Page 34 of The Shadow Friends

“Ms. Bird?” said the man with the suitcase. “We’re sorry to disturb you, but we need to run another test.”

“What test is this?”

“It’s just a precaution. I promise, this one doesn’t involve needles, which you’re probably sick of by now. It won’t hurt a bit.”

She frowned as he opened the suitcase and revealed what was inside. “Is that a Geiger counter?”

The man paused and looked at his partner, then back at Maggie. “Have you seen one of these before?”

“Not lately.”

“Well, this won’t take long. If you could sit down, we’re just going to get a quick reading.”

“Why are you checking me for radioactivity?”

“Please. Just let us proceed.”

She sank onto the side of the bed. “In case you’re wondering, I feel perfectly fine,” she said. “I’ve felt fine since they shut me up in here, and they said my white blood cell count is normal. If I’ve been poisoned, wouldn’t it have shown up in my urine by now?”

“Who said anything about poison? What have you been told, exactly?”

“Not enough. But since you two are from the Department of Energy—”

The second man cut in: “How do you know that?”

“So it’s true. You are from the DOE.”

The pair exchanged chagrined looks. They’d come into this room expecting a cooperative woman in her sixties. They had not expected to spar with someone like Maggie.

“We’re from a branch of the DOE,” confirmed the second man. “RAP, Region One.”

“RAP?”

“The Radiological Assistance Program. We’re part of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Our team was alerted to a possible case of acute radiation sickness.”

“Then Dr. Maslov didn’t have Ebola? Was he poisoned?”

A pause. “Possibly.”

“You know, my doctors could have told me this earlier,” said Maggie. “Since I have something of a stake in the outcome.”

“Your doctors were working with incomplete information.”

The first man looked up from his equipment. “She’s negative. No gamma emissions.”

“What about alpha?” Maggie asked.

There was a silence. The two men stared at her.

“You know the difference between them?” asked the man with the Geiger counter.

“I know enough. Am I going to be sick?”

“I don’t think so,” said the second man as his partner packed up the equipment. “Your white count’s normal, and your earlier blood and urine tests showed no trace of polonium.”

“Polonium?” Maggie looked back and forth at the two men. “Is that what killed Dr. Maslov?”

“We can’t comment on that. We’re here only to assess whether there’s a threat to the public.”