Instinct: A Chess Team Adventure - By Jeremy Robinson Page 0,19
moving onward as well.
“Brentwood took a flight to London, with two hundred fellow passengers. It’s likely that a large number of them, if not all of them, could have been infected. We’ve confirmed that they’re not.”
The blue dot streaked across the map, stopping in London, where a mass of red dots appeared, some moving around the small island countries, others moving to more distant locations in Europe, some to Africa, and still others to South America. The blue dot, however, stretched across the Atlantic and came to a stop in Washington, D.C. A new bloom of red dots appeared. Then a green dot.
“The green dot is Duncan. Just seven days ago,” Sara said.
The animation continued. The blue dot moved up to Boston, where new blooms began. Then from there, several red dots streaked to various parts of the country. Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Denver. Others entered Canada. Some went to Mexico. Several large blooms emerged around most of the major cities in the United States and around the world. The animation paused.
“This would have been today. But we were lucky. Brentwood canceled most of his appointments when he got sick, seeing only family, a few friends, and the president. What we’re dealing with is closer to this.” Sara pushed a button revealing an altered map. Most of the red splotches faded, with the largest remaining flower of red being in Washington, D.C. “The president, feeling fine, kept his appointments throughout the week and his healthy immune system had fought off the flu. Again, we got lucky. Exposure was traceable and minimized.
“Now, back to the worst-case scenario, continuing from today.” Sara clicked the mouse. The animation continued. Red spots spread and grew. No continent was untouched. Most major cities were completely red and several small towns had turned red as well.
“Two weeks,” Sara said.
Red covered the majority of the country, except for the most rural spots. The same was true around the globe. Even Antarctica had some red spots.
“A month.”
The world was coated in red. If there wasn’t any red, people didn’t live there.
“From what we’ve seen, this new strain of Brugada kills within a week. That means there would already be people dying.”
King shifted in his chair. “Could this be happening now? Some other outbreak we don’t know about yet?”
“Someone would notice all these people dying from the same disorder,” Rook said.
“When a fat man dies of a heart attack, does it make the news?” Sara asked. “When a tired man falls asleep at the wheel and wrecks his car, do you read about it in The New York Times? When a woman commits suicide by falling off a bridge, does anyone care? People who die from Brugada often appear to have died from another cause and the flu is generally beat inside of a week. There are countless reasons why doctors would never suspect that people were dying from Brugada. More than that, the only method of testing for the disorder is through an electrocardiograph, which measures the electrical fluctuations of a beating heart.”
“The victim has to survive,” Knight said.
“Not survive,” Sara corrected. “Be brought back. Brugada is one hundred percent fatal. Very few people are resuscitated unless they’re in or near a medical facility. If this gets out . . . if this thing spreads, all hell will break loose. If we fail . . . this might be our future.” Sara looked up at the image of the red-covered world and shook her head. A world without men loomed on the horizon. It might take a year for them all to contract Brugada and die, but if an outbreak occurred, accidental or as an attack, it would happen. The human race would die.
“Our goal is simple,” Sara said, pushing past her fears and getting back on task. “Visit the village of Anh Dung, take blood samples from the women and any surviving men, and analyze them on the spot. If we get a match . . . if we find an immune male . . .” This was the one part of the plan Sara totally disagreed with. But she knew their options were scarce and it ensured success. “. . . we will . . . kidnap the individual and bring him back. We’re confident a cure can be developed quickly at that point.”
Sara took a deep breath. She was done and prayed to God she wouldn’t have to explain all that, to anyone, ever again. She preferred to be working, not giving lectures. “Any more