Daniel Cassian closed the door behind him. He looked around the room. Present were Drs. Edward Marcase and Kimberly Shiroma, and Mr. Michael Hailey. "Welcome home," he said, looking around the office, spotting the two returning team members.
"It's good to be home if I still have a job." retorted Dr. Marcase.
"Why on earth would you say that?" Cassian was caught off guard.
"With all the good stuff we've been hearing about this Taft fellow, I thought you might think you don't need us anymore." Marcase's face was completely serious.
"Oh, that," Cassian looked down, "well, I studied your contracts, and I couldn't find any loopholes so I decided it looked like I had to keep you on."
Marcase looked stunned. Kimberly smiled and said, "Daniel, did you just tell a joke?"
Cassian shuffled his feet, cleared his throat, and nervously said, "Yes, I suppose I did."
Marcase turned to Hailey and smiled, "Either I'm still in Zimbabwe and I have a fever, or we'd better run up to Atlantic City and bet a bundle before this wears off."
Hailey answered, "You'd better watch it. Cassian has me on the lookout for that loophole."
Cassian suddenly became all business. "We have a problem. Leprosy. That is, it looks very similar to leprosy, but it doesn't act much like leprosy, and it progresses rapidly. So far, it's limited to Omaha."
"Why not just lock up the armadillos and hand out Kleenexes?"
Puzzled looks appeared on the faces of Kimberly and Michael, whereas Cassian simply ignored Marcase's sarcastic remark and proceeded to give the team their instructions. The next morning they would be working together in Omaha, Nebraska.
Less than twenty-four hours later, they had just toured a ward full of mysterious cases. They were all stunned. Patients were immobile, with strange white lesions on various parts of their bodies. Some were even in a coma. Cassian turned toward the team and grimaced. "Well, what do you make of it? Four deaths, out of nineteen total cases, as of last night. That's possibly the strangest part of all. Even those four didn't have to die. Advanced stages slip into a deathlike coma, and stay there, as long as they are fed intravenously. The staff here just didn't realize that at first. What is really unusual is that with all that so-called leprosy going on in there, nothing's sloughing off. Hands, feet, everything stays intact. In leprosy body parts slough away. In this thing, the hands and feet get a white lesion on them, and that's as far as it goes, except for the tiredness, followed by the coma. As I said, this isn't leprosy. As I said, leprosy is just the closest thing we could call it." He turned to Hailey and said, "Mr. Hailey, with your usual methods, find out what you can...who knows what, that sort of thing...you know, all the normal stuff. Doctors Marcase and Shiroma, it's time to get to work. I have to speak to speak to the resident doctors. I'll join you shortly."
With that, the team broke up, Cassian going to speak to the senior staff members, while Hailey headed for the streets. Marcase and Shiroma went to the lab. Kimberly cornered Marcase just inside the lab. "Edward," she said, "is something wrong? The past few months you've been becoming more and more distant. Is it something I said or did?"
"No, it's nothing!" Marcase insisted.
"Are you sure?" Kimberly asked.
"I'm sure!" he quickly stuck a slide under a microscope and pretended to study a nonexistent specimen.
That evening Cassian called the team together in the doctor's lounge. "Well, let's pool our data...although I'm afraid we'll find we just have a big bunch of nothing."
Shiroma finally broke the silence. "Nothing is right. We found nothing. Nothing in the blood, nothing in the samples I took from the skin and lesions of the patients. Just...nothing."
Hailey added his findings. "Most of the people I talked to didn't even know there was an epidemic going on. The few that did, had no idea what it was. I did find out that Edward was right about armadillos and Kleenexes, however. Armadillos are thought to be a carrier of leprosy in the southwestern United States. Transmission is thought to be from the nasal mucus of infected people. A traditional "cowboy" way of blowing the nose is to cover one nostril with a finger and discharge the mucus onto the ground. Armadillos then track through the mucus, and the bacteria finds a breeding ground in the crevices between their armor plates. Armadillos were banned from pet stores because of the leprosy connection."
Cassian looked at Edward. "Dr. Marcase you are being unusually quiet tonight."
Edward returned the look. "I don't have a thing to add to any of that."
Cassian looked solemn. "Well then, gentlemen, and Dr. Shiroma.... tomorrow morning we just got here."
The next morning, Marcase came through the door a little before six o'clock, expecting to be the first one there. He was surprised to find Cassian slumped over a desk. Cassian had a rumpled, unshaven look, as though he had been there all night. Marcase exclaimed, "Cassian what you doing here so early?"
"I gave up trying to sleep about two, so I came back here to see if there was anything we overlooked, and you know what? There wasn't."
Marcase shook his head in despair. "Kimberly and I triple checked everything yesterday. We can't find a clue as to what's going on. She'll be here at any time. Why don't you try to get some sleep?"
Cassian slowly pushed himself out of the chair. " That's a good idea," he said, "that is, if I'm not too full of coffee."
"Coffee! That sounds delicious!" Marcase said, striding over to the coffee pot. He picked up the empty pot, shook it, then set it down and said, "Well, I see you didn't leave me any."
"I probably didn't. I drank two pots. I'll call down to the kitchen for another one."
"Never mind, Cassian, I'll order a pot. You drag yourself off some where and get some sleep."
"Okay, but you be sure to page me at the first change in anything, you got that?"
"I got it, Cassian, now get out of here!"
"That, Dr. Marcase, is insubordination. However, on this occasion, I'll overlook it. Good day."
Cassian staggered out the door, steadying himself with a hand on the door casing as he went. Marcase called the kitchen for a pot of coffee. Moments later, Kimberly Shiroma and Michael Hailey appeared. Shortly after that, the coffee arrived. Marcase took a sip of the coffee, and grinned at Hailey and Shiroma. "Ah, some mornings this makes life worth living. Want a cup?"
"No thanks," Kimberly said, taking a tea bag out of her purse, and holding it up. "This honorable tradition of Shiroma family. Just show me the hot water."
Hailey grinned. "Edward, hospital coffee? You're going to kill yourself yet. I drank mine at the restaurant around the corner...French roast."
"Thanks guys! All the more for me!" Edward grinned again. "Now let's get to work! I'm going to go over all the old data again, and interview the new patients coming in today. Let's see if we can find a pattern to this thing."
Kimberly sighed, and said, "I'll get new specimens and compare them to yesterday's work and hope for something to show up."
As he was turning to go, Hailey said, "And I have some ideas I want to look into around town. I got the address yesterday of a man who supposedly brought an armadillo up from Texas as a pet."
"Okay, we have a plan," said Marcase, "we'll regroup at the end of the day. Maybe by then Cassian will have had some sleep."
That evening the four were seated around a dinner table, filling Dr. Cassian in on the day's events. It had been a long, frustrating day, and there was little to report. After only two days, the strain was already beginning to show in their faces.
"Kimberly and I didn't find anything new today. Five new patients came in, and the tests were just as negative as in all patients before them. I hate feeling defenseless." Marcase began.
Hailey entered the conversation, "I didn't get any new information either, but I did find the man with the pet armadillo he smuggled in from Texas, and I brought you the cotton swab samples I took from between the armor plates. And they were negative for leprosy."
Cassian smiled wryly, and said, "Well then, the day wasn't a total loss, at least now we can officially rule out leprosy, which we and mentally ruled out from day one."
"Somehow I find that a very slight consolation," grumbled Marcase.
"Mr. Hailey, for the second day in a row you've had been the only member of my team who has produced any information." Cassian nervously shuffled papers in front of him. "In any event, tomorrow's another day. See you guys bright and early."
Marcase spoke up. "Cassian, wait a minute. You've been scratching the back of your right hand all through dinner. Let me look at it."
Cassian looked down at his hand then held it out for Edward to examine. Edward looked at hand then solemnly looked Cassian in the eye. "Daniel, you've been infected."
"Well then," Cassian said with a grimace, "for me, another day starts right now. At the rate this thing proceeds, within eighteen hours I'll be bedridden. You guys go on. I'll see you in the morning."
"Not on your life, Cassian!" Defiance was evident in Marcase's voice. "I'm sure I speak for all of us! We're working alongside you tonight. Let's go back up to the lab. I'll have of some coffee sent up." He saw Hailey bolt for the door. "Hey! Where are you going, Michael?"
"You said coffee. I'm going to the café around the corner to get some a real coffee," he grinned. "French roast."
"And I suppose Kimberly has her tea bags? Yeah? Well that means Cassian I don't have to send down to the kitchen as often for more coffee."
The next day, they continue to find nothing, and Cassian's prediction of eighteen hours proved slightly pessimistic. About twenty-one hours later, they helped him into bed, then went straight back to the lab. Marcase looked gloomier than ever. At the end of the day, he turned to Hailey. "Michael, this isn't how it's supposed to be. I became a doctor because I wanted to conquer disease. I don't think I can ever learn to be a sore loser. In fact, I refuse to let this thing win."
"Edward, none of us are going to let this thing win. There has to be an answer, and we're going to find it. You know, Cassian would have called his wife about now."
"Cassian's married?"
"Yeah, but they're separated. She can't seem to deal with not knowing where he is on assignment, or how long he'll be gone, or if he is in danger. He always calls her every few days, so she won't worry. Say, I have a picture of her in my wallet."
"She's beautiful." Edward stared at the picture Michael held before him. "Michael, I hate to say this, but if you have Taft's phone number, it just might be time to call him. While you're at it, give Cassian's wife a call, too."
"Under the circumstances, I think calling Taft is the right idea," Michael replied, "but what do I tell Cassian's wife?"
"Tell her Cassian can't come to the phone right now, but he wants her to know he'll be home as soon as he can. We're going to beat this, Michael. Don't say anything to her that might cause her to worry. From what we can see, people remain stable for a long time in this coma. But, if she doesn't get a call now, she's going to start worrying."
Hailey left to make the phone calls, and Marcase went to Cassian's hospital room. "Cassian," he said. "You are an idiot. Any man who would risk losing that woman for any reason would be an idiot. However, because you are an idiot, I'm going to make you well. I'm going to make you well so you can work things out with her and get back together. But, I'm going to have to do it quickly, because I'm infected, too. But, don't worry, Taft's on his way."
Cassian might or might not have heard what Marcase was saying. He was just going into the coma.
Taft arrived the next morning. After the introductions and briefings, Marcase spoke up. "I hesitate to even say this, but there is one thing that ties Cassian and me together... the coffee. Cassian and I both drank the coffee here at the hospital, and you guys didn't."
"Oh, Edward," Kimberly exclaimed. "How could you possibly think the coffee here at the hospital is spreading this? The whole staff would be down plus half the visitors!"
"I hated to even bring it up because even I knew how ridiculous it sounded," was Edward's sheepish reply.
"No, not at all," Taft broke in. "Your intuition is legendary in solving cases for this team. Cassian could do worse than to hire someone just to follow you around and copy down all your random thoughts and follow up on them. I think we should pursue this idea about the coffee."
Hailey spoke up: "Okay, I'll watch the kitchen. I'll even see about putting a surveillance camera on the coffee urns."
"I'm beginning to feel hopeful," Marcase commented, "but we have to move quickly, because by this time tomorrow, I'll be in a coma." He began to clear a space for Taft, then he held up a bag and said, "Wait a minute...did anybody else eat any of these donuts, or was it just Cassian and me?" He received negatives from both Hailey and Shiroma then he went and looked out the window, and asked, "Why would a donut shop right across the street from a hospital be closed at 9 a.m.? Something else, have we had many new cases in the past 24 hours? I don't remember hearing of any."
Kimberly thought a minute, then said, "Well, to try to answer both your questions, if I ran a donut shop right across the street from a large hospital, I'd probably stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On the second question, we had five new patients two days ago, but none in the past 24 hours, except for Daniel and you."
Marcase's reply was rapid, "Don't you think it's a little strange, that donut shop closing, and no new cases? Especially when Cassian and I both ate donuts, and they were already stale when we ate them, meaning possibly the donut shop was already closed? Maybe we should hold up on the coffee idea. Michael, why don't you see what all you can find out on the donut shop, and we'll run tests on the crumbs in the donut bag. Find out what day they closed. Get a list of everyone who worked there. I want to see if any of them are patients here right now."
"Sounds like a plan, I'm on my way!" Hailey was out the door as he said it.
Three slides were quickly prepared, each having specimens of donut crumbs. They each examined one, and all reached the same conclusion.
"There's certainly something strange about these donut specimens," Taft remarked, looking up from the one he examined.
"Why would monocytes be in donut icing?" Marcase wondered. "Or, are these really monocytes, or do they just look like monocytes?"
"That's why we didn't find anything before. It was there, but we just thought the monocytes were elevated because of the disease!" Kimberly exclaimed.
"Exactly," said Taft. "Now, we need to find a staining technique that will help us distinguish these fake monocytes from real ones."
"Well, you two are going to have to do it without me." Marcase had a fine sprinkling of sweat on his forehead. "I need to check into a hospital bed. By this time tomorrow, I'll be comatose unless you can come up with something today." They helped get Edward into a private room, then tackled the problem in earnest, but could not find the breakthrough they were looking for.
Meanwhile, Michael Hailey was making some inquiries. The service station next to the donut shop was able to tell him the date the donut shop closed, plus give him the names of most of the employees. Hailey found a definite pattern forming as he went down the list, from employee to employee...until he began tracking down the last employee on the list.
Back at the lab, Taft wiped some nonexistent sweat off his brow. "Kimberly why don't we have dinner together after we lock up here tonight?"
She quickly looked down. "No, I don't think so, Brian."
"Is it Marcase?"
"Would do you mean?"
"The way you two look at each other, I thought you were an item, but Hailey said no."
Kimberly looked pensive. "You think so? Could you get along without me for a little while? I want to run some more extensive tests in the main lab." She grabbed up some specimens and went out the door, but instead of going to the lab, she went straight to Edward's room. He was awake, but tired. "Edward," she said. "We need to talk."
"I'm not going anywhere." His eyes had a slight twinkle.
"I think I know why you've been getting distant lately."
"I still don't know what you're talking about."
"Edward, do you have feelings for me?"
His eyes quickly turned away. "First you imagine actions, now you're imagining motives. I keep telling you, nothing's wrong!"
"Edward, when Allen died, I didn't think I could ever care for anybody again, and least of all you. But, that day in Orlando... the malaria case, when you told me about Allen's last days in Zaire, then we hugged each other, I realized I no longer blamed you. I began to heal that day. Edward, I care for you. Now, will you please be honest with me?"
"I don't know what to say, Kimberly. I've been fighting it all this time because of Allen's death, and your feelings about that. I care about you a lot. So, what do we do now?"
"What we do is, first, we get you well. Then, we take it slow. We have to work together professionally, and it still hasn't been that long since Allen died. I want to be sure it can work before anything is really even started."
A moment later, Dr. Taft, Michael Hailey, and a bizarre looking stranger came into the room. "Edward! Kimberly!" Hailey burst out, "guess what I have here?" He was holding the stranger by the arm with a tight grip.
"A Trekkie?" Marcase beat Shiroma by half a second. The stranger was wearing a Star Trek shirt, and had other paraphernalia clipped on his belt.
Hailey smiled. "It is obvious, isn't it? Well, not only do I have a Trekkie here, when I also have the last employee of the donut shop."
Kimberly looked puzzled. "Michael what do you mean, the last employee?"
"I think the two of you will find this extremely interesting," Hailey replied. The donut shop closed three days ago. All the employees except this fellow here got sick. "One of the former employees was also one of the four deaths we've had. All of the other employees, except this one, are now patients in this hospital, and they are all suffering from the very illness we are investigating."
Marcase perked up instantly. "Michael, I think you probably just gave us the biggest breakthrough we've had in this case."
"Yeah, but it gets real weird from here," Hailey continued. "This kid is a certified genius-plus, and he had two years of pre-med before he dropped out of college. He's definitely a Trekkie. Not just the clothes, but he was of the opinion that it was within the scope of both our current technology and his abilities to create Borg, nano-probes and all. He was experimenting on the employees and customers of the donut shop, and that created our mysterious illness."
Marcase was stunned. "You can't be serious!"
"Very," was Hailey's reply.
"Well then, remember when Cassian used to say he didn't care how you got information as long as you didn't get caught? Well, I don't care how you get out of this kid what this stuff is and how it works! Just get the information out of him! But, like Cassian, I do hope you don't get caught if your methods are less than kind."
Hailey smiled, and rubbed his biceps. "You really don't care how I get the information, huh?" The Trekkie looked very worried, and very willing to talk.
Marcase look very stern. "Just get the information, Hailey. A lot of lives are depending on it."
Hailey spun the young man around and began pushing him out the door. "I will," he said. Taft and Shiroma followed them. In the doorway, Taft turned to Kimberly and said, "I thought you were going to the lab."
Two days later, Cassian thought he heard someone call his name. He opened eyes then closed them again.
"Daniel?"
The eyes came open again. This time Cassian said, "you mean I'm not dreaming? Am I still in Omaha? How did you get here?"
"Kimberly called me. Michael told Edward about me, and Edward told Kimberly. I came as soon as I could. I've been here since late yesterday afternoon, Daniel."
"I want to go home...not to my apartment, but home."
"I want you to come home, Daniel."
"I can't breach security about my job. You won't always be able to know where I am or what I'm doing."
"Daniel, I almost lost you permanently just now. I'd rather have you and not know where your job was sending you than to not ever have you again."
"Can it work?"
"Only if we both try to make it work." She bent down to kiss him, but there was a tap on the door, then Marcase strode into the room.
"All right you guys, break it up! More company's on the way." No sooner had he said that than doctors Taft and Shiroma, as well as Michael Hailey entered the room. Marcase continued. "We're here to fill you in on what happened after you went into a coma."
"Well, I can certainly see something happened. Taft wasn't here yesterday, or at least it was yesterday to me that you were helping me into this bed. Now, from what I hear, that was three or four days ago."
"Well, let me explain" Taft began. "Mr. Hailey called me, but when I got here it turned out they didn't really need me, because Mr. Hailey promptly rounded up the culprit before I had even been here an hour. Before I had been here two hours, Mr. Haley had all the information the team needed to solve the case."
"Mr. Haley, are you still the only person here who was able to obtain any information on this case?" Cassian looked at the other team members with a stern look.
"I was ready to slip into a coma about that time," Marcase continued. "I've been awake since yesterday. Evidently longer a person's been in the coma, longer it takes to come out of it. What we were dealing with was a med school dropout who thought he was Leonard McCoy, Mr. Spock, and the hologram doctor from Voyager all rolled into one. He created microscopic electronic circuits, and disguised them to look like monocytes. He has a job at the donut shop across the street, and he put these things on the doughnut icing, a batch here, and a batch there. He figured there would be enough repeat customers that he could observe the results. He was hoping to create something like the Borg on Star Trek."
"Well, I'm afraid I don't follow Star Trek well enough to follow quite everything you're saying," replied Cassian, "but I get the general picture."
Kimberly added her part: "The main thing is, once we knew what we were dealing with, and how to stain for it so we could isolate it, we were able to find a way to flush it out. Once we got it out of the bloodstream, the lesions began to dry up. They were largely just an allergic reaction to the 'nano-probes'."
"Mr. Hailey, you can stop for looking for a loophole to out of Marcase's and Shiroma's contracts," Cassian said, and they could almost see a twinkle in his eye.

Epilogue

"Dr. Taft," Cassian began, "thank you very much for helping us out. I'm sure you will be hearing from us again. I may have my team back, but there are many strange happenings in the world of medicine, and some of them fall within your sphere."
"Call me if you need me. Just try not to call every week," Taft replied. "I just hope we don't have another one as strange as this one. That kid showed such promise to be a great doctor. What a waste! All that intelligence, pursuing a career in medicine, and he blows it all on a stunt like this!"
"However, I can think of one good thing to say about him," Cassian replied.
Hailey's brow wrinkled. "Oh? What could you possibly think of to say good about him?"
"Very simple, Mr. Haley, he's old enough to be tried in court as an adult. "

jda, May 3, 2000