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If getting out of the car was a rookieinto the ranch on foot was blatant stupidity, but we didn’t have any real choice Not only would our vehicles have been i structures, ouldn’t have been able to avoid getting hung up in potholes or in the ruts opened by the govern attention than sucked into a false sense of security and taken out by hostile road conditions

Shaun was outside the guard station, where tary, clean-shaven lass Both earing plain army jumpsuits From the looks on their faces, this was their first outbreak, and we didn’t fit their expectations of the sort of folks ould walk into a sealed-off hazard zone, even one that was due to be unsealed within the next seventy-two hours and had been the scene of a co bleach bombs and aerosol decontarew crops instead of livestock, they’d have been forced to shut it down for at least five years while the chemicals worked their way out of the soil As it was, they’d be iroundwater tested clear again

The things we’re willing to do to avoid the possibility of exposure to the live virus are so next to Shaun and casting a tight-lipped smile toward the army boys “My, don’t they look happy to see us?”

“They were happier before I showed them we had Senator Ryman’s permission to be here and the proper clearances to enter the property Although I think they were kind of relieved when they realized our clearance levels rinned almost maliciously as he handed me and Rick the metal chits that served as our passes into the zone Any hazard seals would react to the ID tags on the chits, opening to let us pass “Somehow, I don’t think the boys want to meet a real live infected person of their very own It’s a”

“Don’t tease the straights,” I said, pressing the chit against the strap ofIt adhered to the fabric with a nearly unbreakable seal, turning on and beginning to flash a reassuring green “How long’s our clearance?”

“Standard twelve-hour passage If we’re inside the zone when the chits run out, we’ll have to call for help and hope help answers” Shaun pressed his own chit to the collar of his chain-ray

“Any recent signs of move to the earpiece of his wireless phone, where its green flashes contrasted with the blinking yellow LED

“Not a one” Shaun jerked his up, indicating the guards “Shall weoutside a hazard zone?”

“Can they do that?” asked Rick

“We’re within a hundred yards of a recent outbreak,” I said “They can do just about whatever they want” I walked toward the gates The chit onrounds There were no blood tests on this side of the hazard zone If I wanted to enter a known infection site when I was already infected, I’d just finish my transition behind a pre-established barrier Not exactly what ates shut behind ain as Shaun approached, and a third time for Rick Only one person was allowed to pass at a tiates would also be electrified, with a current set to increase exponentially if anything grabbed hold It wouldn’t do et through, but it was better than nothing

“Dropping the first fixed-point ca screa a s yellow as it caught the local wireless It would record everything it saw and feed it to the databases in the van We wouldn’t get anything useful unless there was an outbreak while ere on the grounds, but it never hurts to cover your bases More important, it would sound the alarm if it detected anybeacons “George, we have aoutthe screen to its full extension “Buffy pulled it down before she left” God bless Buffy No teaood technician, and the word for an incouys” They did

The Ry style, with a few adjustments to account for the increased security required by the senator’s political career and the possibility of invasion by the ras were unconnected, with four separate horse barns—one for foaling, one for yearlings, one for older horses, and the last, constructed in isolation and using modern quarantine procedures, for the sick The main house had more s than any sane person would be comfortable with, but that had apparently suited the Ry, “Do we have the outbreak grid?”

“We do” I started tapping “Either of you boys care to place a bet as to where the outbreak started?”

“Isolation ward,” Rick said

“Foaling,” said Shaun

“Wrong” I hit enter A grid appeared, crisscrossing the est red zone surrounded the yearling barn, covering the entire building and extending out in all directions “The first outbreak was in the yearling barn Where the strongest, healthiest, most resistant horses were housed”

Shaun frowned “I don’t know much about horses, but that seems a little funny to me We have a full match-up on the index case?”