After arriving in Boston, he had taken a brief walk to a nearby mall, using some of the city’s numerous overpasses and underground walkways to get there without spending too much time under an open sky. Once he had reached the car park of the mall, he had spotted the black sedan idling in a prearranged spot. As he approached the car, flashed its hazards once, and Neal slipped into the backseat.

“Martin!” Neal said, in surprise at seeing the diminutive rocket scientist in the driver’s seat.

“Good evening, Neal, I’ll be your chauffeur today. Where to, mi’lord?” said Martin in a dubious English accent and they both laughed, Neal clambering up and into the front passenger seat as they pulled out of the car park so they could catch up.

* * *

Half an hour later, in another covered parking lot at a Marriott Courtyard near Hanscom Base, the two scientists parked their car and took the elevator to the hotel’s third floor. Martin led Neal down the corridor to a hotel room. The door was opened by a smiling Ayala Zubaideh, who ushered them in quickly. Colonel Barrett Milton welcomed them once inside with a fatherly smile, and after Neal had greeted the two proverbial parents of the group he turned finally to the recently promoted Major Jack Toranssen leaning against the wall by the drawn curtains. Neal had saved a handshake for Jack, congratulating him on his promotion, and following it with an even more emphatic word of thanks for his work in Hawaii aboard the Dauntless. Jack blushed slightly and swept the compliment aside. He had no time for congratulations, especially when it had been John Hunt who had born the lion’s share of the task.

The curtains were closed and there were various pieces of equipment in the small hotel room. A projector threw a dim image from a laptop onto the wall, a flip chart dominated one corner, and various binders and folders covered the bed and filled two large boxes on the floor.

They set to immediately, Neal taking the floor so he could show some of the modeling he had been working on. He had used his position to discreetly glean several reports from the CDC and from various health organizations in allied nations around the world.

“OK,” said Neal plugging a flash drive into the laptop Martin had provided for the meeting, “I have been extrapolating the numbers of reported infections against population demographics and typical spread patterns and I have to tell you that, for the most part, I have good news.”