Night Fall (The Quantico Files #1) - Nancy Mehl Page 0,57
purse and checked herself out a little more if she’d seen Stephen before he sat down.
Harrison moved to the end of the table and stood there flipping through some pages in a large notebook. Finally, he sat down, still looking at the information in front of him. The sound of fingers on keyboards created a steady hum from the other room as analysts searched for anything that would help them with the case.
Harrison cleared his throat. “Some of you know SSA Logan Hart and SSA Alex Donovan. We’ve given you all copies of their assessment, but I want us to go through it with them in case you have any questions. Also, I need to tell you that we’ve heard from the Train Man again.” He picked up another pile of papers and passed it to his left. “This is a letter the Kansas City Journal received early this morning. Read it, please, before we start.”
He waited a couple of minutes until everyone at the table looked up at him.
“We’ll go through the assessment first. Then we’ll talk about this letter.” He turned to Alex and Logan. “Let’s just hit the high points. Like I said, everyone has read the information you sent us.”
He turned back to the group. “We’re convinced we’re looking for a man named Adam Walker, and we’re pretty sure he’s part of the Circle. As you know, the local newspaper received a letter where the Train Man boasted about having a contagion that could kill millions of people.”
He gestured toward a woman sitting at the other end of the table. She was short, about sixty, and had blond hair streaked with silver, cut to just above her shoulders. Her expression was solemn.
“This is Dr. Grace Greene from the CDC. Grace, will you tell us what you know about the virus Walker may have?”
Grace nodded. “We’re trying to piece the puzzle together the best we can. First, we know a chemist in Ethiopia named Martin Kirabo colluded with a lab research assistant in the United States—the man we’ve identified as Adam Walker.”
Harrison jumped in. “And Kirabo has been found dead—possibly murdered, maybe by the Circle. We don’t know for sure. Authorities in Addis Ababa have retrieved his cell phone. He called the same number in the United States over thirty times. We discovered that number belonged to Walker based on information from his workplace. That definitely connects them, but that phone is no longer working. We suspect Walker has disposed of it and secured a new one.” He nodded at Grace to continue.
“We have a lot of concerns about the sample Walker may have. As I said, Kirabo was a chemist, and it’s possible he altered the sample. He may have attempted to turn it into something far worse than Ebola itself. Something we have no vaccine for.”
“Is it airborne?” a woman asked. Alex had no idea who she was.
“We hope not. Ebola is normally spread by contact. An exchange of bodily fluids—and before you think I’m just talking about sex, I’m not. A simple kiss on the cheek can spread the virus. The person kissed touches their face and contact is made. Someone coughing without covering their mouth can do it too. Unfortunately, then, it’s very easily spread. And we have no idea how this sample has been engineered. It could be much more lethal than a regular strain.”
One of the detectives raised his hand, and Grace nodded at him. “My understanding is that we have the capabilities to contain an Ebola outbreak, but you’re saying this guy may have created a superbug? One we can’t control?”
“We’ve come a long way in our handling of viruses. Our experience with COVID-19 has allowed us to be better prepared. We know outbreaks are usually in one area, and if we can track everyone who comes into contact with an infected person before they travel outside of our containment zone, we can usually stop the spread. But if someone releases Ebola in different areas of the country at the same time, or if it’s spread through different kinds of transportation—planes, ships, even cross-country buses—we could suddenly have such a high number of infected individuals that it would be difficult or impossible for us to locate everyone and contain the virus.”
“How do you think Walker might spread it?” Harrison asked.
“I have no idea. But he has the knowledge to spread it in a way that will affect the most people.” She sighed. “Walker is the worst kind of person to