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branch of that whole initiative. Basically, the U.S. government has given a nice pot of money to a bunch of groups like the Gorilla Doctors so they can study the emergence of new infectious diseases in geographic hot spots around the world. It just happens that many of these diseases jump out of high-risk wildlife like some of the ones we’ve been working with here.”
    Was she really so interested in research funding mechanisms? Her eyes hadn’t left his own through that whole long-winded explanation. Or was she actually onto him and just wanted to see how long he would hold her gaze? Well, he wasn’t going to be the one to look away.
    A noise at the door interrupted his plotting.
    “Oh, you’re both here now?” Innocence’s resonant voice broke the hushed silence of the moment. “How is this little baby of ours?” He finished adjusting his mask as he crossed the room.
    “Seems to be pretty stable. Still eating well and just the slightest fever,” Cole said. “But unfortunately my tests confirmed our suspicions of monkeypox, so you’re going to need to put on some coveralls before you take over.”
    “Cole, my friend.” The exasperation was clear in this native Congolese’s accented voice. “You know I have lived in these forests and worked with these animals my whole life without any Tyvek to protect me.”
    Cole smiled. The park ranger had a point. But he was the doctor and protector of the public health here, much as he hated bossing people around.
    “Innocence, you are my friend and that is why I don’t want any more responsibility for getting you sick.”
    Marna turned to look at him quizzically. “Any more responsibility?”
    Cole contorted his face in exaggerated embarrassment. “I may have burst one of these lesions right in Innocence’s face back on Mount Mikeno this morning. He was very generous to forgive me, but I just hope he’s not incubating the virus even now because of my clumsiness.”
    “I am fine,” Innocence said.
    He took one final look at his adopted charge now struggling to gain a higher perch on Cole’s shoulder and turned back toward the door.
    “And you are right, I accepted your apology. So please, say nothing more about it.”
    Tiny white flowers liberally adorned the unassuming green vines climbing along the plastered walls outside the building. Marna had always loved the strong dark scent of jasmine. She took a deep breath, filling her mouth and lungs with the cool night air.
    “Can’t you just taste it?” she asked Cole in a hushed whisper. They stood at the window looking in on Innocence’s preparations for a night with the orphaned gorilla.
    “What, the flowers?”
    “Yeah, take a mouthful of air and hold it a few seconds. Think of it like wine-tasting. Swirl it around. Now, do you taste it?”
    She watched Cole deliberately follow her instructions. He was doing it again, holding her eyes in that grip of focused attention. From any other guy, she would have known, no question, the desire of possession behind that intense look. With Cole, though, she was confused. He’d let three months go by without moving on from these occasional intimate stares. They’d even gotten tipsy together a few times, but nothing. Just a casual goodnight, and then back the next morning to the friendly banter of daily life and work.
    Cole released the air and smiled. “That’s nice, you’re right. I’ve never thought about tasting scents like that.”
    He turned back to the window and Marna stepped in beside him. Not quite on purpose, she let her bare elbow brush and then rest again Cole’s forearm. He didn’t move. It was silly, especially with everything else going on, but there was something intensely comforting about this simple human contact.
    They stood there, watching as the Virguna park ranger finished piling old blankets in a far corner of the room. The constant refrain of low hums and grunts came drifting through the screen to them—yet another way he put his tiny