That stopped her. “You’re a doctor?”
“Archaeologist. Not an MD,” he added. “But if you’ll give me five minutes, I’ll explain.”
He could see that she was intrigued but not enough to get her to lower her defenses. “Well, Dr. Pierce, I’ve no idea what the consequences of long term exposure to this plant might be, so I strongly suggest that you head back now, take a long shower…with some bicarbonate of soda if you can find it. I’ll be back in the office later this week. You can call for an appointment.”
Pierce was sorely tempted to follow that advice, but he had come too far to turn back. He decided to try a different tack. “Are you staying here tonight? Do you have a camp?”
“There’s no room at the inn, if that’s what you’re asking. Your man is right. It will be dark soon. If you hurry, you might be able to make it back to the road.”
“But you are staying here? In the middle of all this…” He waved a hand around. “Whatever this is.”
Carter stared back, hands on hips. “Let me show you something that might help you understand the urgency of this situation.” She gestured for him to follow, but went only about twenty yards before stopping at a veritable wall of the greenery. She carefully pulled some of the vines aside to reveal a dark opening, like a cave entrance. Pierce balked until she unclipped a flashlight from her belt and shone it inside. That was when he realized that it was not a cave, but a house.
The structure was just a one-room, cinder block shack, but the plants had intruded here as well, with vines snaking through the doorway and window openings, and even through cracks in the mortar. The ceiling was crowned with an eruption of green where the vines had crawled through the gap between the wall and the corrugated sheet-metal roof. For the most part, the floor was clear of growth, but there were a few clusters where the plants had grown like crazy. Carter directed her light to the nearest of these and Pierce could see bits of color—synthetic fabrics, something that might have been the sole of a shoe.
A shoe?
“Was that…a person?”
“The entire village was consumed by this plant,” Carter said.
“That’s…” He was going to say impossible, but he knew better.
Carter took something from a belt pouch and passed it over to him. It was a slim booklet bound in red leatherette, which Pierce recognized as a European Union passport. Many of the pages within had partially dissolved, but the laminated photograph of the document’s owner was still intact, along with a name.
“Nils Van Der Hausen.”
“There was a health worker with that name here during the worst part of the outbreak, but as far as I know, he returned home. It’s not unusual for foreigners to visit these isolated areas. Missionaries and relief workers.” She paused a beat. “We found that on the trail coming in, along with some other items. Synthetic materials only. Just like this. The plant consumes anything organic. But what we can’t figure out is why the victims just let it happen. My hypothesis is that the plant releases a narcotic or some toxic substance that subdues or kills its victims. Then it converts their remains into organic nutrients.”
“A carnivorous plant,” Pierce said. “Like the Venus Flytrap.”
“That’s right. Only instead of catching flies in its leaves, this plant wraps its prey in vines and secretes a digestive enzyme.” She sighed. “It’s not native. No one here has seen anything like it before.”
“How large is the affected area?”
Carter shook her head. “We’re still mapping it, but the epicenter appears to be here, in this village. It wasn’t here a week ago. Whatever it is, it happened fast.”
Something clicked. “This is why you’re out here. The plant. It’s not an Ebola outbreak at all.”
Carter frowned. Evidently Pierce had missed the point of the demonstration. “We were expecting a new outbreak. This is what we found. It’s dangerous. Now, do you really want to stay for another five minutes?”
No, Pierce thought. But he wasn’t ready to give up. “I can help you figure this out. I have resources. Money. I can get you anything you need to fight this.”
Carter sighed. “Dr. Pierce, I don’t know why you think you need my help so badly, but your offer of assistance would have been a lot more meaningful a year ago.”
Cooper tugged at Pierce’s elbow. “We should go.”
“I know about what happened in Ethiopia,” Pierce blurted. “That’s why I want your help. And I might be able to help you with…your problem.”
Even as he said it, Pierce felt a flush of shame. Not only was it a low blow, but he had no way to keep that promise.