Excerpt
The shaggy brows dropped over the psychologist's dark eyes.

"There is not much we can do, sir. The most we can hope for is to delay the inevitable. We can use the press and the media to tell them what will happen and to explain why they will feel that way or why others will feel that way. We at HomeSec" - he waved a lanky hand around the table at the men present - "will use one of our contingency plans to use them. We have all the updated contacts with the media. The key is balance not to destroy the in group feeling, because that will give them some support, but to try to prevent large scale outbreaks of violence."

"How long do we have?"

"I don't know, sir. A week. Ten days. Maybe a little more. It depends on what happens. If there is a cure but we have to wait a bit longer to apply it - that is good. If there is no cure, the pressures will mount geometrically with every passing day. Their hopelessness will feed it."

Tom Watts interrupted.

"Of course, we will be keeping all visitors in the city as well as native New Yorkers."

"I am going to send my representative into the city to run things along with the military," President Stanton interrupted, rising at the same time to indicate that the discussion was over.
"His name is Richard Burton. He will run the medical side of things, with the Army Disease Defensive Group having the final say, of course. No offence meant to the Army, but I would like to have a civilian as my eyes and ears, as well."