Robin Cook - Contagion

Terese’s conversation with Colleen was short. Terese told her underling that she was worried about Jack and asked if Colleen could call Chet to inquire about Jack’s conspiracy theory. Terese wanted to know if anyone else at the medical examiner’s office subscribed to it. Terese concluded by telling Colleen that she was unreachable but would call back in fifteen minutes.

During the interim, there was little conversation except for Terese asking Richard if he was sure he’d disposed of all the cultures. Richard assured her that he’d flushed everything down the toilet.

When the fifteen minutes was up, Terese redialed Colleen as promised. At the end of their brief conversation Terese thanked Colleen and hung up.

“That’s the first good news tonight,” Terese said to Richard. “No one else at the ME’s office gives any credence to Jack’s theory. Chet told Colleen that everyone chalks it up to Jack’s grudge against AmeriCare.”

“So no one else must know about Frazer Labs and the tagged bacteria,” Richard said.

“Exactly,” Terese said. “And that simplifies things dramatically. Now all we have to do is get rid of Jack.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Richard asked.

“First you are going to go out and dig a hole,” Terese said. “I think the best spot would be on the other side of the barn by the blueberry patch.”

“Now?” Richard questioned.

“This isn’t something we can blithely put off, you idiot,” Terese said.

“The ground’s probably frozen,” Richard complained. “It will be like digging in granite.”

“You should have thought of that when you dreamed up this catastrophe,” Terese said. “Get out there and get it done. There should be a shovel and a pick in the barn.”

Richard grumbled as he pulled on his parka. He took the flashlight and went out the front door.

“Terese,” Jack called out. “Don’t you think you’ve taken this a bit too far?”

Terese got off the couch and came into the kitchen. She leaned against the cabinet and eyed Jack.

“Don’t try to make me feel sorry for you,” she said. “If I warned you once, I warned you a dozen times to leave well enough alone. You’ve only yourself to blame.”

“I can’t believe your career can be this important to you,” Jack said. “People have died, and more people can die still. Not just me.”

“I never intended that anybody die,” Terese said. “That only happened thanks to my harebrained brother, who’s had this love affair with microbes ever since he was in high school. He’s collected bacteria the way a survivalist collects guns. Just having them around was a weird turn-on for him. Maybe I should have known he’d do something crazy sometime; I don’t know. Right now I’m just trying to get us out of this mess.”

“You’re rationalizing,” Jack said. “You’re an accomplice, just as guilty as he is.”

“You know something, Jack?” Terese said. “At this moment I couldn’t care less what you think.”

Terese walked back to the fire. Jack could hear more logs being added. He rested his head on his forearm and closed his eyes. He was miserable, both sick and frightened. He felt like a condemned man vainly waiting for a reprieve.

When the door burst open an hour later Jack jumped. He’d fallen asleep again. He also noticed a new symptom: now his eyes hurt when he looked from side to side.

“Digging the hole was easier than I thought,” Richard reported. He peeled off his coat. “Wasn’t any frost at all. It must have been a bog in that area at one time, because there weren’t even any rocks.”

“I hope you made it deep enough,” Terese said, tossing aside a book. “I don’t want any more screwups, like having him wash up in the spring rain.”

“It’s plenty deep enough,” Richard said. He disappeared into the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came out Terese was putting on her coat. “Where are you going?”

“Out,” Terese said. She headed for the door. “I’ll go for a walk while you kill Jack.”

“Wait a second,” Richard said. “Why me?”

“You’re the man,” Terese said with a scornful smile. “That’s a man’s work.”

“The hell it is,” Richard said. “I’m not going to kill him. I couldn’t. I couldn’t shoot someone while he’s handcuffed.”

“I don’t believe you,” Terese yelled. “You’re not making sense. You had no compunction about putting lethal bacteria into defenseless people’s humidifiers, which sure as hell killed them.”

“It was the bacteria that killed them,” Richard said. “It was a fight between the bacteria and the person’s immune system. I didn’t do the killing directly. They had a chance.”

“Give me patience!” Terese cried, rolling her eyes heavenward. She collected herself and took a breath. “Okay, fine. With the patients it wasn’t you, it was the bacteria. In this case it will be the bullet, not you. How’s that? Does that satisfy this weird sense of responsibility of yours?”

“This is different,” Richard said. “It’s not the same at all.”

“Richard, we don’t have any choice. Otherwise you’ll go to jail for the rest of your life.”

Richard hesitantly looked over at the gun on the coffee table.

“Get it!” Terese commanded when she saw him eyeing the pistol.

Richard wavered.

“Come on, Richard,” Terese urged.

Richard went over and irresolutely picked up the gun. Holding it by the barrel as well as the handle, he cocked it.

“Good!” Terese said encouragingly. “Now go over there and do it.”

“Maybe if we take off the handcuffs, and he tries to run, I can…” Richard began. But he stopped in midsentence when Terese strode over to him with her eyes blazing. Without warning she slapped him. Richard recoiled from the blow, and his own anger flared.

“Don’t even talk like that, you fool,” Terese spat. “We are not taking any more chances. Understand?”

Richard put a hand to his face and then looked at it as if he expected to see blood. His initial fury quickly abated. He realized that Terese was right. Slowly he nodded.

“Okay, now get to it,” Terese said. “I’ll be outside.”

Terese strode to the door. “Do it quickly, but don’t make a mess,” she said. Then she was gone.

Silence settled over the room. Richard didn’t move. He only turned the gun over slowly in his hands, as if he were inspecting it. Finally, Jack spoke up: “I don’t know whether I’d listen to her. You might face prison for the outbreaks if they can prove it was you behind them, but killing me like this in cold blood means the death penalty here in New York.”

“Shut up,” Richard screamed. He rushed into the kitchen and assumed a shooting stance directly behind Jack.

A full minute went by which seemed like an hour to Jack. He’d been holding his breath. Unable to hold it any longer, he exhaled-and immediately began coughing uncontrollably.

The next thing he knew, Richard tossed the gun onto the kitchen table. Then he ran to the door. He opened it and shouted out into the night: “I can’t do it!”

Almost immediately Terese reappeared. “You goddamned coward!” she told him.

“Why don’t you do it yourself?” Richard spat back.

Terese started to respond, but instead she strode to the kitchen table, snapped up the gun, and walked around to face Jack. Holding the pistol in both hands, she pointed it at his face. Jack stared back at her, directly into her eyes.

The tip of the gun barrel began to waver. All at once Terese let out a barrage of profanity and threw the gun back onto the table.

“Ah, iron woman isn’t as hard as she thought,” Richard taunted.

“Shut up,” Terese said. She stalked back to the couch and sat down. Richard sat across from her. They eyed each other irritably.