text: This resemblance had not escaped notice at the CDC. Carlson had compared the RNA base sequence of the feline disease with that of Ebola. Sure enough, the sequences that were not yet identified when Angelo had spoken with Carlson by phone were now determined to be Ebola genes. Several of them coded for a structural protein. Other genes determined the glycoprotein responsible for much of the pathology associated with Ebola. Scandaloose! This is one scary virus. This explains the hemorrhaging in the infected cats.
  
  The technicians had separated a sample of the Ebola-like filaments from the rest of the virus and, using a BSL-4 animal lab, attempted to infect three cats and two chimpanzees with the preparation. Four days after the exposure, the five animals were still free of disease. So the Ebola part by itself is not infectious; African chimpanzees often survive Ebola. It must be that either chimps or other apes at the Seattle Zoo were captured some time after they recovered from Ebola. Those apes could be carrying Ebola virus without showing symptoms of the disease.
  
  Angelo promptly telephoned Geraldine Moore at the Seattle Zoo. After he'd described the highlights of Carlson's report to her, Moore said, "That's incredible! You mean the disease is caused by a new virus that has pieces of three other viruses?"
  
  "Yes, that's it exactly," replied Angelo. "I think the most likely source of the Ebola part is some kind of ape, probably a chimpanzee. I think it would be prudent if the zoo quarantined all the apes until they can be checked for Ebola."
  
  "But we quarantine all new animals for two months before we let them mingle with the others. If any ape carried Ebola, it would have shown up during the initial quarantine."
  
  Angelo countered, "Not necessarily. Some animals survive Ebola infection and become carriers."
  
  "I see. I'll notify the director immediately. Thanks for the heads-up."
  
  Angelo took time out around four in the afternoon to enjoy Dorothy's virtuosity on the harpsichord, and then he returned to the report until dinnertime. Later that evening, he phoned Vera. "I congratulate you, Dr. Barnett. Your theory of leukemia was partly correct. The epizootic is caused by a virus similar to FeLV, but it also carries FIV genes. It has surface envelope proteins of both viruses. And, as you know, it is much more virulent than normal FeLV or FIV. It appears also to contain portions of the Ebola virus. I must tell you, however, that your hypothesis that the disease started in Dr. Chamberlin's laboratory is no longer tenable. In fact, it looks like the epizootic started in a zoo in Seattle."
  
  "Seattle? Ebola?" she mumbled. "Uh, thank you, Dr. Kraakmo. Thank you for calling."
  
  "Wait, please. Do not hang up yet. I would like to meet with you and Dr. Chamberlin during the week if you have the time."
  
  "Have the time?" Vera laughed sarcastically. "My practice has dropped off about a third since the cats died. Of course I have the time, but I'm not sure that Dr. Chamberlin will want to see me. Apparently, I've done him a terrible injustice."
  
  "I will fix it. I'll let you know later when the meeting will be."
  
  Vera poured a double scotch and threw herself down on the couch. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, sipping the amber liquid. She couldn't concentrate on a single train of thought. How could a feline virus have incorporated Ebola genes? What could she do to make up to Noah? Could the Ebola jump to humans? She had to apologize to Noah, but nothing she could say or do could possibly make up for the damage she had caused to his career and his psyche. She went over to her desk and started to write him a note. The words wouldn't come. She tried several times, each time hitting the delete button. She poured another double scotch, though she normally drank in moderation. Back on the couch, just before she passed out, her roving consciousness focused on the fragment: "Now is the winter of our discontent..."
  
  In the morning, her head spinning, she wrote those words on a floral e-mail template followed by:
  
  I have wronged you
  
  I ask your forgiveness
  
  I will understand if it is not forthcoming
  
  I love you very much
  
  Vera
  
  Angelo had arranged the meeting with Noah and Vera for Wednesday afternoon in Noah's office. As it happened, Noah had received Vera's e-mail that morning. Vera arrived early and walked in the open door. Neither of them said a word. Vera felt her pulse racing. She moved haltingly toward Noah but feared he was through with her.
  
  Finally, Noah glanced at the note on his computer screen and said with a smile, "'Now is the winter of our discontent'? It's almost summer!" He walked around the desk, faced Vera, and recited:
  
  Doubt thou the stars are fire;
  
  Doubt that the sun doth move;
  
  Doubt truth to be a liar;
  
  But never doubt I love.
  
  Tears welled in her eyes. Vera and Noah enfolded each other tenderly. Eventually, Vera whispered, "I love you so much." She kissed him and said, "Leave it to you to find just the right quotation from Shakespeare. It's from Hamlet's letter to Ophelia, isn't it?"
  
  "Uh huh."
  
  At that moment, Angelo appeared, and, with his tactful clearing of throat, the two backed away from each other.
  
  "I had to go through a picket line outside," noted Angelo. "They are picketing the institute because they think you started the disease?"
  
  "That's right," Noah replied.
  
  "Scandaloose! I will attend to that shortly, but first I want to talk about this disease. Here's the teery—the zoo woman told me that the three cats that died there had bacterial or viral infections. That may be, but the CDC lab has found the new viruses in the tissues from those cats. So the zoo cats had a disease much like the one in Camarillo, yes?"
  
  Noah and Vera nodded.
  
  "But the CDC lab did immunology analyses of the viruses, and they are not all the same. Interesting, no?
  
  "I think the disease started when an endogenous leukemia virogene in the lion mutated and became virulent. This must have happened last summer. The lion then came down with leukemia. This virus could not be FeLV, as we find it in Felis catus, because FeLV is not found in lions."
  
  "That's right," Vera agreed. "It's not found in any of the large cats."
  
  "No. But did you know there are sequences in rat DNA that are identical to portions of FeLV? Perhaps rats are implicated... I don't know." Angelo jotted down something on his tablet and shook his head. "So what happened next? This lion virus infected a jungle cat, Felis chaus, in the same zoo. Maybe the virus was carried to the jungle cat by a zookeeper or a fly—who knows? Then the jungle cat came down with leukemia. Now the jungle cat is known to carry Type-C FeLV virogenes on its chromosomes. So I think that the lion leukemia chromosome combined with the FeLV in the jungle cat to form a virus chromosome with new properties.
  
  "This new leukemia virus then infected the European wildcat, and maybe again recombination took place. The European wildcat is also known to carry Type-C genes, you see..."
  
  Noah interrupted, "I don't understand why the disease seemed to originate in Camarillo."
  
  "Aha! Now we bring into the story the famous cat called Clyde. The new virus, having undergone several genetic changes—first by mutation, and then recombination—now infected Clyde. I think Clyde was harboring an asymptomatic feline AIDS infection and the genome of the new FeLV virus, recombined with FIV, to make a virus with even more new properties.
  
  "At some point, the virus also acquired some Ebola genes. The docent lady at the zoo told me that a chimpanzee had died there of unknown causes about the time this virus was jumping from cat to cat. I suspect that it died from Ebola."
  
  Vera shook her head. "This is incredible—frightening!"
  
  "Finally, Clyde was brought to Camarillo by the farmer Wingate. So what we have here is a new virus disease, a highly virulent form of leukemia/FIV/Ebola, whose primary effects are immunosuppression and bleeding. The cats die of bacterial infection and hemorrhage long before the effects of leukemia show themselves. I propose to name the new disease FHF," Angelo announced with a touch of self-congratulation, "Feline Hemorrhagic Fever."
  
  Noah and Vera took a few minutes to absorb all this while Angelo sat, arms folded, self-satisfied grin on his face. Finally, Vera declared, "We must start a crash program to immunize cats with FeLV vaccine."
  
  "I am sorry," said Angelo, "but that would be useless. FHF virus is not FeLV. The lab report says that there is very little cross reaction between the FHF virus and FeLV or FIV antibodies."
  
  Noah offered, "Then a vaccine must be prepared from the new virus."
  
  "That's convincing," said Angelo. "The CDC laboratory is now at work on this project. They are trying to find the best way to grow the virus in large quantity, using feline cell cultures. They are also examining the mode of transmission of FHF. We should have a report in about two weeks."
  
  "Meanwhile," said Vera, "this FHF is spreading and spreading. I read that it's appeared in Louisiana and several cities in Mexico, including Mexico City. Half the cats in the country could be dead by the time we learn how to prepare a vaccine."