Following her, he noticed her limp was even more pronounced. “What are you doing about that hip, Louise? Have you seen Dr. Clement yet?”

“Yeah, I saw him,” she said when she reached her desk. “He wants to operate. Give me a new hip.”

“And?”

“I told him I’d think about it.” Louise chuckled. “Nothing personal, Dr. Kilburn, but I don’t particularly trust doctors. And I really don’t like hospitals.”

He didn’t argue. Considering Tom Mallek’s recent death, he understood her sentiments. Hospitals could be very dangerous places.

She sat down gingerly in her seat and then reached for the stack of neatly printed messages on her desk. She leafed through the papers, divided the pile in two, and placed the thicker stack on the corner of her desk. “These, you can worry about later. Nothing urgent here.” Then she took the three remaining sheets in her hand and handed him the first page. “Okay, there’s a Dr. Nelson Amar from the Centers for Disease Control looking for you.”

“In Atlanta?” he said in surprise.

“That’s the spot.” She passed him another page. “But that’s nothing. This call came from Switzerland. A Dr. Jean Nantal with the World Health Organization.”

“Wow.” Kilburn had never met the WHO’s executive director of communicable diseases, but like most of his colleagues he knew Nantal by his all but legendary reputation. “I guess we’ve got some serious attention now.”

“Is that good?” Louise asked.

“No.” He sighed, turning from the desk. “It’s not good at all.”

“One more, Dr. Kilburn.” Louise waved the final note at him. He reached out and took it from her hand. “A Dr. Melanie Wong. She’s called three times this morning.”

Kilburn felt a rush of foreboding as he glanced down at the number. “Did she say what it was about?” he asked.

“They don’t tell the live voicemail much.” Louise pointed at her chest with both thumbs, but her confident grin belied the self-effacing reference. “But she said it was urgent.”

“Thanks, Louise.” He forced a smile. “For everything.” Then he turned and walked down the short corridor to his private office.

He slumped into his desk chair and placed the three notes in front of him. He viewed each, though there was no doubt which call he had to return first. Dr. Melanie Wong was not the type to leave three messages without urgent reason. He grabbed the phone and punched in Wong’s pager number.