The bartender came over immediately. His name tag identified him as Saturnino. In contradiction to his name, he was a jovial fellow. He was wearing a wild print shirt and a pillbox hat similar to the one Arturo had on when he picked them up at the airport the previous afternoon.

Following Natalie’s lead, everyone had Coke with a slice of lemon.

“Not much business today,” Jack commented to Saturnino.

“Not until after five,” the bartender said. “Then we are very busy.”

“We’re new here,” Jack said. “What money do we use?”

“You can sign,” Saturnino said.

Jack looked at Laurie for permission. Laurie shook her head. “We’d rather pay,” he said. “Are dollars okay?”

“What you like,” Saturnino said. “Dollars or CFA. It makes no difference.”

“Where is the hospital?” Jack asked.

Saturnino pointed over his shoulder. “Up the street until you get to the main square. It is the big building on the left.”

“What do they do there?” Jack asked.

Saturnino looked at Jack as if he were crazy. “They take care of people.”

“Do people come from America just to go to the hospital?” Jack asked.

Saturnino shrugged. “I don’t know about that,” he said. He took the bills Jack had put on the bar and turned to the cash register.

“Nice try,” Laurie whispered.

“It would have been too easy,” Jack agreed.

Refreshed after their cold drinks, the group headed out into the sunlight. They passed within fifty feet of the soldier who continued to ignore them. After a short walk up a hot cobblestone street, they came to a small green surrounded by plantation-style homes.

“It reminds me of some of the Caribbean Islands,” Laurie said.

Five minutes later, they entered the tree-lined town square. The group of soldiers lolling in front of the town hall diagonally across from where they were standing spoiled the otherwise idyllic tableau.

“Whoa,” Jack said. “There’s a whole battalion.”

“I thought you said that if there were soldiers at the gate they wouldn’t have to have any in the town,” Laurie said.

“I’ve been proved wrong,” Jack acknowledged. “But there’s no need to go over and announce ourselves. This is the hospital lab complex in front of us.”

From the corner of the square, the building appeared to take up most of a Cogo city block. There was an entrance facing the square, but there was also one down the side street to their left. To avoid remaining in view of the lounging soldiers, they went to the side entrance.

“What are you going to say if we’re questioned?” Laurie asked with some concern. “And walking into a hospital, you know it’s bound to happen.”

“I’m going to improvise,” Jack said. He yanked the door open and ushered his friends in with an exaggerated bow.

Laurie glanced at Natalie and Warren and rolled her eyes. At least Jack could still be charming even when he was most exasperating.

After entering the building, everyone shivered with delight. Never had air conditioning felt quite so good. The room they found themselves in appeared to be a lounge, complete with wall-to-wall carpeting, club chairs, and couches. A large bookcase lined one wall. Some of the shelving was on an angle to display an impressive collection of periodicals from Time to National Geographic. There were about a half dozen people sitting in the room, all of them reading.