By two p.m., they still hadn’t heard anything from Kito or Millen. Hannah had tried to call Kito’s satphone, but had gotten no answer. Hannah was growing increasingly worried. So were Peyton and Jonas, though neither of the older epidemiologists voiced their fears. Peyton decided to send another SUV loaded with four of Colonel Magoro’s men to the first cave Millen was supposed to search—just in case Kito found Millen injured and needed help transporting him out of the cave.

At two thirty, Peyton called Elliott Shapiro’s cell phone. Even after five years in the field without him, she had to admit that it calmed her to hear his voice. And going over the situation with him would help her get her head around what was happening.

She stood outside the large tent, out of earshot of Jonas and the staff.

“What are you thinking?” Elliott asked. “How could it have spread so quickly?”

“We’ve got a few theories. There could have been a group of four to ten people the index patient infected; they would have been traveling throughout the region and would have quickly spread the pathogen.”

“Makes sense.”

“However, I can’t help thinking it could be another method of transmission.”

“Like what? Infected blood? A burial?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Peyton watched the Kenyan soldiers patrolling the camp. “What’s happening on your end?” She badly wanted to know how Lucas Turner was doing, but she resisted asking specifically.

“A lot,” Elliott said. “The US has suspended all travel to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. We’ve also banned anyone from that region, and anyone who has recently traveled in that region, from entering the US. We’re not alone: Europe has followed suit, Australia, most of Asia as well. They say it will be the death nail in the Kenyan economy.”

“True. But I think it needs to be done.”

“I agree. Also, there’s been a new development here. We’re tracking another outbreak.”

Peyton began pacing. “Really? What are the symptoms?”

“It presents similar to the flu but with less initial intensity. It’s intermittent, too. One day the symptoms are in full swing: headache, cough, fever, exhaustion, the next the patient feels almost fine. The mortality rate is exceptionally low—so far.”

A chill ran through Peyton’s body. He had just described exactly the symptoms the two Americans had experienced before developing the viral hemorrhagic fever that had killed one of them and the British man.

She fought to keep her voice even. “How many cases?”

“Over a million in Asia, another million in Europe. Maybe two hundred thousand in South America so far. But we think there are a lot more. We’ve got half a million cases here in the US, but we’re getting updated stats from state health departments so we expect that number to climb.”