Free Ebola K: A Terrorism Thriller: Book 2 by Bobby Adair Page A

everything I can find coming out of Uganda and Kenya, for obvious reasons. It might be that the new strain is more contagious than previous strains.”
    “I’ve been following the stories and looking at what data I can find,” said Paul, feeling frightened at a confirmation of his belief. “I suspected much the same thing.”
    “There’s more.”
    “More?” Paul asked.
    “The new strain may already be mobile.”
    “Mobile?” Paul asked, not sure exactly what she meant.
    “A German lab matched cases in Frankfurt with the new strain.”
    “In Frankfurt?” he asked. “I haven’t heard anything about those on the news. Well, one or two maybe.”
    “Dr. Wheeler is getting his information through the medical community, and it looks to me like the government has been keeping a tight lid on Ebola information. They’ve got more cases than have been reported in the news.”
    “I’ve seen news of cases popping up here and there in lots of major cities,” he replied.
    “Yeah,” Olivia agreed. “They may all be the new strain.”
    Paul didn’t follow up with questions about how she jumped to that last conclusion. He knew his daughter well enough to be sure that if she had taken the risk to make him aware, she was certain the information she was sharing was true.
    “Dad, I know you can work from home. Can Heidi?”
    “Yes.”
    “Indefinitely?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then I think you should. Hunker down at home, and avoid contact with people. Start today.”

Chapter 21
    The German Chancellor, in a surprise news conference called to address an Ebola outbreak in Frankfurt, announced that every one of the thirty-eight confirmed cases had been traced back to the airport there. She further announced that the government was considering the drastic decision of shutting down all air traffic in and out of the country.
    Lufthansa’s stock price in after-hours trading on European markets plummeted by nearly twenty percent. US airline stocks, still trading in New York and Chicago, took a beating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the number most laymen thought reflected the pulse of the US economy, didn’t contain any airline stocks. One of its components was Boeing, which everybody knew manufactured airliners. General Electric was another component, and in its vast catalogue of manufactured goods were jet engines. Both companies plummeted with the airlines, dragging down the Dow. That spooked an already jittery market, and as the market neared the closing bell, it had shed nearly six percent on the heaviest volume day ever.
    The Bear was on the trading floor and investors were stampeding for the exits.
    Gold prices were on the rise. Oil prices were on the way down because everyone foresaw an Ebola-related economic slowdown. It was disaster for all the people Najid knew in the oil business. For Najid, it was a good day. The markets had finally turned in the direction he’d engineered. His massive bet—while far from profitable—was losing him less money.
    He was in a better mood when an email came from Hadi. Najid opened the email and clicked the link. In a trite scene soon to turn graphically brutal, Jalal, the English boy, knelt in the sand, nothing but desert behind him and clear blue sky above. Jalal’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying. A piece of cloth was pulled tightly between his teeth, presumably tied behind his head. His hands were bound.
    Jalal’s face was bruised and his clothes were spattered with blood, presumably his. Where other viewers saw needless brutality, Najid saw more chances for Jalal to transmit his gift to Hakimi or someone in his inner circle. Najid didn’t harbor any illusions that Jalal had kept anything secret. Najid felt certain Jalal had told Hakimi every single thing he could remember about his time in Kapchorwa, his time in Pakistan, and even how many times he’d had inappropriate thoughts about the young girls in his high school. To Najid, Jalal didn’t appear to be strong, and that