The Blacker Death: An Ebola Thriller by Larry Enright Read Free Book Online Page B

cop. Right, Isabelle?”
    She pulled out her ID and handed it to me. I squinted at it. “What’s a Veiligheid van de Staat?” I asked.
    “Veiligheid van de Staat is the Belgian State Security Service. I’m Special Agent Aimée.”
    “Is that like the Belgian CIA?”
    “More like your FBI, but our jurisdiction is wider.”
    “Okay. I’m guessing you’re here because of François Birot.”
    “I was assigned to his security detail.”
    “Where were you when he keeled over in the Hyatt?”
    “You haven’t changed much in five years, Bam,” Jimmy said.
    “Has it been that long?”
    “Yeah, it has.”
    “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not very good at the whole friendship thing.”
    “This isn’t an interrogation, you know,” he said.
    “Good. My coworkers tell me I’m not too good at that either.”
    The beers came. I raised my glass.
    “My apologies,” I said. “Here’s to you, Agent Aimée.”
    “My friends call me Izzy.”
    “Okay, Izzy it is.”
    “And I was in New York when it happened.”
    “What the hell was he doing in Philly, and how the hell did he contract Ebola?”
    “His father lives in Philadelphia. We assume he was coming to visit.”
    “And we still don’t know if he had Ebola,” Jimmy said. “This beer’s a little strong for my tastes.” He called the waiter over and ordered a Bud. The waiter asked if he wanted to ditch the Chimay, but I told him I’d drink it. It had a nice kick to it.
    “It will get you looped very fast, if you don’t take it easy,” Isabelle said.
    “We’ll see,” I said. “So, how come you weren’t with him?”
    “Birot had a bad habit of sneaking off. It was mostly for the women. That’s where we were looking in New York when the embassy got the call.”
    “Has he been to Philly before?”
    “Only once he came to Philadelphia to see his father during my assignment, and I’ve been with him for two years.”
    “Been to Africa with him?”
    “No, and I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t see how that can be.”
    “Why not?”
    She seemed embarrassed. I figured covering up for a whoring diplomat’s exploits would do that, so I gave her a hand.
    “He wasn’t into African women?”
    She nodded.
    “Then, how’d he get Ebola?”
    “Still no word from the CDC, and they haven’t started the autopsy, Bam,” said Jimmy.
    “What’s the holdup?”
    “They’re just trying to be careful.”
    “There are other kinds of viral hemorrhagic fever, Marburg, for one,” Isabelle said. “That one is European. It first showed up in Germany in the sixties.”
    “Is that a good thing?”
    “It’s just as deadly.”
    “Oh.”
    “Lassa fever and yellow fever are two others, but they, like Ebola, are primarily African.”
    “You seem to know your killer diseases pretty well.”
    “Only what I read.”
    “So, you’re saying that even if it isn’t Ebola, it’s probably something just as bad. Is that what I should tell Billy?”
    “I’m sorry,” Isabelle said. “Jimmy told me about your partner. I am praying for him.”
    I looked across the room at two guys arguing over something stupid, pondered the idea of going over there to knock some sense into them, and let it go. “Thanks.”
    The waiter came and we ordered dinner.
    “What have you been up to lately?” Jimmy asked me.
    “Not much. We didn’t do our homework on a guy we were tailing who was in deep with a New York mob, and he got whacked right under our nose yesterday.” I gave them the Cliff’s Notes version of the story of Gyro and Carmine. “We have the perps in custody on a weapons charge, but given our track record, they’ll get off with a fine and a slap on the wrist. Fidelity, bravery, and integrity — that’s our motto, but only because they couldn’t fit stupidity on the badge.”
    “That’s a very cynical attitude,” Isabelle said.
    “Yeah, well, when you don’t do such a hot job in the protect and serve department, people die. Sometimes they’re scumbags,