“And highly underpaid, I might add,” joked George.
“Don’t ask him what he gets, Agent Lilburn — or you’ll want to work here as well.”
Lilburn grinned. “I don’t think so, I have to say what you people work with scares the bejesus out of me.”
“That works both ways,” said the doctor. “Now, the anteroom is our secondary containment area. That door there, with the half-glass panel, leads through into the animal room. It can’t be opened if the door we have just come through is open. It’s on a dual lock system. George suits up in here before entering. Take a look through the glass, Special Agent…”
“Please, just call me Matt.”
“My pleasure and my name is Angeline.”
Lilburn caught his breath. He felt a rush of sadness overwhelm him.
“Are you OK, Matt?”
The sound of his name snapped him out of it. “Sorry… You were saying?”
“Take a look through the glass.”
Lilburn stepped up to the door with a large orange sticker below the window with the words Bio-hazard BSL-3 and peered through.
“Can you see that large stainless steel box? That’s a HEPA-filtered box and in it, I am very pleased to say, are your two cans of aerosol, containing the virus.”
“HEPA? What does that mean?”
“Oh, sorry — high efficiency particulate air filter — the best there is.”
It looked very safe, very secure to Lilburn. He shut his eyes, just for an instant. He was so tired… what he was worried about was so crazy, so impossible. He had to ask. “Would you mind checking the box? I need confirmation.”
Dr. Harrington smiled. “There really is no cause for concern, if that’s what you’re thinking. This is a very secure area.”
George, the technician, saw the apprehension etched into Lilburn’s face. He stood up. “Look, I don’t mind suiting up. I need to go back inside anyway.” The technician pulled on a disposable white back-fastened gown, then a pair of disposable booties over his sneakers. Next came the gloves, two on each hand and lastly a respirator. Dr. Harrington filled in time and explained the requirements for the clothing.“… and the PARP, that’s the powered air-purifying respirator, is used when we’re dealing with aerosols, an added precaution. Now, as the door into this anteroom is shut, George can use another security card to open the door to the animal room.” She laid a slightly patronizing hand on Lilburn’s shoulder. “You’ll be perfectly safe… just in case you were wondering.”
Lilburn brushed aside any feeling of embarrassment. He needed to know.
“Right, George, if you would.”
George stepped forward. Lilburn watched him reach up to chest height to presumably grab the security card. George swung around. “I… eh… seem to have misplaced my card.” His voice sounded somewhat anxious.
Dr. Harrington immediately looked for herself, touching the suit where the card should be. This was a serious matter. A lost or misplaced card meant it would have to be deactivated and an inquiry held. Lilburn saw her concern.
“Use mine, George. We’ll sort this out as soon as we’re done here.”
The door opened to the animal room and George entered. The door shut behind him immediately.
“Just a little technicality, Matt. I’ll sort it out later.”
Both Lilburn and the doctor watched George go straight to the HEPA-filtered box, remove a bag and place it in a biological safety cabinet — an enclosed ventilated workspace. Lilburn couldn’t see the cans, and mentioned it to Harrington.
“George will show you the cans — he’ll bring them over to the window.”
George didn’t. He gathered up the package and immediately returned it to the HEPA-filtered box. Through the glass, the technician could be seen carefully closing the box. Stepping back a pace, it looked as if he were studying the area. He turned his head and looked around the room then hurried to the door. Something was wrong. The door to the animal room opened, the technician passed through into the anteroom then shut the door. The door had barely closed shut when he ripped off his mask. “Fuck!”
Lilburn had to follow the doctor at a run as she flew back down the corridors, opening security doors as they went.
“This is Dr. Harrington. I need to enact containment procedures, now!” She replaced the transceiver back into her coat pocket.
As he followed at a run, Lilburn yelled out to her. “Who was the last person to enter the animal room?”
The doctor didn’t look back. “George, I was in the anteroom. Both canisters were there. I saw them with my own eyes.”
“Who was with you?”
“Your director.” Harrington slowed, but continued walking fast, looking straight ahead. Suddenly she stopped and spun around so quickly Lilburn was barely able to avoid a collision.
“Director Hall. Director Hall was with me.”
“Was he ever left alone… think.”
Dr. Harrington shut her eyes. “Jesus Christ.” Her eyes opened, as if she had just seen the proverbial light. “George and I were called out. We had an emergency, which turned out to be a false alarm. Only a few moments, I swear. No more than five minutes, if that. Oh God, I didn’t see any harm in leaving a director of Homeland Security in the anteroom — I mean, even he doesn’t have access to the animal room without a special security pass.”
“Did George take his pass with him when you were called to the false alarm?”
“Presumably… I… I don’t recall.”
“In the confusion, could Hall have removed George’s pass?”
The doctor didn’t answer.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Luke Major stood beside his helicopter, quite happy not to walk any further into the murky place where animals were born with three heads and wings where there should have been none. It was with mixed feelings he saw the Jeep returning at breakneck speed. Jumping in, he started to turn the engine on. He guessed correctly where they were headed next. “Don’t tell me, Bethel.”
“And don’t spare the horses, Luke.” Lilburn buckled in as the helicopter blades gained full momentum. The pilot set a direct course ahead to cross the rippling blue water of Long Island Sound, cutting across the southern portion of Connecticut into New York State.
Lilburn was barely aware of the flight; his mind was going over and over the last few days trying to fathom any reason for the director to take a flight first to Plum Island and now to a small innocuous town in the middle of nowhere. The high security at Plum Island had been breached, the virus compromised and all tracks led to Director Hall. What was it Hall had said? Hymietown. The director had used a totally inappropriate and anti-Semitic word to describe New York City, especially for a person in his position. Why? There was no reasonable answer, the question just bounced from one side of his head to the other. The helicopter ate up the distance; soon one hundred and forty miles became ten. It wasn’t until Luke spoke his name that Lilburn pulled himself out of the depths and back to the world of the present.
“I just talked with the other pilot; apparently our beloved leader met someone just after they landed out of Bethel. They took off in a car together, with Hall giving instructions for the chopper to wait. They’ve been gone over two hours.”
Lilburn took his time before asking the next question. “Is there livestock farming around Bethel?”
“Hell yeah. See straight ahead of us, in the distance, that odd-shaped building, looks like a fan? Then there’s those circular things around it that look like roads from up here? That’s where we’re headed. It used to be a six-hundred-acre dairy farm, now it’s a museum and place where they hold concerts. That’s where Woodstock was held. That’s mother earth to some folks, the Holy Grail.”