The Nightmare Scenario (35 page)

“Ah… Dictatorial communism has its benefits after all.”

“Yes, I guess so, sir.”

“Walt, I’m telling you, this time ‘Big Pharma’ has gone too far. I’m going to run a skewer through them and burn them over a slow-burning fire like a spit-roast. I’ll take care of this. You can rest assured. Assume and plan for global production at full scale by tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir, we will.”

“Are any countries giving my deputies problems with the micro-quarantine zones?”

“No, not as of yet. We’re focusing on the larger western European nations so far, and they’ve been cooperative. The Scandinavian heads of state met two hours ago and have put their resources under the direct control of the regional WHO head. Your speech at the UN was very convincing.”

“Good.” Aeolus hung up without saying goodbye.

Richard piped up. “I don’t get it. The medical companies won’t produce the rapid test?”

“No, not until they have negotiated terms, by which they mean how much they’re going to gauge us for it. The global economy’s crashing, their stocks
are the only ones going up. The market is already factoring in that they will extort us for all the gold in the land. The stock of Pharmacia & Upjohn alone has doubled the last two weeks! And the CEO wants his bonus.”

“But that’s completely unacceptable!” said Richard. “This is matter of national, no,
global
, security. There’s no way the president is going to accept this! He would rather declare martial law.”

“Keep in mind these companies are led by spineless maggots – not men with any sense of obligation or responsibility.”

“I’m getting the president on the phone right now,” said Richard. “I can do that you know. And I promise you he won’t hesitate a second to nationalize the entire industry. It’s within his prerogative to do so. They can try negotiating terms after that.”

“Yes, that would indeed be fun, and you should make sure he does so, but they can challenge it legally and delay it for longer than we have time for.”

“Then they can try strike a deal when they have gun barrels pointed to their heads. Tougher guys than them have tried to negotiate with Seal Team Six.”

Aeolus smiled again, imagining the scene. “Once again, I urge you to make that happen. And get me a recording of it. I’d watch it every night before bed. But it still doesn’t solve the problem. The production facilities are globally distributed. The factories in Panama won’t care about the presidential decree. And with all the respect to the SEALs, you simply don’t have enough of them to do what we need to do. There’s a faster way.”

“And what could that possibly be?”

“You might think that the president is the most powerful man in the world, but in this specific instance, that’s not the case. Watch this…”

Aeolus pressed a button and called Jitsuko.

“Jitsuko, I want you to track down a man named Andreas Pocock for me. He’s probably in his house on Martha’s Vineyard.”

“Yes he is. I have him on speed dial. I send him gifts from you each year for his birthday and Christmas, you know. I am putting you through.”

After six rings, a voice answered in a coarse whisper, “Yes, this is Andreas.” It was the voice of someone suffering from late stage emphysema.

“Mr. Pocock, this is Aeolus Pentecost Hughes.”

“Aeolus! What a joy. You call me far too seldom. And you can drop the Mr. Pocock nonsense. I am, after all, your godfather.”

“Yes, Mr. Pocock, you are…”

Mr. Pocock chuckled in a slow Santa Claus like way. It didn’t last more than a second, though, before a violent cough took over.

Aeolus waited until he heard the hissing of his godfather sucking oxygen from his breathing mask. After three deep inhalations, Aeolus continued.

“…but that’s not why I am calling. I need your advice. You were my father’s most, if not only, trusted mentor. He held your skills and integrity as second to none.”

“Flattery is always a good way to start when asking a favor, Aeolus. What’s on your mind? Big Pharma?”

“Yes. We’ve come up with a rapid test for this new influenza and it’s critical we move to full global production as soon as possible. The major pharmaceutical companies are proving difficult to deal with.”

“They want to ‘negotiate the proper terms’ first?”

“Yes, that is actually a very accurate description of the situation we’re in.”

“Those cretins! This isn’t how it used to be, you know? I mean, I have no problem with greed. Greed is good. Greed is what makes the system work. But when I ran Goldman Sachs, in the old days, before they went public, there was also something else. There were values. We all wanted to make money, but there were limits to what we would do to get it.

“I’m going to do more than give you advice, Aeolus. I’m going to fix this for you.”

“I could never ask that of you.”

“Oh, drop it Aeolus. I’m your godfather and you’ve
never
asked me for a favor, not even when you were tussling with these same CEOs on the vaccines against the regular seasonal flu. I do read the papers, you know. And I never miss a story about you. I’m dying, Aeolus, I won’t be around for long, and I’d be happy to do you this one favor. Your father was a good man. One of the best I’ve ever known. I owe you this, because I owe him this.

“Also, to be honest, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to teach those sons of bitches a lesson in true capitalism, the old-school way. I have to ask you one thing though, Aeolus. The trick I’m going to pull only works once. I can’t do it again. You’re sure this is the time?”

“Yes, Mr. Pocock, this is the time. The stakes could not be higher. I am ‘all in’ for this pot”

Andreas chuckled again, a cough followed, then another series of whistling deep breaths. He concluded the conversation by saying: “It’s done. They’ll be falling over each other to offer you their production lines within twelve hours.”

As Aeolus was about to hang up, Richard pushed him a piece of paper on which he’d written a question. Aeolus read it and said, “Sorry, Mr. Pocock, but you’re on speaker with a close advisor to the president who wonders what it is you’ll do.” Aeolus winked at Richard, mouthing, “You are going to like this.”

“Well, you can tell this advisor of the president, that if I told him, he might be charged in criminal court as an accessary before the fact’. I can, however, tell him what will happen. During the course of the next hours, the stock price of these companies will plummet below their five-year low. Their credit ratings will drop a couple of notches, increasing the cost of their debt. And to top it off, the CEOs will get calls from their largest shareholders threatening to ask them for their resignation.
This
is the only language these simpletons understand!”

“I might be an old man, but I still have some friends, and some pull, on the Street. Find a Bloomberg monitor and watch what happens.
Schadenfreude
is, after all, the purest form of joy in life.”

Richard frowned. He didn’t seem convinced just yet. He leaned forward.

“Mr. Pocock, I can assure you that I speak for the president when I say there will be no legal repercussions
against you for the actions you are going to undertake. We’re thankful for your help.”

“Young man, I don’t care about legal repercussions. I’m way too old for that. God’s laws supersede the decrees of men, as my grandfather used to say. When you’re on your death bed, you too will realize how true that is.”

“Okay, that’s one problem solved,” said Aeolus after Andreas Pocock hung up. “Time for the next order of business. I want you to put the kibosh on the exception to the quarantine for military transports.”

“That might not be so easy. The president wants to get American soldiers out of the danger zones. He’s pulling all troops from our overseas bases. He feels confident that a case of infection in the military can be easily contained, so it should pose little risk.”

“That’s all great, but my concern isn’t the infection breaking loose from a military camp, even if that, by the way, is by no means impossible. My concern is the public reaction if people start dying in droves at Fort Bragg and it becomes clear how little the president can do about it. The military is supposed to symbolize security. If it’s shown to be impotent, people get scared. And if you want to know what happens when people become scared, you can ask Hank. I’m sure he’ll be able to talk for hours about the consequences of fear and panic.”

“I’ll take it to the president, but I promise you nothing,” answered Richard.

“Well, I will take that if that is the best we can do for now,” said Aeolus and rose, leaning on his cane as he took off to the mess for a coffee.

AUGUST 21
^ST
, 10 A.M., H1N1 WAR ROOM, OLD EXECUTIVE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON D.C.

A
eolus had decided to stay in the United States to be close to the president. The Western hemisphere was indeed his first priority. Not everyone liked that set of priorities, as Stan kept reminding him, but it was the right thing to do.

The press described the situation in Europe as catastrophic. Aeolus did not agree. It could have been a lot worse. True, the infection had spread to the majority of the European countries, but most of the major cities had been properly isolated and, with the exception of Paris and Athens, the quarantines were holding. This was actually surprising, and was a testament to the quality of the work Ed and Kevin were doing.

The president had formed a special taskforce to manage the crisis. It consisted of Aeolus, Richard Lane, Hank Wiley, Albert Michener from USAMRIID,
representatives of the departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security as well as an admiral representing the Joint Chiefs. The committee was headed by the National Security Advisor, who synthesized the conclusions and was responsible for ultimately bringing a recommendation to the president.

Aeolus thought some of the members were incompetent, and none more so than that fraction of a man Albert Michener. But he was also relieved to be able to debate the issues without the president around. The president’s presence cramped his style.

This group was currently in session, in a conference room barely large enough to hold them all. True to the standards of the offices in the OEOB, the whiteboard could not be used as someone had drawn some slogans on it that, judging by the content, must have belonged to the previous administration – and used a non-erasablemarker.

Their first order of business was the documented case that had arrived the night before on an Air Bulgaria flight from Sofia to Orlando; before the quarantine against NATO allies came into effect. Hank was boasting how well the case had been handled.

“At 20.00 hours yesterday Flight FB461 from Sofia landed at Orlando International Airport. While passing through the temperature monitors, a passenger was screened out as having a high fever. The emergency protocols were immediately activated. All passengers and the crew, as well as the medical personnel at the screening station, were quarantined. As far as we can tell, no other passenger carries the infection. To be
sure, we’re going to hold the entire lot in isolation for a week.”

“You were lucky with this one,” said Aeolus.

“No, Aeolus,” replied Hank, “we were
not
lucky. We were well prepared. I keep trying to tell you this isn’t Papua New Guinea. This is the United States of America. We have the best medical system in the world. We have the most competent and well-equipped staff. We can handle these things.”

“And what if it had been an asymptomatic carrier?” asked Aeolus.

“Then we would have caught the first case and traced it back,” answered Hank.

Aeolus rolled his eyes in exasperation, but said nothing.

“Well, by luck or skill, I’m sure we can all agree it’s a relief the situation in Florida is under control,” said the National Security Advisor. “This brings us to the second point of order, how to enforce the quarantine in South America. Opinions?”

“As I’ve stated before,” Aeolus said, “A collaborative containment zone around the entire American continents.”

“I disagree,” said Albert Michener, “that spreads our resources too thin and won’t stop people from crossing the border. Given the state of the health system in Mexico, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had cases already.”

“First of all,” Aeolus returned, “the Mexicans have actually been more restrictive with their isolation
measures than you. Second, I have good sources in Mexico. I’d know if there were cases. Third, you can’t stop people from crossing the Rio Grande even if you put your entire army and air force on it…”

Michener had risen and was pacing around the room, his hands clutched tightly behind his back. When he passed Aeolus, the powerful scent of his cologne hit Aeolus like a club. The vulgar, overwhelming, Fahrenheit was reserved for only the most unrefined of tastes. Aeolus found it disturbing in small doses, in large amounts unbearable. And Michener had applied it by the gallon. Why any man would do something like that was beyond Aeolus. Unless… Yes, there it was. Behind the wall of honeysuckle, hawthorn and bergamot there was definitively a hint of juniper. Juniper was not an ingredient in Fahrenheit, but it was in gin. Aeolus couldn’t believe it. The man was lit at ten o’ clock in the morning at a meeting of the presidential advisory board. That must be why he was clutching his hands so forcefully, to prevent them from shaking visibly. As impossible as it would have seen before the meeting the man had managed to hit a new low in the world of militarized medicine.

“Hmm…” Aeolus exhaled hard in an attempt to expel the stench from his nostrils. “I’d also like to add, if the South American continent is still uninfected, we’re talking about 350 million lives at stake. They don’t have the military capacity to enforce quarantine themselves. They need your help.”

The Defense representative cut in. “Well, that’s their problem, not ours.”

The man from Homeland Security took over. “My concern with a national quarantine is how we’re going to prevent illegal immigrants? I mean our ability to stop the speed boats bringing in tons of cocaine doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.”