Whiteout by Ken Follett

the wall beside the door was the yellow-and-black warning of the international biohazard symbol.
    Dr. Ansari waved a plastic pass in front of a remote card reader, then pressed the forefinger of her left hand to a small screen. There was a pause, while the computer checked that her fingerprint matched the information on the microchip embedded in the smart card. This ensured that lost or stolen cards could not be used by unauthorized persons. While Dr. Ansari waited, she glanced up at the television camera and gave a mock salute. Then the door opened and she stepped through. Michael followed.
    Another camera showed them in a small lobby. A row of dials on the wall monitored the air pressure in the lab. The farther you went inside BSL4, the lower the air pressure. This downward gradient ensured that any leakage of air was inward, not outward. From the lobby they went to separate men’s and women’s changing rooms. “This is when he took the rabbit out of the bag,” Toni said. “If his buddy that day had been a man, the plan wouldn’t have worked. But he had Monica and, of course, there are no cameras in the changing rooms.”
    â€œBut damn it, you can’t put security cameras in changing rooms,” Stanley said. “No one would work here.”
    â€œAbsolutely,” said Toni. “We’ll have to think of something else. Watch this.”
    The next shot came from a camera inside the lab. It showed conventional rabbit racks housed in a clear plastic isolation cover. Toni froze the picture. “Could you explain to me what the scientists are doing in this lab, exactly?”
    â€œOf course. Our new drug is effective against many viruses, but not all. In this experiment it was being tested against Madoba-2, a variant of the Ebola virus that causes a lethal hemorrhagic fever in both rabbits and humans. Two groups of rabbits were challenged with the virus.”
    â€œChallenged?”
    â€œSorry—it’s the word we use. It means they were infected. Then one group was injected with the drug.”
    â€œWhat did you find?”
    â€œThe drug doesn’t defeat Madoba-2 in rabbits. We’re a bit disappointed. Almost certainly, it won’t cure this type of virus in humans either.”
    â€œBut you didn’t know that sixteen days ago.”
    â€œCorrect.”
    â€œIn that case, I think I understand what Michael was trying to do.” She touched the keyboard to unfreeze the picture. A figure stepped into shot wearing a light blue plastic space suit with a clear helmet. He stopped by the door to push his feet into rubber overboots. Then he reached up and grabbed a curly yellow air hose hanging from the ceiling. He connected it to an inlet on his belt. As air was pumped in, the suit inflated, until he looked like the Michelin Man.
    â€œThis is Michael,” Toni said. “He changed faster than Monica, so at the moment he’s in there alone.”
    â€œIt shouldn’t happen, but it does,” Stanley said. “The two-person rule is observed, but not minute by minute. Merda .” Stanley often cursed in Italian, having learned a ripe vocabulary from his wife. Toni, who spoke Spanish, usually understood.
    On screen Michael went up to the rabbit rack, moving with deliberate slowness in the awkward costume. His back was to the camera and, for a few moments, the pumped-up suit shielded what he was doing. Then he stepped away and dropped something on a stainless-steel laboratory bench.
    â€œNotice anything?” Toni said.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNor did the security guards who were watching the monitors.” Toni was defending her staff. If Stanley had not seen what happened, he could hardly blame the guards for missing it, too. “But look again.” She went back a couple of minutes and froze the frame as Michael stepped into shot. “One rabbit in that top right-hand cage.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œLook harder at Michael.