PILLSBURY or The White Spot Death

Chapter 6.- We were with you all the way, Ronnie!

The last day of the International Virology Council held in Paris produced an unexpected silver lining. Scandinavian scientists presented reliable data suggesting that the letality rate in the coldest cities was noticeably lower than in the warmer ones. So, in Stavanger, city with an average temperature of 51º F in October, 76 out of 79 cases reported ended in death, but only 12 out of 22 cases reported in Hammerfest, city with a colder 41º F average, were fatal. When the news was published, New York black communities left their confinements to rush to the north, this time without any intervention after the September 22 massacre. The exodus was something never seen before. A lot of people on the run didn't consider Maine safe enough and tried to cross the Canada border to reach New Brunswick, a place with temperatures as low as 30ªF in December. With the approval of the liberal Canadian government, camps were settled there, without protection against the cold as black people themselves wanted despite the risk of catching other diseases due to the cold itself.

Back in America, Stern and Pillsbury reincorporated to their labors. FBI Special Agents T. J. Scott and Denisse Harper wasted no time and identified themselves in the front of the Loeffler Institute building. The director of Loeffler, Dr. Ted Planck, was not warned about the visit, so strict protocols had to be followed for anyone to get in there. The man received the two visitors in his office, as intrigued as he could be.

- Dr. Planck, we are here because we have some information about the profile of one of the main names in this place. We're talking about Dr. Dieter Stern.

- Stern? He's one of the top scientists here in Loeffler, that's why the HHS sent him to Paris. What's the issue with him?

Denisse produced a file with the man's profile. Planck looked astonished at the first moment, but he became very serious about it a second later.

- I swear I didn't know about this. I wouldn't've ever...

- I believe you, doctor. But I'm afraid we'll have to spend a little time interrogating this man.

The director conducted the agents to one of the laboratories where he knew Stern was working in at the moment. Pillsbury was also there. Stern was instructed by the director to leave the lab and talk to the agents, announcing he had to return inmediately to his office.

- Dr. Stern, we all know about the urgency to develop a vaccine as soon as possible, but we'd like you to cooperate with us by answering some few questions.

- Of course, we can go walking to a less protected ambiance as we talk.

T.J. and Denisse felt it had to be a kind of "we know what you did" interrogation, so they took care of selecting the appropriate questions.

- What were you working in before this pandemic started, Dr. Stern?

- It's kinda complicated to explain in detail here, but we call it vector virus technology.

- How does that technology work exactly, doctor?

- This technology removes the DNA from a virus, after which we modify that DNA making it uncapable to replicate. Then we take the resulting virus and use it for gene therapy.

- And tell me, these viruses you use... are usually pathogenic viruses?

- Only when we are developing a vaccine, but it's not the recommended action in other cases. Actually, we never used such kind of templates before, but we'll have to do it now with the new virus.

- Tell me, doctor, is it possible that, instead of medicinal uses, some viruses can be created to cause an infection?

- That won't be ethical, agent Scott, don't ever think about it. I know nobody doing that in America. We're not chineses, you know.