I’d recommended sending Dew Phillips and his team immediately.”

“Dew’s team,” Vanessa said. “By that you mean Perry Dawsey. No way.

We’re not going through that again.”

Murray’s stomach churned. He needed a Tums and p.r.o.nto—he’d sent Dew to g.a.y.l.o.r.d right before he’d walked into the Oval Office.

“We have to send Perry, sir,” Murray said. “Dawsey is the only one who can detect the hosts.”

Vanessa smiled. He hated that smile. Really . . . f.u.c.king . . . hated it.

“But you already know where the Jewells live,” Vanessa said. “And you didn’t get that information from Perry Dawsey, correct?”

He had walked right into that one. So f.u.c.king obvious he hadn’t even realized it.

“Yes ma’am, but they could behave like other infected hosts and run, so we need Dawsey.”

“I see,” Vanessa said. “Well, I would think that if Dawsey had detected this g.a.y.l.o.r.d infection, you would have already said so. So am I right in a.s.suming he did not detect this one?”

“That’s correct,” Murray said. “He feels that . . . uh . . . his ability to detect the hosts is being jammed by some unknown force.”

“So he did not detect it this time,” Vanessa said. “Which means if the Jewells do run, there’s no knowing whether Perry can track them at all.”

Murray’s face felt very hot. “I would say that’s correct, ma’am. But we also don’t know if this jamming will continue, or if he can hear them should he get closer. He’s the only detection a.s.set we have. We need to send him now.”

“What we need to do,” Vanessa said, “is make sure we help the Jewells before it’s too late. After we have them, then bring in Dawsey—under heavy guard—to communicate with the triangles. He can still do that, right, Murray?”

“Yes,” Murray said, although he really didn’t know the answer.

“Then we agree that it’s a bad idea to send Dawsey in first.”

Murray shook his head. “That’s not what I said.”

“Come on, Murray,” she said. “Your tangled web of secrets just isn’t working. We need to stop f.u.c.king around.”

“I hardly think Amos Braun was f.u.c.king around when he died in the line of duty, Miss Colburn.” The words shot out of his mouth before he could control them.

“Of course that’s not what she meant,” Gutierrez said coolly. “Right, Vanessa?”

She glared at Murray. The eyes sent a clear message: You just embarra.s.sed me in front of the president, and I won’t forget it.

“Of course,” she said. “My apologies, Murray.”

Gutierrez nodded once, as if the apology ended the incident for good.

Vanessa turned to face Gutierrez. “What I meant to say, John, was that we need to step this up a level. We need to send in Ogden.”

Again with calling the president by his first name.

“And have Ogden do what?” Murray asked. “Blockade the town? Go door-to-door and administer Margaret’s test?”

“Exactly,” she said. “That’s exactly what we have to do.”

President Gutierrez looked at her for quite a long time, his fingers tapping a pattern on the desk. He turned and looked at Murray. “Won’t it be impossible to control secrecy if we do that?”

Murray looked at the president, then at Vanessa. Her eyes were cold and emotionless once again. He didn’t like her, but he respected that kind of bold move. She wanted to send in the troops? Lock down an entire town? Vanessa Colburn did not f.u.c.k around.

“Actually, sir,” Murray said, “I agree with Miss Colburn. And I believe we can preserve secrecy. Doctor Cheng has been using a story about flesh-eating bacteria as cover for his research. Say a plane is flying over g.a.y.l.o.r.d with research material for the flesh-eating bacteria, the plane goes off the radar . . . well, that could inadvertently expose civilians. The local population is at risk, which gets us total cooperation of area law enforcement. We use local cops as our spokespeople; the residents will listen to them. We have enough tests to check all the residents we can find. Testing is an easy sell when we tell people they could rot and die horribly if they have the bacteria and go untreated.

“We evacuate the town, test everyone on the way out, then go door-to-door to see who’s left behind. We either get the infected coming out of town or get them in their homes. As soon as we secure the town, we let everyone back in. Two days at the most.”

Gutierrez raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You rattled that off like you’ve invaded a town before.”

Murray nodded. “There have been instances. If you’re willing to sign the secrecy-a.s.surance doc.u.ments, I can share any story you’d like to hear.

I have thirty years’ worth.”

Gutierrez tapped the desktop some more before he spoke. “How long will it take Ogden’s men to deploy to g.a.y.l.o.r.d?”

“Otsego Airport is right in the town proper,” Murray said. “Ogden and his men can land in C-17s, complete with Humvees, and we’ll have Ospreys and Apaches in support. He’ll probably be on the ground in g.a.y.l.o.r.d three or four hours from the time I make the call. But sir, I still strongly suggest putting Dawsey in play. If he can sniff out the hosts, it could shorten the process. Ogden’s men can make sure he stays under control.”

Gutierrez turned to Vanessa. She nodded.

“Do it, Murray,” Gutierrez said. “Get Tom Maskill an overview of the bacteria-story details, and we’ll coordinate. But I want Dawsey and Phillips to sit tight until Ogden arrives. And I’m not kidding, Murray—they better sit down and get some coffee and not do a d.a.m.n thing. I am going to check up on that, and if I find out that my orders have been ignored, you’re finished.”

Murray needed to get the h.e.l.l out of the Oval Office and call Dew before Perry could do anything stupid.

“Yes sir,” Murray said. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to implement this right away.”