Exit 9

“The spray.”

He shook his head for a second, not following. “The mosquito spray?”

She nodded. “It’s not what you think.”

“What is it?”

She looked over her shoulder at Ayush, then back at Sanjay, her meaning clear.

“No,” he said. “No. That can’t be true.”

“Believe what you want. By this time next week, you’ll be dead.”

“No. No!”

“If you let me go, I’ll…I’ll give you the vaccine.”

He squeezed her arm. “Have you given it to my cousin?”

“It’s too late for him.”

“You’re lying. It’s not too late. You can save him.”

“Once the virus took hold, nothing could save him. You haven’t been exposed yet. You could still live.”

He barely heard the last part, his mind reeling from the idea that his cousin was as good as dead.

“I can save you,” she said. “But only if you let me go!”

“I’ll…I’ll go to the police. I’ll tell them what’s going on.”

“Try it, and you’ll be in a jail cell when the sickness finds you. No one will listen to you.”

She was right. He was a poor man from a line of poor men. His word against that of a group of Europeans “helping to rid India of malaria”? He would be thrown in jail.

He almost let her go right then, but he realized there was something he could do. Something he had to do.

“How do I know you’re not lying about the vaccine?”

“There’s no way you can know.”

He thought for a moment. “You’ll take it first.”

“Okay, but I’m already vaccinated.”

“I don’t care. I just want to see if it kills you.”

She nodded. “I understand.”

“Where is it?”

25

I.D. MINUS 51 HOURS

It was amazing what the right set of credentials could do. Authentic or not, if they looked good, they were good, and the Centers for Disease Control credentials Billy was carrying looked great.

After donning a protective suit, he was allowed entry into the now isolated Emergency Care area of Hawkins Hospital. There, he first interviewed Dr. Hayward and Nurse Batista, the people who had been caring for Corey Wilson, patient zero of the current outbreak. There was nothing new the two professionals could give him that he hadn’t learned after a quick perusal of the patient’s file, but if he’d really been from the CDC, they would have been the first people he talked to, so he had to keep up appearances.

Next, he was taken into the patient’s room, but it was clear he would get nothing out of the boy. From the condition he was in, Billy was sure Corey wouldn’t last more than a few hours, a day at most. This, of course, he kept to himself.

“Who found him?” he asked Nurse Batista.

“His girlfriend.”

“And where is she?”

“They’ve sectioned off a part of the hospital that’s connected to our area, and put all the people who needed to be quarantined there.”

“Can you show me?”

They found Jeannie Saunders in a room with several others, staring sullenly at a TV mounted on the wall. As with the other televisions Billy had seen, this one was tuned to the news.

“Jeannie?” the nurse said.

The girl took a second before she looked over, her expression unchanged.

“This is Dr. Grimes from the CDC. He’d like to ask you a few questions.”

Jeannie stood slowly and shuffled toward him, her arms wrapped around her chest. As she neared, he could see her eyes were red from crying.

“Is there someplace I could speak to her alone?” he asked the nurse.

“Not a lot of private space left, Doctor,” she told him. “There’s a linen closet at the end of the hall that’s fairly roomy. It’s possible no one’s claimed it yet.”

“Thanks.”

She pointed him in the right direction then headed back to Emergency Care.

The linen closet was unoccupied. In the back corner was a folding chair stuffed between shelving units. He pulled it out and opened it for the girl. Once she was sitting, he leaned against the wall so that he wouldn’t tower over her.

“I know this has been a very difficult time for you, and that some of the questions I’m going to ask you’ve already answered. I want you to understand that this is important, and that whatever you can tell me is going to be a big help.”

“Sure, no problem.” She sounded even more defeated than she looked.

“Corey’s your boyfriend?”

She nodded.

“Do you know how he might have gotten sick?”

A headshake, but with a slight hesitation.

“Before you found him, when was the last time you saw him?”

“Uh…the night before. At Old Tom’s.”

“Old Tom’s?”

“It’s a pub. We had a drink and then…he went home.”

“Alone?”

“Of course.”

Billy leaned back. “You’re lying,” he said. There was no time to waste trying to slowly extract what he needed from her.

She looked up, surprised. “What?”

“You’re lying, Jeannie.”

“I’m not.”

“Let me lay it out for you. Your boyfriend is dying. You could very easily be next. Potentially thousands of others could be in danger, too. If you know something and aren’t telling me, their deaths will be due to your inaction. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you think telling me is going to get you into trouble, you’re wrong. I’m just looking for the source so I can stop this as quickly as possible.”

Her eyes shifted to the floor as she clenched her hands to stifle her shaking fingers. “We…we weren’t supposed to be there.”

“Where?”

“It’s some kind of factory, I think,” Billy told Matt over the phone as he made his way to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. “From her description, it sounds similar to the virus factory in the video. She said it looked like the place had been cleared out, though. Corey-patient zero-apparently looked inside one of the vats. She said they appeared empty, but…”

“…but you can’t see a bug,” Matt finished for him.

“Right.”