Containment Read Online Free PDF Page B

the air here, and we do get temperature inversions—not as much of a problem as, say, Los Angeles, but it happens. It'd be enough to stop natural air circulation."
    " Thanks, doc. But I already checked with the weather people."
    The M.E. smiled. "No inversion?"
    " Not much wind either," added Lisa.
    " I guess you two are well ahead of a tired old man like me."
    " We like to cover all the bases," said Cecily. "It's a process of elimination. It was easy to check the bodies for a previously identified virus, and it was easy to check the weather. Both turned out negative. But I agree with you. The lack of any identifiable antigens in the victims is the most puzzling thing about this case. And the most worrying." She paused. "We might need the luck o' the Irish to solve this one."
    " If I find a four-leaf clover, cailin , it's yours."
    As they were leaving the building and walking out into the chilly afternoon, Lisa said to Cecily, "I don't get it. We've only got two bodies and everybody, including Kraig, is acting like it's an epidemic."
    Cecily gave her an annoyed glance and hopped into the rental car. She started up the engine and did a jackrabbit start as soon as Lisa 's door closed.
    " Two's not enough for you, honey?"
    Lisa gave her a dirty look and adjusted her seat belt and shoulder harness.
    A red light caught them near the hospital.
    " The problem," said Cecily, staring at the traffic light, "isn't the number of cases. At least not right now. The problem is that we don't know what killed those men. And if we don't know what killed them, we have no idea if it'll kill again, and how many people are susceptible. That's what worries me. It worries Kraig. It worries the M.E. It worries Roderick Halkin, or it will whenever he puts on his nitrile gloves and starts thinking like a scientist again. It doesn't worry Chet but that's because it doesn't have anything to do with golf. It should worry you, but I see that it doesn't. And that bothers me as much anything else."
     
    Montgomery County, Pennsylvania / 2:00 p.m.
     
    He'd waited all day for Jennifer to arrive at the lab. Obviously she wasn't coming in today. Gordon sat on an uncomfortable, unpadded stool and watched as Jennifer Rason's lab workers busied themselves under the harsh ultraviolet lamps, transferring cells. One of Pradeep's technicians was nearby, pipetting solutions.
    Pradeep Rumanshan, one of the first scientists Gordon and Burnett had hired, walked by. "Gordon?"
    Gordon looked up and smiled. Pradeep 's dark face made a stark contrast with his bright white labcoat. Pradeep spoke English with a pronounced accent, very clipped. Gordon's name sounded like "grdun."
    " Still no trace of Jen?" asked Pradeep.
    Gordon shook his head.
    Glancing at the hood where Jennifer's workers were busy, Pradeep said, "She left them plenty to do, it would appear."
    Gordon 's gaze went to the hood. It was one of the newest models, a huge rectangle of metal measuring 12 feet long, five and a half feet tall, and three feet in depth. The sliding glass enclosure on the front was open just enough for the workers to get their hands and arms inside the working area.
    Turning back to Pradeep, Gordon looked at the young scientist 's face. Still well under 40, Pradeep was a chemist with an excellent background in organic synthesis. They'd recruited him from the University of Pennsylvania; his job at Vision Cell Bioceuticals was to hunt for biologically active compounds. Since no one knew what, exactly, to look for, they had to take a shotgun approach, which was what made Pradeep perfect for the job. He had a lot of experience in combinatorial chemistry, cooking up hundreds or even thousands of compounds at a time.
    But although Pradeep and Jennifer were good scientists —and good people, as far as Gordon knew—he was worried. At Vision Cell, space was at a premium; they rented the building instead of buying, and they couldn't afford a big place. And even with the limited room they'd gotten,