Monster Nation(16)

Three helicopters keeping station around the prison seemed to hover on pillars of radiance as their searchlights scanned the terrain around ADX-Florence. Their shivering noise had replaced the normal night sounds of cicadas and frogs. A fourth helicopter, bigger and darker, came in for a landing and Bannerman Clark was waiting.

'Welcome toColorado ,' he said, saluting the young men and women who emerged. These were researchers from USAMRIID, the Army's primary biological weapons defense facility atFortDetrick inMaryland . They looked as if they'd rather lick each others' boot soles then come any closer.Clark had removed his cover and replaced it with a plastic shower cap. He had latex gloves on his hands and a surgical mask dangling around his neck. 'We don't know our parameters yet so we're being careful,' he explained. 'We have to assume everyone in this facility is compromised. Please follow the sergeant here.'

The researchers dutifully filed through a sallyport defined by two barbed-wire fences and into their new home. The 8th Civil Support Team hadn't wasted any time setting up temporary lab facilities for the biowar people, taking over the prison grounds to set up ten double-wide trailers swathed in positive-pressure tents and installing decontamination stations at every access point. The USAMRIID contingent was used to this kind of confinement, all of them being certified for level four biosafety precautions, and they kept their heads down as they were taken through basic orientation.

One man remained inside the big helicopter andClark looked to see who it might be. 'Hello, Bannerman, is that you, my old buddy?' he asked, stepping into the illumination of the vehicle's exit ramp. He wore an army uniform with a turban and a bushy black beard and his eyes twinkled in the half-light.

'Vikram, Vikram, how have you been?'Clark laughed, happy despite the grim setting to see an old friend. Major Vickram Singh Nanda and Bannerman Clark had come up through the ranks together, starting in the Engineers duringVietnam . They had gone from Green to Gold together, as the saying went, receiving their commissions in the same ceremony. They had fallen out of touch over the years but Clark had heard that Vikram had ended up atFortDetrick and he'd been hoping they would have a chance to resume contact. He'd never expected his old partner to show up personally.

'I heard you had a very, very serious problem here in yourColorado , so I have come. How could I do less? I requested this duty.'Clark couldn't believe his luck'to get Vikram Singh Nanda in charge of the biowar team was a definite card up his sleeve. His smile must not have lasted, though, because a moment later Vikram's face fell. 'It is bad, isn't it?'

Clarkshook his head. 'I'll tell you all about it en route. I'm running out toCalifornia tonight and you can come with me if you don't mind the jet lag. It's a virus, we think. The symptoms are ataxia, aphasia, and severe dementia. Aggressive behaviors including cannibalism.' Vikram gasped andClark nodded in agreement. 'It's also got an incubation period of just a few minutes. Yes, it's bad.'

'I have never heard of such a thing happening in nature. That kind of effect should take months to manifest. God simply does not create something so virulent unless' you think it has been weaponized.'

Bannerman Clark knew he could count on his friend's razor intellect. He nodded discretely, because he didn't want to say it out loud yet. He'd come to the same conclusion. A pathogen that could destroy a man's mind and turn him against his friends and co-workers with homicidal intent in a span of minutes would be the ultimate terrorist weapon.

'We've got a lid on this place and it's tight enough for now,'Clark said, pointing out the double-layer cyclone fence the 8th CST had erected around the entire prison compound, in addition to the prison's own fences. 'I've got digital topographic imaging and satellite support so vigilant I can see every acorn hidden by every squirrel in a twenty mile radius. I've got air and ground troops watching every corner of this site.'

'Then why, my friend, do you look so frightened?' Vikram asked quietly.

Clarkkicked the dirt in frustration. Not a terribly efficient way to get out his anger but he was running on twenty-four hours without food and it was starting to get to him. 'Because the warden of this prison may very well have been carrying the virus when he took off on vacation three days ago. All of this,'Clark said, gesturing around at the fences, the helicopters, the mobile labs, 'might just be my way of locking the barn door when the horse has already run away.'

Where is your family's Emergency Meet-Up Point? Where is your personal Go Bag, at work, at school, in the car? How many days worth of water do you have in the house right now? [Emergency Preparedness Update #7, published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 1/05]