“You’re right about the laser stun gun,” Platt said. “The military’s had the technology for a long time but it’s only recently they’ve managed to funnel its power into a small-enough weapon. From what I remember it’s the size of a rifle, and I think you still have to carry a backpack with some sort of charger. Originally it was developed for crowd control. All you have to do is sweep an area with the laser beam. You don’t have to connect like a stun gun or shoot an attached dart like a Taser. But from what I understand, it’s not meant to kill anyone.”
“Is it possible the military would stage war games in the middle of a Nebraska forest?”
“Actually it sounds like the perfect place. But they wouldn’t use a bunch of drugged teenagers for targets.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Platt took a deep breath to keep from getting defensive. He knew Maggie was simply looking at all angles but he tended to get his back up when anyone attacked the military. Sure, mistakes were made. And he had witnessed firsthand the corruption and abuse of power. He had exposed a couple of incidents himself. But he still wanted to believe they were rare.
“Right now,” she said, “it seems my options are GIs gone wild or red-eyed aliens.”
He laughed and finally she did, too.
Then completely out of nowhere, he blurted, “I miss you.”
Her silence made his stomach clench but for the first time, he realized he didn’t care.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“What? I can’t tell you I miss you without something being wrong?”
“I can hear it in your voice. Something’s going on.”
“It’s just … do you ever think you’ll want to have kids?” As soon as he said it, he knew he had stepped over the line.
“Ben, I don’t even know yet whether you wear boxers or briefs and you’re asking me if I want to have kids?”
He laughed again. Felt some of the tension drain away. He imagined her on the other end. She’d be smiling but shaking her head at him. Probably pacing. He knew she couldn’t stand still when she talked on the phone. If he was really making her nervous she’d be pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear right about now. The one thing he took away from her comment was that she used the word “yet.” She didn’t know “yet” if he wore boxers or briefs. One word could reveal a lot.
“Are you okay?” she asked after a long silence.
“Yeah, I’m okay. This case is probably just getting to me,” he lied.
“You’re thinking about Ali,” she said and it wasn’t a question.
Maybe they actually knew each other too well.
CHAPTER 42
After dropping off Julia and Bix, Platt had driven directly to USAMRIID. He had left Digger with his parents so going home to an empty house didn’t even entice him. The little dog would act as a better security alert than their electronic system. Before he left, Platt had told his father about the black SUV that had tailed him from the diner.
“Just be careful,” he had warned his dad.
“Always am” was the response, but Platt knew his parents lived in a whole other world. And he hated that he may have brought one of the dangers from his life into theirs.
He had called them several times throughout the day and everything appeared to be normal. He was hoping last night’s incident was more curiosity than threat.
For the last hour he had kept himself so busy that he didn’t think about Ali, Mary Ellen, or the miserable memories that had flooded his head. He concentrated on preparing slides from the garbage he and Racine had bagged along with some of the vomit. Bix had even shared some samples from the sick high schoolers in Norfolk. It hadn’t taken long before he found the bacterium—salmonella. But Bix was right. It was an unusual strain.
By now the scientists down in Atlanta knew what they were dealing with. Usually the bacterium was found in ground beef, poultry, or eggs. Sometimes it even ended up on raw vegetables or fruit. Platt also knew that some strains had become resistant to the antibiotics that were fed to cattle and poultry.
Confirming what the bacterium was didn’t make it any easier to decipher what food it had hidden in. Platt was hoping that’s where his samplings of the schoolkids’ vomit would come in handy as well as the food packaging.
Under the microscope the bacteria looked like tiny pegs jammed in among the cells. They attached themselves to the linings of the gastrointestinal organs. The bacteria would work their way through the stomach, inflaming the mucosa and usually causing severe vomiting. From there the bacteria continued migrating down, depositing themselves onto the walls of the intestine, causing it to bloat and dilate. That’s what caused the extreme pain and diarrhea. If the pesky critters decided to take an additional stay in the colon during their trip down, they could force the inner lining to tear away. The entire passage took less than two hours.