“I see. Then I will call when he can communicate. Adieu Madam Toll.”
“Goodbye Monsieur LeMaine,” she said and hung up the phone.
“Alright General, you make the necessary arrangements along with Mr. Ash and I will approve them. I also want a report from every state even if it is just to report no cases. I don’t want us guessing. Mr.” she stopped herself, “Sorry, Doctor Peel I would like a daily update on deaths and cases. Is there any hope of discovering a vaccine to stop the monster?”
“Madam President, we are looking at anything and everything. I have a full time lab dedicated to just that. Our biggest problem is that the Chimera keeps changing. We may have made some progress in determining how it came about in terms of origin.”
“You do? Please share that information with us,” she said leaning forward.
“Madam President…”
“Oh stop it. Madam this and that. It’s too big a mouth full and I don’t care a bit about the protocol.
“Alright. Mrs. Toll, at this time it is just supposition. I would ask that you give me a little more time. The last thing I want to do is take you down a wrong path.”
“I see. Just from the way you said that it leaves me to believe this may not be an entirely random event.”
“Mrs. Toll, it is simply too early to say anything else at this point.”
“Alright doctor. But as soon as you know, I want to know.”
“Absolutely.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jerry sat in the back of his van counting his money. He had raked in almost fifteen thousand dollars in two days alone. He was considering raising the price to three hundred but decided to leave well enough alone unless he knew they were wealthy.
There was a knock on the side of his van. He quickly shoved the money back in the suitcase and put a cover over it.
“Hello,” he said as he slid the side door open.
A young cop stood there. Oh, crap, he thought. They have tumbled on to him already. Damn, damn, damn.
“What can I do for you officer?”
“You’re Jerry Washburn, right?”
“Uh, yes. That would be me. How can I help you?”
“You’re the one that is selling the vaccine for the Ebola virus, right?”
“What is it you want officer?” he said, intestinally avoiding answering the question.
“Look, I’m married. Actually, just got married. With everything going crazy we decided to tie the knot.”
“Excellent. I thing that was a smart thing to do. Waiting is not such a good idea at this time, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, that’s what we thought too.”
“So, how can I help you officer?”
“Well, sir. We don’t have much money. The police force doesn’t pay a lot when you first get started. I’ve only been on the force since the Ebola thing broke out.”
“And you want the vaccine for you and your new bride,” Jerry said.
“No sir. Just for her. I was able to scrape two hundred dollars together. I just want to make sure she is safe. I’ll take my chances. I don’t want anything to happen to Jenny.”
“What is your name officer?”
“Andy Metzer.”
“Andy, I’ll tell you what. I’m willing to help you under one condition.”
“What kind of condition?”
“That you don’t tell a single sole that I gave you two bottles of the vaccine for free.”
He’s eyes got wide as he looked at Jerry.
“Sir. I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Just promise that you will not tell anyone, even your wife, about how you got it and that it was free. Can you do that?”
“Yes sir I can. I… Bless you Mr. Washburn. What a wonderful thing to do.”
“Look, you cops are in enough danger as it is. This is just a gift for all your service,” he said and handed him the two bottles.
“I can never thank you enough,” Andy said, his voice choked. He looked like he was almost ready to cry.
“Go home Officer Andy and take care of that young woman of yours.”
The officer turned and Jerry could hear him sniffing back tears.
When he was gone, Jerry sat there a long time, just looking out at the parking lot. Finally he closed the door, got in the driver’s seat and drove off. He made one quick stop. At a trash dumpster where he threw the bottles of water against the side, making sure each was smashed. He then drove off and never looked back.
“So how in the world are we going to do this? Five miles is a hell of a long way down. And then how do we know they can be adequately protected?” Mark said.
“I have an engineer friend coming in a few hours. He helped build a dozen or so megabuildings. The man is a genius when it comes to overcoming obstacles,” Randal told him.
“Going up a mile and down five is a heck of a lot different in my mind.”
“I guess we will just have to wait and see what he comes up with.”
“You know, I could put you in a bio suit, strap a parachute on your back and shove you in.”
“How would I get back up?”
“Your friend can work on that while you are on your way down.”
“Obviously the CDC has one very sick Director. The Ebola must have turned his brain to mush.”
“Doctor Peel, Doctor Riser. Here are the latest figures,” the young man said.
Randal looked then over then passed the sheet over to Mark. He went right to the bottom of the sheet then looked up.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” he finally said.
“A quarter of a million people dead and over a million new cases reported.”
“It is only going to get worse worldwide. When I talked to the President this morning she said Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria all have had cases reported.”
“What about China?”
“I don’t think they are going to share that kind of information with us. Bad ‘face’ or whatever they call it,” Randal told him.
“Then these are just the countries that will share information. We know nothing about the Pacific Rim. Some of those countries are pretty medically challenged. They could have hundreds or thousands of cases and not even know it,” Mark replied.
“I’m afraid you are exactly right.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CTV NEWS: America suffered its worst day of rioting since the sixties and seventies. Clashes between police and protesters and looters broke out across the nation yesterday and last night. Fighting was reported in California, Washington State, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburg, and Washington D.C. So far two hundred and ninety-seven people are reported dead while the number of injured is estimated to be in the thousands.
Police have been outnumbered as more and more looters join in the fray. Police Chief Jason Potts was quoted as saying “We are seeing the worse element in society looking at this as a time to be totally lawless. They are the absolute dregs of society.”
Several other police chiefs echoed similar sentiments. One chief went as far as to call them ‘filthy slime, the scum of the earth’.
Acting President Toll reached for the remote and turned off the television. The six newspapers stacked neatly on her desk all said essentially the same. Not only were they fighting a deadly virus but an equally deadly disease, loss of hope.
The virus had now been reported in thirty-nine states and fourteen countries. The death toll worldwide surpassed five million people with over sixteen million suspected cases, when she finally went to bed late last night.
People in almost every country were wearing a face mask of one type or another. Many states and even countries did not even have enough masks for the entire population so they were forced to improvise.