it’s a family of negative-stranded RNA viruses, called
FEMA and TSA exchanged glances. FEMA asked HSD, “Should we increase the national threat level?”
Burridge shook his head. “No, at least not yet. The fact is, most people don’t pay any attention, even at the elevated level.” He turned back to Catterly. “Phil, how is the virus passed along?”
Catterly seemed to bite his lip. “Frankly, we don’t know much about Marburg’s origins or mechanics of transmission. Other than dealing with infected monkeys, most documented cases are based on close contact with the carrier, including sexual transmission, exposure to small amounts of body fluids, or handling of contaminated objects. There is also evidence of respiratory transmission among monkeys, dating from 1983. Of course, that’s what we fear the most.”
“How do we prevent it?” Burridge asked.
Catterly glanced around the room. “I wish to God I knew.” He allowed the sentiment to sink in. “There’s a CDC manual for treating hospitalized patients, basically the same as other hemorrhagic fevers. Sterilization and isolation. But the long-term effects can be grim. Patients who recover still are susceptible to recurrent hepatitis, transverse myelitis, or uveitis. There is…”
The FBI’s special agent, Jefferson Bethune, intervened. “Excuse me, Doctor. What’s all that?”
“Transverse myelitis is partial inflammation of the spinal cord. It’s a neurological disorder related to polio. It interrupts control of body movements and functions. Recovery may be total or partial over a period of months. Uveitis is serious inflammation of the eyes. There’s also a record of inflammation of the testicles and other glands.”
“So, even without a twenty-five percent fatality rate, this thing could overwhelm our entire healthcare network.”
“Correct.” Catterly continued. “The incubation lasts four to sixteen days with fever, chills, headache, anorexia, and muscle pain. It’s often followed by nausea, vomiting, sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Most victims exhibit severe symptoms between days five and seven with bleeding from multiple sites but mainly the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and gums. Bleeding and lesions precede death by day sixteen at the latest, resulting from shock, with or without extensive bleeding.” He paused. “That seems to be about where our mysterious young patient is. We don’t know when he was infected, but he can’t last much more than another day or so.”
Secretary Burridge tracked his gray eyes around the room. “I’m meeting with the President, SecDef, and the Surgeon General this afternoon. We need to present some options right away.”
Bethune asked, “Well, do we know enough to start looking for anybody?”
Burridge shrugged. “Apparently not. But we should at least formulate a couple of contingency plans.”
“My God, Bruce, don’t we have contingencies in place yet?” Virginia Governor Fitzhugh Parmenter was more concerned than most. The Old Dominion would take the brunt of a DC outbreak.
“Sure, for outbreaks of bio weapons. But if this Islamic kid was injected with a virulent strain of Marburg, as the Brits suspect, we need to get to the source ASAP.”
The NSA representative spoke up. “If we’re going to start looking along the Pakistan-Afghan border, we’ll need thousands of people, or just a few who are really well informed.”
Burridge nodded. “That’s right. I’m talking to Donna over at State this morning. It seems there’s concern about an increased American presence in Pakistan, and it looks as if we don’t have enough assets to spare on the Afghan side. So…”
Bethune finished the thought. “We send a deniable asset.” Burridge remained expressionless.
“Who you have in mind, Bruce?” Parmenter thought he already knew.
“Mike Derringer and SSI.”
The afternoon meeting convened in the Oval Office, where President Patrick James Quincannon wasted no time on pleasantries. He had already consulted with SecDef Gregory Hooper, who shared Burridge’s recommendation of employing a private military contractor: a PMC.
The president opened: “Allow me to save time by summarizing your info sheets. We have a particularly nasty situation brewing, probably the work of Islamic radicals operating in Pakistan. State says we can’t insert our military without drawing more heat from the fundamentalists in-country, so that limits our options.” Quincannon then addressed his Homeland Security czar. “Bruce, I don’t know much about your friend Derringer other than he runs Strategic Solutions and he’s reliable. What’s he like, personally?”
“Mike Derringer is one smart son of a bitch,” Burridge began. He briefly flushed in the obscure presence of Secretary of State Donna Lombardi.
“So what’d he do?”
“With his record he probably could’ve stuck around for a third star, maybe got a fleet command, but by then he’d had enough. In ‘89 he wrote me a letter and I wish I’d kept it. He laid it all out, almost month by month. He said that with the Evil Empire no more, the politicians would rush to dismantle DoD to placate the peace lobby. Mike’s nothing if not objective. He detested Clinton, but said the Republican-controlled Congress would roll over for major force reductions, and he predicted increased deployments that would lead to retention problems. He was right. He also said that few service chiefs — if any — would protest, let alone risk their jobs by standing up for the troops. He was right.
“Mike said there would be a major war in the Mideast in 1991 or 92: likely involving Iraq, Iran, and/or Saudi. He was right. When Bush wimped — ah, opted — out and left Saddam in power, Mike said we’d have to go back and do it again in ten years, but with fewer assets. He was wrong there — it was twelve years.”
Quincannon grinned. “Doesn’t he ever get tired of being right?”
“No. Never. But if you want to get his goat, just mention ‘rightsizing.’ Man, he hates that word.”
“So how did all this lead to SSI?”
“Well, Mike foresaw that all the downsizing and rightsizing bull… was based on an absurd premise: just because the USSR collapsed didn’t mean peace in our time. He knew we’d get caught short eventually, and he saw an opportunity. That’s mainly why he put in his papers: he wanted to get a jump on other private military corporations. While outfits like Executive Outcomes were showing their stuff in Africa and elsewhere, he decided that he should form his own PMC. The result is SSI.”
“Very well,” the president said. He looked around the table. “Any comments?”
Secretary of State Lombardi leaned forward. “Mr. President, you must realize that even though they’re legitimized as PMCs today, these organizations are basically mercenaries. That still carries a stigma in some quarters.” She glanced down. “Especially in the UN.”
“I know, Donna. But what’s your point?”
“It’s just that, well, we might lose some support in the international community.”
Before the president could respond, SecDef Hooper intervened. “So what? The so-called international community isn’t doing a hell of a lot to support us as it is. Besides, the whole point of using a PMC is deniability. A contractor is not operated by the U.S. Government. Any of us can go on CNN or Fox and truthfully state that no American military forces are engaged.” He choked down a derisive snort. “But you already know that, Madame Secretary.” It was an open secret in Washington that SecDef and SecState really truly disliked one another.
Ms. Lombardi’s face reddened beneath her makeup. She half rose from her chair when the president responded. “I understand the concern about PMCs or mercenaries or whatever you call them…”
Hooper saw an opening and took it. “Excuse me, Mr. President. I remember the, ah, ‘contradictions’ in UN attitudes about Executive Outcomes, one of the early PMCs. In ‘93 when the Angolan army couldn’t protect its oil fields against the rebels, EO was called in. It solved the problem with a few hundred elite troops, but then international protests arose. EO was recalled and several thousand UN ‘peacekeepers’ arrived but they couldn’t
