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"This can’t be right" He tapped one of the pages, next to the start of the blue line "This strain occurred in Buenos Aires only six years after the Rising It was one of the first signs we had that Kellis-A"

Those are strain designations, said George Her voice was very snations for some of the most widespread varieties of Kellis-Amberlee

Everyone has Kellis-Amberlee, but ressive than others and will basically wipe out an existing infection in order to take over a body The original Kellis-Amberlee strain developed when lab-clean Kellis fluAmberlee That was the first infection anybody had to deal with, the one that swept the world during the Rising It took years of study and analysis of the structure of the virus before anyone realized that it was doing what viruses have done since the beginning of ti to suit its environ less virulent and that it would eventually turn into soe Honestly, I think we’d have been happy if the virus just started killing people, rather than doing what it does now At least then the dead would stay dead and the world could startwhat it does best: ets the opportunity

I guess it’s consistent That’s so, anyway

"It’s correct," said Mahir His voice was dark, and there was so I’d never heard there before He adjusted his glasses and continued: "There was a spike in deaths in Buenos Aires right before the substrain was isolated and identified for the first ti from an early form of reservoir condition It was five years before that substrain was identified in connection with a live reservoir condition"

Kelly paled further

"As part of his research into the behavior of the various substrains, Professor Brannon had access to census and death records from multiple parts of the world," said Mahir "Much of this data hadn’t previously been incorporated into the h many normal channels, due to her lab’s lack of accreditation, Dr Christopher’s focus is on treatment, not the structure of the virus itself, and Dr Tiwari doesn’t do statistics"

"I’ you," I said

"I a faintly stunned "He’s saying that once they were able to feed the substrain analysis and the census data into the sa soet The kind of results ato save lives would commit suicide over"

Maggie frowned "I thought results were sort of the goal"

"They are, in the general sense, but there are negative and positive results fro it toward Maggie "Every time a new viral substrain is identified--every time--it comes immediately after a spike in the local death rate Buenos Aires San Diego Manchester It isn’t a coincidence, and it isn’t confined to any specific country or part of the world It’s everywhere, and it’s every time"

Becks shook her head "What does that prove? Maybe the new strains arestarted, and they’re killing all these people"

"Unlikely" He produced another sheet of paper, this one with a brightly colored pie chart on it

"Eye-catching," I said, tugging it closer to my side of the table

"That was the intent" Mahir pulled another copy of the chart froate causes of death a the people with reservoir conditions killed immediately prior to the identification of a new substrain"

"These wedges are too small to read," said Alaric

"My point exactly There is no doions They just… die They get hit by cars, they fall from ladders, they take their own lives, they die As if it were any other day, as if theirs were any other deaths The pattern is in the absolute lack of a pattern, and it’s everywhere, and aabout, ion prior to the deaths Three to five years after that, the first reservoir conditions linked to the new strain start showing up, and then it’s another two years before the cycle starts over again" Mahir re them on his shirt "Dr Connolly, would you care to tell me what conclusions you draw from this data?"

"I can’tthe hly, but…" Kelly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, voice hitching a little as she continued: "I would say there are no naturally occurring viral substrains of the viral chienerally referred to as Kellis-A about?" I de all the da them They ve to exist"

She didn’t say they don’t exist, Shaun She said they don’t occur naturally

Georgia sounded subdued, even resigned, like this was the answer she’d been expecting all along, like the part of me that kept her withfor the rest of oose bu my ar They were all waiting, and they all knew I’d get there if they just gave e had the answers, and I… well, I had her