Juan nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s exactly it. If I understood what all of the changes and additions were that this virus had done, maybe I’d be able to figure out how to fix the changes, but the volume of changes is massive.”

“Does the virus tell you what it changed? How it changed it?”

“It does,” Juan said, feeling aggravated. This exercise was proving fruitless. “But I have no idea what any of it means. I can’t just undo what it did.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Juan paused as he struggled to answer the agent’s question. “Because…”

And he suddenly thought of something he’d never considered. He stared blankly for a moment, then an electric thrill raced through him.

He jumped to his feet. “Holy shit! I think… no… yes, I think I can do this. I just need their old DNA, from before the infection! If I could just get one, as a test—”

Nate’s eyes sparkled in the fluorescent light as he smiled. “I bet Katherine O’Reilly’s mother has an old hairbrush or something. Her house is only an hour away.”

“How do you know that? No, never mind, just—yes, that’ll work for a test case.” Juan’s mind was racing.

“Good. While you get on that, I’ll head to the Vegas office and look into getting blood samples, or whatever other DNA samples I can track down, for everyone else. These people were all cancer patients admitted into a clinical trial, so odds are good they had plenty of stuff taken.”

Juan glanced at his watch. His heart was threatening to pound out of his chest. “Okay, I’ll get the DNA sample for Kathy, and then I need to get back to the lab asap. I have so little time.”

Nate tilted his head curiously as he said, “I’ll see about booking a flight out of Nellis Air Force Base. I’m sure with what’s going on, I’ll get approval for a military transport to Andrews so you can get back without any delays.” He walked toward the exit and motioned for Juan to follow. “Come on. Let’s get you a ride to Ash Springs. Trust me, we have Mrs. O’Reilly’s address.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Two hours later he was bouncing along a dirt road in the middle of a three-SUV convoy. He’d never seen so much of nothing in one place. It was nearing sunset, and to the horizon, there was nothing but mottled green-and-brown undergrowth, with no sign of human existence.