Maybe

“Total access, Mr. President. Nothing less.”

He says, “I wouldn’t give a man like you access to a dog turd.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

The line goes dead.

Maybe says, “You were talking to the president just now?”

“Yes.”

“Of the United States?”

Gwen makes a face and says, “Bullshit. He was just trying to impress me. He’ll say or do anything to get in my pants.”

She looks at me and says, “It won’t work.”

Her tongue flicks at the frosting again and again, and I see she’s making little sculptures on her cupcake. Callie catches me staring.

“Down boy,” she says.

2

LOU CALLS ME back.

“Good call on the hand sanitizer,” he says.

“Any deaths yet?”

“No. But they’re going to be permanently disfigured.”

“That bothers me.”

“Me too. Wait. Which part?”

“The acid should start burning mom’s hands immediately. But there’s a delayed reaction of what, ten, maybe fifteen minutes? Possibly longer?”

“You’re trying to guess how long it would take him to put acid in all four sanitizing stations?”

“I am. Ask the Louisville PD how far apart the stations are, from first to fourth.”

“Will do.”

“And ask the geeks how he managed to delay the effect.”

Lou’s geek squad possesses the finest computer minds and researchers on the planet. It’s one of the reasons I keep him on my personal payroll.

“I’ll run it by them,” he says. “Anything else?”

“I want to know every victim’s name. I want to see their before and after photos.”

“Even the babies?”

“Especially the babies.”

“This will help you find him, somehow?”

“No. But it’ll help me want to. And Lou?”

“Yeah?”

“When the scientists isolate the chemical agent, we need to learn who manufactures it, who distributes it, and how our urban terrorist got hold of it.”

“What type of person are we looking for?”

“A chemist.”

“Corporate?”

“Yes. Or a high school chemistry teacher, college professor, or grad student with a chemistry major.”

“That’s a pretty wide range.”

“First cut.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone with a chemistry background has survived the first cut. As Felix continues terrorizing people, we’ll narrow the possibilities accordingly.”

“Felix?”

“We need to call him something besides the urban terrorist.”

I hang up and tell Callie and Maybe about Felix and what he’s done.

“Sounds like a kid’s book,” Maybe says. “Felix at the Fair?”

Callie says, “I thought we were going to war against Darwin.”

“We are. If he’s alive.”

“Then what’s all this about finding Felix?”

“We’re a long way from finding Felix. But it’ll keep Lou busy while I try to figure out if Darwin’s still alive.

3

Sam Case.

THE GOVERNMENT FACILITY at Mount Weather, near Bluemont, Virginia, includes an underground bunker called Area B, which is the size of a small city. Area B was built to withstand repeated strikes from nuclear weapons. More than 600,000 square feet in size, Area B contains a hospital, crematorium, dining and recreational facilities, self-contained power plants, and is equipped to broadcast TV and radio signals.

Area B is where Sam Case lives and works for the government, developing a synthetic cure for the Spanish Flu, a virus so deadly it decimated one-third of the earth’s population in 1918. The thing about the Spanish Flu, there’s no cure. First time around, it nearly wiped out the planet.

Next time it’ll be worse.

And there will be a next time.

Like many government employees, Sam’s in no hurry to solve the problem he’s been hired to solve. But Sam’s motivation isn’t about steady employment. It’s about self-preservation. Sam’s life is in jeopardy, and Mount Weather is the only place on earth his enemies can’t get to him.

What you want to know about Sam Case, he’s one of the world’s most brilliant people. More than a year ago he had a thriving business and a hot wife, Rachel. His business involved moving billions of dollars electronically from bank to bank, all over the world, twenty-four hours a day, effectively hiding it for the world’s most ruthless dictators and criminals. The modest fees he charged earned him millions of dollars, and life was good.

Enter Donovan Creed.

Creed also parked a sum of money with Sam, but unlike the others, he saw an opportunity to cash in. He broke into Sam’s house, lived secretly in his attic, and eventually breached Sam’s security and stole billions of dollars from Sam’s clients.

He also stole Sam’s wife, Rachel, who’s certifiably insane.

She’s also one of only two people in the world known to possess a gene that’s resistant to the Spanish Flu.

Rachel also lives in the underground bunker in Area B.

But not by choice.

Government scientists are holding her captive, harvesting her eggs, and hoping to create a generation of children who will inherit the gene. Until Sam or some other scientist can create a synthetic response to the Spanish Flu, Rachel must remain there.

Sam considers Donovan Creed his arch enemy. Such is his hatred for Creed, he’d give ten years of his life to make Creed suffer a day.