Germ

For two days the guy had been calling, demanding to speak to the director of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. He had been only semicoherent, rambling about an old virus that was really a new virus and a threat that may or may not be related to bioterrorism. As agents of the NCID's new Law Enforcement Division, which Congress created as part of the Bioterrorism Weapons Antiterrorism Act, Julia Matheson and Goodwin Donnelley had attempted to trace the calls and find out more about the man making them. The calls had been placed from different pay phones in the DC area, and the name "Despesorio Vero" had been conspicuously absent from every database available to them.

"Showed up at Gate 1 about five, hysterical about getting in. The security guard thought he was going to ram the barricade. The guard force was about to detain him when he backed up and took off. Rental car, picked up at the airport last night." "So we gotta find him?" "He's meeting us at the Excelsior at nine." "He's meeting us?"

"Well me. He thinks I'm Sweeney." Director of NOD, John Sweeney. Vero called right after taking off. They patched him to me "

And meeting off-site was standard operating procedure. Samples of most of the world's deadliest pathogens were housed in the CDC's labs. A candy store for terrorists. Prudence demanded knowing who wanted in and why. It was a policy that rankled CDC scientists who had invited their peers and the public relations staff who thought every taxpayer and his kids deserved access. But nobody wanted nuts roaming the halls. And Vero sounded certifiable.

"You going in wired?" Julia had special training in surveillance technology. These days, everything was recorded.

'"Course," he answered. "And bring the SATD. Molland wants this guy tagged, in case he bolts and there's something to his claims "

Edward Molland was the director of Domestic Operations, their boss.

"Give me forty-five minutes."

"How's your mom?" His voice took on a gentle tone. "Good days, lately. She watches too much TV." "And you don't?"

"Only Lost these days, Goody. You saw me at my worst." Before her mother had gotten sick and come to live with her, Julia had spent a few months in the Donnelley's guest bedroom. She'd just broken up with a guy and hadn't felt like socializing, so she'd spent her evenings soaking up sitcoms and docudramas. She'd gained five pounds too. Long gone now

Worst. Best. What are friends for? See you in thirty."

"Forty-five," she said, but he'd already hung up. On the way out she had listened outside her mother's bedroom, then knocked softly and cracked the door. Mae Matheson was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading the label of a pill bottle

"You all right?"

She looked up, startled. "Oh, I didn't hear you. What are you doing up so early?"

"Case came up. I'm heading out. You going to be all right?" Mae smiled, and Julia felt a familiar dull ache in her chest. Her mother was too young to be like this. Fifty-three. Multiple sclerosis made her more like eighty-three.

She'd been diagnosed six years ago. Julia's father had decided he didn't want to spend the rest of his life taking care of an invalid, and he'd taken off. Two years ago, her mother had moved in with her. Some days she couldn't get out of bed, couldn't eat. If Julia could not stay home—more often than not—she called in a nurse or an assisted-living worker. It looked as though today she could get by on her own, already sitting up, doing things.

"Couldn't sleep," Mae replied. "What else is new? I'll be fine. Have a good day, sweetie."

Julia had held the door open a moment longer. One of these days, she'd have to stay home with her on a good day, just to do it, just for fun. She'd thought the same thing every day for two years. She smiled a good-bye and shut the door.

At their offices on the CDC compound, she had rigged her equipment and strategized with Goody and Molland. By five minutes to nine, she was sitting in her car across from the marble-and-gold Excelsior Hotel, listening.

"No sign of him yet," Goody said from inside the hotel's restaurant. He had reconnoitered the lobby, offices, and kitchen before taking a seat.

Julia heard a waitress ask him what he wanted, heard him order a large OJ.

"Oh no!" he said, panicky. Her body tensed. "What?"

"These prices are ridiculous. Becky in accounting's going to have a stroke."

"Funny." She eyed the laptop computer in the passenger seat. Its monitor displayed a map of the area surrounding the hotel. A glowing red dot marked Goody's location inside the building