The Lazarus Strain (3 page)

‘Shit,’ muttered Giles. ‘I’m beginning to think we should hit the panic button on this one.’

‘Why?’

‘To guard our arses. I’m beginning to see “Police Delay Puts Public at Risk.” headlines.

‘You think the monkeys were infected with something?’

‘The trouble is we don’t know for sure and Devon seems to be the only one who can tell us.’

‘I’ll keep trying.’

‘I’m going to give him until they’ve examined the microbial stocks. Even if the stores are intact, if we still haven’t made contact with Devon I’m going to blow the whistle.’

Giles and Morley returned to the car to wait.

‘What happens if they do find the virus store has been breached?’ asked Morley. They were watching the bio-hazard team make last minute adjustments to each other’s suits before trooping in single file into the institute. Giles noted that Cleary was with them.

‘Depends on what bugs they’ve been storing there,’ said Giles, ‘and what their characteristics are. Some viruses are highly infectious, others not. Some are stable in air, others are not. Some diseases are contracted by breathing in the virus, others you have to ingest them. All these things have to be taken in to consideration. At least that’s what they said on the course . . . Personally, I’m a run-for-the-hills man.’

‘Surely a place like this wouldn’t be working with anything really bad. I mean, smallpox or plague or anthrax, anything like that?’

‘There’s not much point in designing vaccines against harmless things,’ countered Giles.

‘But surely if they were working with dangerous bugs they’d have better security, wouldn’t they? Fences . . . guards on the gates.’

‘Let’s not take that for granted.’

‘So this could turn into a real nightmare?’

‘Let’s just say our best chance of avoiding such a nightmare lies in the microbe stores being intact and everything in them being present and correct.’

‘Looks like we’re just about to find out,’ said Morley as the first of the bio-hazard team appeared in the doorway. Both men got out of the car.

He saw cause for optimism when one of the team waved away the men responsible for operating the mobile shower and decontamination facility. ‘It’s looking good.’

It was obvious that the bio-hazard team were relaxed when they removed their helmets; they were laughing and joking with each other.

Giles approached Nick Cleary who grinned and said, ‘They didn’t get through the door to BL3. Everything was secure. Mind you they’ve made an appalling mess of the rest of the place. It’s going to take months to get back to normal. Any word from Prof Devon yet?’

‘Still nothing. Did you check the animals?’

‘No, I thought we’d better come straight back and tell you folks about the microbe situation.’

Giles nodded. ‘Maybe we could take a look at the animal house now? See what’s missing.’

Still wearing his bio-hazard suit but without the helmet and visor Cleary led the way along the corridor and down some stairs into the experimental animal facility. As they came to the first door Cleary said, ‘This is the mouse house.’ He looked in through the glass window set in the door and cursed under his breath.

Giles looked in to see chaos. Several stacked columns of mouse boxes had been pushed over on to their sides, spilling their occupants out on to the floor. Mice were clambering over everything, investigating everything and nothing, their fur matted with wet sawdust and blood from cuts sustained from the glass water feeding bottles that had been smashed on the floor. ‘Will this cause big set-backs?’ he asked.

‘All the experiments running will be ruined,’ replied Cleary. ‘We can’t possibly tell which mouse came from which box.’

They moved on to the next room. ‘Same mess here,’ said Cleary. ‘Guinea pigs all out of their cages.’

Giles counted some thirty guinea pigs on a floor littered with animal feed and sawdust: many of their wire cages had been deformed by being smashed against the wall and jumped on, judging by a number that had been flattened. ‘But they didn’t release anything into the wild,’ he said.

‘Doesn’t look like it,’ agreed Cleary.

Giles exchanged a glance with Morley that conveyed relief.

TWO

The last door had Primate House written above it. It was slightly ajar. ‘Jesus,’ said Cleary as he pushed it fully open and entered. ‘All gone.’

Giles noted that the door lock appeared to be undamaged as he joined Cleary inside. ‘How many?’ he asked.

‘Six,’ said Cleary. ‘Tim told me a couple of weeks ago that the primate house was full.’

There were three large cages along each side of the room: their iron-barred doors hanging open apart from one at the far end which was still closed. There was absolute silence in the room apart from the hum of a ventilation fan but the smell of the previous inhabitants lingered on. Giles wrinkled his nose as he turned to Cleary and said, ‘We can’t take the chance. I’m going to call a major alert.’

‘I really don’t think . . .’

Cleary was interrupted by Morley, who had walked up to the far end of the room. The Sergeant suddenly let out a yell followed by, ‘Jesus fucking Christ! What the . . .’

The two men spun round just in time to see Morley throw up on the floor. They hurried up to the cage with the closed door.

‘Oh, God in heaven,’ said Giles, his eyes opening like saucers.

Cleary put his hand to his mouth and turned away.

The naked body of a man was sitting in the cage. He was clearly dead and had been badly mutilated. His eyes had been burned with a liquid that had also burned his cheeks as it flowed down over them and he was holding a crudely painted cardboard sign which said, “See how you like it!”

‘Is this Professor Devon?’ asked Giles.

Cleary nodded, still holding his hand to his mouth.

* * * * *

While they waited for the forensic team to arrive outside, Giles asked Cleary, ‘Do you think you could have a look through Professor Devon’s things to see if you can get an idea of what the animals might have been infected with? We need to know quickly.’

Cleary looked uncomfortable. He said, ‘It’s not something I’m keen on doing. I know he’s dead but some of Tim’s work was covered by the official secrets act and I don’t know where I’d stand if I were to start rummaging through his things . . .’

‘We need to assess any risk to the general public as quickly as possible,’ insisted Giles. ‘We can sort out the paperwork later.’

‘You’re right, of course,’ said Cleary. ‘I’ll do what I can. But as I said before, I’m almost certain there will be nothing to worry about.’

‘Don’t you know what each other was working on?’ asked Giles.

‘No, not really,’ said Cleary. ‘Until recently we all did, but then Tim got involved in politics and told us that he was no longer able to make all his experiments public, so to speak.’

Giles and Morley looked at each other and Cleary quickly added, ‘It was nothing to do with germ warfare or anything like that. Tim was co-opted on to some big government vaccines committee and it was a condition that he could not speak openly about his work, not even to his colleagues. You know how the government likes secrets.’

Giles nodded. ‘It’s a good way of keeping your fuck-ups out of the public eye,’ he said.

‘A cynical but possibly accurate view,’ said Cleary with a smile. ‘I’ll get started in Tim’s room.’ As he made to go back inside the institute he turned to Giles and said, ‘You will remember that you asked me to do this? I mean if men in grey suits turn up and ask what the hell I’m doing, going through my boss’s desk . . .’

‘You have my assurance,’ said Giles. ‘For what it’s worth,’ he added under his breath as he watched Cleary disappear inside.

Morley appeared at his side. ‘Local radio has put out a warning telling people not to approach the monkeys but to phone the police. Manchester Police have located Mrs Devon and given her the news.’

Giles nodded. ‘Then we can let the murder go out on the evening news. I want to nail these bastards. I really do.’

‘Sorry about what happened in there,’ said Morley sheepishly.

‘Don’t ever feel ashamed of that,’ said Giles. ‘It’s when you start looking at that sort of thing with indifference that you’ll have cause to worry.’

Giles broke off and walked towards the front door as he saw the police pathologist coming out. She was dressed in white coveralls and had a gauze mask slung loosely at her throat. ‘Well, Madge, a bit out of the ordinary, eh?’ he said.

Dr Marjorie Ryman smiled and said, ‘Not exactly what I needed after Sunday lunch. Poor man had a pretty horrible death.’

‘Cause of death?’

‘With the usual provisos, a venous cannula through the heart following extensive torture with a scalpel and bleach.’

‘Thanks Madge. I won’t quote you until you’ve done the PM.’

‘I know you won’t, Frank, that’s why we’re friends.’

A green Rover 75 came up the drive and caught Giles’s attention. He knew that its driver must have satisfied the policeman on the gate but he couldn’t work out who it might be. A tall figure wearing a dark, business suit and carrying a briefcase got out and started walking towards the cluster of vehicles and personnel round the entrance to the institute. ‘Who’s in charge?’ he asked.

‘I am. Who wants to know?’ replied Giles.

The man showed Giles an ID card and said, ‘Nigel Lees, Department of Health. I came as soon as I heard.’

‘And your connection with the institute?’ asked Giles.

‘Professor Devon was on our vaccines advisory committee.’

‘Ah,’ said Giles, remembering what Cleary had said. ‘So you might be in a position to tell us exactly what Professor Devon was working on and what sort of risk the escaped primates might present?’

‘Indeed I am,’ said Lees. ‘Nothing to worry about. Tim was working on next year’s flu vaccine.’

‘Flu?’ exclaimed Giles. ‘Not rabies or bubonic plague?’

‘Nothing like that,’ smiled Lees.

‘So the worst thing these monkeys can be carrying is flu?’

‘Quite so,’ said Lees.

‘Well, that’s a relief,’ said Giles. ‘I was worried when I heard that Professor Devon’s work had to be kept secret from his colleagues . . .’

Lees seemed to sense immediately that he might have been underestimating Giles’ intelligence. ‘Ah, yes,’ he replied. ‘Well, the secrecy was necessary for technical reasons.’

‘Technical reasons?’ repeated Giles, intent on not letting Lees off the hook.

‘How much do you know about flu vaccine, Inspector?’

‘Only that my mother seems to get it every winter,’ replied Giles. ‘The vaccine, that is, not the flu.’

‘The problem with the flu virus is that it keeps changing its antigenic structure,’ said Lees.

Giles looked blank.

‘In essence, this means that a vaccine effective against flu one year will not necessarily be effective against it the following because the virus will have changed its structure to protect itself. This is further complicated by there being more than one strain of flu going around in any given year.’

‘I see,’ said Giles.

‘What the boffins have to do is make an informed guess as to what the three most likely strains are going to be and design a vaccine accordingly.’

‘Why the secrecy?’

‘Commercial reasons.’ replied Lees. ‘It’s only fair to the pharmaceutical companies contracted to manufacture it.’

‘I see,’ said Giles. ‘Thank you, Mr Lees.’

‘Not at all, Inspector. Now, if I might have access to Professor Devon’s office, there are some papers I must recover.’

‘Of course,’ said Giles. ‘Dr Cleary is looking through his papers at the moment.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Lees.

Giles noticed the sudden change in Lees’ demeanour and found it intriguing. ‘At my request,’ he added. ‘I asked Dr Cleary to do this in order to establish as quickly as possible what the escaped animals might be carrying.’

‘Well, that will no longer be necessary,’ snapped Lees. ‘Will you show me to Professor Devon’s office, please?’

Lees and Giles found Cleary sitting at Devon’s desk reading through a pile of papers. Giles introduced Lees and Cleary got up to shake hands. Lees did so perfunctorily and said, ‘I don’t think we need trouble you any longer, Doctor. I’ve told the inspector what he needs to know.’

Giles noticed that Cleary was embarrassed at being dismissed like some errant schoolboy. He said, ‘I told Mr Lees that I had asked you to do this. Did you have any luck, Doctor?’

Cleary looked at Lees and then at Giles. Lees knew that Giles was looking for verification of what he’d already told him but chose not to say anything.

‘Tim appears to have been working on . . . flu virus, Inspector,’ said Cleary.

‘So I understand,’ smiled Giles, although he had noted the pause in Cleary’s reply. ‘I apologise for putting you to all that trouble but I hope you both understand that it was imperative for us to know what danger the public might be facing.’

‘No trouble,’ said Cleary

‘Of course,’ said Lees.

As they left Devon’s office Giles and Cleary came across the forensic team removing Devon’s body from the premises. They paused to allow the white-suited pall bearers to pass by.

‘I still can’t believe it,’ said Cleary, still clearly upset. ‘I suppose you must see a lot of this, Inspector?’

‘Not exactly like this, sir,’ said Giles. ‘This is a bit special.’

‘What did they hope to gain? People are hardly going to flock to the animal rights cause when they hear about Tim’s murder, any more than they were a few weeks ago when they stole the corpse of an old lady in Staffordshire. They’re just sick, these people.’

‘You may well be right,’ said Giles. ‘Extremist organisations always attract the sick and the inadequate. The cause doesn’t really matter too much to them and in this case, the tail may have started wagging the dog.’

‘A frightening thought.’

Giles and Cleary watched as a dark coloured van with blacked-out windows took Devon’s body away.

Giles cleared his throat and asked, ‘I take it you didn’t find any indication that the professor might have been working with any other virus, did you sir? I mean it was just flu?’