The Devil's Pitchfork Read Online Free Page B

She blinked, unable to wipe the moisture away or to rub her eyes. She blinked again, eyes tearing even more. She shook her head, tasted bitter bile as her guts twisted. “Oh dear God,” she prayed. “Don’t let it be.”
    With trembling hands she punched the four-digit code to allow entry into the tank, and following the coding in the book, removed a stack of triangular storage boxes. Liquid nitrogen fog curled around the edges of the tank, reminding her of playing with dry ice as a child. Box 6. Tubes 6 through 25. She pulled thick insulated gloves over the three layers of gloves she already wore, the new gloves to protect from the liquid nitrogen, and opened the box. Empty.
    Tears trickled down her cheeks.
    During her recitation Derek climbed to his feet and began to pace the conference room. He stopped and stood staring out the room’s sole window. The media crowd had grown. Helicopters circled like turkey vultures.
    “What did they steal?” Spigotta demanded.
    “It’s a ... an entirely bioengineered organism,” Liz said.
    “What’s that mean?” Spigotta said. “What’s that mean? Entirely bioengineered?”
    Without turning from the window, Derek said, “You ever work a bioterror case before, Agent Spigotta?” His voice was mild, just curious, it said. Non-confrontational.
    “I worked the anthrax mail case.”
    “Ah,” Derek said. “Well, that makes me feel better.”
    “You got a problem?” Spigotta snapped.
    “We’ve all got a problem,” Derek said. Glancing over his shoulder, he said, “Go on. What’s it called?”
    “Chimera M13. Like I said, it’s completely bioengineered.”
    “Virus, bacteria or prion?” Derek said.
    “What?” Spigotta said, his face turning red.
    “Not knowing the difference in a case like this is like not knowing the difference between a revolver and a semi-automatic,” Derek said. “You need to get up to speed on the vocabulary.”
    “It’s a virus,” Liz said.
    “You made a virus?” Spigotta asked.
    Liz Vargas nodded. Halloran cleared his throat. “Dr. Eckard Wimmer from the State University of New York at Stony Brook constructed a polio virus completely from scratch in 2002. The military funded the project. They did it solely from data found on the Internet and chemicals and genetic components available from commercial medical supply houses. Using $300,000 of military funding, they created a polio virus entirely in the lab, injected it into animals and proved that it worked. That’s the level of genetic engineering we’re capable of. We can literally create life. It was possible. So we wanted to know if it was a practical possibility to manufacture a completely new pathogen in the lab. If we could do it, terrorists could do it. So we brain-stormed, decided to see if we could create a virus with the toughness of hepatitis, the immuno-suppression qualities of Yersinia pestis —”
    ”Bubonic plague,” Derek said. “A bacterium.” He didn’t turn from the window.
    “Yes,” Halloran said. “We decided it should have the infectious properties of Ebola—and the hemorrhagic qualities, as well—yet still be transmissible as an aerosol. Weaponizable, in other words.”
    “And you succeeded?” Spigotta asked, dropping into a chair. He looked as if they had hit him in the forehead with a ball peen hammer.
    “Yes. We succeeded.”
    “Do you have an antidote for it. Antibiotics?”
    Derek spoke up. “We’re back to basic vocabulary again. It’s a virus. It doesn’t respond to antibiotics. Does it respond to protease inhibitors or any of the anti-virals?”
    “No,” Halloran said. “As far as we know it doesn’t respond to anything. Bleach can kill it. That’s it. It’s highly infectious, can be transmitted through the air, in water, on food, by touch. It remains alive and active on plain surfaces like a counter top for as long as six days. From infection to first symptoms it’s twelve hours, sometimes less. Around twelve hours the