The black SUVs rolled through Nairobi, bunching up at stoplights and stretching out in between, like a black snake stalking through a field of skyscrapers.

In the second car, Peyton rode in the back seat with Jonas Becker, her counterpart at the WHO. On the tarmac, he had told her only that he had urgent news to share. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to share it in the presence of others.

“How was the flight?” he asked.

“Good. Long.”

“You sleep?”

“A little.”

“Sorry I woke you so early yesterday.”

“Don’t be. I needed the head start.”

At the hotel, Jonas offered to carry Peyton’s duffel, as he had a dozen times before. As always, she declined.

The hotel wasn’t fancy, but it was in a safe part of town, near the American embassy. Kenyan troops stood guard in the parking lot, and Nairobi PD had several cars along the street.

The moment the door to Peyton’s room closed, Jonas said, “It’s reached the villages.”

He spread a map out on one of the queen size beds and pointed to three highlighted areas outside Mandera.

Peyton got out her laptop, connected to WiFi, and pulled up the travel log from CityForge. “The two Americans videoed and posted their travel route,” she said. “We should cross-reference to see if they visited these villages.”

Jonas ran a hand through his short brown hair and looked away, as if dreading something. Peyton was five foot six, and Jonas was only a few inches taller, putting their eyes on a near equal plane. He leaned against the brown wooden dresser, searching for the right words.

“What?” Peyton asked.

“The American who first reported symptoms, Steven Collins, died while you were en route. The British employee of the aviation company is also dead.” Jonas paused. “And the other American, Lucas Turner, has now broken with the disease.”

It was Peyton’s worst fear. It took her a moment to realize he had said the disease instead of Ebola or Marburg or Yellow Fever.

“The Kenyan Ministry of Health sent a team yesterday. They’ve set up an Ebola treatment unit at Mandera,” Jonas added.

“Have they tested anyone?”

“They’ve tested everyone: the Americans, the British man, and most of the villagers. No one has tested positive for Ebola.”

“What did they use?”

“ReEBOV. It’s confirmed: we’re dealing with a new pathogen here.”

The ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test could show a false positive or false negative in about one in ten patients tested for Ebola, but across a large sample group, it was likely to be correct. The fact that they had all tested negative sealed the case. This was a novel infectious agent.