A Heartbeat Away - Michael Palmer [29]
“Sir, were you directly exposed?”
“It’s been five hours. We’ve all been exposed—or will be.”
“You authorized Veritas. You know about the progressive mental deterioration?”
“I know. That’s one of the reasons why I ultimately suspended the research and closed down the lab.”
“When?”
“About eight or nine months ago.”
Griff felt himself sink. He had warned Sylvia Chen that the project was too dangerous, the virus too unstable in terms of mutation. He had warned all of them.
“You know we don’t have any treatment,” he said.
“That’s why I’m bringing you to Washington, Dr. Rhodes. I need you to come up with one.”
Griff respected Allaire’s acumen for biology and physiology. According to Sylvia Chen, the president had not only read Griff’s lengthy scientific reports, he understood them as well. The president must have been aware of his slow progress toward an antimicrobial treatment for WRX3883, which meant he also knew he was asking the impossible.
“Mr. President, before we go any farther, there is something I need to know.”
“Go ahead.”
“Were you the one who authorized my arrest?”
There was a prolonged pause.
“We had evidence,” the president said, “irrefutable security film of you stealing canisters of the virus on which you were working. Under the provisions of the Patriot Act, you were a terrorist. What would you have done?”
“I am no terrorist and I stole nothing. Now tell me, did you authorize my arrest?”
“Will my answer affect your decision about helping us?”
I can’t help you because there is nothing I can do before you and the others are dead.
“Regardless of what you say, I will do what I can. But I want the truth.”
“The truth is, yes. Yes, I did authorize your arrest, and I would do it again.”
“And the solitary confinement?”
“I was convinced you had turned. I believed you were a terrorist and a severe threat to the United States of America. I did what I thought was in the best interests of our country. Our plan was to isolate you, and then eventually—”
“To torture me.”
“There were those close to me who wanted to do it immediately,” the president said.
CHAPTER 13
DAY 2
3:00 A.M. (EST)
Allaire had done all he could. Despite his obvious contempt for Rhodes, the man was now en route to Washington. The first of two planned portable airlocks with connecting tunnels was in place. Boxes of supplies were now being sent into the Capitol along a bed of metal rollers. At last report, the second tunnel was nearing completion.
The military continued to request expanded access to the Capitol, but Allaire was keeping them at bay. Until Griffin Rhodes had a chance to evaluate the situation and provide a preliminary assessment, the Capitol would remain off-limits to anyone who wasn’t absolutely essential.
Using House Chamber surveillance video, Allaire and Salitas sorted out the group assignments faster than either thought possible. They used the location of the fifteen aerosol blasts to define the breakdown. Group B, those with moderate exposure, numbered just above three hundred. Group A, lowest exposure, were allowed to remain in the House Chamber. There were sixty people whom Allaire marked as having the heaviest exposure. Those individuals were assigned to Admiral Jakes’s C Group.
They would be the first to die.
Gratefully, Rebecca and Samantha were As.
Sylvia Chen’s reports detailing how WRX3883 spread from host to prospective host gave Allaire the idea to establish the quarantine groups. Chen had presented compelling evidence that extended exposure to carriers with later-stage infection increased the amount of virus passed to a new host. Allaire had good reason to believe those with heavy exposure to WRX3883 would speed up the progression of symptoms in people with less virus in their system.
The president understood that he was largely responsible for this disaster. He should have pulled the plug on Veritas sooner. Perhaps he should have taken more people into his confidence before authorizing the program in the first place. He always felt his job