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"Where are we?" he asked when Hollis returned to the truck

"Fort Sam Houston"

"A military base?"

"More like an Army hospital," Hollis explained "At least it used to be Not a lot of doctoring goes on here anyh a se A tall clock tower stood to one side of a quadrangle that ht have once been the center of town Apart fro that seemed military-no trucks or tanks, no weapon eht the pickup to a halt before a long, low building with a flat roof A sign above the door read, AQUATICS CENTER

"Aquatics," Lore said, after they’d all disen, a rifle balanced across her chest in a posture of readiness "Likeswiestured at the rifle "You should leave that here Wouldn’t want to make a bad impression" He shifted his attention to Peter "Last chance There’s no way to undo this"

"Yes, I’s considered, the building’s interior was in good shape: ceilings tight, s solid, none of the usual trash

"Feel that?" Michael said

A basal throbbing, like a gigantic plucked string, was radiating froenerator was operating

"I kind of expected there to be guards," Peter said to Hollis

"Sometimes there are, when Tifty wants to put on a show But basically we don’t need them"

Hollis led thereat, tiled space, the ceiling high above and, at the center of the roouided theht of descending stairs, illuht to ask Hollis where Tifty got the gas for his generator, but then answered the question for hi; he stole it The stairs led to a room croith pipes and metal tanks They were under the pool now They h the crah different fros of any kind, nor was there an obvious way to open it; its smooth surface possessed no visible mechanisms On the wall beside it was a keypad Hollis quickly punched in a series of digits, and with a deep click the door unlatched, revealing a dark corridor

"It’s okay," Hollis said, angling his head toward the opening, "the lights go on autoh, a bank of fluorescents flickered to life, their vibrancy intensified by the hospital-white walls of the corridor Peter’s sense of Tifty was radically evolving What had he ie, apelikehe had seen even remotely conformed to these expectations To the contrary: the display so far indicated a level of technical sophistication that seemed well beyond Kerrville’s Nor was he alone in this shifting of opinion; Michael, too, was frankly gawking Some place, his face seemed to say

The corridor ended at an elevator A camera was poised above it Whoever was on the other side knew they were co; they’d been observed since they’d entered the hall

Hollis tilted his face upward to the lens, then pressed a button on the wall adjacent to a tiny speaker "It’s all right," he said "They’re with me"

A crackle of static, then: "Hollis, what the fk"

"Everyone’s unarmed They’re friends of mine I’ll vouch for them"

"What do they want?"

"We need to see Tifty"

A pause, as if the voice on the other end of the interco with so them here like this Are you out of your mind?"

"I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important Just open the door, Dunk"

An empty moment followed Then the doors slid open

"It’s your ass," the voice said

They entered; the elevator commenced its doard creep "Okay, I’ll bite," Michael ventured "What is this place?"

"You’re in an old USAMRIID station It’s an annex to thethe epidemic"

"What’s USAMRIID?" asked Lore

It was Michael who answered "It stands for ’United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases’ " He frowned at Hollis "I don’t get it What’s Tifty doing here?"

And then the doors of the elevator opened to the sound of weapons being cocked, and each of theun

"All of you, on your knees"

There were six The youngest appeared to be no more than twenty, the oldest in his forties Scruffy beards and greasy hair and teeth clotted with griiant of a es of soft fat folded at the base of his neck, had bluish tattoos all over his face and the exposed flesh of his arms This, apparently, was Dunk

"I told you," Hollis said, kneeling on the floor like the rest of them, hands on top of his head, "they’re friends of e of different uniforms, both military and DS He holstered his revolver and crouched in front of Peter, sizing hies on his face and arms became clear Virals Viral hands, viral faces, viral teeth Peter had no doubt that beneath his clothes, the man’s body was covered with theravely "Tifty’s going to like this What’s your naht"

Maintaining his crouch, Dunk swiveled on the heels of his boots toward the others "How about that, gentleuished visitors" He focused on Peter again "We don’t get visitors at all, actually Which is a bit of a problem This isn’t what you’d call a tourist destination"