L10-1 Surrounded

"Just what were you thinking, Dr. Kujo? Thanks to your grandstanding, the place is in absolute chaos," accused Saegusa, an elderly professor in charge of the Pandemic Task Force at the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. "How dare you issue a warning about an escaped viral patient over the airwaves without consulting the Infectious Disease Countermeasures Network first. And not by Professor Nikaido himself, but by you, a representative. Anyone with common sense—"

"We are in a race against time," Kujo interrupted Saegusa, who spoke as he wiped his glasses. "What would have happened if we consulted you first? There would have been endless meetings over whether or not to announce the threat of the virus and over who would accept the responsibility of doing so. In fact, how long did it take you to summon me here?"

"Action is to be taken when all the necessary preparations have been made. In the end, that is the most effective way to proceed."

But Kujo dismissed such a Japanese way of thinking. "I am merely pointing out this country's lack of crisis management skills when it comes to infectious diseases."

"What's done is done," said Saegusa. "But Dr. Kujo, after all your requests for information over the airwaves, we have yet to receive any information about the girl. Is there really such a girl on the run?"

The members of the task force looked toward Kujo at once. They were the stereotypical Japanese corporate drones who, while loath to bear any responsibility themselves, obsessed with finding blame in others.

Kujo faced them as a way to repel their stares. "The girl who was infected is Professor Nikaido's daughter. She was accidentally infected with the new strain of virus her father had been researching."

"Did you conceal how she was infected and lie about her escaping a hospital to protect Professor Nikaido?"

I couldn't go public with the truth because Professor Nikaido was the one who smuggled the virus into Japan in the first place. The professor was involved with a terrorist organization and was planning to take part in a viral terrorist attack. We think his daughter was infected in the process."

"Not Professor Nikaido..." one of the task force members said in disbelief.

"As you know, Nikaido Research Lab is a biosafety level four facility, but it's prohibited from handling viruses above level three per an agreement with residents in the area. Nevertheless, the virus was smuggled into the lab, and the lab's director who was plotting a viral terrorist attack has gone missing. And now his daughter, a carrier of the virus, has escaped. Do you really think we can report the truth, such as it is?"

The task force members averted their eyes at once, reluctant to get involved. They began to speak in hushed tones with the person next to them, not one willing to propose a solution that could be put into action.

"What is the transmission risk of the virus?" one member asked after collecting himself.

"It has both a transmission risk and fatality rate higher than that of the Ebola virus. And after the two-week incubation period, it will multiply at an explosive rate."

"How does it...?" Saegusa hesitated to ask the question.

"It's an airborne virus," Kujo answered soberly.

The conference room fell silent again. The virus could spread from the host's phlegm, cough, and vomit and enter the new host's lungs. This was a virus with an extremely high fatality rate, which was also capable of spreading exponentially.

"What would you like to do? Will you allow this country to be wiped out or will you establish a task force immediately?"

No one uttered a word. Finally Saegusa relented. "We have no choice. We'll have to set up a task force. And I expect you to take part, Dr. Kujo."

Even as Kujo nodded with a hard look on her face, she was trying desperately to keep from laughing at the performance Saegusa was putting on.

Konishi took one look at Kujo who returned to the hideout and smiled. "I take it everything went well."

"Yes, I was brought onto the task force without any problem. It will be set up inside the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare."

Kujo took off her coat and fixed her eyes on the biotope in the center of the room.

"I gather the information about Saegusa's collusive activities with a pharmaceutical company was useful." Matoba's voice came from the other end of the biotope.

"Yes, it was all I could do to keep from laughing."

"So the girl will be captured soon enough. You were right, the job of catching her should be left up to the experts. What with this still going on..." Konishi glanced at the dozens of red dots scattered across the map of Japan and threw his hands up in surrender.

"Yes, but I want you to continue working on locating the girl's GPS."

"Huh? Why is that?"

"We still want to get to the girl first. Any witness reports we receive go directly to the task force. I'll leak the vital information to you here so you can use it to pinpoint Maki's GPS."

"What happens if the police get to her first?"

"Once she's found, she will have to be quarantined. Since the hospital won't know how to treat this new strain of virus, they will defer treatment to the task force."

"In either case, the girl will end up in our hands," Matoba murmured. He gazed complacently at the harmonious world contained inside the biotope. "The day that this ideal world will become reality is at hand."

Kujo contemplated the biotope. But her gaze soon drifted to the distorted profile of Matoba reflected in the glass.

"An ideal world..."

No one noticed the cynical smile that crossed Kujo's lips.