The Burning Water

6 - Asking a Favor

When Wing arrived for his shift that evening, the emergency room at Dandong Fourth Hospital was bustling with the usual array of patients with broken bones, severe burns, chest pains and respiratory distress. He found Dr. Qin at the bedside of a man in the uniform of a border guard.

"What do we have?" Wing asked.

"This man and the one in the next bed are border guards. Both of them began sneezing and coughing blood at their headquarters toward the end of their shift. Both exhibit extremely elevated temperatures."

"Like the boy who came in yesterday," Wing said. He turned to the patient. "Did you have any contact with a pair of African boys?"

The man groaned, and said that he and the other guard had found the boys by the side of the road near the river, and arrested them.

"These men must go into isolation with the boy," Wing said. "Immediately. This virus may be very contagious."

Nurse Wen put a blood pressure cuff on the man and Wing turned to the neighboring bed, where the second guard had been placed. His temperature was just as high, and when Wing removed the thermometer the man began vomiting. Wing quickly placed an emesis basin beneath his mouth.

"Come, come, I have to tell you about the other patients," Dr. Qin said. "Leave that for a nurse."

"I need to call Dr. Lu," Wing said. "She has to know there are more patients with similar symptoms."

"Call her after we finish," Dr. Qin said.

Wing refrained from criticizing the older man. He knew how busy the ER could get, and he had to admit that he was often eager to end his own shift. He prescribed antibiotic injections for both men, as well as fever-reducing medicine, though he had little hope that anything would help.

The axe victim from Wing's shift had developed respiratory problems, as had three other men who were in the emergency room at the same time as the boy. "Have you checked on him?" Wing asked. "How is he doing?"

"Patients are no longer my responsibility once they leave the ER," Dr. Qin said primly. "You should know that, doctor."

Wing was going to argue the point, but he knew it would do no good. He and Dr. Qin rushed through the roster of patients and then Dr. Qin left the emergency room. Wing took the elevator up to the isolation ward to check on Lebona and the other patients. He put on a mask and gown and walked inside. The boy was curled on his side, and his vital signs were very poor. The other four men looked weak. They coughed and complained of headaches and high fever.

Wing left the isolation ward and went back downstairs to the small office that had been provided for his use. He called Dr. Lu, the medical director, and updated her. "We're moving the two border guards into isolation, but we don't know how contagious this virus is. Many more people may have been infected."

"I am going to call the border patrol and ask for more details about how the boys were held and who might have come in contact with them. They will have to institute some infection protocols at their headquarters. I'll get back to you if I find out anything useful."

Wing hung up and went back to the ward, dealing with new patients. He wondered why the African boy's brother had not arrived yet, but he was too busy treating patients to call the ambulance service again.

When he finally had a break, he met with Nurse Wen at the front desk. "This may be the beginning of an epidemic," Wing said. "I wonder if Dr. Lu will call the police and notify them, too."

"When were the guards exposed to the boy?" Nurse Wen asked.

"As far as I understand, yesterday afternoon. He arrived here at seven in the evening." He thought for a moment. "So that means this virus may have an incubation period of only twenty-four hours before symptoms appear."

"That means many more of the guards could become sick," Nurse Wen said.

"Yes, as well as their families. Have they been notified that the two guards are sick?"

"I'll check the records, and if they haven't, I'll call."

Nurse Wen turned to the computer as Wing's brain whirred. He was frightened, but at the same time excited. What if he was credited with discovering a new type of virus? Perhaps he would be promoted, moved to a bigger hospital, put into research. But first, he had to do everything he could to save the boy, and the two guards.

He called the ambulance service to ask where Lebona's brother was. "We are too busy right now," the dispatcher said. "We have to handle emergency calls first."

"But this boy may have the disease too, and he may be infecting other children," Wing said.

The dispatcher said she would do what she could. Wing called the police, and was told that they did not run a taxi service.

What could he do? He couldn't leave the hospital himself to fetch the boy, nor could he afford to send one of his staff. He had no family in Dandong, and his friends were all working.

Except for one. Jasper Green, the American journalist. He lived near the Good Luck orphanage. He could get the boy and bring him in. According to the woman there, Lebona's brother wasn't showing symptoms yet. If Jasper wore a mask, and was careful with the boy, there might be little danger.

He dialed Jasper's cell phone. "It's Wing," he said, speaking Chinese. He knew that Jasper understood it, and though he could speak some English he couldn't explain what he needed to in that language. "I need to ask you for a favor."

"If it's like what we did yesterday I'm happy to help you."

"Not that, I am sorry," Wing said. He explained about the two African boys, the one in the hospital and the other at the orphanage. "Can you bring me the little brother?"

"I know where that place is," Jasper said. "I can get there in a few minutes and then take him in a taxi."

"Thank you! But you must be very careful. Even if he does not appear sick he may already have this fever."