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She could have gone miles, but in fact, she was just a few hundred metres from where the boy’s body must have entered the river.

Yes.

How did we miss that?

We had no way of knowing where she had gone.

But she was alone and had no idea how to get around.

Well, yes.

And in the meantime, what is the current damage?

We have thirteen fatalities and three in isolation.

Are they likely to recover?

Could go either way.

So far, in fact, we have isolated cases except for a bunch of kids that nobody cares about. You could argue that we have caused a substantial drop in the cases of street theft and begging. However, someone will notice a problem pretty soon unless we get this situation under control now. Do we have any idea where she could be?

She was caught on camera buying a train ticket at the station.

Where to?

Lakeside.

Well, better follow the breadcrumbs, then.

Breadcrumbs?

Never mind. Find out if she got there.

Right.

Marinda turned away from her keyboard, took a deep breath and massaged her temples in an attempt to relieve the stress headache that had been threatening to kick in all day. Communications with her deputy always set them off.

How had she ended up with such incompetent staff?

Three obvious reasons, she answered herself.

Firstly, there really just were not that many people to choose from any more. The Red Plague had taken a lot of the adults, and it hadn’t been discerning about its victims. Rich, poor, clever, stupid: it made no difference. If it got you, it got you.

Secondly, she didn’t have much money to spend on security. The money went into the science labs, and even they were run on a shoestring. The Child Bank did little more than break even. It cost a lot to look after all those kids, and farmers and small-scale factories didn’t pay much for the labour when they bought kids. She wondered for the millionth time whether it was worth carrying on with them, but she felt, on balance, it was. It gave her a sort of loose control over a lot of kids, both financially and in terms of what they learned.

Thirdly, and finally, having someone too bright as her assistant might create its own problems. She had no intention of handing her little empire over to anyone else after all the work of setting it up. She had no doubt it could be done better, so anyone too sparky or ambitious was a threat. Better to lord it over the weaker mortals than watch out for a stab in the back.

Nevertheless, at times like this, it would be really nice to think her staff would find the girl and get everything back under control. As she knew they wouldn’t, she was just going to have to get out there and do it herself.

Back out among the great unwashed, she told herself, and shuddered. Time to try out that new vaccination.