Public Enemy Zero

37

After helicopter footage of sheriff’s deputies searching through mail on the highway aired on Fox, CNN and MSNBC, another shoe dropped. Someone had leaked footage of the mall incident and the Super Center robbery to the major networks. Although the footage was being held for release by the city police department, it had been passed around to so many different agencies, there was nowhere to point a finger.

To the general public and news pundits, Mitchell’s claims that something odd was happening to him gained much more credibility when they could see for themselves how strangely people behaved in the footage.

The “contagious hysteria” meme was quickly dropped. Talk shows began using terms like “rage virus” and “zombie gas.” Mitchell had gone from being called a public menace to a one-man WMD.

Baylor got the news in the middle of a conference with Homeland Security’s South Florida emergency response coordinator. He went through the roof. He left the room to make a phone call.

“I thought I asked you to keep the footage from being released!” he shouted at the man on the other end of the phone.

“We tried. But there were too many copies out there. It was going to happen sooner or later,” said the man.

“Damn it. I wanted this contained before this got out.”

“Wanted what contained, Baylor? Is this one of your projects?” asked the man.

“No. Of course not.” Baylor hesitated. “From what we’ve seen in our lab, we have reason to believe that this may be the work of a foreign power.”

“When did you learn this?”

“Twenty minutes ago. I was just sent the results from our blood work on the mall victims. We found evidence of an aerosol in the lungs that was used as a dispersant.” Baylor lied through his teeth.

“How do you want to proceed?”

Baylor ran his fingers through his hair. He needed a way to call the shots on the matter behind the scenes. If it was still handled by local authorities, he wouldn’t have as much influence. If it went to a federal level, he had the connections to make sure that he and his group wouldn’t be in the line of fire. “We need to elevate this to a federal matter.”

“On what basis?” asked the man.

“On the belief that this man has in his possession a chemical agent that induces panic. Most likely supplied by a foreign power or terrorist group.”

Baylor had thought about saying that he actually believed that Roberts was infected with a form of weaponized Mongolian Flu, but that was too close to what the actual truth was. If he could get Roberts into custody, the right custody, he wouldn’t have to worry about suspicion falling onto project Great Wall.

“You think this man is a terrorist?”

Baylor paused. Saying yes brought in a whole new set of problems. The FBI and CIA would start digging around for any kind of connection between Roberts and foreign groups, a connection Baylor knew didn’t exist. If Roberts had been Muslim and traveled overseas in the last ten years, any kind of connection could be made. Unfortunately, he was a white man with no strong religious beliefs. If any of the Aryan supremacist groups could put together something more sophisticated than a fertilizer bomb, he might be able to make a compelling case for Mitchell being part of one of them but, sadly no, he thought.

“Do you think this man is a terrorist?” asked the voice again.

“No, I don’t think he’s willingly part of any terror groups.” Baylor thought briefly about saying Mitchell was acting alone but knew that wouldn’t wash. A weaponized version of Mongolian Flu wasn’t a kitchen table project. “I think he may unwittingly or under the threat of coercion is carrying a dispersant on his person.”

Baylor thought of the footage he’d seen. In the mall he had on a backpack. In the Super Center he was wearing a large coat. The idea that Mitchell had a device on him that sprayed a chemical agent was starting to gain traction in his mind.

“Do we need to apply containment to all of the locations where the dispersant was used?” asked the voice.

Containment meant sealing the mall, the Super Center and everywhere else Mitchell had been. It also meant other agencies looking for evidence of the dispersant. A dispersant that Baylor only half believed could actually exist.

Saying no would attract suspicion that he knew more than he let on. He decided to hedge his bet.

“Although we think the agent would most likely break down in direct contact with oxygen and UV light in the open air, we think it’s prudent to seal the affected areas,” said Baylor. This was going to cause a bigger lockdown than the anthrax scares from a decade back.

“All right,” said the voice. “I’ll go across the hall and inform the vice president.”

The line went dead. Baylor stepped out of the empty office where he had been talking on his cell phone and looked down the hallway of the Homeland Security building as people went about their work. He’d just manufactured an entire account about a WMD. Charitably he could say that he misinterpreted the information he had. But there were no domestic or foreign intelligence agencies he could point out and say that they’d reached the same conclusion as he had.

There were no dissident scientists claiming it existed. He didn’t even have a madman dictator to single out. When the search for a physical WMD came up short, everyone would look to him for an explanation.

It would be much better if they found something. He walked back into the empty office and made another call.

The line made a click as it was routed through a secure connection.

“Hello,” a precise and almost eloquent voice answered.

“Mr. Lewis, I have another favor to ask,” said Baylor.

“Is this a personal favor?” asked the voice using “personal” as a code word for something else.

“No. I need to get a gift for someone. I’ll have a friend supply the bow.”

An hour after Baylor got off the phone, the South Florida director of Homeland Security and the FBI’s district supervisor called a press conference.

They announced that Mitchell Roberts was now believed to be in contact with a dangerous chemical agent and that he shouldn’t be approached by local authorities without proper protective gear. They explained that the Park Square Mall was going to remain closed until further notice and that the Super Center was going to be placed under containment while the FBI conducted its investigation.

Despite the fact that they carefully avoided using the term WMD or terrorist, the press had no such restraint. The largest manhunt in the nation’s history began with Mitchell Roberts at the center of it.