Patiently, Gabe again reviewed the events leading up to the meeting in Anacostia with Ferendelli, starting with the note that had been left for him at the Watergate. For the moment, he only alluded to his ill-fated ride with Lily Sexton and the remarkable search of her house that followed. The details he would fill in when it was clear the president had come to terms with the certainty of Ferendelli's stunning and horrific death.

As Gabe proceeded, Stoddard stopped him frequently, asking for clarification of the half hour or so that Gabe spent with Ferendelli and the man's unrequited love for Lily. After Stoddard was satisfied he knew all there was to know, he listened attentively to the account of the arrival of the two killers, the chase to the river, Ferendelli's collapse, the explosion of hallucinogenic drugs in Gabe's brain, and finally the moment Louis Turner found him unconscious in the vacant lot.

When Gabe felt comfortable that the president had processed the death of his friend and physician as well as he was going to, he took Stoddard step-by-step through the discovery of the underground passageway and the nanotechnology laboratory. It took most of an hour and a number of diagrams of drug-carrying fullerenes and brain sketches to bring Stoddard up to speed on how his irrational episodes, Gabe's powerful hallucinations, and Ferendelli's death were related.

At last, the president sank back in his high-backed leather easy chair and stared out the window, breathing deeply and slowly through his nose—a calming exercise Gabe remembered from their days at the Academy.

"Sorry about the car," Gabe said. "On the way back here we drove by where I had left it, but it was gone."

"I think my father has insurance," Stoddard quipped. "Gabe, who could it be? Who's doing this to me? And why?"

"As you and every other president and president's physician knows, there are no limits to the number of 'whys.' All I can tell you, Drew, is that Ferendelli felt that in order to dose you with drug-carrying fullerenes, and then to fire off the transmitter that causes them to open up, at least one of the people responsible had to be someone close to you—possibly someone in the background of your life, like an aide or a valet or a secretary; possibly someone quite visible, like one of your advisors, a Secret Service agent, or even a cabinet member."

"I'm getting a damn migraine just thinking about this."

"Speaking of Secret Service agents, there's another problem I'm really concerned and frightened about. Alison Cromartie, the undercover agent working in the medical clinic, may have vanished. She left me a note saying to contact her at one of two numbers, but she wasn't answering either before I left for Anacostia."

"Lord. Can you try again now?"