Haldane understood that time was no longer a luxury for the WHO or him. He had so much to do in the upcoming days and hours, but his mind kept drifting back to the scene shortly before his departure at his Washington suburb home in Glen Echo Heights, Maryland.
Chloe Haldane had yet another ear infection. A month shy of her fourth birthday, she had already suffered through a lifetime's worth of ear infections. With an insider's knowledge of side effects and complications, Noah Haldane viewed his daughter's antibiotic dependency dimly. He wasn't much more excited about the prospect of the myringotomy, or drainage tubes, that loomed in Chloe's near future.
Like many men, Haldane had entered fatherhood without much in the way of expectations, aside from the presumption of sleepless nights. But he took to the role with a passion he never imagined possible. From the moment he had first held her, Chloe became the focal point of his life. When not working or traveling, he happily dedicated the rest of his time to his daughter. In spite of his hectic schedule and the forced time apart, he still changed more diapers and attended more Baby Dance and Gymboree classes than most of his male counterparts. Chloe made it easy for her dad. His bias aside, she had a joyful temperament. So much so that when she was eight months old her parents took her to a pediatrician, concerned that she never cried. With a laugh, their doctor reassured them that time would soon rectify the deficiency; and with the onset of her ear infections, the tears did come. Even then, it only put a temporary dent in her otherwise sunny disposition.
Haldane lay beside Chloe in her bed. Cramped as he was, almost hanging off the side of the single bed, he loved the chance to snuggle in tight while reading her favorite stories. With their heads touching, he could feel the warmth from her brow. Her fever had yet to break. But after the fifth story, her disproportionately loud snore assured Haldane she had nodded off. Realizing that this would be his last chance for weeks, maybe months, he lay beside Chloe for half an hour longer before rising, kissing her on the forehead, and heading downstairs.
When he walked into the living room, he found his wife sitting sideways on the couch with knees bent and bare feet drawn up on the gray fabric. She nursed a mug of tea in her hand. With her other hand she brushed away a few strands of the long dark hair that drifted over her eyes. "How's she doing?" Anna asked.
"Still feels warm." Haldane said as he joined her on the couch. "But she's asleep."
Anna nodded, but her eyes focused on the coffee table beside him. "Will you be back in time for her birthday?"
Haldane shrugged. "I don't know."
Anna didn't respond.
"It's not like I'm heading off on a golf trip, Anna."
"No, you're off to save the world," she said with a trace of bitterness.
"You can drop the melodrama," Haldane said. "I didn't ask to go."
She looked up at him, her face softening. "I know, Noah. You never do."
He reached over and laid a hand on her knee. She didn't respond to the gesture, but neither did she withdraw from it as he had half expected she would.
They sat for several silent moments on the couch. Recognizing how much intimacy had been lost between them, Haldane felt a pang of remorse.
Free of makeup and wearing a loose hooded sweater, Anna struck him as painfully beautiful. Barely five feet, she had a slight figure, a ballerina's form. Her large brown eyes, high cheekbones, and slightly crooked smile aside, Anna possessed a fragile porcelain-doll quality that only enhanced her attractiveness.
He squeezed her knee. "When I get back--"
She shook her head. "Noah, there's no point in talking about it until you
are
back."
"I think we need to talk about it now," Haldane said. "This is about more than just you and me."
Anna stiffened in her seat. She pulled his hand off her leg and put her mug down on the coffee table. "You think I don't know that?"
"Sometimes, you don't
act
like you know it," he said.
She grunted a humorless laugh, and eyed him stonily. "You disappeared for over four months. Besides, you were gone before you left. Remember?" she said, referring to the stormy few months when Noah, by his own admission, had withdrawn from their marriage.
Haldane knew better than to let it escalate, but he couldn't help himself. "And that was reason enough to fall in love with someone else?"
She crossed her arms. "I wasn't looking for an excuse to. I was very lonely. It just happened, Noah."
"Bullshit, Anna," he snapped. "It doesn't just happen. I know I left you and Chloe, but there was a crisis going on, remember? I was needed over there."
"I needed you here," she said softly, looking down at her feet.
"Me?"
He grunted. "Or just somebody?"
She shook her head without looking up. "You don't get it, do you?"
"No, Anna, I don't. But you had better make up your mind soon. I'm not sharing you with another partner." He paused for a deep breath. "You are going to have to choose between her and me."
WHO HEADQUARTERS GENEVA
,
SWITZERLAND
Despite the sunshine and cloudless blue sky, the autumn chill brought a shiver to Haldane who, expecting warmer weather, was jacketless. Nonetheless, he welcomed the crisp Geneva air, which provided a partial reprieve from the exhaustion, jet lag, and slight hangover that were blending into a throbbing headache.
He stood with his suitcase slung over one shoulder and his laptop the other-4here had been no time to stop at his hotel on the way in from the airport--while he surveyed the familiar WHO headquarters. In the foreground fluttered a big blue WHO Bag, which consisted of the UN flag with a superimposed caduceus (staff and serpent). In the background rose the imposing main building whose waffle-style design looked a little more dated with each visit. What caught his eye this time was the never before seen show of force. Armed guards shouldering automatic rifles were posted on the street and at the entryways. An incongruent sight for peaceful Switzerland, but since the lethal bombing of a UNICEF meeting in Baghdad the UN wasn't taking chances. Haldane found all the security measures a depressing reminder that the world was a little less safe than it used to be.
He lingered for a few more breaths of the refreshing air before heading up the main pathway. After flashing his credentials for two sets of guards, he entered the foyer where an assistant met him, stored his suitcase, and shepherded him up to the tenth-floor conference room.
The meeting was already in progress when Haldane stepped inside. With his usual French flourish Dr. Jean Nantal rose from his seat and rushed over to greet Noah with a hug and kiss on each cheek. "Ah, Noah, how good of you to come."
Impeccably groomed, lean with a long narrow face, Dr. Jean Nantal appeared the epitome of a distinguished European professor. In his mid-sixties, Nantal was a legend in Public Health circles. In his youth, he had been one of the architects of the wildly successful international smallpox eradication program of the '60s and '70s. With his ready smile and soothing French accent, the WHO's Executive Director of Communicable Diseases had a gift for putting people at ease, which helped explain his enormous popularity and his ability to draw Herculean effort and self-sacrifice from his staff.
"Hello, Jean," Haldane said. "Sorry, I couldn't get over any sooner."
Nantal waved his hand as if it were a bird taking flight. "Nonsense, Noah. We appreciate you coming on such short notice." He indicated the others in the room with a sweep of his hand. "I think you know everyone here, NON?"
Noah nodded to the three people at the table. "Hello, Helmut," he said to Helmut Streicher, the stern young Austrian epidemiologist with blond hair and brooding grayish blue eyes. "Milly." He smiled at the petite shy Taiwanese microbiologist, My Li Yuen, who called herself Milly, if she spoke at all. But he saved his warmest wet-come for Duncan McLeod, the gangly Scottish virologist and fellow emerging pathogens expert who, personality aside, made an unforgettable impression thanks to his flaming red hair, scraggly beard, and lazy left eye. "Duncan, how the hell are you?" Noah asked.
"Great! Shite! Couldn't be better," McLeod bellowed with typical loud irreverence. "The Chinese have finally done it this time, Haldane. Unleashed unholy Armageddon on us from one of their overcrowded farms. And the best part? Jean's going to drop us into the eye of the hurricane like a couple of ill-fated palm trees!"
"Ah, Duncan, always so colorful." Nantal laughed. "I think you are getting ahead of yourself." He turned to Haldane. "Have you had a chance to peruse the material we sent?"
Haldane rummaged through his carrying case, pulling out the e-mail printouts, before sliding into the seat beside Yuen. "I read through what you sent, Jean, but there are a few holes in the picture."
"No shite!" McLeod piped up. "You could drive a tank through them"
Nantal flashed his unflappable smile. "Let's review what we do know, shall we?' He looked over at Streicher, "Helmut, for Noah's benefit, do you mind reviewing the fascinating details you've just shared?"
Streicher frowned before reaching for the open laptop computer in front of him. "Please." He pointed at the screen on the far wall. He clicked the mouse and a map of China appeared. He tapped a key and the map zoomed in on northern China. An area in the screen's center, roughly the shape of Florida, turned light pink. "Gansu Province."
Streicher clicked the mouse again. A small red "X" appeared north of the largest regional center, Jiayuguan City. "First known infection was documented on a farm fifty miles north of Jiayuguan City."
"Same old story, Haldane," McLeod cut in. "Pigs, sheep, ducks, and Farmer Chan all drinking out of the same water supply. Common waste system, too. Shite! The whole farm probably ate with the same pair of bloody chopsticks. Their viruses allowed to--no. hell, encouraged to--mingle, share DNA secrets, and superinfect each other's hosts. Lo and behold we get the second coming of the plague."
McLeod waved to My Li Yuen in a belated "no offense" gesture, but his diatribe had no visible effect on her. His acknowledgment, however, caused her to flush. "I know, Duncan," she said in a slight high-pitched voice with only a trace of an accent. "You don't hate
all
Chinese, right?" she giggled.
"Very true. Especially the Taiwanese. Marvelous folks. Shite, Milly, truth be known, I've got a gigantic crush on you." He blew her a kiss, which drew another giggle and a deeper shade of red from the microbiologist.
"As I was saying," Streicher said, unamused. "According to the authorities the first four cases, two adults and two children, developed symptoms just over three weeks ago. "
"Has the Chinese government played ball so far?" Haldane asked.
Nantal nodded. "Noah, it seems they've learned from their last experience," he said, without specifying the SARS outbreak. "They're the ones who invited us to come."
"Fucking great!" hollered the redheaded Scot "I was wondering where to send the thank-you card!"
Like a child whose story had been interrupted one time too many, Streicher huffed and raised his voice louder. "Over the ensuing two weeks we see direct spread to neighboring farms. Eighty infected, twenty dead. The notable feature in this pocket of infection is the very short incubation period. Two to three days."
Streicher tapped the button and a few more Xs appeared in a cluster around the first one. "From these index cases," he said, using the medical term for the first patient or patients responsible for local outbreaks, "we see spread to the towns north of Jiayuguan. Hundreds more infected. Same rapid incubation."
"Mortality rate?" Haldane asked.
"The early figures suggest roughly twenty-five percent" Streicher ran a hand through his thick blond hair. "Appar . ently, the young and the healthy are worst affected."
"Oh ..." Haldane muttered. "That sounds familiar."
Jean Nantal read the recognition on Haldane's face. "Ah, yes. We've been wondering about that, too. Maybe the Spanish Flu has come back to visit, NON?" Nantal grinned in his disarming way. "It's a bit premature to know."
"The first case was documented four days ago in Jiayuguan City," Streicher said. "According to local authorities they've only had a handful of cases in the city itself, but it is early."
"Very." Haldane nodded. "And the hospitals?"
"Coping quite well." Nantal clasped his hands and shook them in a victorious gesture. "They've been doing better so far than with the SARS outbreak. No documented spread of the infection within hospitals. You see, Noah? There is a silver lining."
Not much of one, Haldane thought, but he nodded without comment.
Nantal turned to Yuen. "Milly, can you share a little background on the microbiology?"
Yuen shuffled through her notes. Though she wasn't reading them, she kept her eyes fixed on the pages as she spoke. "We've only had the blood samples for under a week, but the bacterial and viral cultures are negative thus far. We're running standard phenotypical and molecular viral diagnostics. We have run PCR, polymerase chain reaction, to every common viral family ... so far nothing conclusive."