Pestilence: The Infection Begins by Craig A. McDonough Read Free Book Online Page B

I’m sure you’ll want to see.” Tilford came running from outpatients.
    “I can see you have your hands full, Miss Delaney. I’ll call you soon. This is strictly precautionary, and as soon as we can confirm there is no danger of an influenza outbreak, the quarantine will be lifted. Until then.”
    Calgleef took the opportunity to beat a hasty retreat.
    “Wait, hold on you… bastard!” She slammed the phone on top of the counter.
    “Dr. Delaney, Dr. Del—”
    “Oh for Christ’s sake, stop calling me that. It’s Grace, okay?” She was in no mood for the “Dr. Delaney” bullshit. She would have preferred they got to first-name basis in more intimate surrounds.
    Well if we get out of this in one piece, it’ll definitely be intimate, that’s for sure.
    “Sure, sure. Grace it is, but you gotta hurry!”

    T ilford had left the nurse on her own to watch over Ms. Enticing Tits. He thought it was a bad decision at the time; he was about to discover exactly how bad.

    * * *
    “ Y es , yes indeed. They’re on their way as we speak, Mr. Gerard,” Calgleef informed the hospital CEO.
    Gerard didn’t like losing, especially to a woman and a smart-ass first-year doctor, and as soon as he left the out patients clinic he called the director of the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia. He told the clerk who answered, his call concerned the vaccination program taking place in his hospital, and he was put through instantly.
    “Just sit tight, Mr. Gerard, let us handle it from here. It appears there has been a mix up in the vaccines, but please, a word to the wise,” Calgleef was the perfect silver-tongued devil, “don’t call anyone. If the media gets hold of this, they’ll blow it out of proportion, and that will only hinder our efforts and that could damage your reputation as well as the your hospitals. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?”
    Calgleef was a man who knew how to use the right words to extol and to caution at the same time. A wiry, thin man in his midforties with a receding hairline, he was thankful for his family wealth; with thick creases across his forehead, a long, pointed nose, and beady eyes set far too close together, money was all he had going for him.
    The instant he ended his conversation with Gerard, the CDC director called Dr. Moya.
    “I just spoke with the hospital CEO, he knows there are problems with the vaccine.”
    “Well if the patients are becoming ill after receiving the shot, I’m sure half the hospital knows by now,” Moya reasoned.
    “He called me with his concerns, but I’m afraid this man might go to the governor’s office, he—”
    “We can’t risk that for a moment, not for a moment. You have the power to isolate the hospital, do you not?”
    “I’m not sure I follow you. I’ve arranged for a biological team to go in now and seal off the building. The governor has agreed to send a contingent of police to—”
    “There you go,” Moya pointed out to him, like a teacher explaining rudimentary addition, “now to add the National Guard it has to be declared an emergency, right? So there is your reason to prevent telephones calls going out. That will alleviate our problem.”
    “It’s not that simple, Dr. Moya,” Calgleef countered, though he was impressed with Moya’s knowledge of US martial law. Calgleef didn’t know if he was correct or not. “It’s a hospital, so it has emergency communications, two-way radio, and people have cell phones. Switching off the telephones won’t prevent any calls going out.”
    “Then you’ll have to use the CIA or NSA to monitor all hospital frequencies and cell phones and prevent any calls from going out. I don’t need to remind you, Calgleef, that if this fails, then we’re talking a loss of billions in the first year alone!” Moya showed he knew even more about the US system. He spent a considerable amount of time researching the US intelligence apparatus and how it operated. He knew more about the way the US