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.
Tanner wished he could reach out and slap the satisfied looking expression right off Briggs' face. Instead he straightened his posture, towering over Briggs, and stepped towards him slowly in an intimidating manner. The show was completely lost on Briggs who just stood there, motionless. He gave no indication of fear or concern at the Chief's anger.
"What you and I can agree on is that you are not who you pretend to be and you need to explain yourself in the three seconds it's going to take me to handcuff you." Tanner reached towards his silver handcuffs, fingers twitching, resisting the urge to reach for his gun instead.
"Let me guess, your missing people returned suddenly with no memories of where they've been or how they were taken. They look well cared for, healthy, and show no signs of physical or emotional distress."
Tanner eased off just a little, listening to Briggs' viscous flow of words. He always seemed to be one step ahead when they were investigating the disappearances, as if no matter how strange the situation seemed, it was nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Now he seemed to know a little too much about their return as well.
Briggs took note of the Chief's change of stance, and continued. "My team is from the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research, an unpublicized but fully authoritative branch of the CIA. The division has been investigating disappearances like the ones experienced in your small town for the last fifty years. We fully intend to conduct this investigation and will do so with or without your cooperation."
Kate, Cole and all the rest; they were not the same as they were before they were taken. Tanner was sure of that much. He had personally witnessed more than one event in the last twenty four hours that stretched the boundaries of what he considered "normal."
"I'm going to need some kind of proof that you are who you say you are, and that you really have some jurisdiction here."
"I have none to offer you. Our division operates covertly for a reason. However, I suspect that if you didn't already have your own doubts about the nature of these disappearances that I would be in custody by now."
That much was true, Tanner realized. Normally if there was even an inkling of doubt that someone wasn't being honest about their identity, possibly impersonating a federal agent no less, that person would be handcuffed and behind bars faster than the wind blows. This was no ordinary situation though. There was too much at stake. Tanner weighed his options, if which he didn't have many. Briggs seemed to know an awful lot, and there was an awful lot left to figure out.
His thoughts were interrupted when a panic stricken Officer Sellars turned down the hallway and spotted him. "Ginny! I found the Chief," he shouted over his shoulder. The pair of them ran down the hall towards the Chief. "What's going on," Sellars asked, looking cautiously at Briggs.
"We're evacuating the area of all persons not essential to our investigation," Tanner said decisively. "These agents are going to conduct interviews with each of the returned kids and we're going to assist."
Sellars looked at the Chief, stunned, and shook his head. Something wasn't right. It wasn't like the Chief to blindly take orders from the feds. "Why aren't we taking them back to the station if we're going to interrogate them more? And what's this I hear about a quarantine? Are our kids in danger?"
Not used to having his orders questioned, Tanner's voice rose to just below a shout. "The suspects will be held here, because here is where we happen to be. No one is leaving until I get some answers about where they've been all this time."
"Did you just call them suspects?" Ginny spoke up, not able to hide her outrage at this sudden turn of events.
Tanner winced, had he really just called these kids suspects out loud? It was too late to turn back now, "Suspects, victims, kids, whatever - just do your job Sellars or you're going home."
"I'm staying," Ginny said, folding her arms in front of her. She looked more like an insolent child than a typically level headed adult. She didn't trust agent Briggs or any of the agents for that matter. They had the personalities of serial killers.
"That's fine, miss. I'm sure we can find use for your expertise." Briggs flashed her a condescending smile as he spoke down to her. The sound of his voice sent shivers down her back. She hadn't spoken to him once during the initial investigation and yet she identified something in his speech, something familiar.
The Chief gave his officer a stern look meant to quiet any other objections he might have. "Sellars, you go tell my men the orders and keep the . . . kids . . . confined to their exam rooms for now."
Sellars reluctantly followed orders. Ginny left with him, carefully watching Briggs out of the corner of her eye as she passed. Tanner could feel their disapproval like a weight pushing on him. He wasn't sure himself if he was doing the right thing.
"Did you think about what you're going to tell the media circus outside," Tanner asked turning back to Briggs.
"We've already taken care of them, they've left the premises. My men are securing the area and helping with the evacuation as we speak. This is a good choice you're making, working with us. Once we've gotten things settled here I promise to fill you in on our findings to date about this case."
Tanner wondered what exactly Briggs had done or said to wave the media off; that was a trick easier said than done. Briggs put his hands in his pockets, turned on his heel, and walked casually down the hall back towards the lobby. Tanner half expected him to start whistling a jaunty tune the way he was strolling along like he had no where to go.
Deep within the hospital another extremely ordinary looking man in a flawlessly pressed black suit quietly entered a dark room. Without the benefit of light he walked halfway through the room, and hoisted a small but heavy black bag onto a surface there. He carefully removed items from the bag and set them down, one by one with a metallic clinking sound upon that surface. The last items he removed from the bag were long straps that unrolled themselves at his sides. The man went to work quickly and efficiently affixing them to a second larger rectangular surface in front of him. When he was satisfied with his work he took his empty bag and exited the room, flipping on the light switch as an afterthought as he closed the door behind him. The room was prepared for use, should this investigation warrant it, and the man in black secretly hoped that it would.
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Contest: In all my notes about the upcoming chapters of Sixteen I have yet to give a name to the alien's home planet. Comment on this chapter with your suggestion and winner will receive a dedication and an interview in an upcoming issue of "Watt's Happening"
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