Joe Rush 02: Protocol Zero by James Abel

Author:James Abel [Abel, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Action Thriller
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2015-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

I’d expected a conference but got an inquisition.

The Rangers drove me to the lab building on the tundra, within view of troops positioned a few hundred yards off, beyond concertina wire. We removed our boots beneath the NO DIRTY FOOTWEAR! WARNING! AVOID LAB CONTAMINATION! sign. In a foyer, rows of metal racks held pairs of combat boots. Mud dried on the floor.

Despite the somber mood there was something silly about Rangers, M4s on backs, walking around in stocking feet.

The building had no elevator. The guards followed me up concrete stairs, and past a glassed-in conference room where, grouped around a long conference table, standing and arguing, were about ten soldiers and civilians. A diorama of confusion: Merlin and the mayor at the far end of the table, standing, arms crossed, as if to say, We do not like what we’re hearing. A couple of Ranger officers poking something on the table, a map probably, and gesturing as if trying to convey orders. This is what we want you locals to do. The two CDC doctors watching, in an attitude of semi-helplessness. We haven’t found out anything yet that can help you. I saw a naval officer. A couple of state public health officials. And a man and woman sitting together, in uniform, glancing up sharply to meet my gaze as I passed, giving me a look of interest and recognition. Army investigators maybe. We’ve heard about you!

But Homza wasn’t there. The Rangers escorted me down the hall to the lab I shared with Eddie, where the general waited with a cute, gamine, Asian woman, in her mid thirties, in an Army sweater. Homza cradled a mug of steaming coffee. The woman sipped a Diet Pepsi from a can.

“This is Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Ng, who’s running our special investigation unit,” Homza, said, his gray eyes probing. “She’ll report directly to me twice a day. I report to the White House every six hours.”

Both of them regarded me with a flat, appraising intensity bordering on suspicion. Their careers would be elevated or destroyed by what happened over the next few days. I was the bug under a microscope. They needed to know if I could hurt them or help.

Homza nodded at Ng. It meant, Go ahead.

Ng said, “I want straight answers, please. Did you have anything to do with the eruption of this outbreak?”

“What?” I was stunned.

“You were assigned to Alaska to seek out organisms that might be harmful. You’re dead center in this. Yes or no? Did this thing come from your work, your lab?”

“No, Colonel.” I felt myself growing warm.

“Did you, at any time this summer, find what you were sent here to look for, illness resulting from a U.S. government program?”

“No.” The warmth was turning to heat.

“Did you or Major Nakamura discover the existence of any prior testing program—directed by any branch of the armed forces—that may have caused this disease to erupt?”

Homza just watched and weighed. I said, “How can you ask that? We’re the ones who reported the rabies.

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