“It’s hard to believe they’re all gone,” said JT as he sat back down. “Doc, Jeff Strauss, Mike Schneider, Natalie Shanahan. Andy, too, I guess. Five people that I’ve known for years. ” He snapped his fingers. “Gone just like that. ”
Dez nodded.
JT cleared his throat. “Is this what it was like in Afghanistan?”
Dez shook her head. “Yes and no. The shock and the grief … yeah, they were the same. But the fear was different. ”
“Different how?”
“Over there,” she said, “it was just bullets and bombs. But this…” She shivered. “I don’t know how to be afraid of this. The right way, I mean. You know what I’m trying to say?”
“Sadly, I do. ”
The door to the trauma room opened and the tall Indian doctor came out. It took a moment for them to recognize him because he was covered head to toe in a white hazmat suit. He came toward them but stopped ten feet away and held up a hand to keep them from coming closer to him. His hazmat suit was splattered with betadine and other chemicals.
“Doc,” barked Dez, jumping to her feet, “what can you tell us?”
“We are taking Officer Diviny to quarantine. ”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“We … still need more information. ” He considered them. “Since you were in direct contact with the patient, we should consider admitting you both for observation…”
“Not a fucking chance, doc,” growled Dez. “Storm’s hitting any minute. ”
Sengupta nodded. “Then at least I would like to have a nurse draw blood from both of you. Urine samples, too. ”
They didn’t ask why. They agreed.
“I’ve been on the phone with Poison Control and with several of my colleagues. We have specialists on their way here and I requested a hazmat team for the crime scene. ”
“What specialists?” JT asked.
“Toxicology, epidemiology … others. This is a very … unusual … matter. I … may put a call into the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. ”
“The CDC?” JT frowned. “Then you do think it’s a disease. ”
“As I said, this is very unusual. We don’t know anything yet. ”
The vinyl doors opened and the team, all of them in hazmats, wheeled the gurney out and hurried away down the hall. A metal frame had been erected over the bed and it was draped with heavy protective sheeting.
Dr. Sengupta directed a nurse to get samples from JT and Dez, and then he hurried down the hall after the gurney.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
STEBBINS COUNTY
Billy Trout climbed back in the Explorer and drove away from Selma’s place, a frown etched deeply onto his face.
“What’d she say?” asked Goat.
Trout fished in his pocket and removed the digital recorder, thumbed back the rewind, dialed the volume up, and pressed play. The recorder had excellent pickup and the playback was only slightly muddied by the cloth of Trout’s trousers. They listened to it twice.
Goat said, “Interesting stuff. ”
“Isn’t it, though?” replied Trout.
“She really got to you, didn’t she?”