Exit 9

when he came through the first time. It was on the same side as the elevator shaft. Sanjay turned the knob and the door opened.

Just inside, stairs led down to a basement level. If there hadn’t been a light on at the bottom, he would have closed the door and moved on, but there was, so he knew he had to check.

Quietly, he descended the concrete steps into a long corridor that ran off to the left and right. He listened, not knowing which way to go.

Voices. Faint, and…from the right.

He went toward them, making his way past several doors until he reached the one where he could hear two distinct voices behind. Like at the managers’ office, they were speaking a language he didn’t understand. The door had two different locks. He carefully tried the knob, but it didn’t budge.

Sanjay was trying to figure out how he was going to get on the other side when one of the voices-Mr. Dettling’s, he realized-suddenly increased in volume.

Sanjay knew he’d never make it to the stairs in time. There was, however, a doorless entryway only ten feet back that opened onto a dark room.

He ducked inside, and had just moved into the shadows when the locks on the other door turned, and Mr. Dettling and a second person entered the main hallway. As they passed his hiding place, he tensed, sure he would be discovered, but the two walked by without stopping. When they reached the staircase, Mr. Dettling continued to talk for several minutes, then the other person said something. A woman’s voice.

Sanjay peeked out, and saw that the woman had her back to him. Mr. Dettling was completely out of sight on the staircase. If Sanjay wanted to see what was on the other side of the locked doors, this was his only chance.

He moved into the hallway and crept quickly to the door with the locks. Behind him it sounded like the conversation was ending. He put his hand on the knob, hoping they hadn’t locked it again when they exited. It turned. He pushed it open, slipped inside, and closed it again.

He was in a short hallway. There were three doors that led off it. Out of the farthest one, he could hear a low, rhythmic beeping noise. Not just one pattern, he realized, but several, at slightly different speeds.

In the hallway behind him, he could hear footsteps approaching the door. Having little choice, he stepped over to the nearest room and opened the door. It was dark inside so he went in, but left the door open just a crack so he could keep an eye on the woman when she walked by.

He heard the outer door swing open and shut. Locks were turned, then the woman’s footsteps passed his doorway and continued down the hall. He watched her through the crack. Not surprisingly, she entered the room the noise had been coming from. What did surprise him was that she was wearing a nurse’s outfit.

As soon as she disappeared, he reentered the hallway and followed her. When he reached the doorway the noise was coming from, he paused at the jamb and leaned forward just enough to get a look inside.

It took him a moment to process what he was seeing. There seemed to be a plastic wall about a third of the way into the room, cutting the space into two. On the larger, enclosed side were five beds- hospital beds-each occupied.

No longer thinking about being seen or not, he stepped inside so he could get a better look. Yes, definitely hospital beds, and the beeping was coming from equipment set up next to each of the patients.

Though they all had tubes taped across their faces and looked in pretty bad shape, Sanjay recognized them. He’d seen four of them on and off around the Pishon Chem compound. The fifth he’d seen almost every day of his life.

Ayush.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?”

The sound of the voice knocked him out of his trance, and for the first time he looked at the front half of the room. There was more medical equipment here, most set up on tables that lined the plastic wall. There were also several chairs, two of which had been occupied until a moment before by female nurses. Both women were now on their feet.

“What’s wrong with them?” he demanded. “What have you done to them?”

“You can’t be here,” the closest nurse said. “These people are very sick. You need to leave.”

He looked at her, still trying to comprehend the situation. “Sick? How? From what?”

The other nurse grabbed something off a back table, and seemed to be fiddling with it.

“You need to get out now!” the first said.

Sanjay pointed at the plastic wall. “That’s my cousin! What’s wrong with him?”

His words seemed to startle the women. They looked at each other, and back at him.

“Where did you come from?” the second nurse asked.

“What do you mean, where did I come from?”

“How did you know to come here?” the first asked.

“I saw Mr. Dettling. He was down here a few minutes ago.”

“You know Mr.-” The first nurse paused. “You work on the Project?”

“Of course.” He pointed at his cousin again. “Ayush and I both do, and so do the others you have there. What happened to them?”

The second nurse had moved closer now. Whatever she’d grabbed earlier was out of sight behind her. “They’re very sick,” she said. “You shouldn’t have come here. You’ve probably made yourself sick, too.”

“How can my cousin be sick? He was fine yesterday. No problems at all.”

“I’m sorry,” the first nurse said. “Sometimes it just happens quickly.”

As he looked at her to ask, “What happens quickly?” the other nurse stepped toward him, her hand moving out from around her back.

He turned just as she was bringing her hand forward. In it was a syringe. He twisted to the side and thrust out his hand to push her away. She fell back into the table, her ribs smashing against the edge, and the wind rushed out of her lungs. With a groan, she fell to the ground and gasped for air.

The other nurse stared at Sanjay for a moment, then tried to run past him for the door, but he blocked her way. As she retreated, he reached down and picked up the syringe that had fallen from her friend’s hand.

“What’s in this?” he asked.

The nurse shook her head.

“Tell me! What did she try to give me?”

The nurse refused to answer.

He stepped quickly forward, grabbed her arm, and moved the needle toward it.

“No!” the woman shouted.

“What is it?”

“Something that would put you to sleep. But that much…”

“This much what?”

“Would…kill you.”

His eyes widened. He looked at the woman writhing on the floor. She had tried to kill him. Why?

He turned back to the other one. “What’s going on here? What are you trying to hide?”

It looked like she wasn’t going to answer again, so he moved the needle toward her arm once more.

“Tell me!”

“It’s not going to help you if I do. You’re going to die anyway.”

“Why do you say that? Why would I die?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the five prone figures in the other part of the room, then locked eyes with Sanjay. “They have Sage Flu.”

At first he didn’t understand what she meant, but then it hit him. Sage Flu. Earlier in the year there’d been an outbreak in America. But it had stopped, hadn’t it? No more illnesses reported? He was sure he’d heard that on the news.

“How can it be here?” he asked, the needle still hovering near her skin.

She hesitated, her gaze nervously flicking down to the syringe.

He touched the tip to her arm, breaking the surface. “Tell me!”