Viral

“Was Ivan Vogel one of them, by any chance?”

“No.” He frowned. “I’m getting to that.”

Third question: Ivan Vogel. The man at the center of his father’s inquiry, who had left the government to work for private industry. For VaxEze. The researcher who had also worked with Anna.

Gebhard Keller sighed. “Unfortunately, there is not much to go on with this question. Vogel was hired by VaxEze in late 2006. But then, according to reliable sources, he was in very ill health during 2007 and 2008. I can find no definitive record of him after that. He has a daughter in St. Petersburg and may have returned there. There are several accounts that he is there now, as you will see. A very secretive man, who left few impressions,” Keller added. “But bottom line, based on my research: I don’t think your Ivan Vogel is involved in what you’re looking into.”

“Fourth question,” he said. “Your key question, really.” He pursed his lips and seemed suddenly nervous. “The viral properties. The reason for all this vaccine.”

Charlie saw that his hands were shaking slightly as he pushed new documents in front of them.

“It might not be the only answer, but it is an answer. Stefan Drosky is also the scientist who developed the viral property, we believe. Under contract with VaxEze, and later GenVac. I’m told that small amounts have been produced at a viral plant in Basel, Switzerland. And these properties were shipped to Mancala in forty-gallon tanks, where it is now being stored.

“Which leads me to your fifth question,” he added, anxious, it seemed, to move on. “Is there any way of neutralizing this viral property.”

Keller had a trace of sweat now above his upper lip. Did he think they were going to harm him? That this information was too sensitive to allow him to walk away?

“Of course, the primary way of stopping its effectiveness would be the vaccine.” Charlie saw Anna shake her head. “But, of course, that isn’t your question.”

“No.”

“I spoke with a researcher familiar with bio-engineering of the flu virus. Not this specific case, but who has knowledge of a similar project. I’ve written out an evaluation that attempts to answer your question,” he said.

“How about a one-word version?” Charlie asked. “Yes or no?”

“In a word, yes. This sort of virus is obviously quite potent—but not invulnerable to intervention. I’m told Drosky’s project included an intervention mechanism—antibodies that attach to the viral agent and weaken or neutralize it, basically.”

“Plasmids,” Anna said.

“Yes. Plasmids. Good.” He forced a smile. A small sheen of sweat shone all of a sudden on his chin. “Antibody-rich plasmids with altered hemagglutinin could be introduced to the viral property and neutralize it. In theory, at least.”

“In reality,” Anna said. “We did it. But who has this capability?”

“I cannot say definitively,” Keller said.

“But you’re saying this plasmid could be used in effect to destroy the viral property?” Charlie said.

“Yes. There were a number of provisions for neutralizing it, including autoclaving. Another is for neutralizing it right in the tank. Two steps. First, you coat the tank with an aerosol form of this plasmid. Then you fire a missile- like propellant device into the tank, which introduces the plasmid to the viral agent.”

“Where would you get that? The propellant device?”

“It was in one of the plans I saw written up,” Anna said. “I don’t think it was ever actually manufactured. They called it a DPG: Destabilization Propellant Gun. It goes with the technology. A safety mechanism to neutralize the virus.”

“Actually, yes, it was manufactured,” Keller said. “By Drosky.” He looked at Mallory. “In my estimation, the answer to this question would lie with Stefan Drosky.”

Charlie thought about that for a long moment, figuring something. “What else do you have?” he asked, glancing in Keller’s briefcase.

“Reports. Pictures of some of the players. All of this I will leave with you, of course.” He pulled out a pile of papers, thumbed through it. “This is Gregori. And this is Drosky,” he said, handing Charlie photocopies. The quality was not good, but Keller had done thorough work. Charlie passed the pictures one at a time to Anna. “This is a GenVac production facility site near Lucerne. This is a storage facility in Mancala, which Drosky apparently owns.”

Charlie studied this last one. “Where the vaccine is stored?”

“That’s right. One of about six such facilities. The viral property is there now. Five weeks ago, they began shipping vaccine by train and tractor-trailer trucks to private and public health clinics all along the perimeter of Mancala. Literally millions of doses.”

“Why then?”

Keller tilted his head. “That’s another investigation. I can tell you this: since the regime change, a lot of land has been sold off, and a lot has been purchased by these health consortiums. The central government and military seem to be benefiting nicely from the purchases.”

Yes. Mallory had heard about that.

“President Muake has seized property in the southern part of the country. What is apparently a government- sanctioned version of ‘eminent domain.’ For quote infrastructure projects. And then he sold off much of the land for top dollar.”

Charlie heard a gasp. Anna’s face had gone pale.

“What is it?”

“This man,” she said. She was holding one of the pictures that Charlie had passed to her.

Keller frowned. “Yes, that’s Stefan Drosky.”

“No. It isn’t,” she said.

Keller reached across the table and took the picture from her hands.

“It’s not real clear but—yes.” He nodded, handed it back to her. “That’s Herr Drosky.”

“No. It isn’t. I’m certain,” she said. “That’s Ivan Vogel.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

ANNA PACED ACROSS THE Savonnerie carpet in a different hotel room—this one on Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in the Berlin City Centre. Charlie sat in an armchair, watching her. The curtains were drawn.

“I don’t know, I had just hoped he wasn’t involved,” she said. “And yet I was afraid all along that it was true.”

“Does it matter a lot? I mean, he’s a part of the machinery now, right? If not him, someone else.”

“No, it does matter.” Her eyes turned to his, underlining the point. “He’s the sort of man who can actually make this work. They know that; that’s why he was recruited. That’s what your father feared. What I feared. He knows how this can work. He’s a man with utterly no moral bearings. He could make something like this happen and, in a sense, he would enjoy it. Like the person who sets fires because he gets a thrill seeing the fire engines respond. I heard him talk about it in those terms once. That if you let loose a genetically engineered virus, you could depopulate a city in a matter of hours.”

“But Vogel wouldn’t have the resources to do this by himself,” Charlie said. “This is obviously bigger than him.”

“Yes. But he is the one person who could carry it out. I don’t know that anyone else would want to be involved in that way. He was groomed for this, I’m sure.” She finally sat down again, perched on the edge of an armchair. “I heard the stories, too: that Vogel was ill. Or that he’d died. That he had gone back to Russia. That his daughter was ill. I had wished they were true. Maybe he spread those stories himself.”

“He expects to become a very wealthy man because of this, Keller said.”

“Yes, I’m sure he does. But it isn’t just the money. You don’t understand. He has a certain madness driving him, too. I know that. That’s what I was afraid of.”