The Perfect Pathogen Read Online Free Page B

like you to
call him back at your “earliest opportunity”. It sounded urgent, but he didn’t
want to leave a message.”
    “I
think I’ll eat first, I’m starved. Would you mind pouring me a glass of
Chardonnay?  I need something to take the edge off.”
    “Certainly,”
said Rob. “I’ll join you.”
    They
both sipped at their wine while Katie devoured her tuna sub. She was wondering
what the doctor had to say. She hoped it wasn’t bad news, but then why else
would he have called?  She expected the lady, Therese Espland, would require a
lengthy stay, but had tried to push the doctor to release her so she could at
least attend the last day of the conference.
    After
finishing her sub and glass of wine, Katie picked up the phone. She dialed the
doctor’s number, waiting several moments for the doctor to come on the line.
     “Dr.
McMann. Where are you, are you sitting down?”
    “Yes,
I am at home. Why?”
    “Ms.
Espland died about forty-five minutes ago. When you left the hospital, the
prognosis was that she could possibly leave the hospital in several days, but
shortly after you left her vital signs degraded and it seemed that she just
gave up. A few minutes later her heart stopped. Attempts at resuscitation
failed. I am sorry, Dr. McMann.”
    Katie
sat for a moment in shocked silence.
    “Dr.
McMann, are you there?” the doctor asked after about thirty seconds, prompting
a response from Katie.
    “This
is all happening so suddenly. I don’t know what to say. Can you tell me what
the cause of death was?”
     “I
can’t be definitive without an autopsy, but it seems that she died of old age.
The progression of her death was not abnormal for a woman of her age, it just
seemed to happen quicker once it started. Normally with a stroke like this, the
person could recover and live for several more days, months or years. In her
case that was not to be. She went downhill rapidly.”  There was a pause and
then he added, “I must say, I haven’t seen that very often.”
    Still
in shock Katie said, “Thank you for the call doctor.”  Katie said good bye and
hung up the phone, as a tear ran down her cheek.
    Rob
came to her side and put his arm around her. She was visibly shaken. He had
never seen her like this before. “Honey, I know this is very upsetting, but she
was elderly.”
    “That’s
not the point,” said Katie. “She was in great health, as was Margaret Smith.
They both died in a similar manner and, you know, I don’t believe in
coincidences. This is really unnerving,” she added. “I need to call my
assistant Beth at home to see if there are others who didn’t make it to the conference
because of health-related reasons.”
    Katie
reached Beth and relayed her concerns; she had a bad feeling about this. She
asked Beth how many no-shows there were for the conference, and was told there
were around thirty. She asked Beth to contact each of the missing attendees to
find out why they hadn’t made it to the event. After hanging up she tackled her
emails.
    Soon
enough, her initial shock, and that niggling concerns that had formed at the
back of her mind turned to fear. As she opened each email from colleagues
across the globe, she read reports of  the deaths of over twenty-five
centenarians in the last day. Whatever was happening wasn’t good, and it wasn’t
clear why this was happening now, and so suddenly. As she read the last account
of one of her fallen heroes, she decided it was time to alert her director.
    Katie
tried to call Herb Simpson, her office director, but there was no answer. Next,
she would try and reach his boss. She had never called the Washington DC head
of the CDC before, but convinced of the immensity of this problem, she looked
up her number anyway and, tentatively, dialed.
    “Hello,”
she heard on the other end of the line.
    “Hello,
is this Dr. Lin?” Katie asked.
    “Yes
it is. Can I help you?”
    “Yes,
hi, this is Dr. Katie McMann. I conduct the aging