Awaiting their arrival were two people, a man, mid-to-late fifties, and a woman, perhaps two decades his junior, both wearing knee-length lab coats. There was no identifying information—their names or the name of the unit—stitched above the breast pocket. The man had a broad, flat nose, heavy-lidded green eyes, and unruly gray-brown hair, carelessly parted on the right. His pallid complexion hinted to Lou at unbalanced hours spent indoors, probably in this vitamin D–deficient sarcophagus. The blue oxford shirt beneath his open lab coat would never pass anyone’s wrinkle-free test. His associate, her raven hair pulled into a tight bun, had an academic look, enhanced by heavy-framed glasses. Petite and quite cute in a mousy sort of way, she, at first take seemed reserved and uneasy around the arrivals.

“Hello and welcome,” the man said, his speech, purposefully or not, delivered in a sepulchral tone. “My name is Scupman—Dr. Samuel Scupman. I am the head of the Antibiotic Resistance Unit here at the CDC. My associate is Dr. Vicki Banks. She will be assisting with today’s presentation. Mr. Greene in public relations tells me you are all physicians.”

“Except me,” Heidi said. “I work with Mr. Greene.”

Lou again saw Brenda’s eyes flash.

“I’m Dr. Brenda Greene,” she said. “Mr. Greene and I are—were—married. This is Dr. Harvey Plimpton and this is Dr. Lou Welcome. We’re attending the national physician health organization meeting, and we’re all thrilled to be here.”

Scupman, looking as if he could not care less who they were, nodded but made no attempt to shake hands. His eyes narrowed, possibly at the notion of having to interact with a species composed of more than one cell. A cloud of sorts passed in front of his face.

“I confess I was surprised that your husband would offer up our unit this way,” he said. “Much of the work we do here is top secret. To guide you into the heart of our lab would be profoundly irresponsible. You see, within the confines of this facility exist more than ten thousand different species of bacterium—”

“Actually, at last count, we have more than twenty thousand,” Vicki Banks interjected.

“Yes, of course, thank you,” Scupman said. “Twenty thousand different strains of germs, many of which are so lethal that even for people highly trained in biorisk management, including the most advanced biosafety and laboratory security protocols, the dangers are still quite pronounced. I know you’ll want more, but for your own protection, today’s tour will be confined to the safety of a slideshow.”

“We understand,” Brenda said, her disappointment obvious.

“Please, if you’ll take your seats,” Banks instructed. “Dr. Scupman has another commitment, so we’ll need to begin right away.”