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“It wasn’t him,” Perkins said “It was his wife, Evanna, as always unhinged To be fair, Frasier’s drinking andelse happened, and she finally snapped Killing hih” His voice fell away

“On the way in, we discovered the remains of his boat,” Pitt said “It didn’t appear to be an accidental sinking”

“It wasn’t And the authorities couldn’t prove otherwise, so it went down as an accident They never even bothered searching for the boat I always suspected Evanna paid off someone”

“Her killing hasn’t stopped there” Pitt thought of Mike Cruz and the children in El Salvador

“I know,” Perkins said “She becaed She surrounded herself with hired thugs, brainwashed her two daughters, and turned the lab into a secret co her crazed version of the world Now she’s spreading death everywhere”

“What’s it all about?” Giordino asked “And what did that wo breed?”

“It was Frasier’s and my fault, really,” Perkins said with a defeated voice “He was obsessed with ancient Egypt He used to sponsor digs there all the tih the heat was dreadful He was fascinated by a pharaoh named Akhenaten and excavated a nus, he discovered the tombs and mummies of children, boys mostly He correctly assumed they all died from disease”

“We saw the collection near the conference room,” Pitt said “Quite impressive”

“Yes, though I’yptian Antiquities Ministry would not be happy Frasier was a scientist first, and he wanted to kno they died So he sled the bodies to his laboratory”

“Wouldn’t that be rather speculative after thirty-five hundred years?” Giordino asked

“Typically But if the subject died from a disease of any duration, then DNA can capture the evidence And in the case of Egyptian mummies preserved in the desert, the answer lies in their teeth”

“Fro?”

“The dental pulp will often contain trace eleenetic code of the bacteria or virus that caused death And in the case of the male child mummies froue”

“Plague?” Pitt asked

“The Evolution Plague—that’s what McKee called it”