You and your family must leave Genova straightaway, I said.

Where would we go? she asked without looking at me.

South toward Naples or even east toward Venice. Anywhere out of reach of the Archbishop.

Father is too old to travel those distances.

It is far more dangerous for him to remain here! You must believe me.

Gabriella squeezed my hand a little tighter. I do believe you, she said. But I do not wish to leave the only home I have ever known. And, Rafael, I do not wish to leave you.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Alana’s head seems to ring louder than her cell phone. What the hell was I thinking? The three vodkas seem far more like triples than doubles in retrospect. She might as well not have even bothered to sleep. The phone’s screen reads 4:47 a.m. and announces that, not unexpectedly, Monique Olin is the caller.

“There has been another new case,” Olin says by way of greeting.

“Must’ve been several more overnight,” Alana mumbles groggily. “That’s the pattern so far.”

“Except this one is in Rome.”

Alana sits up involuntarily. “What?”

“A thirty-six-year-old man showed up at the hospital coughing up blood. He is on life support now, I am told.”

“Does he have a connection to Genoa?”

“He is from Genoa. Works in textiles. He came to Rome the day before for a trade show but ended up in the intensive care unit instead.”

“Thank God for that,” Alana mutters, falling back on her pillow.

“You and I must differ on what constitutes good fortune.”

“Monique, it means his infection must have been imported from Genoa and therefore not a case of local spread in Rome.”

“Perhaps, Alana, but how many others might he have exposed on the flight there alone?”

“That depends. He only would have been contagious if he were sick and coughing on the flight.”

“We had better find out. Perhaps you should go to Rome?”

“Maybe.” But Alana isn’t ready to leave Genoa. Not when the plague is still raging out of control and they have yet to crack the puzzle of its nongeographical spread. There’s at least one major missing piece, and obstinate or not, she’s determined to uncover it.

“I didn’t quite understand your last email,” Olin says. “What is the significance of this rat that they found in the park? The one that appears to be immune to the plague?”

“It’s a problem. A big one. It tells us that some rats can be asymptomatic carriers of this medieval strain of the plague. In other words, they won’t get sick themselves from the bacteria, so they can house infected fleas on their bodies indefinitely.”

“And therefore continue to spread the plague indefinitely?”

“Exactly. It’s well documented that a small percentage of rats are immune to modern-day bubonic plague. There’s evidence that some people in the Middle Ages were protected by a similar genetic mutation to their immune system. But to have a modern-day carrier of the Black Death? That will make it so much harder to eradicate.”