Pandemic

Kabaal wondered if Sabri regretted the outburst. Kabaal didn't. For him it came as a relief. It removed the unknown from Sabri's motives, which had hung over Kabaal as a potential threat. And from his years in the newspaper business, Kabaal knew that motive was often inconsequential to result. Sometimes the people driven by the pettiest reasons, like greed and envy, reaped the biggest yields of all.

With the insight Kabaal felt empowered. He smiled paternally at Sabri. "Listen, Abdul, the world will one day know who you are, but not yet. It is too early. And it would jeopardize the operation."

Sabri nodded distantly.

Kabaal pointed at Sabri. "Soon though it will be safe to tell. And tell we will. Mark my words, Abdul. They will come to deeply regret not making you a general or even their commander-in-chief."

"I will wait for now," Sabri said coolly. "But one day soon…"

CHAPTER 23

AIR CANADA FLIGHT 372

Savard and Haldane caught the first direct flight to Vancouver out of Heathrow while McLeod stayed behind in London, promising to "clean up the bloody mess."

Recognizing that it would be his last chance at sleep for some time, Haldane dozed on and off in his window seat. It was a restless sleep punctuated by unsettled dreams and one memorable nightmare. In the dream, corpses lay piled on the streets, the same way they had in that village he had seen in Zaire during the Ebola rampage. Except these were not the dirt roads of Zaire, but the familiar streets of his own Glen Echo Heights neighborhood. And the bodies littering the sidewalks were those of his friends and neighbors. The only person left standing, Haldane dashed from corpse to corpse, gaping into the familiar faces of the dead, looking not for any index case but for his own family members.

Haldane woke with a start. He looked over to see Gwen speaking in hurried, hushed tones on the in-flight "air phone."

She hung up and glanced at him with a distracted grin. "Back from the dead, are we?"

Haldane pulled himself up in his seat and brought it forward. "Just a catnap."

Her brow creased. "You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Indian food for dinner." With his palms, he wiped the sleep from his eyes. "I always have vivid dreams when I eat spicy stuff." He pointed from the phone to the laptop. "Are you rounding up the troops in D.C.?"

"With something like this there are a lot of people and agencies to coordinate. It's a massive logistics headache."

"Hmmm," he said. "Are there any skeptics left?"

Savard shook her head slightly. "The bullet in the Vancouver index case buried the last of the doubt." She eyed him steadily. "Besides, Noah, the first cases have shown up stateside."

Though the news wasn't unexpected, he felt violated, as if his home had just been broken into. "Where?" he asked.

"Chicago."

"How many?"

"Four so far," she said.

"The link?"

"Football."

"Football?"

She sighed. "All the victims were at the Bears' game at Soldier Field three days ago."

"A football game," he snorted. "I know several of Chicago's ID guys," he said in reference to the infectious disease specialists. "They're world class. I have no doubt they'll handle this well."

"Can it be handled well?"

Haldane didn't answer. The soft hum of the aircraft filled the lull in their conversation. Finally, Haldane asked, "Gwen, do you have kids?"

"No. My husband… ex-husband… estranged husband…" She laughed uncomfortably. "We're separated, and I can never keep the terminology straight. We tried for a while, but it wasn't to be." She paused. "Truth is, we always seemed to put career in front of family. Shocking that we ended up apart, huh?" She uttered another laugh. "And you?"

"I've got a little girl, Chloe." His smile came out of nowhere.

She pointed at his jeans. "Can I see the photograph?"

"How do you know I carry one?" he asked as he reached for his wallet.

"Bet you carry more than one."

"Mea culpa," he said and flipped open his wallet to show her the side-by-side snapshots. The first caught Chloe in the midst of an openmouthed giggle, and the other, with a demure eyes-to-the-ground pose for the preschool photographer. "She'll be four soon," he said.

"Sweet." Savard took the wallet from his hand. She studied both photos and then held them up to compare to Noah's face. "I see a lot of you. Especially in this goofy shot." She tapped on the laughing Chloe.

"Thanks… I think." He took the wallet back and slid it into his pocket.

"Noah, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Okay."

"Family means an awful lot to you, right?"

"I was bracing for a tougher question than that." Haldane frowned. "Yes, it does."

Her expression didn't waver. "You must travel a lot with your WHO job?"