This man was the absolute opposite. He was in his thirties, tall and trim and well proportioned, looking like the athlete she was later to learn he was. His grooming was impeccable, and he was tanned from outdoor mountain sports. Under his whiter-than-white doctor’s coat, he wore a clean, starched white shirt with a handsome silk tie done in a perfectly symmetrical knot. He wore cuff links that could be seen peeking out from his jacket’s sleeves. His stylish glasses gave him an intellectual air. His voice was calm and assured and projected confidence. He was in charge, and Pia was impressed. There weren’t many men whom Pia found attractive, but he was one of them.

“What do we have here? A bit of a conundrum, I hear. A patient who seemed to be dead and now can’t wait to get out of our ER.” His eyes scanned the ER chart, which was essentially blank. He turned to Pia. “I’m Dr. Paul Caldwell. You found him, I understand.”

“Yes, my name is Pia.”

“And you’re a physician, I’ve been told.”

“Sorta,” Pia said, not wanting to misrepresent herself. “I graduated from Columbia Medical School, but I put off my residency to do research.”

“Okay,” said Paul. “Tell me about the patient.”

“I found him while out jogging. Apparently he was running as well when he collapsed. When I came upon him, he wasn’t breathing, and I couldn’t feel a pulse. Not knowing how long he had been in that state, I did CPR. The only things I noticed were that his skin was very warm to the touch, and it looked like he had some urticaria on his forearms. After a few minutes of CPR he came to, and it was an extraordinarily rapid recovery. One minute he was unconscious and the next he was wide awake. He has been agitated ever since.”

“So there’s no history whatsoever?”

“None. He doesn’t speak English, and my Mandarin, which is what I think he is speaking, is nonexistent.”

Paul smiled. He found Pia intriguing, especially because she was one of the most exotically beautiful women he had ever seen. He tried to guess her genealogy but couldn’t. His best guess was a North African and French mixture.

“Columbia University. Interesting. I’m an East Coast transplant myself. I went to Harvard but came out here to the University of Colorado for my residency. I even did a rotation here at Boulder Memorial. So what do you think is going on here with our patient, Miss . . . Ms. . . . Mrs. . . . ?”