She wanted to argue -- wanted to say they had plenty of clues, and that they were tracking all of them down, but defensiveness was a normal human reaction to being at square one. "We might have stepped up to talk with a pawn or two. I'm not sure we learned anything, though. Aside from the fact that none of the people I've encountered has turned into a monster. Yet."

Landel's messages had threatened that, repeatedly, and the bulletin seemed to bear it out, but she hadn't actually witnessed the effect. "And we decided against attempting surgery on ourselves. If there is some sort of device involved, it's still there."