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the hotel and returned home.”
    The room went cold, but after a moment Kell realized it was him. A ball of ice sat in his middle, fear and anger crushing against each other. “Interesting thing for you to know, Agent Jones,” Kell said. “Why do you think my wife would do a thing like that without telling me?”
    Jones replied in an equally cool tone. “Because we told her to less than three hours ago. We also informed her any outside communications, especially to you, would result in heavy penalties for both of you.”
    The cell phone creaked in his hand, a spurt of static fell across the call. Kell stood in the lab's parking lot, shouting.
    “ What the fuck, Jones? What gives you the right? You know how bad this thing can go. You know the risks! You think I'm going to let my family stay here?”
    “ No, Doctor, I don't think you would if it were up to you,” Jones replied, his voice now glacial. “But it isn't. I'm in charge of your life in the foreseeable future. You wanted to get them out of danger, not worry about their safety so you could work on a solution. Why should you get to send your family away when so many others don't even know there's a problem? No, McDonald, they're staying close. Because I do know how bad this can go. I want you to think about that as you're working. You need to have that motivation. You and I both know this thing needs a solution as soon as possible. This is how we're going to get results.”
    “ You son of a bitch,” Kell said. “If anything happens to them, I'm going to fucking kill you.”
    Jones grunted. “If anything happens to them, I think I'll have bigger problems than worrying about you. You should know I've been in town for the last day. For better or worse, I'm running this show. Get results, Doctor, and everyone walks away happy.”

Just before he pulled into the driveway, his phone rang. Kell saw on the caller ID that it was Jones again, but he let it go to voice mail. Ten minutes with his wife and daughter wasn't too much to ask after three days of solid work.
    Kell smelled homemade tacos when he walked in, a favorite. Karen was usually home too late to make cooking something she did on a regular basis, so most of the time the task fell to him. Years of bachelorhood and college life built strong cooking skills if you wanted to eat well.
    “I'm home,” he said as he threw his coat over the back of the recliner and made his way toward the kitchen. “Karen?”
    In the kitchen he found his wife feeding his daughter between stirring the hamburger cooking on the stove. There were also two men who looked suspiciously like federal agents of some kind.
    Karen shot him a dark look. Kell grimaced.
    “ So. Jones has people in my house. That's just great.”
    “ Sir, we only entered the house a minute ago. Agent Jones sent a priority message that you and your family were to leave immediately for your lab,” one of the men, who Kell thought of as Sandy because of his hair, said. “He mentioned he tried to call you.”
    “ I've had six hours of sleep in the last three days, man. I haven't seen my wife or held my daughter. I thought it could wait.”
    The second agent, who Kell didn't have a nickname for because the man was utterly unremarkable, reached a hand into his pocket and removed an oversized smart phone. He held it out to Kell after unlocking the screen. “It can't, sir.”
    Priority One , the text message said. Incident reported, recall vital persons ASAP to secure location. Bring family.
    Cold sweat broke out across his entire body. This was it. Jones wouldn't have sent an alert for anything less than a worst-case situation.
    Karen was already grabbing the diaper bag and hauling baby Jennifer out of her high chair. The stove was off. Kell smiled. His wife was nothing if not thorough and prepared. He followed her and the agents out to the driveway, snagging the suitcase she'd brought in only hours before. Not even unpacked. Karen was nobody's fool.
    A giant