Invasive Procedures Read Online Free Page B

they both carried sidearms beneath their suit coats. Carter was clearly the younger of the two, in his early thirties perhaps, thin and blond, wearing fashionable black-rimmed glasses over a sharply angled nose. To Frank, their suits seemed too stylish for federal agents, as if they had just come from an Armani photo shoot. Then he rememberedthat the headquarters of the Biohazard Agency was in Los Angeles, and perhaps LA feds didn’t dress like Washington feds, preferring a touch of Hollywood in their wardrobes.
    At Temin’s suggestion, everyone sat at the conference table.
    “Your reputation precedes you, Doctor,” Agent Riggs said. “Your accomplishments in antiviral research make you a leader in your field.”
    “Research?” Temin said with a laugh. “Hell, I wouldn’t call it research. Frank here is a virus killer.”
    “So it would seem,” said Riggs, smiling. “We feel fortunate that you agreed to examine the virus we submitted several months ago.”
    Several months was actually five months. Frank had received the sample of the virus in a containment box with no explanation as to its origins except that it came from the Biohazard Agency and was to be considered extremely virulent. Initial tests in Level 4 had confirmed that fact. Rapid cell degeneration. Aggressive spreading. This was an ugly virus, as malignant and as dangerous as anything Frank had ever encountered.
    Since being given it, he had worked tirelessly to develop a countervirus that could annihilate the virus on contact. He had done so, or at least, he hoped he had done so. Whether it would prove effective among the monkeys, whom he had intentionally infected with small doses of the virus, was yet to seen.
    Agent Riggs opened a manilla folder and casually flipped through it. “We’ve reviewed the results of your initial lab tests, Doctor, and we think this countervirus you’ve developed looks very promising.”
    “Thank you, gentlemen,” Frank said, “but I would remind you that the results of those tests are not necessarily an assurance that the countervirus will be effective on humans. In the early trials I merely eradicated small samples of the virus in petri dishes. I’m sure I need not tell you that achieving the same degree of eradication in a living animal is a different matter altogether.”
    “And yet you’ve already moved on to that phase, I hear,” Riggs said.
    Frank was surprised. He hadn’t yet submitted a report on the monkeys; the BHA was apparently keeping closer tabs than he had thought.
    “Yes, but I’ve only recently begun testing,” he said. “It’s too early to make any definitive conclusions.”
    “What are your preliminary findings?” Riggs said.
    “Positive as well. But trust me, gentlemen, we’re still six months awayfrom knowing if this is something we could eventually move to clinical trials.”
    “I’m afraid we don’t have six months, Doctor,” said Riggs. “Time is against us here.”
    Frank didn’t know how to respond, so he merely folded his hands in front of him and waited.
    “What else can you tell us about the virus?” Riggs said, still all business.
    “What else do you want to know?” Frank said, not particularly appreciating being put on the spot. If they had given him some time to prepare his notes, maybe he could have thrown together a formal presentation.
    “Anything you’ve discovered in your research would be helpful,” Riggs said.
    Frank sat forward and shrugged. “All right. The virus is a highly aggressive, highly contagious retroviral vector with a rather brief incubation period. As far as how dangerous it is, only Ebola rivals it in virulence. However, unlike Ebola, it moves fast—inconceivably fast, really. Should you be infected, you’d have about two to seven minutes before it kills you.”
    The agents looked unsurprised by this.
    Temin, however, swore. “You boys know how to find a virus, don’t you?” He looked back at Frank, pulling at his collar. “And