The Emerald Virus Read Free Page A

turning on the recorder, as he was required to do when
discussing any threat. Jack let Harry know he was being recorded.
        
After that first phone call from Harry, Jack took a couple of minutes to gather
his thoughts. He looked around his office and gazed out on Constitution Avenue.
It was a pretty fall day with a bright blue sky. Typical of Washington DC in
the fall there was a breeze blowing and Jack could see leaves flying through
the air. His office was sparsely furnished and typical of a single male. There
were two institutional pictures on two of the walls and a plant on the
credenza. Jack sometimes wondered how the plant had gotten there, and how it
stayed alive, since he had never watered it. He assumed his assistant Irene
took care of the plant but he wasn’t sure. Whoever cared for the plant only did
so when Jack was out of his office
        
Jack pulled his thoughts back to the problem at hand and thought about the
professionals he had studied under who were on the front lines during the Ebola
Virus crisis. He now understood what they meant when they told him how their
stomachs had contracted when they realized how dangerous this virus was. Jack
didn’t know how this Emerald Virus matched up against the Ebola virus in terms
of fatalities, but from what Harry had told him the Emerald Virus was already
much more widespread than the Ebola Virus had ever become.     Jack called Dr.
McCloud on the direct intercom, something he rarely did, and only when time was
a critical issue. He told her he needed to talk to her immediately and when she
asked how important the subject was, he said that unless she was talking to the
President she needed to see him now. She told him to be in her office in two
minutes.
        
As he walked down the hall he saw a group of six or seven people being ushered
out of her office and they looked unhappy. He passed them quietly, walked past
Dr. McCloud’s assistant Nancy, and into the inner office.
        
Alice J. McCloud was a handsome lady in her mid-fifties. Her dark hair was cut short
and was beginning to gray. She was standing and waiting for Jack as he entered
her office. Dr. McCloud looked at him with a warm smile and said, “Jack, I know
you’ll make this worthwhile, but please don’t make it as bad as the tone in
your voice suggests it is.”
        
Jack looked at her and realized once again that one of the things he respected about
her was that he would see this same warm smile when he left her office. She
always retained her composure, and always knew how to get the best out of her
people during the most difficult times. He thought this skill was probably
developed during her time on the staff of a number of hospitals, before she had
chosen to follow her heart and become a medical scientist. And not just any
science, she had returned to her work as a microbiologist seeking to identify
the newest and most dangerous bacteria, microbes and viruses in the world, and
of course to find cures or vaccines for those infectious agents that proved
unsafe or fatal for humans.
        
Jack responded by saying, “Dr. McCloud, I’m afraid this one might be really
bad. I just got off the phone with Harry in Edinburgh. I’ve recorded the call
and I’d like to play it for you.” Dr. McCloud nodded yes and Jack opened his
laptop and hit the play button.
        
Harry’s voice was saying, “All right Jack, let me start by telling you why I’ve
called this a potential bio-terrorism related phone call.”
        
Harry began the explanation by identifying himself. “This is Harry Skipperton.
I’m a senior research scientist with the Department of Homeland Security,
currently on temporary staff at the School of Biological Sciences, the
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. I’ve been in Edinburgh for four
months. A week agothe university received a
call for help concerning Emerald, a small fishing village on the rugged
northwest coast of Scotland. It seems