Excerpt from the private journal of Dr. Erica Kennedy, interim director of the CDC:

November 11 – We have sent an agent into the field to investigate rumors of a virulent new disease. The agent has failed to report. I am now on site in China to follow up on the situation. These are my findings:

The virus started in a wet market. Bats were caged too close to civet cats. An apartment owner fell ill while tending to the animals he was selling. The virus jumped from the ...