Gideon's Corpse

65

Gaining entrance to Fort Detrick was a piece of cake: Gideon pretended to be Fordyce’s driver and Fordyce did his thing, waving his FBI shield around and explaining they were on a routine assignment, just checking out one of many undoubtedly false leads related to the nuke alarm. He was careful to say nothing about smallpox. The lone man in the security station helpfully directed them to the USAMRIID complex, drawing their route on a photocopied map of the base, which Gideon examined then stuffed in his pocket. The man waved them through, the base’s single main road winding around a golf course before heading for the main section of the compound.

At three thirty in the afternoon on a weekday, Fort Detrick was eerily deserted. Its green, extensive grounds, covering over a thousand acres, had an almost post-apocalyptic feel: parking lots were empty, buildings vacant. The only sound was that of birds, chirping in the spreading oaks.

They cruised slowly through the leafy base. It was surprisingly attractive. In addition to the golf course, it had baseball diamonds, several suburban neighborhoods of neat bungalows or trailers, a small airfield with hangars and aircraft, a fire station, and a recreational center. USAMRIID was at the far end of the base, next to the base’s large motor pool—bristling with military vehicles, but apparently devoid of humanity save for a single mechanic. USAMRIID itself was a sprawling, 1970s-style building with a welcome sign on the approaching drive: The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. The large, wraparound parking lot was, like the others, mostly empty. There was an air of desuetude, even abandonment.

“Blaine called it right,” said Fordyce, looking around. “Everyone’s in DC. Let’s hope we beat him here.”

“Not cool if Blaine sees his own Jeep parked in the lot,” Gideon said. He drove past the building to the lot of an unrelated complex, parking the Jeep behind a van. He shrugged into a new disguise, and they cut across the lawn, approaching the entrance.

As they’d discussed the plan, Fordyce had used the laptop’s broadband card to access USAMRIID’s website. In the process, they had learned quite a lot about the facility: that its name was pronounced You-Sam-Rid; that it had once been the hub of the country’s biological warfare program; that it now served as the main center for biodefense research in the country, its primary mission to protect the United States from potential bioweapon attacks.

And it was one of two repositories of smallpox left in the world. The virus, the website helpfully mentioned, was kept in a high-security vault in USAMRIID’s Biosafety Level 4 laboratory complex, located in the basement of the building.

They entered the lobby. There was a security guard at a locked entrance door at the rear, seated behind a small window of what appeared to be bulletproof glass. Fordyce was going in as himself; Gideon, on the other hand, had sorted through his arsenal of clothes, hairpieces, and accessories in order to create a new persona. He didn’t have a lab coat, but he deemed that overkill anyway. Instead, he went for the tweedy, somewhat disheveled absentminded professor look. “A cliché to be sure,” he’d told Fordyce, “but clichés often work when it comes to disguises. People like to have their prejudices confirmed.”

Fordyce approached the guard, ID in one hand, shield in the other. “Stone Fordyce, Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he said, his aggressive tone almost implying the guard himself was a suspect. “And this is Dr. John Martino of the Centers for Disease Control. He doesn’t have any ID at present, but I can vouch for him.”

This statement hung in the air. Fordyce did not offer an explanation for why Gideon had no ID, and after a hesitation the guard seemed disinclined to ask for one.

“Do you have an appointment?” the guard asked.

“No,” said Fordyce almost before the guard had finished asking the question.

“Um, the purpose of your visit?” he asked.

“Routine law enforcement activity,” said Fordyce, his tone now becoming impatient.

The man nodded, pulled out a clipboard, slid it through a slit in the glass. “Fill this out, please. Both of you. And sign.”

Fordyce filled out a line, passed it to Gideon, who used a suitably quasi-illegible hand. They passed it back.

“Stand in front of the camera,” the guard directed.

They each stood before the camera. A minute later, newly issued clip badges were slipped through the slot. A moment later, the steel entrance door buzzed and they were let in.

Fordyce motioned the guard over. “I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Again, his tone implied suspicion.

“Yes, sir?” the guard, already intimidated, stood almost at attention.

“Has a Mr. Simon Blaine signed in?”

The guard hesitated, again decided to go with the flow, and checked his clipboard. “No, sir.”

“How about a Mr. Novak?”

“No.”

“Does either of them have an appointment in the building today?”

Another check. “Not on my sheet, sir.”

“All right. Dr. Martino needs to gain access to the Level Four lab. How can he do that?”

“It’s on keypad security, you have to get clearance and an escort.”

“Who’s in charge?”

A hesitation. “He should contact Dr. Glick, the director.”

“His location?”

“Third floor, Room Three Forty-six. Shall I call him—?”

“Absolutely not,” said Fordyce forcefully. He glanced at the man’s ID badge. “Mr. Bridge, here’s what’s going to happen. I will need your help, so please listen carefully.”

He paused.

“I’m going to move into the waiting room, there, mostly out of sight, and wait for Mr. Blaine to arrive. You will not indicate my presence or acknowledge that an FBI agent is on the premises.”

At this the guard swallowed and seemed to grow flustered. “Is there something wrong? I mean, maybe I should call my boss, the head of security—”

Fordyce interrupted him. “Do not call anyone. If you’re concerned about this, and really feel you need to check up on me, you can speak to my supervisor, Special Agent in Charge Mike Bocca, of the DC field office.” He took out his cell phone and looked poised to dial, his expression one of extreme annoyance.

“No, no,” said the guard, “that’s not necessary.”

“Good. You will please continue working as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you,” said Fordyce, his voice suddenly warmer, giving the man a handshake. “Good man.”

The guard retreated behind his counter. Gideon watched Fordyce cross the lobby and take a seat in a small waiting area, in the corner, where he could see but not readily be seen. He’s learning, Gideon thought to himself. Then he continued on into the guts of the building, following the helpful signs directing him toward Level 4.