Hidden Empire (Empire 2)

"They do in my White House," he

said. And so far she had remained out of the media gossip and invisible to the blogs, so maybe he was right. Or maybe nobody was going to say anything remotely critical of a war hero's widow. Maybe Reuben was still protecting her.

When they were inside the Oval Office with the door closed, he said, "Just so you know, Cole got the idea planted with Bohdanovich and he's already talked to his Estonian counterpart, so who knows, maybe something will come of it."

"Just remember that I'm not an expert on Russian and Baltic politics," said Cecily.

"Hey, your ancestors came from Serbia."

"Croatia. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the Baltic states. Or Russia, for that matter. Croatians are Catholic."

"It's still eastern Europe," said Torrent. "And it's a good idea, if they really do it."

"It might be politically impossible in Estonia."

"I don't know. The Estonians have a very ironic sense of humor. I think they'll get the joke without anybody having to do anything so inflammatory as explain it publicly."

"Why did you call me in?" asked Cecily.

"Oh, was I off topic?" Torrent said, with only a little snideness.

"I have a babysitter with the meter running," said Cecily.

"Are you hinting we should pick up her tab?"

"No," said Cecily. "But she did ask for a chopper ride."

Torrent looked at her for a moment to see if she was joking.

"Yes, she did ask, but no, of course I don't want you to do it."

"What I brought you in for," said Torrent, "was because of an outbreak of a new disease in Nigeria."

"Ebola doesn't happen in Nigeria."

"Then it's a good thing it isn't ebola," said Torrent. "I don't think they've even named it yet, though it'll probably be called Ilorin, after the city where it first showed up."

"How cute," said Cecily. "The name even starts with 'ill.'"

"Right, you're not a medical expert. What I need you for is to vet our response to it."

"Is it an epidemic?"

"No, not at all. Just a couple of cases. It kills too quickly for it to be an epidemic. I mean, nobody who was infected lived as long as twenty-four hours. And it takes blood contact to spread it."

"Like HIV?"

"No, more like ebola—bodily fluids getting passed."

"So then it's not a problem."

"It's a problem," said Torrent. "Even ebola has survivors. Not many, but some. This one is a hundred percent."

"How many total?"

"Three."

"Civilians?"