Tarver chuckled. 'It's good to be dealing with professionals again. I've felt pretty damn alone out here in the wilderness.'
Biddle stood and shot his cuffs. 'Speaking of that, how the hell have you managed to accomplish what you have?'
Feeling fully secure once again, Dr. Tarver finally let some of his pride show through, for inside he was as proud as Lucifer. 'I'll tell you, it's more a matter of
Biddle thought about this. 'You're right. I just thank heaven we still have men like you working in the trenches.'
Dr. Tarver basked in the glow of Biddle's praise; he knew from experience that it was not easily won.
'I assume we have some logistics to take care of?' Biddle said. 'What do you need to bring out besides data? Special equipment? Biologicals?'
'No machinery. Too much risk involved in moving it out.'
'Check. Biologicals?'
'I can bring the agents I need out in a single Pelican case, and my critical files can fit in a backpack.'
'Excellent. The only question that remains is timing.'
'Tomorrow, as I said. But I'd like you to be on call beginning now.'
Biddle stared at him for a while. 'Is there anything more I need to know, Eldon?'
Tarver dodged the meaning behind the question. 'I'd like you to fly the helicopter. When I call, you come, and wherever I say.'
Biddle scratched his chin. 'Any risk of a hot extraction?'
Eldon smiled. He'd always loved intelligence jargon. 'I don't anticipate that.'
'I'd prefer not to even have an
'Again, I don't foresee a problem.'
'All right, then.' Biddle grinned. 'Hell, I'd love to fly this mission. I need to keep my hours up.'
Biddle offered his hand, and Eldon took it. The old soldier's handshake was stiff, like a formal salute.
'Until tomorrow,' said the doctor.
Biddle walked to the door, then turned back, his face grave. 'Is it worth sticking around to handle unfinished business when you have an FBI agent poking around?'
Tarver regretted revealing Morse's true identity. 'I'm afraid she's involved with that business.'
Biddle's face darkened, but his cold blue eyes remained steady. 'As long as you're clean as regards our business.'
'Absolutely.'
CHAPTER 45
Alex let herself into Room 638 as quietly as she could. Inside, it was as dark as the hotel's blackout curtains could make it. She moved carefully across the floor of the suite, trying to remember the furniture placement. As she felt her way around a chair, she heard a quavering voice.
'Ah-Alex?'
'Chris?'
'Yeah.'
'Are you okay?'
'Th-think so.'
As she felt her way along the bed, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she picked out Chris's eyes in the shadows. He was lying on his back with the covers pulled up to his neck. His forehead glistened with sweat.
'My God. What's going on?'
'Typical initial ruh…reaction to virus. Your marrow spits out a ton of IgG to d-deal with the invader…tries to kill the virus with fever. Later on…different immunoglobulins…right now…classic symptoms.' He shook his head angrily. 'Don't think I'm critical right now…unless…poisoned. That hasn't…b-been the pattern…right?'
'No. But you need to get checked out anyway.'
'I'll get Tom to p-put me through the mill.'
'I think you're past that, Chris. I think it's time to charter a jet and fly up to Sloan-Kettering.'
'Want someone I trust. We'll send out the tests. Everybody does fuh…for complex stuff.'
Alex wanted to call 911. But Chris wasn't panicking, and he was the physician, not her. But was he thinking clearly? He was undoubtedly depressed given what had happened to him, and maybe even delirious. For all she knew, he might even be in shock.
'Don't worry,' he said, smiling weakly. 'I'll t-tell you when to panic.'
She forced a smile in return. 'Do you mind if I use my computer?'
He shook his head.
'The light won't bother you?'
'No.'
She bent and laid her hand on his burning shoulder, but he jerked away. Anger and frustration surged through her. Never had she felt such impotence. Will Kilmer had been unable to catch the government car they had seen parked at Dr. Tarver's clinic. John Kaiser had called, but to her dismay, he had not been researching Eldon Tarver at all, instead remaining focused on Andrew Rusk. Most of what Kaiser had learned duplicated information Alex had uncovered weeks ago. Kaiser had also told her that the FBI agents tailing Rusk believed Thora Shepard was still inside the lawyer's office. Kaiser thought this would give him some leverage in trying to persuade the local SAC that Alex's suspicions were grounded in fact. She'd asked Kaiser to change his focus to Dr. Tarver and informed him of the Noel D. Traver alias. After Kaiser had promised to do what he could, she signed off.
Alex went to the hotel desk, took her laptop out of hibernation, and logged into the hotel's IP network. As the Internet portal loaded, she wrote what she had memorized at Tarver's clinic onto a hotel notepad.
The first thing Alex learned when she tried to log into the NCIC computer was that her access code was no longer valid. The third time she tried, she got a message saying that a report was being sent to the NCIC security department. The cold fingers of exclusion reached deep into her chest. Mark Dodson was being thorough in his efforts to end her career. She could no longer check the government's national database of criminal records, a crippling blow to any investigator. She would have to go to Google, like any civilian. Cursing quietly, she did so, and typed 'Eldon Tarver' into the search line.
The name returned over a hundred hits. The first twenty were abstracts of medical articles or Web announcements of various research incentives at the University Medical Center. As she moved deeper into the result pages, she found a few stories about Dr. Tarver opening his free clinic downtown. Several black leaders had praised him to the skies, and three years ago, one black citizens' group had given him their annual citizenship award. Tarver was listed as one of the top fifty physicians in the state of Mississippi. In that article, Alex learned that Tarver was board-certified in pathology and had been since 1988.
'Chris?' she said softly.
'Yeah?'
'Eldon Tarver is board-certified in pathology. Does that make sense to you?'
'Uh…not really. I figured hematology or oncology.'
'He's certified in hematology, too, but that's much more recent. His first specialty seems to have been pathology.'
'Weird.' The bedclothes rustled. 'Can you g-get me a towel?'
