THE MAVERICK DOCTOR AND MISS PRIM/ABOUT THAT NIGHT... Read Online Free PDF

sitting in on that conference call. It seems your reputation has preceded you.”
    “I don’t care about my reputation—”
    “Obviously.”
    “I care about these staff.”
    He spun around as the crates were wheeled into the treatment room and the vaccine started to be unloaded. One of the contact tracers came up and mumbled in her ear, “We’re going to start with a limited number of people affected. The kids, their parents, Dr. Sawyer, yourself and these other four members of staff who’ve had limited contact.”
    “What about Alison?”
    The contact tracer hesitated, looking from one to the other. “That’s not my decision,” he said as he spun away.
    Callie swallowed. She could do with something cool to drink, her throat was dry and scratchy. “Alison will have to make her own decision on the vaccine. There isn’t enough data for us to give her reliable information.”
    She saw the look on his face. He looked haunted. As if he’d just seen a ghost from the past. Was this what had happened to his wife? Had she been exposed to something that couldn’t be treated because of her pregnancy? This might all be too close to home for Matt Sawyer.
    “Okay.” He ran his fingers through his hair. It hadn’t got any better now it had been released from the cap. In fact, it seemed to have grown even longer. “Do me a favor?”
    She lifted her head from the clipboard she was scribbling on. “What?”
    “Let me be the one to talk to Alison about it. If there hasn’t been any more research in the last six years, then I’m as up to date as you are.”
    She took a deep breath. She didn’t know this guy well enough to know how he would handle this. He was obviously worried about his colleague. But was that all? And would his past experience affect his professional judgment?
    “You can’t recommend it one way or the other, you understand that, don’t you?”
    She could tell he wanted to snap at her. To tell her where to go. But something made him bite his tongue. “I can be impartial. I’ll give her all the facts and let her make her own decision. It will come better from someone she knows.”
    Callie nodded. He was right. The smallpox vaccine came with a whole host of issues. She was already questioning some of the decisions that she’d made.
    Alison was at the end of the corridor in a room on her own, partly for her own protection and partly for the protection of others. She’d been in direct contact with the disease—without any mask to limit the spread of the infection. In theory, because she hadn’t had prolonged exposure in a confined space, she should be at low risk. But she’d also been exposed to—and had touched—the erupting spots. The most infectious element of the disease. Pregnant or not, she had to be assessed as being at risk. “You know I have to do this, right?”
    He was glaring at her, his head shaking almost imperceptibly—as if it was an involuntary act.
    “We have the three major diagnostic criteria for smallpox. This is a high-risk category. Those parents look sick already. They’re probably in the prodromal stage of the disease.”
    The implication in the air was there, hanging between them. If they waited, it could result in more casualties and the DPA being slaughtered by the media for wasting time. That was the last thing anyone wanted.
    “Callie? We have a problem.”
    Both heads turned to the DPA contact tracer standing at the door. “What is it, Hugo?”
    She stepped forward and took the clipboard from his hand.
    “It’s the parents. They can’t say for sure if the rash came out during or after the plane trip home.”
    “You’re joking, right?” Callie felt the hackles rise on the back of her neck. This was one of the most crucial pieces of information they needed. Once the rash was out, the person was infectious. This was the difference between three hundred passengers on a plane being at risk or not.
    Hugo looked pale. “Mrs. Keating is sure they didn’t have a