DECEMBER SEVENTEENTH
NUMBER OF CASES: 6,823
NUMBER OF DEATHS: 26
After yawning and then stretching his arms high over his head, Jack closed his laptop and got up from the desk. He was just about to step out on the balcony to watch the last few minutes of the sunrise when his cell phone rang. It was Marc.
“There’s been an interesting development,” he told Jack. “Every couple of days I check the National GNS Data Record for late entries. If you recall, there was a single case reported in a small town in Indiana. The patient’s name was Maggie Recino. They transferred her up to Chicago. Initially Ms. Recino’s travel history was reported as negative, but later her mother informed Dr. Cole in Indiana that she was staying in Fort Lauderdale when she learned she was pregnant.”
“For how long?”
“About a month. I called Cole. He really didn’t have anything to add, but he did mention he’d called Dr. Sinclair and shared the information about Fort Lauderdale with him.”
“When was that?”
“Two days ago.”
“Dr. Sinclair didn’t say anything to me,” Jack said. “Maybe he mentioned it to Madison or Dr. Morales.”
“I can’t speak for Dr. Morales, but I checked with Madison. She said she didn’t know anything about it.”
Jack noticed Marc was careful not to make any judgmental comments about Sinclair’s failure to share the information with them.
“And we’re sure there haven’t been any further cases from the same area in Indiana?”
“Zero.”
“If that’s true, it doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots,” Jack said. “Obviously, something happened to Ms. Recino when she was in South Florida that allowed her to contract GNS. It might be interesting to have a look at her Fort Lauderdale obstetrical records.”
“I already put them in the Patient Data Record. You can access them there.”
“Do we know why she was in Fort Lauderdale?”
“No idea. Her husband’s in the military and was out of the country. Her mother’s in Chicago with her. I’m assuming her reasons were personal. I was planning on giving her a call later this morning to get a more detailed history.”
“Where are you going to be later?” Jack asked.
“The ICU. I should be there all morning. Madison wants to repeat all the fetal ultrasounds.”
“I’ll see you there.”
Jack returned to his laptop and brought up Maggie Recino’s file. Her Fort Lauderdale obstetrical record contained only one office visit, which looked to be a fairly routine initial prenatal appointment. As Jack reviewed the form Maggie had filled out detailing her past medical history, a vague idea played in his mind. But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t bring it into focus. Finally, his frustration escalating, he shut down the computer.
After a ten-minute shower, he got dressed, gathered up his personal items and headed for the door. It wasn’t until he was halfway to the elevators that the vague idea that had eluded him thirty minutes earlier finally crystalized. He stopped and turned around, staring back in the direction of his room.
“Idiot,” he muttered to himself, removing his cell phone from its case and tapping in Madison’s number. She answered on the second ring.
“Can you and Marc meet me in the crisis center?”
“Sure. We’re about halfway through rounds, and then we’re supposed to meet with the radiologists,” she answered. “Is a couple of hours okay?”
“That should be fine. I want to check out a few things in the National Data Record before we meet. I’ll see you in the crisis center.”
“You sound a little…weird. What’s going on?”
“We’ll talk about it when I see you.”
With a sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through his veins, Jack turned around and sprinted toward the elevator.