The Escape (John Puller 3)

“So biology and chemistry are his specialties,” said Puller. “What can we learn from that?”

Robert said, “Not all WMDs are nukes. Nukes are tough to get and impossible to make unless you have a large infrastructure and billions of dollars and years to work with. But you have plenty of far cheaper and easier-to-manufacture bioterrorism possibilities. Contaminating the air, water, and food chains. That would also be more in line with Bok’s background.”

Knox said, “I’m surprised she left that photo out in her office.”

Puller said, “She never knew we had latched on to Ivo Mesic at Fort Leavenworth. So she wasn’t worried about our making the connection. And remember what her son Dan said about his father? He would kill the guy if he got the chance? I think Susan Reynolds and Anton Bok are a lot more than business partners. She probably got a kick out of seeing his face every day. And who would get suspicious? She has a photo in her office of her days as a START verifier? Perfectly normal.”

“You’re probably right, Junior,” said Robert.

A few hours later Puller’s phone buzzed. It was Aaron Rinehart. Puller listened and nodded. He stood. “Rinehart has someone we need to talk to.”

“Who?” asked Knox.

“Donovan Carter’s second in command.”

“What can he tell us?”

“He apparently can tell us what Malcolm Aust was working on.”

CHAPTER

67

THEY DIDN’T GO back to DTRA as dawn broke. Warren Johnson, the interim director of DTRA, was at a facility in D.C.

Puller drove fast and they pulled into the underground garage in record time. He and Knox were cleared through security and rode the elevator up to the office.

Johnson met them in the lobby. He was a short man, balding, with a thickened nose and eyes partially hidden behind spectacles. He escorted them back to an office, where they sat around a small table. Johnson came quickly to the point.

“General Rinehart was clear that I was to be frank and speak freely with you about all this.”

“That would be helpful,” said Puller. “I have a feeling that we might be running out of time.”

“He’s told me of your suspicions about Susan Reynolds. I won’t add my opinion to the mix right now. But with Donovan and now Malcolm Aust murdered, it doesn’t really matter what I think.” He leaned forward. “The fact is, Susan Reynolds was the point of contact for Malcolm for a mission he was performing in partnership with the WMD Center.”

“And what was the mission?” asked Puller. “Something to do with chemical weapons in Syria, maybe?”

“No. We were provided intel about a cache of weaponized Ebola-Zaire in Africa.”

“Ebola-Zaire?” said Knox.

Johnson nodded. “There are four types of Ebola virus. Ebola-Reston is one. There was a lot of hoopla about that because it involved monkeys and was in a heavily populated area, Reston, Virginia, hence the name. But Ebola-Reston is nonpathogenic to humans. Ebola-Zaire, on the other hand, is deadly to human beings.”

“You said weaponized,” pointed out Puller.

“We believe it’s been aerosolized. Meaning it can be distributed through the air. Up to this point we always believed that all strains of Ebola required hands-on exposure, exchange of fluids, that sort of thing. That made the virus, while still extremely dangerous, manageable under most circumstances. It was rumored that the Russians had aerosolized Ebola-Zaire some years ago, but the trail on that petered out. We thought it a rumor. Until we received this latest piece of intelligence.”

“And Reynolds was running your end of the mission? Was she also the source of the intel?”

“That is not clear,” said Johnson, with a very troubled look. “But she may well have been. She and Aust went way back. It was her idea to call on him to track this cache down. He was successful.” He paused. “With a disclaimer attached to that.”

“I thought there might be,” said Puller. “What disclaimer?”

“He didn’t believe he got it all. At least that’s what he confided to Donovan and Donovan in turn told me.”

“Why didn’t he get all of it?” asked Knox.

“Because he believed that someone had been there ahead of him and taken a portion of the supply.”

Knox and Puller exchanged glances. She said, “So Reynolds piggybacked on Aust to get what she needed? He was probably feeding her daily reports. He gets the location of the stuff nailed down and tells her. And she has her team show up first to take some of it”

Johnson held up a hand. “I’m not speculating on that point. But we don’t have time to worry about that. We have a major problem if that cache is going to be used.”

“I have no doubt it’s going to be used,” said Puller. “And I would be seriously surprised if it weren’t going to be used against us.”

“Us?” said Johnson. “You mean in this country?”

“I mean in this area.”

“What do you base that on?” Johnson demanded.

“On the fact that Susan Reynolds is here.”

Knox said, “Aerosolized Ebola-Zaire. What sort of casualties are we looking at with the amount of virus they might have?”

“Catastrophic in a high-population area like this. If one drop of virus-infected liquid enters the body, it’s enough to kill. There is no cure, and really no widespread approved vaccine for humans. As you may know, there’s been another outbreak of it in West Africa. Many have died and they have yet to contain it.

“So people exposed to it will be contagious?” asked Knox.

“Of course. But the one good thing about Ebola is that, unlike other diseases, it’s only after you develop symptoms, meaning you are sick and feverish, that you become contagious. However, it is damn difficult to diagnose Ebola because its symptoms mirror so many other types of diseases. Ironically, the best diagnostic tool is one’s passport. If you’d been to areas in Africa that have had outbreaks of Ebola, that helps to narrow the diagnostic possibilities.”

“But if it happens here?” said Puller. “People could just think they have the flu. And ten days or two weeks pass and they’re contagious and they spread it to a lot of other people without even knowing they have Ebola.”

“It is quite an unprecedented possibility,” said Johnson glumly.

“How much of the stuff did Aust think had been taken before he got to the cache?”

“Three five-foot-tall canisters. Now, that may not sound like a lot, but with the aerosolized Ebola a little goes a long way. And infection through the lungs, which are chock-full of blood vessels that travel the length of the body, is quite rapid.”

“What happened to the canisters that he did recover?” asked Puller.

“They were transported to a highly secure facility equipped for dealing with bioterrorism elements. They are scheduled to be thoroughly examined and then they will be destroyed.”

“So the examination hasn’t started yet?”

“No. These things take time to prep, to make sure it’s done safely. The examination may lead us back to who engineered the weapon. If so, I would imagine severe consequences will follow.”

“Could it be the Russians?” asked Knox. “You seem to think that’s where this stuff came from.”

“It might very well be. And with the state of the world right now, and Russia seemingly raising its imperialistic head again, things might