Independence Day Plague (21 page)

Brian McAfee banged into the conference room. “Yo, chief, thanks for waiting for me.”

Dorado looked at his computer clock one more time and growled, “About damn time. Did the kid give you anything?”

“
No, he died about an hour ago without waking. That’s part of what took me so long.” He slumped down in a chair and ran his fingers through his dark red hair. “You eaten yet?”

Dorado shook his head.

“
Let’s go grab some grub and I’ll tell you what I found out.”

Half-hour later, the men sat in a quiet booth in a dark bar and grill. Although many of the restaurants already overflowed with customers, this bar and grill had a chipped-paint exterior and a dark, greasy inside. The less picky locals knew that the Flame and Suds didn't look like much but served decent steaks and burgers.

They quickly ordered their steaks and ice teas. Once the waiter left, Dorado leaned forward, “Okay Brian, tell me what you’ve got.”

“
Jeez amigo, this is some case you gave me. Cardell really fucked up with not getting this kid to a doctor sooner. His parents state that the boy told the officers he had trouble breathing at the time of arrest. They're now talking about suing the department. The kid's a typical high school party kid. He had no priors but, according to his buddies, liked to dabble in the recreational powders. He had relatively new implants but they looked like the typical sex-sensory stuff. “

“
Could the disease come from the implants?”

Brian shook his head, “Not likely. The implants are legal, tattoo-parlor quality, no deep spinal or brain stem stuff. His parents said he got them put in about five months ago. According to the doctor, that’s too long of incubation for the disease. In addition, I had Olsen check the records this afternoon. The parlor he went to passed all its health inspection.”

He paused, taking a large sip of ice tea. “That sweet lady is warming up to me, I think.”

Dorado cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, she said something?”

McAfee grinned, “Nah, but she was almost pleasant to work with. Didn’t actually smile but thawed a bit on the ice bitch routine. Actually wished me good luck on the investigation.”

“
I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Did the parents preapprove the implants?”

McAfee snorted, “Yeah, they even paid for them. Seems Thayor convinced them it would keep him out of drugs. The boy had a serious future as a salesman.”

“
These folks must be real stupid.”

“
Upper-middle class corporate clones.” McAfee shrugged, “Not the best on the parenting scale.”

“
Well, if the kid didn’t get it from doing the cyber-implant, then it’s got to be the drugs.”

“
Yeah and no. You can get the disease other ways but when it affects the lungs so quickly, the doctor says that's from spores. It’s logical that the shit was mixed into the drugs, but why isn’t anyone else sick? Cardell busted a party of about eighteen kids. It turns out he’s a friend of one of the kid’s parents. They asked him to scare the hell out of the teenagers in hopes they’ll go straight. None of the other kids show any symptoms and most of them were high during the bust. Cardell has arrest records on all of them. I visited each kid and their family and saw no symptoms or any indications of a factory. I wasn’t the only one either. When the doctors discovered Cabbot had anthrax, they pulled in all the kids and tested them. No other positive results."

“
So I figure it must be something in the kid’s home or someplace the kid went. I talked to the dad who let me search their house. I brought in a forensics team this morning and we did swabs all over the place. Other than an overload of prescription Valium and Prozac, there’s nothing outside of the kid’s room. The parents barely talk to each other and I’m guessing Thayor had a lot of unsupervised free time.”

“
So it’s a dead end. Shit.” Dorado shifted in the hard wooden seat. “Sherrie told me that anthrax shows symptoms anywhere from one to six days after infection. The party was busted on the 26
^th
and the kid went to the hospital on the 29
^th
. So it had to be something anywhere from the 23
^rd
on.”

“
Okay. Tell you what though, chief, this is nasty shit. They had Thayor with tubes doing all his breathing and he just kept getting bluer and bluer until he stopped. The doctor told me that this crap is very contagious from person to person and from cow to person in the right form. It’s a real nasty way to die.”

“
What’s the right form?”

“
White powder.”

Dorado sighed, “Like nose candy.”

“
Yeah.”

Their steaks arrived and the men ate in silence for a while. Dorado frowned as he stirred a French fry in ketchup. “It doesn’t add up. It looks like the kid got it from the rec drugs but none of the other kids are sick. What about his supplier? What if Thayor bought something that he decided not to share with the rest of the party?”

McAfee nodded, “I checked on that. Cabbot’s suffering made the others real talkative. The girls didn’t know anything. They claim that they didn’t even know about the rec drugs. One of their parents hinted that Cardell was giving them trouble so we might want to keep an eye on that. Evidently Cardell runs quite an industry in dealing in favors.” McAfee munched on another fry before continuing. “But this other kid knew a bit more. He calls himself Spyder. He claims to be Cabbot’s best friend. He said all the guys kicked in for the supplies but only Cabbot knew where to get them. He gave me two names of likely suppliers: Lloyd Thompson and a guy named Arnie Noonan. Spyder didn't know how to contact either dude. I ran Thompson and got some hits on possession with intent. He’s the main supplier for the Prince George area and he did a little time but nothing in his file indicates that he worked with biologicals.”

“
And the other?”

“
Noonan has no record. If he’s a seller, he’s not been busted yet.”

Dorado slouched back against the booth and frowned in thought. “How easy is it to cook this stuff?”

McAfee took a drink then continued. “Sherrie followed up on the disease. She said that she sent you the report.”

Dorado grimaced, “I probably haven’t gotten to it yet. Sum it up for me.”

“
The CDC says that a lab grows anthrax bacteria fairly easily. It needs special equipment like incubators and something called a water bath. Nothing you'd find in a department store. The chemist must buy most of the stuff from a company that makes that type of equipment. Except for the disease itself, there’s nothing unusual enough to be specifically traceable back to one company. About twenty or more companies supply the local research labs and medical schools. The doctor told me that the CDC is trying to figure out Thayor’s bug through its DNA. Once they know what the DNA looks like, they may be able to trace it back to a source. The source gives us an idea of which company supplied it.”

“
That’s something I guess.”

McAfee nodded and took another bite before continuing, “The CDC says once someone has an original sample, they could grow it in an oversized kitchen and there isn’t a distinctive smell. The hardest part is drying it down to powder. They also say no one makes anthrax other than as a disease. People don't get side-products off of it. It's a weapon, that’s all.”

“
Shit, that’s just great. Somebody with a cause and a cauldron out there stews up a load of trouble.” Dorado shoved his plate away. “So we still don’t know anything.”

McAfee chomped on a French fry. “Yeah, essentially.”

Dorado nodded, “We don’t know enough but we have two names.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed it quickly. “Hi, Sherrie. I hate to do this to you but we need your particular expertise. Can you come back in for about an hour?” He paused for a reply. “We’re trying to close on the anthrax case. Sure thing. Thanks.” He clipped the phone shut and looked at McAfee. “What the hell are you grinning about?”

“
A chance to see her pretty face again. She’s coming in?”

“
Yeah, in about twenty minutes. Best we head back too.”

The expected hour of work turned into two. The gray walls of the data room loomed even darker and more dungeon-like at night. Two elderly women occupied the far end of the room and threw them frequent curious glances as the men pulled plastic rolling chairs up to Sherrie’s terminal.

Dorado watched her as she put on the screen-shield. She had arrived in the most casual clothes he had ever seen on her. Jeans hugged her curves as she walked and the light green plain t-shirt accented her pale skin. Her long blond hair hung down and loose in gentle waves around her shoulders. He noticed Brian watching too. When they made eye contact, McAfee shrugged silently and grinned. Dorado didn’t blame him this time. Relaxed, she looked incredibly lovely.

Her hands flew and dipped over the electronic tabletop as she whispered computer commands into the throat mike. Lloyd Thompson not only had a record, he was currently doing time in Virginia. Sherrie took the time to research his background as well.

Still wearing the helmet, she gestured at the large flat screen embedded in the wall. “This guy’s not bright enough to grow plants much less anything else. Look, he didn’t finish high school, and only has a couple of tech courses to his name before he flunked out. If he’s a rec chemist, he’s getting help from someone else. I’d guess someone else cooks it and he’s the salesman.”

McAfee handed her a piece of paper. “Try this one. He doesn't have a record.

She typed in Arnold "Arnie" Noonan and the search immediately brought back birth records, school affiliations, and credit status. As the information scrolled by, she said, “I think we have something. He’s rated as intelligent but not overly so. He’s got a college background in life sciences. He posted a resume a year ago at a job placement website. He works at hospitals.”

“
Where?” Brian leaned forward, peering at the screen against the wall. “You can really see all that stuff?”

Sherrie formed a tight smile, “I see it faster than you do. I can find out your life’s history, your work, how well you get along with coworkers, where you spent your last vacation, maybe your favorite color, and possibly your sexual fantasies given enough time and not too many questions about the privacy laws.”

“
Shit!” He grinned at her. “I’m surprised you’re here. You’d make great money working as a hacker.”

“
I like my hair. Don’t want to do the implanting thing. The Internet is a blessing and a curse.” She replied coolly. “The bigger question is: why would I want to know that about you?”

Dorado coughed to cover his laughter. “What do you see about this guy?”

Her features smoothed over to blandness again through the shield as her fingers danced across the flat surface. The network printer behind them erupted into a muffled clatter. “I’m printing some stuff out now. He’s got a lot of independent laboratory and medical school work listed but no one job lasted beyond a year to a year and a half. He lists four jobs in six years."

“
Sounds like a possible winner to me,” Brian quipped.

Dorado nodded, “Sherrie, get all you can on this guy. We need enough for a warrant. We’ll start pulling together the paperwork on a search warrant.”

About a half hour later, Sherrie joined them in the conference room. “Mike, I think you should look at this.” She laid papers down in two rows, three pages on top and four pages below along the desk.

As they stood beside her, she pointed to the top row. “I printed out Noonan’s resume. I figured that most people couldn’t buy many of the things needed for microbiology work. Noonan isn't any exception. He’s a small time lab technician that never stayed in any one lab long enough to be promoted. He only makes about five dollars over minimum wage. He lives in his mother’s house, or at least tax records have it in her name. Let’s theorize that he does designer drugs on the side. That nets him anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand a week, so now he can buy many of the instruments and chemicals needed. However, because of the disease scares in the 2000s, many types of biological-oriented equipment are purchase-tracked through companies. Individuals can’t buy them without preapproval from the company. All microbiological samples get tracked now too, no matter how harmless the bacteria. A nurse friend told me that any bacteria in a concentrated enough dose would kill.

"When I talked to the CDC about needed equipment for a lab, they said the government tracks items like incubators. However, in the case of most lab-related busts, the equipment is either bought out of the country and brought in or stolen from area research centers and hospitals. So earlier today, I called around to the different hospitals and research areas to talk to them about stolen equipment. I got faxes from each of their security departments that detailed the type of equipment missing from each place for the last two years. One security officer told me that they knew when a new designer drug lab opened up in the area because the amount of glassware and equipment missing from the medical schools and hospitals shot up. So I started thinking, Noonan's at work, surrounded with the right chemicals, machines, glassware; everything he needs for his side businesses.” She pointed to the second row. “This is a list from each hospital Noonan worked for. Of course, the guy says a steady stream of material is always leaving the building but occasionally a strange or expensive thing gets reported. These lists represent only the big ticket items that have disappeared and the dates they were reported missing.”