“And take his secrets with him,” Warmack said, starting on the next flight of stairs.

When she reached the seventh floor, Lopez’s phone rang. She waved Warmack on ahead to his office and then reached for her phone. “Lina, it’s Nelson Amar,” he said with usual curtness.

“How did I do, boss?” she asked.

“Do?” he said, confused. “I don’t follow.”

“We just held another press conference.”

“I didn’t see it. I’ve been swamped here in San Francisco. The rate of spread in the Bay Area is a disaster,” he said quietly. “What’s the news from Seattle?”

“Early results with Oraloxin have been astounding.” She updated him on their visit to The Unit and the antibiotic responses they’d witnessed.

“Good,” Amar grunted. “We’ve only started to get the antibiotic into patients today. With luck, we’ll see a similar response by tomorrow.” He paused. “We’d better.”

“Nelson, there’s another development,” she said approaching the topic gingerly. “Regarding the spread of MRGAS—”

“You’ve heard?” Amar sounded surprised.

“Heard what?” she said, matching his tone.

“We have the L.A. index cases under quarantine. Not one but two infected addicts, a couple, who bussed from Oakland to L.A. The woman was hospitalized with early necrotizing fasciitis. But the staff took precautions. We’re hoping we’ve caught it early enough.”

Lopez sighed and switched the phone to her other ear. She wasn’t surprised to hear that MRGAS had spread naturally to L.A., but she knew it would make the task of convincing her boss that much more of a challenge.

“What is it, Lina?”

“Angie Fischer, the Vancouver girl who we’re assuming is responsible for the Seattle outbreak.”

“What about her?” Amar asked guardedly.

“She’s changed her story, Nelson. Angie admits to meeting the dark-eyed dealer and getting a free sample. She even drew a sketch of him.”

“Perfect,” Amar snorted. “A drawing from a teenage crystal meth addict.”

“You can’t discount it so easily,” Lopez snapped. “This makes at least three addicts in three cities with the exact same story!” She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. Then she told Amar about Seth Cohen and the homicide investigation that uncovered the Tyler/Forbes connection.

Bracing for another reprimand, Lopez was surprised not to hear a response immediately. Finally, Amar said: “You still haven’t explained why a ‘pusher’ would intentionally spread MRGAS.”

“That’s the one piece we don’t yet have,” she admitted.

“Hmmm,” Amar said. “Do you plan to involve the FBI?”

“Yes. Soon, anyway,” Lopez said. “But Forbes doesn’t know we’re on to him. We might be able to learn more before bringing in the trumpeting cavalry and scare him off.”

“What’s your plan, Lina?”

“Sergeant Cohen is going to Philadelphia. He has a contact with the police force there. I think I should go too.”

“What do you know about police work?” Amar demanded.