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Hallways, Part Five
"Stephen, we have a problem."
"Now what?"
"Patrick Washington is snooping around the story."
"Shit." Stephen leaned against the wall, his face flushed, the hallway too hot, too stuffy for him to breath, even with his suit on. He hated these suits, they blunted his touch, deadened his senses. "Can you keep him away from this?"
"I can handle Patrick, Stephen. Don't worry about that. It's just case of how much its going to cost me."
"Dr Connor!"
Stephen looked around as Miles called to him from the doorway of the Ashton's apartment, his face white beneath his mask. "Do what you have to do Eva. I have to go." He broke the connection abruptly. "What is it Miles?"
"Its Patricia, she's displaying secondary symptoms."
"Show me."
Patricia Ashton lay in her bed, covered by a blanket, lovingly embroidered with cartoon characters. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and as they watched in horrid fascination, a wracking cough tore through her small body. She tried to stifle it with her hand, her frame shaking with the force of the attack. She lay back on her bed after it passed, her hand lying on the outside of the sheet, her palm freckled with blood.
"Please…" Michael's voice trailed off as he fought to hold back his tears.
His desperation forced Connor into action. "Give her some amantidine and type match her some CD4."
Miles hurried to obey his instructions. "Will that work against this?"
"Probably not. But it might buy us some time. And it'll make it a little easier for her to breathe."
Miles stared at the little girl lying pale faced on her bed, tensing every time she took a breath. Scared that this would be the one that triggered another attack.
"Shit, these things are heavy."
Frank grunted with the effort, lifting off the casing of an air conditioning unit, propping it against the nearest wall. He wiped his mask, knowing it was a useless, pointless gesture, knowing it was the closest he was going to get to his forehead for a long time. He opened his case, staring at the equipment inside.
This was all that was left to test.
The answer had to be here.
No the answer was here. He just had to find it.
Had to find it before that little girl died, before her father died, before…
He pushed his thoughts away. Working quickly, not allowing himself to think, putting the last of the samples into the container, closing the lid. He sat back on his haunches, looking around the basement. Wondering what else there was, what else could be causing this. He'd even checked the water supply, despite what Connor had said. He had known Connor to be wrong in the past.
Just not very often.
He took a last look around. Shaking his head in frustration, Frank Powell walked out of the basement.
The air conditioning hummed away, content and oblivious as he closed the door after him.
There had to be something.
Natalie adjusted the settings on the microscope, peering at the new samples Miles had sent over.
She looked at the name on the sample. "Patricia Ashton, aged nine. Poor girl." She adjusted the settings again and the sample swam suddenly into focus.
There had to be something. Something that could tell them why these people were getting sick, why these people were…
Wait.
"That cant be right."
She lifted a small vial, carefully applying a few drops to the sample. Then examined it again through the microscope. Torn between hoping that she had made a mistake and praying she was right.
No. She was right.
She lifted her phone, dialling quickly.
He answered on the second ring. "Connor."
"Stephen, its Natalie. We've been looking in the wrong place. Whatever's been making these people sick, it's not occurring naturally."
"What are you saying Natalie?"
He sounded distracted. She felt a momentary flash of guilt. Until they figured this thing out, him, Miles, Frank, they were all at risk of infection. She was safe, hiding in a lab, far from the front line. Far from the danger.
Just for a second, for that momentary flash, she hated herself.
"Natalie? Come on, I need you."
She shook herself, brushing away her emotions, locking them away. "I found traces of a non organic compound in Patricia Ashton's sample. Somebody poisoned these people, Stephen. Somebody did this deliberately."
