“If you need to get sick, just do it out here, Tim. You sure you don’t want me to get some help and get you into the ER?”

“I’ll … be … fine.”

In his years as an ER doc, Lou had seen every kind and degree of pain. Kidney stones and acute gout were high on his list of those he did not ever want to have, along with aortic artery leaks and of course, from all he could ever tell, childbirth. But also on the list were big-league headaches—migraines or even worse, cerebral aneurysms. Vaill’s pain seemed right up there with any of those, although, as the previous night, it seemed to have come on faster than a typical migraine. Had he not had that prior experience, Lou would have called for help. Instead, he kept his fingers alternating from Vaill’s carotid to radial pulse, and waited.

There was a large manila envelope on the driver’s-side floor. Lou emptied its contents on the floor and fitted it as best he could over Vaill’s mouth and nose to allow him to rebreathe some of the carbon dioxide he was blowing off.

“Easy, pal. Easy.”

Gradually, the rapid breathing began to slow. Lou checked the time. Twenty minutes.

An elderly couple, who had apparently been watching from nearby, came over to ask if they could help. Vaill, his eyes now open, waved them off.

“Let me stand up,” he said.

Lou helped him to his feet and for another few minutes, Vaill braced himself against the car roof.

“I’m not certain what is causing those headaches,” Lou said, “but I don’t think I want one.”

“Believe me, you don’t. I’m okay now. Thanks.”

“Tim, listen, you are really in no condition to be going after Humphrey or Burke on your own—especially if you’re getting an attack every day. You need a partner, and since you can’t trust anyone you work with, I want to come with you. I have as much at stake here as you do.”

“No. Absolutely—”

“Dammit, Tim, you’ve got to trust me and let me help.”

“Exactly what do you think you could do?”

Time was becoming as big an enemy as One Hundred Neighbors and the Doomsday Germ. It no longer seemed important to keep Humphrey’s research notebook a big secret, and Lou told him about it.

“There’s a lot of Humphrey’s work that isn’t over my head,” Lou said. “I can help in that regard. Is there any way you could share with me what you’ve found so far?”

“Everything? We have reams and reams of reports and interviews.”

“Where is all that?”