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the FRC focuses all its time and money on one thing only—a virus. Lupus venerus. Venerus meaning that it’s, um... “ He cleared his throat abruptly as his embarrassed eyes glanced at Karen. “Meaning it’s, uh, sexually transmitted. Lupus meaning, um... well, wolf .”
    Karen glanced at Gavin to find that he was glancing at her. The look they exchanged was familiar—they seemed to exchange it at least once whenever they were being briefed by Burgess. They said nothing and returned their attention to Harvey.
    “There is no other research available on this virus,” he said. “No literature exists on it, no papers, no articles. It doesn’t even seem to exist—except in Fargo’s lab. As far as we can tell, lupus venerus is known only to those who work at FRC, who are required to sign legally binding nondisclosure forms. And to Daniel Fargo himself. A little more digging revealed the fact that Fargo has been funding the manufacture of silver bullets. He has a little place in rural Massachusetts that—”
    ”Excuse me,” Gavin said. “ Silver bullets?”
    “That’s right. Silver bullets.”
    Karen said, “Silver bullets and a sexually transmitted wolf virus.”
    Harvey looked at Karen for a moment, seemed to force himself to hold her gaze, then quickly looked away, blushing. “Yes, that’s right. I-I know how it sounds, but, um... well, it took some time, but we finally tracked down Fargo himself. He was on the move, heading west and apparently making an effort to cover his tracks and not be noticed.” He reached down and picked up the briefcase beside his chair, put it on his lap and opened it. He removed a grainy, slightly blurred photograph and handed it to Burgess, who passed it to Karen and Gavin, who looked at it together. “That’s the best picture we have of him.”
    A man in a dark coat stood on a street corner with his hat in one hand, the other hand moving back through his hair. His face was terribly distorted by what appeared to be long scars.
    “Did that happen to him when he and his family were attacked?” Gavin said.
    Harvey nodded. “We believe so, yes.”
    “Were they caught? The people who did it?”
    “No. But we think that’s what he was doing,” Harvey said. “Tracking them down.”
    “Has he found them?” Gavin said, handing the picture back to Harvey.
    “We’re, um, not sure. But we suspect he found... something . Or, uh, something... found him.” He put the photograph back in the briefcase. “His trail ends in Big Rock, a little town up the coast from here, near Eureka. He got there seven months ago. A little while after that, it seems he... well, he just disappeared. Again. We’ve been unable to pick up his trail ever since. It ends there in Big Rock. Permanently, we think.”
    Karen felt a knot tightening in her stomach, felt the muscles across the top of her back begin to tense. She took a slow, deep breath, let it out slowly, then turned to Burgess. “You want us to find this guy?”
    He shook his head. “No. We don’t think there’s anything to find. Go on, Harvey.”
    Harvey pushed the glasses up, cleared his throat again. “Something, um, strange is going on in Big Rock.” He took a folder from the briefcase and passed it down to Karen and Gavin. “That’s a file of autopsy reports and newspaper articles and some other documents.”
    Gavin opened the folder and handed some of the papers to Karen, who frowned as she looked them over quickly. The knot grew tighter, her muscles became more tense, and her mouth began to dry. She licked her lips and turned to Harvey. “What’s the something strange that’s going on in Big Rock?”
    “Animal attacks,” Harvey said. “At least, that’s what they’re being called. A lot of people have been killed. Pretty, uh, brutally. Killed and in many cases partly, um... eaten.”
    “ Eaten ?” Gavin said.
    Harvey nodded.
    Karen saw that Burgess was watching them as they absorbed what Harvey had said and looked over