A/N: dumping this as fast as I can.
Chapter 10
CalTech Virology Research Center
Level 5 Containment Lab C
Sheldon stood just outside Lab C and watched as people dressed in heavy plastic protective suits and backpacks containing oxygen milled around waiting for instructions.
He had bullied his way past the security cordon simply by staring at the woman who barred his way and lying without any discernable facial contortions.
"I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper and I work here. I was at another building when I heard the news. My place is in there," he gestured to theCalTech Virology Research Center, "where my expertise is needed. Stand aside, please. You are delaying the containment of a lethal pathogen. Have you not read The Stand ?"
Penny had made him watch the miniseries on TV and he'd been intrigued enough to actually read the book, something that Penny scoffed at.
"Moon Pie, why wade through all those pages when you can just sit back and watch the damned DVD?"
The security guard had read the novel (or probably watched the DVDs) because she paled and stepped aside.
Sheldon was growing impatient with the lack of action to get the virologists out of the quarantined laboratory. He had no idea why he'd lied to the guard except that – he felt the need to be close to the lab – to her.
He heard someone say 'at the most, two hours remaining' and wondered what that meant? Two hours until they opened the lab? Two hours. What was so damned important about two hours?
The steel shutters had been raised and the HazMat team leader had been communicating with those inside via notes written on notepaper and held up against the glass to be read. Sheldon bent and picked up several sheets that were littering the floor and looked for a waste receptacle. Such littering did not indicate that the team leader was very neat and therefore, to Sheldon, not very careful about details.
He glanced at one page and saw the answer to his question. The note read 'about 2 hours until backpacks exhausted'.
He was staggered by the implications. Bernadette had only two hours of breathable suit air remaining. After that, she'd have to open up her faceplate for air or suffocate.
That will just not do! thought Sheldon. That's Bernadette Rostenkowski in there, not some…some…some one else.
Sheldon was not shy when it came to his friends.
"Excuse me, I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper, and I demand to know what steps you're undertaking to free those poor researchers before they suffocate?"
No one had asked, apparently, or the team leader hadn't been briefed on the proper response to inquiries from the press – or pain-in-the-ass scientists - so he said exactly what was on his mind.
"Listen up, asshole! We're following Level 5 Contamination Procedures. Just be glad the lab isn't equipped with gas incineration protocols or we wouldn't talking about it - we'd be cleaning it up with a whisk broom!"
"But she's still in there!" It just popped out and the team leader's face suddenly softened and he said quietly, "They're running out of air organic to their suits. You don't want to see that, do you, Doc? If my wife was in there…I don't know what I'd be doing."
"She's – " He stopped, unable to continue. His eyes filled with unshed tears and his nails were cutting half-moon cuts in his palms.
"What happens in there after 2 hours?" he asked, looking away and blinking rapidly. 'Oh, God, Bernadette…'
"We wait 24 hours and then we go in with disinfectants and scrub the entire room. We disinfect the – the suits of the scientists and then bring them out."
"What about heat? Bernadette mentioned that the samples they were working on seemed to die off when exposed to higher than normal body temperatures. Can't you bring in electric heaters and increase the ambient air temperature?"
"It would take too long for the scientists to survive. They'd run out of air way too soon. No, we'll follow protocols and wait out the virus. When it's dead – "
"Totally unacceptable! Totally. You are condemning her – them – to death for convenience sake. Gather all your air tanks and put them on a trolley. Then do as I suggested…raise the temperature and kill the bastards. I'll take in the tanks and remain with them to ensure they are properly exchanged and while waiting – I'll begin the disinfecting process."
The team leader saw a man who was desperate to save someone he loved. He nodded. "Okay, but understand something, Doc. You go in there and you don't come out again."
"Why didn't you simply push the trolley of tanks into the exchange area and let someone inside take the tanks?"
"Too much danger of a leak. Against – "
"I'll need electric heaters and whatever you use to disinfect the physical structure. I'll need a suit, of course; preferably one that's never been worn."
"If it's one thing I'm good at, it's cleaning."
Flashback
Beijing, China
Sheldon was impressed with the airport and how efficiently it was run. And how clean it was. People seemed to move from one place to another with great purpose and he liked that, too. He'd retrieved his luggage quickly and then found himself sitting in a bar sipping a horrible Chinese vodka and making notes.
"You are European?" a quiet voice asked and he was jerked from his thoughts when a pretty Chinese woman sat down across from him at the small table.
"No, American. I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper and I've come all this way to speak with Dr. Gong Xiang Li. He may be able to help me solve a riddle regarding String Theory."
"I am Chen Hu Li. Your Chinese is very good, Dr. Cooper. Much better than my English. Please, call me Hu Li."
He smiled at her and she raised one sculptured eyebrow as if asking a question.
"Little Fox. It fits you."
She colored nicely and then narrowed her eyes at him.
"You came all this way for an answer you cannot possibly get, Dr. Sheldon Cooper. The man you seek is under house arrest for antigovernment activities and is not allowed visitors, not even from a visiting distinguished American physicist from CalTech."
Sheldon felt a chill run down his spine and the buzz he had going dissipated in a surge of adrenalin and fear that rushed through him. This was no casual meeting of travelers.
"Well, Ms. Chen, or should I say, Agent, or Officer, Chen, how are things in the Bureau of State Security? I would hope that I might be allowed to visit with him. Perhaps you could chaperone?"
"Be very careful, Dr. Cooper. We are not as clumsy as the Koreans nor am I expected to warm your bed to wheedle out secrets we can get from the internet!"
She was angry that her cover was blown but it was her own fault. Her respect for the CIA grew a little. This 'drunken sot' role was the perfect cover for an agent.
"Trust me when I say I have no interest in bedding anyone now or in the future, Hu Li." She was surprised and flustered when he called her by her first name but more by the look in his eyes. This was no act.
"Perhaps I could deliver a letter in which you asked your questions?" She'd been told to gain his confidence and find out the true reason for his visit.
Sheldon was irritated and tired but mostly tired of women treating him like a plaything. He let his Texas temper have free reign.
He leaned over the small table and looked into her nearly opaque eyes and whispered, "Perhaps I'll simply ask him in person, once we reach a friendly country?"
She leaned back and gave a sign of some sort with her fingers and suddenly he was grabbed from behind and handcuffed.
"Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper, you are under arrest for attempted espionage and terrorism against the People's Republic of China."
End flashback
Omaha
Drummond family farm
Penny had just finished dinner and walked out on to the back porch for a few stolen moments alone while she smoked the 3rd of her allowed four daily cigarettes. She'd started smoking in London and now she wanted to quit.
Penny looked at her 'recent calls' and sighed. None of her 'friends' in Pasadena seemed to be accepting calls, let alone returning them.
She would have loved to call Raj but he couldn't speak to women, even over the phone. She paged down her contact list and found a name she didn't remember being in her address book.
"What do you want?" A hoarse voice answered the call, obviously having seen her name in caller ID.
"What's going on with Sheldon Cooper, Leslie? No one's returning calls. I need to know. I'm coming home and he doesn't want – "
"Oh, that's just fucking perfect. The star of stage and hemorrhoid commercials makes her triumphant return just in time for the photo ops at the funeral." Penny could hear the hatred seething behind the words but didn't understand the funeral reference.
"Funeral?"
"I forgot for a moment. You get all your news from Entertainment Tonight," she said and then hung up.