Page 15 of Airborne
He closed his eyes and willed sleep to draw him into the place where he didn’t have to think about the past, present, and tomorrow. But roaming thoughts like trying to find a Wi-Fi signal in the middle of nowhere kept him awake.
His cell phone buzzed, but he ignored it. Probably Heather. She’d beg him to talk to her and want to do the prayer thing so they could restore their marriage. She seldom resorted to tears.... Tonight the loneliness might break his determination.
His phone stopped its incessant ringing. Finally peace. A beep alerted him of a message. Chad refused to fall for a plea to call her. Heather needed to accept the reality of their relationship.
His new bride now lived behind the locked doors of a lab among the vials, computers, and test tubes. She wore calculations and methodology while he wore a lab jacket. She demanded his valuable time. His commitment to her ensured relief from hideous diseases for thousands of people. His new wife didn’t have emotions or complicate his life. His new bride didn’t insist uponstarting a family, getting involved with church, or make it known she’d never leave her Houston FBI team.
He respected Heather for standing up for her principles, but he didn’t support them. She deserved more from a husband than a ring around her finger and his last name. He’d freed her to find a man who’d give her his total love and devotion, instead of less than part-time. Oh yeah, the Bible-reading type who professed serving God as a man’s highest calling.
He flung back the sheet and rose from the bed. Rationale told him to forgo sleep and start the day. He showered and dressed. While packing up his laptop, his phone rang again.
“For heaven’s sakes. Give it a rest,” he whispered and silenced the device without looking at caller ID.
His doorbell buzzed. Heather applied persistence and confrontation to all her FBI cases. No stops there. Had she taken a new approach to get his attention? He waited while the doorbell repeated. He had no choice except to open the door, and he turned the knob, ready to lose his temper. In the hallway a square-built man and a petite woman stared back at him.
“Dr. Lawrence?” the man said.
“Yes. What can I do for you?”
“I’m FBI Special Agent Javier Rivera and this is Special Agent Laura Tobias.” Both displayed their credentials proving their federal identity. “May we come in?”
“I suppose.” Chad gestured the two inside. “Has Heather been hurt?”
Agent Rivera closed the door behind them.
“I asked if Agent Heather Lawrence is all right.”
“Agent Tobias and I have tried to contact you since midnight,” Agent Rivera said. “You haven’t answered your phone or your doorbell.”
“Neither have you answered my question.” She must be fineor the agents would have stated so from the beginning. “Why are you here?”
“A flight left George Bush Intercontinental Airport at 8:35p.m. enroute to Frankfurt, Germany. Two hours in the air, a man complained of flu-like symptoms. A doctor on board says it’s a possible hemorrhagic fever virus. We are told some victims are unresponsive. Understand the airlines will not declare a person has died in flight. Several other passengers and crew members are experiencing the same danger signs.”
Chad had watched death tolls rise with these symptoms in massive proportions. Did the CDC require his skills immediately and not in three weeks? He needed the diversion and the opportunity to prove himself. “Have any of the passengers or flight crew been in an area where there’s a similar outbreak?”
Agent Rivera hesitated. “It’s under investigation. We don’t have a list yet of those who boarded from connecting flights.”
“Does the virus have a name?”
“Not at this time. The doctor on the plane communicated with Medi-Pro-Aire, and the pilot has been in contact with the CDC.”
“You’re clueless about the illness.” Chad stated the obvious.
“At the present.”
Chad’s head spun with the what-ifs of a viral outbreak. The impact of what Agent Rivera alluded to confirmed everyone on flight3879 was at risk. “Is the aircraft headed back to Houston or diverted to Atlanta, where the CDC can handle it?”
“Neither.”
“Then it’s New York. The CDC has a station there.”
“The plane’s in a holding pattern. I believe you’re correct about the New York CDC station.”
“Is the flight scheduled to land there?”
“Under consideration.”
Chad’s thoughts focused on people without medical care, andAgent Rivera offered scant answers or he didn’t have any. “How many exhibit symptoms?”
