He nodded. “Perhaps. It’s probably a tie between you.”
Now wasn’t the time to discuss Nora’s best friend from graduate school. “Why am I here, and why are you here? It’s no coincidence.” If the bacteria had been weaponized, then the CDC would be on it. “I work for a private company, not the government, and this isn’t one of our samples or, ah, mutations.”
“I know you work for a private company. Of course.”
Yeah, she made her own schedule and only worked on projects she believed in. The government wouldn’t allow her such freedom. Plus, the money was much better. “You know I don’t trust the government.”
“I do know.” Deke punched a couple of keys, obviously unwilling to debate the issue. A picture of a rock came up on the screen.
“Looks like a meteorite,” Nora said slowly.
“Aye.”
Her brain clicked into gear as her mind connected a pathway from the bacteria to the meteorite. “No way. Really?”
“Yes. A group of twelve Stanford students took a field trip to the southern Nevada desert to go meteorite hunting, which is actually quite an industry out there. They found a good ten pounder and cut into it, each taking a piece. Apparently bacteria spores were let loose.” He shook his head. “Can you believe it? Bacteria from outer space.”
She glanced at the innocent-looking rock. “Well, yeah. I mean, NASA has been worried for years that we’re sending bacteria into space with each shuttle mission, and we’ve actually tested bacteria that survives in the outer atmosphere.”
He cut a hard look at the screen as if facing an enemy. “But from space.”
She grinned. “Our entire planet was formed by materials from outer space. The bacteria on earth came from galaxies away when our planet formed. This isn’t a surprise.” She sobered. “That little blob might be the find of the century, but I wouldn’t be here unless something else is going on.”
He shut the laptop and faced her. “The students each took a piece of the rock, and all came down with fevers. InitiallyE. coliwas suspected because they ate a box of doughnuts that morning, but the locality of the infection was in the brain, so anything abdominal was quickly ruled out.”
“You want my research.” For five years, she’d worked for BioGlax Pharmaceuticals, trying to create an antibiotic for drug-resistant bacteria. “Why isn’t the CDC on this?” If her phone wasn’t still in Maui, she’d call Lynne and ask that very question.
“They are. The head of the CDC National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, your good buddy, Lynne Harmony, requested your help,” Deacan said. “I offered to meet your plane and get you up to speed.”
“What?” Nora shook her head. Not only would Lynne never ask for help, she’d call herself and not have the military hijack Nora’s vacation. “Lynne would’ve called me. We usually talk at least once a month.” But they’d both been busy, and they hadn’t talked in maybe, what? Two months?
“I have the CDC team locked down. No communications out or in.”
Nora blinked. “You can’t do that.”
“I can and have.” Deke cocked his head to the side, all patience.
Awareness cascaded through her, and the hair on the back of her neck lifted. “Exactly who do you answer to, Deacan?”
He lifted a shoulder.
“Deke?” she snapped.
He sighed. “The president. But that’s just between us, darlin’.”
Anxiety filled her abdomen. “The president. The actual president?”
Deke sighed. “Yes. Two years ago, after he’d been elected, I was on detail for a foreign trip. It went south, I saved his ass, and we had one of those foxhole situations that’s top secret. Became buddies of a sort, and I’ve been working with him since—trying to move into more of a strategy and planning position instead of shooting and killing.”
Emotion colored his words, although his expression remained stoic. For years, she’d wondered if his humanity would succumb to his need for action and adventure. She’d be crazy to get caught up in his world again. But she’d worry about Deke and his employment later, once she figured out why her vacation had been cut short. “All right. What happened to the students?” Something told her she didn’t really want to know the answer.
Deacan kept her gaze captive. “All twelve were hospitalized, infected with the Scorpius bacteria.”
She frowned. “Scorpius?”
“Yes. The meteorite was probably one of many that fell last year after the Scorpius Comet passed by the earth, hence the name. We had to call it something. Damn bug.”
“Not a bug. Bacteria is different.” Her brain spun. “The bacteria is airborne?”
