“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll make a brief statement, but I won’t answer any questions at this time,” Shelby said. “As I’m sure Dr. Salinas has already told you, we now have six white males who have been struck with some unusual virus. I cannot tell you anything about the medical facts or implications. I’ll have to leave that up to the doctors. However, I can tell you we are reasonably sure this disease is being intentionally transmitted.”
Shelby paused and waited for what he had just said to register. There was a stir, both from the group of people in front of him as well as the medical people behind him. I wish I’d had time to brief Salinas and Kendrick before the whole world finds out, he thought.
“Today, the Houston Police Department received a call from a man who has claimed responsibility for the transmission of this virus to these six victims. He said that he infected them in revenge for their actions. He did not elaborate. At this time we have classified these cases as attempted murder and will proceed accordingly. I have nothing further to say at this time, but you will be informed if there are any other developments.” Sure, when cows fly.
Shelby stepped away from the podium as a hundred questions were asked at once. He ignored the questions and the flashing strobes and turned to Dr. Salinas. “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to fill you in before all this. Can we find a room where we can have some privacy? Ms. Kendrick, will you and Mr. Duke please join us?”
Followed by Salinas, Kendrick, and Duke, Shelby pushed his way through the shouting, shoving mass of reporters. When the door slammed behind them, the roar of excitement dulled and, after a few steps down the hospital hall, the noise disappeared.
“Here, this way,” Salinas said. “We can use the physicians’ lounge.” He moved into the lead and the two men and Dr. Kendrick fell in behind him. They were silent and somber as they scurried to keep up with the fast-stepping doctor. Salinas stopped in front of a door and quickly pushed it open, then motioned for the trio to enter. He looked grim as he held the door for them. Kendrick was first, followed by Shelby, then Duke.
“Let’s sit over here,” Salinas said as he motioned to a table near the back of the room. Three other people in the room, a man and two women, dressed in lab coats each with a stethoscope hanging out of one of the pockets, looked up when they entered.
“Coffee?” Salinas pointed to a coffee machine in the corner. Shelby shook his head and had just sat when he heard Salinas’s pager beep. The doctor excused himself quickly and went to a phone mounted on the back wall. No one said a word, waiting for Salinas to return.
“Shelby, it’s for you,” Salinas announced.
Chapter 5
Shelby’s heart almost jumped out of his chest when Salinas said the call was for him. His hands started to perspire and a horrible sense of doom rattled his body. He prayed it wasn’t Michelangelo. It took all the willpower he could muster to walk over and pick up the receiver that hung like a death noose. He was sure everyone in the room was staring at him, but when he glanced around they were all listening to Dr. Salinas, who was saying something about an EMI by the neurophysiology department to check for brain stem-evoked response.
The phone receiver felt cold in Shelby’s hand. Slowly, he lifted it to his ear. He held his breath. “Shelby,” he said.
“Captain, I just saw the news conference and you did well,” the voice said. Shelby sagged with relief as he realized it was the chief and not Michelangelo.
“Assistant Chief Davenport is sitting here in my office with the mayor and has briefed us on the situation. I’m calling to let you know we have decided that until this deranged psychopath is apprehended, you are relieved from all of your other assignments and you will head up the investigation. I’ll arrange for you to have whatever you need. We’ve got to stop this madman before this situation gets any further out of hand, understand? Do whatever it takes.”
“Yes, sir. Right now I think the only change I’ll need to make is to transfer Esquivel from the night shift. Give us a couple of days to run background investigations on the victims. That should provide us something to tie this together. I’m sure there’s a connection and I doubt it’s very well hidden.”
“All right, Captain, it’s done,” the chief said. “Now, I want you to be sure to work with that woman doctor from Atlanta and the security chief from NASA. What’s his name? Audi Duke? I’ve already had a call from our senator in Washington. He’s very interested in what’s going on here. Senator Mitchell is very involved in the space programs. They’re even going to name a shuttle mission after him. This investigation is important and I want it handled right. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir, very clear.” Shelby hung up the phone, a little ticked at the chief’s last remark. He realized he would now have to coddle two non-police personnel, and he thought, I really don’t have time for them now. He usually liked the chief, a man who had worked his way through the ranks to become chief of police of the fourth largest city in the country. Shelby knew becoming chief was something to be proud of. He also knew the chief was being touted as the next director of the FBI.
Shelby got himself a cup of coffee and returned to the table where everyone was now listening to Kendrick. He wondered what kind of doctor she was and thought he’d have to ask her sometime.
She was asking, “Dr. Salinas, do you expect any of these men to recover?”
“I just don’t know. It seems that somehow the virus has caused the brain’s network to fire signals to the wrong neurons. In a normal situation, the brain’s neurons send signals along a predetermined route. In a word, they telegraph the next neuron down the line. The neurons always talk along the same route to the same neuron. This brain virus has caused the normal paths to be blocked and now the neurons have their wires crossed and are firing signals to the wrong neuron. That has caused the brain to be confused and short-circuited the network. Does that make sense?”
Everyone nodded and seemed to understand. “Dr. Salinas, is there any way that any of these people can communicate with us?” Shelby asked.
“I doubt it. No, I’m sure that’s impossible for now. But, to be honest, we don’t have any idea what tomorrow may hold. I’d guess that in a day or two, all of the HBV patients will die. Even if one should linger, I don’t think he will regain consciousness. They’re dead now in almost every clinical respect.”
“Except that they’re alive,” Kendrick said.
Salinas looked at her thoughtfully, then continued. “Yes, that’s true, Dr. Kendrick. But, as you know, the brain stem regulates the heart and all life-support systems. Now these men somehow have a super-active stem. How long this will continue, I don’t know. Nobody does. Any improvement would be painfully slow.”
“Yes, Doctor, but we’ve seen improvement in patients ten years after injury.” Kendrick was leaning forward into Salinas’s face and he shifted nervously and moved back. She looked up and to her left as if she were thinking, then said, “I think you’ve done everything exactly right. You cooled the brain, you followed every known procedure. It just bewilders me why the left side of the brain seems completely dead and the right side shows all that activity. Of course, if Captain Shelby is right and they are injected over the phone, that would explain the transmission through the right ear. Most people are right-handed, so they hold the phone in their right hand to their right ear, unless they are writing. The right ear connects to the left-brain quadrant. Why not? That’s as good an explanation as we can come up with here at the hospital.”
Shelby was self-conscious that everyone had turned to him. Dr. Kendrick, you’re beautiful. “I know it sounds too weird to be true,” he said, “but I think that’s exactly what has happened. I don’t know how or why, but I really believe