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“Then keep her at sea,” Clarence said. “Has the Coronado followed orders to steer clear of any other task force s.h.i.+ps and personnel?”

Murray fell silent. The lack of response answered Clarence’s question: the Coronado remained an infection-free place to stash Margo and Feely.

Finally, the director spoke. “SEAL Team Two isn’t a taxi service for your wife, Otto. The SEALs are my insurance policy. If the command structure of any s.h.i.+p becomes infected, their mission is kill those people. You think I’m going to take a chance that they could become compromised just to keep Margaret alive?”

Clarence closed his eyes. All this talk of life and death — at least he was no longer in danger of falling asleep.

“Sir, Margaret is too great an a.s.set to waste. She’s working on more than just the inoculant. If you don’t want to lose her, then give me direct contact with the Coronado. If things go bad, I can get her off the Brashear.”

“And what if she’s infected and doesn’t know it? Better yet, what if you’re infected, and you use the Coronado to s.h.i.+t all over the mainland?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to gamble.”

Murray huffed, a sound that turned into a laugh of disgust. “Gamble.” Gamble with a disease that can make us extinct?”

“That’s right,” Clarence said. “You know Margaret is worth the risk.”

He waited through a long pause.

“All right, Otto. I’ll get you in contact with the Coronado. But the ride is for a clean Margaret Montoya. If you find out she’s infected …”

Clarence licked his suddenly dry lips. For better or for worse.

“Director, if it comes to that, I’ll do us both.”

“Good man,” Murray said. “I’ll be in touch.”

A NEW HOPE

Margaret double-checked the time in her visor’s HUD, just to confirm what she already knew; yes, it had been only eight hours since she’d injected two microscopic hydras into the body of Eric Edmund.

They had multiplied.

Samples taken from his spinal column showed a few hydras, as was to be expected. What surprised her was Edmund’s blood: there were already thousands of them in his circulatory system. They thrived in there, reproducing at a rate that defied logic, even strained the limits of her imagination. The hydras reprogrammed stem cells to make more hydras, which then reprogrammed additional stem cells, creating an exponential population increase. If he had thousands inside of eight hours, within twenty-four he would have millions.

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