The Cure

CARTER AND SAM LEFT THE ROOM and quickly vacated the building as were given a good five-minute head start. After the five minutes expired Bruce then knocked over a table and a chair and made a racket for everyone in the hallway to hear. Then he screamed loudly, like someone had bitten him during a struggle. Seconds later Bruce grabbed his radio.

“Agent Deacon,” Bruce called out, “I’m in need of some assistance!”

Less than a minute later, Tony came busting through the door and he quickly scanned the room.

“Where’s Carter?” Tony asked.

“It wasn’t him,” Bruce answered, still breathing heavily.

“What the hell are you calling me for then?” Tony ordered.

“Right here,” Bruce said as he pointed to the man on the ground. “When I came into the room, this dude attacked me with this.”

Bruce held up his hand to reveal the goon’s gun to Tony. It was an automatic hand cannon with an illegal silencer attached to it.

“That’s not standard issue,” Tony observed, “So, not one of us.”

“He was hostile,” Bruce continued, “I managed to disarm this fool and knock him out. I looked around for the man we I thought was Carter, but he wasn’t anywhere to be found.”

“You let him get away?” Tony cried out, clearly frustrated.

“Hey,” Bruce chided back while gesturing to the man on the floor. “I was a little busy fighting this chump off. The dude is a lot stronger than he looks and he’s also not wearing a bio-suit.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Tony asked.

“It means he was treated before he came here.” Bruce answered. “I don’t think he’s medical staff, which would only mean one thing.”

Tony paused for a moment and then the answer came to him. “Good gaud, you think this man might have something to do with the outbreak?”

“It’s possible,” Bruce replied, “It appears he had prior knowledge, so we need to take him in. This is an issue of national security, and that takes priority over catching Carter, and you know it. I don’t think the director would approve of us leaving behind a suspected domestic terrorist just to chase Carter.”

Tony took a deep breath.

“You’re right,” Tony conceded, “Cuff the bastard, and I’ll get on the horn with the local feds come over and take him into custody.”

“Yes, Sir.” Bruce said, as he put the unconscious man in cuffs. “If you want to look around, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Bruce said as he watched Tony leave the room to make his call. As he stood there and waited, the woman in the hospital bed woke up and sat up in her bed.

“Are you all right, Ma’am?” Bruce asked, looking over at her.

“I’m doing very well, thank you.” the lady answered.

Bruce couldn’t help but chuckle. That woman was likely on death’s bed earlier in the day with one of the deadliest diseases in the world. Now she’s ready to do cartwheels and run a marathon.

“Just stay calm Ma’am,” Bruce said, gesturing to his badge. “I’m with the authorities. Just waiting for someone to come and take this punk away.”

Tony returned a few minutes later when a few men from the National Guard, who were all wearing masks to protect themselves from the contagion. The troops contacted the FBI agents from a local branch who were on the scene, and they responded immediately. Tony returned to the room with a few local agents, and they took the goon into custody.

The supervisor of the local agents was outside of the quarantine win as his local agents were walking out with the suspect.

“Special agent Deavon,” The supervisor called out, “This is a big break, thanks for your help.”

“Just doing our job,” Tony replied as he watched the local feds take the suspect away. “It’s not why we’re here, but I’m happy to help.”

“You’re not here for this?” The supervisor said, gesturing at the quarantine wing, “Is there something more important?”

“Not more important,” Tony confessed, “But I had a tip he would be coming here. I think we were just too late to get him, and this guy took up our time.”

“Sorry to hear about that,” The supervisor replied, “We could try to put up some roadblocks, give you some assistance?”

“I appreciate it,” Tony said, as it was a nice gesture, “But he’s probably already gone. Let’s concentrate on the mess here and we can always take care of him later.”

“Thanks,” the supervisor said, sighing deeply, “I could use all the hands I got to contain this thing, so it doesn’t get any worse.”

“My partner and I are here, so feel free to use us.” Tony informed him.

Bruce emerged from into the hallway and walked over to both men. He tried his best to look disappointed as he strolled over to Tony.

“I’m sorry, boss.” Bruce apologized, keeping up his charade.

“Don’t you dare,” the supervisor said, “You boys did great here, and I am personally going to make sure the director hears about it if this guy was involved in today’s outbreak.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Bruce replied.

“No, thank you gentlemen,” The supervisor said before walking off.

“He’s right.” Tony agreed, “Chances are we might get rewarded for possibly arresting one of the people responsible for this terrorist attack. We’re still going to get Carter. We just need to keep chasing him and not give up.”

“You know that’s not going to happen,” Bruce reminded him, “Quit is a word that doesn’t exist in my field of options. We’ll keep chasing till we get our man.”

“Good man,” Tony said, padding Bruce on the shoulder, “Let’s help them secure this place and see what we can do to help out.”

“I have a feeling Wilson is going to stop bugging you.” Bruce added as he pointed around the people who were awake and doing all right. “I think the good doctor was here and appears to have saved a lot of people from a biological attack.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tony walked up to one of the desks in the hallway where a few nurses were still in bio-suits and working on various things.

“Can I help you,” the nurse asked him.

“Yes,” Tony said, flashing his new credentials, “Can you give us an update on the infected patients?”

The nurse looked back up at Tony and Bruce and smiled.

“I’d call it nothing short of a miracle, Sir.” She answered.

“How so?” Tony asked.

“Before your guy came in here and treated them, we were all sure they’d all be dead by morning.”

“What do you mean by our guy?” Tony inquired.

“There was another special agent here,” the nurse asked, “Come to think of it, he had the same last name as you. Any relation?”

“It’s possible,” Tony said, not wanting to get into it.

“And how are the patients doing now?”

“They’re out of the woods and are recovering.” The nurse could barely contain herself, “What was that stuff the doctor he was with gave to our patients?”

“I’m not allowed to disclose that.” Tony quickly answered. “It’s classified.”

“Whatever it was,” the nurse replied. “It saved everyone here.”

“Thank you for your time.” Tony said, as he had clearly heard enough.

As Tony began to walk down the hallway out of the quarantined wing, he looked back at Bruce who was grinning.

“I hate it when Wilson gets something right!” Tony cussed as he knew exactly what Bruce was thinking.

“Does that change how we’re going to handle this case?” Bruce asked.

“No,” Tony answered, “Our job is just to bring him in, not solve his case. If he wants to fight the charges, you do it in court… not the streets.”

“I get it,” Bruce conceded, “But if Carter really did come here to save those people, it would confirm the story that Dr. Zaun told us.”

“It would appear so,” Tony said, walking down the hall with Bruce and looking through each window he passed by and at all the people who seemed to be making a remarkable recovery.”

“Wilson is not going to let it go,” Bruce added.

“I know where you’re getting with this,” Tony said, his frustrations clear. “I’ll tell you this much: I’m a lot less likely to gun this man down knowing what I know now. I’m determined to bring him in alive to help expose the truth if what he says is legit. Fair enough?”

“I think Wilson will appreciate it more than I would.” Bruce confessed.

“Well, make him think it was your idea.” Tony said with a grin. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

“Understood, boss.” Bruce replied, as he was alright with the idea.

Tony took a deep breath when he finally took his mask off after leaving the sealed off wing. After that he took out his cell phone and dialed.

“Wilson, it’s Tony.”

“What’s up D?” Wilson asked.

“Carter’s not here anymore, we missed him.” Tony answered.

“I’m getting chatter that you guys made an arrest none the less.” Wilson said as he kept typing away. “At least you caught one bad guy while you guys up there. So, not a complete loss, right D?”

“Not the man I wanted, but I won’t take a gift horse in the mouth.” Tony answered as he started to peel off the rest of his bio-suit. “We’re going to head back to headquarters after we finish up here. I want to speak to Dr. Zaun when I get back.”