Ed and Lou digested that in silence for a moment. “What about now? If Ms. Emerald and young August were digging out in that field, will they come down with this pneumonic horror?”

“I don’t think so.” I told them what Lotty had said about the Y. pestis life span. It couldn’t have survived in the ground all those years.

I stopped speaking midsentence. Roque and Hitchcock had contracted plague, and they had been handling McKinnon’s soil. Doris didn’t seem to have symptoms, though, so what was the story?

A jumble of images ran through my head. Colonel Baggetto and his missing cylinder. The snakes warming themselves on the glass top to a piece of the missile grounds. Patriots CARE-NOW.

I sat up straight again, and the doxycycline bottle dug into my thigh, warning me, reminding me to take another tablet. I swallowed one with the last of the water in my mug and got to my feet.

“This film is the hottest object in Douglas County right now. I need to get it someplace safe, but I also want copies so that this isn’t the only testimony to what happened at that silo. If people think it’s worth killing to get their hands on the film, then the sooner they know it’s going out on the Web, the better. I don’t suppose you know anyone who could copy this and keep it to themselves.”

Ed and Lou looked at each other, silent communication between two men who’d spent most of their lives together.

Lou said, “We’ll take the movie. Know a fellow over to Tonganoxie who can turn it into a video. In the meantime we have a safe. What about you? What’s your next move?”

“I feel like the man in the story who flung himself on his horse and rode madly off in all directions at once. I need to talk to the colonel about his spent fuel rods and try to find out what Sea-2-Sea is doing on that land. But I’m going to start with Dr. Kiel—he has the least incentive to stay quiet these days.”

“Okay, Chicago. You watch your back.”

“Speaking of that—I left my dog over at Ms. Albritten’s—Pastor Clements wanted me to keep an eye on her and that was the best I could manage.”

I wondered why Bayard Clements hadn’t approached the two men for guard duty, but as if reading my mind, Lou gave a snort of laughter. “That church parted company with us a long, long time ago. It was in the old pastor’s day, but we found over the years we got on fine without all that fire and judgment. Seemed like the Bible text most churches like best is ‘Judge fast before someone else judges you.’ But we’ll swing by Ms. Nell’s place, make sure she’s looking after your dog, or vice versa.”