Dawn of the Planet of the Apes by Greg Keyes Read Free Book Online Page B

steak.
    “The retrovirus,” he said at length. “Is it dangerous?”
    “Yes,” she said. “Yes it is. In fact, it’s a nightmare. It appears to be airborne. The incubation period is incredibly rapid. Fever, bleeding from mucus membranes,especially in the sinuses, followed by rapid multiple-organ dysfunction. The time between onset of symptoms and death is a matter of days.”
    “What’s the mortality rate?”
    “Ten people have died of it in San Francisco that I know of and about a hundred have been diagnosed with it here. There are cases reported in other cities. So far no one has recovered.”
    “No one?” He leaned back in his chair. “Really, Natalia. This sounds dangerous to me. Maybe you should take some time off.”
    “By tomorrow, there are some predictions we could see a jump in mortality—a hundred or more. The more healthcare providers have to deal with that, the fewer there will be to deal with things I deal with. If I take off, I’ll leave them even more short-handed. I’m not prepared to do that.”
    He shook his head.
    “I’m very careful,” she said, heading him off. “Everything washed, everything sterilized.”
    “Yes,” he said. “Even when you were a little girl, always washing the spoon and forks twice—once with soap, again with rubbing alcohol.”
    “Drove Mom crazy,” she remembered.
    “Yes, it did,” he agreed. Then he turned back to his steak.
    “I don’t like this business,” he said. “This virus, or you in an emergency room, for that matter. And it really hurts me that you won’t join the old man in his practice.”
    “I don’t want to hurt you, Pop.”
    “I’m not done,” he said. “All these things, I have some trouble understanding. But know this—I
am
proud of you, Natalia.”
    She stared at him, feeling a slow smile grow on her face, even as her eyes threatened to tear up. He couldn’t lookat her, of course. He was cutting his steak with deliberate strokes, as if he were opening up someone’s chest.
    “Thanks, Pop,” she said. “That’s nice to hear.”
    “Now that’s out of the way,” he said, “if you should change your mind…”
    “Just eat, Pop,” she said.

4
    Dreyfus cleared his throat, took a sip of water, and ran a hand over his shock of slightly shaggy, brown hair. Then he faced the reporters who had gathered in the lobby outside of his office. The steady murmur of conversation died down as they waited for him to speak.
    “It’s good to see you all here today,” he said. “I appreciate you turning out. I’ll keep this brief, because there’s no big reveal coming, I think. Many of you speculated openly that when I stepped down as chief of police last year, my intention was to run for mayor. Today, I’m just here to confirm that.
    “The financial assets and affairs of this city, frankly, have been badly mismanaged, and it’s going to take a steady hand and a lot of hard work to get us back to where we need to be. I’ve served San Francisco proudly for all of my adult life. As chief of police, I made our force leaner and more responsive, more effective than it has ever been. I can do the same for this city and this county. If the citizens of this community see fit to give me the opportunity, I
will
do so.”
    He smiled. “That’s it,” he said. “Brief, as I promised.But I’m more than happy to answer any questions you might have.”
    Hands shot up.
    “Rick,” he said.
    “You’re aware of the so-called ‘Monkeygate’ affair, Chief Dreyfus?”
    “It’s just ‘Mr. Dreyfus’ at the moment, Rick. But sure, it’s hard not to be aware of it, given the media—if you’ll forgive me—
circus
surrounding the events that occurred.”
    That drew a few chuckles.
    “In a statement three days ago,” the reporter continued, “Mayor House cited the incident on the Golden Gate Bridge as a failure of your ‘leaner’ police force, and claimed that the late Chief Hamil of the San Bruno Police Department was a casualty of