“Where did this come from?” Laurel said.

Roth shrugged. “We don’t know yet.”

Lance cleared his throat. “Russia.”

“He speaks,” Roth said.

“You know as well as I do this thing is Russian.”

Roth nodded. “I’d like to get some confirmation. Trace it to a specific lab. To a specific scientist. Find out what we’re really dealing with.”

“You think that would lead us to an antidote?” Laurel said. “Or a vaccine?”

“If one exists.”

“One better exist,” she said, “because if these numbers are correct, this thing is a ticking time bomb. It’s unstoppable. It will wipe out everything it touches.”

“So that’s what this is about?” Lance said. “A new Russian bioweapon.”

“You’re saying that like it’s nothing serious,” Laurel said.

“Oh, it’s serious,” Lance said. “I get that. You’re the doctor, Laurel, but those numbers suggest whatever lab came up with it has finally figured out what Russian microbiologists have been trying to figure out for the best part of a century.”

“Which is?”

“They’ve finally found their biological super weapon. Something that will stop NATO in its tracks. Get us to back the fuck off and let them rule their sphere without interference, once and for all.”

“This is far more than a deterrent,” Roth said. “This is a holocaust. A holocaust in a bottle. I’ve been told a single person carrying this virus steps off a plane, and we have five hundred cases in twenty-four hours.”

“Good luck containing an outbreak like that,” Lance said.

“Excuse me?” Laurel said.

“Look, sweetie, it’s been real nice meeting you. And Roth, you’ve really outdone yourself with this one. She looks so much like the real thing I’d be hard pressed to tell them apart. But I don’t work for you anymore. And I haven’t forgotten what you did.”

“Maybe I’m not making myself clear,” Roth said.

“Oh, you’ve made yourself perfectly clear.”

Roth was losing his temper. “How long are you going to hold one mistake against me, Lance?”

“One mistake? Oh, please. You’re lucky you’re still breathing, Roth. I swear that on my life. The number of times I’ve pictured blowing your brains out.”

Roth slammed his fist on the table. “You shut up and listen,” he said.

Lance made for the door.

“That’s right,” Roth said. “Walk out.”

Laurel was taken aback. She’d never seen Roth like this before. His face was red and his voice was loud enough that someone out in the corridor would be able to hear him.

“I don’t work for you, Levi.”

“Don’t you even care that this thing is going to kill people?”

“This thing is dangerous,” Lance said, “but they won’t use it. They can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’d be no way of controlling it.”

“What if they don’t want to control it?” Roth said.

Lance said nothing.