The Malthus Pandemic

by Terry Morgan

CHAPTER 35

  Larry Brown had no desire to stay on in Kano with police on every corner and a general feeling of insecurity everywhere so he walked back to Jonathan's taxi and headed for the airport and the last flight back to Lagos.

  Next morning and before Joseph and the others had turned up for work, Larry found himself looking out of the office window again. Some focus had definitely returned but it had nothing to do with what the US Government was paying him for. He turned to see Joseph and the others settling themselves behind their desks for another day.

  "What time do you call this, then Joseph?"

  Joseph glanced at his watch. "9am, Larry, time to start work."

  Larry turned back to the view from the window. "Is that all it is? How many US healthcare companies have signed up for your trade show, then Joseph?"

  "No time, Larry. Still working on the Nigeria Computer Show."

  "Well done, Joseph, I'm glad the US computer industry is getting all the support it deserves from the US Embassy " He paused. "Tell me, Joseph, did you ever speak to someone who phoned asking for advice on where he might run consumer tests on a new medicine?"

  "No, Larry."

  "So who suggested that Kano, Dala Hill to be precise, might be a good place to run these tests?"

  "Ah yes, Larry. That was me. It was the first place that came to my mind. He was after somewhere in the north, quite populated, near a city."

  "So," said Larry, "now that you've remembered that, can you remember his name or did you write it down somewhere? Office procedure is that we log all this isn't it?"

  "Sorry, Larry - no."

  Larry looked around for something to throw at Joseph but then thought better of it. "Was his name Mohamed El Badry?"

  "Yes, it might have been, Larry."

  "So we now offer free commercial advice and guidance for the whole of the Middle East do we?"

  "He said he worked for a US company."

  "I suppose you've forgotten the name of the US company."

  "Yes, Larry."

  "So, all along, this Mohamed El Badry might well have been, at least, a bull-shitter or, at worst, a fucking liar. Right?"

  "Yes, Larry."

  Larry clenched his hands together and looked out of the window again. In his mind he was strangling Joseph. Still looking out he said: "What time is it in England, Joseph?"

  "8am, Larry."

  Larry went to his desk, found the note he'd made of Kevin Parker's UK phone number and, as he walked out of the office, phoned him.

  As it was Tuesday, Kevin was still in bed. He had no students on Tuesdays and so he usually had a lie in before either going up to the University for a subsidised lunch or wandering down to the Richmond to meet Tom Weston or anyone else who happened to be there. When his mobile rang he automatically assumed it was Tunje.

  "Been up all night again, Tunj? Couldn't you sleep?"

  "Kevin?"

  It was not Tunje's North London Nigerian accent but American.

  "Sorry, Larry. I thought it was a friend of mine."

  "No problem. I was in Kano yesterday. It was very enlightening," said Larry.

  "Did you find Mohamed El Badry. Larry?"

  "No, but I now know a lot more about what went on leading up to the deaths."

  Kevin listened to Larry's story.

  "So what can we do, Larry? Clearly the Nigerian authorities don't care."

  "I'm going to phone WHO again," Larry said. "It's the only organisation I can think of who might know what to do."

  "Did you speak to Joseph?"

  "No," said Larry, not wishing to think about Joseph. "You told me as much as I need to know. Joseph was just doing his job."

  Ten minutes later, though, Larry spoke to Joseph but not about his conversation with Mohamed El Badry. "What time is it in Geneva, Joseph?"

  "Nine fifteen, Larry."

  At nine twenty, Larry was speaking to the WHO in Geneva on his mobile phone from outside in the street. There was no way, Joseph was going to hear what he had to say.

  At the World Health Organisation, it was Richard Lacey who brought the matter to the attention of his boss, the Director General.

  He hadn't spoken directly to Doctor Larry Brown at the US Embassy in Nigeria, he told her, but from the information he had been given it seemed there might well be grounds for thinking that something totally unethical - possibly bordering on criminality - was going on.

  Someone needed to get to the bottom of the rumours about the hundred or so Nigerian deaths. It now appeared that not only had the patients themselves disappeared but a mysterious doctor who was being linked to what sounded like a criminal attempt to test out a new drug had also disappeared. To add credence to that, it appeared that all the patients were men and they were being paid to attend the clinic.

  "But it's all rumour," Lacey said. "Can we be sure this is not just some lethal medicine made from heaven knows what and a doctor who isn't really a doctor at all? We've heard this sort of thing before from West Africa."

  "Yes," said the DG, "I know I keep on about facts but that's what we need - facts."

  "Well, it doesn't look as if we're going to get much help from the Nigerian authorities at present. Apparently, they are too pre-occupied with the Islamic insurgency in the north of the country. They are just not taking the cases seriously - it is as if they are willing to believe it was just a local flu epidemic."

  The DG got up from behind her desk and paced around her office. Richard Lacey was still trying to summarise the situation.

  "Add that to what we have heard from Pradit about the Thai cases all having been in one small area, possibly just one building, and with a mystery surrounding a few inhalers being found, then what are we to make of it all?" he said.

  "But we still don't know if the Nigerian virus is the same as the Thai one or the Kenyan one or even if it is a virus," the DG said. "The important thing is to establish whether the Nigerian cases were also TRS-CoV, Richard. And are there more cases coming to light? Are cases just not being reported? Or has it suddenly stopped as quickly as it seemed to appear?"

  Richard Lacey nodded. "I'll double-check with Doctor Larry Brown at the US Embassy," he said. "He's the only one who seems to be taking a real interest. His opinion seems to be that this is a virus and not a drug reaction. We'll also have another go at the Nigerian Ministry of Health, perhaps try pushing them harder. And the Regional Director for Africa needs to know but he's now in South Africa."

  "And I'll phone the Nigerian Minister of Health, Richard," said the DG. "But I'm beginning to think we're a bit late. If these rumours are true then we may need to consider involving law enforcement agencies."