Georgia sounded subdued, even resigned, like this was the answer she’d been expecting all along, like the part of me that kept her with me understood perfectly and was just waiting for the rest of me to catch up. I went very still, the skin tightening into goose bumps along my arms as I looked, helplessly, at Mahir. He looked back, waiting. They were all waiting, and they all knew I’d get there if they just gave me a minute. They knew George had the answers, and I… well, I had her.

“They exist, but they aren’t natural,” I said.

“Exactly.” Mahir picked up another folder and started passing its contents around the table. “These are CDC analyses of the structure of Kellis-Amberlee. They were acquired legally; they’ve all been published for public use. People have been trying for years to figure out how something this intricate and stable has been able to mutate without once creating a strain that behaved in a manner different from its parents. The answer is simple: It can’t, and it hasn’t. Every strain after the original has been created in a laboratory and has been released following what can only be an intentional culling of the individuals afflicted with reservoir conditions. It’s a bloody global study, and we’ve all been invited to participate.”

Silence fell hard. None of us knew enough to say that he was wrong, except for maybe Kelly, and she wasn’t saying anything; she was just sitting there, tears running slowly down her cheeks as she looked at the papers covering the table. That, maybe more than anything, told me that Mahir’s conclusions were correct. After all the years she had spent living the CDC party line, if Kelly could have argued, she would have.

Becks was the one to eventually break the silence, asking, “So what do we do now?”

“Now?” I stood, slapping my palms down on the table. “We get packing. We’re hitting the road in the morning. All reports will be made while mobile—I don’t want us to be sitting ducks when the shit comes down.”

“Where are we going?” asked Alaric.

“The only place I think we might have half a chance of breaking into that’s going to have the resources to tell us where we’re supposed to go next.” I looked challengingly at Kelly. She didn’t look away. Instead, she nodded, acceptance blossoming in her expression.

“We’re going to Memphis,” she said.