Calculated Contagion Page 11

  “Dr. Lewis, I trust your lab tour went well?”

  “Very well. Thank you for asking. Pardon me, but I would like to get a start on the files, since the time I have assigned for this audit is limited.” Dr. Fabian took one last look at the file and after reassuring her one more time that he was available for questions, finally left the room. Columns of numbers lay before her. Great, I take time away from my real job and end up looking at budgets, she thought. Sighing at the glamorous work that constituted moonlighting for the FBI, without the help of her trusty music or chocolate to get through it, she settled into the data and began to look for patterns.

  * * *

  Parker watched the interaction between Ree and Dr. Fabian from the van, both through Ree’s glasses and the overhead camera, trying to mask his growing annoyance. He didn’t like the idea of Ree being left alone with Dani’s kidnapper on the loose. He didn’t even try to talk Ree out of going in armed. Given that their last assignment would have ended much differently if Ree didn’t have a weapon, Parker had procured an FBI-issued service weapon for her before they left Chicago and spoken with security to ensure that the violation of their policy was overlooked. When Dr. Fabian left without incident, he glared at the camera feed for a second longer before turning to Alexis.

  “Alright, that’s it. Run a background check on Dr. Fabian. I want to know if he’s just an overly ambitious jerk or…”

  “A terrible excuse for a human being?” Alexis said, matter-of-fact, without looking up from the video monitor.

  “Yes, that.”

  * * *

  Dani pulled a pair of shoes from her hall closet for day two of her participation in the FBI investigation, trying not to notice Ree discreetly accepting the two-way earpiece that Mike offered. Ree had insisted on having a way to communicate after their first day in the lab, even though her second day held only the promise of more paperwork.

  Turning her ear towards Parker, Ree asked, “Look good?”

  “You always do, especially when you aren’t aiming your eye lasers at me.”

  “Flirting with me is not going to make up for you tricking me into looking at budgets all day. Pro bono,” Ree said, raising her eyebrows. “Any updates for me?”

  “Nothing yet. Sorry, babe.” Parker shrugged. Unlike most couples, Dani found them easy to be around. They didn’t paw all over each other and their rapid-fire banter chased her dark thoughts away. Most of the time. At this point, any distraction was welcome.

  Alexis pulled on her coat. “Cam will be checking in today. He’s back in the States and headed our way. We should see him and Tyler this evening. Looks like we’ll have a team meeting here tonight. That okay with you, Dani?”

  Dani nodded. From the FBI contingent, she was most comfortable with Alexis and Ree. One of the two was always by her side. Parker and Mike seemed like nice enough guys, and she didn’t like that she felt uncomfortable around them if one of the girls was too far away. She hadn’t had the opportunity to fully process her kidnapping, and until she had time to deal with it, it was probably a reasonable, self-protective biological response to prefer the company of women. Tyler and Cam were the only two exceptions to her knee-jerk distrust of male strangers. They had her back before she even knew who they were. Dani pulled her keys from her purse and opened the door for the FBI agents.

  Alexis threw her bag over her shoulder and said, “Ladies, I want you to dig into the lab journals next and let me know if anything looks off there.”

  “Are you sure this is going to get us somewhere, Alex?” Ree asked.

  “No, I’m not. But we can’t leave until Cam gives us the go-ahead and we know Dani’s in the clear, so we might as well get some work done.”

  “Do you need a break, Ree? I know you’re not trained, so it’s completely understandable if the work is too much for you,” Mike said, placing a gentle hand on Ree’s shoulder. His tone communicated concern, but Dani read between the lines when he dodged her elbow, laughing.

  Ree narrowed her eyes at Mike. “Do you want to kiss—”

  “Come on, honey, you’ll be late,” Parker said, steering her to the door before she could finish her sentence. Eyeing them both, he said, “Children, play nice. And for the record Mike, that’s what I mean by Ree’s eye lasers.”

  Ree sighed. “You’re getting off too easy, Mike. Alex, please do what you can to give him grief in my absence. I hate to admit it, but Parker’s right, we need to get going.”

  “Have a good day at work, dear,” Parker said, handing her a travel mug before leaning over to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek.

  “I will. This is nothing compared to the last thing you all dragged me into,” Ree said, pointing at him before walking out of the apartment. Dani didn’t miss the rest of the team exchanging glances as she winced. Dani wasn’t especially superstitious, but in her experience, nothing invited disaster on a project like underestimating what you were up against.

  * * *

  Bruce Stevens’s phone rang again on the way to work. He’d been employed by VacTech for over five years, but he’d never been this nervous going into work. Seeing Dani safe had only been a temporary balm to his guilt. It had since been overshadowed by eleven missed calls from an unknown caller in less than twenty-four hours. They wouldn’t stop until he engaged. If he didn’t do something, they might go after Dani, and it would all be because of him. Out of options, he pulled into a gas station and accepted the call.

  “Hello?”

  “I thought we were friends, Bruce.”

  “We aren’t friends. I don’t even know who you are. Just take the money back, and I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”

  “Oh, it’s a little too late for that, Bruce.”

  “I haven’t done anything wrong. Just leave me alone, and we’ll forget everything, okay?”

  “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Bruce.”

  “Just leave me alone!” Bruce closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

  “Let me put this in language you’ll understand. You help me or the woman dies. We’ll even let you keep the money so you know that I’m a nice guy.”

  “I don’t want your money. And which woman?” Not Dani. Not Dani.

  “The scientist. We got to know her a little better, but she left our meeting early. You can help me, or we can skip to the part where we just kill her. Then there would be blood on your hands too, Bruce.”

  “You said you just wanted to talk to her. Don’t hurt her. What do you want from me?”

  “Just one little sample. I need you to get a sample and no one will get hurt. We’ll never talk to you or her again. I’m employed by a competitor and my company needs to do some work so we don’t go underwater. I am paid to make sure people have jobs, Bruce. You’ll be helping me and thousands of other people. It’s a foundation, Bruce. You’re in the business of helping people, we are in the business of helping people. Just get that sample and no one has to die. You want to help people, don’t you, Bruce?”

  “Just don’t hurt her. She has nothing to do with this, nothing to do with me.”

  “Follow my instructions and no one gets hurt. We’re just helping people, Bruce. You and me. Now, here’s what you’re going to do.”

  The man explained what he wanted and Bruce hung his head in disgrace. He wasn’t perfect, but until recently, he at least believed he was honorable. Their contact had started off innocently enough. He had only told the man where he could find Dani to pitch his idea for a vaccine. He had been paid a connection fee, because the inventor found the information valuable. It was easy money where no one got hurt. The man could have found out where Dani would be simply by looking at the website for the conference. Bruce didn’t feel bad for taking the man’s money and hadn’t violated Dani’s privacy in any way.

  Too late, he understood what the man was capable of. Surely, he wouldn’t actually kill Dani? But if the man hurt her, Bruce would never forgive himself. No matter what anyone else said, he would feel responsible. Just one m
ore thing and no one would get hurt. He could do that.

  * * *

  Dani exited the parking garage and scanned her surroundings, swallowing hard. When her new friends were around, she craved more alone time than they could give, but by herself, her mind ran wild. Even Bruce Stevens, her longtime colleague, seemed suspect. She came up behind him at the crosswalk while he stood frozen, staring at the cheery white “WALK” sign. While Bruce was average in almost every way–height, weight, clothes–she couldn’t help but notice him because he always seemed so nervous around her. She always tried to be understanding but could never quite reach him. Pointing out he was missing the obvious at the crosswalk wouldn’t make him more comfortable around her either. To her relief, she saw his obliviousness this morning was because he was staring at his phone. As she approached, he seemed to finally notice his surroundings. Bruce gave her sheepish half-wave before leading the way across the street.

  Once again, Ree entered the building no more than thirty seconds after Dani. Dani had nothing to offer Ree in return except another very boring day of looking at paperwork. Ree followed her silently through the hallway as she shed her coat, scarf, and gloves. Dani retrieved a binder from her office and dropped it on the conference room desk with a dramatic thunk. She looked apologetically at Ree and said, “I hope you find something. And on behalf of everyone in the lab, sorry you have to read that notebook cover to cover. I don’t usually make anyone besides managers and interns suffer your fate.”

  Ree gave Dani a quick smile and settled in. Dani didn’t ask if she was still wearing a gun underneath her smart navy suit. She felt a little silly about finding relief in Ree’s presence, given that nothing had happened since she came back. Whoever was after her in Romania was clearly laying low and giving the lab a wide berth. She checked her watch and realized she had a one-on-one with Keith in a few minutes, immediately followed by a budget meeting with Dr. Fabian. While Keith wasn’t one of her all-stars, he was dependable and she didn’t want to keep him waiting. She’d met Keith while they were both college students and their relationship was easy. He was heavily invested in the lab, and while he required a little more oversight than her other employees, having someone who wasn’t interested in petty fights or backstabbing was its own kind of relief.

  One meeting down and an hour later, Dani was still stuck in her meeting with Dr. Fabian with no end in sight. Time had stopped. It was the only rational explanation. While her earlier meeting with Keith had been quick and painless, dealing with Dr. Asshole, as Ree had dubbed him, was something else entirely. Brock Fabian needed to know everything about what she was working on to the last detail and lately, had been militant about checking and double-checking her work and that of her employees. If he had been even a little bit nice about it or offered an explanation for his new management style, she would consider him a valued colleague. Instead, he crossed his arms, sighed before answering her questions, and generally acted as if he was doing her a big favor by micromanaging her people.

  Hoping to send a message, Dani openly checked the time on her phone, but only thirty minutes had passed, and Brock had scheduled a full hour. Today, in addition to questioning her math, he was trying to get her to change the budget to allocate more of her funds to his research because it was more technically challenging. Trying to be understanding while holding her ground, she prepared herself to explain for the third time why the budget did not need to be changed when she heard a quiet tap on the door.

  The door creaked open and Ree stepped into the office. “I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something important, but Ms. Christensen, I have a question for you on one of your files.”

  Dr. Fabian crossed his arms and looked at her smugly. “Well, Ms. Christensen, if there is a mistake in your files, you should go take care of that before we continue our discussion. Wasn’t Dr. Lewis reviewing your budget today? I can’t reiterate enough how important it is to get the numbers right.” Turning his smile towards Ree, he said, “Thank you for your thorough approach to this problem, Dr. Lewis. Ms. Christensen shows great potential, and I’m sure she would be happy to use this as a learning experience to improve her documentation practices.”

  Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Two deep breaths later, Dani rose from the chair and followed Ree out of Dr. Fabian’s office. She would be the bigger person in this situation, even if her inner teenager wanted desperately to give him a piece of her mind. Or throw something at him. Instead, she followed Ree down the hallway to the conference room. Ree shut the door behind her and handed Dani a binder.

  “Dani, take a look at this. I’ve looked through the files and this one in particular, see this number here? I believe it refers to the vials of live measles virus you have in the secure lab, correct?”

  “Yes…” Dani replied, not sure where this was leading. Ree was intelligent and the inventory sheet clearly described the number and location of the vials in the secure lab and their contents. The need to ask such an obvious question instantly put Dani on edge.

  “And this is the most recent record? There are no others?”

  “No, this is the master copy, Ree. Each vial is sealed and signed by hand, so we’d even know if someone got into it without authorization. We track it all on paper, through me, for confidentiality reasons. We don’t want a network computer to have this information–someone from the outside could tap into it. What’s going on?”

  “Dani, there are ten vials listed on this paper.”

  “Okay. Ten vials. Got it.” Dani humored the woman sitting in front of her. Ree shuffled her weight from one foot to the other like a nervous intern.

  “These are the vials you showed me yesterday. There were only nine in the cabinet. I counted them myself,” Ree said.

  “Pardon?”

  “There’s supposed to be ten, right? But there were nine. No offense to your lab tour, but I was occupying my brain by counting samples. More out of habit than anything else. But yes, I’m sure of it. A vial of measles virus is missing.”

  * * *

  Less than a second later, Mike gestured at Parker. “We’ve got a problem. Your girl doesn’t make mistakes on that stuff. You’re up, P.” Before Mike finished his sentence, Parker was reaching for his equipment. He placed a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his nose and buttoned up a dress shirt over the cotton fitted shirt he was already wearing. Throwing a bag over his shoulder, he spoke into the microphone that connected with Ree’s earpiece.

  “On my way, ladies. Lock the conference room and do not leave until I get there.”

  * * *

  Parker checked in under the name Parker Landon and was escorted to the conference room by security. Ree and Dani let him in and shut the door behind him. Ree began to backpedal. “It could be nothing, Parker. It’s only off by one number.”

  “You may be right, but in this case, I’d prefer not to chance it. If it’s missing, someone from VacTech was involved and this thing is bigger than Dani’s kidnapping. Dani, our team is going to run back over the security footage, starting from the date of this entry until today. It’ll take us some time to check our video, so why don’t we check the lab to make sure Ree counted correctly? If we’re missing a vial, you two can take the rest of the day off until we know more.” Parker’s tone was reasonable and even. However, Ree had known him long enough to know when he was bluffing. His right hand lay flat on the open notebook but his left hand was clenched tight. It wasn’t an obvious tell, but Ree wasn’t the only one that picked up on it since Mike cleaned his clock nearly every time they played poker.

  Ree paced the conference room while Parker escorted Dani to the lab. When the door opened again, Ree jumped. Parker shook his head and Dani’s face was grim. While Ree was glad to have found a lead after nearly two days of nothing, she had learned enough about Dani’s research to be unsettled by the discovery. Parker closed the door behind him.

  “Dani, I don’t want to overreact. Could you please explain to me what is in the vials and if t
here is any danger when one goes missing?”

  Dani sat down hard in the closest chair and rubbed her hands over her face. After a long silence, she said, “You probably aren’t overreacting, Parker. Those vials contain a strain of measles virus in a medium designed to keep the virus particles active. We use it for test purposes. We keep a small quantity on hand, but even that small amount could accidentally infect someone if they weren’t vaccinated. It’s why we keep such detailed records and tight security.”

  “And the vaccination rate?”

  “There are a small number of people who don’t believe in vaccinations and some immunocompromised folks who can’t be vaccinated, but they’re the minority. By and large, most adults in the US are vaccinated. If someone chosen randomly from the US population opened the vial and came into contact with it, the odds are that they wouldn’t be infected. The virus can’t live forever outside of the body or outside of the controlled conditions of the lab. But if the vial leaks or it’s handled improperly, it could still get some high-risk people sick until the virus particles die. If that happens, we could have a small outbreak among the non-vaccinated population. We need to report this to the CDC. If whoever took it doesn’t know how to handle it, it’s wildly contagious, even before symptoms appear.”

  “So, there were nine vials left?” Ree asked.

  Parker shook his head. “No, babe. There were eight.”

  17

  Before her teammates had returned to the van, Alexis called Sandy to get the name of a trusted contact at the CDC. When she hung up, she asked Mike, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”