◇ KEL ◇   "What're you reading now?"   "Pathogenesis of lung injury. Receptor-binding domains and mutations."   "Sounds dangerous. And intriguing."   I smiled at the guy sauntering into the room, his grin showing off his adorable dimples partly hidden by his 5 o'clock shadow.  "Fun workout?"   "Mostly."   "Your team heard of the newest outbreak in China?"   "Yeah. We discussed it last week." Enzo flung a white towel over his shoulder as he approached me, his flat tone and expression quite serious.  "Remember that five-hour meeting with Graham and the board?"   "Yeah."  I nodded.  Graham was their chief scientist who headed Zione Bio's team of medical and pharmaceutical researchers.  "Are they looking into it? The infected patients exhibit flu-like symptoms. Well, the hospitalized ones, definit

◇ KEL ◇ [ A year later ] "Recombinant, mRNA, or viral vector?" "Viral vector. Or stick with recombinant subunit, but with a better adjuvant." "Sure. That works, too." Partly covered by a towel, Enzo walked out of the bathroom with a scrunched up nose and knitted brows. "But why not mRNA?" Why not go for the messenger-RNA type? If his CSO was doing his job, then the big boss should no longer ask me these questions weeks before their clinical efficacy trials. I sat beside the pillow and looked up from my phone, trying not to frown at the half-naked guy making the floor wet. The new mop I bought should be desert-dry by now. I'd left it near the pool. The weather had been friendly all morning. Like my hormones. And thank heavens for both. "If the board is now aiming for distribution on a global scale, your teams should opt for the one that's not gonna be a logistics nightmare." "Yeah. We should," he mumbled with a restrained sigh. "And they definitely want to scale up." "So go for