“Ten to fifteen minutes,” Sutton answered, pushing the empty plate away and finally feeling full.
“Finish it, then I want to ask you some questions and you can tell me about this virus in words I can understand.”
“Yes sir,” Sutton said, grabbing the report.
“Paterson, how are your agents holding up outside?” the President asked as Sarah walked back in and handed the president some pills and poured a glass of water.
“Over a hundred have gotten infected and sixty-four have died,” Paterson answered, hanging up the phone and sitting back down.
“Kenner, how are the troops doing?” the President asked before swallowing the pills.
“We have all troops locked down on bases, but have reports of outbreaks at multiple bases,” Kenner answered, sitting down with a sigh.
The president went around the table as Sutton finished reading the report. When he set the report down, the president turned to him. “Finished?” the President asked and Sutton nodded, looking a little pale. “When will the deaths be so bad that we can’t hide them?”
“Sir, I’m surprised your group has done as well as they have,” Sutton told him. “But as Jackson pointed out, the deaths are growing exponentially. You only have two days because by then, the death rates will be over a million a day and by the end of next week, three million a day.”
“What’s the best way to spin this from a science point-of-view?”
“Just what we said, Mr. President,” Sutton said and felt Jackson stepping on his foot. “We just talked about it; the virus mutated. We were holding our own and in the past twenty-four hours, we noticed mutations and notified the public.”
The president’s hands fell off the table and onto his lap as he looked at Sutton in shock. “You are a genius,” the President gasped.
“Hardly,” Sutton chuckled. “But tell people to avoid large crowds and only stay near family members. Tell the public we were close to the vaccine, but the virus mutated. But sir, to be honest, I would let Ernie do it. He can give straight information very well but anything he explains, nobody can follow it.”
“Where’s he at?” the President asked, looking around the table.
“He’s in Atlanta,” Sutton answered. “We don’t let him in the labs, so he stays upstairs.”
“Paterson, tell him what we want so he can start preparing. Tell him, we go public in two days,” the President said.
“Mr. President, how many people are in this complex?” Sutton asked. “I need to know how many vaccines we need to produce here, so we will be able to go outside.”
The President looked over at Kenner. “Five thousand, four hundred, and twenty-six,” Kenner answered.
“That’s doable,” Sutton mumbled. “And I’ve asked Dr. Jackson to get me the samples of the two mutations,” Sutton said and saw the President had raised his eyebrows. “Mr. President, the vaccine won’t do any good if it doesn’t work on the mutations.”
“Jackson, have you taken care of that?” the President asked.
“Um, no sir, General Stonkly said he was busy,” Jackson said, clearing his throat. “I was going to ask Paterson if he could send a chopper down.”
“Paterson, throw this Stonkly in a cell for a lab rat,” the President commanded with a wave of his hand.
“Yes sir,” Paterson said, making a note.
“Dr. Sutton, will you and Jackson join me for dinner tonight?” the President asked. “The reason I ask, is I want to make sure you eat.”
“Yes sir,” Sutton sighed, closing his laptop.
“Sarah, you don’t mind that I assigned you to Dr. Sutton?” the President asked, glancing back. “It seems he and his team needs someone to watch over them and make sure they take care of themselves.”
“Happy to, Mr. President,” Sarah smiled. “Who should I call, if someone doesn’t give what I need to take care of Dr. Sutton and his team?”
“Me, of course,” the President laughed. “Do you know who I made Secretary of Agriculture?”
“No sir, but Buddy knows him. I’ve seen them drinking together,” Sarah answered.
Standing up, Sutton tilted his head to the president as he grabbed his laptop bag. “See you tonight, Mr. President. I’ll shower, but I don’t have a suit pressed and would really like to spend what time I can in the lab.”
“You can wear underwear or boxers if you want, I don’t care,” the President chuckled and everyone joined in.
“I’ll make sure you get any reports before the next meeting,” Paterson called out.
“Thanks,” Sutton said as Sarah walked over and opened the door. “Thank you,” Sutton said with a frown.
“Oh, don’t start the guy thing,” Sarah groaned, pushing him out the door and then turned to Jackson.
“Hey, I have my own staff to tell me what to do,” he laughed, walking out.
When they were in the golf cart with Sarah sitting in the back, “Dr. Jackson, will you let us off at Dr. Sutton’s quarters across from the lab?” she asked.
“You bet,” Jackson said, backing up and then leaned over to Sutton. “I’m just warning you, just do what she says, it’s not worth the fight and tell your team the same.”
Glancing back at Sarah and studying her appearance, Sutton would’ve been shocked if she was even twenty-five. The youngest member on his team was forty-one and he was fifty. “Just listen to Dr. Jackson,” Sarah smiled.
Turning around, Sutton started having a bad feeling about this. Knowing he was old enough to be Sarah’s father really didn’t help.
Chapter Eleven
Answer a lie with a lie
May 4
Coming back from the morning chores, Arthur walked in the back door and stopped, tapping the completed chores off the list. He gave a long sigh, not feeling like doing anything at the moment and
