After Laurie’s short but informative impromptu speech, the reporters opened up a path for her. But then someone shouted out to ask whether Jack was Dr. Jack Stapleton. Surprised by hearing his name, Jack stopped and tried to see who had asked.
“Over here!” someone shouted.
Jack saw a man wearing a New York Yankees baseball hat and waving his hand, about three rows back. “Are you Jack Stapleton?” he repeated. He didn’t have to shout as loudly on this occasion, as the other journalists in the immediate area all fell silent.
“Yes, I am Jack Stapleton. Why do you ask?”
The pause in the crowd’s murmuring vanished as everyone recommenced talking at once. Laurie was suddenly ignored as people pressedin on Jack, thrusting their electronic devices into his face. Now there was even more frenzy than before, as reporters battled with one another to get close. The questions came fast and furious, such as whether he had autopsied more than two victims, whether there was a specific diagnosis of this rapidly fatal subway disease, what exactly were the symptoms, was it a strain of influenza, how did it spread, was there any cure, should people leave New York if they could, and how did being on the subway cause it?
Jack stiffened. Suddenly it occurred to him that this whole hysteria and panic was possibly related to the two subway deaths, meaning that Laurie’s fear of them stimulating a false alarm had come to pass. How or why, Jack had no idea.
In a mild panic himself, he turned and looked for Laurie. Now that she was being relatively ignored, she had skirted Jack and had made considerable forward progress. She was nearing the front entrance of 520, silhouetted against the building’s blue-glazed brick façade.
Redirecting his attention to a woman reporter in front of him, Jack asked, “Why are people talking about the subway?” He had to shout to be heard.
“You don’t know?” the reporter asked.
“Oh, come on, Dr. Stapleton,” another reporter yelled. “Don’t play dumb with us.”
“Haven’t you seen theDaily News?” the woman reporter questioned.
“I haven’t,” Jack admitted. Suddenly, one of the reporters shoved a copy of the tabloid into Jack’s face. Its full-page headline read:SUBWAY PANDEMIC. It was surcharged over an image of an NYC subway car head-on. In slightly smaller print was:KILLS INDISCRIMINATELY. In even smaller print along the bottom was:A wildly contagious pandemic as bad as the 1918flu explodes in NYC subways on the R and D lines. Jack snatched the paper and folded back the front page to read the first line of the obviously lurid article:Anonymous, highly qualified, inside source from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirms that senior NYC medical examinerDr. Jack Stapleton has declared the city is facing a remarkably lethal pandemic of an as-yet-unknown virus that kills within an hour of first symptoms and will be possibly worse than the 1918 pandemic flu epidemic that killed 100 million people.
Thunderstruck, Jack crunched up the paper in his fist and held it in the air. He yelled out for everyone to hear: “Listen up! This article is untrue. I have not made such a declaration. There is no subway pandemic. Not yet!”
“What the hell does ‘not yet’ mean?” one of the reporters yelled disdainfully.
“Coverup,” another yelled. “Come on, come clean!”
“How long will the subways be shut down?” another shouted.
“What about the schools?” another reporter yelled. “When will they reopen?”
“Listen!” Jack shouted in response to the rush of questions. “Dr. Montgomery already said she will be giving a news briefing at 421 First Avenue within the hour. I’m sure she’ll address all these issues then and explain that this is most likely one big, unfortunate mistake.”
From the response his outburst evoked, Jack could tell the crowd was in no mood to believe him or even listen. There was a sense of true panic in the air that was almost palpable. He was aware it was common knowledge among journalists and other informed people that health scientists all over the world had been fearing the appearance of a new, deadly global pandemic. It wasn’twhetherthere would be such an outbreak but ratherwhen, and there was a profusion of bad viral actors on the horizon capable of wreaking havoc, from bird flu to Ebola, or even something entirely new, like the World Health Organization’s mysteriously labeled Disease X. In a very real sense, Jack knew that although everyone present had been panicked by the erroneousDaily Newsheadline, probably no one had been surprised.
Clutching the newspaper he’d confiscated, Jack gave up trying to convince a crowd that had no intention of listening to him. He even felta twinge of fear being at their mercy, so he recommenced heading for the OCME’s front door. He was now determined and wasn’t going to be denied. People plied him with questions, which he ignored. He even literally shoved a few people aside who tried to block his way, insistently thrusting microphones in his face and yelling out questions. When he got to the front door, he found it locked. Luckily, a few frantic knocks on the glass brought into view a member of the building’s night security force, a reassuringly large uniformed African American man. He unlocked the door for Jack, and with commendable proficiency made sure none of the reporters came in with him.
Jack thanked the security person. For a few moments before the man had appeared, Jack feared he might be forced to turn around and fight the crowd again to get around to the receiving dock.
Once inside the building’s reception area, which at this time of the morning was missing Marlene, the ageless receptionist, Jack sat on the faux-leather couch to quickly scan theDaily Newsarticle. As he assumed, it was an over-the-top example of yellow journalism. For sheer tabloid-style sensationalism, it even mentioned that he had claimed the subway pandemic would not only rival the 1918 Spanish flu but probably would be as bad as the Black Death that ravished Europe in the fourteenth century. To Jack’s utter annoyance, he was quoted multiple times as the source of all the misinformation in the article, even the outlandish comparisons.
As Jack’s anger mounted, he tried to imagine who was the supposed “anonymous, highly qualified inside source.” It surely couldn’t have been one of the other medical examiners. Although there were a couple lackluster M.D.s on the staff whose knowledge and judgment Jack openly questioned, he didn’t think any of them were remotely capable of carrying off such travesty. He had the same thought concerning the medical-legal investigators. The consequences and turmoil of setting off the city’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan were much tooserious. Jack imagined the city was probably almost in a lockdown mode. What he found particularly mystifying was the description of the anonymous source as an experienced employee of the OCME.
“Carlos!” Jack abruptly sputtered. Coming to him like a bolt out of the blue was the strong suspicion it had been Carlos who’d been the source for the article, despite Carlos hardly being a qualified or experienced employee of the OCME. With a burst of anger and indignation, Jack couldn’t even remember the man’s last name. But the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was and the more he regretted his decision to help Vinnie get the man to quit. Jack hadn’t had a good feeling about the new hire from the start and hadn’t been surprised when Vinnie described him as a jerk with zero initiative.
“Holy crap!” Jack yelled as he loudly swatted the paper and crumpled it in frustration. Then he guiltily looked around to see whom he might have offended with his outburst. Luckily, at that time in the morning no one else was in the room. Pulling out his mobile phone, he placed a call to Vinnie. At 6:25A.M., he should have been on his way in to work. It took longer than usual for the call to go through, making him think the circuits were overloaded.
“Good morning, Doc,” Vinnie said.
“Have you seen theDaily News?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” Vinnie said. “And I’m experiencing it.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked.
“No public transportation,” Vinnie said. “I’m having to drive in to work. Is it all right to park at 421?”
