Jakarta Pandemic, The (26 page)

“Yeah, I saw the two of you going at it. What’s her deal?” he asked.

Kate, who didn’t seem interested in the conversation any longer, retreated to the great room, grabbed her iPad, and sat in the leather lounge chair to the left of the wood-burning stove.

“I really don’t know. She asked me if I could believe what you were saying, about not helping each other out with food. I told her I completely agreed with you, and she started into me. Really weird,” she said and broke into a cough.

He cringed at the sound and momentarily pulled the phone away from his face, as if he could catch the flu through it. “Hey, Jamie, the reason I wanted you to call is that I’m worried about Matt, and maybe you. You said Matt was pretty sick, right?”

“Yeah, it really hit him this morning. He woke up sweating and could barely get out of bed. He felt really hot, and I could tell he was really congested. He’s been on the couch most of the day,” she said, alarmed.

“Is he coughing much?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, that’s what woke us up so early.”

“Jamie, I think you need to take him to the ER and have him tested for the Jakarta flu. The hospitals aren’t slammed yet, and if he has it and you catch it early, he should be fine.”

“Do you really think he might have it? Oh my God, I don’t…I’m not sure if I can take him in today. I have the kids home, and I’d…”

“Jamie, you should all go in and get tested. You don’t sound so great either, and if both of you have it, there’s a good chance your kids might have been exposed. The earlier you catch this thing the better. This may sound weird, but if you’re going to get infected, then it’s better to get infected now, while the hospitals can provide the right services. Seriously, you should all hop in the car and head over to the Maine Medical Center. Pack an overnight bag for your husband.”

“Really? I mean he was fine last night. I kind of feel like we’d be jumping the gun. Don’t you think?”

“Jamie, you can’t be too cautious with this flu strain. It’s killing people, lots of people. Some within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. You don’t want to wait around,” he advised.

“All right. I’ll, uh…I’ll talk to Matt about it. I don’t know about taking the kids. That might be a little too much for them. I might make an appointment with their pediatrician for tomorrow,” she said, and Alex could sense the hesitation.

“Your pediatrician might not have the field test yet. They’ll probably send you over to Maine Med, or tell you to go home and call if symptoms develop. You’re probably better off all going together…hey, Jamie, I have Ed buzzing through. Think about what I said. You really need to go sooner than later. No later than tomorrow morning. Seriously,” he said.

“All right, I’ll see,” she said, and the line went dead.

He switched over to Ed. “Hey, Ed,” he said, and the phone beeped.

Another call.

The caller ID read “Paul Cooper.”

Christ. My own little sewing circle.

Chapter Twenty

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Alex was working in his yard, pruning a large oval-shaped flower bed to the left of the brick patio. So far this afternoon, he had stuffed three large brown yard bags with dead perennial clippings and leaves. He still had two more flower beds to cut back, which would keep him busy until the sun started to dip below the trees.

He pulled his brown knit cap down tighter on his head and continued to cut away at the dry branches. The temperature dropped rapidly as the sun sunk lower in the sky, and a southerly wind picked up. He considered going inside for a warmer jacket, and his hands were starting to chill through the thick leather garden gloves. He grabbed the pile of leaves he had collected and stuffed them into a half-filled bag. Just as he finished, his smartphone rang, and he fished it out of his pocket. He wasn’t familiar with the number, but he could tell it was a Scarborough prefix.

“Alex Fletcher,” he answered.

“Hey, Alex, it’s Ed. Kate gave me your cell number.”

Alex looked up at the Walkers’ house and saw Ed opening the sliding door to the deck. He waved to him and signaled with his hand for Ed to come over.

“Come on over, Ed. I’m not that paranoid. Unless you don’t want to be seen in public with me, of course, which I can understand,” Alex said.

“I don’t care what any of those assholes think. My wife just got a call from Jamie across the street, and I don’t want her to see me scooting over to your house. Jamie just asked Sam if we’d watch the kids while she took her husband over to the ER. I guess he’s having serious trouble breathing, and she’s really freaked out. She sounded like shit too. I told Sam to tell her we’d call back in a few minutes. Alex, I really don’t want to take the risk, but I feel like a real asshole not helping her out,” he said.

Alex paused for a moment to consider his response.

I guess it doesn’t matter how I phrase this. The answer is the same.

“Ed, please don’t consider watching her kids. Odds are very high that all four of them are infected. I told her Sunday to take the entire family in to get tested, and she blew it off. She needs to take all of them to the ER.
All
of them. You can tell her I said so, I don’t care. I’ll call her myself if you want,” Alex said, walking over to Ed’s house.

He hung up the phone and continued walking over to Ed’s deck. Ed put the phone back inside and stepped out again.

“Jesus, it’s cold out,” he complained, folding his arms. “No, I’ll call her back, but Sam seems to be considering the idea.”

“The whole thing is a bad idea. If she’s sick with the flu, they’re not going to just let her drop off her husband and hang around for a while. As soon as they see she’s coughing and wheezing, they’ll put her in a hospital bed too, if they have any to spare. They certainly won’t let her hang around the hospital if she’s an infection risk.

“According to the news, DHS just authorized active risk reduction measures, which means that they might simply detain her so she can’t go back into the community and spread the flu. You could be stuck with the kids indefinitely, which would be fine if they weren’t likely sick themselves. She needs to take them all in to be tested. I’ll call her and explain it,” Alex said.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll take care of it. This really sucks,” Ed said.

“I agree, but this is how it spreads. It’s going to get worse around here, and the decisions are going to get tougher. Did Jamie even mention the conversation I had with her on Sunday?” Alex asked.

“No, but she told Sam that she didn’t think you guys would help, and that we were her last hope since they don’t have any family around. Threw a guilt grenade on us.”

“Yeah, well, that won’t be the last one. Stand by for a few tactical nuclear guilt bombs. I look at this whole situation as a military operation. The main objective is to keep the Fletchers’ safe from harm, in whatever form it takes. The flu, crazy neighbors, whatever…”

“Is this a long speech, General Patton? I’m freezing out here,” Ed said.

“You better get in before you freeze your tits off. Your lips are turning blue.”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know how it goes,” Ed said, grabbing the handle on the sliding door.

“Good luck, man.” Alex saluted Ed and walked back to his yard.

**

Alex saw the McDaniels’ Volvo station wagon back down their driveway and turn toward Harrison Road. As it headed down the street, he got up from the computer and walked to the office window, watching down the street as the station wagon approached the Durham Road fork. Instead of turning left and heading directly toward Harrison Road, the car continued around the loop.

He kept track of the car’s headlights as they disappeared behind houses on the other side of the loop and suddenly reappeared. He caught the lights passing the McKinneys’ house, and then they quickly vanished behind the edge of the Cohens’ stockade fence. He quickly moved to the far left edge of the window to see if the car passed the Cohens’ house. There was only a sliver of space between the other side of the Cohens’ fence and the Sheppards’ house. He didn’t see the lights pass. He waited a few more seconds, then shifted to the right side of the window to check the visible stretch of road between the Santos and Barton houses.

Nothing.

He calculated that the Bartletts lived right across from the Cohens and figured that the Bartletts’ house must be the car’s destination.

Jesus, she’s dropping them off with Nicki.

He thought about how she had probably ended up at the Bartletts’. She’d probably called Nicki to check and see if there were any volunteers to watch the kids, and as one of the neighborhood “leaders,” Nicki would have stepped up to set the example for the rest of the neighborhood. He grabbed the phone from the desk and dialed Ed’s number.

“Hey, Sam, it’s Alex, is Ed there?”

“Let me see if I can pry him away from the window. I assume that’s why you’re calling?” she asked.

“Guilty. The McDaniels just took off. I was hoping they were all going to the hospital, but it looks like they made a stop on the other side of the block,” he said.

“Well, I wish we could have helped them, but I’m beginning to think you’re right about all this. I’ve seen a few lawyers and staff around the office that look and sound really sick. I’m really starting to get paranoid. I’m thinking about calling in sick for next week. Diarrhea sound good to you?” she asked, laughing.

“Never fails. I’m telling you, it’s the most underestimated illness out there. You won’t even have to finish the sentence. Start to describe the contents of the toilet bowl and wham, end of discussion. Take as much time off as you need. At this point, you could probably just use the words ‘flu-like symptoms’ and nobody will question your decision to stay home. According to the evening news, absenteeism is on the rise in Maine.”

“I can imagine. Anyway, here’s the other peeping tom. Take care, Alex. Say hi to Kate.”

“Sure thing, Sam.”

“Hey, Alex. Did you see where Jamie went?” Ed asked.

“I’m pretty sure it was the Bartletts’. I saw the car pass the McKinney’s, which eliminates the Green’s, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t get past the Cohens’…”

“It didn’t. I can fully see the Bishops’ house, and she didn’t land there either,” he said.

“Definitely disappeared behind the Cohens’, at Nicki’s house. Unbelievable. What is she thinking?”

“Who, Jamie or Nicki?”

“Either of them,” Alex replied.

“Well, Jamie was pretty upset, but said that she understood why we couldn’t help…”

“But she went ahead and pawned her kids off on another family?” Alex snorted.

“She said they weren’t symptomatic, and she didn’t want to risk bringing them to the hospital. She thought the state might yank the kids right out of the hospital if she was infected too,” Ed said.

“She might be right. I really didn’t think of that,” Alex conceded.

“Me either. It’s a shitty situation for them.”

“Yeah, and it’ll probably get shittier.”

“Way shittier.”

**

Alex sat at the computer in the great room. He’d finally gotten an email response from Dr. Wright, almost a full week after he left him both a voicemail and an email, digging for any more inside information. According to the email, Dr. Wright had been contacted by Biosphere Pharmaceuticals to confirm Alex’s transaction, which probably explained why he hadn’t heard a word from Biosphere. The fact that he had been attacked on his own front lawn likely also had something to do with Biosphere’s silence.

Dr. Wright explained that the situation in Maine was fast approaching the breaking point, with a large percentage of available hospital beds unavailable to new cases. Local area hospitals had canceled nearly all elective and non-critical surgeries to make room for the swiftly rising number of flu cases. Alex wondered about the McDaniels, who had left for the hospital earlier in the evening. Dr. Wright’s email was terse and filled with spelling errors, giving him the impression that he was exhausted and overwhelmed.

Mike Gallagher had left him an email announcing his family’s arrival in New Hampshire at Colleen’s parents’ house. He’d finally met Ted at the storage locker, two days after abandoning his Biosphere post down in Andover. Ted had arrived alone and hadn’t mentioned searching Mike’s house. Overall, Mike said that the closeout was painless and cordial.

He got up from the computer and decided to work on an idea that formed when he’d seen Jamie’s car stop at the Bartletts’ house. As he watched the car pull around to the other side of the block and realized the implications of Jamie’s decision, he came up with the idea to create a way to track what was happening on the block. He pulled a piece of white poster board from the office closet and drew a rough sketch of the Durham Road loop. The schematic representation of the loop extended from one side of the poster board to the other, and he intended to graphically represent each house with a square. He would then put as much information as possible about each household next to the respective square.

The idea was a product of Alex’s military experience. He now considered the neighborhood to be his primary area of operation, and he wanted to gather as much intelligence about the neighborhood as possible. He waited a few minutes for his son to walk up the stairs and use the bathroom. After he heard the toilet flush and the door to Ryan’s room shut, he headed up to the office to retrieve the poster board and brought it back down to the kitchen island to lay it on a flat surface.

Using a retractable pencil, he drew each house and labeled each with their street number and family name. He drew a line for each member of the household; he’d add individual names later. The first round of information that he put on his new “intel board” was a circled letter “S” above each house that had sent kids to school. He’d add to this as he gathered information regarding daycare.

He then filled in the names of the McDaniel family. Next to Matt McDaniel he wrote “hospitalized with flu.”