"Doctor Fermi?" asked the big man in the doorway. "Can we come in?"

"Sure, Ed. You too, John. Sit down, sit down. Coffee?"

"No, thanks." Ed North rushed right into it. "You've heard about the bodies? The ones Groves sent us out to check on?"

"Yes. He thought it might be radiation poisoning. Nonsense, of course."

"It's not," said John South. "It's 100 percent real radiation poisoning. The geiger counter went nuts during the autopsies."

Fermi was quiet. For quite some time.

"How?" he finally asked.

"We don't know. But there are fourteen dead primates out there, and all of them dead of radiation poisoning. And that's way, way too many for coincidence."

Fermi stared at the wall beyond the two men. "We'll have to let Groves know at once. There has to have been a major breach of security here. We're the only place with that much radioactive materials."

"Shit," he added and waved the two men out. "I've suddenly got lots of work to do." He picked up the scrambler phone, dialed.

"Leslie?" he said asked. "Enrico. If you're not busy, I've got some really awful news for you, and I'm coming up right now. Well, I suggest that you cancel your meeting, because this is big and won't keep."