Deadly Strain (Biological Response Team) Read Online Free Page B

it was that killed all these people.
    She and Sharp joined Leonard and Bart at their hastily erected communication post, where Bart manned the satellite phone and computer. She gave Leonard a brief report.
    “Man, so many little kids,” Leonard said, shaking his head.
    “I’m going to start collecting samples,” she said to him in a tone so cold she expected frost to coat the air between them. She knew it made her sound unfeeling, but what they didn’t know was she paid dearly for her professionalism in emotional pain after the crisis was over. “Anything else in the patrol’s report that might be pertinent?”
    Leonard swallowed hard, but answered readily enough, “The last real-time contact anyone outside the village had with anyone inside the village was a little over sixteen hours ago. Contact with another patrol through here. No indication of a problem.”
    Grace checked her watch. It was now zero-seven-thirty. “Bart, contact the base and have that patrol placed in isolation. I want them checked to be sure they aren’t carrying our deadly agent.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    She turned to Sharp. “So, something happened in less than seventeen hours to kill every person in this village.”
    “Sixty-eight people,” Sharp added. “So far.”
    “Do we have an idea of how many permanent residents there are in this village?”
    “I’m afraid not. The only census taken in Afghanistan was back in the seventies. Nothing since. The population can be very mobile if there’s a natural or man-made disaster. They just move to another part of the country.”
    “So, we have no idea if any survivors packed up and left in the middle of the night?”
    He shrugged. “Extended family, traders or even someone just traveling through the area could have stopped here.”
    “Well, the news can’t get any worse.” If someone had left the village and taken the illness with them, the infection could spread.
    “Doc,” someone shouted, stress making the word sound higher-pitched than it should.
    Here came the worse news. She should’ve kept her mouth shut.
    Grace squinted at the soldier coming toward her at a run. It was Rasker.
    “Did you find any survivors?”
    “No, ma’am, we found more bodies.”
    Rasker hadn’t been coming from the village, but toward it. “Someone leaving or returning?” she asked him when he got close enough.
    He shook his head. “Not people.”
    Not people?
She’d thought she couldn’t get any more afraid of whatever this was.
    She was wrong.
    Any disease affecting animals as well as people, especially bacteria or viruses, ran a much higher risk of becoming a pandemic. A worldwide killer.
    “Show me.”

Chapter Three
    Rasker led her past the houses and into a partially fenced pasture. Over a small rise was a carcass. A cow, bloated to a grotesque size. A quick examination revealed none of the lesions evident on the human bodies.
    “There are thirty of them,” Rasker said.
    “Thirty?” She looked out over the field. Dead cows, their distended legs sticking out at unnatural angles, seemed to be everywhere.
    An ice-cold rock settled in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t suppose you know when the cows started dying?”
    “We’ll have to check to see if it was reported by the last patrol through here,” Sharp said, his voice so calm she knew he was anything but.
    “You do that.” Her whole body shook. If the same disease had killed the cows and the people here, it would be her worse nightmare come to life. “You do that.”
    * * *
    He stared at Grace’s face for a moment. She looked like she was about to pass out. “What’s special about cows?”
    “Any disease capable of jumping from one species of animal to another is dangerous. Rabies, malaria and bird flu are good examples. If the animal is a common one, the bug is easy to come into contact with and easily transmitted to people. Cows, aside from mad cow disease, are not common vectors, but they’re everywhere. They also