The Emerald Virus (6 page)

    
Jack said, “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your offer. We need to
contact all ISP firms and cellular firms and ask them to do the same thing. I’m
not sure where to start but I need to get it done in the next forty-eight
hours.”

     
As Jack paused a new voice came through the speaker, “My name is Jerry Barnes
and I might be able to help with that. I’m the V.P. for Public Information for
Newnet Technology in Portland, Oregon. Coincidently I’m also the Chairman for
the American Association of High-Tech Communications. Jack, if you don’t mind
I’ll initiate a conference call with my Board of Directors this afternoon.
Every ISP and cellular firm in the United States is represented on that Board.
I’ll ask everyone for hard and fast commitments. In return, and if you agree,
I’ll tell them you will publish a document to the survivors telling them what
firms are participating. This may be the last chance these firms have to send a
“feel good” message to the public.”

    
Jack sat back and said, “My goodness, I’m overwhelmed by this. What was my largest
problem has at least in part gone away. I can start focusing on a couple of important
issues I was afraid I wouldn’t have time for. Kathy, I’m going to ask Jim and
his staff to meet telephonically with you and your staff as soon as you’re
available.”

    
Kathy said, “Jack, there is nothing more important to any of us than giving the
survivors the best tools we can. I saw your bulletin this morning that suggests
four thousand or fewer survivors nationwide. You can depend on our full
support.”

    
“Thanks to all of you, I have an ISP and cellular problem with no solution. Maybe
 you can help me. As I understand things, most large businesses have automated
their billing cycles. If someone fails to pay for a month the automated system
sends reminders. After two or three months if the bill isn’t paid the service
is automatically discontinued. It could only help the survivors if these
services were simply set to run forever. The survivors would have use of the
services until a maintenance issue shuts each one down over time.”

    
Dale said, “Jack, we just upgraded our firm to the most high tech automated
system in the world. Jerry, please correct me if I’m wrong but my guess is that
both of us haven’t upgraded at the same time and that your system is a good
example of the last generation of technology. Between the two of us we should
be able to work out a solution for both the new and the last generation. That
should cover almost all of the ISP and cellular firms. Jerry what do you
think?”

    
“Well, I’d like to think you’re right about that. Unfortunately, I don’t have
as much confidence as you do. The finance and accounting folks get pretty anal
about these systems and their goal has always been to create a system that
allows no variance. But, I’ll be happy to work with you on this and I’ll hope
my cynicism is unfounded.”

    
Dale laughed and said, “I don’t think it’s unfounded. I just hope they’ve
failed to meet their goal.”

    
Jack added, “These are tough times and it’s great to know that despite this
disastrous situation, you’re still willing to help. This is a great country
precisely because of people like you.

    
“I hope you’ll agree with me that we have to move quickly. Once the Emerald
Virus hits this country everything will get more complicated.” After murmurs of
agreement Jack said, “I’d like to conference with all of you at the same time
tomorrow. No restrictions at all on the number of people you want to involve.
Just let Gene know what telephone numbers to include and our operators will
make the call happen. Does that create a problem for any of you?”

    
No one said a word. Then Kathy said, “Jim, I’ll have my best people here in
fifteen minutes if you can gather your staff by then.”

    
Jim said, “No problem. Should I use this number for the call?”

    
“Yes, this is my conference room so it’ll work well. I’ll talk to you in a few
minutes.”

   
Jack concluded, “My deepest thanks to all of you. If there is anything at all
you need in terms of support from me or anyone else in D.C. let me know. I’ll
do anything possible at your request.”

    
Kathy, in a lighter tone of voice said, “Jack just remember you don’t have to
do this by yourself. Most people in the country would like an opportunity to do
something of value during the crisis. As far as these technical problems exist,
remember they don’t look nearly as difficult to us as they might to you. I
think Will Rogers said it best when he said, “We’re all dumb, just in different
fields”.”

    
Jack laughed and said, “Thanks Kathy, I’ll talk to all of you tomorrow.”

Saturday:
Washington D.C.

    
As Jack walked into A.J.’s office, she was hanging up the telephone.  She
looked at Jack and said, “Sorry. I missed the meeting because I just got off
the phone with the White House Chief of Staff. The ink isn’t dry on your
bulletins and already members of Congress are complaining about your style.
Apparently you’re providing the public with the one thing politicians aren’t
prepared to deal with.

    
“What’s that?”

    
“Straight talk and the unadulterated truth. Not many of them use those tools;
and when they see the truth in action, it seems to scare the bejesus out of
them.”

    
Jack grinned at the use of the term bejesus. He hadn’t heard it used since his
Grandmother was alive. He asked A.J., “What does Secretary Kemper think of the
bulletins?”

    
“He is supporting your approach. Rather than promising the Chief he would look
into it as he would normally do, he told the Chief to call me. I’m sure that in
itself rankled the Chief but he did call. I explained to him our rationale and
told him we were not going to change our style unless room for hope developed
somehow. Surprisingly he seemed okay with the explanation. Or maybe he realized
there wasn’t much he could do. That’s a very unusual position for him to be in.
His only option would be to fire you, me and the Secretary, and he simply can’t
do that in this crisis.”

    
“Jack, you seem to have a good handle on what you want done and who should be
doing it. Are you worried you’re overlooking anything?”

    
“Not really. I’ve kept Susan in reserve and I’ve asked Irene to continue to
work with her. Susan is the most intuitive of my team leaders and her job is to
bounce from team meeting to team meeting, listen to the ideas being formulated
and let me know if she thinks we’ve missed anything of importance, or if we’re
burning resources on the wrong targets. She will also give her best ideas to
the teams as she meets with them, and of course Irene will be there to add a
fresh perspective for us.”

    
A.J. felt thankful that Jack was on her team. He had been so capable and
confident as they had worked through past crises that she knew she could rely
on him now. He had an innate ability to see the future impact of today’s
decisions.

    
She said, “On another subject, have you talked with Harry today?”

    
“Yeah, he called about an hour ago. There’s been no progress finding a reason
for survivors. Scotland has decided to move all survivors to the Royal
Infirmary in Edinburgh for two reasons. The first of course is to enhance the
research. The second is to make sure no one gets left alone in the countryside.
Harry doesn’t think they can find and move all survivors, but he does think
they can locate the majority of them. He is in close contact with Irish
officials who are trying to do the same thing. Their biggest problem is what to
do with survivors if the virus remains unchecked. I told him we had started
working on that issue here in the U.S. and that I would keep him informed as to
what we were planning.”

    
“Good, he’ll need all the help we can give him. The entire country should be
getting close to the panic point, except no one seems to know what to do or
where to run. For the time being, almost all of Scotland is being stoic, as we
Scots tend to be. The same is true in Ireland. I’m sure there will be some
problems as circumstances worsen but I hope for the sake of so many dying
people that the end is at least peaceful.”

    
A.J. added, “I talked to Harry’s boss earlier and he said that one of his staff
members began showing symptoms this morning. I asked him how that affected the
rest of the staff and he said they were simply ignoring it. They’ve known all
week this was going to happen and that it could happen to any of them. The
staff member displaying symptoms insisted on finishing his current round of
tests in the lab; and said he would then go home to his family, a wife and
three year-old son.

    
“I’d like you to let your team leaders know this to prepare them for the shock
of Harry showing symptoms. Unless he is one of the chosen few it seems
inevitable at this point.”

   
Jack responded, “I know, and I’ll prepare the team as best I can, but, God
knows, I hate the thought of what’s to come.”

    
“Don’t we all. I don’t know how we’re supposed to handle this.”

    
As they arrived at A.J.’s outer office she asked Nancy to bring coffee. As they
sat in their normal arm chairs A.J. said, “We need to discuss emergency
evacuation protocols.”

    
Jack responded, “I asked Irene to look into that and she’s found that members
of Congress and their immediate staff will be relocated to a large bunker somewhere
in West Virginia, although there isn’t enough room for families. The President
and his staff, plus Cabinet members and Supreme Court justices will go to a
site in Virginia where there is room for immediate family members, which means
spouses and minor children only. The CDC has a combination lab and bunker near
Atlanta’ that will accommodate some of the scientists involved in Emerald Virus
research; no room for staff or families though. And of course the military has
a number of bunkered command posts across the country. These will accommodate
only those military and civilians assigned to them, which in emergencies
includes the Joint Chiefs and other key military leaders. However, no families
are included.”

    
“Irene did a good job. There are a couple of other top secret sites for the CIA
and NSA but we don’t need to include those in our discussions. What we need to
do is decide who on your staff will be included on the roster for one of the
bunkers. After working with you the past three days I’ve come to believe that
while CDC is doing all that can be done to find a cure, no other agency except
ours has a positive role to play. And our role is critical. Someone has to
continue to communicate with the American public, both for morale purposes, and
to provide usable information to survivors. You have in essence created a think
tank for the sole benefit of survivors and we have to continue that work.”

    
Jack replied, “Whoa. I never gave a bunker a thought and off the top of my head
I wouldn’t know where to start in finding those capable of carrying on our work
in a bunker. I’ll need some time to think that through.”

    
“I have given it some thought and I think we should first ask the team leaders
for volunteers. My guess is that there won’t be many volunteers since families
are not included. Once we know who volunteers, we may have to coerce others to
participate, based on needed skills; but that should be a last resort. Just for
the record, I will not participate. As a microbiologist I don’t have a skill
set you can use to prepare survivors, and by volunteering I would simply be
taking a spot that could be better utilized by someone of your choice. Roger
and I will spend whatever time we have with our children and grandkids. Both of
our children and the two grandkids should be at our house later today. I’ll
work until either my family members or I display symptoms and then I’ll play
each day by ear. I’ll want to spend as much time with them as I can.

    
“On the other hand I think you should volunteer. You’re single with no close
family. More importantly this whole thing has been your idea, and no one has a
better feel for the things that need to be researched and published than you
do. I don’t want an answer right now. Let’s wait to see who volunteers and then
you and I will collectively decide on the names to forward to Secretary Kemper
and then the President. I’ll join you for your afternoon meeting and we’ll
explain the issue to the primary staff at that time. I’ll need responses from
everyone first thing in the morning. We have a ten o’clock meeting with the
Secretary tomorrow morning to make our pitch.”

   
 
“Okay, now let’s talk about those you
believe are absolutely critical to the effort and should be added to the bunker
team.”

    
Jack responded, “I’m not sure if any one person is critical. I’ve tried to keep
multiple people involved in every facet of our work because I know we’ll start
losing staff once the virus reaches DC. But we’ll need at least one of the
high-tech group members, at least one of the public communication and
coordination group and probably two from our research group. I’d add one
generalist to that mix and one pure scientist. That would be six members with
one of them having overall responsibility.”

    
“That sounds workable to me although we may be shorting ourselves. I’ll think
more about the makeup and let you know this afternoon if I’ve come up with
additional skills I think we’ll need. We only get one shot at this so we need
to be sure. We will probably add some redundancy to your list as well.
Secretary Kemper agrees that this is the most important group of people in
Homeland Security today, and I think the President is about to come to that
conclusion himself. I think a group of ten might be doable for the bunker team,
even though space is at a premium. ”

    
“Thanks Dr. McCloud, I’ll look forward to our meeting this afternoon.”

    
A.J. laughed and said, “Jack, you finally jumped over the name protocol barrier
in the last meeting; please don’t backtrack so soon”.

    
Jack grinned and said, “Okay Doc, I’ll see you later.”

    
When A.J. was alone she spent some time thinking about Jack Sweeney. She knew
that he would not volunteer to save himself as long is he thought there were
others that were capable. He would not put himself at the top of a list of the
most deserving people, but she would wait until morning and work through that
issue. One way or another she believed Jack Sweeney would lead this team into
the future.

    
As Jack walked to his office, he thought about what A.J. had said. He could
name four people immediately who should be on the bunker team. The problem was
that he didn’t know if they were in a position to volunteer. He wouldn’t try to
force anyone to leave their family at a time like this. As he reached his
office, Jack stopped at Irene’s desk and asked her to join him in his office.

    
As Irene took a chair at the work table, Jack sat on the edge of the table and
thought about how to open the discussion. After a minute or so he said, “Irene,
A.J. is going to talk to the staff this afternoon about who would like to
volunteer to evacuate into one of the national bunkers in order to continue to
work with survivors of the Virus. I’d like you to consider volunteering. I know
this is a surprise, and I don’t need an answer now, but I wanted to let you
know I think you would be an important member of that team.”

    
“Jack, I’m not sure why you think that. I’m a good admin person, and I can do
research; but there are a lot of special skill sets on the staff and I don’t
see myself competing with any of our experts.”

    
“I thought you would feel that way, but take a minute and look at this from my
perspective. The experts are all very good at what they do, but they tend to
look at the world from a very narrow perspective. We need someone who has an
unrestricted view of the world under the current circumstances; someone who
will voice ideas that may be out of the ordinary. I’ve watched you grow and
progress and I think you’re close enough to the problem to understand where the
team is going, and confident enough to speak up. And of course, whoever ends up
on the bunker team is going to need a lot of help keeping organized, and our
experts are famous for the chaos in which they work. You’re our expert in that
area and you’ll have the confidence of everyone on the team.”

    
Jack smiled at Irene as he said, “I know this is too much to ask of any person;
and while I don’t know a lot about your personal life, I do know that you will
make the best decision you can.”

    
One of the things Jack liked about Irene was that she stayed calm and in
control. While she laughed easily, she never let herself go too far. As he
looked at Irene now he could see the slightest tick under her left eye, and he
knew that was a sign of stress. He had seen that specific tell when Irene’s father
had died last year. He also knew that was the only sign of stress he would see.
He didn’t know how calm she was or wasn’t on the inside, but he felt sure she
would let him know if this was too much for her.

    
Irene replied, “Thanks Jack. I appreciate the offer, the support, and the fact
that sometimes I think you know the professional side of me better than I do.
I’ll think about what to do and talk to my sister and her husband this evening.
By the way, you’ll be in the bunker too, won’t you?”

   
Jack told her he had just found out about this himself and he hadn’t yet had
time to think about it. He felt a little guilty since he was almost sure he
would not volunteer. There were too many others with better skill sets. 

    
Several hours later Jack hung up the telephone after spending thirty
minutes talking with Harry. He walked down the
hall to the conference room and convened the afternoon team leaders’ meeting;
and as promised A.J. was there. After listening to the team leaders report on
progress and helping them tweak their plans a bit, he told the group that Dr.
McCloud had something important to say to them.