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“The bad news?”

“It spreads like wildfire once it gets into a human population. Infect enough people, and the outbreak could overwhelm the medical system.”

“You think we’re looking at a Lassa-style outbreak?” Ian asked.

“I think we’re looking at something considerably worse. Yusef was also playing with Ebola. That particular little beast is less contagious and is a more fragile virus, but it kills many more people who contract it. Under the best of care, mortality can still run close to fifty percent. In the rudimentary care available in third world countries, mortality can creep up toward ninety-five percent.”

“Cripes. What if he’s managed to create a bug that combines Ebola’s lethality with Lassa’s easy spread?”

She studied him soberly. “Then we’d be up shit’s creek without a paddle.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

The whine of the engines filled the heavy silence between them for a few minutes. “Does this superbug have any weaknesses?” Ian asked.

She shrugged. “No idea. I haven’t seen the virus at work and I didn’t design it. Yusef might be able to tell us if his stuff has an Achilles’ heel.”

“If it doesn’t?” Ian bit out.

“No paddle, dude.”

The silence between them was longer this time. Idly, she studied Salima’s grainy picture again. In this shot, Yusef’s hand rested on his daughter’s slim shoulder. Protectively. Lovingly. Good dad, this terrorist scientist. Far too protective to risk his baby girl’s life in any way. If she were in his shoes, she would’ve delivered the virus to its buyer or end destination and then gotten his daughter the hell away from it. Preferably upwind of it.

“I think he has already delivered the virus to its end buyer. Or released it,” she announced. She walked Ian through the logic of Yusef protecting his daughter, and her partner nodded, tight-jawed.

“What kind of incubation time are we looking at?’ he asked.

She shrugged. “Eight to ten days for Lassa and Ebola under normal circumstances. Can stretch to as long as around three weeks. But Yusef could have sped that up in the course of engineering the virus. It will depend on how fast his virus replicates and how fast enough of the virus grows inside a body to make the host symptomatic. At a minimum, I’d say we’re looking at three to five days.”

“So we’re on a very short clock to find this guy and get him to tell us where the virus went.”

“Assuming he knows. If he sold it or merely delivered it to a client, he may not know,” she pointed out.

Ian shoved a distracted hand through his hair. “For the sake of whoever lives where that stuff gets cut loose, let’s hope you’re wrong.”

They stared at each other across the narrow aisle, expressions worried. They were up against a hell of a wall, here. “Are you sure we shouldn’t call in the cavalry?” she asked in a small voice.

“We can’t spook this guy. And we already have access to all the support Uncle Sam can give us. But the approach has to be quiet enough not to freak out Yusef.”

“Are you planning to grab him in the middle of the theme park?” she asked skeptically.

“He and his daughter may have left by the time we get there. FBI’s working with the park’s security team to get a tail on him before that happens and we lose him.”

Again. The word hung, unspoken, in the air. Ian was being kind not to point out that he’d lost Yusef because of her the last time he’d had eyes on the Scientist. But they both knew it. This crisis was her fault.

Ian spoke low. “Hey, look. No one’s sure this guy and his kid are Abahdi and his daughter. First order of business is to ID him. Then we’ll take things as they come.”

“I’m sorry I got in the way of you trailing him in South Sudan. For what it’s worth, I am grateful you came into that house and saved my life.”

He shrugged. “What’s done is done.”

“You really can put bad decisions behind you just like that?” she asked, startled. “Just shrug and move on?”

“Can I go back and change the decision? No. Can I change what’s happened since? No. Why worry about that stuff, then? I can only operate in the now. If I’m lucky, I can anticipate futureevents and attempt to influence them. That’s the stuff I worry about. Stuff I can do something about.”

“Wow. How enlightened of you.”

“Just being realistic. Besides,” he commented lightly, “I’m not entirely convinced it was a bad decision to come into that house after you.” \