worked efficiently and quickly.
Back in the basement, he shut off that pump and inspected the aerosolization device attached to the inflow air ducts from the air conditioning. He also turned on that pump. It hummed quietly. Mustafa repeated the match test upstairs and found air blowing hard out of the vents in the room.
He decided to launch it at precisely eight o’clock when he calculated the maximum number of visitors would be present.
He had personally devised the special equipment that would take the dried sample and vaporize it with just enough moisture to adhere to the respiratory tracts of the boys and every single one of the hundreds who would trudge through the classroom. Mustafa had designed it to release a prescribed amount for two hours-plenty of time and quantity to infect them all easily. And with the high concentrations, the incubation period in people would be considerably shortened.
The unsuspecting people would not smell anything or feel anything until the symptoms showed up in a few days. Even then, it would seem like the flu, and Mustafa doubted any doctor would know enough to make an accurate diagnosis-at least not quickly enough.
Back in their homes and schools, the people would be unbelievably hot and lethal. That was the key to the plan. By the time the authorities figured out what happened and where the epicenter was, the second transmission would have occurred. The supply of vaccine in the United States was inadequate for that stage of an epidemic, and it would be impossible for them to contain the spread. The multiplier effect would take care of everything else. Nothing devised by mankind could stop the explosion.
Mustafa felt his groin tighten at the prospect. To further protect himself, he would leave the country to view the carnage from afar. He detested suicide bombers as crude and limited in their effect. His way would shock the entire world. The casualties would be immense and would lead to mass chaos. It would bring about the kingdom of Allah in the heartland of the infidel.
He stopped and sat on a stool in the classroom to savor the moment. All the years, the planning, study, the double life he had led, the fools he had to pretend to enjoy, the enormous costs to obtain the samples, and the risks weighed on him. He felt sweat moisten his forehead. When he reached up to wipe it off, his hand trembled.
Almost all alone, he would bring the victory for Allah and revenge!
Thirty-Seven
While Valentini trudged back and forth in the conference room at FBI headquarters, Dr. Samson sat on the opposite side of the large table. He invited others to sit. Paul was too nervous. He wanted to catch every word. What was unfolding shocked him beyond anything he’d imagined. He hoped to God the scientists had some answers.
Dr. Samson had filled his coffee mug from the carafe in the corner. “We were talking about the technical difficulties facing a criminal. First, they’d have to obtain the virus, and they’d need the help of a scientist who understood how to deal with it. We assume that’s already been accomplished. Next, they’d need a vaccine to protect themselves and they’d need a delivery system.”
“Why not just drop a bomb?” Valentini asked.
“Maybe. In 1965 Army experts conducted secret field experiments to asses the country’s vulnerability to a smallpox attack. They ran the test at Washington’s National Airport where they fitted briefcases with small aerosol generators that sprayed a harmless fake, like the release from a bomb that had the same properties as smallpox. The results were disturbing-one out of every twelve people passing through the airport would have become infected, rapidly dispersing the contagious disease around the country.” He crumpled another Snickers wrapper and set in on the table. “It would be almost as bad as eating candy bars all the time,” he chuckled until he realized no one responded.
“Today, it’s much different. Security’s tighter,” Paul added. He wanted to be convinced the problem with Michael Ammar was as bad as it seemed.
“True. But since then, the world has grown more vulnerable to the disease. Considering that routine vaccination of Americans ended in 1972 and the rest of the world in 1984, and the fact the immunity of those who were vaccinated decays in about eight to ten years, we have a nation that is totally vulnerable to the virus.”
“How much of a spread are we talking about here, Doc?” Valentini said.
“Given the technical problems a terrorist faces, the risk of reintroduction of Variola remains quite low-but it’s not zero. If they were able to deliver the virus, and I repeat ‘if,’ the results would be catastrophic.”
“Why’s that?” Conway spoke up. He took deep breaths, and Paul could tell he needed a cigarette badly.
Dr. Samson stood and paced to the window. He turned and said, “When epidemiologists study the spread of diseases, they have models that can tell them how fast a disease will spread. The main figure they concentrate on is the number of people who will contract the disease from an infected person. It’s called ‘R-zero’ or the multiplier of the disease. It tells them how fast the disease will spread.
“In a modern country like the U.S. with mass transportation, shopping malls, public schools, a mobile population, the multiplier is between three and twenty. Meaning an infected person could give it to three or as many as twenty people. We don’t know for sure.” Dr. Samson moved to a white board near the table. He picked up a red marker and started to write.
No one interrupted him.
“Let’s say smallpox has a multiplier of five, which may be low. The spread of the disease will be explosive because five multiplied by itself every two weeks-the incubation period-can reach millions of cases in a few months without any control.” He drew the figures on the board. “It’s like a forest fire that expands faster and faster as it feeds on itself in an explosive transmission through a population of people with no immunity.” After he finished the numbers on the board he sat down.
Paul felt a growing panic. He looked around the room at all the pale faces.
“But as I understand these things,” Conway said, “wouldn’t you put up a fire ring around the outbreak and vaccinate everyone possible? Kind of like how we fight forest fires?”
Samson nodded. “Classic response. The CDC has stockpiled millions of doses of vaccine, but since they haven’t really been tested, we don’t know how effective it would be. And the vaccine is actually a type of pox. That means it could have adverse effects on the recipients, including death from the vaccine itself.” He poked the air with his finger. “Can you imagine quarantining everyone in the Twin Cities to their homes for two weeks or more while the medical teams vaccinated everyone? That’s how we’d build the ring around the outbreak.”
Heads around the table started to nod.
“If we can’t contain it quickly enough, we lose and the virus takes off. You see, smallpox isn’t like a cannon shooting one shell and doing limited damage. The virus is designed to go out of control, to kill as many people as possible, anywhere it can find human hosts. You asked about anthrax before … we can deal with that because it’s not transmitted by people. Smallpox is just the opposite. It’s transmitted by respiratory secretions conveyed by coughing, sneezing, or wiping your hand across your nose and touching someone else.”
Paul shifted his weight from side to side. Nervous. “Wouldn’t these cases be caught by the person’s doctor? And stopped right there?” he asked.
Dr. Samson removed his big glasses. “Maybe not because most medical doctors today have never seen the symptoms and since the disease has been eradicated, probably wouldn’t even look for it to make a correct diagnosis. In the early stages, when the patient is contagious, the symptoms look like the flu.”
“Look at the medical examiner in our case,” Joan said from the corner. “She’s good, but she missed the smallpox completely. Even with the rash on the hands. It’s lucky she didn’t get infected.”
Valentini walked around the end of the table and looked back at everyone. “I may be the only one here who’s not buying all this, but we’re living in the U.S. of A. Not Jakarta or some shit-bag slum. Why can’t we simply contain an outbreak? I just don’t get that.”
At a wave of his hand, Dr. Samson motioned a small man to step forward from the corner. “This is Dr. Kumar, our expert on that issue.”
A young Indian man with straight black hair walked to the conference table. He wore a black jacket and black skirt and leather sandals. He looked nervous and uneasy at having to speak before everyone.
