Chapter 70. Return
Bay of Honduras, Skip Drame’s Yacht.
After being revered by the islanders as the second coming of Xbalanque and Hunahpu, Morse and Winston had been treated like royalty. The islanders agreed to give them two huge clay vessels of the miraculous water from the healing pool. Charlie Winston got to keep one of the purple snakes from the pool to give to his son. They had also been given a fireside feast, in which they had dined on roasted boar and fresh fruit, while watching fire-eating, dancing, and other entertainment. The tribal chieftain had been despondent over his men’s treatment of the ship’s captain and the other passengers on the yacht, stating that he had no idea at the time that Morse and Winston were, in fact, Xbalanque and Hunahpu, and he had begged for their forgiveness. The next morning, the chief had sent them back to the yacht on outrigger canoes, and re-equipped them with supplies and food for the voyage home. It had taken the group of six considerable time to figure out how to raise the anchor and operate the huge yacht, but after a little trial and error, they had managed it. They were now back in the Bay of Honduras, chugging towards Cancun. They still had no cell or satellite service, but Drame had promised to change that once they arrived in Cancun.
In the ship’s refrigerator, Drame actually found some steaks, and Winston had volunteered to act as Chief Barbecuer. Bolinda found some red wine in the galley. That evening, they all gave toasts to Mountain Man Pete and the other fallen, and Drame agreed to contact the relatives of those who were killed and explain the circumstances of their deaths. It was a sobering moment. But the conversation quickly turned to their harrowing escapes from death. Charlie Winston gave a particularly exciting tale of his encounter with the blades of the Razor House, and John Morse finally explained how he had escaped to give firewood to his son. For the next two hours, the group of six sat around a table relaxing and sharing stories from their adventures. They were all thrilled to be going home.
When they got to the harbor in Cancun, it was near midnight. Drame became concerned. He could put the yacht in “drive,” but parking it in a harbor in the dark was another matter. He radioed the harbormaster and explained their plight. The harbormaster agreed to send them assistance in the morning, so the yacht was anchored for the evening. Late that night, at about three in the morning, one of the passengers of the yacht silently snuck down to the hold where the large clay vessels of healing water were being stored. Lowering several plastic bottles into one of the vessels, the passenger removed some of the healing water.
The next morning, a small contingent of dock employees rode out to meet the yacht in a Zodiac raft. They boarded the yacht and helped steer it into the harbor. Everyone was pleased to be getting off the boat onto the Mexican mainland. John Morse went with his son to get Mexican food. Bolinda Jeffries went by herself to get her hair done and buy some new clothes and makeup. Ka’-an went to a local bar to have a drink. Charlie Winston went to buy a cell phone charger so that he could call his wife, and Drame went into town to call his agent.
While the passengers were ashore, the passenger who had surreptitiously removed some of the healing water into plastic bottles went to an Internet café in Cancun. The passenger downloaded and printed certain documents, signed them, and then went to a UPS store. The passenger mailed the water bottles, the signed forms, and the handwritten, signed instructions to his associate in the United States. The mailing address was in Washington, D.C. None of the other passengers would learn of this transaction until much later.
After several hours, all the passengers returned to the yacht. Charlie Winston charged his phone. Once the phone was charged, Winston noticed that his wife had tried calling him dozens of times. He listened to the messages and was shocked by the news. Terrorists had introduced a strain of the Ebola virus into the United States and all the borders were locked down. He would not be able to get back into the United States. He called his son Teddy, who answered on the first ring.
“Daddy! Are you okay? I am so scared. Where are you?”
“Hey there, big man. I am sorry I have been gone so long. There was no cell service where we were, and things got a little more complicated when we got to the island. Is your Mom home?”
“No, Daddy. That’s the thing. Mom has gone missing. Grandma was babysitting and Mom never came home from work. That was a few days ago. She hasn’t called, and no one at her work knows where she is. I have been staying with Grandma.” Winston was very concerned.
“Let me talk to Grandma.”
“Grandma!” yelled Teddy. “It’s Daddy on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”
“Charlie?” asked the grandmother.
“Hey, Mom. Where is Murielle?”
“Charlie, nobody knows. Several nights ago, she just never came home from work. She has been out of town and working late a lot because of this virus thing, you know? But it is not like her to just not come home. Did you two have a fight or something?”
“No, Mom, I have been out of the country. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to her. Where was the last place someone saw her?”
“She was with that Jacob fellow at work. He says he has not seen her. Her boss called here, really mad, wanting to know how she could just leave in the middle of this crisis. You know that Murielle always was kind of a flake, Charlie. I mean, I had to miss two appointments to stay here with Teddy. I know it’s not something that you want to face, Charlie, but do you think she has left you?”
“Mom, you are bugging me right now. Murielle did not leave me. Something is terribly wrong if she has not come home and has not contacted you. So you haven’t gotten a text message or a voice message or e-mail, nothing?”
“Nothing, and Teddy hasn’t gotten anything either. Charlie, I am an old woman. I cannot lift this boy when he needs his transfers from the wheelchair. This is too much for me. You have to come home.”
“I am on my way right now, Mom. Just sit tight. Have you contacted the police?”
“No, I wasn’t sure you wanted me to call them. What if Murielle was leaving you? Then it would just be embarrassing for you.”
“Mom, call the police. Murielle would have come home. Something is wrong. With this border lockdown, it is going to be hard for me to get back in the United States, so you are going to have to do it, Mom. Call the police. Now.”
“OK, Winston. I will. You be careful, son.”
“I will, Mom.”
Winston called Bjorn Jendel, Murielle’s boss, at the C.D.C.
“Bjorn, this is Charlie Winston. I have been out of the country, without cell phones or newspapers, for the last week. I just learned about Murielle being absent. What can you tell me?”
“Charlie, she just went AWOL. We are right in the middle of the biggest crisis the CDC has ever seen. She is one of our top scientists, and she just disappeared. She went to work one day, and then after work, no one has seen her since.”
“When was that?”
“Three days ago, I think. Do you have any ideas of where she would go, Charlie?”
“Bjorn, you know Murielle. You know how committed she is to her job. If she thought she could help people in this crisis, she would never abandon her post. I think she has met with foul play, Bjorn. Who was the last person to see her?”
“Jacob Roessler. I think Murielle gave him a ride home because his car wasn’t working. You might want to contact him. Do you have his cell? He is in Dallas right now.”
“Yes, I’ve got it. Thanks, Bjorn. Hey, I am on a boat heading towards the Gulf of Mexico. Tell me about this border lockdown. Is there any way to get through?”
“No, Charlie, the border is sealed until further notice. No way to get in.”
“So what are travelers supposed to do?” asked Winston.
“Sit tight, I guess. There is no way to guarantee the safety of Americans from this virus unless the border is shut down.”
“What kind of virus is it?”
“I can only tell you what’s in the public domain, Charlie. This is all top secret. But according to news reports, terrorists released an airborne strain of the Ebola virus at a soccer game in Brazil between the Americans and the Dutch. The President immediately locked down the borders once she learned of the threat but 112 Americans got through before the lockdown. All 112 of those people have been quarantined, so we think this is under control, but you never know.”
“How long do you think before we will be able to re-enter the country?”
“Hard to say, Charlie.”
“Bjorn, do they have a cure for this thing?”
“Again, I am just giving you what is in published news reports. The government has a drug which is about 60% effective if you have been exposed within a few days. Longer than that, it doesn’t work and you die.”
“Bjorn, I may have something that could help you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I cannot go into it over the phone, but if you can help us get into the country, I could show you.”
“Charlie, I am not into playing guessing games with you. If you have something that will help us, let us know.”
Winston thought about it, but his gut was telling him not to go into the details of their discovery over the phone.
“Is there any way you can get us into the country, Bjorn?”
“No, Charlie, it is total lockdown. No exceptions. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Now, if you are able to find Murielle, please have her call me, okay?”
“Okay, Bjorn.” Winston hung up, disappointed. Where could his wife possibly be?
Charlie Winston called Jacob Roessler on his cell phone multiple times but he got no answer. Winston never liked Roessler. He always had the vague sense that Roessler was hitting on his wife.
Charlie returned to his friends on the yacht and explained the border lockdown. If they were going to get back into the country, they were going to have to sneak in. Skip Drame, Bolinda Jeffries, and Ka’-an were not anxious to get caught sneaking into the country. Ka’-an was working his way to become a United States citizen. Getting caught could get him deported. Bolinda Jeffries had seen enough danger for a lifetime. She would prefer to just sit on the yacht in the Gulf of Mexico and take a vacation until this crisis was over and the borders were opened. Skip Drame felt the same way. He did not have any pending movie or TV deals. He had plenty of money and nowhere to go for a while. He also preferred to wait it out.
But Charlie was not going to wait. His wife’s life was in danger and his paralyzed son was all alone. In addition, he was hoping that some of the water from the Boyuca healing pool might help his son. John Morse also wanted to get back into the country immediately, but for a different reason. He felt an obligation to help the country. They had curative waters which might help people infected by the virus. It would be irresponsible to wait here while people died. Morse also did not want to abandon his friend Charlie. Zach Morse, for his part, was going to go with his father. So the group agreed to split up. They would steer the yacht through the Gulf of Mexico, where they would anchor it several miles off the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Drame, Jeffries, and Ka’-an would remain on the yacht. John Morse, Zach Morse, and Charlie Winston would take the Zodiac raft and try to enter the country at night. If they got caught, they would just return to the yacht. It was agreed that Morse and Winston would take several plastic bottles of the Boyuca healing water with them, while the rest of the water would remain on the yacht. Winston was not too worried about their attempt to enter the country. They were American citizens, after all. Probably the worst that would happen if they were caught would be that they were turned away. Although John Morse was not very happy about it, Winston also planned on bringing the purple snake on the journey. Winston had secured it in a small cage with holes at the top. Their plans finalized, John Morse, Zach Morse and Charlie Winston got some much needed sleep.
A day later, the yacht made it to Alabama.
Somewhere in Minnesota.
The four men were on their way home. It had been a great trip. Iced-down bass was loaded in the coolers in the back, and there were still a few cold ones for the ride home. But for the last hour in the car, Tom Bergman was not doing well. He was feeling very nauseous. When they were about three hours from his house, he pulled off the highway and pulled into a service station. While his friend pumped the gas into the car, Bergman went inside the station to get some Tums. He waited in line behind two other patrons, a man and a woman. Then he coughed deeply. After exchanging money with the service station manager, he pocketed the Tums. The station manager thought the man looked very ill.
“You okay, buddy?”
“Yeah, just some stomach flu, I think.” Bergman went back to the car.
“Hey, one of you guys want to drive? I am not feeling so good.”
“Sure,” said Bergman’s friend, taking the wheel. Bergman lay down in the back of the car, his head resting against his friend’s shoulder. Twenty minutes later, the friend who was driving pulled the car over to the side of the road, so Bergman could get out and vomit on the shoulder. When he finally arrived home an hour later, there were men in silver suits and agents wearing FBI windbreakers waiting in his driveway.
Meanwhile, the two patrons who had been in front of Bergman in line at the service station—a husband and wife-- got back in their minivan with their two children and finished their drive home to suburban Chicago.
Boston, Massachusetts
Ron Fielding, Jr. had a terrible morning. All day, his stomach was killing him. He had remained at his post as a teller, however, handing out bills and accepting deposits at the Bank of Boston. He had probably interacted with two hundred people that morning. One of his co-workers came over to change a $100 bill out of Fielding’s drawer. The co-worker noticed that Fielding looked pale and sweaty.
“Ron, you don’t look so good. You should take a break.” Fielding agreed, and put out the sign shutting down his window. His boss asked him where he was going and he said that he was sick and that he was going to the bathroom. Fielding made it down the hall and into the bathroom, before violently throwing up in the stall. His vomit was a pitch black. He had never seen anything like that before. He continued vomiting for several more minutes. Then he went to the sink to wash his hands. He looked in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot red. There was a purple welt on his neck. He was burning up with fever. He remembered the television broadcast about the virus from Brazil. He had a moment of panic before a wave of nausea hit him again, and he passed out on the bathroom floor. Another male co-worker found him in a pool of black vomit twenty minutes later and called 911.
Massachusetts General was ready for him when he arrived, and immediately quarantined Fielding. The Hospital Infectious Diseases resident on call, who had been previously prepped by the State Health Department, recognized the symptoms immediately as Ebola, and called the CDC in Atlanta. The call eventually made it to the desk of Bjorn Jendel, who was distressed. How did someone get out of quarantine? He contacted the hospital and obtained the name of the patient and checked it against the list of 112. There was a Ron Fielding, Jr. on the list.
“What is the address and DOB of the Ron Fielding, Jr. in your hospital?” he asked the ID doctor in Boston.
“17 Deerfield Road. DOB 4/12/87.”
“You sure it is not 1707 Deer Creek Lane?”
“Yes, I am sure,” said the ID doctor. “17 Deerfield.”
“How old does the patient look?” asked Jendel.
“Mid-twenties.”
“Oh no,” said Jendel. “Doctor, keep him quarantined, and don’t let anyone else near him. Where do your records say that he works, by the way?”
“Umm, let’s see. Um, co-worker brought him in and said he works as a teller at Bank of Boston.” A teller. He probably interacted with hundreds of people this morning, thought Jendel. He made some quick calls to Mureille Winston’s replacement at the Boston quarantine center. She confirmed that the Ron Fielding, Jr. in quarantine was in his fifties and worked at the I.R.S. And he had never been to Brazil.
Jendel went into the hall to speak to his secretary. “Get me the White House,” he said.
An hour later, representatives of USAMRIID entered the Bank of Boston in full HAZMAT gear. Everyone in the bank was quarantined on the upper floor of the bank, while thirty FBI agents in facemasks and rubber gloves went through bank surveillance tapes and records of deposits from earlier that morning to identify every person who had been inside the bank that day.
Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Wearing dark clothing, Charlie Winston, John Morse and Zach Morse boarded the small rubber Zodiac raft and Winston started the outboard motor. Initially, they saw no signs of the United States Coast Guard, United States Border Patrol, or Alabama Water Patrol. With all the people unhappy about being stranded outside the United States, there must be a lot of Americans trying to sneak back into the country. Winston imagined that the patrol services must be stretched to their limits keeping everyone out. When the Zodiac was about a half-mile from shore, they saw a fast-moving yellow light on the horizon and Winston cut the outboard motor. All three passengers ducked down into the boat and remained breathlessly quiet, hoping not to be spotted. John Morse could hear the slithering of the purple snake in the cage next to his head. Morse gave the “be quiet” finger-to-the-lips sign to Zach. The yellow light darted all over the water, like the tower beacon at a prison. Soon, the light seemed to be going in the opposite direction. The trio waited until the light disappeared from sight before starting the outboard motor again. Within twenty minutes, they had reached the shore. They whisked the Zodiac boat up over the sand and hid it behind a dune. Removing their gear, they crouched behind the dune, making sure they had not been spotted. After waiting for a while and hearing no sound, the three men walked over the sand to the small city road going through the popular beach town. They walked to a nearby Holiday Inn, where they stayed the night. In the morning, they got a cab to the airport and rented a car from Avis. As they drove down the highway, Winston tried his wife’s cell phone again multiple times but had no luck. He decided to try and reach Roessler again. This time he was lucky.
“Jacob?”
“Yes, this is Jacob Roessler, who is this?”
“This is Charlie Winston. Jacob, where is my wife?”
“I have no idea where she is, Charlie.”
“You were the last one to see her, Jacob. She took you home, right?”
“Yeah, my car was having problems and she drove me home. I thanked her and she drove off. That’s it. I don’t know where she went after that.”
“In the middle of an Ebola virus crisis, you think she would just walk off the job, Jacob?”
“No, I don’t. I agree it sounds suspicious to me. But I have no idea where to look.”
“She is nowhere at the C.D.C.?”
“No. We have looked everywhere. We checked the morgue, checked the hospitals, checked with her friends. No one has any idea where she is.”
John Morse was making signals to Winston, pointing to their bottles of healing water. Morse wanted Winston to tell Roessler about the water.
“Listen, Jacob, we are on our way to the C.D.C. now with something that I think might help cure this virus.” Roessler did not like the sound of that.
“What do you mean?”
“Jacob, we have made a truly miraculous discovery. On an island in the Bay of Honduras, we found a natural healing spring that can regenerate severed limbs; it can eliminate third degree burns as if they never occurred; and it can reverse the effects of frostbite. It’s like a miracle drug. I feel confident that it will help your team cure this virus. We are bringing it directly to the C.D.C. now. We should be there by about 3:00 p.m. today. When we get to the C.D.C., who should we call?” Roessler thought for a minute. He looked at his watch. If he got a quick flight from Dallas, he could make it to Atlanta before Winston.
“Um, Charlie, I am actually on my way back to Atlanta this morning. Why don’t I meet you at the front entrance of the C.D.C., and I will look into your discovery personally. Would that be okay?”
“Absolutely,” said Winston, with Morse nodding enthusiastically in the passenger seat. “We will see you there at about 3:00 p.m., okay?”
“Sounds good, see you then.” Roessler hung up and immediately dialed Southwest Airlines. He had to get to Atlanta immediately.