All Fall Down (45 page)

‘Get this.’ He paused for effect. ‘They used the mamba rose plant. Martens writes that the tribesfolk made a medicine from it which they gave to the victims of the virus, and within about twenty-four hours they started to get better. They almost all made a full recovery.’

‘But the poisonous sap should have …’ She broke off. She was going to say it should have killed them, but as she spoke, the solution had come to her.

‘You’re thinking exactly what I was thinking,’ said Professor Black.

‘That the medicine contained both the poisonous sap – and the antidote for the poisonous sap.’

‘Yup. So the sap contains some kind of antiviral agent that stops Watoto.’

‘And the other part of the plant makes the sap safe. Oh my God.’

Kate’s mind raced. If this was true, then it would be the answer she had been searching for. But how far could she trust the account of some obscure anthropologist who had published a research paper, what, almost forty years ago? Could it really be possible that this plant contained an antiviral agent that would stop Watoto? Kate was more open-minded than many of her peers: she believed, as she’d told Black, that there could be many ways of tackling viruses that had yet to be discovered. Some using high-tech methods, but it was equally possible there might be others that relied on natural sources. This wouldn’t help them create a vaccine – but an antiviral could be used to help anyone who had contracted the disease.

‘Does it say anything else about James Martens on that site?’ she asked.

‘Yep. I’m ahead of you. I did some googling. Mr Martens was a lecturer in anthropology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Retired a few years ago. He’s on Facebook.’

Kate almost laughed. ‘You’re kidding?’

‘I already checked out his page – looks like he uses it to keep in touch with his grandkids and former students. I sent him a message asking him to get in touch with me. He messaged me back right before I called you. He’s expecting your call.’

‘Professor Black—’

‘Call me Simon.’

‘Thank you so, so much.’

He gave her the number for James Martens and she ended the call. Harley was standing behind her.

‘What is it?’ he asked, when he saw the excitement on her face.

‘I need to call New Hampshire. Now.’

James Martens was polite and helpful. He reminded her of some of the academics she had worked with at Boston; well-spoken and keen to share his knowledge. He remembered his time with the Hadza tribe as clearly as if it was last week, he said, even though he was finding it increasingly hard to remember what he’d done the day before.

‘They took the entire plant, dug it up, roots and all, and kind of crushed it in this big pot,’ he said. ‘Then they took all the … juice and injected it into each of the sick people.’

‘Injected it?’

‘Yes, they had needles and syringes that they’d got from the great armies of missionaries and aid workers who were constantly tramping through the place.’

‘Yes. Of course.’

‘So, yes, they injected them. I couldn’t believe it. I knew they used the mamba roses to poison their arrows; I thought maybe they were trying to put the people out of their misery, like some form of euthanasia. But then they got better. I’ll never forget it.’

Kate described to Martens the exact symptoms of Watoto, from beginning to end. ‘Are you sure that fits what these people had?’

‘Absolutely. Pretty rare disease though, isn’t it?’

‘It used to be. It’s in the process of wiping out California.’

‘What? The Indian flu?’

‘Yes. It’s not flu – it’s a new strain of Watoto.’

‘Holy … Of course I’ve heard about it, it’s all over the news. They just reported the first couple of cases here – but no one said anything about it being Watoto.’

That meant, Kate realised, that it had spread across the whole country. It must be in Dallas by now. She had been completely cut off from the world for days, not even a week yet but it felt like much much longer. She needed to talk to Jack.

Kate spoke to Martens for a while longer before disconnecting and handing Harley back his phone. She gave him a rapid summary of what she’d learned.

‘So, in a nutshell, we need to crush one of those plants that’s growing out back and inject it into Paul?’ Harley said, his tone sceptical.

‘If we can believe any of it. First I need to run tests, to identify the compounds and agents in the plant, to work out the dosage. I can’t simply mix it up and inject it into him.’

She went to the doorway and looked in at Paul. He was sweating so much he looked like he’d just got out of the shower. The room stank of sickness.

Harley followed her over. ‘How long do we have?’ he said in a low voice.

‘When exactly did he start displaying symptoms?’

‘Yesterday afternoon, when we left the prison.’ Harley checked his watch. ‘It’s just gone noon now. So, less than twenty-four hours ago.’

‘The police officer they brought to the lab had been showing symptoms for seventy-two hours when he died. That means we should still have up to forty-eight hours, depending on Paul’s underlying health, which is good. But in some cases the toxin is released early, so we can’t really be sure.’

‘OK. Tell me again what you need.’

Kate thought. ‘The first thing I need is a better lab. The one here is ill-equipped and cramped. I need a team – the best people who are still alive. I’m going to need some rats or monkeys. And I need a load of those plants from out back. Roots and all.’

‘OK.’

‘And I’m going to need a lot of coffee.’

Harley smiled. ‘All right. Let’s get you back to Sequoia, we’ll use the lab there. It’s the best in the country.’

Kate looked over at Paul again. ‘I wish Isaac were here, that that bitch hadn’t killed him.’

‘Hmm, Angelica. There’s another problem – I’m afraid we’re going to have to take her with us. All the prisons in this area have been shut down by the virus. I just had a call from HQ to say that they can’t spare any more agents, so she’s in my care for the foreseeable.’

‘As long as she doesn’t come anywhere near me.’

Kate sighed as Harley took out his phone and started making more calls. She went over to Paul.

‘Hold on,’ she said, not knowing if he could hear her or not. ‘I need you to fight it, Paul. I’m going to make you better.’

It had always been a personal battle. Kate Maddox versus Watoto. The virus had taken her family, consumed most of her adult life, almost killed her twice. Everything that had happened in her life so far had been leading to this moment.

This was the final round.

The birdsong in the Sequoia forest sounded the same and the great trees stood as firm as they had for centuries but, to Kate, everything felt different this time. Even the lab was different. When she turned towards the place where Simone had tackled Junko to the ground and cracked her head open, an innocent shadow appeared as a pool of blood. She kept replaying Cindy’s scream as the liquid nitrogen had ruined her face. And there, in the isolator behind a thick shield of glass, was where Officer Buckley had died, writhing in agony induced by the toxin from the mamba rose, his body already ravaged by Watoto.

Now Paul lay in his place. And if Kate and her new team didn’t work as fast and hard as any team had ever worked, he would suffer the same fate.

Harley’s superiors, working with the CDC, had mobilised everyone available, flying in a team of virologists and technicians from around the country in private jets: Philip Davies from Seattle, Elaine Manning from Chicago, and Dee Delaney and Victoria Danes from the CDC’s HQ in Atlanta. They had all been frantically yet fruitlessly working on a vaccine since the outbreak began. Along with the virologists were two botanists and a toxicologist.

Upstairs, Angelica was being held under armed guard in one of the rooms where she and her ‘Sisters’ had slaughtered the sleeping occupants: Tosca McCarthy, Kolosine and the others. Even the housekeeper, Adoncia, had been murdered.

While she had been waiting for the new team to arrive, Kate had been in with Paul, who was barely conscious, whispering soothing words, urging him to be strong, to fight it, even though she knew that wouldn’t do any good. You can’t appeal directly to antibodies. But having her near, holding his hand, seemed to help.

The other huge worry on her mind was Jack. She had called Vernon’s landline. It went straight to voicemail. She tried his mobile. Exactly the same. It had been like this for hours. This was all wrong – Vernon was one of those people who had to be surgically removed from his cellphone.

A spasm of panic almost made her double over.

‘What’s the matter?’ said Harley.

‘Can you keep trying to call Vernon for me? I need to know Jack’s safe. Something’s not right.’

Harley passed a weary hand across his brow. ‘O.K.’ He looked as though he was about to add ‘I’ll add it to the list’, but thought better of it.

‘I have to get into the lab now,’ she had said. ‘But please, tell me as soon as you hear something.’

As soon as the new team were in and suited up, she kissed Paul and made her way into the lab. Four pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly. She already had everything set up.

‘OK,’ she said, standing before them. ‘My name is Dr Kate Maddox.’

They introduced themselves in turn.

She nodded briskly. ‘I hope none of you are expecting to get any sleep tonight …’

By the time she left the lab, the sun was coming up. Harley staggered to his feet as she entered the room. He had dark shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept either and had been waiting for her all night. Apart from a cat-nap in the helicopter on the journey up here, she hadn’t slept in over thirty-six hours. She felt light, on the brink of delirium, but she was buzzing with adrenaline and excitement.

‘Well?’ Harley asked.

She sat down. ‘Can you get me a coffee? I feel like I’m about to pass out.’

‘Sure.’ He hurried out and headed to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug.

Kate sipped the coffee. The sky outside the window was lightening, the birds starting to sing again. She looked up at Harley and said, ‘It seems to work.’

Lost for words, he stepped towards her as if he was going to embrace her, then thought better of it at the last moment, stopping awkwardly a few inches from her.

‘Have you managed to get hold of Vernon?’ she asked.

He shook his head. ‘Still no answer.’

‘What’s going on? He
always
answers his mobile. Something must have happened – it’s been two days. Has the flu got to Dallas? You have to find out, Jason – do something!’

Tiredness and panic were injecting aggression into her voice, and Harley held up his hands.

‘Kate, I will. I’m trying to help.’

She gave a tight-lipped smile. ‘I’m really sorry. It’s just that I’m exhausted – and so worried …’

‘I know. I’ll find out, leave it with me. I’ll keep trying the phones, and I’ll see if I can get someone to go round. But tell me about the antivirus.’

Kate tried to ignore the pain in her chest, the deep, gnawing anxiety that wouldn’t fade until she knew that Jack was all right.

She gulped her coffee. ‘We took the samples from the plants and extracted the toxin and the antidote. That part was pretty straightforward. The tricky part was testing it on the rats, because when we injected the toxin first they would die before we got the chance to give them the antidote.’ Kate grimaced. She disliked testing on animals, found it the hardest part of her job. ‘The answer was to give them both at the same time. The antidote from the upper part of the plant cancelled out the toxin from the sap.’

Harley nodded.

‘So then we started trying to isolate which part of the sap was acting as an antiviral agent against Watoto. Or rather, finding out if it worked in the first place. We …’

‘Are you all right?’ Harley reached out a steadying hand, alarm on his face.

‘Yes, yes … I can’t stop thinking about Jack.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Jason, it was so tense in there. This was our only chance. If Martens, that anthropologist, had been wrong, or if he’d exaggerated about what he’d seen in Tanzania …’

‘Was he?’

‘No.’ She was still surprised by what they had found. ‘We were able to isolate an agent …’

She saw Harley’s face immediately switch into his ‘uh-oh, science’ mode. She smiled faintly. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with the details. Long story short: the sap contains an agent that works on the Watoto virus. Fights it. Stops it. Again, we tested it on the rats. I had already given them the virus, and they were sick. But the mamba rose appears to stop the virus in its tracks.’

‘“Appears to”?’

She twisted her hands together. ‘Normally, we would want to continue monitoring the rats over a long period to check that it had worked and to see if there were any side effects. But so far, the antivirus works. On rats at least.’

‘That’s amazing, Kate.’

‘But we still need to test it properly. We need trials … We have no idea if this will really work on a person.’

Harley opened his mouth, then closed it.

‘What were you going to say?’ Kate asked, already knowing the answer because exactly the same thought had been running through her mind.

‘Well – what about Paul? Surely he doesn’t have that long before …’ He stopped. ‘You don’t have time to carry out rigorous trials, do you?’

‘I know, I know. This goes against everything I’ve ever learned, ever practised.’

‘Do you think it will work?’

‘I don’t know. If we get the dosage wrong … If we get
anything
wrong, it could kill him. Maybe we should wait, carry out more tests, get some monkeys …’

Harley’s phone chimed in his pocket. He silenced it and stepped towards Kate. This time, he took hold of her upper arms and looked her in the eye.

‘If it was me in there, I’d want you to do it. To take the chance.’

Kate nodded. He was right. If it was her, if she only had this chance of surviving, she would grab it. Risk it.

She extricated herself from Harley’s grip and, ignoring the wave of fatigue that almost toppled her, strode from the room.