Tessa’s cell phone rang. “Just a minute,” she told the cop. “And don’t touch my stuff!” She slipped to the other room and answered. “Hello? Cherise?”
“What is going on, girlfriend? I haven’t heard from you in like three weeks, and then you’re all of a sudden, like ‘call me in one minute’ and-”
“I might be in trouble.”
“What?”
“Hang on.” Tessa peered around the corner and saw Officer Muncey standing with her hands on her hips.
“You don’t have books in here, do you?” said Officer Muncey. “I’m on the phone,” Tessa snapped.
Then Officer Muncey unclasped Tessa’s knapsack and dumped Tessa’s clothes onto the table. “Tessa,” she said. “Hang up the phone.”
“Stop those servers!” I told Williamson. “And call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tell them to get a team in here now. And, Ms. Prescott, we need to shut down the hotel, quarantine these people. We have to. No one leaves.”
She pursed her lips but only for a moment-probably calculating the losses in tens of millions-and then nodded briskly. “I’ll do it.” This was a woman who wasn’t afraid to make a decision.
“We have to control this,” I said. “Shut it down.”
“We don’t even know what the contagion is,” said Lien-hua.
“I say we take Kincaid out,” said Ralph, drawing his gun. “Fast and clean.”
“Wait, everyone. Wait!” said Lien-hua. “Remember Waco? Jones-town? When these cult leaders get scared a lot of innocent people die. These guys are paranoid, delusional. The more you raise the threat level, the less likely they are to back down. I think we need to negotiate.”
Ralph cracked his knuckles. “Ready to negotiate.”
“Hang on,” I said. “We need Kincaid. He’s the only one who can stop this. Wait a minute. His main target is Sebastian Taylor.” I turned to Ms. Prescott. “Where’s Governor Taylor now?”
“Probably in the presidential suite. He checked in this morning. Room 611.” She pointed. “The elevators are down the hall.”
I took off for the door. “Focus on containing this meal,” I called back. “I’m going after Kincaid.”
Aaron Jeffrey Kincaid knocked exactly four times on the door to Suite 613, and Anita Banner opened the door. “There you are,” she said. “Do you have the rest of my-”
He handed her an envelope of cash. “You’re sure I can get to his balcony from yours?”
She nodded, flipping through the bills. “Positive. I checked it out myself.”
He headed for the balcony. “Be sure to join us for lunch downstairs,” he called back to her. “The roast is to die for.”
“Sit down, Tessa,” said Officer Muncey. “You and I are going to wait right here for your father. He shouldn’t be very long.”