Free The Pestilence by Faisal Ansari

two biggest Palestinian car parking companies for the plate number you got from Dr Fara’s mother. We got lucky. At 3.12 a.m. yesterday morning Dr Fara’s car entered the car park at the Children’s Relief Hospital in Jericho. They left eleven hours later. So we know where Dr Fara and Samuel Srour went after the airstrike. I then entered Jericho as the only parameter in my news timeline starting from the time when they entered the car park. Here is the graph. See the volume spikes around 7 a.m. and then again around midday. It’s a Jericho-wide search, but the spikes are centred on the Children’s Relief Hospital.” Hazel paused and looked up at Bill. “You are not going to believe me when I show you this.”
    â€œGo on.”
    â€œWe have a mass of activity from at least fifty different sources, but I want to show you this one video. It shows the nature of all the activity related to the hospital.”
    Hazel clicked on the link in her news timeline and the computer navigated to the video link. It was obviously taken on a cell phone from a hospital ward. The clip focused on a young man’s bandaged hand as he sits on a hospital bed with the privacy curtains drawn round. The young man props up his phone on the side of his bed, the change of angle allowing the viewer to catch a glimpse of the back of a man moving through the curtains followed by a woman. The audio is clear and the sound of laughter echoes throughout the ward. The man begins to unwrap the heavy bandages on his damaged hand, delicately at first, then faster with increasing intent and vigour. He dumps the soiled dressings on the floor. His hand is a bloody mess, ghastly stitched wounds over three missing fingers. The camera stays on the mangled hand for a few seconds and then the young man’s stitches burst open. Three new fingers push out like seedlings on a time lapse camera breaking through fresh soil. The man flexes his healed hand, runs his thumb across the new fingers and begins to shout praises to God.
    â€œGot to be a fake,” said Bill.
    â€œIf seen in isolation this could be some sort of CGI film trickery. But look at the context, look at all the other data points; all the different sources on my timeline say the same thing. Some sort of miraculous healing events took place at the Children’s Relief Hospital today. You even have doctors and nurses complaining and leaving their shifts early as they have no patients to treat. I’m surprised this hasn’t been picked up by the media.”
    â€œWon’t be long before it does. For now, it seems all eyes are still on the Electrical Phenomenon,” said Bill.
    â€œI have more. It’s not just one hospital. I expanded on the parameters of the original Jericho timeline. I included most of the hospitals in Palestine and across the border in Israel. I found volume spikes in these two hospitals; same stories as before, miraculous healings. No pictures this time but a lot of data points. A veterans’ hospital just outside Jericho then another one here and I will wager your BBC Christmas bonus that the next activity spike will be at the Sinai General.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œLook at this map. We know that Dr Fara and Samuel Srour were in Jericho at the Children’s Relief. See where these hospitals lie and now Dr Fara’s address that you got from her mother. Do you see? It’s a trail of crumbs starting in Jericho and leading all the way back to the good doctor’s university digs in Jerusalem. The Sinai General is the next hospital they hit on their way home.”
    ***
    Timeline: The Pestilence minus 55 days. Information source: Application to the Chaput Foundation.
    Dear Trustees
    I am writing to apply for a grant from the Chaput Foundation. My wife and I are hardworking folk. Together we ran a small convenience store seven days a week for the last twenty-seven years. The recession hit the store hard and we were