waiting.”
“Did you find anything in the leftovers?”
“No leftovers. Remember, day four. Everything’s already in the trash. Dumpster already hauled off.” He held his hands up hopelessly. “I do have the list of what they ate and the suppliers. I could probably spend dozens of hours tracking down whether the contamination happened at the processing plant or at the distribution warehouse or even in the school kitchen. And these schools get stuff from all over the place, not just one center. It’s crazy, is what it is.”
“This can’t be the first time it’s happened.”
“CDC hears about it only when kids are hospitalized or if there are deaths. Haven’t had any reports in months. But schools are notoriously slow about reporting to us. And kids get sick. A lot.”
“Waiting until there’s forty-two at one time seems inappropriate. What are you finding in the victims?”
“I told you what we’re not finding—none of the usual strains. My lab guys back in Atlanta are still searching. It might be salmonella but a mutated strain. Do you remember the spinach recall in 2006? Two hundred and five cases. Twenty-six states. One hundred and two hospitalized. Five deaths. Only five, thank God. That was E. coli 0157:H7, a particularly virulent strain.
“I worked that case. We started by checking all the wrong things. It was E. coli so we were pulling victims’ refrigerators and trash cans apart looking for hamburgers, anything with ground beef. Several victims kept telling us, ‘No, we don’t eat red meat, we’re very health conscious.’ Spinach was one of the last things we even thought to look at. The victims were healthy but the strain was brutal.
“This reminds me of that case and I don’t like it.” He tapped his fingers against his lips. “I’m afraid this is going to be something like salmonella on steroids.”
“Any chance it’s intentional?”
Bix sat back again, the vinyl creaking beneath him. He started to rub his eyes then crossed his arms instead, and Platt figured he had just watched Bix shut down. He was surprised when the CDC chief said, “Yeah, I do. I can’t tell you why, but I do suspect it might be deliberate.”
“Have you told that to the USDA?”
“I called the department responsible for the school lunch program and they referred me to the new undersecretary of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. All I could get was some lackey in her office who told me that the undersecretary would get back to me after she gets my report and is able to do an assessment. Then she referred me back to the department that I originally called. I hate that runaround crap. And FSIS has a brand-new undersecretary, Irene Baldwin. I don’t know her but I already don’t trust her. She was the CEO of some huge food corporation. To me it seems a little like inviting the fox in to watch the henhouse.”
“Okay, then how about the FBI? Aren’t they supposed to be in charge of … what do they call it, agroterrorism? If this is intentional it would fall under their jurisdiction.”
“Right. In partnership with FSIS, FDA, and DHS. But yeah, FBI leads it. They put me in touch with Assistant Director Raymond Kunze. Actually I asked for Margaret O’Dell. I remembered she was the one who helped you crack that Ebola case last year. But I was told she’s out of town on assignment. Someplace out west in Oklahoma or Idaho.”
“Colorado.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Kunze is giving me R. J. Tully. He was on the Ebola case, too, but I heard he got suspended. Not sure I like getting second string.”
“Tully’s good. That case was personal for him. You’d be lucky to get him on this.”
Bix nodded.
“I’m not sure why you called me, though. You’ve got the FBI. You have some of the best scientists in the country back in Atlanta. If you want me to be a part of some task force, of course, I’ll help. But I’m not sure what I bring to the equation.”
“Your presence brings the one
“Did you find anything in the leftovers?”
“No leftovers. Remember, day four. Everything’s already in the trash. Dumpster already hauled off.” He held his hands up hopelessly. “I do have the list of what they ate and the suppliers. I could probably spend dozens of hours tracking down whether the contamination happened at the processing plant or at the distribution warehouse or even in the school kitchen. And these schools get stuff from all over the place, not just one center. It’s crazy, is what it is.”
“This can’t be the first time it’s happened.”
“CDC hears about it only when kids are hospitalized or if there are deaths. Haven’t had any reports in months. But schools are notoriously slow about reporting to us. And kids get sick. A lot.”
“Waiting until there’s forty-two at one time seems inappropriate. What are you finding in the victims?”
“I told you what we’re not finding—none of the usual strains. My lab guys back in Atlanta are still searching. It might be salmonella but a mutated strain. Do you remember the spinach recall in 2006? Two hundred and five cases. Twenty-six states. One hundred and two hospitalized. Five deaths. Only five, thank God. That was E. coli 0157:H7, a particularly virulent strain.
“I worked that case. We started by checking all the wrong things. It was E. coli so we were pulling victims’ refrigerators and trash cans apart looking for hamburgers, anything with ground beef. Several victims kept telling us, ‘No, we don’t eat red meat, we’re very health conscious.’ Spinach was one of the last things we even thought to look at. The victims were healthy but the strain was brutal.
“This reminds me of that case and I don’t like it.” He tapped his fingers against his lips. “I’m afraid this is going to be something like salmonella on steroids.”
“Any chance it’s intentional?”
Bix sat back again, the vinyl creaking beneath him. He started to rub his eyes then crossed his arms instead, and Platt figured he had just watched Bix shut down. He was surprised when the CDC chief said, “Yeah, I do. I can’t tell you why, but I do suspect it might be deliberate.”
“Have you told that to the USDA?”
“I called the department responsible for the school lunch program and they referred me to the new undersecretary of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. All I could get was some lackey in her office who told me that the undersecretary would get back to me after she gets my report and is able to do an assessment. Then she referred me back to the department that I originally called. I hate that runaround crap. And FSIS has a brand-new undersecretary, Irene Baldwin. I don’t know her but I already don’t trust her. She was the CEO of some huge food corporation. To me it seems a little like inviting the fox in to watch the henhouse.”
“Okay, then how about the FBI? Aren’t they supposed to be in charge of … what do they call it, agroterrorism? If this is intentional it would fall under their jurisdiction.”
“Right. In partnership with FSIS, FDA, and DHS. But yeah, FBI leads it. They put me in touch with Assistant Director Raymond Kunze. Actually I asked for Margaret O’Dell. I remembered she was the one who helped you crack that Ebola case last year. But I was told she’s out of town on assignment. Someplace out west in Oklahoma or Idaho.”
“Colorado.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Kunze is giving me R. J. Tully. He was on the Ebola case, too, but I heard he got suspended. Not sure I like getting second string.”
“Tully’s good. That case was personal for him. You’d be lucky to get him on this.”
Bix nodded.
“I’m not sure why you called me, though. You’ve got the FBI. You have some of the best scientists in the country back in Atlanta. If you want me to be a part of some task force, of course, I’ll help. But I’m not sure what I bring to the equation.”
“Your presence brings the one
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