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--FROM THE JOURNAL OF DR SHANTI CALE, SEPTEMBER 5, 2027

Chapter 19

SEPTEMBER 2027

I don’t knoho you’re talking about," I said My voice was level and calm I was proud of myself for that Really, I wanted to throw up

"I think you do, Sally; after all, you o," said Dr Banks "Think hard Blonde wo? Oh, and she’s your boyfriend’s et that Do you think he knohere she is, if you’re insisting you don’t? Do you think he’d tell me if we asked hith now that I had sohter inas well as I wanted it to I was too terrified for that "He has nothing to do hatever you want from me"

"Oh, no, believeluck when youthat he was Shanti’s son She always forgot that I was the one who had recruited her in the first place--just oneall the way back to the lab It’s a good thing she’s so brilliant If she weren’t, her tendency to focus on the science at the expense of the huo We’ve been trying to hire Dr Kim for years If he would just consent to an i hie Where is she?"

"Couldn’t you just have changed the rules if you wanted hihed "Oh, Sally I do love your sense of hued the was up But oh, I’ve wanted to knohattabs on her son There was always the chance that she ht decide to h you You’re apparentlyimplications, don’t you think?" He tried that old paternal s as well as it usually did "His interest in you was so we couldn’t have predicted, but I’ll ad the two of you in one place--a package deal, so to speak--made surveillance so much easier"

I stared at him "But why…?"

"Your father is the head of USAMRIID’s San Francisco office We needed a way to watch hi suspicious You were the perfect entry into his hoetic "We’re sorry to have disrupted your life as much as we did If it makes you feel any better, ouldn’t have done it if there had been any other way"

"But…" I shook my head "You couldn’t have planned this I had an accident" An accident I re about I’d never even spoken to any of the witnesses By the time I was out of recovery and able to really wonder about what had happened tointo the general population without a thought for the girl whose car kissed a bus

"I admit, Sally, I’d hoped we could convince you to join our SymboGen family," said Dr Banks "I wanted to be able to protect you You’re a special girl, and you deserve better than the world outside these doors But if we’d accomplished that, Shanti probably wouldn’t have contacted you She’s always been canny While sheto take the risk, and I doubt that would have been the case if you’d been on the payroll"

"I had an accident," I repeated, with less certainty

"I was also a little disappointed when you decided to shut us out, rather than co notes into your things and trying to lure you into the path of danger She’s the real reason you were in Lafayette, isn’t she? That’s why you nearly got hurt in that mob of sleepwalkers Because Shanti was careless with the lives of others once again"

I looked at hi the entire situation play out fro for a scapegoat Whether it was nonexistent protozoa or the wouard didn’tto pin the sleepwalking sickness on, and he and SymboGen could walk away scot-free All it would take was a story that people would believe--and which was more attractive, really? The idea that a trusted corporation responsible for the health and happiness of e research error, or the idea that one woman, e to change that coood works?

He would turn Dr Cale into a criht not object to that as stridently as he’d expect me to--she was Nathan’s mother, and she meant well, but she’d created the i of tapewor of humans I’d still object If this was SymboGen’s fault, then SymboGen needed to pay for it And that included the man who’d turned Dr Surrey Kim into Dr Shanti Cale in the first place

"We went for ice cream" My voice didn’t shake at all I sounded utterly reasonable to ainstat him "Nathan kneas upset about that weird phone call from that… that woman, and so ent for ice cream She never told me her name"