The Deadliest Strain

Chapter Forty-Seven

They were calling it a mild heart attack. At least, this was what the initial ECG and blood tests indicated.

Faas was far from being out of the woods, but he'd made it clear that it was a matter of national security for him to take a call from Agent Newman. Considering everything that was going on around the country, none of the doctors or nurses had a problem with it.

One of the nurses handed him a phone as soon as they rolled his bed into a curtained-off area. They told him he was only between tests. This was a rest stop only.

"Pressure of the job getting to you?" Austyn asked.

"No, I'm faking it. It's a good way to get my ex-wife's sympathy back." Betty had been the one who'd called 911. She was at the hospital by the time the ambulance had brought him in. Now she was talking to the doctor in the hall.

"Great idea. How is it working?"

"So far, so good," he said. "What have you got?"

"Some very good things," Austyn said. "But first of all, you should know that you're the third call I've made. NIH already has this information, and so does our department. So you don't have to leap out of bed and try to do everything yourself."

The curtain opened and Betty walked in. She frowned at the phone in his hand. He made a sign that it would only take one minute.

"Tell me. Make it short."

"All the initial victims at each site had to have strep throat, and they had to have an outside staph infection introduced, probably orally. So NIH is checking the inventory of the drugs these people had that might have something to do with that. Once that initial person became infected and decomposition began, the bacteria could spread in any of three ways: direct contact, airborne particles and insect transmission, depending on environmental conditions."

"Interesting. Go on."

"But there's something else. I was talking to Bea Devera at the office. She said they've been getting about a dozen phone calls from some pharmaceutical company executive who claims he knows what's going in. In fact, he's already made a call to the White House claiming he's behind the attacks, and that it's not over."

"Shit. Is anyone checking him out?"

"Yeah. Bea said the guy was on the research vessel with all those kids. She's on her way to the hospital where he is, along with about a hundred other agents."

"Okay."

Faas took his wife's hand when she came closer to the bed.

"I'll talk to you later," he said, handing the phone to Betty.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"They're all jerks. I have to have a heart attack for them to get their act together. They might just have the case cracked."

She smiled. "See? This is what I've been telling you for all these years. You need to delegate more."