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Guilder glanced toward Nelson, who frowned Interesting, his face seemed to say

"You needn’t worry, Mr Grey, we’re taking good care of her She’s right across the hall, in fact"

"Don’t you hurt her" His fists were clenched; he was straining against the straps "You touch her and I’ll-"

"And you’ll what, Mr Grey?"

But there was nothing; the straps held firth away

"Try not to excite yourself, Mr Grey Your friend is perfectly fine The baby, too What we’re a little unclear on is just how the two of you caht help us with that"

"Why do you want to know?"

One eyebrow lifted incredulously behind the faceplate "For starters, it seems that the two of you are the last people to come out of Colorado alive Believe me when I tell you, this is a matter of some interest to us Was she at the Chalet? Is that where you met her?"

Just the word made Grey’s mind clench with panic "The Chalet?"

"Yes, Mr Grey The Chalet"

He shook his head "No"

"Then where?"

He sed "At the Ho "Where was this?"

Grey tried to put his thoughts together, but his brain had gone all fuzzy again "Denver someplace I don’t know exactly She wanted me to paint the nursery"

Guilder quickly turned toward the second ed "Could be the fentanyl," Nelson said "It s out"

But Guilder was undeterred There was soaze now It seeht into hiet away?"

"I don’t reirl there? Did you see her?"

There was a girl? What were they talking about?

"I didn’t see anyone I justI don’t know It was all so confusing I woke up at the Red Roof"

"The Red Roof? What’s that?"

"A hway"

A puzzled frown "When was this?"

Grey tried to count "Three days ago? No, four" He nodded his head against the pillow "Four days"

The two men looked at each other "It doesn’t make sense," Nelson said "The Chalet was destroyed twenty-two days ago He’s not Rip Van Winkle"

"Where were you for those three weeks?" Guilder pressed

The question made no sense Three weeks?

"I don’t know," Grey said

"I’ll ask you again, Mr Grey Was Lila at the Chalet? Is that where younow, his resistance gone "She was at the Ho down a drain Whatever they’d given hiut, Grey realized what the straps were all about They were going to study him Like the sticks Like Zero And when they were done with hiht on Grey, and that would be the end of him

"Please, it’s me you want I’m sorry I ran away Just don’t hurt Lila"

For a , just stared at him from behind their faceplates Then Guilder turned toward Nelson, nodding

"Put hie and a vial of clear liquid from the cart While Grey looked on helplessly, he inserted the needle into the IV tube and pushed the plunger

"I just clean," Grey said feebly "I’m just a janitor"

"Oh, I think you’re much more than that, Mr Grey"

And with these words in his ears, Grey slipped away again

Guilder and Nelson stepped through the air lock into the decontamination chamber First a shower in their biosuits; then they stripped and scrubbed the soap They cleared their throats and spat into the sink, gargling for adisinfectant A cumbersome ritual but, until they knew more about Grey’s condition, one they ise to observe

Just a skeletal staff was present in the building: three lab technicians-Guilder thought of them as Wynken, Blynken, and Nod-plus an MD and a four- had been constructed in the late eighties to treat soldiers exposed to nuclear, biological, or cheround HVAC was on the fritz, as was video surveillance for the entire facility-and the place had a disconcertingly deserted feel to it But it was the last place anybody would look for them

Nelson and Guilder stepped into the lab, a wide roo the powerful microscopes and blood spinners they’d need to isolate and culture the virus While Grey and Lila were still unconscious, they’d each had a CT scan and blood drawn; their blood tests had been inconclusive, but Grey’s scan had revealed a radically enlarged thymus, typical of those infected And yet as far as Nelson and Guilder could discern, he’d experienced no other symptoms In every other way he appeared to be in the pink of health Better than that: the man looked like he could run a ," Nelson said

He escorted Guilder to the terminal in an adjacent office where he’d set up shop Nelson opened a file and clicked on a JPEG A photo appeared on the screen of Lawrence Grey Or, rather, a raph looked considerably older Sagging skin, hair a thin flap over his scalp, sunken eyes that gazed into the camera with a dull, almost bovine look