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CHAPTER ONE

Chicago

“OKAY, BEAUTIFUL, WHAT you got for lared at him

Miriaetting smart-mouthed”

“I’ve always been smart-mouthed”

“And get a haircut”

He pushed his shaggy light brown hair fro-haired look is in Besides—I’m worth it”

The clerk rolled her eyes and picked up three charts “You can have two sick kids with chicken pox in room six or a forty-three-year-old female with D&V behind curtain two” They lifted their heads in unison as the noise of so behind curtain two filled the air

He shuddered “Give rabbed the charts and walked down the corridor His eyes skied six and seven, just returned from abroad with chicken pox

He pushed open the door Unusually, the lights were dimmed in the room The two kids—brothers—lay on the beds with a parent at each bedside Alison, one of the nurses, was taking a tenancy bue from her scrub trousers “Sickest kids I’ve seen in a while,” she murmured

He gave her a s in “You safe to be in here?”

She sighed “After three kids of my own it’s safe to say I’m immune”

Sawyer crossed the roo the charts at the bottoood Chicken pox could be a lot more serious than a few itchy spots

“Hi, I’ to take a look at Ben and Jack” He extended his hand towards thein their exhausted expressions before turning to the sink, washing his hands and donning soloves

He walked over to Ben In the diht it was difficult to see his face, but it looked as if it was covered in red, bu to have a little look at you”

The six-year-old barely acknowledged that he’d spoken He glanced at the cardiac and BPthe increased heart rate and low blood pressure At first touch he could feel the teently at the sides of Ben’s neck Unsurprisingly his glands were swollen There were a number of spots visible on Ben’s face so he peeled back the cover to reveal only a few angry spots across his chest but a whole host across his forearms

The first thing that struck hie of developed and erupted at different times

Alar in his head Bearound him

He moved to the bottom of the bed and lifted Ben’s foot

There The same uniform spots on the soles of his fee

t He stretched over, reaching Ben’s hand and turning his palm over Red vesicular spots

He tasted bile in the back of his throat and glanced across the room to where Alison had switched on her telepathic abilities and had already hung soh the IV lines

“Where were you on vacation?”

The boys’ father shook his head “We weren’t on vacation I orking We’ve just come back from threecompany”

Somalia The last known place for a natural outbreak of this disease

“Were any of the locals you came into contact with sick?” There were aaround his head but he didn’t want to bombard the parents

Mrs Keating nodded “We were in the highlands A lot of the too serious We actually wondered if we’d taken a bug to them—ere the first people they’d come into contact with in years”

His reaction was instinctive “Step outside, please, Alison”

“What?” The nurse wrinkled her brow

He raised his voice, lifting his eyes and fixing the she would understand “Wait outside for me, please, Alison”

The atmosphere was electric She was an experienced nurse and could read the expression on his face She dropped the IV lines and headed for the door

“Is so started to stand

Sawyer crossed to the other bed Jack was lying with his back to hi the white sheet froently on his shoulder to pull him round

Identical His face was covered Red, deep-seated round vesicles All at the sa his chest but mainly on his forearms He opened Jack’s mouth Inside, his oral mucosa and palate were covered He checked the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands More identically formed red spots

He could feel chills sweeping his body It couldn’t be It couldn’t be This disease had been eradicated in the seventies No one had seen this disease since then

Then a little light bulb went off in his head Hadn’t there been a suspected outbreak a few years ago that had turned out to be chicken pox? The very thing that this was presumed to be? He ran the list of other possibilities in his head He knew them off by heart Anyone who’d ever worked in the DPA did

But the more he stared at the spots the more convinced he became that it was none of the alternatives

“How long since the spots appeared?”

The lances “A few days? They had a rash at first then the spots developed They’ve gotunwell before that—headaches, backaches, vo”

Sawyer felt as if he was in a bad movie Why him? Why did this have to happen while he was on duty?

Would sonize this? Realize the potential risks? Or would they just chalk it up to a bad dose of chicken pox and discover the consequences later? He’d put all this behind him He’d walked away and vowed never to be involved in any of this again He was in the s like this didn’t happen here Or they shouldn’t happen here

And right now that was he wanted to do again To walk out that front door and forget he’d ever seen any of this

He looked at the long inviting corridor outside He wasn’t a coward But he didn’t want this He didn’t want any of this The kind of thing that sucked you in until it squeezed all the breath from you

A shadow moved outside the door

But there was the killer A pregnant nurse standing outside that door A nurse who had been working with him and had contact with these children Could he walk away from her?

He glanced upwards It was almost as if someone had put her here so he couldn’t walk away His conscience would never allow him to do that

If only he didn’t know she was pregnant If only that little bue above her scrub trousers That would make this a whole lot easier

Then he could walk away

He took a deep breath and steeled himself He was a doctor He had a duty of care Not just to his colleagues but to these kids