Executive orders - Tom Clancy [502]
SO WHAT DO I do? the FBI agent asked in Chicago.
Strip. Hang your clothes on the door. There was no time and little spare room for the niceties, and he was, after all, a physician. His guest didn't blush. Dr. Klein decided, on full surgical garb, long-sleeve greens instead of the more popular sort. There were not enough of the plastic space suits to go around, and his staff would use all of those. They had to. They got closer. They handled liquids. They touched the patients. His medical center now had nine symptomatic patients who tested positive. Six of those were married, and of the spouses, four tested positive for Ebola antibodies. The test gave an occasional false-positive reading; even so it was not the least bit pleasant to tell someone-well, he did that often enough with AIDS patients. They were testing children now. That really hurt.
The protective outfit he gave the agent was made of the usual cotton, but the hospital had taken a number of sets and sprayed them with disinfectant, especially the masks. The agent also was given a pair of laboratory glasses, the broad plastic ones known to chemistry students.
Okay, Klein told the agent. Don't get close. No closer than six feet, and you should be completely safe. If she vomits or coughs, if she has a convulsion, stay clear. Dealing with that sort of thing is our job, not yours. Even if she dies right in front of you, don't touch anything.
I understand. You going to lock the office up? She pointed to the gun hanging with her clothes.
Yes, I will. And when you're done, give me your notes. I'll run them through the copying machine.
How come?
It uses a very bright light to make copies. The ultraviolet will almost certainly kill any virus particle that might find its way to the paper, Professor Klein explained. Even now in Atlanta, rapid experiments were under way to determine just how robust the Ebola particles were. That would help define the level of precaution that was necessary in hospitals first of all, and perhaps also provide useful guidance for the general population.
Uh, Doc, why not just let me make the copies?
Oh. Klein shook his head. Yes, I suppose that will work, too, won't it?
MR. PRESIDENT. IT was Barry of CNN. These steps you're taking, sir, are they legal?
Barry, I do not have the answer to that, Ryan said, his face tired and drawn. Whether they're legal or not, I am convinced that they are necessary. As he spoke, a White House staffer was passing out surgical masks for the assembled reporters. That was Arnie's idea. They'd been procured from the nearby George Washington University Hospital.
But, Mr. President, you can't break the law. What if you're wrong?
Barry, there's a fundamental difference between what I do in my job and what you do in yours. If you make a mistake, you can make a retraction. We just saw that, only yesterday, with one of your colleagues, didn't we? But, Barry, if I make a mistake in a situation like this, how do I retract a death? How do I retract thousands of deaths? I don't have that luxury, Barry, the President said. If it turns out that what I am doing is wrong, then you can have at me all you want. That's part of my job, too, and I'm getting used to that. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe I'm just afraid of letting people die for no good reason when I have the power to prevent it.
But you don't really know, do you?
No, Jack admitted, none of us really knows. This is one of those times when you have to go with your best guess. I wish I could sound more confident, but I can't, and I won't lie about it.
Who did it, Mr. President? another reporter asked.
We don't know, and for the moment I will not speculate as to the origin of this epidemic. And that was a lie, Ryan knew even as he was saying it, speaking the lie right after stating that he wouldn't lie, because the situation demanded that, too. What a crazy fucking world it was.
IT WAS THE worst interview of her life. The woman, she saw, called the Index Case, was attractive, or had been so a day or two previously. Now skin that had so recently