“Matt — how may I help you?”
“Hi, I need to run over a few things. We have a lead which has taken us to an apartment in New York. No occupants present, but I have with me two NYPD officers who were called to the apartment the other day. There are a couple of points of interest that might mean something to you.”
“Go on.”
“We have an empty package, just the wrapping paper that came from Syria, according to the stamps and postmark.” With the phone to his ear he continued talking while looking at the other rubbish lying in the sink. “One of the officers recalled seeing some spray cans, which don’t appear to be here now, though we’re yet to do a detailed search.”
“How many cans, and what were they?” Evangeline picked up a pen and started making notes.
“He’s not sure, maybe half dozen. Hey, Maitland, what sort of spray was it again?”
“Like deodorant or something — stuff to make you smell good.”
“He thinks it was deodorant. I remember you saying something about aerosols?”
“Absolutely right, Matt… You were listening! Aerosol dispersal is an effective way of distributing a virus.” Evangeline paused for thought. “If that were the case… let me think… ask the officer if the cans were local. Could they have been bought here in the States?”
Lilburn looked to Maitland. “Those cans you saw, were they ones you could buy in a grocery store?”
Maitland shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I suppose, never paid that much attention.”
“So how did you know they were deodorant cans?”
“I read it on the label.”
Lilburn directed his attention back to the contents of the sink, “Yes, probably locally bought — the labeling was in English.”
“That would make sense. Importing a few cans of deodorant isn’t exactly what one would normally do. So if we surmise the virus was sent by mail then transferring it into an aerosol only requires a few basic steps. The virus would still need to be multiplied to a sufficient quantity… Excuse me a moment.” Lilburn could hear Evangeline talking to someone. “Matt, directors Hall and Lopez are with me, I’ll place the call on speaker phone.”
“Matt, Allan Hall. I hear you have some good news. Tell us what you’ve found.”
“Yes, sir. This morning we obtained information via two officers from NYPD of a possible lead. I’m on site now, with a team from NYPD at an apartment belonging to…” Lilburn clicked his fingers and gestured to the rookie. “What are the names of the two occupants?” Martinez quickly withdrew his notebook and scurried his fingers to find the right page.
“Yusuf al-Nasseri and Bashir Zuabi.”
“Yusuf al-Nasseri and Bashir Zuabi,” Lilburn repeated, then spelt out the names while looking at the notebook, and gave a description of what they were last seen wearing. “We also found wrapping paper, which I can confirm was sent from Syria.”
“Anything else?” Hall replied.
“We know there were also some spray cans, which at this point we have yet to find.”
Evangeline broke in. “Spray cans could be used as an effective way of transmitting the virus. Matt, what I need you to look for is a vessel used to grow the virus. Something like a petri dish.”
“Petri dish… petri dish, hang on.”
Officer Maitland could only hear one side of the phone conversation but he heard Lilburn say petri dish. “I saw those… petri dishes… sitting on the windowsill. Let’s have another look at that rubbish.” Casting an eye over the sink, Maitland cautiously shifted some of the waste until he found what he was looking for. Grabbing a round shallow plastic dish he pulled it clear and held it up.
“We have a petri dish.” Lilburn observed the round object Maitland held. “Just a thought, are these items contagious?”
The word contagious was enough for Maitland to instantly drop the petri dish back into the sink.
“There shouldn’t be a great concern. Foot-and-mouth disease is restricted to cloven-hoofed animals; only on very rare occasions has it been known to transfer to humans — but only as carriers. It would pay to wash your hands.”
“Wash hands, OK.” Lilburn had a quiet chuckle to himself as the big officer disappeared from the kitchen followed by the sound of a tap running in the bathroom. He could also hear the deep voice of Director Hall shouting orders to someone in the background.
Evangeline was hopeful that what had been found was indeed the makeshift laboratory for the distribution of the virus. “Matt, I believe you may well have found what we’re looking for, but there are a few other ingredients we need to know about, before we can confirm aerosols are the means of delivery. Have a look for any containers with dissolving, buffer or pH on them.”
“Will do.” There were some drawers under the bench as well as cupboards, but Lilburn had decided he needed a suitable piece of equipment to check the remaining rubbish in the sink. A large pair of metal tongs in the second drawer down provided the answer.
“I’m having a look now… nothing jumps up at me… hang on. There’s a plastic container, looks like it was cut up to reduce its size before being chucked. There’s a label and… yes, the label has the words buffer something… buffer solution. Does that help?”
“That just about establishes it beyond a doubt. What you have is the site of a probable importation of foot-and-mouth disease. I’ll need everything you’ve described to me flown immediately to Plum Island for confirmation.”
“OK, Doc, we’re on it. Matt, this is Allan Hall. Bag and tag that evidence and get to Plum Island quick as you can, use the chopper. Get the NYPD boys to make this a crime scene; I want their forensic team to get down to where you are ASAP, no questions asked. They drop everything and do it now. Any problems get back to me. Once you’ve dropped off the evidence I want you back here, we have teams ready to go. Damn good work.” The phone line went dead.
Lilburn switched off his phone and looked up. He was alone. Everyone else was back in the living area, looking slightly apprehensive.
Chapter Twelve
The helicopter lifted gracefully from One Police Plaza, deftly avoiding the surrounding concrete and steel mega-structures that made up New York City. The plastic bags containing the evidence from the apartment were safely stowed in a sealed biohazards container behind Lilburn’s seat as the pilot set an easterly direction over Queens, before turning northwards to Long Island Sound and on to Plum Island, situated off the north fork of Long Island itself.
“There she is, always reminds me of a snake that’s been squished on a road. You staying long?”
Lilburn adjusted the mike on his headphones. “Just long enough to drop off some items, then we can head straight back to Albany.”
“Suits me fine, the place gives me the heebie-jeebies. Any time I have to go there I come away wondering if my little wrigglies are OK or if they’re going to produce a little one-eyed monster. You been there before?”
“Nah, first time.”
“It’s our site now, Homeland runs it. Used to be home of the Army Chemical Corps, Christ knows what was concocted down there, then later, of course, it became the Animal Disease Center… and that’s when all those two-headed things started washing up on the beaches.”
The pilot decreased altitude — individual trees and buildings on the island started to form shape and the white ring of the foreshore began to appear as either sand or rocks.