small towns. Soon they were following the broad four lanes of Interstate 15.
Dr. Behrens leaned toward him to yell over the wind and noise "We've kept close watch on all units on the base, and no other cases of the virus have appeared."
Smith said loudly, "Mrs. Anderson and the others ready to talk with me?"
"Yessir. Family, friends, everyone you need. The colonel of OPFOR said you're to have anything you want, and he'd be glad to speak with you himself if that'd help."
"OPFOR?"
Behrens grinned. "Sorry, forgot you've been at Detrick awhile. That's our mission--- Opposing Force. What the Eleventh Cav does here is act the role of enemy to all the regiments and brigades that come through for field training. We give them one hell of a hard time. It entertains us and makes them better soldiers."
The helicopter flew across a four-lane highway and plunged deeper into the rock-strewn desert until Smith saw a road below, a WELCOME sign, and at the top of a hill a jumble of piled rocks all painted with the brightly colored logos and patches of units that had been stationed there or passed through Irwin over the years.
They swept on above lines of fast-moving vehicles trailing clouds of dust. It was startling how much the visually modified American vehicles looked like Russian mechanized infantry BMP-2s, BRDM-2s, and armored division T-80 tanks. The chopper swooped over the main post and settled to the desert floor in a cloud of sand. A reception committee was waiting, and Smith was jolted back to why he was here.
Phyllis Anderson was a tall woman and a little heavy, as if she had eaten too many transient meals on too many army bases. Her full face was drawn as they sat on packing boxes in the silent living room of the pleasant house. She had the frightened eyes Smith had seen on so many relatively young army widows. What was she going to do now? She had spent her entire married life living from camp to camp, fort to fort, in on-base or off-base housing that was never her own. She had nowhere to call home.
"The children?" she said in answer to Smith's question. "I sent them to my parents. They're too young to know anything." She glanced at the packed boxes. "I'll join them in a few days. We'll have to find a house. It's a small town. Near Erie, Pennsylvania. I'll have to get some work. Don't know what I can do..."
She trailed off, and Smith felt brutal bringing her back to what he needed to ask.
"Was the major ever sick before that day?"
She nodded. "Sometimes he'd run a sudden fever, maybe a few hours, and then it'd go away. Once it went on for twenty-four hours The doctors were concerned but couldn't find a cause, and he always got better without any problem. But a few weeks ago he came down with a heavy cold. I wanted him to take some sick days, at least stay out of the field, but that wasn't Keith. He said wars and hostile skirmishes didn't stop for a cold. The colonel always says Keith can outlast anyone in the field." She looked down at her lap where her hands twisted a ragged tissue. "Could."
"Anything you can tell me that might be connected to the virus that killed him?"
He saw her flinch at the word, but there was no other way to ask the question.
"No." She raised her eyes. They held the same pain he felt, and he had to fight to keep it from reflecting in his own eyes. She continued, "It was over so fast. His cold seemed better. He took a good afternoon nap. And then he woke up dying." She bit her lower lip to stop a sob.
He felt his eyes moisten. He reached out and put his hand on top of hers. "I'm so sorry. I know how difficult it is for you."
"Do you?" Her voice was forlorn, but there was a question in it, too. They both knew he could not bring back her husband, but might he have a magic remedy to wipe away the endless, bottomless pain that made her ache from every cell?
"I do know," he said softly. "The virus killed my fiancee, too."
She stared, shocked. Two tears slid down her cheeks. "Horrible, isn't it?"
He cleared his throat. His chest burned, and his stomach felt as if it had just been invaded by a cement mixer. "Horrible," he agreed. "Do you think you