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Chapters (36)
  1. VECTOR
  2. Copyright page
  3. Dedication
  4. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  5. Epigraph
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. EPILOGUE
  34. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  35. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
  36. GLOSSARY

TWENTY-THREE

_______________

TWENTY-THREE

Wednesday, October 20

11:50 P.M.

“Do you think they’re gone?” Jack whispered.

“I think so,” Laurie whispered in reply. “I believe I heard an outside screen door slam over the sound of the fan ten minutes or so ago.”

Jack and Laurie were enveloped in utter darkness in the storeroom. When Yuri had gone upstairs he’d switched off the basement lights, which had also shut down the lights in the storeroom. For the entire time the People’s Aryan Army had been there, the two imprisoned medical examiners had stayed frozen in their respective spots, afraid even to breathe. In the strained silence both had been violently startled by the sudden sound of the gunshot. Up until then they’d heard bits and pieces of the conversation through the thin floorboards and its linoleum covering.

“I’m afraid our favorite Russian got shot,” Jack said in a more normal voice. He was still afraid to move or make much noise in case the People’s Aryan Army’s departure had been a ruse.

“I’m afraid so, too,” Laurie said. “I could tell he didn’t trust whoever it was who was coming to visit him.”

“I think it was the same men who’d come after me,” Jack said. “My apologies to Paul. This whole mess is a lot bigger than Paul’s being angry at me. I’m afraid I was guilty of jumping to conclusions.”

“Maybe so,” Laurie said. “But for the moment it doesn’t much matter. What are we going to do?”

“Try to get out, I guess,” Jack said. “But I don’t have a lot of confidence. Did you happen to notice the door? It’s three-quarter-inch plywood reinforced with steel.”

Laurie shuddered in the darkness. “I don’t like being shut in here like this. It reminds me of all the terrible things that happened in connection with that series of drug overdoses I had to handle back in 1992.”

“Come on, now!” Jack said. “I’m a bit claustrophobic myself, but this is nowhere near as bad as getting nailed into a coffin.”

“It’s a pretty close second,” Laurie said. “And do you smell that fermentation odor along with the bleach?”

“I do,” Jack said. “There must be a fermenter down here with a sizable, active culture of anthrax. Today when I walked around this house I saw a vent and heard a large circulating fan. I could kick myself for not guessing what it meant. I thought it was from a furnace, for crissake.”

“This setup is the product of someone who knew what he was doing,” Laurie said.

“Unfortunately, that’s true,” Jack said. “And that’s what makes this threat tomorrow so very real. Bioterrorism briefly went through my mind with the Papparis case until a plausible source became evident. Even then it bothered me, because it was so convenient. I could kick myself again for having been so complacent and not more suspicious.”