“Hello and welcome,” she said with the slightest hint of an accent. “My name is Heidi Johnson, and I’ll be your guide for your visit today. I assume you are Dr. Greene?”

“Brenda Greene, that’s right.”

“I have a message for you from Roger Greene. He regrets that he has meetings all day and won’t be here to escort you personally, but he welcomes you to the foremost facility of its kind in the world, and knows I will fill in admirably for him. Now, unless there are questions, I guess I should make sure I have the right people before we head off.”

“I assume you know that we’re from the Physician Wellness conference,” Greene said.

“Chattahoochee Lodge. We don’t generally offer tours, but Mr. Greene, who’s my boss, arranged your visit personally.”

Lou glanced over at Brenda and felt certain he could read her mind about the relationship between her ex and Heidi.

“I had expected a larger group, but the smaller numbers only mean we will be able to see more,” Heidi said.

From the gardens outside to the sparkling interior to Heidi’s perfect smile, Lou sensed that the CDC did its very best to downplay its important and often dangerous work. However, Heidi’s demeanor dimmed slightly after she finished handing out name badges.

“I’m afraid Dr. Chopra, the director of our Division of Bacterial Diseases, has been called away on business, so we’re not going to be able to visit her lab before our tour of the grounds and the museum. We have two alternatives. We could visit the Division of Viral Diseases or take a tour of our Antibacterial Resistance Unit.”

Viral diseases … Antibacterial resistance … A candy store for terrorists. The phrases reverberated in Lou’s thoughts.

Harvey Plimpton, who had been taciturn in contrast to Brenda Greene, came alive at the option.

“Antibacterial resistance. Before I changed specialties, I did research on E. coli mutation. Can we go there?”

“If you both agree,” Heidi said.

Lou and Greene made brief eye contact and nodded.

“Great, we’ll start your visit there,” Heidi said. “I’ll call and let Dr. Scupman know that we’re coming. I think you’ll find him … well, quite interesting.”

“What do you mean by ‘interesting’?” Lou asked.

Heidi returned an enigmatic smile, but not an answer.

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

The government exists to provide order to the people while 100 Neighbors exists to define what that order shall be.

—LANCASTER R. HILL, 100 Neighbors, SAWYER RIVER BOOKS, 1939, P. 17