The Beginning of the End Read Online Free PDF Page A

it
through the night.” Ted bent down so he could look up at Miranda’s
lowered head. Black lines of mascara trailed down her cheeks. He put
his arms around her, “It’s okay. Let it out.”
    Miranda broke away from
Ted’s hug, “I don’t want to let it out! I want to do something!
I just can’t seem to wrap my brain around this. How many patients
contracted Ebola when we were in Algeria?”
    “Miranda it doesn’t
matter.”
    Miranda’s tears
turned to anger, “How many did we have Ted?” demanded Miranda.
    “We had 223 confirmed
cases of Ebola, and we lost 156.” Miranda leaned back against the
counter, looking up, trying to figure the math in her head, “That’s
about a 70% mortality rate, in a small clinic, and in a village with
no modern medicine or equipment.” She started pacing along the
windows, moving her fingers like a child counting, “And how many
patients do we have here in Palo Alto?”
    “As of this morning,
we had 789, and none of them are showing signs of improvement.
They’re all critical, and we don’t expect any to make it through
the next 72 hours.”
    Miranda’s pacing
stopped, and she was back at Ted again, “Not only has this strain
gone airborne, but it seems to kill everyone who comes in contact
with it. Ted, this bug is one nasty son of a bitch!”
    Ted sat in the nurse’s
chair and spun slowly, looking across the patient’s ward, “What
are we going to do Miranda?” Ted asked. Miranda put both hands on
the desk next to Ted. She was silent for a few moments, then Ted
thought he heard a gentle laugh come from underneath Miranda’s
hood. She looked up at him smiling, “Do you speak French, Ted?”

Chapter 8
    October 3rd 2:30pm
    Dr. Marcil gave us a
tour though McGill’s extensive campus as we made our way toward his
private secure laboratory.
    “Ah, here we are
gentleman, Sophie if you would be so kind.” Dr. Marcil motioned by
waving his hand at a large set of steel doors that acted as the outer
security system of his lab. Sophie stepped up to the steel doors and
placed her hand against the bio-print pad. With her simple touch, a
glow of blue encompassed her fingers. Simultaneously, a thin light
wave emitted from the display encasing Sophie’s face, with a
multicolor LED grid, forming a pattern of small squares on her. With
her face lit, Sophie gave her security code, “Dr. Simone, 71770.”
The lights all began to pulse green as a computer generated female’s
voice spoke, “Good Afternoon Dr. Simone.” The edges of Sophie’s
lips curled up, “Good Afternoon MARIA. How are you today?” “I’m
doing very well Dr. Simone. How are you and Dr. Marcil today?”
    Bob watched as the
security system identified Sophie, “MARIA?” hissed across his
lips as he exhaled.
    Dr. Marcil turned to
Bob after hearing his whisper, “Yes, MARIA is our lab security and
doubles as our assistant. We call her MARIA for short. It actually
stands for, McGill’s Automated Research Intelligence Assistant.
MARIA likes to keep her eyes and ears on everything we do in the lab.
She’s as much a part of the team as we are. Try not to think of her
as our security system, but more of an assistant.” Dr. Marcil said.
Bob looked back at the screen on the door as an, “Uh-huh,”
escaped his lips. Bob listened as the conversation between Sophie and
MARIA continued, “Dr. Simone, I see we have visitors.”
    “Yes MARIA, this is
Major Jean-Luc Besson from the Canadian Military, and Colonel Robert
Aiken from the United States.” When MARIA spoke again, Bob looked
for the almost invisible pinhole speaker in the door.
    “Hello, Colonel Aiken
and Major Besson. I am happy to be at your service. If there is
anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. Please come in.”
    The sound of an
electric motor hummed, followed by the echoing thump of the large
retracting steel bars within the door.
    “These doors are
designed to withstand the blast of a large amount of Semtex!” Dr.
Marcil