"We have to assume the worst" Said Stuckey pursing his lips with an eerie smile He pointed to the yellow telegraph paper on the table It's out of control now Outbreaks have been seen in Oregon Nebraska Louisiana Florida and in Mexico and Chile When we lost Atlanta we also lost three people who were able to deal with the problem extremely well We don't know where we're going with Stuart Redman Did you know they gave him a blue virus He thought it was a pain shot He fought off the virus but no one had any other ideas If we can have six weeks we may have achieved the desired goal But we don't have time The flu story couldn't be better made up but it's mandatory-mandatory you know Just as the United States has created this situation artificially no one else will see it clearly at any time This kind of thing may give them some illusions "

Cleveland had eight or 10 people in the Soviet Union five or 10 people in each of the European satellite countries and I don't even know how many people there were in Red China" Stuckey's lips quivered again "When you see Cleveland this afternoon you'll tell him that Rome has fallen" You won't forget will you "No" plastic wheelie bins Ryan said His lips felt a strange coldness But do you really expect them to do it These men and women Our people got these vials a week ago They believe they contain radioactive particles guided by our space-faring satellites That's all they need to know isn't it Ryan "Yes Billy" And if things are to change from bad to … Worse still no one will ever know The blue project will not be penetrated to the end We can be sure of that A new virus a variant Our opponents may speculate but time is running out It's a close race Ryan "That's right" Stuckey stared at the monitor again My daughter gave me a book of poetry a few years ago It was written by a man named Izz She said that every soldier should read Izz's poems I think her idea is a kind of joke Have you ever heard of Izz Ryan "

I think so" Said Creighton He thought about it and finally gave up the idea of telling Starkey that the man was called Izz "I read every line of the poem" Stuckey said plastic trash bins staring into the long-silent cafeteria "mostly because she didn't think I could read it The mistake is to jump to conclusions Although there were many things I didn't understand — I think a big man must be crazy — I finished reading the poem It's a funny book and it's not particularly rhythmic But there is one song that I will never forget As the man described it everything I dedicated myself to seemed hopeless and hell-bound He said that everything will disappear and the core will not be maintained I think he means things fall apart Ryan I believe his story Izz knew that in the end everything was going to go away even though he didn't know if anything was going to go away "That's right chief" Creighton said quietly I got goose bumps the first time I read it and I still do I memorized some of them The ferocious beast will eventually become good Can the malaise that goes to Bethlehem be reborn

Creighton stood silent and had nothing to say The beast still goes its own way Stuckey turned and grinned with tears streaming down his face "They still go their own way even more ferocious than Izz could have imagined" The world is falling apart Do as much as you can for as long as you can "All right chief" Creighton said feeling the stinging tears in his eyes for the first time "Here's the thing Billy" Stuckey held out a hand and Creighton took it in both hands Starkey's hands were rough and cool like small animals wrapped in snakeskin leaving only the fragile bones of reptiles in their shells

Tears welled up in Starkey's sockets and ran down his carefully shaved cheeks "There's something I want you to do" Stuckey said Go ahead chief Stuckey removed the West Point ring from his right hand and the wedding ring from his left hand "For Cindy" he said "For my daughter Cindy" I'd like you to give these to her Ryan "I will" Stuckey made his way to the door Billy Ryan Creighton called after him Starkey turned around Creighton stood erect tears running down his cheeks He raised his hand in a military salute Stuckey turned again and walked out the door The elevator goes up and down frequently The alarm screamed with a mournful sound as if it knew it was warning of a situation that had plastic pallet manufacturer been missed-Starkey opened the elevator with a special key on top of the elevator Stuckey speculated that Lane Creighton might have been staring at him on the tracking display as he drove the Jeep through the sprawling unoccupied level of the test site past the gate marked "High Security Area No Entry

Without Special Permission" Checkpoints look like expressway tollbooth checkpoints The soldiers behind the pale yellow glass were dead quickly mummified in the dry heat of the desert The kiosk is bulletproof but it doesn't stop germs Their sunken glass eyes still stared impassively at Stuckey as he drove past and Stuckey himself was the only one moving along the dirty road crisscrossed by semi-circular mobile homes and low-rise buildings cnplasticpallet.com