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anything that will help with our current helicopter problem. I suggest that we simply blow it out of the air. A cover story would be simple enough. We could make it look like a pilot error or even play the terrorist angle.”
    Col. Mathis shook his head.
    “Even then, it wouldn’t help us. The corpses would still be infectious and it would spread by means of first responders. We can’t risk it. If this gets out, we could be dealing with a pandemic within a month,” Col. Mathis said. “I think we need to isolate and look at vaccine distribution before things–”
    Gen. Falton raised his hand and abruptly cut him off.
    “Distribute the vaccine? Colonel, need I remind you that ‘PT-12’ is a multibillion dollar bioweapon? We are the only country with ‘PT-12’ in our arsenal. It would not be in the best interest of this government to show that we have a cure and defuse our weapon on the world stage, considering that it could prove invaluable in a future war. I’ve already spoken with the Joint Chiefs about this and they are all in agreement.”
    “Sir, with all due respect, what else can we do? Wait it out?”
    “I think that’s exactly what we should do,” Lt. Gen. Yates said. “Besides, we could never produce enough vaccine to inoculate the whole city before the helicopter crashes, so stop being naive.”
    Gen. Falton and Col. Mathis looked over at him.
    “You said,” Lt. Gen. Yates continued, “that those who become infected and reanimate survive for around five days before the virus starts to shut down, correct?”
                  “Yes, and?”
                  “You also said that the pilot will crash somewhere within the Raleigh area, correct?”
    “Yes, what’s your point?” Col. Mathis pointedly asked.
    “My point , Colonel, is that it could work to our advantage,” Lt. Gen. Yates replied . He took a step forward, reached up, and ran his fingers through his whi te push-broom mustache, thinking out loud . “ Downtown streets are narrow, access is limited, and there are skyscrapers that can accommodate large numbers of people. If he’s going to inevitably crash in Raleigh, downtown would be the ideal place to round people up and confine them inside buildings.”
    “ And how do you plan on making the pilot crash where we want ?” Gen. F alton said, doubtful.
    Lt. Gen. Yates cleared his throat, folded his arms across his chest , and continued.
    “ Either he lands willingly, or we’ll make him land. I can have men in Raleigh within two hours. If we bite this thing early e nough and get proper quarantine established, we’ll have minimal localized causalities. Before the helicopter lands, we can start evacuating downtown. Once he lands, we seal it off. We can force those who got stuck inside the quarantine into buildings before they turn, seal the buildings, let the infection run its course, wait till they die off , and then go in and dispose of the corpses. It can be that simple. All I need is your word,” Lt. Gen. Yates said, posed and ready.
    “I don’t like it,” Gen. Falton admitted, frowning. “I’d like to take care of this in an area with less population density. What about outside of downtown?”
    “As a failsafe, FEMA could evacuate the rest of the city while we handle things downtown,” Lt. Gen. Yates said. “But the way I see it is simple. Either we control where he lands or we wait to see where he crashes and hope that we get there in time to make a perimeter and control the outbreak. All I am saying is that downtown’s layout would make things considerably easier from a logistics standpoint.”
    “Or,” Col. Mathis added, “We could wait and see if he crashes on the outskirts of the city. Perhaps he’ll crash in a sparsely populated neighborhood.”
    “But, once again, that is a situation we cannot control,” Lt. Gen. Yates said. “We would have to hope that we’d be the first responders in that situation.”
    “Christ, you’re right,”