Icelandic Virus

Extract

The next police station was three blocks away. After Herbert had asked a passer-by for directions, he struck off. He was in a hurry and his heart was beating with excitement. Bloody hell, they were playing with human lives here! He knew nothing about this virus, but he had to prevent it from being released at any cost!
The small reception in the police station was empty. There was no one behind the counter, and even after a few minutes, no one appeared.
Herbert paced up and down impatiently until finally a police officer entered through a door at the rear of the room, carrying a glass of water. The water spilled on his hand, which was shaking too much to hold the glass still.
“Good morning,” Herbert said in English, “I have come here because I have suspicions against a pharmaceutical company here in Reykjavík.” He laid the documents on the counter.
“Good morning,” the officer retorted. He was in his fifties, and as he approached the counter, Herbert saw that he was sweating on his brow.
The man closed his eyes for a moment as if they were sore; as if the light was too bright for him. “Tell me about this company,” he said in a measured tone of voice.
Herbert had a horrible thought. He would love to have stretched over the counter and felt the man’s forehead with his hand. Did he have a temperature? He pulled himself together. “Are you feeling all right?” Herbert asked, concerned, “Perhaps you should go home if you are not feeling well.”
“I can’t do that,” the officer insisted, “Four of my colleagues on this shift have already rung in sick on account of the flu, so I can’t be sick as well. My other colleagues have also caught it – I don’t know.” He had to cough.
“Nevertheless, perhaps you should see a doctor.”
“Forgive me. What did you say? Why are you here?”
Herbert explained to him why. He handed over the papers and gave the police officer time to read them. He looked up.
“This…” Another coughing fit shook him, and he turned away.
Herbert drummed his fingers impatiently on the table. He sensed tension rising.
“Excuse me, could it be then that...” The policeman stopped talking. He looked at Herbert. “Could it be that I am already infected?”
Herbert nodded slightly. The thought had already crossed his mind. “You should have a medical check-up. You could be infected. It could be that you and your colleagues have been targeted…” His voice trailed away to nothing.
Thus the policeman understood the gravity of the situation, “I am going to call on support from another station then I will inform my superiors.” He reached for the telephone and made two calls. “A colleague is coming. Can you – this virus – can you tell from a blood test…?” He hunched his shoulder, trying to find the right words.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know anything at the moment,” Herbert said, “We need to test your blood and compare it with blood samples from your colleagues.”
“Okay, I will call all of them as well. You should go to the hospital, and we’ll meet you there.” The officer coughed.
They had to wait another three quarters of an hour before he was relieved. The man started to get worse within fifteen minutes. Eventually, he simply sat down on the office chair behind the counter and held his head in his hands whilst Herbert continued to pace up and down. He thought of Julia, who was waiting for him in the café. He had to phone her before he went to hospital.

Julia dialled the number that Ragnhild had written on the serviette over and over again. No one came to the telephone. She started to wonder slowly. Ragnhild had assured her that her mother was at home most of the time. Had something happened to them?
When Herbert appeared at the door and beckoned her frantically, she threw a few coins on the café table next to her coffee cup and hurried outside. There was a taxi waiting for them. “What’s happening?” she asked.
“Later,” Herbert uttered. They jumped into the taxi where an older man in uniform was sitting and coughing heavily. The taxi driver kept looking at him as if he feared for his health.
“Damn it, Herbert, what’s going on?” Julia whispered.
“The disaster,” Herbert replied grimly, “I am afraid we are too late. I am afraid that they released the virus a couple of days ago. God knows how many people have already been infected.”
“But wasn’t the all-clear given last night? Didn’t they tell us that the cases of temperature were all harmless?”
“With this case here, I am not so sure about that,” Herbert said quietly, “There’s another thing. He has been infected, and all his colleagues are at the same stage of the disease, which means they were all infected at the same time. If we assume that there is an incubation period of between 48 and 72 hours…”
“Then he and his colleagues have spread the virus in the last three days evenly throughout Reykjavík. Is that what you mean?”
“Yes, and even worse. The extent of the virus cannot be estimated yet. One good thing, at least, is that the airports have not let anyone fly out in the last two days.”
Julia fell silent. She knew what that meant.
She could not understand it. After the last few days with all its major and minor catastrophes, she did not have the energy to comprehend its full extent. She had been involved in numerous false alarms over the last few years, and how often had she been stuck in airports or isolation wards until the all-clear had been given. Time and again, cases of haemorrhagic fever had occurred. Never had these cases been confirmed. They had got off lightly. Since if one day one of these viruses would manage to transmit from one person to another, then a similar hell would break loose as it did in Berlin back then.
Berlin…
Suddenly Julia shuddered. “I don’t want to,” she whispered.
“What?” Herbert looked at her attentively.
“Not again,” Julia whispered, “All the dead, the people, running screaming through the streets, and the policemen carting them away, only because they didn’t want anyone else to become infected…” Julia covered her face with her hands. Nothing was left anymore of the upright, strong composure that Herbert had so admired in the last 24 hours. She rocked herself backward and forwards, crying softly, and would not be soothed by mere words.
Finally, Herbert simply held her tightly in his arms and let her cry. She buried her head in his shoulder, sobbed quietly, and gradually calmed down again.
“Were you there then? In Berlin?” He realised how little he really knew about Julia. Yet she had become a companion to him in the last 24 hours, almost a friend, with her light-hearted, practical way. It was astonishing to see that she could conceivably show weakness.
The patch of weakness, however, passed quickly. She wiped the tears from her face with a final sniff and took the tissue that Herbert handed to her with a grateful smile.
“Better?” he asked.
She nodded briefly. She was about to say something when her mobile rang.
It was Sonya.
“Are you all right, Julia?” Sonya wanted to know.
Julia could hear the worry in Sonya‘s voice, “Yes, everything’s okay with me. Why do you ask?”
“Because they have declared a state of emergency in Iceland: level three.”
Julia shook her head. “I thought they might,” she said softly.
“Will you call me?” Sonya asked, “As long as you’re... I mean... I am so terribly worried, Julia.”
“Yes, I will call,” Julia promised. She hung up. The mobile lay in her hand, and she shook her head as if numbed.
“What is wrong?” Herbert asked, worried.
“All hell has broken loose. They have even announced a level three.”
Level three! They knew what that meant.
When initial cases of fever of unknown origins occurred, level one was declared. The authorities and hospitals were alerted, and no one was allowed to leave the country at that stage. This level was maintained for 48 hours, and then unless anything further was resolved, a higher level came into effect.
Level two was somewhat more severe. A radius of about nineteen miles around the infected area was cordoned off and declared a quarantine area. Numerous security forces and medical personnel were mobilised to bring the threatening pandemic under control.
Level three - Pandemic! The viral temperature was out of control and spread quickly. The quarantine area was extended. No one was allowed to enter or leave it. Those inside the quarantine area could do only one thing: wait and hope that they would survive.
“Shit,” Herbert said under his breath, “and now?”
At that moment, they arrived at the hospital. Herbert paid the taxi and helped the policemen out of the vehicle. Julia followed the two of them at a distance. She was deadly nervous. She looked around her, checking out the situation.
And what she saw did not help to calm her down.
They were not the only ones who had come to the hospital. Cars were stopping anywhere and everywhere in the car park. People were running to the hospital. There was a large crowd of agitated people, who all wanted to be the first to be treated. Many asked if anyone knew how long they could get possible treatment.