Sixteen (ON HOLD)

3.3 Quarantine

Chief Tanner was doing his best to calm down the riotous swell brewing within the tired group of parents who wanted nothing more than to take their children home with them. It had been a long day for everyone, but with so many questions still unanswered the Chief was uneasy about letting anyone out of his sight just yet. The doctors were content to hold on to their patients, as they more tests they ran the greater their curiosity grew about these young overly healthy subjects. The parents, however, were beginning to feel like hostages.

Tanner had just ushered the latest group of unhappy citizens back to their exam room when the alarm started to sound. "What the fresh hell is this all about," he muttered under his breath and took off to find the source of this new confusion. In the lobby he found all of the hospital staff gathering where they were told to be over the loud speaker. He asked a few questions but none of them knew what was happening yet. Finally, a frumpy and flustered looking woman in a tan suit made her way to the front of the crowed. She had an over-stuffed binder clutched in her hands in front of her chest.

"Attention! Attention Please! We are currently enacting the evacuation procedures normally reserved for quarantine situations. Please coordinate with your assigned group leader to quickly transport patients to the hospitals listed on the sheets being posted on the ambulance bay doors. When all patients have been moved, the staff will need to meet up at . . . "

"Why are you evacuating the hospital?" Tanner's loud voice rose from the crowd, and all eyes centered on him. There was a murmur of agreement from the crowed surrounding him. 

The woman paused; refusing to look Tanner in the eye she shuffled a few papers that were wedged between herself and the procedure binder she was clinging to. "Well, uh, there will be a briefing later and then, well, we'll all know won't we."

"Uh huh, and who's being quarantined?"

Her voice cracked and shook when she tried to answer; mustering all the confidence she could standing before this crowd of people. "Well it seems that, in a manner of . . . well, you are. Your officers and all of the, ah, victims you brought here with you." She finally glanced at the Chief but then quickly brought her eyes back to the floor.

The space around Tanner grew wider as everyone took a step away from him, eyeing him cautiously. It would only take a small spark to ignite the fuse in this room, paranoia and fear rapidly building to a combustible level.

"On whose authority?" Tanner was moving past confusion and straight into blinding rage. Secrets were being kept from him and he didn't like it one bit. The woman at the front of the room as obviously uncomfortable being the messenger of this news.

A voice broke in from behind the crowed. "That would be my authority, Tanner."

Tanner turned to find Agent Randal Briggs standing at the back of the room. He marched towards the man and the flurry of activity in the lobby resumed as they left the room together. "That seems odd, seeing as how you have no authority," Tanner hissed as they entered the deserted hallway.

Agent Briggs didn't look surprised; in fact a wide grin broke out across his face. Tanner immediately remembered why he didn't like Briggs. The man was ordinary, no taller than the average man, no better or worse looking than anyone else around. He had no accent, no dialect, no hint of upbringing in his speech or stance. His voice was flat and thick like oil. His eyes were black pools that matched his sharply pressed black suit and perfectly hung tie. His skin was smooth and his features gave no clue to his exact age. He was too ordinary, too perfect. It was disturbing.

"Made a few calls, did we? No matter. I'm sure by now you've realized that this is no ordinary missing person's case. We can agree, perhaps, that the unusual circumstances presenting themselves here are warranting of some unconventional methods of investigation." Brigg spoke slowly and deliberately as if all of his words were rehearsed ahead of time.