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18
Logan and Alex sat down in front of Alex’s laptop. Within minutes, Harrison’s video call came through. Logan thought he looked worried.
“You’ve seen the paper?” he asked, forgoing any kind of greeting.
“Yes,” Alex said. “Have you secured the letter?”
“It’s on its way to the lab.”
“I doubt they’ll find anything. Walker’s too smart for that.”
“Can you tell us more about him yet?” Harrison asked.
“No, sorry,” Logan said. “We had a visitor, and that took up some of our time. Jimmy Gedrose. The man in the sketch Alex drew and facial recognition identified. He wants to help us.”
“Sounds like you don’t think he killed these women, but I don’t want to bring someone we can’t trust into our investigation.”
“He seems to be on the level,” Logan said. “He was in the Circle. Knew Willow and Nettie. He did give us a name. Someone in the Circle he thinks could have been involved in what happened at Willow’s. A Marcus Pannell.”
Harrison wrote down the name as Logan spelled it. “We’ll check it out.”
“You said you had additional information about this pathogen?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. I figured if you knew more about what we’re dealing with it would help you.”
“It could,” Alex said. “I’d also like to know about the chemist in Ethiopia. If he was working with Walker, it might help us to understand how far he was willing to go to help carry out this so-called prophecy.”
“The chemist’s name is Martin Kirabo. According to his coworkers, he was brilliant but troubled. Kept to himself a lot, but in the past few months he talked more than usual. Brought up concerns about someone getting their hands on a sample of Ebola and reengineering it into a superbug. Something that couldn’t be easily contained if released into the general population.”
“Didn’t the people he worked with find this odd?” Alex asked.
Harrison sighed deeply. “I guess these science nerds like to bounce around all kinds of theories. No one was really all that concerned. Until now. With the missing sample and the missing chemist, they’re more than a little worried. And before you ask, yes, he followed some kind of strange religion. Didn’t talk about it much, but I’m pretty sure we all know what it is.”
“Did he ever mention knowing someone in the States?” Logan asked.
“No, not really. But some of his coworkers said he would go off by himself to talk on the phone the last few months he was there.”
Harrison rubbed his forehead before going on. “Here’s what we’re concerned about. The thing Kirabo brought up more than once was how to make this strain of Ebola airborne.”
Logan’s stomach felt as if it had suddenly flipped over. “Did you say airborne?”
“Yeah, you heard me. Let’s just say that if he was able to do that, we’re looking at a virus that makes COVID-19, H1N1, and MRSA look like mild colds.”
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Alex said, “Walker believes he’s carrying out some kind of sacred destiny. He won’t be stopped easily.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Harrison said. “These kind of perps are harder to catch because they’re usually prepared to die if they have to. They’re bold and determined.”
Logan grunted. “So now we have a virulent virus in the hands of a dangerous psychopath who has no conscience. No reason to change his mind. He intends to release this virus to the public. There’s no way to reason with him.”
“What about putting his own family in danger?” Harrison asked.
“I don’t think it would make any difference to him,” Alex said. “He places his calling above anything else.”
Logan didn’t disagree with her. She was right.
“If the guy in Ethiopia truly is with the Circle,” Alex said, “then this cult really is worldwide. Willow used to tell me it was everywhere. I didn’t believe her. I assumed it was one of her many delusions, but Jimmy Gedrose said the same thing.”
