“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”
Becker raised her right palm in the air and directed it to Harper’s forehead. She used her best Luke Skywalker voice. “You must resist, Rey!”
Harper sighed. She’d opened up this can of worms. She tapped the desk and pointed to Becker’s notes. “Focus. The old people?”
“Anyway, the two elderly people were taken to Dignity Health, where they were initially treated in the ER and then moved into quarantine.”
“Are they still alive?”
“Yup, but there’s more. There was a breakdown in quarantine protocols by the hospital staff. It was inadvertent and unfortunate. Despite their training during trial runs, it happened.”
“Oh no,” lamented Harper. “Please don’t tell me they infected someone else.”
“They did, but hear me out.” Becker gathered her thoughts and continued. “They were all old friends, literally. Every Sunday night, they’d gather at each other’s homes to play poker. They’d go on cruises together and visit casinos in the islands. Supposedly, nothing like the high-stakes games. Just hundred-dollar pots or less.
“When they heard their friends were sick, they descended on Dignity Health to see how they were doing. Apparently, one of them was a retired nurse who knew the staff in the emergency room. They got permission to see them, and one thing led to another.”
“And they broke quarantine.”
Becker sighed. “Yep. It gets better, sort of. After the visitors left the hospital, they all got together for their regular poker game. The usual hugs, banter, exchanging of cards, chips and cash occurred. They even double-dipped in the cheese fondue.”
“Jeez Louise,” said Harper.
“Whoever didn’t get close enough to their hospitalized friends to contract the virus via airborne transmission picked it up at the weekly poker soirée. By the following week, they were beginning to show symptoms of the flu and were soon admitted to hospitals around the city.”
“What is their condition?”
“All but two are improving, and their prognosis is good,” replied Becker. “Two more, a man and an unrelated woman, are in critical condition on ventilators.”
Harper sat forward in her chair. “Were they all in equal proximity to one another?”
“Yes.”
“What about health history? How do the two criticals differ from the others?”
“When Dr. Boychuck heard of these cases, he contacted me immediately. I’ve moved part of our team to conduct interviews, gather documents, and conduct our own investigative tests. I’ll do a comparison of their health and genetic characteristics.”
“There has to be something that differentiates the more critical patients from those who are improving. And here’s what really puzzles me. It’s the elderly who seem to have a fighting chance while seemingly healthy adults, whether it’s the Olympian from Austria or the five victims of Asian descent in Las Vegas, die.”
Becker set her notes aside and leaned back in her chair to finish up another Diet Coke. “It doesn’t add up, does it?”
Harper shook her head as she pondered this new information. “Keep digging. Compare all of the known and suspected patients, including the one from Los Angeles. First, confirm the toxicology to determine whether they were infected with the same strain of the virus. Second, compare all of the genetic and health markers. Third, look at everything from a health perspective right down to the medications and vitamins they take. There has to be a pattern.”
“I’m on it,” said Becker reassuringly.
Harper glanced at her watch and sighed. It was time to go. She stood and stretched out her arms to hug her assistant. It was a rare showing of affection for each other, but if there was ever time the two women needed a hug, it was now.
They held each other for almost a minute, allowed a few tears, and then nervously laughed as they broke their embrace. Harper wiped the tears off her cheeks.
“Becker, basically, you’re in charge while I’m gone.”
“Great!”
“No, not great. Careful what you wish for.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
People’s Liberation Army
85th Air Defense Brigade
Lhasa Gonggar Airport
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Dr. Basnet Dema walked alone down the lengthy hallway connecting the offices at the base infirmary of the 85th Air Defense Brigade located at Lhasa’s Gonggar Airport. Dr. Basnet had been born and raised in Tibet. After receiving his medical degree and training, he requested assignment to a hospital located in Lhasa.
For years, he was an esteemed surgeon at the Tibet People’s Hospital until he began to notice mild symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The occasional shakes prevented him from continuing his career as a surgeon, so the hospital administrators transferred him to oversee the medical personnel at the PLA’s base located at Tibet’s largest airport.
It was a position well beneath his knowledge and capabilities, but it paid the same and was far less stressful. In recent weeks, as the mysterious disease began to take its toll on the people of Lhasa, he was called back into service at the People’s Hospital. He treated the ill and lent a hand in the emergency ward to triage new patients. After several long days at the hospital, he longed for the relative quiet and serenity of the base infirmary.
It also suited him in another way. The solitude and the lack of a direct supervisor allowed him a lot of free time. Dr. Basnet was a citizen journalist. Over the years, he’d been instrumental in shedding light upon human rights abuses in Tibet.
When China deployed tanks, howitzers, and air assets along the Tibetan border with India in an effort to lay claim to Arunachal Pradesh as a part of South Tibet, the PLA staged their incursion at Lhasa Airport.
Dr. Basnet reported this activity via WeChat and onto GitHub. Word spread to the northeasternmost state of India, and the inhabitants sought refuge away from what appeared to be a potential war zone. The disputed territory, often referred to as the land of dawn-lit mountains, had no particular geopolitical benefit to China other than Beijing had adopted an expansionist mindset.
Dr. Basnet was also instrumental in reporting accurate numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, which eventually made its way into Tibet. He worked with the locals to make the best use of traditional Tibetan medical techniques to treat the infected. During that time, his reputation within the mysterious autonomous region swelled.
He was not on hand when the helicopter arrived from Mount Everest with the body of the Australian, Adam Mooy, one of the first to die during the climbing accident. Through gossip in the local medical community, he’d suspected that there was more to the man’s death than simply a climbing accident.
Meanwhile, a second medical emergency caught his attention. The helicopter pilot who’d participated in the rescue mission became inexplicably ill. He was treated at a local hospital first and then brought to the infirmary at the 85th Air Defense Brigade when his condition didn’t improve.
Dr. Basnet immediately connected the dots and surmised that the pilot’s illness was possibly connected to the Australian man, although he’d heard nothing from Xinjiang about the results of their investigation.