“You have played your part, pet. I am afraid, you're just another loose end now.” Her knees give out, and she drops to the rug on the floor. Jung pulls the needle from her neck and stares at her.
“Oh my God, she was telling the truth.”
Jung strikes her across the back of the head with the butt of his gun and places her on the bed. Then he ties her hands and feet to the head and footboard and snaps a smelling salt under her nose to wake her.
She tries to scream, but he has gagged her. “Easy, don’t fight my love. It will simply push it through your body faster.” Janet stops struggling and stares at him with tears streaming into her hair.
“Dah, tis true. Summer was immune to the first dose, but this is a special concoction I have been testing on some of the patients in the infirmary. You see, Dr. Denning thought diseases could jump and change, and I believe he was correct, but that is not all. You see, I take the pus of an infected animal, like a cow, whose hoof is infected and mix it with a strain of smallpox. It fuses, creating a completely new virus that has never been seen before. No one will be immune to this danger. I wish I could stay and document this, but I have a train to catch.” Jung picks up his case and leaves the room, closing the door softly. He stops at the desk and settles his account before buying a first-class train ticket to New York. He will take care of Summer Denning and disappear, he is an expert at starting over.
How dare they try to blame me for the disease jumping to the public! “You fools were singing my praises for taking control, and now you are seeking to charge me!” He is enraged at the audacity while traveling to the train yards.
“Perhaps, I will send them some holiday candy for Christmas.” Jung laughs at his joke as he gets in line to board his train.
Dr. William Ellis is disgusted as they leave the home of Mr. Fenton. “They were supposed to host this family! Instead, they shipped off that poor girl like trash! Charles would be devastated!” William and Charles were friends and kindred spirits. “I feel responsible for this!”
Thomas encourages them to climb into the wagon. “All we can do now is make sure we take care of his legacy! I have a sick feeling that she is telling the truth, William.”
Josiah nods as they ride through the night towards the brownstone. “We must have a plan of action in case it is true. What will we do with this information? The public must not know, it will cause widespread panic.”
“The best form of action is to adopt the protocol Charles designed. It was created for precisely such a purpose as this, to stop a pandemic. We must get to work on it!” All the men agree as they pull up at the brownstone. Mr. Fenton sent four of his groomsmen to do any heavy lifting for the gentlemen. They are asked to wait outside until needed. William follows the directions from Miss Denning’s letter and climbs the ladder to the attic space. The trunks are indeed exactly where she designated. They leave the personal trunks but load the medical trunks.
“I think it would be best if this is kept between us. Leave the trunks with me. I can secure them and make the comparisons to the journal,” Thomas offers.
“I will go to Jung’s hotel and see what I can discover. With any luck, he left the journal!” Josiah offers.
Josiah rides swiftly to the hotel and stops at the desk to ask about Dr. Rudolph. “You just missed him, sir. He settled up his account and left, but his girlfriend may still be there.”
“I see, thank you.” He takes the stairs two at a time and finds the room at the end of the hall.
When he picks up the sound of a muffled scream, he tries the door. “Locked. Damn.”
Another scream and his decision is made for him. He kicks, and the door explodes open. Nothing could prepare him for what he sees.
“Janet!” Josiah runs to the bed, and she is shaking her head at him. “You're going to be okay,” he cuts the gag free with his knife only to jump back when she screams at him.
“Get Back! It's not safe here. He injected me with something. Josiah, you have to leave!”
“Fine, be still,” he orders and slices the rope holding her hands and feet free. It isn’t until she scoots all the way back against the headboard that he notices the blood on the back of her head.
“Don't touch me!” She screams when he reaches for her. Josiah leaps back as she sobs, “Oh my God, he stuck a needle in my throat, Josiah. He said he mixed infected animal pus with smallpox to create a new virus. Jung has been testing it on patients at the hospital. He confessed to everything. He did it on the ship, too. He infected them all, on purpose!”
“Janet, right now, I need you to calm down. Stay still, and I will get you to the hospital.” Josiah says calmly, “I will ring for help.” When he gets no answer, he swears softly, “I'm going to go get help.” As he reaches the door, he hears her ask him, “How long do I have before I am contagious?”
“That will depend on what he mixed, how long ago were you injected?”
“Three hours,” she says calmly looking out the window.
“I’ll just be a moment, Okay?” He doesn’t wait for her answer, he runs down two flights of stairs and to the front office to ring the bell.
Janet
