The group wended their way past the few onlookers in the clinical microbiology lab and down to the street via a service elevator. George’s mind was racing but he couldn’t think of any way Pia could talk her way out of this. As they walked across the campus, the group attracted a lot of stares and comments from passersby. Some of them wondered if they were watching some med-student prank.

George and Pia were taken through a featureless corridor in the hospital bowels to the security department. They walked past a bank of TV screens being monitored by two bored-looking men, down another corridor and into a small office with a handwritten sign on the door: DUTY OFFICER. Standing up, watching a couple of monitors mounted on the wall, was David Winston, the man who’d taken charge in the lab earlier that day. He recognized Pia, having helped her when she fainted in the street.

“Ah, you again. I see you’re feeling better than when I last saw you.”

“Mr. Winston,” Pia said. “My friend and I were just retrieving some of my belongings from my office.”

Winston referred to a list on a clipboard resting on his desk.

“Miss Grazdani, and . . .” He looked at George.

“George Wilson.”

“George Wilson. Not on my list. You a fourth-year student as well?”

George nodded.

“Well, you’ll be taking antibiotics too,” Winston said. “Folks, there’s a protocol we use in these situations. You broke into a secure, potentially contaminated area. I actually saw you do it myself, sitting right here. The cameras might not be operating inside the lab, but outside they work just fine. So I see two people go into the lab, and I have to send three of my guys in full body gear to go in and find you. And it turns out to be you two. So the protocol is, I make a call to the dean of students, who loves to hear from me, as you might imagine. It’s just a heads-up because my next call is to my friends at the Thirty-third Precinct, and I’ll have a full and frank conversation about criminal trespass.”

George was aghast. If the police got involved, he was screwed.

“I don’t know why you guys went in there, and I’m not going to ask. The CDC might have cleared it, but the caution tape was still over the door. Especially you, Miss Grazdani, as you were specifically told the lab would be off-limits. Frankly, I’m dumbfounded. But I’ve never understood medical students since I took over this job heading the center’s security.”

Pia started to speak, but Winston held out his hand to silence her and called the dean of students. He explained the situation. He then listened for a good two minutes and hung up the phone.