Rebekka Franck - 03 - Five, Six ... Grab Your Crucifix (18 page)

“First of all I’m very sorry that we had to put you all through this, but I do hope you understand that we have to be very cautious with this kind of thing,” he said nodding.

I couldn’t quite detect if he was about to give us good news or bad news. I hoped for the first and expected the last.

“We’re glad you’re thorough,” Sune said.

Gunnar Moll stared down at the papers in front of him for a little too long for my taste. It made me feel sick and uncomfortable. It seemed like he was finding the courage to tell us the results.

“It doesn’t appear that any of you - except for your father - have been exposed to any radiation, I’m pleased to tell you,” he finally said.

A huge sigh of relief came from the both of us.

“Yes I understand you’re feeling relieved. But the fact that we haven’t been able to detect anything in you or on your clothes doesn’t mean that you are completely in the clear. You might have been exposed to something that we can’t detect or you might be exposed to it otherwise later on. Since we haven’t found the source of your dad’s exposure, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Therefore you all be aware of the following symptoms of radiation sickness.” Gunnar Moll lifted a piece of paper and started reading: “fatigue, fainting, bruising, hair loss, diarrhea, weakness, bloody stool, dehydration, mouth ulcers, vomiting blood, sloughing of skin, nausea, open sores on the skin, skin burns, redness, blistering, ulcers in the stomach, bleeding from the nose, mouth, gums or otherwise, inflammation, swelling, bleeding of the skin. Be aware that early symptoms of radiation sickness mimic those of the flu and may go unnoticed unless a blood count is done.”

He put the paper down and looked at us. “Again any of these symptoms should in your case be a cause to visit a doctor immediately. And remember we there is a difference between external contamination and internal contamination. External contamination happens when radioactive material in the form of powder, dust or liquid comes in contact with a person’s clothing, skin or hair. People who are contaminated externally may become contaminated internally should the radioactive material get inside of them. Internal radiation contamination happens when people either breathe or swallow radioactive materials, or when these materials enter their bodies through open wounds or get absorbed through their skin. Some forms of radioactive materials remain in a person’s body and get deposited in various organs. Other forms of radioactive materials are eliminated from a person’s body through urine, blood, feces or sweat. If someone who has been exposed to radiation vomits less than an hour after being exposed, it usually means the dose of radiation they received is very high and they will most likely die. Please see a doctor if any of you have severe symptoms or even if you’re in doubt. Now as far as we know we are talking about Polonium 210 here and luckily for you it acts slightly different than other radioactive materials. Polonium 210 is a highly radioactive and chemically toxic element. But it represents a radiation hazard only if taken into the body. It’s important to note that alpha particles do not travel very far - no more than a few centimeters in air. They are stopped by a sheet of paper or by the dead layer of outer skin on our bodies. Therefore, external exposure from Po-210 is not a concern and Po-210 does not represent a risk to human health as long as Po-210 remains outside the body. Most traces of it on a person can be eliminated through careful hand-washing and showering. It might leave a rash but it is no further risk to the person’s health if not ingested. Po-210 can enter the body through eating and drinking of contaminated food, breathing contaminated air or through a wound. Internal contamination with Po-210 is however very dangerous. It is more than 250,000 times as toxic as cyanide, and is very hard to find in the body. Polonium 210 has a half-life of about 138 days, making it thousands of times more radioactive than the nuclear fuels used in early atomic bombs. It is considered to be one of the most hazardous radioactive materials known and if ingested, it is lethal in extremely small doses. Less than 1 gram of the silver powder is sufficient to kill.  Once deposited in the bloodstream, its potent effects are nearly impossible to stop. A poisoning victim would experience multiple organ failure as alpha radiation particles bombard the liver, kidneys and bone marrow from within. The symptoms - nausea, hair loss, throat swelling and pallor - are also typical.”

“But … but my dad has internal contamination, then,” I said feeling slightly confused on the verge of panicking. “Will he die? What is going to happen to him?”

“We will need to monitor his blood count and white blood cells. So far it all looks fine, but we don’t know if it will affect him further. The dose that was found in his bloodstream is far less than the lethal dose and only slightly higher than what is normally found in the human body. I can’t say for sure that it won’t have any effect on his health along the road, I wish I could, but I can say that I’m very optimistic.”

“You don’t know where he was exposed to it?” Sune asked.

I felt his frustration. It was great to know that we were in the clear but since we didn’t know where Dad had been exposed to this radiation we had no chance of avoiding it in the future. For all I knew it could just as well have happened here than back at home.

“We have examined the cabin you have been living in and found nothing. At first we suspected it might have been a transport accident nearby that might not have been reported, contaminating the ground and maybe the water, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The dose your dad has been exposed to is very very small and it is only because he was weak and had previous health issues before it happened that his blood clotted.”

“But it’s internal? Won’t it destroy his tissue eventually?” I asked.

“We do have treatments. We will give him Dimercaprol right away and I have great confidence that it will prevent just that,” Gunnar Moll said and accompanied the statement with a small yet quite reassuring smile. 

I felt somewhat relieved but still disturbed as we said goodbye to Gunnar Moll. A doctor came to our room and told us we could leave the hospital if we wanted. My dad was to stay however since they wanted to monitor his development further. Plus they were about to begin a new treatment on him and wanted to make sure he didn’t have a bad reaction to it. Given his age and earlier health issues it was vital to keep him under observation.

I wasn’t happy about leaving Dad behind again, but he assured me he was fine and if I could just bring him some of his favorite salty licorice that he always ate, then he would even be very fine.

Julie grabbed my hand on our way down the elevator. I kissed her head and stroke her cheek.

“Everything is going to be fine now, isn’t it Mommy?” she asked.

I looked into her eyes. I wanted to tell her that I believed it would be, but I couldn’t. I was determined to find the source to this and protect my family from it. I couldn’t rest until it was found. Somehow. Some way.

“I think we should move into a hotel while we’re here,” I said looking at Sune. “Just in case.”

He nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. We’ll go home and pack all of our stuff.”

“Yeah!” exclaimed both kids.

I smiled, then looked at Sune again. When the doors to the elevator opened and we started walking out, I stopped.

“What’s the matter, Mom?” Julie asked.

Sune and Tobias looked at me. “What’s going on Rebekka. You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sune said.

“Radiation sickness,” I stuttered. “Why haven’t I thought about that before? It struck me when the director of the SIS mentioned all of the symptoms. But I didn’t see the connection until now. They fit. They all fit.”

“What do you mean?” Sune asked.

 “I’ll explain later. Take the kids. Bring them to a hotel, text me once you’ve found a place, I’ll get a cab later to join you. Then I’ll go back and get our stuff later, alone. I don’t want the kids in that cabin again in case the contamination source is still there. I don’t want any of you to risk being exposed to it.”

“Okay, Sune said. “But where are you going?”

All three stared at me waiting my response with anticipation. I didn’t have time to clarify.

“To talk to a doctor about a patient.”

Chapter 40

I ran into Dr. Wad in the ER. He was coming out of a room looking frustrated, then he discussed something with a nurse. I approached him.

“Ah Rebekka,” he said then lifted his finger to let me know to wait a second. I listened as he directed the nurse and instructed her in how to medicate a patient. Then he turned and looked at me with a tired, long face.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t have any news for you. I really wish I had. Mette Grithfeldt had a seizure last night and we fought to keep her alive for hours. Her heart gave up but we managed to get it beating again. Now she is finally stable. She woke up for just a minute or so and she kept screaming. Said she was dying and that some girl was after her. ‘Don’t let her drag me to hell with her, don’t let her take me with her to hell,’ she kept repeating. I don’t know what it was all about. Probably just a dream.” Dr. Wad sighed. “It’s been a long night.”

“For you and me both,” I said. “I think I might have an idea to what is happening to her, to Mette Grithfeldt.”

Dr. Wad looked at me with astonishment. “You do?”

“Well it might be nothing, but I had the thought this morning when I talked to the director of the SIS. They were examining us for radiation exposure. See my dad had traces of polonium in his blood, that’s why his blood clotted.”

Dr. Wad didn’t seem to see where I was going. I could tell he was anxious for me to get to the point. He probably had another place to be right now, other patients to attend to. “The bottom line is,” I said. “Maybe she is suffering from radiation sickness. I mean the bloody vomiting, the seizures. When I heard all of the symptoms, I thought of her immediately.”

“She does have swelling of the skin and rashes several places on the body,” he said. “And the ulcers in her stomach and throat could be caused by something like that. You said your father was exposed to radiation, to polonium? From where?”

“We don’t know where it comes from yet, SIS checked our cabin and the areas surrounding but didn’t find the source. But our cabin is very close to the camp where Mette Grithfeldt lives.”

Dr. Wad nodded. He suddenly seemed to be in a rush. “I think you might be on to something. Thank you,” he said and shook my hand. “Thank you so much!”

Then he ran off.

I had a taxi take me back to the cabin. I texted Sune on the way and let him know where I was. He had found a nice small inn in Arnakke, he wrote. They were waiting for me and missing me. I looked forward to spending a few hours in a safe hotel room with my family as well. But first I had to pack all of our things.

I opened the door and went inside the small cabin. It was strange how everything had suddenly changed, the same place I had enjoyed spending time with my family in felt suddenly uncomfortable to be in. No matter where I went I couldn’t stop thinking about the radiation and where it could come from, especially when I went into Dad’s room and began packing his stuff. I couldn’t escape the thought that there might be something in that very room that made him sick. That the source could be in there after all - even if the SIS hadn’t found it. I mean he had been with us all the time, hadn’t he? We had eaten the same things, drank the same water. How come he was exposed to something and we weren’t? The only place he had been that we hadn’t, was in this room where he had slept.

I hurried and picked up his pants and shirts from the chair and put it all in the suitcase on the bed. I threw in his book, his socks, his underwear. My movements were slightly frantic and desperate. I didn’t want to spend one second longer in that room than necessary. I didn’t like being in there at all. When I picked up his brown cardigan that he loved to wear I felt something strange in the side pocket. I stuck my hand inside and pulled out a package of cigarettes and a lighter.

I exhaled and sat on the bed with heavy heart. We had quit smoking together my dad and I - two and a half years ago. He needed to do it since the doctor told him to after he had the stroke a couple of years ago. Was he still smoking behind my back?

I threw the package in the garbage can and continued packing. I was saddened that he insisted on destroying his body with things that caused him to have health issues. I knew I was a hypocrite since I had been smoking too with Sune, but I didn’t have health issues like he did. I felt even sadder that he felt he had to keep it a secret from me. I stared out the window while wondering. How could he have managed to keep this a secret from me? When had he been smoking? Maybe he just kept the package in case he wanted to smoke, maybe he didn’t even take them out? I glanced at the package in the garbage can next to the bed. It was half empty. My dad would never be able to resist the temptation, I thought. He was that type. If he had a package like that then he would smoke it. It was the same reason why I always hid the chocolate. If he found it he would eat all of it. Not just one piece. That was just the way he was and always had been.

So assuming he had been smoking while we were here in the cabin, where would he have done it? I looked out at the white landscape again and glanced towards the pine forest.

Could he have been sneaking out without us seeing it? I guess he could. He could have done it at night, when he told us he was going to bed, I thought. He had turned in very early every night while we had been in the cabin. Maybe he had sneaked out. I looked towards the forest. Did he go in there? In the darkness? Sune and I had been sitting outside on the porch on the first night we had spent in the cabin. Maybe my dad had sneaked out the front door and walked into the forest to make sure we didn’t see him? I looked at the brown cardigan in the suitcase. Then I grabbed his grey pants and lifted them in the air. Something was in the pocket. I put my hand inside and pulled out a small flashlight. I couldn’t help but chuckle lightly. That clever bastard. He had gone in there to smoke with his flashlight. Well I could hardly blame him, could I? He never had much time to himself and never had much privacy with both me and Julie in the house. On a vacation like this there wasn’t much room for privacy either.