Covert One 01 - The Hades Factor by Robert Ludlum

Author:Robert Ludlum
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-04-10T07:54:29+00:00

PART THREE

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CHAPTER

TWENTY FIVE

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8:00 P.M., Tuesday, October 21

The White House, Washington, D.C.

Like an accusation, the front page of The Washington Post lay on the big Cabinet Room oval table where the president had left it. Although none of the solemn cabinet chiefs who sat around the polished table and none of their assistants who packed the walls looked at the newspaper with its banner headline, everyone was painfully aware of it. They had awakened to find their own copies lying on their doorsteps, just as hundreds of millions of Americans had discovered similar terrifying headlines awaiting them. All day long the news had blared from their radios. On television, little else was discussed.

For days scientists and the military had kept the president and high officials informed, but not until now, when the so-called civilized world seemed to erupt with the news, had the full force of the growing epidemic hit home.

DEADLY PANDEMIC OF UNKNOWN VIRUS SWEEPS GLOBE

In the packed cabinet room, Secretary of State Norman Knight pushed his metal-rimmed glasses up on his long nose. His voice was sober. "Twenty-seven nations have reported fatalities due to the virus, a total so far of more than a half million. All began with symptoms of a heavy cold or mild flu for some two weeks, then it'd suddenly escalate into acute respiratory distress syndrome and death within hours, sometimes less." He sighed unhappily. "Forty-two nations are reporting sudden cases of what appears to be a mild flu. We don't know yet whether that's the virus, too. We've barely started counting those victims, but they're in the high millions."

A shocked hush greeted the secretary's figures. The packed room seemed to grow rigid.

President Samuel Adams Castilla's penetrating gaze traveled slowly over their faces. He was looking for clues into the minds of his cabinet chiefs. He had to know on whom he could count to remain steady and bring knowledge, wisdom, and the will to act. Who would panic? Who would be shocked into paralysis?

Knowledge without the will to act was impotent. Will to act without knowledge was blind and reckless.

And anyone with neither to offer needed to be dismissed.

Finally he spoke, keeping his voice composed. "All right, Norm. How many in the United States?"

The secretary of state's long face was topped by an unruly shock of thick white hair. "Beyond the nine cases early last week, the CDC reports some fifty more deaths and at least a thousand flulike cases that they're testing for the new virus right now."

"It looks like we're getting off light," said Admiral Stevens Brose, chairman of the Joint Chiefs. His voice was cautiously hopeful.

Too cautious and too hopeful, President Castilla reflected. It was strange, but he had noticed that military men were often the least willing to act on the instant. But then, they had seen the deadly consequences of ill-considered action more than most.

"That's so far," Nancy Petrelli, secretary of Health and Human Services, pointed out ominously. "Which doesn't mean we won't be devastated tomorrow."

"No, I suppose it doesn't," the president agreed, a little surprised by the HHS secretary's negative tone.

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