The Cure

TONY WAS STARTING TO THINK THE chase was over before it even had a chance to begin. He was showing the picture to as many people as he could, but they were getting no bites. The Special Agent was starting to believe Xavier had already left the building, but he was still going to keep looking as he moved on to the fourth floor. Some of the staff on forth couldn’t commit to the entire face, but someone informed him that earlier in the day that a man and a woman came into the restricted quarantined area with the Chief of Staff and hadn’t come back out yet. That was just the break Tony had been looking for as he started to look around the fourth floor for this quarantined area, which was where the Senator was currently being treated for his mysterious illness. He walked up to the nurse’s station, and she didn’t look very pleased as she pointed to her bio-suit.

“Where the hell is your bio-suit?” she coldly asked him.

“Sorry, I’ll be gone soon,” Tony replied, “Have you seen this man? I was told he might have come up here with a woman and the Chief of Staff.”

Tony flashed the photo for her, and she leaned over to see it through her suit.

“I’m not sure,” the nurse honestly answered, “But the man and woman you’re referring to are right over there. I think they’re leaving.”

The nurse pointed to two people in bio-suits who happened to be exiting the floor through the staircase.

Tony turned to see one man in a bio-suit just about to exit to the staircase, and impulse took over. He immediate drew his weapon and pointed it at the man in the suit.

“Federal Agent!” Tony shouted as loudly as he could, “Put your hands on your head!”

He watched as the man ignored his request and bolted into the staircase and disappeared. Tony ran down the hallway and opened the staircase door. He immediately grabbed his cell and paged Bruce’s number.

“I got two people in bio-suits running down the north-east staircase!” He called out on the radio, “I am in pursuit; I think they’re running for the garage!”

“I’m on my way,” Bruce immediately replied.

Tony took out an earpiece and used it to connect to his cell phone and dialed Wilson back in Virginia.

“Wilson,” Tony started, “I’m in pursuit of someone who might be Carter. Give me a map of the hospital and possible exits he might use to avoid checkpoints.”

“I’ve been looking into that already D,” Wilson replied, as he anticipated it, “I haven’t come up with anything just yet, but I’m looking into it. Just be careful, there are a lot of people still in there… a lot of potential hostages.”

“Thanks, like I needed to be reminded of that.” Tony huffed as he cautiously tried to go down the stairs as quickly as he could. He stopped for a moment and took a second to occasionally glance down the center of the stairwell, but it was empty. There was no way they could have gotten to the bottom already.

“Wilson!” Tony called out, “Let Bruce know that they might have bailed from the stairwell early. They could be on the second or first floor. We’re looking for two people in bio-suits. They shouldn’t be too hard to find on those floors.”

“Got it Tony,” Wilson acknowledged, “Passing that onto Bruce.”

Tony had concluded that if they had bailed out on the third floor, he would have heard the door slam. He moved on to the second floor and opened the door and cautiously came out with his weapon drew halfway up. There was just normal staff walking around and no signs of bio-suits. He started to job around the floor looking for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing was sticking out. He then spotting someone rolling a massive laundry cart and ran over to check it out. His instincts paid off as he found the two bio-suits in the middle of the pile.

“Son of a bitch!” Tony cursed and he slammed the suits back into the bin.

“What’s up, Tony?” Wilson asked, as he heard him cuss out.

“They dumped the suits.” Tony answered, “We’re now looking for two plain clothed people. One man and one woman, and we have no idea what they’re wearing. Could be medical uniforms, could be standard casual wear. Could be friggin’ clown suits for I all know.”

Tony spotted an Agent walking around and waved him over, and he passed over one of Xavier’s photos.

“They dumped the bio-suits,” Tony informed the agent, “We’re looking for this man now in plain clothes or possibly dressed as one of the medical staff. Get moving!”

The agent took the photo and ran with it, Tony kept looking around the floor not sure what he was looking for anymore.

“Wilson, I need you to do something for me.” Tony called out.

“Name it, boss,” Wilson replied.

“Contact the guard at the gates and download the list of people who have checked in today,” Tony requested, “I want to know who came in to see the Chief of Staff. One of the nurses said that two people had been walking around with him. I think they were here to see him.”

“Alright, I’ll do it now.” Wilson said, as he went back to work.

Tony kept pacing around but had his weapon by his side rather than keeping it raised so he wouldn’t frighten the workers who were just trying to do their job. There was nothing catching his eye and it was beginning to upset him. Losing him now after being this close was only going to upset him,

“Tell me you have something, Wilson!” Tony called out, hoping for something.

“I think so,” Wilson replied, “Over several hours ago a Dr. June Zaun came through the gates claiming to be there to see the Chief of Staff, who personally authorized her visit. She was there with someone who claimed to be with the CDC. Guards said their ID’s checked out.”

“Of course they did,” Tony said, “What other information can you give me about this Dr. Zaun?”

“She doesn’t work in Florida,” Wilson supplied, “She was a surgeon with Atlanta General before she was forced to step down.”

“Why did she leave?” Tony asked.

“Medical reasons,” Wilson answered, “She became infected with HIV.”

“Did you say Atlanta, Wilson?” Tony said, thinking out loud.

“I sure did, Tony.” Wilson confirmed.

“I’ve got to go; I’ll be in touch,” Tony tapped a button on his ear and redialed his phone to contact Bruce. “Give me your position.”

“I’m in first floor reception,” Bruce replied, “I thought I had something, but it didn’t pan out. Where are you?”

“I’m back on the staircase, heading for the parking garage,

Tony informed his partner, “Keep searching the first floor. Send some Secret Service down here to back me up.”

“Alright,” Bruce acknowledged, “I’ll send down the first one I see.”

Tony climbed down the last staircase and finally came out the door to the parking garage. Coming down through the staircase meant that he was a far distance from the elevators, about a hundred feet away from them so he lowered the risk of bumping into anyone. He slowly crept towards the area where the elevators were and remembered what Bruce had told him when they first entered the building. There was a car with Georgia plates that had been occupying a handicap spot without any tags or stickers. But that was strategically placed right beside the elevators, which is the best place to park your car if you need to make a quick getaway. Dr. Zaun came from Atlanta, and it was the first time Tony had seen Georgia plates in a while, which led Tony to conclude this was Dr. Zaun’s car. He took a position behind the car, which gave him an excellent view of both the elevators and the staircase. If the two people he was chasing did give him the slip through the second or first floor, they would eventually have to come down here to get their car if this was going to be their preferred method of escape. This would give Tony the jump on them no matter which way they tried to get to their car. He waited there for only a short time and was surprised to see it was the elevators that were the eventual method to get back down to the garage. He watched as the two of them walked out of the elevator, the woman came out first and the man followed behind her. Tony could see the man was armed with a pistol and once they were halfway to the car, he stood up.

“Both of you, hands on your heads!” Tony called out as he pointed the weapon at Xavier. “This is your only warning, Carter! Drop the gun! Now!”

Xavier paused and looked at him for a moment.

“Alright,” Xavier responded as he slowly put the gun down on the ground.

“Kick if over to me,” Tony ordered, “And keep your hands over your head!”

Carter did as he was told and softly kicked the gun halfway to Tony and proceeded to raise his hands.

After Xavier had surrendered his gun, this is when June spoke up.

“Oh, my gaud,” She called out “Thank you! This man has holding me captive for over a week!”

Tony didn’t want to be distracted and preferred to keep his eyes on the prize. He stepped out from behind the car and got closer to Xavier.

“Everything is going to be all right Miss,” he called out to the hostage, “Just get behind me and this will be all over very soon.”

June did as she was ordered and got behind Tony. He didn’t watch her beyond that as Tony kept his eyes on Xavier to make sure he didn’t make any sudden moves. That turned out to be Tony’s biggest mistake. Before he could make his move to cuff his target, Tony felt an immense stinging pain in the center of his back. That agonizing pain was the last thing he felt before he passed out.