Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa
When Don got back to the TOC, the officers were watching the wall screen, where one of the CDC scientists was holding up a plastic bag. Inside two layers of plastic was a steel object about the size and shape of a soda can.
“We found this in the back of Lab One,” he said. “It’s the device used to disperse the virus.” He pointed the end at the camera, showing them a pinhole nozzle and a small black square of plastic that read “00” in red LED numbers.
“Basically, it’s an aerosolizer. It’s got a timer mechanism and a built-in propellant. When the timer goes off, it disperses the contents through this nozzle. It’s also insulated. If you put a cryogenic sample in here, it’ll stay viable for days, maybe weeks.”
“Did you determine what killed the people in the lab?” Don asked.
The CDC scientist nodded. “Ebola, without a doubt. It’s a particularly virulent strain and it looks like someone messed with it genetically. We’ll need to do more testing, but I know one thing: This was no accident.” He held the bagged aerosolizer close to the camera. “This was murder.”
The news settled on Don. They had all known this at some level, but the scientist’s words lent a finality to the room.
He studied the bagged object. “Is there any special handling for the aerosolizer once it’s loaded?” he asked.
The doctor shrugged. “Probably not. There are threads here, so I assume there’s a lid that goes on top to protect the nozzle. I guess if I was transporting it, I’d want a carrying case of some kind. Probably insulated if the original sample was frozen.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Don said. He indicated to Janet to kill the connection.
A carrying case …
Don’s mind raced. “Dre,” he said, “pull up the security footage of Dr. Tahir leaving the site.”
Within a few minutes, Dre had the grainy video on the wall screen. Don watched Tahir exit the elevator and hurry to a black SUV. As she opened the door, she turned her body.
“Stop,” Don said. He used a laser pointer to draw a circle around the doctor’s arm on the screen. “She’s carrying something.”
Dre zoomed in. The case was a small, padded cylinder with a strap like a carrier for a water bottle.
“What does that look like?” Don asked.
“I thought it was a purse,” Dre said, “but now … I’m thinking it could be a carrying case for one of these little devices.”
Don nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. I visited our friend from Mossad in the infirmary. She was very clear that Tahir was on a mission, something big, something that involves Pandora.”
“But the Pandora sample is intact,” Janet said. “The CDC verified the inventory.”
“We’re missing something,” he said. “Dre, let’s look at the handling system again.”
Dre put the automated sample-handling system specs on the screen. “State-of-the-art, off-the-shelf storage system for cryogenic samples. According to Dr. Chandrasekaran, Dr. Lu handled all the samples himself. The system uses facial rec, or a passcode, or both. Because the site only had a few people, they turned off facial rec.”
She pulled up the logs from the system. “The last time the system was accessed was the day before the raid. Dr. Lu accessed two samples, Ebola and Pandora—”
“So, Dr. Lu checked out the sample that eventually killed him?” Janet said.
Dre studied the logs further. “According to this, he accessed the Pandora sample but immediately put it back.”
Michael spoke up. “You said the system has facial rec?”
“Yeah,” Dre replied, “but it was turned off.”
“I know, but was the camera turned off? Usually the image collection and image verification are two different settings.”
Dre quickly found the program files and searched for the system database. “Michael, you are a flipping genius! The images are all there. The camera takes a picture as soon as the system is activated.…”
She found the image corresponding to the date-time group of the last day and pushed it to the wall screen.
It was Dr. Tahir.
“Get the CDC lead scientist back on the line,” Don said, his voice hoarse.
“Back so soon, Mr. Riley?” The scientist’s smile faded when he saw the look on Don’s face.
“Doctor, we need to verify something. When you did an inventory of the virus samples onsite, how did you do that?”
“We verified it was physically there and matched the bar code. Why?”
“Was there any test done to verify that the contents of the sample are what the bar code says they are?”
The scientist shook his head. “These are deadly viruses stored cryogenically. To do that, we’d need to thaw them and look at each one under a scanning electron microscope—”
“We need you to verify the Pandora sample. Immediately.”
“It will take a few hours, Mr. Riley.”
“Please, time is of the essence.”
Janet killed the wall-screen video. It reverted back to Dre’s screen, which still held the image of Dr. Talia Tahir. “What now?”
Don pinched his lip, staring at the doctor’s picture.
“Find out everything you can about her. Get the NSA on the horn and find the search history for the Mahdi’s computer. This isn’t over yet.”