Jack nodded. He assumed that Dr. Malovar was referring to the tiny basophilic flecks Jack had seen in the core of the granuloma.

Dr. Malovar reached for his phone. He called a colleague and asked him to come over for a moment. Within minutes, a tall, thin, overly serious, African-American man in a long white coat appeared. Dr. Malovar introduced him as Dr. Colin Osgood, chief of parasitology.

“What’s your opinion, Colin?” Dr. Malovar asked as he gestured toward his microscope.

Dr. Osgood looked at the slide for a few seconds longer than Dr. Malovar had before responding. “Definitely parasitic,” he intoned with his eyes still glued to the eye pieces. “Those are merozoites, but I don’t recognize them. It’s either a new species or a parasite not seen in humans. I recommend that Dr. Lander Hammersmith view it and render his opinion.”

“Good idea,” Dr. Malovar said. He looked at Jack. “Would you mind leaving this overnight? I’ll have Dr. Hammersmith view it in the morning.”

“Who is Dr. Hammersmith?” Jack asked.

“He’s a veterinary pathologist,” Dr. Osgood said.

“Fine by me,” Jack said agreeably. Having the slide reviewed by a veterinary pathologist was something he’d not thought of.

After thanking both men, Jack went back out to the secretary and asked if he could use a phone. The secretary directed him to an empty desk and told him to push nine for an outside line. Jack called Lou at police headquarters.

“Hey, glad you called,” Lou said. “I think I’m getting some interesting stuff here. First of all, the plane is quite a plane. It’s a G4. Does that mean anything to you?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said. From Lou’s tone it sounded as if it should have.

“It stands for Gulfstream 4,” Lou explained. “It’s what you would call the Rolls Royce of the corporate jet. It’s like twenty million bucks.”

“I’m impressed,” Jack said.

“You should be,” Lou said. “Okay, let’s see what else I learned. Ah, here it is: The plane is owned by Alpha Aviation out of Reno, Nevada. Ever hear of them?”

“Nope,” Jack said. “Have you?”

“Not me,” Lou said. “Must be a leasing organization. Let’s see, what else? Oh, yeah! This might be the most interesting. My friend from Immigration called his counterpart in France at his home, if you can believe it, and asked about Carlo Franconi’s recent French holiday. Apparently, this French bureaucrat can access the Immigration main-frame from his own PC, because guess what?”

“I’m on pins and needles,” Jack said.

“Franconi never visited France!” Lou said. “Not unless he had a fake passport and fake name. There’s no record of his entering or departing.”

“So what’s this about the plane incontrovertibly coming from Lyon, France?” Jack demanded.

“Hey, don’t get testy,” Lou said.

“I’m not,” Jack said. “I was only responding to your point that the flight plan and the Immigration information had to correlate.”

“They do!” Lou said. “Saying the plane came from Lyon, France, doesn’t mean anybody or everybody got out. It could have refueled for all I know.”