Twenty miles from the Kenyan border, at a training camp in southern Somalia, a member of the al-Shabaab terror network turned his smartphone on and opened Daily Nation, Kenya’s largest news site. He scoured the stories, looking for opportunities to advance his group’s cause. The top headline immediately caught his eye:

Outbreak in Mandera

He sat bolt upright when he read the article’s subheading:

Health Workers from the WHO and CDC Investigate Possible Ebola Outbreak in Mandera County

He rushed to the barracks and began waking the members of his cell. They had work to do.

Peyton and Jonas sat in the back seat of an SUV, bouncing along the hard-packed red-dirt road. The engine roared as they plowed through a cloud of orange dust. There were six SUVs in the convoy, plus two armored troop carriers—one leading the procession, the other just behind the SUVs—and a Nora B-52 self-propelled artillery vehicle bringing up the rear.

Peyton and Jonas had used Dr. Kibet’s notes and the CityForge website to trace Lucas and Steven’s travel route. Based on their interviews with the sick villagers at Mandera Referral Hospital, as well as what they’d learned from the videos posted online, they had identified a village they believed to be ground zero in the outbreak. They were en route to that village now.

“What was that about in the hospital?” Jonas asked.

“What?”

“All the talk about Desmond Hughes. Is he connected to this somehow?”

“I don’t know,” Peyton said. She considered telling Jonas about the call from Desmond but decided against it.

“Do you know him? Hughes?”

Peyton hesitated. “I used to.”

Jonas scrutinized her, as if trying to read through her words.

“I think we’re missing something here,” Peyton said.

“Such as?”

“I don’t know yet. Something just doesn’t… feel right.”

“You think…”

“I think someone is responsible for this outbreak.”

“Bioterror? Here?”

“I know. There’s no strategic, political, or symbolic importance.”

“Unless…” Jonas thought for a moment. “Unless you wanted to test a pathogen before wider release.”

Peyton wanted to continue their conversation, but the car slowed, and the noise from the engine died down. And as the convoy’s cloud of dust dissipated, Peyton got her first look at the village.

Her mouth ran dry. “Back up,” she said, struggling to speak. “Tell the other units to keep their distance.”

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Transcript

CNN Situation Room Segment

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Our top story this hour is a deadly outbreak in Kenya. It has already killed dozens, including one American and one British citizen, and anonymous sources at the CDC and State Department say the symptoms are similar to Ebola—though they’ve cautioned that tests to identify the disease are not yet in.