The Panic Zone Part 34

The farmer helped Juan track the bats to this cave.

At that time Juan was joined by Pauline at the field station. Both knew the risks but took what precautions they could. They designated a corner of the station to be a lab. Then they secured the structure with layers of heavy plastic sheeting coated with antiseptic. Finally, they donned military biochem suits obtained from a South African lab and began a.n.a.lysis.

Their work determined that the virus, which they'd christened Pariah Variant 1 (PV1), was present only in female bats. It was common for bats to feed on insects from swamps where the virus likely emerged. Sutsoff's review of their testing confirmed that PV1 was one hundred to two hundred times more lethal than Marburg or Ebola. They observed that it would have a fatality rate in humans of 95% to 97%.

Based on the results on the cows and on their initial study, infection from PV1 could cause death in humans in less than ten minutes, making it the world's deadliest pathogen.

Sutsoff had already created an unprecedented delivery and manipulation system back at her island lab. She'd been in the final phase of developing a potent synthetic pathogen from a spectrum of known biological agents. But Juan's discovery of PV1 meant her model would be far more lethal than she could have imagined. All that she required was a sufficient supply of PV1 to complete her work and initiate her operation.

As they arrived back at the cave, Juan held up a gloved hand.

"Do not use your white light unless it's an emergency. They have an aversion to light, it will agitate them. Use your night vision."

They exercised supreme caution as they entered the mouth of the cave, taking time to allow their senses to adjust as the daylight at the entrance gave way to abject darkness. The cave floor was uneven and jagged; a wrong turn, a fall, could mean a tear in the suit.

According to Juan and Pauline's study, this was the optimum time to collect samples. For a brief period of a few weeks, the females would be sedentary, docile and incapable of flying because at this stage they were lactating. This was the time to manually extract samples of the virus.

"Okay, let's start." Juan's static voice came over his radio.

They each switched on their night vision and waited again for their senses to adjust before proceeding.

"Be mindful of sinkholes," Juan said. "Stay close to formations you can grab if the ground beneath you gives way."

Fiona released a small scream as a lone bat darted by squeaking.

"Just a male checking us out," Juan said.

"Stay calm, everyone," Sutsoff said.

Colin sensed the cave floor was actually soft like padded carpet.

"Kind of cushy," he said.

"Bat droppings," Sutsoff said.

"Eww," Fiona said.

"Stop, everyone," Sutsoff said. "Fiona, behave as a professional scientist or withdraw now."

"Sorry, Doctor."

As they progressed, about a dozen more male bats strafed them, brus.h.i.+ng against their helmets and suits.

"The gear has been tested," Sutsoff said. "Stay calm. It will protect you."

Fiona muted her disgust.

"Careful, a steep step down," Juan said.

After a few hundred feet, they came to a mammoth chamber that was dwarfed by a magnificent cathedral with groves of stalact.i.tes, stalagmites and dozens of pillars.

It took a moment to realize that the structures were trembling with life--cl.u.s.ters upon cl.u.s.ters of roosting bats.

My beauties. Sutsoff was awed. My glorious beauties.

"Let's get started." She set out her kit. "You know the procedure."

Sutsoff demonstrated by plucking a roosting female from a cl.u.s.ter and turning its docile rat-faced head toward her. Using a dentist's pick, she pried the tiny mouth open, inserted a small cotton tip past its fangs, swabbed the oral cavity, then put the specimen in a bottle of diluent.

"Like that," she said. "We need as much as we can get."

While male bats flitted about, nicking and b.u.mping into the scientists, the team worked smoothly.

They had been at it for more than thirty minutes, collecting specimens, when they were distracted by an odd sound.

Click-tap.

"What's that?" Colin asked.

They looked toward the mouth of the cave.

Nothing but darkness.

Click-tap. Click-tap.

Then a m.u.f.fled cry.

That's not human.

"What is that?" Fiona asked.

They followed a furious thras.h.i.+ng and kicking as if some violent force were charging toward them.

"I have to see!" Fiona switched on her white light.

"Fiona, no," Juan called out too late.

A misshapen deer had staggered into the cave, rearing and swaying its neck. The group quickly realized it was not deformed but instead trapped within the writhing coils of a ma.s.sive python. The snake's jaws were extended over the deer's muzzle in a hideous death hold.

Pauline screamed and switched on her white light. "I want out!"

A cloud of bats enveloped the deer, which dropped to its knees. Another cloud swarmed the scientists, pinging and nicking at their suits. The air filled with squeaks.

"Everyone keep calm," Sutsoff said. "Get those lights off now! Use night vision and pack up. Juan, take us out. Let's go!"

As the deer and snake thrashed, the team made its way to the mouth of the cave.

"Christ!" Colin shouted. "I'm getting hit harder."

The plunk-plunk of bats strafing the team intensified.

"Keep moving!" Sutsoff said. "We're almost out."

Daylight painted the air as the group hurried from the cave.

There was a collective sigh of relief as they cleared the cave and retreated toward the field station.

"That was a nightmare," Fiona said.

"Incredible!" Colin said. "Absolutely incredible!"

Juan started to take off his suit.

"Why don't you wait until we get to the station?" Colin asked.

"I'm just so hot," Juan said, tugging at his hood.

He had unzipped his foiled outer layer and was working on his lime-yellow layer by the time the group arrived at the field station.

Once Sutsoff placed all the samples in a protective case, the locals began helping her and the others out of their gear. Their faces were moist with sweat and the glow of accomplis.h.i.+ng a deadly challenge.

"I need some DEET," Juan said, "got a mosquito bite."

Juan slapped the back of his neck but felt something larger than an insect.

It was furry.

On his fingertips was a bleeding bat.

"Juan!" Pauline's voice filled with fear. "Oh, G.o.d!"

"Oh, Jesus, no! I've been bitten!"

One of the local men pointed at a small tear at the back of Juan's suit.

Blood dripped down Juan's neck.

He stared at the quivering bat in his hand.

"In here, Juan!" Sutsoff held out a plastic container. "Drop it in here!"

She snapped it shut, then observed Juan as he spasmed.

"Help him!" Fiona screamed at Sutsoff.

Juan collapsed, writhing in agony.

Colin held him. Sutsoff rushed to get something and Pauline scrambled for her medical bag.

Juan's eyes widened and he screamed at the sky.

"Oh, G.o.d!" Fiona screamed. "Look at his eyes!"

His eyes liquefied, melted in their sockets, rivulets of blood oozing from his ears, his mouth as he spasmed. The air cracked with the sounds of breaking bones as Juan's back curved into a humped spine as he died.

"Oh, no," Fiona sobbed.

The others looked to Sutsoff and were stunned by what they saw.

She'd recorded the entire episode with her camcorder.

44.

Santa Ana, California.

Sparks sprayed from the orbital sander in the open garage of a decaying duplex on Third Street, near the old Civic Center Barrio.

Emma Lane stopped her rented Ford Escort out front.

She checked the address she'd extracted from Christine Eckhardt at the clinic. Polly Larenski lived here. Emma approached the man working in the cluttered garage. Music throbbed with the grinding whirr of the sander.

"Excuse me."

The man's T-s.h.i.+rt complemented the muscles stretching his tattoos. He didn't hear her until she'd interrupted him a second time. The sanding stopped. He reached inside the car, killed the music, then let his eyes take a walk all over her.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Polly Larenski."

"The new neighbor?"

"Polly Larenski," Emma repeated.

The toothpick in his mouth s.h.i.+fted. "Next door, baby."

"Thank you."

"She's a little psycho. If she scares you, you come see me."

As Emma went around to the door of the adjoining house, the hip-hop music resumed hammering the air. She rang the doorbell and knocked on the door. Peeling paint ravaged the exterior walls. The picture window was cracked.

No one responded, so she rang and knocked again.

Emma peered into the house. She could see down a hall to a kitchen, right through sliding gla.s.s doors to the back. She noticed a shadow moving on the rear deck and started for the back, thinking that whoever was there could not hear her at the door.