"MD Spenser - Humano Morphs 4 Air Morph One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spenser M D)

What could she possibly have found in our water sample that frightened her so much that I could see it in her eyes? What could have concerned her so much that she couldn't discuss it over the telephone?
"Boys," she said. "I think you'd better sit down."
Freddy and I sank into the two chairs facing her desk. But Dr. Cumberton did not sit down. She paced around her office, running her fingers through her hair and looking worried.
Freddy and I sat silent. And still Dr. Cumber-ton paced and wrung her hands.
Finally, she turned and faced us. She took a deep breath, as if she was trying to compose herself.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to find out what was in the sample you brought from the lagoon," she said.
Freddy and I said nothing.
"I tested for one thing after another," Dr. Cumberton continued. "First, I tested for DDT. The results were negative."
She paused.
"I tested for Malathion. Negative. I tested for cyanide. Negative. Arsenic? Negative."
She stopped pacing and looked at us, wringing her hands as though she was washing them in thin air.
"I tested for every kind of poison I could think of," she said. "Then I looked in reference works for rarer kinds of poison. And I tested to see if any of them were in the water. They were not. The results were all negative, negative, negative."
I cleared my throat, but still my voice came out in a squeak.
"But you told me that you had found out what was in the water," I said.
"I have," Dr. Cumberton said. "Finally, completely out of ideas, almost as a joke, I tested for one last thing. I was certain that this test would prove negative, as well. But, to my astonishment, the test was positive. I must say, my jaw dropped. I knew, though, what kind of poison was in that lagoon at the milk factory. I know now what killed the cow and the bird."
"Well?" I croaked. "What was it?"
Dr. Cumberton swallowed hard and looked at us.
"Anthrax," she said. "It was anthrax."


Chapter Fifteen

"Anthrax!" I yelled. "How in the world... ?"
I was shocked. I could not believe my ears. How in the name of Saint Peter could anthrax have gotten into a lagoon at a state-of-the-art milking factory?
I noticed that Freddy was looking at me with a funny expression on his face Ч sort of amazed, sort of amused.
"You know what anthrax is?" he asked. "I thought you weren't interested in science."
"Yes, I know what anthrax is," I said, still agitated by what I had just heard. "And this isn't science. It's politics."
Dr. Cumberton interrupted us.
"Sometimes," she said, "science and politics overlap. Why don't you tell us what you know, Melvin."
"Well, anthrax is a biological weapon," I said. "I guess you'd call it a germ that's really deadly, and
some countries have developed it so they can threaten other countries with it. The way I get it, a little bit of anthrax can kill a lot of people really fast. If you released it in a big city, thousands of people would die."
"That's right," Dr. Cumberton said.
"I read about something that happened in Russia a long time ago, like in the 1970s, I think," I said. I squinted as I searched my mind, trying to remember. "It created a big political stink. I think there was an explosion at a factory making anthrax, and a lot people in the city that was right around there died. It's incredibly dangerous stuff."
"I am very impressed, Melvin," Dr. Cumberton said. "You are exactly right. The year was 1979 and the city was Sverdlovsk. As a result of the explosion, more than 1,000 people died."
"But here's what I don't get," I said. "The U.S. has agreed not to make biological weapons any more. So how in the world could a deadly poison like anthrax wind up in a lagoon outside the Nacirema Dairy Production and Research Center? It just doesn't make any sense!"
"I can answer that, Melvin," Freddy said. "You said it yourself: Anthrax is a germ. What it is really, in nature, is an animal disease. If you had paid any attention in science, you'd know that. Mrs. Ziggernaut told us about preventing outbreaks in animal herds, but you must have been daydreaming during that class."
I made a face at Freddy, but he ignored it,
"Anyway," he continued, "you find the anthrax disease in horses, sheep, goats Ч and cows. You said you saw a cow was lying right there by the lagoon. Obviously, that cow had anthrax and died from it right at the water's edge, polluting the whole pool of water."
"Oh," I said.
"No, Freddy, I'm afraid that's not it," Dr. Cumberton said. "It's an excellent theory, given what you know, but it is disproved by one scientific fact."
"What's that?" Freddy asked, looking perplexed.
"If the lagoon had been polluted by contact with the body of an infected animal," she said, "the levels of anthrax in the water would have been relatively low. Oh, the lagoon would still have been quite poisonous. Certainly poisonous enough to kill a bird. Poisonous enough to endanger a lot of people. I cannot tell you how glad I am that you boys were so careful when you collected the sample. But still, the concentration of anthrax in the water would be quite low."
"Yes?" Freddy said. "And?"
"The concentration of anthrax in the sample you brought me was very, very high. Unbelievably high."
I was thinking hard, trying to take it all in.
"None of it makes sense," I said for the second time. As I said it, I remembered vaguely having heard someone else use that phrase recently. But there was no time to think of that now. "So, how did the anthrax get there?" I asked. "Outside a milk factory?"
"I've been thinking about that," Dr. Cumber-ton said. "You seem to have read a lot about the explosion at the anthrax plant in Russia."
I nodded.
"Do you recall whether, after the explosion, the Russians admitted that the factory was manufacturing anthrax?" she asked.
I could feel the wheels of my brain turning.