Wet Work by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

Author:Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore [Ward, Dayton & Dilmore, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781416594130
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2008-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

NTAC

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

THE MEDICAL SECTION’S basement laboratory was a secluded, quiet place, visited by few who did not have specific business there. It was possible that a good number of personnel employed at the Seattle NTAC facility did not even know of the lab’s existence, and that was one of the things Dr. Maxwell Hudson liked about it.

Here, ensconced within the lab’s comfortable environs, Hudson was free to work virtually free from disruption. On those days where he was not scheduled to see patients and none arrived for walk-in visits, he would come here. Hours might pass in solitude, his only companions being the sounds of equipment or perhaps the music he piped from the CD player in his office. The privacy was therapeutic, a means for him to shut out the demands of his patient care responsibilities and instead concentrate on the pure research that was his first love and the primary reason for which he had elected a medical career in the first place.

Privacy also carried other benefits, such as being able to conduct a conversation like the one he currently was having.

“Good evening, Max,” said the voice of Dennis Ryland as NTAC’s deputy director stared out from Hudson’s laptop computer monitor. “Working late tonight?” The videoconferencing software on the portable computer seemed to be running a bit slow, Hudson decided as he watched Ryland’s image jerk and jump. The drag was likely due to the complex set of calculations with which he had tasked the laptop.

“Hello, Mr. Ryland,” Hudson replied. “I could ask you the same question. What can I do for you?”

Leaning closer to the webcam pickup on his own computer, Ryland replied, “We’ve confirmed that Lona Callahan, or Alicia Colbern, if you prefer, has never reported to any NTAC medical facility since leaving quarantine. For all intents and purposes, she’s dropped off the face of the earth. You know what that means?”

Hudson nodded, already feeling a knot forming in his gut. “Of course. She’s never received any injections of the inhibitor.” Glancing to the bottom left corner of his laptop screen, he confirmed that this conversation was taking place on a secure, encrypted channel, which also meant that no record of the call would be stored on any of the servers residing in NTAC’s communications center. He knew that would not stop Ryland from making a recording of the conversation, which was why he had activated his own personal digital recorder before initiating the connection. The small device sat next to the laptop, positioned near one of the computer’s built-in speakers and safely out of sight of its webcam receiver.

“To say that’s distressing is one hell of an understatement,” Ryland said. “You can imagine I’ve got some worried folks out here in Washington. We know there are other returnees out there who’ve never reported for medical screenings, and a few of those have proven to be persons of grave concern on the same level as Callahan. If what Baldwin and Skouris are telling me is true,

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