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something to those people too.”
    â€œSo what are you suggesting?”
    â€œThat we divide our resources. Surely at least a few of us could be assigned to the recovery of the dead.”
    Denny shook his head. “FEMA estimates that one out of four residents of New Orleans has no access to an automobile. There’s no way to estimate how many people have stayed behind—it could be in the hundreds of thousands. And if the city floods, there’s no telling how many people will be in need of rescue. Nobody knows if all the government agencies combined can handle it; that’s why FEMA wants all available personnel to focus on rescue first.”
    â€œWhy was DMORT created?” Nick asked. “To help family members identify and recover the remains of their loved ones.”
    â€œThanks, Nick, I’m familiar with the training manual.”
    â€œMurder victims have families too,” Nick said, “and they want more than that—they want the murderers brought to justice. That’s why the bodies can’t wait, Denny. This isn’t just about recovery; it’s about preserving forensic evidence. You said yourself that this is a unique situation; let’s not forget the problems posed by the water. Any pathologist here will tell you that a body decomposes much faster in water than it does on land—but in this case it’ll be even worse. The water will be hot, and it will be filled with who-knows-what: bacteria, toxins, sewage, chemicals, pesticides—just to name a few. If the city does flood, we’re going to have bodies floating in a toxic brew—”
    â€œNick—”
    â€œâ€”and it won’t just be a problem for visual identification. I’m talking about major decomposition of tissues, even degradation of DNA. Nothing will last long in that soup; by the time we get around to recovering bodies, there’ll be nothing left to find.”
    â€œNick—”
    â€œWe’re working against the clock here, Denny. This may be an open system, but time is the one thing that’s not open. In Somerset County we had all the time in the world to collect the remains from United 93. We had time to mark off the whole field, and walk the grid, but if we take that long here—”
    â€œFirst the living!” someone shouted from across the room.
    â€œThat’s incredibly shortsighted,” Nick said. “How many of you have actually viewed a cadaver recovered in water? Let me tell you, it’s an evidential nightmare. The tissues soften; the fingers swell until the fingerprints disappear; the hair is lost; the face becomes bloated and unrecognizable—at some point even gender becomes difficult to distinguish. I’m talking about complete loss of forensic evidence: knife wounds, contusions, bullet tracks—all of it disappears. Are we really willing to let that happen?”
    The room began to stir; Denny gestured for everyone to quiet down. “Nick, if you want to talk more about this, then see me after the meeting. I’m sure the rest of the team would like to get some sleep. I’ve scheduled our next briefing for 7:00 a.m. I know, that’s awfully early—welcome to DMORT.
    â€œThere is one more thing I want to cover tonight. I’d save it for tomorrow, but I think it’s that important. If you’ve been with us before, you know this kind of work can take a lot out of you. The hours are long, nobody gets enough sleep, and then—well, there’s the nature of the work itself. That’s why DMORT always includes mental health professionals on every deployment, and this time is no exception.”
    â€œUh-oh,” Jerry said. “I smell trouble.”
    â€œSome experts are predicting that Hurricane Katrina will be the worst natural disaster in our nation’s history. If they’re right, we’ll be working longer hours and we’ll be under more stress than ever