Chapter 27
Last Minute Planning and Go Dark
Steve and Claire had spent a quiet weekend, reminiscing about their recent trip to Niagara on the Lake, sleeping in and going shopping. They decided to stay in Sunday afternoon and catch up on some reading. Steve stayed in the family room with Claire, ignoring his laptop, trying not to think about what was coming. He couldn’t concentrate on the book in his lap so he flipped on the television and turned on the news. All of the news channels were showing Korea, each with red headlines scrolling on the bottom of the screen talking about the smallpox outbreak. He watched with rapt attention and didn’t even notice when Claire looked up and asked what was going on. Before long both of them were locked to the screen, the graphic images of the dead being carried out of homes and loaded into ambulances hitting both of them hard, Steve more than he could say.
He thought about the death that he had created in the lab, the grains of smallpox inside the small spheres that he’d carefully walked through construction of with Jay. Even though he had purposely not made them he couldn’t help but feel the full weight of responsibility squarely on his shoulders.
“This is incredible Steve, have they said anything about America?”
“Not yet, seems like it’s only in Seoul right now.” He tried to maintain his composure as he thought about leaving her and what she’d think when she knew the truth. Claire was starting to tear up and the guilt consumed the chemist. He walked over and sat next to her on the couch, taking her hand in his. She was squeezing it hard, eyes glued to the television. There wasn’t much to say at this point and all of the channels were running through the same information every ten minutes or so, followed by an interview with some “expert” who gave their opinion of what was happening and what Americans should be concerned about. All of the networks were putting out an open call on behalf of the government to anyone who had come back from or through Korea in the past week, which was tens of thousands of people. They all needed to be placed under observation and the Center for Disease Control was working with the Red Cross to set up centers around the country for those who had been in or through the city of Seoul. A while later, both numb, the anchorwoman announced that the cause had been discovered and it appeared to be tied to a batch of Coke that was bottled locally in Seoul and distributed only to grocery stores around the city, it didn’t appear that any of the affected bottles made it to the airport or any major hotels, which caused a huge amount of relief to the current expert on Fox News. “We’ve probably dodged the proverbial bullet this time Jane but this new strain is in the wild and the United States government had better be working on a vaccination before the country collapses from panic.” The anchorwoman stared into the camera with that patented vacant look and repeated the final words the expert had said as they broke to commercial.
Claire was visibly shaken by all of this and Steve knew it was time to talk to her about it. He shut off the television and looked into her eyes. “Please don’t worry Claire, we need to talk though.”
She cocked her head, couldn’t remember the last time he’d said that to her. It was always her who started the conversation. She was going to ask him what he wanted to talk about but he continued unprompted.
“I’ve been working on a top secret government project that is developing a vaccine for this new strain of smallpox using the bioresorbable spheres. Sorry I couldn’t tell you before, but we didn’t think there would be a breakout of the virus before we finished our preparation. We’ve done some testing and we’re working with the CDC to validate the vaccine is safe for humans but I took it a few weeks ago and haven’t had any major side effects. Remember when I was sick? That was due to the vaccine, it gives some of the symptoms of smallpox.”
“I thought something was going on but couldn’t figure it out. This is the first time you haven’t been telling me about what you’re working on. It makes sense now, at one point I thought it was another woman.”
He put his arms around her. “Nothing like that, I just couldn’t talk about it. Nobody at Foundation knows what I’ve been working on, just that it was a matter of national security. Now that there’s been an outbreak, we’ll probably have to proceed with giving the vaccine without full testing, it’s better than taking the chance of an outbreak here in the U.S.”
“How did the government find out about this?”
“I’m not even sure, only been told the minimum needed to do the job. Haven’t ever met anyone from the CDC, been working through the CIA, which is where the lead came from that there was a new strain of smallpox out there and some noise that there might be an attack in Asia somewhere. I guess we know where now.”
She hugged him and held him very close, nearly smothering him with her enormous breasts. “I am so proud of you, your invention is going to save millions of lives. You’re a hero Steven.”
He froze, thinking that she’s not going to feel like this for long. “I don’t know about that Claire but hopefully everything will go fine when we start vaccinating. I’m going to have to go to D.C. tomorrow based on what’s happening in Korea but I want to vaccinate you before I leave. I don’t know what I’d do if you got infected.”
“Can you give me the vaccine in the morning? I don’t want to get sick before you leave for D.C. Need to give my hero some loving tonight.” She pushed his head gently to her chest and purred. Steve hoped he could perform with the knowledge of what he’d done and the fact that he was leaving in his head. They turned the television back on and watched for updates, but there wasn’t anything of significance in terms of new information.
They ordered Chinese food delivery for dinner and Claire was upbeat despite the dire circumstances of the smallpox outbreak, locked in the notion that her introvert of a husband was a hero. Steve sat there thinking this was the last supper, the last time they’d ever eat together, after all of these years he was going to be a bachelor again. A felon, alone in the world, trying to hide and maybe create a new life.
After dinner they talked on the front porch, watching the young families stroll by, kids in tow on cycles, tricycles and on foot. Many waved and a few said hello, going on with their lives in spite of the possibility of epidemic. Steve was glad they didn’t have kids, would have compounded everything. Maybe he’d write Claire a letter from D.C., tell her everything so that she’d understand a little more. They had some ice cream sundaes and looked for something other than the news to watch. They watched a couple of programs, flipping through the news channels during commercials. The news was a bit encouraging, the Korean government has isolated the source of the virus to a local Coke plant and all of the infected bottles appeared to have been sold in the city of Seoul, so the breakout was most likely localized to the city itself. Most of the contaminated lots had been returned and the anchorman thanked the world for computers.
Claire and Steve made love that night and she fell asleep, leaving him staring at the ceiling in the dark. The hours passed but sleep would not come. He thought about getting up but wanted to spend as much time as possible with Claire. Steve dozed off at some point and woke in the pre dawn light to prepare for his trip. He packed quickly, taking a couple of outfits for different climate types and packing some of the small personal items he didn’t want to leave behind, including several photos of Claire.
She woke up when he was loading his bags into the car. “Coffee is ready, let’s have breakfast.” They ate together but didn’t say much and before long it was time for Steve to leave. He had the syringe on the living room table. Claire picked it up and looked at it in the light. “So these dots are little spheres?”
“Yes, the vaccine requires multiple boosters to be effective so each one is wrapped inside those little spheres and will release over the next few days. It saves the complication of tracking down people to give them a series of shots.” He checked for bubbles and then gave her the shot in her shoulder, Claire barely flinching.
“Even though it seems safe in the U.S. now, I’
m glad that you gave me the vaccine now. My hero.” She kissed him and held him tight. “I’m going to miss you, hurry back from D.C. so we can take another trip. I’ve got something in mind that I’ll book for later this summer, in case it takes you longer than you think.”
Steve felt like the world’s biggest heel at that moment, looking down into his wife’s blue eyes, which were welled up with tears. She was so proud of him and he was so ashamed at that moment. He tried like hell to keep some sense of composure, hugging her close so she wouldn’t see him screwing his facial muscles around to stop the tears from coming. Had to leave now. “I’ve got to go Claire, Robert’s going to have a fit if I’m late.”
They hugged again and he promised to call later, either on the road to D.C. or when he got there. She was waving as he pulled out of the driveway and he wished he could have a picture of that moment. Steve was as sad as he’s ever been on that drive, knowing he’ll probably never see her again and even if he could she’ll not want anything to do with him. He couldn’t shake it but needed to compose himself as he pulled into the project site, surprised to see a few cars already in the lot.
Steve checked the lab and it was empty, lights not even on, so he went upstairs and found everyone in the war room, eating donuts and celebrating the huge victory in Korea. “The man of the hour is here.” Robert said, holding his jelly donut up as a toast to the chemist. “Sit down, have some coffee and donuts, we have a lot to celebrate. And I’ve been thinking about your plan, thinking about it a lot. The sheer and simple brilliance of it reminds me of the little spheres you invented, just perfect for a surgical removal of the government.”
Robert’s excitement is contagious, the others at the table proud and excited in the moment and ready to proceed with their plan. Robert read the team the message he’d placed on the website last night, all of them swelling with pride at the thought of what they’d accomplished and looking forward to the final stages of The Cause. Steve’s mind pushed aside the thoughts of Claire and thought about the destruction of the United States government, rallied by the words coming from the bird man’s mouth.
“We still have a lot to do. Since we’ve changed the plan, we’ve got team members coming in from around the country to help us produce more vaccine here as well as help with the Washington activity. Things are going to get tight as hell everywhere because the CDC is picking us as the lead supplier of the vaccine and we’ll have all kinds of three letter agencies crawling up our asses shortly. I’ve kept the location quiet but will have to release it once we make it to D.C.”
“Where are we setting up in D.C.?” Steve asked.
“We’ll be staying at the hotel you were at last time and working out of an area that’s easily accessible from the White House and Capitol Building, hidden off some of the connecting tunnels so we don’t attract too much attention and can efficiently deliver the virus to those who matter most.”
The meeting broke up and everyone was busy packing up, double checking that they had the right stuff in the right places, didn’t want to mix up the vaccine with the virus. Steve wanted to send a note to Rob, his boss at Foundation Chemical, to tell him that he was going to be out of touch for the next couple of weeks. He logged on to his computer and was checking his chemical company mail when his computer crashed and wouldn’t reboot. He was freaking out because he was also going to write an email to Claire to tell her he loved her. He tried to restart the computer but it didn’t work, nothing was happening. Robert poked his head around the corner of the office, hearing Steve muttering in frustration. “What’s going on?”
“My computer just died, won’t even boot up now.”
“Don’t worry about that, we need to get moving so we’re in D.C. by dark, you can get on another computer or get that one fixed when we get to Washington.”
They were driving down together in a couple of rented Suburbans, leaving their vehicles behind. Robert was pacing nervously around the production area downstairs, anxious to get on the road. Jay was going to stay back and lead up the production of the vaccine, working with the CDC and whoever else felt a need to show up. It was likely that the CDC would pick up on the production instructions so they could build their own batches in Atlanta, they could probably make ten times the amount every day. Even though Steve knew Jay would be fine, he was reluctant to leave production to someone else. Robert wouldn’t let Steve stay behind, he was the lynchpin for D.C.
Everything was ready to go around lunch. The team met in the war room and Robert let them know that everything was going dark tomorrow, once everyone was in place in D.C. and Cleveland. “We’re going to pull down the website tomorrow, it’s too risky to leave t up. I have bought a couple dozen prepaid cell phones with all the other numbers programmed in, don’t use any other form of communication. Is that clear?”
General head nodding followed, no questions were asked, the air in the war room thick with anticipation. The breakup of the meeting was anticlimactic, no more rallying cries or group cheers. Everyone met downstairs by the Suburbans, did one last check that everything was ok and shook hands or hugged goodbye, saying they’d meet again soon and should be brushing up on their Swahili and getting ready to be really tan. The mood was light as they loaded up and hit the highway, destruction dead ahead.