Near the end of the memory stream, I came upon the assailant. Toward the close of Lewis Pape’s tenure as a security manager at NTI, Cleary discovered that Pape supported his ambitious agenda—and had no qualms about doing whatever it took to achieve it. Cleary gradually took him into his confidence. Pape left NTI to go into private consulting. His primary client, unsurprisingly, was Damien Cleary.

They met in Cleary’s VR office with increasing frequency over eighteen months. Several meetings stood out.

November 5, 2087

“I’ve developed something that may interest you,” Cleary nonchalantly mentioned in his NTI office. He pulled up a 3-D schematic of a nanite in holographic form.

“What does it do?” Pape asked.

“It searches for and destroys neurons.”

Pape leaned forward in his chair and looked at the schematic. “Whose neurons?”

“Anyone who is implanted with the nanite.”

“How many neurons?”

“It depends on how many nanites are introduced. Introduce enough, and the brain is turned to mush. Literally.”

“Overnight?”

“Within a few days.”

Pape stared at the schematic a few moments, then looked at Cleary. “Anyone so infected would be a prime candidate for a transplant, wouldn’t you think?”

Cleary smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”

April 18, 2088

Cleary sat on a large rock overlooking a remote beach in VR. “You remember my saying we needed a test group for the neural nanites?”

Pape tossed a rock onto the beach below. “Some people volunteered?”

“Let’s just say we need to get rid of a village that no one will ever miss.”

May 4, 2088

Sitting in his living room, Cleary was tapped by Pape. He went into VR.

Pape looked concerned. “We may have a problem.”

“Which is?”

“One person escaped from the village.”

Cleary frowned. “Escaped? How could someone escape?”

“She was away from the village when I planted the infection.”

“So where did she go?”

“To the coast. She’s an American, apparently. She’s teamed up with a doctor.”

Cleary looked indignant. “I swear, Pape. Couldn’t you have been more careful than this?” He sat silently for a moment. “Do they have a sample?”

“I think so.”

“Then get it back. And eliminate both of them.”

I scanned Pape’s updates to Cleary on his progress in attempting to kill Abby. The reports were chilling. I felt utter rage.

Cleary, meanwhile, was busy furthering his own plans in the privacy of his VR office. He glanced at a screen that laid out the schematics of water treatment and sewage systems for every U.S. city with more than a hundred thousand in population.

Cleary tapped Pape after the two returned to DC from Dallas.

“Have you decided on the cities?” Pape inquired.

“Yes.” He handed Pape a list.

“Three? Just three?”