The nightmare scenario just materialised. An Ebola patient has been snatched from a treatment centre in DR Congo. Armed gangs did it. Their target? British aid workers.
The facility, run by a UK-backed charity, was breached at dawn. Heavily armed men overwhelmed security. They took one patient. A young woman, symptomatic, highly contagious.
Sources tell me this was no random robbery. This was extraction. Intel suggests the kidnappers are a local militia with links to a wider network. They see British staff as valuable assets. Ransom. Leverage. A statement.
The Foreign Office is in emergency sessions. No public comment yet. But the fear is palpable. If this patient moves through a populated area, we are looking at a new outbreak. The region was already struggling to contain the virus.
Whitehall is asking two questions. Who is holding her? And what do they want? The answer to the first is murky. The second is more ominous. Word is they want a prisoner swap. A jailed commander.
Downing Street is boxed in. Negotiate with terrorists? The precedent would be disastrous. Refuse, and risk the lives of aid workers. And the health of the region.
The backbenches are stirring. Hardliners want a military response. Select committee chairs are demanding briefings. The opposition is sharpening its knives.
Meanwhile, the WHO is scrambling. Contact tracing is compromised. The aid workers have been pulled back to fortified compounds. The mission is effectively frozen.
This is a crisis within a crisis. A health emergency turned security hostage drama. The Ebola response was fragile. Now it has a target on its back.
The next 48 hours are critical. The government is weighing options. But one thing is certain. The game has changed.
For the aid workers on the ground, the rules of engagement are now rewritten. They are no longer just healers. They are pawns in a brutal political game.
And the woman they took? She is a weapon. A biological one.
Westminster is holding its breath. The corridors of power are buzzing. But the real action is in a humid, dangerous corner of Congo. Where a patient is missing, and the clock is ticking.
