The Fall: Victim Zero Read Online Free PDF

mutation is low—the organism by default parasitically attaches to a host and alters itself to the host biology—it can't be understated how dangerous a mass outbreak of Chimera infection can be. All it will take is a single person being overrun, and Chimera will go from harmless benign parasite to pandemic of global proportions in a matter of days.”
    The pause was pointed. Kell expected argument or disbelief, but only heard silence. He wondered if  the men listening to him had been briefed in the short time before the call. They must have been, not to question his assessment or express outrage.
    It was the president who broke the silence; a voice so well-known that even a simple sentence was enough to identify him to anyone who might have been listening.
    “ What do you recommend we do, Doctor McDonald?”
    It was a completely surreal moment for him. Kell was utterly without response for a time. “Mister President,” Kell said. “I'm a researcher. I experiment with genes and record my results. This morning when I woke up, I couldn't have imagined a situation where I would even be having this conversation. I'm a regular guy.
    “But I'm the person who knows this thing better than anyone. I wish I could tell you this will all work out, but the truth is that without some clever solutions and a lot of luck, we're facing a problem more serious than you can imagine. I can start work on a variant strain of Chimera as soon as this phone call is over, one that might be able to stop the threat before it can blow up. But aside from that, there's nothing any of us can do. I am infected. My staff is being tested now, but chances are nearly a hundred percent that this has been spreading from us to other people for weeks. We don't know what the incubation period is between contact and full dispersion of the organism inside a person, but I wouldn't put it at more than a month. That's a lot of time for something that replicates every half an hour or so.
    “ My suggestion, Mister President, is to let me get to work and start having the CDC check to see how far this thing has spread.”
    “ Doctor McDonald,” the president said, “you'll have whatever resources you need. You're our point man for this. We'll take care of everything else, sir. Just find a solution.”
    There was a click, and Jones came back on the line. “The rest of them have disconnected to speak privately, Doctor. I will be in touch shortly to discuss allocation of resources. Keep close to a land line.”
    “I will,” Kell told him.
    Another sharp click and the line went dead. Kell opened his laptop and started to go over the notes he'd been keeping about David Markwell and the strain of Chimera those morons in Boston had infected him with. He tried to look at the data from new angles, to gain some insight he'd missed, but Kell had spent more than a month looking at the facts and figures. He hadn't told the powers-that-be, but he had tried half a dozen variants on David's version of Chimera. It was too entrenched, too strongly colonized in his various bodily systems.
    Kell suspected whatever happened, he wasn't going to be the one to solve this problem.
     

A few hours later he finally remembered to call Karen. She answered her cell before the first ring could even finish, frantic and worried. That alone said volumes; Karen was a trial lawyer. She didn't blink an eye under stress.
    “ Baby,” she said. “Your parents wouldn't come with me. I tried, but they wouldn't listen when I told them you wanted all of us to leave. They think it's all going to blow over.”
    Kell sighed but wasn't surprised. His folks had dealt with the unrest of the civil rights era. How bad could a disease sound to them?
    “It's fine, honey,” Kell said. “I'll try to convince them. For now I'm just glad you and the baby are safe. Where are you?”
    Karen told him the name of the hotel; he wrote down the address and directions.
    “I'll be here for a few days at least. Don't come