Bill and Ned Reynolds were already going back and forth between the facilities. The packaging phase was identified as a probable source of the problem. Agents were focusing on a possible heat-induced chemical reaction between the clear plastic strip and the tester ingredients.
The important thing was that the shipment of the ten thousand testers had been halted, and an emergency announcement had been made regarding the initial five hundred.
At noon on Monday, however, 273 of them were still unaccounted for.
Chapter Fifty
"They should tout you as a national hero," Sally told him on the phone.
"I'll be happy if I don't end up in jail," David answered. A great weight had lifted off his shoulders when he passed on his suspicions to the Homeland Security agent who'd interviewed him though a glass partition at the hospital the day before.
"Come on, now. They would never do that," Sally protested.
"You never know. I called the White House and claimed that I was behind it all."
"You explained to them that you were only trying to get someone's attention," Sally protested.
David could tell where this was going. She already had the mother's voice on. The gloves were off and the claws were out. His wife was ready to take on the world for her family.
"I know. And I'm not too worried about it." He smiled, leaning back against the chair in the lounge area.
They'd given the run of the floor to him and Craig and Kirk. It looked as if they were done with the testing for now. So far, none of the tests had turned up anything wrong with any of them. But still, not a word had been said about when they'd be releasing them. Josh, at least, was supposed to go home tomorrow morning.
"Here it is," Sally said. 'They're running it again."
Kirk had gone back to his room to sleep and Craig was reading a magazine in one of the chairs. Craig and David had gotten sick of watching the same news, so they'd turned off the TV. David got up from the sofa and quickly switched it back on.
On the screen there was an aerial view of Reynolds Pharmaceuticals with cars and people swarming like ants around the building. A bright banner scrolling across the bottom referred to sixteen individual sites of the outbreak with 154 fatalities. The rest of the Strep-Testers were now accounted for.
"There goes my job," David said to his wife. "Reynolds Pharmaceuticals can say goodbye to any more government contracts, and I'd say it's a guarantee that they have their asses sued off for this Strep-Tester. I guess it's a safe bet that I'll be standing in the unemployment line next week."
"We'll manage," she said with all her positive attitude.
David felt that he and Josh had missed taking the bullet by inches. Still, the magnitude of how close he'd come to killing his own son with the Strep-Tester made him go ice-cold every time he thought of it. There were so many people out there who weren't so lucky.
He and Sally finished talking for now and he hung up. Of course, he knew before the hour was up, one of them would find a reason to call the other. It was strange to be in the same hospital but not be allowed to see each other.
"Are you really worried about your job?" Craig asked when David put the phone on the side table.
"I'm more than worried about it. This is going to bury the company."
"It'll be tough with Josh still going through his treatment," Craig commented.
David nodded. A national disaster had been minimized. But he hadn't given any thought yet to how to take care of the personal disaster that was brewing.
"This is one negative thing about working for the same company for so many years. You don't have your resume ready to go out."
Craig looked at him for a minute. "That's no big deal. I can help you with that."
David appreciated the thought, and he said so.
"Have you considered getting out of pharmaceuticals?" Craig asked.
"After this past week, I'd say yes. I'm more than considering it."
Craig seemed to be thinking about something, so David picked up the magazine from the table next to him. Before he found anything worth reading, though, Craig nodded to him.
"What would you think about getting into the homeopathic line? With your sales contacts, I know my wife's company would be interested."
David didn't have to hear another word.
"Do they offer health insurance?" he asked.
Chapter Fifty-One
Austyn was told that Kurds got together for only two formal social gatherings — weddings and funerals.
People had arrived from other camps, from Iranian villages and from Iraqi Kurdish villages. People had come all the way from Turkey. As he watched what seemed to be thousands gather on a green hillside to celebrate the life and mourn the death of the woman who'd worked courageously and tirelessly to help them, he was only interested in one.
As he watched her, he could see the resolve in Fahimah's face.
Wave after wave of people approached her. Austyn didn't understand most of the words spoken to her. But the signs of gratitude, affection and condolence were unmistakable.
Austyn was certain that Fahimah now understood the magnitude of the gift she'd given, not only to her sister, but all these people during the five years that she had been imprisoned.
Two men played the ney, a smaller version of the flute, while another played a stringed instrument called the tanbun The melody was heartrendingly sad. A woman sang. Austyn recognized the names of Rahaf 's family members mentioned in the song.
Dr. Mansori came from Kermanshah and attended the funeral. He stood with Austyn and explained the customs as the ceremony proceeded.
Rahaf's body was shrouded in white. She had been placed on a flat board that was like an open casket. Flowers covered her. Sometime around midday, a group of young men approached the corpse and lifted the casket onto their shoulders. They started a procession that wound through the crowds. People threw flowers at the body and then joined the line of mourners. Fahimah led the group to the small burial ground on the hill. In the distance, the rugged peaks of the mountains pierced the clear blue sky.
Austyn was in awe of Fahimah's strength. For one burying the last member of her family, she displayed tremendous courage.
He had to leave today. The same private plane that had brought him over from Halabja was taking him back. He would drive back with Dr. Mansori to Kermanshah to catch the plane. Fahimah knew he was leaving.
Austyn had spoken to a number of top officials in the U.S. Every kind of arrangement was being made possible. From a teaching position at Salahaddin University in Erbil to financial settlements so that she could start her life again in Kurdistan, he was leaving no stone unturned for her. He had even cleared the way for her to go to America, though he knew she would never accept that path. When they talked, she told him her wish, for now, was to stay in Kurdistan.
After the funeral she stayed with him at the cemetery as everyone else moved down to the tents that had been set up to feed the crowds.
"Thank you," he told her, taking her hand and placing a kiss on her palm.
"If it were not for you, I would never have seen Rahaf before she died," she told him, smiling sadly at the spot where fresh flowers covered the dirt where her sister had just been buried.
"I'm sorry. It didn't have to be like this."
She nodded. "As Rahaf said, we are all victims of the actions of those who govern our countries. The past is behind me. Now I have to decide where I want to go from here."