The Nightmare Scenario by Gunnar Duvstig Read Free Book Online Page B

thought had to count for something.
    “Roger, this is very sweet of you, but I already have a stethoscope, several of them in fact, as do most doctors. Also, I’m not a clinician so I never use them.”
    “This isn’t just any stethoscope. It belonged to someone I think you know. It belonged to Dr. Urbani.”
    “Dr. Carlo Urbani? Really?”
    “You know of him, I take it?”
    Rebecca knew very well who Carlo Urbani was. He was the epidemiologist who received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders. He was the one who discovered SARS in Hanoi and blew the whistle. He was the one who established the first containment, and without the time he by that bought the medical community, they would never have been able to stop it. He treated patients without concern for his own life, and died from it as a consequence.
    “Of course I do! He’s a hero. And not only to me. Every epidemiologist thinks so. Aeolus Hughes himself wrote his eulogy, for Christ’s sake. Where on earth did you get this?”
    Roger shrugged. “Let’s just say that sometimes it pays off to have people who owe you favors.”
    “Roger, this is a
fantastic
gift. Thank you. That is really very sweet.”
    She leaned across the table, put her hand on his and kissed him gently on the cheek.
    “You know what day it is today, right?” he asked.
    Rebecca did not.
    “It is exactly twelve years since we first met.”
    Rebecca felt her eyes tear up and took a deep breath to keep it from showing.
    “Boy, now I
really
feel stupid. I am so sorry, Roger.”
    “I’m glad you like it. So can we get on with the interview now?”
    “Roger…”
    “Look, I brought you a gift. You brought me nothing,” Roger said, turning his palms upward, inviting her to challenge his conclusion.
    It felt utterly absurd. After this considerable emotional turbulence, the man still wanted to talk about his interview. Well, what could a girl do? Somehow he had earned it.
    “Okay, you win. What’s this all about?”
    “You remember when I met you at the airport in Jakarta and I asked you whether you were working on an outbreak of some apocalyptic epidemic?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, since then the topic has started to interest me a lot, and I’ve read up on it. It’s really exciting stuff. I mean, things like how you guys eradicated smallpox, or stopped SARS from killing the world. The bird flu, the swine flu; all those things which you live and breathe.”
    “You’re not the first reporter or writer, for that matter, to think of writing something about epidemics.”
    “No, you’re right. That’s all well covered. I have another angle. I think there’s a more interesting story. I’m talking about the story of the people behind it all, the people who live to fight diseases. I’m talking about their personalities, their backgrounds and their motivations.”
    “You want to write about me?”
    “No, Twinkie, I don’t,” Roger said and chuckled. “Even if I haven’t seen you for a while, I don’t think I have the distance required to be sufficiently objective. I’ve set my sights on another person; someone I understand you know, at least a bit. I’m talking about Dr. Aeolus Pentecost Hughes.”
    “Well, that could indeed make for an interesting read. He’s quite the character. But what kind of story are you writing? I’ll have no part in smearing him. There are a lot of people who would love to see that happen, but I am not one of them. I have the greatest respect for the man.”
    “I don’t know yet. See this as your chance to weigh in. Help me understand the man behind the CV. I know he’s one of the most knowledgeable men on the planet in his field, but what’s he
like
?”
    “He’s not an easy man to understand.”
    “That’s why it’ll make a good story! Give me a thirty-second rundown of his personality.”
    “For starters, he is
transcendentally
sharp, and he appreciates that quality in others. He has a very low tolerance for the