Amazonia. Part 33

But deep in her heart, she now wondered if it was a pact she could keep. With each step deeper into the forest, more men died.Graves, DeMartini, Conger, Jones . . . and now Jorgensen . . .

She shook her head, refusing to give up hope. As long as she was alive, putting one foot in front of theother, she would find a way home.

Over the next hour, the group forged through the forest, following the path the other half of their team had taken the previous afternoon. One by one, their torches flickered out. Flashlights were pa.s.sed around. So far, no sign of renewed pursuit by the swarm manifested. Maybe they were safe, beyond the interest of the blind locusts, but no one voiced such a hope aloud.

Manny marched close to the Ranger. "What if we miss the other team?" he asked softly. "Jorgensen had our radio equipment. It was our only way of contacting the outside world:"

Kelly hadn't considered this fact. With the radio gone, they were cut off.

"We'll reach the others," Camera said with a steely determination.

No one argued with her. No one wanted to.

They marched onward through the dark jungle, concentrating on just moving forward. As hours ticked by, the tension blended into a blur of bone-weary exhaustion and endless fear. Their pa.s.sage was marked with hoots and strange cries. Everyone's ears were p.r.i.c.ked for the telltale buzz of the locusts.

So they were all startled when the small personal radio hanging from Private Camera's field jacket squawked with static and a few scratchy words. "This is . . . if you can hear . . . radio range. . :"

Everyone swung to face the Ranger, eyes wide. She pulled her radio's microphone from her helmet to her mouth. "This is Private Camera. Can you hear me?Over:"

There was a long pause, then. . . "Read you, Camera. Warczak here. What's your status?"

The Ranger quickly related the events in a dispa.s.sionate and profes-sional manner. But Kelly saw how the soldier's fingers trembled as she held the microphone to her lips. She finished, "We're following your trail. Hop-ing to rendezvous with the main team in two hours."

Corporal Warczak responded, "Roger that. Dr. Rand and I are already under way to meet you. Over and out:'

The Ranger closed her eyes and sighed loudly. "We're gonna be okay," she whispered to no one in particular.

As the others murmured in relief, Kelly stared out at the dark jungle.

Out here in the Amazon, they were all far from okay.

ACT FOUR-Blood Jaguars.

HORSETAIL.

FAMILY:Equisetaceae.

GENUS:EqUlSetum.

SPECIES:Arvense.

COMMON NAME:Field Horsetail.

ETHNIC NAMES:At Quyroughi, Atkuyrugu, Chieh Hsu Ts'Ao, Cola de Caballo, Equiseto Menor, Kilkah Asb, Prele, Sugina, Thanab al Khail, Vara de Oro, Wen Ching

PROPERTIES/ACTIONS:Astringent, Antiinflammatory, Diuretic, Antihemorrhagic.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Lake Crossing.

AUGUST 15, B:i i A.M.

INSTAR INSt.i.tUTE.

LANGLEY VIRGINIA.

Lauren slid the magnetic security card through the lock on her office door and entered. It was the first chance she'd had to return to her office in the past day. Between stretches in the inst.i.tute's hospital ward visiting Jessie and meetings with various MEDEA members, she hadn't had a moment to herself. The only reason she had this free moment was that Jessie seemed to be doing very well. Her temperature continued to remain normal, and her att.i.tude was growing brighter with every pa.s.sing hour.

Cautiously optimistic, Lauren began to hope that her initial diagnosis had been mistaken. Maybe Jessie did not have the jungle disease. Lauren was now glad she had kept silent about her fears. She could have needlessly panicked Marshall and Kelly. Lauren may have indeed placed too much confidence in Alvisio's statistical model. But she could not fault the epi-demiologist. Dr. Alvisiohad indeed warned her his results were far from conclusive. Further data would need to be collected and correlated.

But then again, that pretty much defined all the current levels of inves-tigation. Each day, as the disease spread through Florida and the southern states, thousands of theories were bandied about: etiological agents, thera-peutic protocols, diagnostic parameters, quarantine guidelines. Instar had become the nation's think tank on this contagion. It was their job to ferret through the maze of scientific conjecture and fanciful epidemiological models to glean the pearls from the rubbish. It was a daunting task as data flowed in from all corners of the country. But they had the best minds here.

Lauren collapsed into her seat and flicked on her computer. The chime for incoming mail sounded. She groaned as she slipped on a pair of read-ing gla.s.ses and leaned closer to the screen.Three hundred and fourteen messages waited. And this was just her private mailbox. She scrolled down the list of addresses and skimmed the subject lines, searching through the little snippets for anything important or interesting.

Inbox

From Subject

[email protected] re:simian blosimilarities treat [email protected] call for sample standardization [email protected] prog. report [email protected] large stale biological labs [email protected] pharmacv question [email protected] quarantine projection [email protected] request for Interview

As she scrolled down, one name caught her eye. It was oddly familiar, but she could not remember exactly why. She brought her computer's pointer to the name:Large Scale Biological Labs. She crinkled her nose in thought, then it came to her. The night Jessie's fever developed, she had been paged by this same outfit. Well after midnight, she recalled. But the sick child had distracted her from following up on the page.

It probably wasn't important, but she opened the e-mail anyway, her curiosity now aroused. The letter appeared on the screen. Dr.Xavier Reynolds. She smiled, instantly recognizing the name. He had been a grad student of hers years ago and had taken a position at some lab in Califor-nia, perhaps this same lab.

The young man had been one of her best stu-dents. Lauren had attempted to recruit him into the MEDEA group here at Instar, but he had declined. His fiance had accepted an a.s.sociate professor-ship at Berkeley, and he had naturally not wanted to be separated.

She read his note. As she did, the smile on her lips slowly faded.

From:

Date: 14 Aug 13:48:28

To: lauren obrienQinstar.org Subject:Large Scale Biological Labs

Dr. O'Brien: Please excuse this intrusion. I attempted to page you last night, but I a.s.sume you're very busy. So I'll keep this brief.

As with many labs around the country, our own is involved in researching the virulent disease, and I think I've come across an intriguing angle, if not a possible answer to the root puzzle: What is causingthe disease? But before voicing my findings, I wanted to get your input.

As head of the proteonomic team here at Large Scale Biological Labs, I have been attempting to index mankind's protein genome, similar to the Human Genome Project for DNA. As such, my take on the disease was to investigate it backward. Most disease-causing agents-bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites-do not cause illness by themselves. It is the proteins they produce that trigger clinical disease.

So I hunted for a unique protein that might be common to all patients.

And I found one! But from its folded and twisted pattern, a new thought arose. This new protein bears a striking similarity to the protein that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Which in turn raises the question: Havewe been chasing the wrong tail in pursuing a viral cause for this disease?

Has anyone considered aprion as the cause?

For your consideration, I've modeled the protein below.

t.i.tle:unknown prion (?) Compound:folded protein w/ double terminal alpha helixes Model:

Exp. Method: X-ray diffraction EC Number: 3.4.1.18 Source: Patient #24-b12, Anawak Tribe, lower Amazon Resolution:2.00 R-Value: 0.145 s.p.a.ce Group: P21 20 21 Unit cell: dim: a 60.34 b 52.02 c 44.68 angles:alpha 90.00 beta90.00 gamma 90.00 Polymer chains:156L Residues:144 Atoms:1286

So there you have the twisted puzzle. As I value your expertise, Dr.

O'Brien, I would appreciate your thoughts, opinions, or judgments before promoting this radical theory.

Sincerely, Xavier Reynolds, Ph.D.

"A prion:" Lauren touched the diagram of the molecule.Could this indeed be the cause?

She pondered the possibility. The wordprion was scientific shorthand for "proteinaceous infectious particle:" The role of prions in disease had only been doc.u.mented within the last decade, earning a U.S.

biochemist the 1997 n.o.bel Prize. Prion proteins were found in all creatures, from humans down to single-celled yeast. Though usually innocuous, they had an insidious duality to their molecular structure, a Jekyll-and-Hyde sort of thing. In one form, they were safe and friendly to a cell. But the same proteincould fold and twist upon itself, creating a monster that wreaked havoc on cellular processes. And the effect was c.u.mulative. Once a twisted prion was introduced into a host, it would begin convert-ing the body's other proteins to match, which in turn converted its neighbors, spreading exponentially through the host's systems. Worse, this host could also pa.s.s the process to another body, a true infectious phenomenon.

Prion diseases had been doc.u.mented both in animals and man: from scabies in sheep to Creutsfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. The most well-known prion disease to date was one thatcrossed between species. Dr. Reynolds had mentioned it in his letter: bovine spongiform encephalopa-thy, or more commonly, mad cow disease.

But these human diseases were more of a degenerative nature, and none were known to be transmitted so readily. Still, that did not rule out prions as a possibility here. She had read research papers on prions and their role in genetic mutations and more severe manifestations. Was some-thing like that happening here? And what about airborne transmission? Prions were particulate and subviral in size, so since certain viruses could be airborne, why not certain prions?

Lauren stared at the modeled protein on the computer screen and reached for her desk phone. As she dialed, an icy finger ran up her spine. She prayed her former student was mistaken.

The phone rang on the other end, and after a moment, it was answered. "Dr. Reynolds, proteonomics lab."

"Xavier?"