Chapter 9: On the Trail of a Mad Scientist, Part 1

Detective Oester pulled him out of briefing his next shift.

"I've cleared it with your sergeant," she said. "Grab a coffee and join the task force." She looked at her watch. "We meet in fifteen minutes in squad room A."

Dan walked into the room with his half-finished coffee and almost ducked back out again. He was the only uniform without stripes on his sleeve. Detective Oester saw him and waved him over to where she chatted with the lieutenant.

"Here we are, sir," she said. "Dan here picked up the lead on the woman. Would never have thought to look deeper into the tablets without his information."

"Good job, constable," the lieutenant said. "Take a seat, you think of something, speak up."

"Yes, sir." Dan sat at the back of the room and sealed his lips. The other members of the group settled in and Detective Oester introduced the new information.

"The tablets were wiped," she said. "This woman thought we were smarter than we are. What she couldn't wipe was the record of sale. One was purchased by the victim, Fred Swanther, the other by a Cossette DesLauriers. She is a PhD student in microbiology, specializing in fungi. We learned that she did her undergrad in computer science. We've located her home not far from the university." She waved a paper, "we have a search warrant to go take a look. Some people from the CDC are coming with us. We are going to take control of the house and then let the CDC people do their thing. Once the house is secured, you will do whatever the CDC people say, without question. If there are live samples of the agent she used to infect Swanther, they will need very careful handling. Questions?"

There were a couple of questions, but they didn't answer his question. Would he get to go along? He didn't get the chance to ask. Detective Oester swooped him up and made him ride in her marked car. The Emergency Response Team met them at the corner to the street.

"We've had people watching the place since you called," their squad leader said. "No activity at the house. We had a couple of plain-clothes check the residences on either side. No one is home. We're set."

Detective Oester looked over at the CDC people waiting by their van. They nodded.

"We're a go then," she said. "Sergeant, I want you to feed your sound and mike to me here. I'll watch along with the CDC folks and keep you informed."

One of the CDC people handed out masks and gloves to the ERT officers.

"Wear these. You'd rather be uncomfortable than dead. We think it's transmitted by touch, but I'd rather err on the side of caution." None of the officers argued.

"Dan," Detective Oester said, "I need you to go stop someone for a traffic offense and block the other end of this street. No siren, just lights. We've got this end. We don't want her coming home and getting spooked."

"Sure thing," Dan said. He stuffed his disappointment and drove around the block to find a suitable victim. All they wanted was a uniform to be a diversion. Like kids egging a house and making the youngest keep watch while they had all the fun. Dan breathed deeply and told himself he was being stupid. What else did he expect? To most of those cops he was barely out of diapers. At least he could do what he was told and not screw it up. He parked where he could see the intersection he was supposed to block.

The neighbourhood had seen better days. The trees were huge, but the houses looked run down and most looked like they'd been chopped up for apartments. He didn't think there would be much traffic.

Then a big black truck roared up behind him. Even if it hadn't been playing music loud enough to make his teeth ache, it swerved around him without signaling or even slowing down. He flashed his lights at them and the truck pulled over. He pulled up behind it, carelessly letting his cruiser block the street. He'd get heck if someone complained to the department.

To his surprise the beast was driven by a woman. She rolled her eyes at him and reached for her license and registration before he asked for it. He took the license and registration back to the cruiser and ran the plates as he looked at the driver's license.

"Patch me through to Detective Leanne Oester," he said to dispatch.

"Oester here," she said, "this had better be good."

"The traffic stop you asked me to make," Dan said, "I stopped DesLauriers."

"So, we're clear at the house," Leanne said. "Good work, delay her as long as you can. There are more units on the way. Don't try to arrest her, we don't know if she's armed."

Dan waited as long as he dared before picking up his ticket book and walking back to the truck.

"You are aware that you ran that stop sign?" he said to her. "And the music was loud enough to make for a public nuisance citation?" He started filling out the ticket, writing slowly and laboriously.

"Look," DesLauriers said, "I'm already late for a class, can't you pick up the-"

The explosion drowned out the rest of her words. He twisted to look at the cloud rising from the streets. How many cops were in the house when it blew?

"Now you've done it," DesLauriers started her truck. Dan tried to reach in to grab the keys, but she slammed the vehicle into gear. He stumbled and fell as she took off. She probably didn't notice the bumps as she drove over his leg.

Two cruisers rounded the corner and started up their lights. She swerved onto a lawn, through a fence and into someone's back yard. The crashes faded away as one cruiser pulled up beside him.

The driver yelled into his radio about an officer down. Dan didn't pay much attention. Pain invaded his whole consciousness, but even as it did, he imagined Pranthi's eyes as she told him how her mother had had her run over. They looked sad as red agony filled his being and dragged him away.