Chapter 10: On the Trail of a Mad Scientist, Part 2

***

Detective Leanne Oester stood frozen as the rumble of the explosion passed under her feet and dust climbed high into the air. People shouted around her, but all she could do was open and close her hands. She needed to do something, anything.

"Detective," one of the CDC people grabbed her shoulder. "We need to evacuate the area and set up a new perimeter." She handed Leanne a mask.

"What effect might the explosion have on the fungus?" Leanne strapped the mask on.

"Did you see any flame?"

"No," Leanne put her hand on her head to force herself to think. "Strange, a blast that size with no fire."

"The lack of fire is a problem-it means the spores could be live."

"Listen up, people," Leanne shouted. "I know we have people in there, but no one goes near the place until the bomb squad clears it. Put your masks on. I need people on either side of the street. We don't have masks for civilians so get them to use tea towels, shirts, whatever they can find and get the hell out of here. Start on this street. Move fast. Remember the houses on either side of the blast are empty. This is a contaminated zone until we are told otherwise. Use your training."

Her team headed out, most wore the masks that the CDC people gave them. The ones that didn't she'd deal with later. Sirens screamed as they approached from all directions.

"Sergeant," Leanne said, "get on the radio and tell people to create a perimeter, then start clearing houses. We'll start with a circle with a half mile radius." She glanced over at the CDC woman who nodded. Not as certain as Leanne would have liked, but close enough. "Outside that radius, get cars on the streets telling people to stay in their homes."

"Detective," another officer ran up to her. "The suspect fled the scene after the explosion, the constable is down. There are cars in pursuit, but she drove the truck through someone's back yard and we haven't caught up with her."

"Get him to the hospital, call the pursuit off for now, we need feet on the ground here. Get dispatch to put out a BOLO, armed and dangerous."

The bomb squad arrived as they prepared to move back to the perimeter. They had their own masks, but the CDC gave them suits that made the officers look like astronauts as they moved in toward the blast site.

Wind blew the dust to the south across the city, but the heavier particles fell out of the sky and covered the immediate area with grey.

At the perimeter, the captain showed up to take over the scene. He handed Leanne a kerchief. She hadn't realized that she'd been crying until she wiped the mud that was tears and dust from her face. Barring a miracle, four of her colleagues would only come out of that place in body bags.

***

Leanne waited by her car for the bomb squad to clear them to enter DesLauriers' lab. She'd argued with the captain for an hour to get permission to check the lab. The bomb squad took another hour to clear the scene, still dressed in their white suits. The university sent all the students and staff home for the day.

"How much longer, officer?" the university president insisted on waiting with them. Normally, it would have infuriated her, but Leanne welcomed the distraction. She had to focus. She'd worry about falling apart later.

The captain arrived just before the building got the all clear.

"Don't assume that because there are no bombs that the place is safe," he said. "Be careful."

Leanne nodded and took the CDC woman and another scientist along with her partner.

"You get the video," she said to Detective Hernandez, "I'll get stills." He hoisted the camera in reply.

They clomped down the long hallway wearing white tyvex suits and the masks. Leanne set her mind into crime scene mode to fix the smallest details into her memory.

The floors were terrazzo with a few chips on the edges. Doors had no windows and were covered with cartoons and schedules. Bulletin boards advertised jobs and courses. One board had a plastic bag of condoms pinned to it.

DesLauriers' lab was the final one in the hall. Two windows let light into a space that looked half mad scientist lair and half library. Terrariums sat on tables by the windows. They looked to be half-filled with dirt. Bookshelves lined the other walls. A table held a computer at one end and equipment that she couldn't name at the other. Paper piled up on every free surface.

Hernandez went left, she went right to record the room in as much detail as they could manage. The CDC people hung back until Hernandez passed by the terrariums. The books all had titles that suggested Leanne would fall asleep quickly if she tried to read them. The papers were filled with words that might as well have been in a foreign language.

The terrariums were full of ants.

"Cordyceps," the CDC woman said to her partner. They were pointing at the ants. Something was wrong with them. Strange growths poked out of their backs. They hung unto the highest blades of grass. If one fell, other ants swarmed it and carried it away.

"What's wrong with them?" Leanne asked.

"Fungus," the woman said. "It's my specialty, and why I'm here and not someone else." She pointed through the glass, "Those ants are infected. The rest of the nest will attack them. The fungus changes their behavior."

"Is it dangerous?"

"To the ants," the woman said. "Not to humans, people take it as a supplement." She wandered over to the table. "Do it yourself gene splicing. Heaven only knows what she's been doing here. We'll have to go through all her notes and try to figure it out."

"A witness told us she wanted to turn an ex-boyfriend into a zombie," Leanne said. She forced herself to breathe normally, not to hold her breath or run screaming from the lab. "Could she do that?"

"I hope not," the woman said, "but you can never underestimate the stupidity of some brilliant people. Make sure you and all your people get treatment." She went back to peering through the glass at the ants.

Leanne left with Hernandez to report to the captain.