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The security ninja didn’t answer me He fed our cards into a handheld reader, one at a ti one of the other men forward Thisunits--the sae had been infected

"Please distribute these to the rest of your party," said the first h thetoa contagion that could soloves and burrow into his skin Not even Kellis-Amberlee can do that The live virus has only ever traveled through direct fluid contact, thank God, or we’d all have been shao

I handed a test unit to Becks and held another out behinduntil I felt Mahir take it out of ear This wasn’t outbreak protocol They shouldn’t have been outside at all, and if they were, they should have started firing as soon as we ca on?"

"Please open your test unit"

There were three security ninjas I could see, which meant there were probably half a dozen more that I couldn’t If they were all ar trouble would be a good way to get dead without actually acco I frowned and popped the lid of the testing unit up, slidingers spread for opti Small snaps fro the saure out as going on

The security ninja’s mask wasn’t directed towardunit I realized with a start that his co them into position to shoot any one of us the second a test came back positive That would fill the interior of the van with blood, turning it into athe enclosed space with the sharp tang of gunpowder--

Blood drying on the walls in half a dozen different shades, reds and browns and oh, God, George, I don’t think that I can do this without you I don’t think I’m allowed to do this without you So take it back, okay? Take back the blood, open your eyes, and if you’ve ever loved e’s voice cut through the sudden jangle in o; that was a different van Your test is clean

"What?" I said, before I could reood idea

The security ninja either didn’t notice or had been briefed on my little idiosyncrasies "I appreciate your cooperation, Mr Mason," he said A fourth man had appeared from somewhere--I wasn’t sure wanted to know exactly where, or how e biohazard bag "If you would collect the units and return thelad to allow you to continue on your way"

"Uh, yeah" I took the bag withunit inside before passing the bag to Becks "Now do you want to tell us what’s going on? Because seriously, we have no idea, and you’re freaking me out more than a little"

"Me, too," contributed Becks