Shelter in Place

By Harry Katzan Jr.

This is a timely book exemplifying how a distinguished Professor and a decorated military General can combine their skills and knowledge to entail the solution to international problems.

They are motivated by “doing good for humanity” rather than monetary reward.

The plot delineates a series of adventures wherein the protagonists apply their skills starting with the thwarting of an attempt to assassinate the President of the United States to a noble dinner for the Queen of England, while identifying the ongoing danger of international terrorism.

The book is an ongoing example of the worthwhile adventures of Matt and the General.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781663202581

Harry Katzan Jr.

Harry Katzan, Jr. is a professor who has written several books and many papers on computers and service, in addition to some novels. He has been a advisor to the executive board of a major bank and a general consultant on various disciplines. He and his wife have lived in Switzerland where he was a banking consultant and a visiting professor. He is an avid runner and has completed 94 marathons including Boston 13 times and New York 14 times. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

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SHELTER

IN PLACE

A NOVEL

HARRY KATZAN JR.

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SHELTER IN PLACE

A NOVEL

Copyright © 2020 Harry Katzan Jr

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0259-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0260-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0258-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910567

iUniverse rev. date:  06/10/2020

CONTENTS

Preface

Prologue To The Story

One Cambridge, Massachusetts

Two Boston, Massachusetts

Three Zürich, Switzerland

Four Boston, Massachusetts

Five Boston, Massachusetts

Six Zürich, Switzerland

Seven Boston, Massachusetts

Eight Zürich, Switzerland

Nine Zürich, Switzerland

Ten Zürich, Switzerland

Eleven Boston, Massachusetts

Twelve New Jersey

Thirteen Boston, Massachesetts

Fourteen Grindelwald And Zürich, Switzerland

Fifteen Boston, Massachusetts

Sixteen New Jersey And Boston, Massachusetts

Seventeen Boston, Massachusetts And New Jersey

Eighteen New Jersey

Nineteen New Jersey

Twenty New Jersey

Twenty-One New Jerseyand Zürich, Switzerland

Twenty-Two New Jersey

Twenty-Three Zürich, Switzerland

Twenty-Four Boston, Massachusetts

Twenty-Five Zürich, Switzerland

Twenty-Six New Jersey And Boston, Massachusetts

Twenty-Seven London, England

Twenty-Eight London, England

Twenty-Nine New Jersey

Thirty New Jersey

Thirty-One New Jersey

Thirty-Two New Jersey

Thirty-Three New Jersey And New York

Thirty-Four New Jersey

Thirty-Five New Jersey

Afterword

About The Book

About The About The Author

Once again for Margaret

PREFACE

W e live in difficult times and the title of this book reflects those times. The COVID-19 virus attacked the world that we know in the spring of 2020. It is a pandemic and it took most people by surprise. History will say that it originated in China and spread from there to the rest of civilized society. This book is not about the pandemic. On the contrary, it is about what happened during that unfortunate e vent.

This book was written in its entirety during the time when most people were quarantined to counter the ominous threat, hence the title Shelter in Place. The virus is highly contagious and people were encouraged to maintain a social distance from other individuals when out in the general public, and to stay indoors when possible. The wearing of facemasks was advised, and many people wore gloves and protective clothing, as well. Medical supplies and first responders were in short supply, and the death rate was high for a sickness of its kind. There was no vaccine to prevent the virus, and no medicine to cure persons once they were unlucky enough to attract it.

The symptoms of the virus, referred to as coronavirus, are fever, dry cough, and tiredness and ironically, 80% of persons that recover from the disease recover without receiving special treatment. Older people, and people with other medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, may be more susceptible to becoming severely ill. More men contract COVID-19 than women. People that have contracted the disease may be sick 1 to 14 days before developing symptoms. In severe cases, sick persons may have difficulty breathing.

Protection against the virus involves personal hygiene and good respiratory behavior. Most municipalities adopt a slogan such as Go home, Stay home. Thus, persons are advised to shelter in place by staying home except when absolutely necessary to be out.

Many persons are quarantined against the disease and the workplace is affected, since people are kept from work, resulting in financial difficulty. Social events involving 10 persons or more are cancelled and education is disrupted. Because older persons, who are most susceptible to the disease, are particularly at risk, special store hours are offered for them. When appropriate, food and supplies can be picked up at a supply center or are specially delivered. The medical facilities of a country with a COVID-19 outbreak are often taxed to the absolute limit, and first responders are frequently at a high risk. The medical profession is preparing medicines and vaccines to deal with the disease. Thank goodness for all of those dealing with the problems associated with the disease.

The author,

May 11, 2020

PROLOGUE TO THE STORY

I t was about seven o’clock on a warm August morning. The weather in Boston was beautiful. As seagulls stretched their wings over the choppy water, a lonely runner cruised along the causeway serving as access to the port area. Most of Boston was still asleep.

The runner ran past Rowes Wharf where the commuter boats started their hourly journey from the financial district to the antiquated Logan Airport situated directly across the bay. A wide-body jet, perhaps originating from England or Germany, was making its final approach over the harbor. The upscale Harbor Towers apartment buildings loomed on his right. The runner continued past the State Street Bank building and on to Boston’s north end - a community within a community. There are years of history in these streets. He thought. Paul Revere. John Hancock. Samuel Adams. Peter Fanueil. He picked up speed as he zipped by the Lewis and Lincoln Wharfs. Then, directly in front of the Marine Safety building, he was down. Stunned by his impact with solid concrete. What happened? I can’t move. Was I shot? Did I trip?

Are you all right? asked a well-dressed gentleman headed towards the financial district. At first, the runner hurt so badly that he couldn’t even speak. Then he muttered, I think so. The man went on his way. Totally disinterested. Typical Boston. The runner had tripped. He tried to stand, staggered, and fell back. Finally, he struggled to his feet. It’s really too far to walk back to the apartment. I might as well keep running. My knee hurts. I can’t move my left arm at all. I’ll cross over the Charlestown Bridge and return. That will be about three miles. I hope I didn’t scrape my chin. I think I did. I have an important meeting today. He continued on his way. What a way to start a beautiful day in Boston.

At about the same time in Zurich, Switzerland, another large jet landed at Kloten Airport. A man and a woman were waved through customs with their luggage intact and secured a taxi. At the fashionable Baur au Lac Hotel, near the Lake of Zurich, the woman emerged, and the taxi headed to the elegant Hotel Dolder Grand on the outskirts of the city.

This novel describes the events preceding and following the above scenario.

ONE

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CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

S hep! What happened? exclaimed Professor Bruce White, chairman of the Mathematics Department. Professor John Shepardson Turner, his star attraction for the first faculty meeting of the school year, had turned up injured. Shep, as he was usually called, and White attended graduate school together and stayed close friends, even though the years had separated them geographically. They were active participants in the traditional academic system of revolving chairs. White received an appropriate grant and invited Turner for his sabbatical. Turner had an open slot, and he invited White. For this year, Turner was on sabbatical leave and was looking forward to an extended period of research and writing, free from the ennui of meetings, committees, student advising, and office hours. When you left our house last evening, you were okay.

Sorry Bruce. I know you wanted to introduce me to the department, even though many of them already know me, but I tripped while running this morning and was going too fast to catch myself. I might have a physical problem. I can’t raise my left arm and am having some trouble walking. Here he was: a respected academic person with a skinned nose and chin, limping, and clearly unable to move the left side of his body.

Don’t worry. Don’t worry. White was obviously worried. Leah will take you to the Cambridge call-in center. You’re covered by our health plan; it’s part of the sabbatical package. White answered in a reassuring tone. He clearly was the social animal in the department, and even though his enthusiasm for research had diminished, he had the unyielding support of his faculty.

If you don’t mind introducing a broken twig, I should like to attend your meeting and take care of these body parts afterwards. Turner responded with some apprehension, almost as though it were away of postponing bad news from the doctor rather than a sense of loyalty to his friend.

Thanks Shep. I appreciate it a lot. But don’t worry a bit. Boston is the medical center of the world, and there is no problem they can’t solve. They will have you up and around in just a few days. I’ll have Leah, the departmental admin, call in advance so they will take you right in.

*   *   *   *   *

As faculty meetings go, it was an overwhelming success. White could never remember a first meeting devoid of bickering over schedules and course loads and complaints about the Dean and any new policies adopted over the summer break. Every member of the department made it in, and even a few guests managed to drop by. After White introduced Turner, many of the junior faculty had questions about his research directions and what was going on in their field. Turner was well established and apparently bigger-than-life, but his disabled state brought him down to earth. Before long the conversation degenerated to everyday items such as housing, which for practical reasons is a problem of considerable interest in the Cambridge area. Many of the new faculty had some difficulty acquiring affordable accommodations close to the campus.

I’ve arranged for Shep to stay in Professor Thomas’ apartment over by the harbor, said White, that should provide him with ready access to the Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market area with a view of the water and Logan Airport.

It’s also close to the Computer Museum and the Aquarium, someone added.

Harper Thomas, owner of an apartment in a luxury high-rise building overlooking the Boston harbor, was off to ETH in Zurich, Switzerland for the year. ETH may very well be the MIT of Europe, but hardly anyone believed that Thomas’ interests went much beyond skiing, mountain climbing, and tending to the family’s financial fortune, and Zurich was the place to do it. Thomas was also a member of White and Turner’s graduate school foursome, composed of Shep Turner, Bruce White, Harp Thomas, and Matt Miller. It’s always convenient to have a rich kid on the team, especially one who would spend a considerable amount of time surfing the Internet, if only to know who was doing what in a particular area of research. Actually, all four of them were wealthy.

New office computers were installed over the summer, and White was certain that the faculty would discuss every detail of the new equipment. Particular systems were usually assigned by rank, years of service, and grants obtained over the previous school year. As usual, the highest-ranking professors, who did the least amount of computer work, got the fastest computers. The president of the University purportedly got the fastest and the best computer on the entire campus.

"Does Dr. Thomas, as usual, get the fastest machine in the department?

"He gets a Windows 10 machine with an i7 chip with 8 gigs of memory, 250 gigs of solid state storage, and a terabyte of conventional storage. He got us two nice grants from the defense department this past year, and I would say he deserves whatever he gets.

What is the speed of the chip? asked Allan Weinberg. Weinberg was notorious for his interest in fast computers for doing speech analysis.

I do not know, White answered remotely.

I could use one of those, Weinberg remarked.

You should talk. You have a fantastic lab with a Cray and a bunch of top-notch grad students, another faculty member added. Small computers were a departmental issue, since an earlier processor contained a problem with certain mathematical operations that caused havoc for math faculty and students.

I got an appropriate grant.

Life was back to normal in the Math Department.

*   *   *   *   *

Sit right here Professor. I’ll get my bag and we’ll be on our way. I’ve called ahead and they are waiting for you, Leah Richardson commanded, as she trotted down the hall. She had been waiting apprehensively for the meeting to end. In a flash, she was back. Okay. We can go now. We have to go to the parking garage. I have a small sports car, but I think we can make it to the call-in center all right.

The trip to