Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sincere thanks and appreciation
to my editing and proofreading team, especially Curt Akin and Louis Maconi. Any
mistakes or errors that remain are mine and mine alone. Thanks also to Colleen
Young-Wetzel, whose generous contribution to the Amelia Givin Library earned
her a role in this story. Finally, and always, my love and thanks to my
understanding husband and children for their support.

INDISPENSABLE PARTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Office of Communications, CDC

KILLER FLU A REALITY, RESEARCHERS CLAIM

Modified H17N10
virus transmits efficiently from human to human.

The Center for
Disease Control and Prevention today announced that an international team of
researchers has successfully mutated the deadly Doomsday virus, the so-called “killer
flu,” such that person-to-person transmission can now occur easily. The mutated
influenza virus is now known as H17N10.

The CDC reports that the naturally
occurring virus resulted from the combination of three highly virulent strains
that, until now, have not posed a significant risk to humans. Lead researcher
Jacques Bouchard, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute (Lyon), confirmed that
the NIH-funded study, which included French and American research teams, was
designed to determine whether the Doomsday virus could be genetically modified
to allow for airborne transmission.

“Not only has the resultant
mutation proven highly transmissible, the modifications have resulted in
increased virulence. Our estimates are that a global pandemic of H17N10 could
infect up to 50% of the global population, or up to 3.5 billion individuals,
and could result in a 20% mortality rate, killing an estimated seven hundred
million infected individuals,” Mr. Bouchard stated.

In an unusual move, the U.S.
National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has forbidden the researchers
from publishing their results for reasons of national security. No further
details have been released.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GOVERNMENT TO STOCKPILE KILLER FLU VACCINE

Washington, D.C.
(Newswire) – The government released plans to stockpile more than twenty-five
million doses of an experimental vaccine against the Doomsday virus in an
effort to prepare for the possibility of a deadly pandemic. The pandemic, if it
were to occur, would be capable of wiping out more than twenty percent of the
world population.

A spokesperson for the Department
of Health and Human Services said that the government has already contracted
with Serumceutical International, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, to
manufacture and deliver the stockpile as early as this month. And, with flu
season already underway, the government has asked Congress to fast track a bill
that would appropriate money for additional doses.

With the U.S. population now
exceeding 300 million people, a killer flu pandemic would shut down the
economy, quarantining hundreds of millions of unvaccinated people to their
homes for as long as two to three months.

In laboratory tests, the vaccine,
which is reported to contain a small amount of a live, but weakened, strain of
virus very similar to H17N10, provided immunity much more quickly than
traditional flu vaccines. Serumceutical documents indicate full immunity can be
achieved within seventy-two hours, rather than two weeks.

In response to questions about
the existence of an effective antiviral, scientists said that, while research
is underway, to date, no antiviral medication has proven effective against the
Doomsday virus, although ViraGene Corp. is slated to release results of trials
of its experimental AviEx antiviral later this month.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ViraGene Shares Gain 38% on Rumor of Antiviral Approval

BETHESDA, MD (AP)
– ViraGene Corp. (VGN) shares rose on heavy trading in response to reports that
the company’s AviEx antiviral NDA (New Drug Application) is being considered
for accelerated approval in light of positive results from human trials. The
company declined to comment on the status of its NDA, citing trade secret and
national defense concerns, but CEO Colton Maxwell circulated an internal email
message to officers and directors of the company congratulating his team “on
this victory on the front lines of defense against the very real specter of a
deadly killer flu pandemic.”

To date, the federal government
has not publicly committed to the purchase of AviEx and is staying the course
with its plans to stockpile millions of doses of a new vaccine being
manufactured by Serumceutical International, Inc. (SRM).

Friday evening

Celia Gerig’s
hands shook. She removed the keys from the ignition and took a long, slow
breath. She watched the snow fall and stick to the windshield of the dirty
Civic.

Once her heart rate slowed, she
returned the keys and tried to start the car again. The first time, the engine had
whined, coughed, and then gone dead. This time, nothing happened.

She pounded a fist on the
steering wheel and blinked back hot, frustrated tears. This couldn’t be
happening.
Not now.
She searched the parking lot, looking for anyone,
one of her coworkers, head bent against the wind, hurrying to get to his or her
car and make it out to the bar at Chili’s before the happy hour specials ended.
She saw no one.

It was after five on a Friday.
Everyone was long gone, which had been the plan, after all. She’d lingered
after the shift had ended, taking her time in the locker room, so she could avoid
questions—about her weekend, what was in her bag, whatever. Because no matter
what else she was, Celia knew she was a terrible liar.

But, now what? She couldn’t
exactly call and say she couldn’t make the meeting. She’d just get an earful of
angry blather about being prepared for emergencies, and responsibility, and a
lot of other disappointed scolding that she knew she deserved. She let her head
drop down to the steering wheel and sat there, deflated and helpless.

A sharp rap on the driver’s side
window startled her. Outside, Ben Davenport’s tanned faced filled the glass.
His green eyes were wide with concern under the knitted cap he’d pulled down
tight to cover his balding head.

“Everything okay?” he mouthed.

It figured. Just her luck that
the only person still around was her boss. The last person she wanted anywhere
near her car. But she needed help. The handoff was supposed to be at eight o’clock.
Even if she left right now, she’d have to speed for at least part of the drive
to make it in time.

She lowered the window.

“My car won’t start.”

“Why don’t you hop out and let me
take a look at her.”

“That would be great.”

He stepped back so she could open
the door. As she slid out of the car, her eyes shifted to her oversized purse
on the passenger seat to make sure it was still zippered shut. It was.

Ben got behind the wheel and
placed his briefcase next to her purse. He turned the key in the ignition, but
the only sound was the
click click
of the key itself. He reached up to
switch on the dome light. Nothing.

“Battery’s dead,” he said through
the open window. He reached for his briefcase and knocked her bag to the floor.

“Oops.”

He bent to pick up the purse, and
Celia felt the panic rising in her throat.

“No! Leave it!”

He turned and looked up at her, a
curious, confused expression on his face.

“Uh, I mean, it’s fine on the
floor,” she said. Despite the fact that she was standing outside in the snow,
sweat beaded up on her hairline.

“Suit yourself.”

He exited the car and said, “I
can give you a jump. Do you have cables?”

“No, there’s nothing in my trunk,”
she said quickly. She winced.
Stupid
. Why did she volunteer that her
trunk was empty? He hadn’t asked.

He squinted at her, puzzled.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She was very sure that she was
not okay. She was scared, and worried, and nervous. But she swallowed and said,
“I’m fine. I’m just running late, that’s all. But I don’t have jumper cables.
What am I going to do?”

Ben gave her a kindly look and
patted her on the arm. He was such a friendly old guy that Celia felt a
momentary pang for what she’d done, for what she was about to do. Then she
remembered what was at stake, and the pang disappeared.

“Don’t you worry. I should have a
set in my car. Let me check, and I’ll be right back.”

He walked across the lot and
around to the side of the building. Moments later, he returned, driving his
Buick with the Florida plates, cautious, like an old guy, like a snowbird. He
eased it into the spot next to hers. He popped his trunk and walked around to
get the jumper cables. He raised his hood and motioned for Celia to do the
same.

She fumbled with the little arm
that held the hood up while he unwound the neatly coiled cables and hooked the
red clip on one end of the cables to her positive battery terminal. He
stretched the cable across the parking spots and clamped the other end onto his
battery. Then he connected one black clip to his negative terminal and the
other end to a bolt on the Civic’s engine block to ground it. He stepped back
and brushed his hands, satisfied.

He returned to the Buick and
started the engine. After a few moments, he raised his head and gave Celia a
thumb’s up signal.

“All right. Start her up,” he called.

Celia got behind the wheel and
offered up a silent prayer. She turned the key, and the engine roared to life.
She saw Ben smile.

She said, “Thank you so much. You
don’t even know.”

“No worries,” Ben said.

The snow clinging to his knit hat
was starting to melt, and it dripped on to his face when he bent to remove the cables
from the two batteries. He lowered her hood and then his, holding the cables in
one hand. He wound the cables into a neat bundle and started back toward his
trunk, and then he stopped like he’d thought the better of it.

“Why don’t you keep these until
Monday? There’s a chance your battery’s gonna drain itself again when you get
wherever you’re going. That way, you won’t be stuck until you get that in to
get it looked at,” he said.