Henry nodded like an interested student, but his face burned with shame. He, who hated deception of any sort, was now a deceiver. He cared about Majid, and now he had compromised him, perhaps even endangered him. He shrank from the welcoming smiles of the Muslims in the room, who felt joy for the salvation they believed Henry had earned. But Henry knew that salvation would never be his.
Dr. Ahmed was looking at him expectantly, obviously awaiting some acknowledgment about his conversion. Instead, Henry’s tone grew sharp. “You said there were ten patients. Here there are only six.”
The expression on Dr. Ahmed’s face immediately changed. “We have no more room for isolation,” he said apologetically. “We are always crowded during hajj, and this season we are at capacity. Even more than that.”
“So where are the others?”
Dr. Ahmed spoke to the nurse, then said, “Three are in the ward on Level Two, and one”—here he broke off and confirmed the news with the nurse—“one left the hospital. We think she returned to her delegation.”
In the appalled silence that followed, Dr. Ahmed hastened to explain. “We didn’t know what we were dealing with. We still don’t! You tell me, what is this, some kind of plague?”
“It’s influenza, but of an unknown type,” Henry said. “Three labs are already testing the antibodies of survivors in Indonesia to see if they match any known strains.”
“This man”—Dr. Ahmed indicated the dead man beside them—“we gave him antivirals. Is there a preferred course of treatment?”
“There’s little else to offer, aside from fluids and Tylenol,” Henry said. “Some will recover. In Indonesia, despite the palliative care, the lethality is 45 percent.”
“But this is like the Middle Ages,” Dr. Ahmed said. “We have nothing else to offer them?”
Just then, Dr. Ahmed received a call. Henry cast a sober and apologetic look at Majid. Weighing on his mind was another demand, the gravest he had ever considered.
“Bad news,” Dr. Ahmed said as he got off the phone. “Very bad news. We have new patients reporting hemorrhagic fevers.”
“How many?” Majid asked.
“Seventeen in the last hour,” Dr. Ahmed said. “This call concerned a request from Saudi National Hospital. They are overrun with pilgrims with similar symptoms. They wish to send them here. But we are beyond capacity already! There is no place to put them. To speak of isolation for so many is impossible. And another has died, the nurse I told you about.” He took a deep breath. “Nour was her name. She was one of our best.”
Henry steeled himself to speak, but Majid said the word before it came out of Henry’s mouth: “Quarantine. We will have to lock down the hospital. No one leaves. I fear all the hospitals will suffer the same consequence.”
Henry could see the fear in Dr. Ahmed’s eyes. To be locked inside with a ravaging disease was terrifying, even for professionals. Sanitation was already compromised. No doubt the hallways were swarming with virus from the influx of new patients. The nurse was only the first staff member to be sacrificed; more would certainly follow.
“You will be supplied with all the food and medicines you require,” Majid said encouragingly. “Additional medical personnel as well. This is a national emergency. We will do whatever is needed to assist the hospitals, and, of course, you will be recognized for your courage and steadfastness. As doctors, we sometimes have to place ourselves in a position no one would ever wish to be in. But this is our honor.”
“Not just the hospitals,” Henry said.
“Yes, Henry? We will require a list of key locations. It is good that you are here to advise us.”
“Mecca,” said Henry. “The entire city must be shut off. No access either direction.”
Majid looked at him as if he were insane. “Do you know what you are saying? Three million people are here! We cannot demand that they remain and—and what? Die? It’s not human, Henry! Also, I think, not possible.”
“Three million people,” Henry said. “Tomorrow they begin to return to their homes—in Morocco, China, Canada, South America, even on the smallest islands in the Pacific and little villages in the middle of Africa. But they will not travel alone. They will bring this disease with them. And the whole world will be infected, instantly, with no warning, no time to prepare. The experience we are having right now, in this hospital, will be repeated again and again. Even another week or ten days could make a difference for scientists all over