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“Fine,” Margaret said. “I’m not cleared. Let me ask this another way. Do these brilliant minds know exactly what they are looking for? Do they have the whole story?”

“You just keep feeding us whatever biological information you discover,” Murray said. “We have to keep this compartmentalized.”

Margaret rolled her eyes. “Murray, we had to drop a bomb this time. Your compartmentalization isn’t working.”

“Look, I’m not a complete idiot,” Murray said. “Doctor Cheng is using the full resources of the CDC to find a vector.”

“Right,” Margaret said. “And how can he do that if he can’t say what the disease is?”

“He’s using flesh-eating bacteria as a cover story, entering in additional symptoms like blue triangles, skin necrosis, paranoia, et cetera. He’s using all the CDC’s disease-tracking databases looking for such symptoms, and he’s also working with data that FBI investigators have collected on each of the hosts and the hosts’ families.”

Margaret sat back. Actually, modifying the symptoms of flesh-eating bacteria to include the triangle symptoms was a brilliant idea. Everyone in the medical profession took necrotizing fasciitis very seriously and would pay close attention to any updates and requests for information.

“Okay, I can see that strategy,” Margaret said. “So what angles is Cheng pursuing?”

“Everything from mechanical and biological vectors to doomsday cults intentionally targeting specific victims,” Murray said. “He’s focusing on the rural nature of the constructs, hoping for a correlation to deer or other animals that flourish in remote areas.”

“The Bambi vector,” Amos said. “Well, that’s just plain brilliant. I’m so glad one of the nation’s most brilliant minds is on this.”

Margaret gently put a hand on Amos’s arm to silence him. “Murray,” she said, “deer are not the vector, and this isn’t a doomsday cult. Cheng is grasping at straws. We need access to the same data he has.”

Murray smiled. “Margaret, Doctor Cheng’s track record is impeccable, and he’s been working on Morgellons for years. He also has CDC’s computer system, the most advanced disease-tracking database on the planet. What makes you think you can do any better from a d.a.m.n autopsy trailer?”

“The three people in this room already know everything,” Margaret said. “If there’s a connection to be made, we’re the ones most likely to make it. Hey, if you’re happy with your Option Number Four fighters flying around America, then by all means keep the status quo—just make sure we’re very far away from the eighteen-million-degree fireball, okay?”

Murray considered this for a moment. “All right, fine, I’ll give you access.”

“What about signals intelligence?” Clarence asked. “Ogden thinks there has to be a satellite involved. Anything on that?”

Murray shook his head. “Nothing. The NSA still isn’t detecting any kind of signal. NASA is looking for indications of anything weird in orbit, but so far nada.”

“It could be a stealth satellite,” Clarence said.

“They’re telling me the physics doesn’t add up,” Murray said. “It’s way beyond me.”

“The enemy is doing things with biotechnology that we can’t even fathom yet, let alone replicate,” Margaret said. “Maybe hiding something from NASA isn’t as hard as we’d like to think.”

“Maybe,” Murray said. “You’ll get your access, but do not contact Cheng directly, understood? Apparently he’s not fond of you, Margaret.”