Lethal Outbreak (12 page)

On the way down the corridor, Troy and Lexi saw Dominic Varney emerging from the commander’s office. He walked up to them and said, ‘I’ve been explaining why I did what I did to Cheryl McVeigh. The new guy took it well.’

‘Not surprising,’ Troy replied. ‘You gave him a clear run at the top job.’

‘I guess.’ He smiled and added, ‘I pointed out the bugs while I was in there. I heaped praise on you two as well.’

‘Did we need it?’ Lexi asked.

‘Probably not.’

Troy said, ‘You did us a favour with TRAPT. Good work. Thanks.’

‘Pleasure. Well, maybe not a pleasure. But between us, we got it sorted.’

‘Yeah.’

He winked at them. ‘See you around.’

‘Mustn’t keep the temporary commander waiting,’ Lexi said with a mischievous smile. As she knocked on the door, she whispered to her partner, ‘I’m looking forward to this.’

The commander looked up at them as if accusing them of ruining his plans for their murder investigation. ‘Just when I’m about to appoint a new senior investigator, it seems that you two have closed the case.’

‘Of course, we would have been able to do it earlier,’ Lexi replied, ‘but we were denied a search warrant for Fern Mountstephen’s house.’

The police chief’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her. ‘I won’t have insubordination for a perfectly rational – and legal – judgement, Lexi Four. In fact, I won’t have insubordination for any reason.’

‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘but you wouldn’t understand. I’m an outer and, like every outer, I’ve been on this crippled plane that’s about to crash. It’s a relief when two young and inexperienced detectives come along and make it fly again.’

‘I’m going to review the case before I make my report on you.’

‘There’s something else you should do first.’

‘Is there?’

There was a knock at the door and Terabyte’s long cute face appeared. ‘You wanted a room debugging.’

‘Yes,’ the police chief replied. ‘Come back in five minutes.’

As soon as Terabyte withdrew, the commander said to Lexi, ‘You were about to enlighten me on what I should be doing.’

‘Expecting an apology’s probably too much,’ she replied, ‘but you should at least congratulate us for saving half of the human races.’

‘I’m going to review the case before I … ’

‘Huh. At least we’re detectives, not temporary detectives.’

Lexi’s usual composure had deserted her. Troy realized that, if there was a mark, his partner had just overstepped it. He was proud of her.

Her quip seemed to have an immediate effect on their boss. He did not attempt to retaliate. He simply waved them away. ‘Dismissed. And … ’

They waited.

Reluctantly, the temporary commander said, ‘I’m
pleased the case has come to a satisfactory conclusion.’

‘Where are you taking me?’ asked Troy.

‘Home,’ Lexi told him.

‘
Your
home?’

‘Yes.’

Troy frowned. ‘What’s on your mind?’

‘Don’t you know? Not perceptive enough?’

He shook his head.

‘For saving every one of us,’ Lexi said, ‘you should be made an honorary outer.’

Troy laughed. ‘No chance. Gran would murder me. Anyway, Dominic did it in the end.’

‘It took his hand and yours.’ Lexi turned into her
small, untidy garden and led Troy towards the door. ‘To celebrate, I want to share lunch with you. And my friends.’

‘Share? With your mates?’ Troy grimaced. ‘They’ll make mincemeat of me.’

‘Pardon?’

‘They’ll hate me.’

‘True. But when I tell them you’re the major who saved them all … we’ll see.’

‘Are you sure about this?’

They stepped into the porch. ‘They ought to know. They need to have their prejudices shaken up.’ She began to open the door.

‘I might throw up when I see your food.’

‘No you won’t. Trust me.’

‘Well … Grub, yes. But grubs, no.’

Lexi laughed. ‘I’ve got the ideal thing. Some nice bread. Don’t ask where the flour came from. And chocolate-mealworm spread.’

‘Chocolate and mealworm? Combined?’

‘For you and me, outer and major, it’s perfect, isn’t it?’ She ushered him into the house.

Troy swallowed. ‘Sounds … ’

‘Yummy?’

‘Weird.’ Troy took a deep breath and then smiled. ‘But I’ll give it a go.’

The crimes in all of
The Outer Reaches
books are inspired by genuine scientific issues and events. Here are a few details of the science that lies behind
Lethal Outbreak.

There is genuine concern about our ability to deal with alien bugs if they are ever found and brought back for study on Earth. They may be released by accident or design. If they turned out to be harmful,
there would be serious consequences to the well-being of human civilizations. In the Earth’s mild atmosphere, we simply don’t know what it would take to kill bugs that might be hardened to the extreme extra-terrestrial conditions of a planet like Mars.

While I have imagined a second human race called outers, I have not made up their diet. All of their meals are genuine bug-based food from around the world, eaten by more than two billion people. Eating insects and arachnids (entomophagy) is much better for the Earth’s resources than eating meat. The global livestock trade emits more greenhouse gases than planes, trains and road vehicles combined. Replacing farm animals with protein-rich insects reduces the emissions enormously. Over 1,900 insect species are edible. There is even a conference called ‘Insects to Feed the World’ that promotes the use of insects as a human food.

Malcolm Rose is an established, award-winning author, noted for his gripping crime/thriller stories – all with a solid scientific basis.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Malcolm was a university lecturer and researcher in chemistry.

He says that chemistry and writing are not so different.
‘In one life, I mix chemicals, stew them for a while and observe the reaction. In the other, I mix characters, stir in a bit of conflict and, again, observe the outcome.’

When the body of an outer is discovered in the woods, young detective Troy Goodhart and forensic specialist Lexi Iona Four are partnered on the case. Then two more bodies are discovered, and all three corpses are found to have body parts missing. Somebody is killing with a purpose. As major Troy and outer Lexi unpick the case, they enter a complex, dark world of deception, where one false move will mean death.