Chapters (124)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Acclaim for Frank Gardner’s Luke Carlton thrillers
- Also by Frank Gardner
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
‘As of this moment,’ Holmes told them, ‘Norway is reporting six cases of Agent X infection, all on Svalbard. We’ve had four confirmed cases in this country and so far – so far – we have managed to isolate the cases before the infection spreads to the general population. But the incubation rate seems to vary wildly and we are still a very long way from any effective vaccine or cure.’ He looked from one face to another, as if expecting somehow to find the answers there. ‘Dr Mackenzie died within a couple of days of being brought back here. Her colleague Chris …’ He looked down at his notes. ‘Chris Coppinger is now known to have taken his own life by drowning himself in a lake in Surrey. That’s caused the entire area surrounding it to be cordoned off, quarantined and declared an area of high public risk. The third patient, Samantha Bradley, is currently in critical care at the Royal Free, and we honestly don’t know yet if she’s going to make a recovery.’
He moved away from the screen and sat down heavily at the head of the table. ‘I have to say that the fourth patient is a worry. She was one of the A & E staff on duty at Epsom General on the day they took in Ms Bradley. We’ve had to transfer her to the High Consequence Infectious Disease Centre at Guy’s. And obviously we are now having to trace and test every single person who might have come into contact with her, as well as everyone who came anywhere near Ms Bradley since the moment she sold that stuffed toy to the late Chris Coppinger.’ He shook his head at the thought of how such a benign, mundane action could have had such terrible repercussions.
‘If the numbers turn up anything close to our worst expectations,’ he said, waving to the chart on the screen, ‘then we’re looking at another Nightingale situation: a secure quarantine unit with enough beds, full twenty-four-hour care and enough PPE to see us through.’
Strained, worried faces stared back at him. There was a long silence before eventually someone broke it. It was one of the mathematical modellers who had helped draw up the chart on the screen.
‘And lockdown? Are you suggesting the country will have to go back into lockdown?’