Michael Palmer - Extreme Measures

It was not much of a card to play, but unfortunately it was the only one he held.

"Your man Pike called you Doctor," he said. "Is that a sham, too, like the hospital story?"

"MD PhD as a matter of fact," Barber said proudly. "There, I did my bit. Now, who are you really?

Who sent you?"

"Bernard Nelson is my name. I'm from Boston.

I'm working for the sister of the man on that flier."

"Scott Enders. Never heard of him."

"I think you have. Maybe not by that name, but I think he's here, and I think he was brought here by Donald Devine."

Barber's attempt to mask his reaction was too slow, and he obviously sensed that.

"Very good," he said. "Good timing, decent delivery. I'm impressed.

What else do you know?"

"I know enough to tell you that the best thing you can do is come clean about what's going on here, and hope that I believe enough of your story to help you deal with the authorities."

"You help me?" Barber began pacing again. "talk about chutzpah.

You sit there trussed up like a goddam Thanksgiving turkey offering to help me, then, let me tell you something, friend: This is no fly-by night operation you've stumbled onto. There's more at stake here than you could ever imagine, and minds a hell of a lot sharpe-f than yours have worked out a response for every contingency." He took a small strongbox from a locked metal cabinet, and withdrew a vial of powder and a pair of rubber gloves. "And right here just happens to be our response for this one."

The man's eyes were growing wider and wilder.

Bernard had read the account of Eric Najarian's night of horror, and had no trouble making the connection to what he was experiencing.

"It won't wash, Dr. Barber," he said. "Too many people know where I am,"

"I don't think so," Barber replied. "I think you came here snooping around because nobody knows anything for sure. If anyone does show up, we have certification for our facility and perfectly documented files on all of our patients. You see, we've been very, very careful about that sort of thing. Now then, what else do you have to tell me?" He slipped on the rubber gloves. "Amazing stuff, this," he went on. "Active if taken orally, active if just rubbed on the skin. Absolutely amazing."

"Is that what you fed to the Colsons?"

Barber stopped momentarily. Then he smiled and shook his head.

"No good. Content decent, delivery poor. You found their remains somewhere out there in the desert, and now you're pissing into the wind and hoping you won't get soaked." He withdrew a small spatulaful of the powder from the vial, moistened three of his gloved fingertips, and carefully spread the powder on them. "Better try something else."

"I'm telling you," Nelson said, desperately clinging to his crumbling facade of control, "too many people know. They know about you, about Donald Devine, about the little room in Devine's basement, everything.

The physician brushed the glove close to Nelson's face. Bernard closed his eyes and instinctively pulled his head away.

"I listen to you, and I still hear bluff," Barber said.

"You had better come up with something more pithy, or, I promise you, you're in for a long-or perhaps I should say a short-afternoon."

He glanced at his watch. "Time's run out, Mr. Nelson. Either you have shot your wad and you don't know anything more about us, or you're not taking me seriously enough.

"Well, sir, let me tell you how this stuff works. I'm primarily a research PhD but as I said, I am an M. D. as well, and a very well trained one at that, so I know what I'm talking about At this dose, you will have about, oh, one or two hours before the air you're breathing starts to feel like molasses. After that, it's just a matter of time. Your arms and legs will go numb, and your guts will stop moving. You'll start coughing your lungs out.

Finally, your heart will slow to the point where your blood's hardly moving at all. The only thing that will be working is your brain, and that will keep working right up until near the very end. At that point, if I want to keep you around for, say, a little work in our cornfield, I can stop the process and start you on the tranquilizers we usehat is, if you even require them. Otherwise, I'll just get you a mirror and let you watch yourself terminate. Sound okay?"

"Give it up, Barber," Nelson said. But he heard the fear in his voice, and could tell that the madman holding him could hear it too.

It was all happening too fast. He hadn't expected it to be this way.

There has to be something I can do… anything.

"Suit yourself," Barber said.

"Yes?"

"Okay. Okay, you're right I don't know what's going on here or who- is involved beyond Donald Devine."

"That's better, Mr. Nelson. Much better."

"But people do know where I am."

"As I said, we can deal with that."

"Perhaps you can, but then again, perhaps not.

Listen to me, please. If the work you're doing here is as important as you say, I'm sure you don't want to jeopardize it. I've got friend important friends-in politics and on the police force. Tell me what's going on here and what you're doing. If you can help me understand what's at stake, I'll do everything I can to get the right people to understand."

Barber continued pacing as he thought about the proposal. Then, quite suddenly, he kicked a folding chair close to Bernard and sat down, resting his gloved hand palm up in his lap.

"Mr. Nelson, every day thousands of people are dying unnecessarily from dozens of so-called incurable diseases-diseases like hepatitis, influenza, encephalitis, and many forms of cancer. And of course we both know that the world is on the brink of an epidemic that, in just a few years, will make the horror of the black plague seem like a cartoon. detective, what you've stumbled into here is a project which, at this moment, is this close to having an answer."

He held up his thumb and forefinger for emphasis.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean a universal antiviral antibiotic, that's what I mean. The ultimate cure!" He nearly shouted the words, then deflated noticeably when he saw the lack of comprehension on Bernard's face.

"I'm sorry if I look confused," Bernard said, trying not to glance at the man's hand. "I always thought penicillin was a pretty decent antibiotic."

Barber groaned his impatience.

"Pearls before swine," he muttered. "First. of all, penicillin is effective only against bacteria not viruses.

And second of all, like the dozens of other antibacterial drugs on the market, it's useless against most organisms because they become resistant about as fast as you can get the stuff home from the pharmacy.

Our drug not only kills the little beasties, but changes in the body as fast as they do. Ergo, no resistance. It will save millions of lives."

And be worth hundreds of millions to you, Nelson thought. He tried to appear impressed with what he was hearing, but he couldn't shake the sinking feeling that Barber was prolonging this purely out of boredom and the need to assure himself of his own importance.

In the end, nothing Bernard could say or do was going to move the man one iota.

"Tell me more," he said.

Barber smiled and stood up, shaking his head.

"I think not, Mr. Nelson," he sang, moistening his lips with his tongue. "I think not."

"Please, wait," Bernard said, gquinning in his seat. "I have some questions I'd like to ask you ah-"

"I had hoped you'd be a little more intellectually stimulating, being from Boston and all. I don't mind telling you, you're a great disappointment in that regard. A great disappointment, sir, I suppose you win simply have to find another way to amuse and educate me."

"Don't do it, Barber. Please listen to me-"

"This dose is roughly ten times what your friends the Colsons received. will it work ten times as fast?