VECTOR

Chapter 7 Flight

CHAPTER 7

FLIGHT

Jasmine had chosen her biological agent carefully. She was not so irresponsible as to unnecessarily threaten a large population. The specific pathogen had been modified for specific stages. After three days, the victim would show symptoms. At that point, he would also become contagious. Forty-eight hours after that, he would be bed-ridden and weak. Forty-eight hours later, the chances were nine out of ten that he would be dead. For her, the tricky time was the onset of symptoms. She would have to keep Ravi inside the house during that period, at least the first twenty-four hours of that period. Her planning was precise also. On that day, she and Ravi would celebrate the holiday of Laylat al-Bara'at. For them, it would be a day spent inside their home, fasting and contemplating their lives. They would not leave all day, and the next day, Ravi would not want to leave.

She checked her calculations many times during her work day. If she made a mistake, she would place a very sick, very contagious man in an unvaccinated population. The result would be catastrophic. The death toll would run into the millions—worldwide because there was no hope to contain the spread. No, she could not allow Ravi to roam freely after seventy-two hours. That would be insanity.

At lunch, she wondered if she should contact Ravi, ask how he felt. She rejected that idea. She had never contacted him during the day. In fact, if she did, he would call it interference and meddling. He would beat her for the supposed infraction. He was allowed to do anything and everything he wanted without any revelation or explanation. Her job was not to question but to obey and serve. To do otherwise was to be a bad wife.

After lunch, she spent some minutes wondering if she should save him. If she gave him the vaccine immediately, there was a good chance he would not be infected. The vaccine was very effective among rats and mice, and she had immunized herself a year earlier. She doubted she could contract the disease. She was hoping she couldn't contract the disease, for getting the disease was tantamount to a death sentence. The rats and mice had proven that also. As the guilt rose in her mind, she had half convinced herself that she should save Ravi. She would have to give him the vaccine surreptitiously because if she explained what she had done, he would kill her. He would be justified in killing her as he would kill a snake. No man would allow a wife such as her to live.

Could she manage to vaccinate him without telling him why?

She might be able to, but why should she? He beat her and r***d her and threatened her. Why should save him. Because if she did save him, she would never have…Jacques.

Jacques. She remembered Jacques. She remembered Paris. She reminded herself that she was not running away from Ravi, she was running to Jacques. She was running to a new life where men treated women well, where they loved instead of r***d, where the rod was spared. That was her goal. Ravi's death was but the first step, so to keep him alive would not get her closer to…Jacques. No, she was not going to risk immunizing Ravi. She would rely on her plan. She would be strong. In less than a week, she would be free. She had simply one more hurdle…keeping Ravi home.

So, she was terribly surprised when she returned home after work and found Ravi packing a bag. She watched from the doorway as he folded a shirt.

“You're going somewhere?” She hoped the tremble in her voice did not betray her.

“Rome,” he answered. “I have business.”

“I did not know.”

“It just came up. Business.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“A day, maybe two.”

“But Laylat al-Bara'at.”

He shrugged. “If I miss it, Allah will forgive me. We are taught to take care of ourselves.”

“I was expecting—“

“Are you questioning me?”

He turned and fixed her with his stare, and for once, she hoped his suspicion would rise and keep him from traveling.

“No,” she answered. “I was merely asking so I will know what to prepare.”

“In that case, do not expect me. I cannot guarantee I will return in time.”

He turned back to his packing, and she wondered if she dared put up another argument. Ravi was far from stupid. If she argued too vehemently, he would suspect something and beat her till she revealed it…or something close to her secret.

“And when are you leaving?” she asked. “I wish to prepare a meal.”

“Zafar will be here in two hours.”

“What then, would you like?"

“Nothing. I have no appetite for food.”

“I will be happy—“

“You will be happy to go the basement. I feel a need for you.”

She stared at him, and she knew what was coming. Often, before he went on a trip, they spent a session in the basement. Perhaps, it was to remind her of what she was. Perhaps, it was to hurt her so she would not stray. Perhaps, it was just to buoy his ego, to make him feel powerful and in control. No matter, she could never disobey.

“Yes,” she said and left the room. She had the feeling that this session would be worse than usual.

She was not wrong.

She watched from a window as Zafar drove off with Ravi. Her body ached, and she knew she would have many bruises by morning, bruises where no one could see. She would remain tender for days, perhaps till he returned, which she knew was his aim. Pain was a faithful jailer. But the pain was not her biggest problem. Ravi was going to Rome, and he hadn't told her when he was coming back, and in forty-eight hours or so, he would become ground zero.

The problem was how to stop Ravi.

Jasmine made herself tea as she considered the problem. She could not simply contact the Italian authorities and explain what she had done. They would be bound to report her to Pakistani authorities who would no doubt throw her in prison…or execute her. Pakistani justice was sometimes swift and terrible for a woman. Yet, she could not simply ignore the situation. Chances were the authorities would never identify Ravi as patient zero, and even if they did, they would find it exceedingly difficult to trace the infection back to her organization. If they did that, her bosses would not hesitate to destroy the site and claim total innocence. Those associated with the site, those workers who could be replaced, those workers would die. Perhaps, they would disappear, but that only meant that they were dead. No, she needed a way to stop Ravi without revealing herself.

How was she to manage that?

Perhaps, he will return in a day, and she would be saved.

That was the i***t side of her brain talking. She was a scientist. She did not rely on chance. If Ravi was to be stopped, it up to her to devise a plan.

She sat in front of her computer and considered her options. While she could use the dark web to send a message, who would take such a message seriously? If she put in enough information to make the threat real, she would reveal herself. If she left it vague, it would join the thousands, perhaps millions of threats that flashed across the Internet every day. Her message would be assigned to the trash file and deleted before the day ended. And In reality, she knew there was really no such thing as anonymity in cyberspace. Some computer, some place would know where the message originated, and enough digging would lead people to her door. So, if anonymity was impossible, who should she reveal herself to? How could she arrange a message so didn’t blow back on her? She didn’t have that many contacts she could use. And the contacts she did have weren't exactly linked to the police realm she needed to reach. Who might provide the conduit? She thought a moment about Jacques, and the answer popped into her head.

Claire.

If Jasmine remembered correctly, Claire had claimed some connection to someone in the American intelligence community. Hadn't she? And it didn't matter what the connection was. If Jasmine could convince Claire that Ravi posed a threat, then perhaps, her intelligence person would inform the Italians. They would claim Ravi as he stepped off the plane and retain him till he…died?

Jasmine balked at the sure knowledge that keeping Ravi isolated until he died was the only solution. No, her brain said. The best solution would be to return him to his home, just turn him around and put him on the next plane back. His business might suffer, but he wouldn’t be there to infect half the population of Rome. And when he returned, it would take a day or two to straighten out things, or the need for his presence in Rome would simply disappear. That would be incredibly lucky, which was why she didn’t really believe it could happen that way. Worse, in order to have him detained or returned required that she inform Claire of his disease.

Oops.

She did not want to reveal what she had done…ever. Yet, she had to give Claire immediate and sufficient cause to impound Ravi when he arrived in Rome. What could she offer as a reason? The truth was too awful. She needed a lie, and she needed a good one, one Claire would not see through immediately. After Ravi died, well, Claire would know Jasmine had lied, and that was entirely all right. When Ravi died in isolation, all would be forgiven. She would arrange for immediate cremation for embalming was not common in her culture. An urn of ashes would hurt no one.

She brewed a second cup of tea as she considered her message. She couldn't take all day. While the flight from Pakistan to Rome was lengthy, it wouldn't take an entire day. And she had no idea of how quickly Claire might reach her contact who had to be convinced to pass along the information to the Italians who had to act in time to catch Ravi. She supposed the Italians could take up to twenty-four hours to apprehend Ravi, but it would be far easier if they did so as he deplaned. So, the perfect message was the enemy of the time she possessed. She returned to her computer and logged into her dark we email account. She chose Claire from her list of contacts…two…and started to type.

Then, she stopped.

The business was not as straightforward as she first thought. She would have to give Ravi a condition serious enough for quarantine, a condition he was not aware he had. Well, they would assume he was lying, which was OK. It also had to be a condition that was not immediately recognizable, not without a test. He would appear healthy, and that was part of the problem. His condition wasn't manifest. It wasn't as if he would arrive fever-ridden and delirious.

And the truth was not something she was willing to expose. Claire might not understand the why of Jasmine's revenge.

Serious enough to keep him but not the truth. Jasmine racked her brain for a few minutes, mentally sorting through all the health problems that would lead to isolation. There weren't that many. It wasn't as if they were going to put him in a cell because he had a cold or a hang nail. No, she needed a bona fide medical emergency, something like SAARS or Ebola, something people held a healthy fear of. Hadn't the United States quarantined some woman who was suspected of having Ebola? Hadn’t Jasmine read something about that? But Ebola wasn't right. Ebola, for the most part, required contact with body fluids, and there had never been a case of Ebola in Pakistan. Ravi hadn’t been to equatorial Africa. No, Ebola and its ilk wouldn't do at all. But it was a start.

Jasmine considered her options for another ten minutes before she began to type.