'They said that twenty-five percent of the population would catch the flu. Between seventy and eight percent of them would die. He had been directly exposed to it, and the odds weren't good.' London. The city is in lockdown in a pandemic. The Prime Minister has died from the virus. Martial law is in place. The hospitals and emergency services are overwhelmed. Violence and civil disorder are simmering. An emergency hospital is being constructed in Lambeth when a bag containing the rendered bones of a child is discovered on the site. What is its relevance to the epidemic? Detective John McNeil investigates, grieving for the child he has lost to the disease.
