[June 13th, 2015, 2:30 a.m., Lancaster, Pennsylvania]

A doctor and two nurses huddled around a 7lb 10oz baby boy lying quietly beneath a large heat lamp. The doctor removed his stethoscope from the infant's chest then scribbled something in his notebook. Behind them, a sweat-drenched 120 pound female sporting a dirty blonde bob cut lay knees up on a hospital bed. Her breathing was deep and exaggerated.

"So what's the plan?" the short nurse asked.

"Apgar is nine," the doctor said, "the baby's fine."

"She's clearly on something," the other nurse said. Her blue engraved nametag identified her as Trish. "Should we call CPS?"

"Let's wait till we get the results from the placenta first," the doctor said.

The blonde raised her head up from the bed. "Is everything OK?" Her teeth appeared to be suffering from years of neglect.

"Everything is fine," Trish said. She wrapped the baby and brought him over to her. "Here he is!"

Mary took the baby and sniffed the fine black hair covering his scalp. "Well hello!" she said before kissing his cheek. "So you're the one who was using my bladder as a punching bag. I'm your Mommy. Did you know that?"

The medical team stood back and watched cautiously. This was usually one of the best parts of their job.

Mary touched the baby's chapped lips with her fingertip. "He's not much of a crier is he?"

The short nurse glanced at the track marks on Mary's arm. "All babies are different. He reacts well to stimulus so we're not overly concerned. Have you decided on a name?"

"Thelonious," Mary said. "His father made me promise. It's the name of some old jazz guy. Cedric loves listen'n to that stuff."

"Is he on his way?" Trish asked.

"Nah, he's do'n five to ten near Philly."

"We'll leave you two alone for a while," the doctor said. "I'll be back in a little bit to run some tests. How's your pain?"

Mary clawed at the side of her neck. "I could use a little someth'n."

"I'll bet you could," Trish mumbled.

"I'll have the nurse bring you something in a few minutes," the doctor said.

Trish returned to the nurses' station and grabbed the black washable marker from the bottom of the large whiteboard. She drew a line through Mary's name then stood back and studied the board. "I swear, I've never seen anything like this."

The nurse sitting behind her was hopelessly stuck on her eighth Sudoku of the night. "I'm telling you, they must be shutting down the ward soon," she said. "I'll bet they're steering patients over to Lancaster General. Guess we'd better start working on our resumes."

"You think?"

"Either that or it's the end of times," the nurse said with a chuckle.

As Trish looked on nervously at the board displaying the crossed-out name of their only patient, there was no way that she could possibly know that there would never be another name on that board again.

***

Kara sat motionless, her soft brown eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. She held a large slice of extra cheese in one hand and a double espresso in the other. "We've been at it for hours. I still don't get it," she said.

Chad sat on the desk next to her clutching a computer printout, his eyes bloodshot. "The macros are coming up with nothing. I can't find a logical pattern."

Derick hung up the desk phone and spun around in his chair. "That was Julie at the State Department. She just confirmed that the UK, Spain, Australia, Canada, and France are reporting similar drop-offs. China won't respond."

"Of course they won't," Kara said.

"I'm thinking there's no way this is an attack," Chad said. "It's too wide spread, too complete. Environmental?"

"It's possible," Derick said, "but I think you would expect to see other health problems besides infertility."

"They just sent over the PA stats you requested from the last 24 hours," Kara said, her mouth full of pizza. "One birth, Lancaster, 2:25 a.m., no complications."

"What about the mothers?" Chad asked. "Maybe there's a connection there."

"They don't report mom stats," Derick said. "Even if they did, there's no personal information with this stuff. How would we even begin to track them fast enough?"

"Wait, we're assuming this is a conception thing," Chad said. "What if it's gestational?"

"Nah," Kara said, bringing up a new spreadsheet. "Fetal mortality rates are normal. At least in Pennsylvania."

Derick folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. A long, deep yawn escaped him as he stared out across the office littered with tired bodies hustling back and forth trying to solve the puzzle. For the first time in his career, he was at a complete loss. He thought about Carolyn and Faith again and smiled. Jonah had given them until 8:00 a.m. to turn in their findings. He looked at his watch and discovered they had less than two hours left. He sat up and grabbed the desk phone

"Who are you calling?" Kara asked.

"I have a buddy over at the FBI field office in Philadelphia," Derick said. "We served together in the Air Force."

"And you just happen to remember his phone number?" Kara asked.

Derick and Chad paused and stared at her for several seconds.

"Oh, I forgot," Kara said. "Do your thing Rain Man."

Kara reached over into the Luigi's box for another slice and knocked over Chad's venti chai latte in the process. "Godammit!" she yelled as she watched the tan liquid consume Derick's desk, including his cell phone lying next to the keyboard. "I'm so sorry."

"I got it," Chad said, snatching the phone and running to his desk for napkins. "No more coffee for you."

Derick scooted his chair back and shook his head while waiting for an answer on the other end. Seconds later, the wait ended.

"Agent Barrows."

"John, it's Derick. Good to see you still get to work on time."

"Anderson! How the hell you been? You run'n things over there at Homeland yet?"

"Yeah, but right now I'm working undercover as a lowly analyst. Don't tell anybody."

John chuckled. "Your secret's safe with me. What can I do you for?"

"I need to interview someone in Lancaster as soon as possible and I'm stuck here for the next couple hours. Can you do me a solid?"

"Sure, what's the deal?"

"It's a patient in the maternity ward at ..." – he glanced at his screen - "Lancaster Memorial."

"Uh-huh. Name?"

"I don't know her name, but I'm pretty sure she'll be the only patient they have on the floor."

"What did she do?"

"She had a baby."

"How dare she!"

"I can't really get into that part right now, but I need to reach her before she's discharged. She's not in trouble."

"Alright, tell you what. Lemmie go log it with the boss and I'll swing over there later this morning."

"Thanks John, I'll have someone from the team email the questions to you."

Chad appeared holding Derick's phone wrapped in several layers of brown paper towels. "So what kind of replacement plan do you have on this thing?"

Derick sighed. "It's alright, everybody's tired. Kara, type up some questions for John. Start with basic demographic info and medical history, and make sure you include something about the pregnancy; diet, complications, etc. She might not answer them all, but anything will help. After that, you two can take off. I'll take care of the report. If you need me later, just call the hospital, room 310."

"You sure?" Chad asked. "Cause you know, Chad can go aaaaall night."

"Ewww," Kara said. "What are you going to report?"

"That after careful analysis, we have absolutely no idea what's causing this."

Derick returned to his previous reclined position and closed his eyes, just for a moment. He let the sounds of indistinct chatter and typing wash over him as he envisioned the gravity of the situation. He had never considered himself to be a religious man, but he couldn't deny the feeling of something else at work; something not as easily explained with percentages and spreadsheets. A world without children was inconceivable, especially now that he had laid eyes on his very own. He thought of her again and relaxed a little, but not too much. There was still work to do. He just needed to close his eyes. Just for a moment.

***

[June 13th, 2015, 9:31 a.m., Reston, Virginia]

A metallic black Audi A8 slid to a stop in front of a ten-story office building in the Tallow Hills Shopping Center. Two men dressed in white collared shirts and black slacks emerged and were immediately met by the pleasant aroma of grilled steak. The taller one looked over at the Mexican grill restaurant on the corner and pointed.

"On the way out."

"Definitely," the other answered.

They entered the building and rode the elevator to the eighth floor. They emerged and approached a large desk occupied by an old woman reading a hard cover copy of Atlas Shrugged.

"Good book," the tall one said. He sported a thick red beard interrupted by a long scar running from his earlobe to his chin.

"He's waiting," the lady said, turning the page.

A reinforced glass door swooshed open as the men approached it, revealing a large open office space with minimal furniture.

"In here," a voice instructed. It came from the only open door.

The pair entered and stopped short of a long teak conference table where four impeccably dressed men sat with open laptops. Another man stood at the head of the table with a cigarette hanging from his lips. He waived them over.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked. His voice was thick as molasses.

Both men nodded. The shorter man covered his mouth and coughed.

"Has the importance of this task been relayed to you?" the smoking man asked.

"It has," the shorter man said. His eyes lacked any emotion. "We're ready. Just waiting on a location."

One of the men sitting at the table turned his laptop around and pointed at the screen. "You know where this is?" he asked.

The tall bearded man nodded. "I grew up near there."

"Good. Go there now. Call me when you're done," the smoking man said.

As the two men turned toward the door, the standing man took one last puff then put his cigarette out in the heavy glass ashtray resting in front of them.

"Do you believe?" he asked them.

Both men stopped at the threshold and looked at each other, then looked at the man.

"If it's come to this," red beard said, "does it matter?"

He looked them up and down then sighed as he sat down. "I suppose not."