Vector by Robin Cook

alone.
    "I don't like this, " Curt spat in a forced whisper. "What the hell did he come here for? "
    "I told you the guy was a kook, " Steve said.
    Curt paced back and forth like a caged animal. He had his mildly prognathous jaw clamped shut. He couldn't believe Yuri could have been so stupid.
    "I'm worried the guy is a kind of a loose cannon, " Steve said. "I think we have to have a talk with him. At the same time, I'd like to see some proof that he hasn't been taking us for a ride." Curt nodded as he paced, then stopped. "All right, " he said. "After work we'll go by his house in Brighton Beach. We'll talk some sense into him about security. Then we'll demand to see his lab and demand some proof he's doing what he says he's doing."
    "Do you know his address? " Steve asked.
    "Fifteen Oceanview Lane, " Curt said.
    MONDAY, OCTOBER 18
    12:30 P. M. "Knock, knock, " a voice called.
    Both Jack and Chet looked up from their desks to see Agnes Finn, the head of the microbiology lab, standing in the doorway.
    "I feel like this is deja ZJU, " Agnes said. "Unfortunately it's a kind of vu I don't like." She had a tentative smile on her usually dour face.
    Her statement was the closest Jack had ever heard her come to humor.
    She was clutching a piece of paper in her hand.
    Jack knew instantly what deja vu she was referring to. Three years previously, when he'd made the shocking diagnosis of plague in a curious infectious case, she'd made it a point to bring the confirming results personally.
    "Don't tell me it was anthrax, " Jack said.
    Agnes pushed her bottle-bottom glasses higher on her nose and handed the sheet of paper to Jack. It was the result of a direct fluorescent antibody test on one of the mediastinal Lymph nodes. In bold capital letters it said, POSITIVE FOR ANTHRAX.
    "This is unbelievable, " Jack said. He handed the sheet to Chet, who read it with equal disbelief.
    "I thought you'd like to know as soon as possible, " Agnes said.
    "Absolutely, " Jack said vaguely. His eyes were glazed. His mind was churning.
    "What's the reliability of this test? " Chet asked.
    "About a hundred percent, " Agnes said. "It's very specific and the reagents aren't old. After all the exotic diseases Jack diagnosed on that flurry of infectious diseases a couple of years ago, I've made sure we've kept up to speed for most anything. Of course, for final confirmation we've planted cultures."
    "This illness spreads by spores, " Jack said as if waking from a trance.
    "Are there any tests for the spores or do you just have to grow them out and then test for the bacteria? "
    "There's a polymerase chain reaction or PCR test for the spores, " Agnes said. "We don't do that in micro, but I'm sure Ted Lynch in the DNA lab could help you. Do you have something you want to test for spores? "
    "Not yet, " Jack said.
    "Uh oh, " Chet moaned. "I don't like the sound of that. You're not planning on going out in the field, are you? "
    "I don't know, " Jack admitted. He was still in a daze. A case of inhalational anthrax in New York was as unexpected as plague.
    "Have you forgotten what happened to you last time you got involved with infectious-disease field work? " Chet asked. "Let me remind you, you were almost killed."
    "Thanks, Agnes, " Jack said to the micro department head. He ignored Chet. He turned back to his desk and pushed away the files relating to the prisoner-in-custody death which Calvin wanted completed ASAP. Jack slipped the contents of Jason Papparis's file from the folder and thumbed through the papers until he came across Janice Jaeger's forensic investigator's report.
    "Hey, I'm talking to you, " Chet said. It always irked him the way Jack could tune him out.
    "Here it is, " Jack said. He held out Janice's report with his finger pointing to the sentence that said that Mr. Papparis was in the rug business. "Look! "
    "I see it, " Chet said with annoyance. "But did you hear me? "
    "The problem is we don't know what kind of rugs, " Jack said. "I think