Vernolt order about a million of them?"
Kraig thought a moment. With all that equipment lying around, it was possible . If Lisa was spying on him then he'd have to confront her, but he realized he had made a mistake too. "I assigned her to the case," he told Cecily. "I should have invited her to this meeting."
" Good, Kraig. You're a good boss, you take the blame when your employees do something stupid." Cecily raised her voice. "I'm not like Kraig. Hear that, Lisa? If you're going to be my partner then that's the first thing you ought to learn."
Kraig walked to the door and leaned out. Through the transparent cubicle partitions he saw Lisa dictating something to her computer. She looked guilty as hell.
Well, reasoned Kraig, we spy on them too, don't we? Why else did Chet have glass partitions installed instead of opaque ones?
He waved, got her attention, and then beckoned with a finger. She bounced toward him and said i n a perky voice, "What's up?"
" When I asked you to keep an eye on Cecily, that's not what I meant."
Lisa attempted an innocent stare.
"If I look around my office," said Kraig evenly, "will I find something I shouldn't?"
" It's in the paneling above your desk. I stood on your chair to install it. I guess I overstepped my bounds. I'm sorry."
She looked sorry, thought Kraig, but maybe that was just because she got caught. Y et he couldn't work up much anger, and not merely because he feared Chet's physio alarms. Bounds overstepping had worked itself into the culture here.
Part of it was the nature of the job. Whereas the C DC went around all goody-goody like Mother Theresa or Albert Schweitzer—"We're the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and we're your friends"—the Micro-Investigation Unit's broader scope included dealing with all kinds of potential terrorist threats. When tackling deliberate acts of unthinkable violence and devastation, even when such senseless terrorism was merely a remote possibility, the temperament of investigators tended to be a little less than saintly. And with the authority vested in a government agency responsible for national security, boundaries sometimes got fuzzy.
Another part of the problem was Chet Vernolt. But that, figured Kraig, was nothing that a new director couldn 't fix.
" You still want to work on this case?" Kraig hitched his thumb toward his office. "With her?"
Lisa hesitated.
"You'll learn something," said Kraig. "Maybe a lot of things. A sign of a good worker is someone who can work with all kinds of people."
Lisa took a deep breath and stepped inside the office. Kraig followed her. Lisa nodded stiffly at Cecily and sat with obvious dist ress in the chair beside her. Cecily glanced up and smiled an even more gruesome smile than usual.
When Kraig sat down beside his desk, Cecily said, "Let's move on to the good news."
" The good news?"
" The bad guys. The good news about the bad guys. I found them. You heard me earlier?"
" I thought you were kidding."
" No way. This was easy. There's a little creek that flows through that area of Medburg. Moshatowie Creek. It also flows through a more well-to-do part of the state, which is upstream from Medburg."
Kraig leaned back. Flowing water was a splendid route of transmission. Or a terrifying one, depending on how you looked at it. "Who?"
" Little place called Vision Cell Bioceuticals. Two-man start-up company, launched five years ago. They have 40 employees now."
Kraig sighed. "Two- person start-up, Cecily. Please. While you're under contract with the government you represent the government, and you have to use the appropriate language—"
" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. The point is, their lab is in the next county, right on the creek. Nobody else is on that creek, no other biologicals, no chemicals, no high-tech. Everything else looks pretty benign. I suspect that whatever happened, it's accidental. Hard to believe it's deliberate. Why would terrorists pick a place like Medburg?"
" Who
Kraig thought a moment. With all that equipment lying around, it was possible . If Lisa was spying on him then he'd have to confront her, but he realized he had made a mistake too. "I assigned her to the case," he told Cecily. "I should have invited her to this meeting."
" Good, Kraig. You're a good boss, you take the blame when your employees do something stupid." Cecily raised her voice. "I'm not like Kraig. Hear that, Lisa? If you're going to be my partner then that's the first thing you ought to learn."
Kraig walked to the door and leaned out. Through the transparent cubicle partitions he saw Lisa dictating something to her computer. She looked guilty as hell.
Well, reasoned Kraig, we spy on them too, don't we? Why else did Chet have glass partitions installed instead of opaque ones?
He waved, got her attention, and then beckoned with a finger. She bounced toward him and said i n a perky voice, "What's up?"
" When I asked you to keep an eye on Cecily, that's not what I meant."
Lisa attempted an innocent stare.
"If I look around my office," said Kraig evenly, "will I find something I shouldn't?"
" It's in the paneling above your desk. I stood on your chair to install it. I guess I overstepped my bounds. I'm sorry."
She looked sorry, thought Kraig, but maybe that was just because she got caught. Y et he couldn't work up much anger, and not merely because he feared Chet's physio alarms. Bounds overstepping had worked itself into the culture here.
Part of it was the nature of the job. Whereas the C DC went around all goody-goody like Mother Theresa or Albert Schweitzer—"We're the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and we're your friends"—the Micro-Investigation Unit's broader scope included dealing with all kinds of potential terrorist threats. When tackling deliberate acts of unthinkable violence and devastation, even when such senseless terrorism was merely a remote possibility, the temperament of investigators tended to be a little less than saintly. And with the authority vested in a government agency responsible for national security, boundaries sometimes got fuzzy.
Another part of the problem was Chet Vernolt. But that, figured Kraig, was nothing that a new director couldn 't fix.
" You still want to work on this case?" Kraig hitched his thumb toward his office. "With her?"
Lisa hesitated.
"You'll learn something," said Kraig. "Maybe a lot of things. A sign of a good worker is someone who can work with all kinds of people."
Lisa took a deep breath and stepped inside the office. Kraig followed her. Lisa nodded stiffly at Cecily and sat with obvious dist ress in the chair beside her. Cecily glanced up and smiled an even more gruesome smile than usual.
When Kraig sat down beside his desk, Cecily said, "Let's move on to the good news."
" The good news?"
" The bad guys. The good news about the bad guys. I found them. You heard me earlier?"
" I thought you were kidding."
" No way. This was easy. There's a little creek that flows through that area of Medburg. Moshatowie Creek. It also flows through a more well-to-do part of the state, which is upstream from Medburg."
Kraig leaned back. Flowing water was a splendid route of transmission. Or a terrifying one, depending on how you looked at it. "Who?"
" Little place called Vision Cell Bioceuticals. Two-man start-up company, launched five years ago. They have 40 employees now."
Kraig sighed. "Two- person start-up, Cecily. Please. While you're under contract with the government you represent the government, and you have to use the appropriate language—"
" Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. The point is, their lab is in the next county, right on the creek. Nobody else is on that creek, no other biologicals, no chemicals, no high-tech. Everything else looks pretty benign. I suspect that whatever happened, it's accidental. Hard to believe it's deliberate. Why would terrorists pick a place like Medburg?"
" Who
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