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"They exist, but they aren’t natural," I said
"Exactly" Mahir picked up another folder and started passing its contents around the table "These are CDC analyses of the structure of Kellis-Aally; they’ve all been published for public use People have been trying for years to figure out how so this intricate and stable has been able toa strain that behaved in a manner different from its parents The answer is siinal has been created in a laboratory and has been released follohat can only be an intentional culling of the individuals afflicted with reservoir conditions It’s a bloody global study, and we’ve all been invited to participate"
Silence fell hard None of us knew enough to say that he rong, except for ; she was just sitting there, tears running slowly down her cheeks as she looked at the papers covering the table That, , told me that Mahir’s conclusions were correct After all the years she had spent living the CDC party line, if Kelly could have argued, she would have
Becks was the one to eventually break the silence, asking, "So what do we do now?"
"Now?" I stood, slappingthe road in theAll reports will beducks when the shit co?" asked Alaric
"The only place I think weto have the resources to tell us where we’re supposed to go next" I looked challengingly at Kelly She didn’t look away Instead, she nodded, acceptance blosso to Memphis," she said
I wanted to be a sport reporter I wanted to report on sport Sounds good, doesn’t it? Rhymes a little "Mahir Gowda, Sport Reporter" I’d watch the cricket matches and the obstacle courses and the stockcar races, and I’d write pithy little articles about thee house so enough to field a cricket team of my own
Enter Georgia Carolyn Mason She knew I’d never be happy reporting on sporting events and the lives of professional athletes "The news is in yur blood": That’s what she said to ive it a shot A year later, when she struck out on her own, she hired ht about me, and about what I was meant to do
I have to say as I rather wish that she’d been wrong
--Fro of Mahir Gowda, June 21, 2041
Nineteen
It’s a little over two thousand miles from Weed, Califor
nia, to Memphis, Tennessee That would have been about a two and a half days of solid driving pre-Rising, complete with miserable traffic jams and lots of rest stops Distance is less of a barrier these days, since the average highway speed is between eighty and ninetythree cars on the sa there without getting ourselves killed Travel that crosses hway Commission, so that your ets added to your file every tias or check into a e did an article on it once, and I didn’t think it was co The trouble was that if we couldn’t trust the CDC to be secure, we sure as hell couldn’t trust the Highway Coanization whose databases have been hacked so ht as well put out a welco they’re secure
I was the subject of a highway ambush once before--an ambush that landed me, my sister, and our friend Rick in the Meot out alive The other two , didn’t If we assumed the people responsible for the destruction of Oakland aiting for another opportunity to take a shot at us, the last thing anted to do was put ourselves on the open road, where accidents could--and doubtless would--happen
Trouble e didn’t have a choice We couldn’t take the train; the few passenger lines still in existence are luxury-oriented and would take a week to get there Flying with Mahir and Kelly wouldn’t work, since one of theally dead and the other was in the country under the sketchiest of legal pretenses What’s sad is that I didn’t knohich was the bigger concern
Maggie’s bedrock streak of practicality ca to brainstor it across the country to Tennessee "Why don’t you idiots takeher keys down on the table "The VIN’s registered to Daddy so I don’t get stopped when I have to cross the border to Canada, and nobody’s going to risk nuking it if they think there’s even half a chance that I’m inside Kill the heir to the Garcia pharmaceutical fortune while overnht she was being a little co to nuke a city wouldn’t hesitate before killing a pharmaceutical heir and would have the resources to make it look like an accident--but I didn’t say so I just scooped the keys into my pocket "You really have no qualie You’re badass"