Vector
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
VECTOR
A BERKLEY Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999 by Robin Cook. This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
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ISBN: 0-7865-0939-2
A BERKLEY BOOK® BERKLEY Books first published by Berkley Publishing Group,
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. BERKLEY and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
First edition (electronic): Septemember 2001
To Jean
with love, appreciation, and thanks
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. Ken Alibek, Program Manager, Battelle Memorial Institute, Arlington, Virginia. Formerly Dr. Kanatjan Ali-bekov, First Deputy Chief of the Soviet Union’s Biological Offensive Program.
Colonel Edward M. Eitzen, Jr., M.D., MC, U.S. Army, Chief Operational Medicine Division, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland.
Jerome M. Hauer, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, New York City.
Jacki Lee, M.D., Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, Washington, D.C.
Raissa Rubenshteyn, M.D., Chief, Gynecological Medical Staff, Voronez City Hospital #8 in the former Soviet Union.
Charles Wetli, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner, Suffolk County, New York.
ne roy drugomu yamu, sam v neyo popadesh (do not dig a hole for another, you just might fall in it yourself) RUSSIAN PROVERB
VECTOR: (medical) a carrier that transmits an infectious agent from one host to another.
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PROLOGUE
Friday, October 15
Jason Papparis had been in the rug business for almost thirty years. He started in the Plaka district of Athens in the late sixties, selling mostly goatskins, sheepskins, and fur rugs to American tourists. He did well and enjoyed himself, especially with the young, college-age female tourists to whom he invariably and graciously availed himself to show the night life of his beloved city.
Then fate intervened. On a sultry summer night, Helen Herman of Queens, New York, wandered into his shop and absently caressed some of Jason’s higher-quality rugs. A romantic at heart, Helen found herself swept off her feet by an irresistible combination of Jason’s soulful eyes and fervent attentions and the romantic mystique of Greece.
Jason’s ardor had been no less. After Helen’s departure for the States, Jason found himself inconsolably lonely. An impassioned correspondence began, followed by a visit. Jason’s trip to New York only fanned the fires of desire. Ultimately he emigrated, married Helen, and took his business to Manhattan.