Chapter 3

"CJ, I need a favor.  And I need you to trust me on this.  This is important.  I've never lied to you.  I think I'm onto something big.  I don't have the luxury of time to go through channels.  I will tell you what I can when I can.  It's not a story that can hurt the administration...." God, he hoped that was true... "I need you to trust me on this."

"Yes, Danny, you said that already and here I am, standing at a pay phone, freezing.  Isn't that show of trust?  Now ... what is this all ..."

"I need the White House to arrange for press credentials for me and my photographer, Baden Walker, for Saudi Arabia for day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow?  Are you kidding?  The Saudis won't give me credentials that fast.  Why, Danny?  And who is Baden Walker?"

"He's my photographer, and we have to be in Saudi Arabia the day after tomorrow. I need you to figure out a reason why the White House needs press there in two days.  We need to be in the Ministry of Health in Riyadh and the Veterinary Lab in Jeddah.  Can you arrange this, CJ?"

"Tell me that this is not getting back at me for the using you to leak stories!  Okay, what reason do I give them for your visit and its urgency?"

"I can give you some specifics late this afternoon.  In the meantime, have Carole come up with something--anything,  CJ.  I don't know.  A scary disease or two.  Something the US wants to help eradicate from the region. Maybe Ebola or something that has potential to devastate their livestock industry.  Throw in some vague hints about technology or money from the US.  I don't really know, CJ....I'm making this up as I go.  I wouldn't ask except...I believe lives are at stake."

Danny took a deep breath.  "Tell them you need press coverage in the US for public support for an international health effort.  Will that work?  Heck CJ, the idea that the US government uses the press to manipulate public opinion shouldn't be hard for them to swallow.  Can you do this?"

"Yes," she said without thinking or even knowing how she'd accomplish this.  The sound of his voice told her she had to trust him and she had to get it done.

"CJ, go to the Indian restaurant at 4:30, you know, where we had our only date."

"It was a business dinner,"  she said with a mix of sadness, wishing it hadn't been their only date, and burgeoning tension over Danny's fleeting "lives at stake" comment.

Danny had set her up.  But, it was comforting just to hear her say it and return him to the past, if just for second.  "I'll call from London as close to 4:30 as possible.  I'll have details by then.  Thank you, CJ.  Goodbye."

"Bye ..."

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CJ hurried back towards the White House, using the cold as a mental excuse for her near run.  Suddenly, her promise seemed ludicrous.  Though Danny's voice sounded sincere and even more than a little tense, she really just couldn't trust someone who got goldfish crackers mixed up with real goldfish regarding something that might involve veterinary science?

Yet as she walked down the corridor to her office, the nagging sense that Danny had sounded scared left her increasingly unsettled.

"Carol, what's that agency that handles animal diseases, control of livestock disease, protecting the food supply.  You know that sort of thing?"

"I don't know, CJ." "Please find out and get the Director on the phone for me.  Right away." Sitting down at her desk, CJ took two minutes to clear her head.  Really, she should have just sat there, the rest of the day, on the brand new toilet and not come back to her office.  Perhaps she could have had an epiphany about the origins of the modern toilet.

Carol called to her from the next room.  "CJ, I have Dr. Akin for you....from APHIS."

"Dr. Akin.  Thanks for taking my call.  The White House needs some information if you could ... on Saudi Arabia ..."

"You're calling about the Rift Valley Fever thing?"

"Ah ... yes.  What can you tell me?"

"It's killed about three to four hundred people so far in the southern part of the country in the last month.  Rift Valley's never been out of Africa before this, you know?  I believe the CDC sent some folks, epidemiologists, to help with the human outbreak....been about two weeks ago now.  Nasty virus, you know?  At APHIS we've been worried about this disease spreading outside of Africa and now it has.  It can be pretty bad for the livestock...sheep and goats.  And it can cause a lot of human deaths.  And, as you know, it's not the worst of the hemorrhagic fevers.  But it's spreading.  If we don't get these diseases controlled in Africa and now Asia, it's just a matter of time before they spread to Europe, the US...."

Every time the man said "you know" CJ answered silently to herself, "no."  She was quickly assimilating the data that he was giving her, but her brain wasn't engaged.  Somehow though, Rift Valley Fever sounded like a gift from heaven.  "Dr. Akin, I think I can help you.   Can you get me some information on Rift Valley Fever and the other hemorrhagic fevers you mentioned?  I need a statement of issues, the risks to human health, the livestock industries.  We have a window of opportunity here, Dr. Akin, if we can help each other.  The only thing is, I need it today."

"Today?"

"Yes, it's a sensitive timeframe, Dr. Akin."  She played the presidential card.  "The President would like to have it today.   Please include recommendations for immediate measures to control the diseases.  What agencies ... resources, money.   And don't sugar-coat anything.  Emphasize the deaths, the severity, the chances of containment ... all of that."  CJ took a deep breath.  How dumb did that sound?  Like Danny, she was just making it up as she went. 

"Okay, I'll call Jane Paxon at CDC.  She can help with human health aspects.  Ms. Cregg, can you tell me what the urgency is?  What's going on?  It's not in the US already, is it?  If it is, I need to know."

"No, Dr. Akin, I don't think it is.  It's in Saudi Arabia, as you know.  The timing is right to highlight the issues and the dangers in a controlled manner without spreading panic.  Seize the moment, as you know. E-mail the report to my office, will you?  As soon as you can. "

"Will do, Ms. Cregg."

"Thank you, Dr. Akin."  What the heck was Rift Valley Fever?  It did sound bad.  Signing online quickly,  CJ did a search.

    Rift Valley Virus (Phlebovirus: Bunyaviridae) is a mosquito borne virus
    which is the causative agent of a disease that is characterized by fever,
    headache, retinitis, fulminating hemorrhagic hepatitis, respiratory tract
    and mucosal hemorrhage, purpura and meningitis. The disease is normally
    severe and often fatal.

Okay ... it sounded bad and it was bad.

"Carol ... Carol ..."

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Answering his cell phone, "Jerry."

"Lord John Marbury here."

Why did he insist on saying his full name?  Jerry recognized his voice, a simple John would suffice.  "John."  Jerry had known John Marbury for nearly 20 years.  Saved his life three times.  Well, four if you count sabotaging the date with Ashley, the broomstick.  The broomstick, although beautiful, had a knack for stranding men on remote islands when she got in a snit, something that wouldn't have suited John Marbury well at all.

"I think I have something for you, old chap.  There are three doctors here now, Americans -- one is a veterinary surgeon.  They want an entree to demonstrate a public health computer program and disease database called The Associate to the Department of Health.  They want doctors and veterinary surgeons around the world to have access to it as a tool to fight the spread of infectious disease, particularly those that spread from animals to people."

"John, how is this the answer to my problem?"

"Simple, you need to move the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the top of list as the next country on their itinerary for the demonstration.  Simple enough task for you, isn't it Jerry?  That trouble they're having in Jeddah with the disease outbreak, you just magnify it a little.  Three hundred cases in the last month becomes 1000 in the last week.  That'll grab the attention of the Saudis in the Ministry of Health.  We ask these American doctors for help. They're Americans, they'll jump at the chance to help.  I'll sweeten the deal and arrange for some people from the Department of Heath to join the American envoy.  They'll go to evaluate the usefulness of the program.  The Saudis will get assistance with the outbreak without publicly asking for it, and the clincher is, it'll be the Americans that will be calling to demonstrate their program."

"Good work, John.  Concannon and I will cover the demonstration for the US and UK media.  Just tell me how to reach these Americans.  I'll get a copy of their program, have Jax do some doctoring on the disk.  All we have to do is be sure the demo is done using our copy and we'll have access to the entire computer network at the Saudi Ministry of Health.  We will need some luck, but it's brilliant, John."

"Yes, Jerry. You owe me a drink.  More than one.  The demonstration has to be done using one of the Saudi computers and not one of the laptops the American's are traveling with ... perhaps you could manage to get their luggage run over by an airplane like you did with Miss Ashley's and mine just when I had her where I wanted her..... "  Marbury couldn't pass on the chance to remind Jerry about how he'd ruined his romantic island getaway with the alluring Ashley Brent.

"Jerry, I've already planted the idea with the Department of Public Health that the situation on the Saudi-Yemen border is worse than they are letting on and that the Americans would appreciate our help preventing further spread.   I'll send over a messenger with some background on the program and the Americans."

"Thank you, John."   He paused briefly.  "Ashley was a broomstick.  I know a couple of true beauties that would love to meet you as soon as we have this situation under control."

Jerry wondered what would happen to the British Ambassador to the United States if Her Majesty's Government knew he was helping Jerry with his current problem. 

TBC

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