Public Enemy Zero

35

Simmons and Rios were in a conference room with Brooks looking at surveillance video from the Super Center robbery. Rios removed a DVD from the player and put another one in the tray.

“This camera is all the way at the other end of the store. Look at this woman and her little girl here.” Rios pointed to figures in the cereal section.

The mother pushed the cart down the row and then reached up to get a box. Suddenly her nostrils flared and her face changed expression. She turned her head toward the center of the store and started to run. The woman’s daughter looked confused and then followed her mother a few steps. Just like her mother, her expression changed and she started to run in the same direction.

“Tell me, what’s happening here?” asked Rios. “That’s not somebody who heard a disturbance then decided to check it out. That’s somebody who smells something, like a dog getting a scent, then goes to chase after it, leaving her child behind.”

Brooks waved his hand. “What are you asking for Rios? When we catch him we can look for an explanation.”

Simmons spoke up. “That’s the problem, Brooks. Would you want to be caught by us if that’s what happens when we get near you?”

“No one wants to get caught. But it’s our job to see that they are. We can handle it like professionals,” replied Brooks.

Simmons pointed to another DVD. Rios put it into the player. The screen showed the sheriff’s deputy walking through the far entrance. He took three steps in before his face took on the same contortion as everyone else and he started running toward the other exit.

Rios put in another DVD. This one showed a view looking down the aisle along the front end of the store. Mitchell was running toward the camera throwing bags of marbles onto the floor. Rios paused the video.

“Marbles. The guy has a baseball bat and he’s throwing marbles on the ground like a kid trying to ruin a parade. This is a person who just wants to get away from people,” said Rios. “But look at them.” Rios pointed to the faces of the people chasing Mitchell and the animal-like way they held out their hands to claw at him.

Simmons spoke up. “I showed some photos to my husband last night after he got off from the pathology department at the hospital. I didn’t tell him what they were from. I just showed him some stills of people’s faces and posture, without any context. Besides making reference to zombies, his opinion was that these people were on something. Something that was giving them a bad trip.”

Brooks shook his head. “We already tested for that. Nothing.”

“Nothing we know to look for,” replied Simmons.

Brooks finally realized that Simmons and Rios had put a lot more work into their questions and were trying to sell him on something. “Level with me.” He looked at Simmons. He knew the crafty way she would get people to reach conclusions she already had.

Simmons gave Rios a glance and then looked back at Brooks. “Something else is going on here. We don’t think our culprit is a man or these people. We think there could be some kind of chemical agent that Roberts was exposed to, something that’s causing this reaction.”

“We had Homeland Security personnel on the scene. They haven’t said anything like that,” said Brooks.

Simmons shook her head, “Would they know? What if they only suspected? Would they tell us?”

Brooks leaned back. “I can tell you this, they’re about to release a statement. They’re going to call it ‘contagious hysteria.’”

“It’s contagious, all right,” interjected Rios. “But this isn’t hysteria. This isn’t some kind of Pokemon thing or a Justin Bieber sighting.” Rios pointed back at the screen. “Those people weren’t reacting to anything they saw or heard.”

“Whatever,” said Brooks. “Once we catch him, we can find out.”

“Whoever catches him is going to kill him,” replied Simmons.

Brooks shook his head. “I think trained law enforcement professionals are going to handle this differently than average people.”

Rios stood up and pointed a finger at the image of the deputy frozen on the screen. His face was in a snarl and his hands were reaching out, trying to claw Mitchell. “Like that guy?”

Brooks checked his watch. “So what are you guys asking for? That we let him go?”

“Of course not,” said Simmons. “We need to make sure that whoever apprehends Roberts takes the proper precautions. If there is something chemical or biological, then we can’t have people interacting with him without the right kind of protective gear. We also need to make sure that we have the proper facility to put him into. We certainly can’t put him in the county lockup.” She paused to think about the consequences of that. “That could be disastrous.”

Brooks held his hands up in surrender. “OK. I’ll speak with our Homeland Security liaison about your concerns. If they think it’s necessary, there are precautions they can take.”

There was a knock at the door. Detective Oliver entered.

“Guess what genius forgot to turn his phone off after he made his little YouTube video?”

Brooks looked up. “You got a trace?”

The detective nodded. “Yup. I used the warrant to get into his personal account and activate the GPS. He’s in Martin County headed north near the ocean.”

“We need to call them,” said Brooks.

“Already did,” said Oliver. “They’re sending out their chopper and SWAT. I gave them the account info so they could track him from the air.”

Simmons looked at Brooks. “You need to tell them.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll let them know to be cautious,” he said reluctantly. “We can call them from the car.”