released.’ He paused. ‘At least, not with any certainty.’
‘So, was this the area that you and Dr Aziz collaborated on?’
‘Collaborated? Not really. Let’s say our interests often overlapped.’
The lecture droned on through the door.
‘How so?’ Kaitlin pressed.
‘Mohammad was very dedicated to public health, clearly, and I’m a microbiologist. Even without weaponised viruses, one of the greatest threats to public health is bacteria and how well a country’s infrastructure is equipped to handle that bacteria.’
‘Oh, interesting.’ Kaitlin turned her practised smile on the professor. He lit up, enjoying the attention. ‘So, you and Dr Aziz would …’
‘Mohammad would cover the human side and I’d cover the micro side. I’d look at specific bacteria or a virus, what it was capable of, and Mohammad would focus on how the human immune system would respond.’
‘And weren’t you involved with a grant that he received?’
Marshal frowned.
‘The two of you did a study at the CDC, right?’
‘How do you know that? That study never went public.’
‘Why is that?’
Marshal’s face darkened. He was suspicious now. Maybe she’d punched the right button.
‘That was years ago. I can’t imagine it would be relevant to anything you’re studying in school.’
‘Why? Was the study unsuccessful?’
‘Just because something was successful doesn’t mean it stays current.’
‘So, it did work?’
The conference hall door swung open and a woman poked her head out.
‘Professor Marshal? You’ve got a few questions, if you’re happy to take them.’
‘Fine. Thank you.’ He turned back to Kaitlin. ‘I’m sorry, I’ll have to bring this conversation to an end.’
‘Was Dr Aziz developing biological weapons?’ Kaitlin blurted. It wasn’t elegant, but it might be her only chance.
Marshal’s face reddened with simmering anger. ‘That’s not an accusation you can just throw around, especially not here.’
‘Please, Professor Marshal. This is important.’
‘Mohammad was studying the effect of different viruses and bacteria on the human immune system. He was not weaponising science. He’d never do that.’
‘Do you know that? For sure?’
‘What are you implying?’
‘We think we know who someone is, but that isn’t always …’ Kaitlin gathered herself. ‘People have secrets.’
‘Yes, I believe they do. And it’s clear to me now that you yourself are keeping several.’
Marshal spun away from her, back into the lecture hall.
As she stepped out into the hot sun, she checked her phone and saw she had a missed call from her dad. She felt a sudden wave of panic. Her father never called her. It was always her mom who made contact on behalf of both of them.
Fumbling, she rushed to return the call. Her heart was in her throat. Surely something couldn’t have happened to her mom?
The second she heard it connect, she babbled, ‘Dad, is everything OK?’
There was a long period of silence that made her heart pound even faster before, at long last, her father replied, ‘Kaitlin. How are you?’
His voice sounded so awfully flat, drained of any emotion, like he’d been drugged. ‘Dad, I was worried. Are you OK? You called.’
‘I just wanted to hear your voice, my daughter. It’s been so long.’
She heard a faint slur in his words. Was he drunk? During the day?
‘I’m sorry I haven’t called much, Dad. I—’
‘Yes, yes, I know, you have your life now. You don’t need us any more.’
She felt stung by that, though she knew he didn’t mean it. ‘Dad, are you OK?’
‘We’re worried about you, Kaitlin, your mother and I,’ he went on as if he hadn’t heard her. ‘You were so close to Conor. And now … and now he’s left such a space in your life.’
The words drained away and Kaitlin heard a stifled sobbing. A moment later, the line went dead.
Feeling sick at the buried suffering she’d sensed, she hurried to call her mother’s number.
‘Mom. I just had a strange call from Dad. He seems so … I mean, not like himself. How’s he doing?’
The brief silence that followed told her all she needed to know. Her mother was usually quick to fill every space with words.
‘Your father is finding things … difficult at the moment. He keeps a lot bottled up and then … well, it’s not good for him.’
‘Have you talked it through with him?’
‘You know how he is. He won’t admit to anything.’ She paused, then added hopefully, ‘You could come home for a while. He’d love to have you around.’
Kaitlin felt her heart sink. ‘Mom, I can’t.’
‘OK. Not to worry. Your father’s a strong man. He just needs time to come to terms with this.’
‘Look, just … Just let me know if there’s any change, or anything … anything … You know.’
‘Of course.’
‘I love you, Mom.’
As she hung up, Kaitlin felt a dull ache seeping deep into her. She was worried about her dad. She was worried about her mom. She was worried about all of them.
If she found answers, perhaps that would heal some of the pain. She had to focus on that. It was all she had.
Dust motes danced in the sunlight slanting through the window of the Atlanta motel room. Kaitlin sat cross-legged on the bed and called Agent Dennison.
‘The moment I mentioned the CDC, he went from a professor geeking out to sketchy scientist protecting state secrets,’ she said.
‘And he said specifically that Dr Aziz was working on biological weapons, not chemical ones?’
‘Right. Could that have brought the plane down? I mean, if he’d had some sort of virus or nerve agent on board.’
‘Certainly. If he’d found a way to get the agent into the air recirculation system, disabled the filters, it could have incapacitated everyone in minutes. But I don’t think the plane was brought down.’
‘Why not?’
‘The shadow, Kaitlin! That plane is safe and sound somewhere. If Dr Aziz had found a virus that was truly 7h:100c:95f and was planning on releasing it or selling it, that’s plenty of reason to ground a plane.’
Kaitlin swallowed. Her mouth was too dry. She didn’t know if she could cope with this line of inquiry. She’d spent so long convincing herself that Conor was dead, she didn’t want to reignite all the feelings with false hope.
‘Who do you think he’d have been selling it to?’ she asked, forcing herself to be businesslike.
‘Anyone. The bioweapon black market is massive and global. He may have been smuggling something from Russia, or his own lab. I imagine there would be a buyer for it back home, but maybe he got a better offer here.’
Her cell buzzed with another incoming call. ‘Gotta go. I’ll be in touch.’ She switched to the new call. It was her mother again. ‘Mom?’ she said. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Is everything OK with you? After you called about your dad, I realised I hadn’t asked you how you are. I’m worried about you, Kaitlin.’
‘I’m OK, Mom. You don’t need to worry about me. Just focus on Dad.’
‘Kaitlin, why aren’t you in school?’
Kaitlin sighed. She really didn’t want to get into those kinds of questions. ‘I’ll be back soon, Mom.’
‘You haven’t called me in so long for one of our talks.’
‘I texted.’
‘It’s not the same. I’m worried about you, Kaitlin. We both are. Your father, he misses you so much.’
‘I was just there not long ago.’
‘You know what I mean. He feels like he doesn’t know you any more. First we lose Conor and now we’re losing you too. I think … I think maybe your father knows you too well. You’ve always been like him.’
‘You always say that.’
‘You’re both so stubborn. You don’t give up. And that’s a good thing. But this isn’t good for you. You’ve seen what it’s done to him. Don’t let it do that to you, too.’
‘I just want to know the truth. About the plane, about Conor. About everything.’ Kaitlin furrowed her brow at the long silence on the other end. ‘Mom?’
‘I should have told you this before. Your father – I haven’t told him.’ Another silence. Then: ‘Conor was on that plane because I told him to come back.’
Kaitlin reeled. ‘You told him to come back?’
‘He and Thomas were going to get married. Conor was going to tell Dad.’
‘Conor never told me that.’
More silence.
‘He was going to. You know, I liked Thomas. I thought he was a nice boy. He made Conor happy. He really loved him. Your father thinks … differently.’
Kaitlin felt hurt, not only that Conor had kept it from her, but her mother, too. Still, now wasn’t the time.
‘What do you think Dad would have done if he’d known?’ she asked. Her father was a deeply conservative man. He’d never really come to terms with Conor’s sexuality.
‘I don’t really know, my love. It was better not to tell him, I thought. But Conor wanted Dad to know.’
‘I wish you’d have told me. I wish he’d have told me.’
‘I don’t know why he didn’t. You and Conor were always so close.’
One thought was scrabbling at the back of her head. ‘Mom, have you talked to Thomas?’
‘We both loved Conor so much.’
‘So, you have?’
‘He gave me a number, just for me and him.’
‘What do you talk about?’
‘Everything. Sometimes nothing. It doesn’t matter what, really. It just helps when I’m missing Conor badly. We call it the hotline. He says I can call anytime. Sometimes we talk for hours.’
And yet Thomas hadn’t returned any of her calls. That feeling of hurt burned hotter. Had she really upset Conor that much?
Once her mother had gone, Kaitlin flopped back on the bed. She felt relieved that finally, she now knew why Conor was on the flight back home. After all of her digging, it was an answer that was somehow both mundane and momentous at the same time. He was getting engaged and he wanted his father’s approval.
And yet he still hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell her, his twin sister, and Thomas still refused to talk to her. That stupid argument, those hurtful words.
Kaitlin thought back to when they were kids, riding their bikes after school. They’d travel for miles, pretending to be detectives trying to crack some mystery or other, or just talking and talking about anything and everything. They weren’t just brother and sister. They were best friends.
She felt a deep ache in her heart.
And now there was no way to put it right.
Somehow, any information she’d gleaned from Professor Marshal paled beside that. For the first time, the scale of what she was trying to do dawned on her. She could no longer do this on her own.