EDWARD WALKED ACROSS THE parking lot trying to juggle the rolled-up Chronicle and flowers in one arm, and his briefcase and a package of baby bottles in the other. He smelled the medley of flowers that Nadia had ordered for him from the boutique and was pleased with her choice.

Before leaving KemKor, he had called Grynberg Laboratories and spoken to Irving about the viability of his idea of collecting downstream samples; he conveyed that he already had effluent scrapings. Irving held out greater ho...