generally given a biohazard rating level. Even the spotted fever materials had a level 3 rating, despite the remoteness of any ability to alter the samples into a transmittable form. Why would any thief go after this stuff?”
“Because in some ways it’s more hazardous than some of the diseases that are rated.” Simon answered before Grace did. “MRSA spreads fast, and its response to known treatments is dubious.”
Grace thought of an even more acerbic retort but kept it to herself. She didn’t like Scoles’s cavalier attitude. Instead, she turned to the colonel, almost wishing she was in her camo uniform instead of hospital scrubs. This old-school military physician might take her more seriously.
“If nothing else, sir,” she said, “we can let it be known that this stuff is dangerous and could be used as biohazards—whether or not that’s true. Then, with the right kind of security—” meaning, as he would know, Alpha Force’s presence as well as whatever he put into place “—we’ll be ready to catch whoever tries to steal it.”
The colonel stood. He was big and beefy, and under other circumstances Grace would assume he was attempting to intimidate her. Maybe he even was now. But Simon, despite having no military background, was taller and more muscular, and he placed himself beside her—facing Nelson.
With her own military background and training, Grace felt fully capable of defending herself. Even so, she appreciated Simon’s protectiveness.
Nelson approached no closer. “Okay, Grace. Simon. You’ve made your point. The stuff is in a uniquely precarious situation. The lieutenant and I will discuss with our security expert, Major Dryson, how best to protect it when the time comes to store and dispose of it. We’ll treat it as if it is a recognized biohazard.”
“And you’ll keep me informed about its storage and movement.” Grace didn’t make it a question as she looked straight into the colonel’s eyes. He’d narrowed them so much that they almost sank into the flesh of his chunky face. “I didn’t get all the information I should have about the handling of the spotted fever materials.”
“That worked out just fine, didn’t it?” Moe’s tone was scoffing, but she still didn’t look at him.
“You know how I can help, colonel,” Grace said. Nelson sort of did, at least. He, unlike Moe, knew of the existence of Alpha Force and the reason for its presence here. “If we have any hope of catching whoever it is, we need to see this through.”
“We’ll keep you informed,” the colonel promised.
Simon and she left shortly thereafter.
“Did you believe him?” Simon asked as they walked toward her tiny office.
“Do I look stupid?” she retorted.
A few things now bashed within her mind. She was glad Lt. Patrick Worley was due to arrive soon. Alpha Force no longer had to stage a biohazards alert to flush out the thieves. They had one that was real enough.
She’d just have to make sure that word was out about how dangerous the samples could be—which, unfortunately, might be true.
She’d also have to make sure that she and her other Alpha Force comrades were well prepared to deal with it.
She now feared that the thieves weren’t just locals who had been observing the hospital for opportunities, or even negligently hired hospital staff planted here to steal whatever they could for foreign terrorists.
Colonel Nelson Otis had called in military help that had resulted in Alpha Force’s presence. Captain Moe Scoles seemed to be a physician dedicated to fighting infection and disease. But both, with their medical backgrounds, would know the differences among which samples collected at the hospital were most able to be cultured into high-risk diseases—or at least be threatening enough to convince nonmedical terrorists of the possibility. And both, with their difficult, scornful and dismissive attitudes…well, Grace couldn’t help wondering whether one or both of these men were the robbers they sought.
Two more patients were brought in from the rehab facility with presumed MRSA. Simon was the specialist called in for both, which was exactly what he wanted.
He returned to the isolation unit, calling Grace on the way. He wanted to keep her informed about what was going on, even though she was assigned elsewhere. He would continually observe existing infectious diseases patients for additional symptoms. He’d also be the first physician that nurses would notify if any other medical-center patients evinced signs of MRSA.
He knew Grace would want their positions reversed. Whatever her military group’s assignment was here at Charles Carder, he felt sure she believed she was being kept