Chapter 14
Don's phone rang, and he glanced at the caller ID. "I've got to take this," he said, leaving the room. When he got into the hallway, far enough that he figured Reid wouldn't hear him, he said, "Colby? What have you got for me?"
"Well, hello to you too, Boss," Colby chuckled. "All right. Deputy Minister Ali Abu-Hassan became ill yesterday. Same symptoms as Charlie had. He was taken to a hospital, and was released the same day. My sources are trying to track down the Iraqi doctors who treated him."
"Okay, good. And, by the way, good morning, Colby. How are you today?"
"Great, Don. How's Charlie doing?"
"I think he's getting better. His fever is down."
"That's good news. Listen, I'll keep pushing to find out what they used to treat Abu-Hassan. By the way, they found out it was Abu-Hassan's son who dosed his father and his guests with anthrax. He'll probably be executed pretty soon, but I understand he's being questioned pretty closely about where he got the anthrax. Looks like Charlie may have stumbled on some of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction."
"Crap," Don said. "Charlie never does things the easy way, does he?"
Colby laughed. "No, he doesn't. Hey, when you talk to the Whiz Kid again, tell him we're all thinking of him, will you? And you hang in there, Don. We're all doing everything we can."
"I know, Colby. Thanks, and tell the rest of the team I really appreciate it."
"I will, Don. I'll keep you posted."
Don sighed after he hung up, and leaned against the wall. Finally, he opened his phone again and dialed information. In a few moments, he was dialing another number.
"National Security Agency, how may I direct your call?" A woman with a pleasant but businesslike voice answered on the first ring.
"Assistant Director Robert Tompkins, please. Special Agent Don Eppes calling."
"One moment, Agent Eppes."
Less than a minute later, Robert Tompkins picked up. "Agent Eppes, what can I do for you?"
"I'm calling about my brother, Charlie. I understand he's been doing some work for your agency."
"Yes?" Tompkins was carefully non-committal.
"Well, you probably know that Charlie came back from Baghdad with a case of anthrax, and that the other consultants and their Iraqi host..."
"What makes you think Charlie was in Baghdad?"
"His cell phone roaming records. A colleague of his was able to break his encryption and read his email. And I have my agents making inquiries. Please give us a little credit, Mr. Tompkins."
Don heard Tompkins sigh. "Listen, Don, we are on it, too. We've already lost one person to this thing,..."
"What about the treatment Abu-Hassan received?"
"We're trying to track that down. For some reason, the Iraqis are not being very forthcoming. We have to proceed carefully."
"With all due respect, Sir, we may not have time to proceed carefully. My brother and the other two surviving consultants..."
"I know, Don. Listen, I'll see what I can find for you. Can I reach you at the phone you're on now?"
"Yeah, it's my cell. I'll have it with me all day. And, thanks."
"You're welcome." The connection went dead. Don closed his phone and stopped at the nurse's station to get directions to House's office.
House was tapping the whiteboard with his cane. "His fever's down, but are the antibiotics doing anything to the anthrax? Or is the fever down because the antibiotics are working on the peritonitis?"
Chase yawned and shrugged. "Dunno."
"Well, then take a wild guess!" House growled.
"I would guess we need to let the antibiotics work," Chase said, flipping through the pages of a medical journal.
"Find anything on the bacteriophages yet?"
"A Dr. Adukalil here at Princeton is working on it. I've put a call in to him, though you might be more convincing than I." He stopped to glance up at House, who, surprisingly, had no snide comment. "None of the bacteriophages has been approved for human testing in the US yet. I'm checking to see if they've been used on humans in any other countries." He stopped and looked up at House, "Assuming, of course you don't care about government approval."
"Seeing as how we're dealing with the NSA, and they apparently are a law unto themselves, I imagine we won't be encumbered by a whole hell of a lot of red tape," House said. "Get back to it and see what you can find. Iraq might have something. Maybe we'll get lucky and whoever invented this lovely strain of anthrax also came up with a cure for it. Meanwhile, I'll go visit Dr. Adukalil in person. Cameron, I'll need you to get written permission from our patient. Explain that this treatment is experimental, possibly illegal, but if it's the only thing that will save him, we need his permission in writing before he goes into a coma."
"But," Cameron said, "he is responding to the treatment."
"It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Weren't you ever a Boy Scout. Foreman, do another colonoscopy. See if the lesions have changed at all." There was a rapping on the door frame, and House looked up to see Don standing in the doorway. "Well come on down. We're just discussing your brother's colon."
Don entered the room, nodding a greeting to the other doctors, and approached House. "I have a little more information on how my brother contracted anthrax."
"Good. Have a seat," House said waving toward the table where the others sat.
"No thanks. This won't take long. Charlie and three other NSA consultants ate dinner with an Iraqi deputy minister. The deputy minister got sick yesterday, was taken to an Iraqi hospital and released hours later. I've contacted the assistant director of the NSA to see if they can find out what the treatment was. The anthrax was given to them by the deputy minister's son."
House nodded. "That will be helpful if we get the information before your brother dies. Meanwhile, I'm pursuing an experimental treatment that's been developed right here at Princeton. Dr. Cameron will be asking your brother to sign a consent form in case the antibiotics we're using don't work."
"Don't work?" Don looked at House in surprise. "But his temperature is going down, isn't it?"
Cameron glared at House, then turned to Don. "He does appear to be getting better, yes. But Dr. House just wants to be prepared."
Foreman smirked. "Yeah, just like a real boy scout."
Cameron glared at Foreman, then stood. "Let me walk with you. I'll try to explain House's thinking."
"Good luck!" House called after them as they left.
"How do you work with that man?" Don asked, shaking his head.
Cameron laughed. "He's the best diagnostician in the country. Believe it or not, there's a waiting list a mile long of people who want to work for him. But he is frustrating and annoying."
"That's putting it mildly," Don said. "So what were you going to explain to me about House's thinking?"
"Because we're dealing with genetically altered anthrax, it's possible that it could mutate faster than normal anthrax."
"What would that do?"
"If it mutates, it could turn into an antibiotic resistant form before the antibiotics can completely kill it off. You know how doctors always insist that you take all of the antibiotics prescribed, even though you may feel better?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the antibiotics start killing the bacteria immediately but it can take days or even weeks to get rid of all of them. With genetically altered bacteria, it's possible that in the period of days or weeks, the bacteria will reproduce quickly, and the offspring will be mutated forms that are resistant to the antibiotics. Since we're giving Charlie all of the antibiotics that are known to be effective against anthrax, that doesn't leave us with a normal backup plan."
"So your backup is this experimental treatment, and if Charlie does take a turn for the worse, he won't be able to sign the consent form at that time."
"Right. So that's why I need him to sign the consent form now." They arrived at Charlie's room. "You go ahead in. I'm going to get the papers I need."
"Okay. And thanks, Dr. Cameron."
"You're welcome. Sometimes I feel my job on this team is to explain House to patients and their families. He's brilliant, but..."
"Not a people person?" Don supplied with a chuckle.
"Definitely not!" Cameron said, smiling at Don. "See you in a few minutes."