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By Root 1304 0

He decided not to wear a coat. It was cold outside, and the temperature would be very inhospitable to the virus in the unlikely event that it had somehow gotten on his scrubs. Reason told him that there was no real danger here. He'd never encountered Ebola clinically, but he knew as much about it as any man could. It was regrettably normal for people to show up with diseases whose presence they could not explain. Most of the time, careful investigation would reveal how it had been contracted, but not always. Even with AIDS, there was the handful of unexplained cases. But only a handful, and you didn't start with one of those as your Index Case. Professor Klein shivered when he got outside. The temperature was in the low thirties, with a north wind blowing down off Lake Michigan. But that wasn't the reason for his shaking.

PRICE OPENED THE door to the nose cabin. The lights were off except for a few faint indirect ones. The President was lying on his back and snoring loudly enough to be heard over the whining drone of the engines. She had to resist the temptation to tiptoe in and cover him with a blanket. Instead, she smiled and closed the door.

Maybe there is such a thing as justice, Jeff, she observed to Agent Raman.

The newsie thing, you mean?

Yeah.

Don't bet on it, the other agent said.

They looked around. Finally everyone was asleep, even the chief of staff. Topside, the flight crew was doing their job, along with the other USAF personnel, and it really was like a red-eye flight back to the East Coast, as Air Force One passed over central Illinois. The two agents moved back to their seating area. Three members of the Detail were playing cards, quietly. Others were reading or dozing.

An Air Force sergeant came down the circular steps, holding a folder.

FLASH-traffic for the Boss, she announced.

Is it that important? We get into Andrews in about ninety minutes.

I just take 'em off the fax machine, the sergeant pointed out.

Okay. Price took the message and headed aft. To where Ben Goodley was. It was his job to be around to tell the President what he needed to know about the important happenings in the world-or, in this case, to evaluate the importance of a message. Price shook the man's shoulder. The national intelligence officer opened one eye.

Yeah?

Do we wake the Boss for this?

The intelligence specialist scanned it and shook his head. It can wait. Adler knows what he's doing, and there's a working group at State for this. He turned back into his seat without another word.

DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, Klein told the policeman. Best for you to stand right by the door, but if you want to follow us around, don't touch a thing. Wait. The physician reached into the plastic trash bag he'd brought along, and pulled out a surgical mask in a sterile container. Put this on, okay?

Anything you say, Doc.

Klein handed over the house key. The police officer opened the door. It turned out that there was an alarm system. The control panel was just inside the door, but not turned on. The two physicians put on their own masks and donned latex gloves. First, they turned on all the lights.

What are we looking for? Quinn asked.

Klein was already looking. No cat or dog had come to note their arrival. He saw no bird cages-part of him had hoped for a pet monkey, but somehow he knew that wasn't in the cards. Ebola didn't seem to like monkeys very much, anyway. It killed them with all the alacrity it applied to human victims. Plants, then, he thought. Wouldn't it be odd if Ebola's host was something other than an animal? That would be a first of sorts.

There were plants, but nothing exotic. They stood in the center of the living room, not touching anything with their gloved hands or even with their green-trousered legs, as they turned around slowly, looking.

I don't see anything, Quinn reported.

Neither do I. Kitchen.

There were some more plants there, two that looked like herbs in small pots. Klein didn't recognize their type and decided to lift them.

Wait. Here, Quinn said, opening a drawer and finding freezer bags. The plants