Chapter 2: a not so normal morning
When Janet Fraiser arrived at work, approximately one hour after sending her daughter to school, she was delighted to see that the emerging panic had not jet found its way into the Air Force Academy Hospital. Both, military and civilian personnel, were used to extraordinary and rather threatening situations. More important, they were used to work calmly and professionally through a crisis, without giving away into fear or helplessness. If you once saw the results of bullets boring its way into the body of a screaming and jerking human or the traumatizing outcome that war had on once proud soldiers, now reduced to sobbing men, you had no other choice than to develop a high tolerance to shocking pictures.
So the calm and practiced professionalism her team displayed when a national guard unit came in with two injured team members was no wonder, but a result of a highly trained medical staff working almost perfectly together. Hand in hand they tried to save the two men's lives.
Specialist Miller had an ugly looking shot wound on his shoulder. Fortunately, his attacker must have been a rather bad shot. Although the torn flesh looked ragged, her nearer inspection showed that it was just a surficial trauma. Janet ably cut away the destroyed flesh, cleaned the wound and attended it with a soothing ointment. This would really hurt a few days, but not leave more back than a scar.
Private first class Monroe on the other hand, didn't get away that lucky. His body suffered from three wounds and his bloodied uniform was a good indicator on how much blood was already lost.
It was still unclear how and especially who hat attacked them. Apparently someone had ran amok and shot them from a hideout, while they were carrying out their order to close off a neighborhood.
But his was not her business right now, this man needed emergency surgery.
Clad in blue surgical gowns and a sharp scalpel in hand, Fraiser cut through Monroe's skin to expose the inner organs, where she expected the most severe traumata's. Her worst fear seemed confirmed.
Monroe' abdomen was filled with blood, making it almost impossible to locate the origin of the blood flow. The floor was soon covered in bloodied towels and gauze as the mans chance of recovery slowly turned from bad to worse. He was loosing so much blood, too much. Almost two hours later Janet sighed sadly as she peeled of the disposal gloves. She could see sergeant Daniels, the units leader, sitting forlornly on his examination bed in the emergency room, awaiting news on his team members and friends.
She hated these talks. Delivering the bad news of someone's death was part of being a doctor and since working for the air force she had her fair share of seeing people die under her hands, but it never got easier. She never got used to it, never got accustomed to loosing good men and women. Bracing herself for sergeant Daniels grief and self blame, she quickly changed into clean scrubs. He didn't need to see his friends blood, a sign of imminent death. Upon hearing her approaching steps his head shot up with an expectant look. He himself had gotten away with nothing more than a few scratches and a sprained ankle. His facial muscles worked hard trying to maintain a stoic appearance while he came to terms with sitting here almost unharmed, when in the next room his friend was loosing the fight against death.
"I'll stay with him." He said and slowly walked to Monroe's bedside, shaky steps betraying his composed appearing body language.
Even as the mood in the emergency room changed to a somewhat more calm atmosphere, nurses and other medical staff still kept a concerned eye on private first class Monroe an his CO, awaiting the inescapable.
The shrill sound of the phone startled everyone mistaking it for the flat beep of the heart rate monitor. But it was just Harriman, asking Janet to General Hammonds office immediately.
Thinking that this was about the health status of the national guard unit, Janet quickly changed into her uniform and covered the way to the head physicians office.
The General waved her in instantly, while he seemed to be in a deep discussion with two men in black suits sitting in the visitor chairs. That sort of black suit, that screamed government.
She announced her presence with a loud harrumph, causing the two black clad men to turn their heads. For a moment no one moved, then the older one gave his colleague a pat on his shoulder. His answer was to roll his eyes scowling, but he still cleared his chair for her and moved to lean irritated on the closed door, casually locking everyone else outside the office out.
Janet pretended not to be confused by the presence of the unknown men and instead concentrated on the general.
"You wanted to see me, General Hammond."
"That's right, Major. How are you newest patients?" he answered immediately, also ignoring the two men as if they were rude intruders in his territory.
"Specialist Millers injury's are superficial. He should be fit for light duty in about a week. Private First Class Monroe though…" she sighed sadly "…I'm afraid we have to prepare for the worst."
"The rest of the team?" Hammonds voice couldn't conceal his shock at losing a man, although he straightened up in his chair to his full height, as if not to appear weak in the eyes of the other two men.
"Sergeant Daniels and private Tyler are both well…physically speaking. How well they are taking the outcome of their mission otherwise is still unclear. I would recommend a meeting with Dr. MacKenzie for both of them." She completed her report and observed her CO intently.
If general Hammond was anything, than protective and caring toward all officers and soldiers coming through his hospitals doors needing medical help. He always took it to heard when one of them was hurt, or even worse, killed in the line of duty and he never ran away from personal condolences to those left behind. But as she stared at his petrified face, her gut feeling told her that there was more weighting down on his shoulders than those men's unsuccessful mission.
Her own attention now relocated back to the two unknown potential government men. One of them still blocking the door, while the man sitting beside her gave the general a hard stare, before his surprisingly shrill voice spoke to them.
"General Hammond, we don't have all day."
"Our arrival is expected in one hour." The guy from the door added harshly.
Janet found their burning gazes fixed on her and tried not to fidget under the uncomfortable attention.
"Sir, what's going on?" She turned, seeking help from the general. He was uncharacteristicly quiet as he handed her a plain white envelope.
"Sir?"
"These are your new orders. You are being transferred."
"What?!"
She tore the envelope open flabbergasted and stared at the printed words.
She was really being transferred. With immediate effect she was no longer head of the emergency room at the Air Force Academy Hospital, but part of an emergency team consisting of doctors and scientists under the direction of the department of health and human services. Which in reality was just a trivializing name for disease control. Again she skimmed trough her new orders. They had all necessary signatures and seals, making them cast iron proof. She had to leave, most likely with these two mysterious men.
"What the hell does that mean?"
The angry words were directed at the quiet man beside her, but it was his sidekick who answered.
"It means that you are an air force officer and that your country needs your work somewhere else. So pack up." he retorted with absolute inept casualness, given the situation.
"And I think that you are not an air force officer, hence you're not in the position to give me orders. Besides… I can't just leave my staff behind like that." The last part of her words came out like a plea and were directed at the general, but the regret in his face showed defeat.
"I'm sorry Janet, but my hands are tied. This is issued from the very top." He added with a glance at the phone on his desk.
Still not grasping what was going on, Janet responded with stubbornness, folding her arms in a gesture that clearly showed off how angry she was.
"Are there more time-killing questions to come, or are you actually willing to follow your orders now?" the man behind her rudely interrupted her staring holes into smooth wood of Hammonds desk.
"I'm not going anywhere, until someone tells me what is going on." She grumbled, set on not giving an inch till she had all the information she wanted.
In the meantime the silent guy beside her was kneading his hands undetermined before he addressed the resolute looking woman.
"I guess we may have approached this situation a bit impersonal. Doctor Fraiser, my name is Matt Phillips and this is my partner Bob Palmer. We work for the department of health and human services."
Behind them, Palmer was rolling his eyes. He was obviously not pleased with the slow pace his colleague had set.
Although Phillips words were spoken in a calm tone and the smile he gave her seemed genuine, Janet wasn't fooled. She knew what was hidden behind the harmless and bureaucratic sounding name of the department. It suddenly made sense as her confusion was chased away by a deep certainty of impending disaster.
"This is about the events of the last days? What makes the people go crazy…it's a virus? An epidemic?"
"To be honest with you, we don't know." As Phillips admitted this, the sweat that was glistering on his forehead revealed the shame he felt about his departments displayed incompetence.
"That's where you come into play, Doctor. Word has spread that you have quite the knack for extraordinary diseases." Palmer offered from his position on the door, clearly enjoying that Fraiser had to turn around to answer him.
"If this is your way of telling me that you need my help to do your job properly, you might want to act a little more civilized." Janet fired back, pleased with having returned some of that hostility to its source.
"What my partner tried to express, was that the department is loosing this fight. All of our experts are currently working on this, but up to now we still have nothing to show. You see, Doctor Fraiser, we have the highest respect for your work and hope that your knowledge about unknown disease patterns will be the key to cure this. So I ask you, in the name of the government, to accompany us."
Phillips almost begged while describing the current situation and for the first time since meeting the man, Janet noticed the distress in his eyes.
"We will force you, if we have to." Palmer added and made his words sound like a threat.
"Palmer!" Phillips tried to admonish his rude counterpart, but with his high-pitched voice it sounded more like a girls hiss and therefore lost all its authority.
Janet stopped the budding dispute between the two government men with a raised hand and gained herself a quiet moment to process what she just had learned. Someone with her experience and knowledge hadn't been fooled with the reassuring news coverage, even if she tried to maintain a calm demeanor for Cassies sake. But on the inside her instinct, trained through many days in military service, had already told her that a catastrophe was looming above them. These symptoms resembled nothing medical that she had ever heard of and even if she wasn't very religious or esoteric, she'd still relate the last days events rather with end-time scenarios than a disease that could be isolated and cured quickly. So maybe she should just advise Palmer an Phillips to find themselves some exorcist or sect leader promising a peacefully afterlife, while she packed a few essential things, got her daughter and than ran for life.
But this was just the frightened thought of a dedicated mother fearing for the life of her still young teenage daughter. As her military training kicked in, it shoved away all those angst and brought back the experienced air force officer that she was.
"Where are we going?"
Her new orders did not contain this information. While Janet would have preferred to work in her own familiar and well equipped lab, it was the normal procedure to gather the medial and scientific elite at some hermetically sealed place and bundle their knowledge against the forthcoming outbreak.
"We'll take you to Schriever Air Force Base. There you will board an osprey and flown out to Washington D.C. joining one of the departments emergency teams." Phillips explained willingly, while Janet pondered the existence of multiple emergency teams.
Several teams, most likely allocated all over the states. A protective measure if something went wrong. One infected individual could be enough to erase the whole team. But if you located a number of teams at different sites, the loss of one team could be absorbed through the others.
This course of action was another indicator on how serious this situation was and her maternal instinct returned.
"I won't go without my daughter. I want her to come with me."
While she got sympatric looks from Hammond and Phillips, the third man reacted with another cold remark.
"You still don't get it. This is a national emergency with potential to affect world population! We don't have time to chauffeur parents, uncles, daughters or beloved guinea pigs through the states. If you don't understand that…"
"Stop that! Palmer, wait outside." The older black clad man interrupted calm, but dominantly.
His younger colleague didn't look very pleased to be shut up so effectively. But he still left the office, albeit more than a little furious, if him slamming the door violently behind him was a clue for that.
"I apologize for my partners disrespectful behavior. We are all under a lot of stress. But I fear he is right. As a matter of fact, we really don't have the time or resources to pick up your daughter."
Sensing that the Major sitting beside him was getting ready to argue her case again, he quickly continued.
"But, I am sure General Hammond would be more than willing to help us out?" this was spoken out as half question, half command and the General instantly assured his help.
"Consider it done. I'll send out two airmen at once."
Hammond had already the telephone receiver in hand and gave orders to summon Cassandra Fraiser at her school loud enough for her mother to hear, when Phillips pulled out his business card.
"Please tell your men to contact me when Miss Fraiser arrives at Schriever. I will take her to her mother personally." He assured and sounded sincere.
"Since we sorted this problem out, are you ready to go doctor Fraiser?"
Phillips was already out of his seat and holding the door open of her.
Sensing that this goodbye might not include a see you again, Janet sought out her COs eyes and tried to silently convey the respect and friendship she felt for him.
"Godspeed, Major."
"Good luck, General. For you and your family."
George Hammond, the family man, looked sorrow-stricken for a moment at the mention of his family but then his composed alter ego, the seasoned General, slid back in place as he returned her rigid salute.