‘Well, it looks good,’ Jack said. ‘Bingham was the major potential
stumbling block.’
‘I wonder if we should have told him we’re going to Africa because of
the liver issue?’ Laurie asked.
‘I don’t think so,’ Jack said. ‘He might have changed his mind about
letting us go. As far as he’s concerned, he wishes this case would just
disappear.’
Retiring to their separate offices, Laurie phoned the Equatoguinean
Embassy about the visas, while Jack called the airlines. She quickly
learned that Esteban had been right about the ease of getting a visa and
that it could be done that morning. Jack found Air France happy to make
all the arrangements, and he agreed to stop by their office that
afternoon to pick up the tickets.
Laurie appeared in Jack’s office. She was beaming. ‘I’m beginning to
think this is really going to happen,’ she said excitedly. ‘How’d you
do?’
‘Fine,’ Jack said. ‘We leave tonight at seven-fifty.’
‘I can’t believe this,’ Laurie said. ‘I feel like a teenager going on my
first trip.’
After making arrangements with the travel and immunization office at the
Manhattan General Hospital, they called Warren. He agreed to get in
touch with Natalie and meet them at the hospital.
The nurse practitioner gave each of them a battery of shots as well as
prescriptions for antimalarial drugs. She also urged them to wait a full
week before exposure. Jack explained that was impossible. The nurse’s
response was to say that she was glad they were going and not she.
In the hall outside the travel office, Warren asked Jack what the woman
meant.
‘It takes up to a week for these shots to take effect,’ Jack explained.
‘That is, except for the gamma globulin.’
‘Are we taking a risk, then?’ Warren asked.
‘Life’s a risk,’ Jack quipped. ‘Seriously, there’s some risk, but each
day our immune systems will be better prepared. The main problem is the
malaria, but I intend to take a hell of a lot of insect repellant.’
‘So you’re not concerned?’ Warren asked.
‘Not enough to keep me home,’ Jack said.
After leaving the hospital, they all went to a passport photo place and
had snapshots taken. With those in hand, Laurie, Warren, and Natalie
left to visit the Equatoguinean Embassy.
Jack caught a taxi and directed it to the University Hospital. Once
there, he went directly up to Dr. Peter Malovar’s lab. As usual he found
the aged pathologist bent over his microscope. Jack waited respectfully
until the professor had finished studying his current slide.
‘Ahhh, Dr. Stapleton,’ Dr. Malovar said, catching sight of Jack. ‘I’m
glad you came. Now, where is that slide of yours?’
Dr. Malovar’s lab was a dusty clutter of books, journals, and hundreds
of slide trays. The wastebaskets were perennially overflowing. The
professor steadfastly refused to allow anybody into his work space to
clean lest they disturb his structured disorder.
With surprising speed, the professor located Jack’s slide on top of a
veterinary pathology book. His nimble fingers picked it up and slipped
it under the microscope’s objective.
‘Dr. Osgood’s suggestion to have this reviewed by Dr. Hammersmith was
crackerjack,’ Dr. Malovar said as he focused. When he was satisfied, he
sat back, picked up the book, and opened it to the page indicated by a
clean microscope slide. He handed the book to Jack.
Jack looked at the page Dr. Malovar indicated. It was a photomicrograph
of a section of liver. There was a granuloma similar to the one on
Jack’s slide.
‘It’s the same,’ Dr. Malovar said. He motioned for Jack to compare by
looking into the microscope.
Jack leaned forward and studied the slide. The images did seem
identical.
‘This is certainly one of the more interesting slides you have brought
to me,’ Dr. Malovar said. He pushed a lock of his wild, gray hair out of
his eyes. ‘As you can read from the book, the offending organism is
called hepatocystis.’
Jack straightened up from looking at his slide to glance back at the
book. He’d never heard of hepatocystis.
‘Is it rare?’ Jack asked.
‘In the New York City morgue I’d have to say yes,’ Dr. Malovar said.
‘Extremely rare! You see it is only found in primates. And not only