Hallways Part Two

"Have all the victims lived in the same apartment building?"

"So far, yes."

"Well that makes things a little easier anyway!"

"How?" Stephen glanced up as Eva paced around the table, talking quietly, intensely on her cell phone.

"Well…" Miles glanced around the table. "If they've all gotten sick inside the building, then the source of infection must be inside the building."

"Not necessarily." Natalie flicked through the details they had. "The infection could have been brought into the building by one of the patients. It could be from outside."

Frank stretched, trying to ease the pains of cramped seats. "Never mind that it could be anything inside the building. Water, paint, heating, food. Anything."

Eva snapped her phone closed and sat down at the table. "Jersey Police has a perimeter set up around the building. They're keeping everything quiet at the minute, but it's only a matter of time before the story gets out."

"Then you have to keep things quiet. Give us space to work." Stephen looked around the table. "What do you think, Natalie?"

"I wont know for sure until I do a full autopsy." She hesitated briefly. "But the initial symptoms sound like a respiratory or pulmonary infection." She grinned, briefly, viciously. "A really fucking nasty one."

Stephen nodded. "Which means it's airborne. Full masks and suits for everyone, until we figure out what the hell we're up against." He glared at Miles, his pale eyes intent. "That means any quarantine has to be enforced. Understand?"

"Perfectly, Dr Connor."

"Good. Is everyone that is symptomatic still in the building?"

Eva nodded. "They don't want to move anybody in case it spreads the infection. Nobody has got in or out since the GP noticed the symptoms. I've phoned the local hospitals and so far nobody's came in with the same symptoms."

"So we still have a chance to get on top of this thing." Stephen scratched his jaw, just starting to show the first hints of pale stubble. "Frank, I want samples from the deceased's rooms, as well as those that have shown the symptoms. Find me a commonality."

Powell nodded. He had known what Connor would want him to do, but this, this pre battle ritual seemed to relax Connor, seemed to help him focus on the job in hand.

He'd found that it relaxed him as well.

"Run what you have through Natalie."

She had known that this was coming as well. "Where do you want me, Stephen?"

"East Orange General Hospital." He glanced briefly at the computer generated map, reassuring himself of the decision he had made. "It's the closest hospital. Find out what's causing this."

She nodded, relieved that she wasn't going to be there, dealing with the infected face to face. She knew where her gifts lay, in a lab, finding answers to a problem.

"What about me, Dr Connor?"

"I want you in triage, Miles. Talk to the patients. Find out if they had anything in common, any interests outside of the building. If they ate at the same restaurant, played squash at the same club"

"Okay."

"Eva, see if you can access the building records, see what maintenance has been done recently Look into the firms that did the work, their suppliers, anything you can think of, the housing records, complaints. Anything you can think of." He smiled, briefly, knowing how she worked. "You know what to do."

She smiled back at him. "Already on it."

The pilots voice broke across the room., telling them to prepare for landing at Liberty Airport.

Telling them to prepare themselves.