PANOPLY OF FEAR
Chapter 2
The Labs

"Animal studies can neither prove nor guarantee the safety of any drug. They are not a substitute for testing in humans".--J Jennings, Vice President Science & Technology of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.

Aaron had never been more relieved to get off the plane. There was an oppressive atmosphere on the jet today; he guessed it was just how he felt, as no one else seemed to be having trouble. Or it could be the case itself. Jareau had called ahead, and two SUV's were waiting for them. Dave and Aaron took one to visit the labs. Emily went with them, so she could interview Dr Page. The others were driven to the police HQ, where they were going to be provided with space to work.

Emily sat very quietly in the back of the car. She had a lot to say to Aaron. When he was so ill, and she thought she was going to lose him, she was ready to tell him how she felt. But now, back at work and everything 'normal' again, it seemed too hard. It could go two ways, and the 'utterly horrified' option would be too awful, and the possibility of that happening made her afraid to tell him. There was a time that she wouldn't have thought this could ever happen to her – JJ being closer to her type. But this man had turned her head, and she couldn't get him off her mind. She sat in the back of the car and looked at the back of his head, the thick dark hair that the sun caught through the window, rich and glossy, the way it grew into a point on the nape of his neck, and she longed to touch his hair, and kiss the back of his neck.

She blinked and looked out of the window. If she stared at him for much longer, she could do something that she would regret. There would be a chance soon to tell him. She promised herself that she would talk to him before they flew back to Quantico.

Hotch turned the car off the road and drove up a long curved drive edged with trees. Beyond the trees were landscaped gardens, just random enough to look natural, but not untidy. The drive opened up into a forecourt with a circular drive and a fountain in the centre. A huge house that had once been the home of an English lord who wanted to recreate a piece of his home land. It now housed the labs of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The work here was supposed to be secret. How the knowledge of what went on here got out, was one of the things that Aaron wanted to talk about. The best way to do that, he had learned, was to chat to the staff. That is what he and Dave were going to do.

He parked in front of the doors, and they got out of the car. Dave grinned at the facade of the house. He almost expected a line of servants to greet them, and a butler to conduct them to the drawing room.

There was a speaker next to the door and a pad of buttons numbered zero to nine, and one marked 'call'. This was the one that Aaron pressed.

"Please note, no one will be admitted without an appointment." The speaker said. "Please state your name and that of whom you are visiting."

"SSA Aaron Hotchner, FBI, with SSA David Rossi and SSA Emily Prentiss. We are here to see Doctor Jean Page."

There was no answer from the Speaker, but there was a buzz, a click, and the door in front of them swung inwards. Hotch pushed open the door and they entered.

The similarity between an English Stately Home ended at the door. Inside there were no original features left, just white paint and flat walls. The owner of the greeting voice was sitting on the other side of a desk made of chrome and highly polished wood. Hotch stepped forwards and extended a hand.

"Please wait in the waiting area to your right." The woman said. Hotch withdrew his hand self consciously and the three agents went and sat down on the rather uncomfortable chairs. They had clearly been chosen for their aesthetic appeal rather than comfort. Emily picked up a Tattler magazine, while Dave stood in front of a painting that had likely cost a lot more than it was worth. Yellow with an orange circle slightly off centre, and an orange rectangle near the bottom.

"Rothko." said Dave. "Original, I think."

Aaron looked across at the 'art'. The word he would have used to describe the yellow and orange painting would have been 'Rubbish'. How anyone could...

"You are right, Agent." A voice from behind him said. "It was painted in nineteen fifty three, before the Seagram fiasco."

Hotch stood up and turned to face the woman. "SSA Aaron Hotchner." He said, extending his hand again. "This is SSA Emily Prentiss, and the art expert is SSA David Rossi."

The woman smiled disarmingly, and shook Aaron's hand.

"Jean Page." She said, her smile disappearing as quickly as it came. She was a short plump woman, and had a 'mumsy' look about her; as if she should be in the kitchen baking cakes rather than studying disease epidemics

"I expect you have questions. Please follow me to my office."

The three agents followed the woman through the white corridors to a nice sized office at back of the house. Jean Page sat behind her old mahogany desk, incongruous in the white utilitarian room. Emily sat opposite her, Aaron and Dave remained standing.

"We would like to take a look at the labs and security systems please, while Agent Prentiss asks you a few questions." Aaron said. "We'd like to get a feel of the place."

"Profile my labs?" she said. Aaron wasn't sure if she was amused or annoyed. He hoped Emily would be better at profiling her than he was. He didn't know where to start with Dr. Page. "I'll call Edward, the head technician, to show you round."

She picked up the phone and called the lab. After she put the phone down, she crossed the room to a coffee filter machine.

"Coffee?" she asked. Dave and Aaron declined. They just wanted to get cracking and see the place from where Maureen had been taken. Emily said she would have coffee. Jean poured two cups of coffee, and added milk to both and sugar to her own.

"I know I shouldn't." She said. "But there's little enough to keep me smiling on this job." She handed Emily a cup. "Ah, Edward!" she said as a man of about thirty came into the office. He was an odd character, tall and thin with curly hair in a dark halo around this head. He was slightly stooped, and that made him look a bit dim. His face was intelligent though, and he shook their hands vigorously.

"Have you come to find out who took Maureen? "He asked. "She is a very valuable monkey. We will be glad when we have her back."

"We will certainly do our best." Hotch said shaking his hand. "Please would you show us the labs while our colleague chats with Doctor Page here?"

"Certainly." He said. "Please follow me." Dave and Aaron followed Edward out into the corridor to a lift.

The labs looked as if they'd never been worked in. Everything was shiny white and pristine. There were some technicians working at the benches, and there were a stack of cages at the far end of the room containing monkeys of various species.

"What species is Maureen?" asked Dave as they crossed the lab.

"Maureen is a spider monkey. We chose that species because they react in an almost identical way to humans to the Ebola virus." While he was talking he had put his fingers through the bars of the cage and was scratching a small monkey on the head. The creature was clearly enjoying it.

"And can you show us where Maureen was taken from?" Dave asked.

"Certainly." Edward said. "This way, through here."

Edward led the agents through a door at the back of the room, which he opened with a swipe card.

"Who else has one of these cards?" Aaron asked.

"Apart from me, only the directors." He said. "I keep the card with me all the time; no one could use it without my knowledge."

"May I?" Aaron said, and he put his hand out for the card. "Where do these come from?"

"A security firm makes them. Secur-a-Dor they are called. There's their logo." Edward pointed to a picture of a letter D with an S curled around it. Dave got out his note book and jotted down the company name and address. Aaron handed the card back.

"Thank you. Now may we see the crime scene please?"

They followed Edward through the door into a windowless room. Cages were along the right hand wall and a long bench was along the opposite side. Under the bench was a row of small fridges, and some drawers. Aaron bent down to open one, but it was locked.

"The drawers contain the drugs and vaccines we are trialing. We don't only work with Ebola. We do contract testing for pharmaceutical companies the world over. That is what finances our research projects."

"And where was Maureen?"

"Here." Edward pointed out an empty cage, the end of the middle row. The only empty one in fact.

Aaron nodded, and stood up straight. He noticed that Dave was starting to hurt.

"Thank you. I don't think we need keep you from your work any longer. Dave, do you have any questions?"

"Just one. Just to look at, did Maureen look any different from the other monkeys?"

"Well, I can tell them apart, but no. They all look pretty much the same."

Aaron could see where this was going.

"And are the cages labelled?" Dave said

"No. There is a grid on the computer showing what animal is in each cage. No-one can access the computer without one of these." Edward held up his swipe card.

"Thank you Edward." Aaron said. "Please would you direct us back to Doctor Page's office now?"

Going down in the lift, Dave leaned on the wall. "That was interesting." He said. He was trying not to show it, but he was clearly in pain.

"Hmm. I wonder if he realised that he was incriminating himself by saying no one could get in without his card." Aaron said. "Although if someone wanted to borrow it, i'm sure they'd find a way."

"And I doubt he'd announce it if he lost it anyway. He'd be in too much trouble. I'll follow up this Secur-a-Dor. Find out if they keep data on their clients."

They stepped out of the lift, and walked along the corridor to meet up with Emily.

-0-0-0-

"Don't go near her. If she bites you, you're as good as dead."

Chloe stared at the creature in the hutch. She was showing the woman her teeth; sharp and yellow.

"Don't worry! I won't be touching it." Chloe replied. "Ugly bastard, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But that 'ugly bastard' is going to free this wonderful country of poverty." He put his arm around his sister. "When Karl and Neil get here, we can start to really make plans. They should have crystallised out the virus by now. "

"Is there enough vaccine for all of us?"

"Yes, and one dose for the test. Neil says he can make some more if we need to. It takes a couple of days though. We also need to get our human test subject too." Edward said. "And I think I've found the perfect Guinea Pig."

"Hey that's great. Who is it? Where did you find him? At the welfare office like Karl suggested? How much money are we going to be paying him? I need to know for the budget."

"It's ok, Chlo!" he laughed at her excitement. "He didn't need much persuasion, and he's going to be doing it for nothing. He's glad to help us in our fight to clean up America! We don't need to budget for his fees. I'll be talking to him soon, giving him his final instructions." Edward said. "His name is Aaron Hotchner. He's a Fed."