Season 1, Episode 8:
FANthrax
Part 8 of 10
“What
do you think? Should we split up? We can cover more ground that way,” Nick
asked, as they stood at the top of the arena, looking out.
“Nah,
I think we should stay together for this,” Julilly said briskly. “Two pairs of eyes are better than one. We can’t fuck around this time, Nick; we
gotta be on the ball. C’mon,” she
finished, starting down the aisle.
They
started at one side of the arena, looking in various hidden and unused spots;
nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They
carefully, but quickly made their way over to the other side of the arena,
still coming up short.
“Shit,
this is fuckin’ useless. There’s nothing
here,” Nick growled in frustration.
“There’s
gotta be something we’re missing. Something,” Julilly sighed.
“Hell,
he’s not gonna stick around here. I
mean, that’s a long shot.”
“I
know that, Nick, but maybe he left something behind, something we can use to…”
Just
then, Nick’s cell phone rang. Now
what? Fumbling around inside the bulky
suit, he flipped it open. “Carter.”
“Hey
Nick, Jay here. Look, we just got
reports of some suspicious activity taking place at
Nick
frowned, looking over at Julilly. “The
airport? But it’s supposed to be
closed.”
“Exactly. Something’s going on; we need you and Julilly
to head over there and fast.”
“Shit,
SHIT!” Nick moaned, flipping the phone closed.
“C’mon, we’ve got to head over to the City Centre airport.”
“Huh? Airport?
But why? It’s supposed to be…”
“I
know, damn it, but there’s something going on over there; that was AJ. We need to check it out. It‘s him; it‘s gotta be.”
Turning,
they made their way up and quickly out of the arena.
± ± ±
Julilly
had barely brought the Hummer to a stop before Nick jumped out and ran up to
the entrance of the
“Let
me know before you brake next time, Carter, jeez! What?
What is it? What do you see?” she
asked, trying to look around him.
“Nothing.”
She
frowned. “Nothing?”
“Yeah,
it’s quiet… a little too quiet.”
Julilly
rolled her eyes. “It’s evacuated. What
were you expecting, a marching band?”
Nick
glared at her before slowly making his way deeper into the building.
“This
place is huge. How are we supposed to find
anything?” Julilly groaned in frustration.
“Well,
he said there was some suspicious activity, so there has to be something
that…” He stopped, as they made their
way around the corner.
Several
of the chairs in the waiting areas of the concourse were on their sides and
thrown into the middle of the aisle. The
large, plate glass windows were shattered on the floor.
“What
in the hell happened here?” Julilly gasped.
Just
then, they heard a door slam, and they both took off at a run.
“Hurry,
he’s here, damn it!” Nick yelled.
They
rounded another corner in time to see a door slowly swinging shut. They hurried through the door and up several
flights of stairs.
“Through
there,” Nick panted, jerking the door open.
There
he was, and though his back was turned, there was something familiar about his
styled, dark hair and his Napoleon-esque stature.
“Stop,
stop, you asshole!” Nick screamed, running towards him, rushing ahead of
Julilly, pulling his gun and firing several rounds.
“Nick,
stop!”
Turning
around on the spot, Dr. Rough smirked.
“Aww. Looks like you found me.”
“You. I should have known you were behind this,”
Nick replied coldly. “You’re going
down,”
“Am
I?”
“Yes,
you are,” growled Nick. “Right… NOW!”
“Nick,
wait!” Julilly yelled, just as Nick made a flying leap, tackling Dr. Rough to
the ground.
“Don’t
move, you bastard!”
Dr.
Rough laughed. “I‘m so scared…”
“Shut
up! Shut the hell up!”
“How
have things been at work, huh? Busy, busy,
I hear, what with all the recent rash of people getting sick. It‘s so tragic. Your hands must be full with
all those investigations. Probably have
to have people from different branches of… oh, I don’t know, the government,
maybe, to help you?”
Nick
stilled.
Dr.
Rough smiled suddenly. “How’s your
friend there? That CIA agent? He dead yet?”
Nick
blinked. How did he know?
It
was just the opening Dr. Rough needed, and, before Nick knew it, his head
whipped to the side from a weak, but effective blow. Nick hadn’t been expecting it, and he toppled
back.
Dr.
Rough scrambled away, standing up and brushing his suit off.
“It’s
really a shame, isn’t it? He’s going to
die, and for such a noble cause… Oh
well, can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, right, my friend?” Dr.
Rough sneered.
“Don’t
move, you bastard. Hands up!” Julilly
demanded coldly.
Howie
threw her an unimpressed look, before turning and hurrying through a door that
led out onto the roof, where there was a helicopter pad. There, waiting, its engine running, rotors
already in motion, was the FANS helicopter, the very same one that had rescued
them from the pirate ship.
“No!”
Nick screamed, getting to his feet, running after him.
Dr.
Rough hurried into the helicopter, and it started to take off.
“That
was a fuckin’ cheap shot, you asshole!!
Way to get me next time, huh? Why
are you running?!” Nick lifted his gun,
emptying it on the helicopter as it flew away.
Breathing
hard, he slowly lowered the gun, staring at the now clear sky. He’d gotten away; he couldn’t believe he’d
gotten away. Again.
“C’mon,
Nick, we’ve gotta get back,” Julilly pressed, tugging on his arm.
Nick
reluctantly turned and started off with her.
This wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
± ± ±
Her
feet sounded louder than they were, drums in her head as she walked down the
halls towards Brian’s room. The Hazmat
suit she wore was far from comfortable, but she couldn’t care less. After Nick’s phone call, Opal had called in
every favor she could, all to get there, to the Canadian hospital her boyfriend
was in, as soon as possible. Thanks to a
mutual friend of both hers and Brian’s in the Air Force, she’d gotten there
within mere hours so she could be there for the one she loved.
She
didn’t care about the assignment she’d been given the other day, after Brian
had left for
“Excuse
me, Miss, you can’t go down that hallway; it’s on complete quarantine and
lockdown.”
“I
know, I’m here to see someone who’d been brought in.”
“Ma’am,
you can’t do that-” one of the doctors said, as he attempted to block her.
She
flashed her badge. “YES, I can, as a
matter of fact.” Pushing by him, she
went to the room the help desk downstairs had sent her to. There, lying on the bed, was Brian.
He
seemed smaller, and her heart ached at the sight. A small-framed man to begin with, he looked
to have shrunk in his battle with the disease.
He had a bag attached to the bed holding the violet urine; his skin was
pale and pocked with pustules; his breathing sounded labored and
staggered. There beside him, checking
his vitals, was one Opal knew to be from HimTak. She hadn’t met her before, but there was something
in the way she worked, just slightly outside of the norm, that signaled that.
The
other woman glanced over, her face looking tired and worn, some of her vibrant
red hair falling over her eyes underneath the suit. “Opal?”
Opal
nodded. “Nick called, and-“
The
young doctor nodded. “I’m Red
Jewel. He told me you were coming. He and another agent went to try and find the
man behind this.”
“How
is he?”
“The
truth?”
“Please.”
The
other woman sighed as she put her clipboard aside. Opal could see the frustration in her eyes at
the situation. A feeling that reflected Opal’s
rested in her eyes: hopelessness. Brian had told her a lot about the agency his
cousin ran. She was one of the best
doctors around, and if she was getting frustrated…
“He’s
not good. He got the direct strain,
right in the bloodstream. We think it
happened when he was handling evidence, and a pin poked through his gloves and
infected him. That seems to be the
source. Because he got it directly,
rather than through the air, it’s striking faster and fiercer, giving us less
time to give him a cure.”
“There
is a cure, right?”
“There
will be.”
Ashavari
gritted her teeth. She felt so helpless,
so weak, and so worthless. Able to do
nothing, only watch, as her lover died slowly and painfully before her eyes. Brian lay there, his eyes shut tight, as he
tossed in restless sleep. “So what have
you been doing for him?” she questioned, fighting hard to keep the irritation
free from her voice. It wasn’t Red’s
fault; somewhere deep down, she knew that.
“As
much as I can. His body can’t fight the
disease, we’re fighting to find a cure, and we have agents trying to find the
source. All I can do is slow it down,
give him an extra day. Maybe two, if
we’re lucky. That sets him at about
three days, tops.” She sighed, seeing
the look on Opal’s face. It was a look
of pure torture, fueling the guilt that welled up within Red.
“You
wanted honesty…” She paced, feeling like
she was Nick at that moment: fidgety,
anxious, with a need to move constantly right then.
The
other woman merely nodded, fighting desperately to contain herself, as her
lover withered and came closer and closer to succumbing to death, while she
could do nothing but watch. Red took
that as her cue to leave, and left the room, feeling even more desperate to
find the cure Brian so needed.
Remaining
within the room, Ashavari sat next to Brian’s bed, taking his hand in her
own. When she thought of her future, as
she often did, she could only see Brian.
If she thought of marriage, he instantly came to mind. When she pictured children, she saw Brian at
her side. He simply couldn’t die. Not yet.
Not now. It was too soon, too
sudden, and too unfair. Now that she was
alone, she felt the tears burn against the jade eyes Brian loved. Despite her protests, one rebelled and slid
down her cheek, trailing along her face in silent victory.
“Ashie…” A faint murmur, but her keen ears caught it
instantly.
“Brian? Brian… I’m here.”
He
tossed in his bed restlessly, beads of sweat gathering upon his brow and
glittering against his skin like diamonds.
His eyes shut tight as he fought something only he seemed to see within
his mind. Delirium.
“Ashie…
Ashavari… no… I need you…”
She
stroked his face, bringing a damp washcloth to his forehead to try and cool him
down. The touch of his skin was alarmingly
warm against her own. “Bri, I’m here,
baby. I’m not going to leave you. I’m here.”
“Don’t
leave me…”
“I’ll
never leave you.”
I’ll always be here for you,
Bri.
± ± ±
“Hey,
wait!” Julilly stopped suddenly,
thrusting her arm out and catching him hard in the chest.
Nick
coughed and sputtered exaggeratedly.
“Jeez – what was that for?” he complained, rubbing his chest.
A
smile was slowly twisting one corner of the Canadian agent’s mouth. “Do you see what I see?”
Nick
followed her gaze to the ground, where a gray helicopter was grounded near a
small hangar. Recognizing the symbol
emblazoned on its cabin – a white star in a circle of navy blue, flanked by red
and white stripes – he said, “Hey… that’s a U.S. Air Force chopper.”
“Yes. And we’re gonna chopper-jack it.”
Nick
barely caught the expression of pure, wild glee on Julilly’s face, before she
turned and ducked back through the door, leaving him alone on the rooftop. “Julilly – wait!” he cried exasperatedly,
catching the door before it shut. He ran
after her down the stairs, shouting, “You can’t be serious! We can’t steal an Air Force helicopter!”
“I
thought you hated the
“I do!”
Nick panted, bursting into the main terminal behind her. “But who’s going to fly it?”
“I
am,” Julilly replied matter-of-factly.
“I used to be in the Air Force.
Canadian, of course. But I don’t
think the Yanks will mind me borrowing one of their choppers, not if it helps
us catch a terrorist, do you?”
Nick
could only offer a weak, “Uh…” He was
already beginning to feel queasy at the idea of getting in that helicopter, a
feeling that had nothing to do with guilt over the theft of military property.
Julilly
rolled her eyes at his hesitance. “Oh,
please. You guys are all about the war
against terror. Well, now you’ve got
yourself an ally – so let’s go fight the bad guy.”
Before
he could protest, she grabbed his arm and was hauling him after her through the
terminal, until they found an exit onto the tarmac. There was no one outside, no one to stop
them; after all, air traffic was supposed to be suspended. What the Air Force helicopter was doing there
was a mystery to Nick, but the pilot was nowhere in sight, so it was all too
easy for Julilly to climb into the cockpit.
“I
can’t believe I’m doing this,” Nick grumbled as he followed her.
“What’s
the point of working for an independent organization like HimTak if you’re
afraid of breaking the law once in awhile to complete a mission?” scoffed
Julilly, firing up the chopper’s ignition.
Nick’s
heart began to race as he felt the engine rumble to life beneath his seat. “It’s not that!” he shouted above the
roar. “I’m afraid of flying!”
“What??”
Julilly shouted back, shaking her head and gesturing to her ears. She reached for a pair of headsets hanging in
front of them and handed him one. The
headset muffled the noise of the helicopter and allowed him to hear Julilly’s
voice in his ears. “There, that’s
better. Now let’s go take this bastard
down before he gets too far out of range.”
There
was no chance to repeat his reservations about flying. Julilly had already reached for the throttle,
and Nick’s stomach bottomed out as the helicopter rose from the ground with an
unsteady jerk.
“Sorry
about that,” Julilly said, with an unapologetic laugh. “It’s been a few years.”
White-faced,
Nick watched the grounded airplanes grow smaller and smaller out his window, as
the chopper gained altitude. He tried
shutting his eyes, but that made it worse; when Julilly shifted direction in
midair, the sensation was dizzying without being able to see where they were
going. When his eyes flashed open again,
they took in only sky and clouds. He
couldn’t see anything on the ground without leaning far over in his seat – a
mistake, he discovered, as soon as he tried it.
He’d never been a fan of airplanes, taking them only when necessary, but
now he knew they didn’t even compare to the terror of helicopters.
He
felt like he was on some hellish rollercoaster, as the chopper rose, dipped,
and weaved abruptly under Julilly’s control.
Coasters were fun, though, and mostly safe. This was neither. As much as he hated the idea of Dr. Rough
escaping again, he prayed Julilly would give up and take them back to the
ground soon.
No
such luck – for Nick, anyway. It seemed
luck was on Julilly’s side, this time, for after just a few minutes of pushing
the helicopter to its maximum speed, she shouted a triumphant, “A-ha! You see that?
At about…
Nick
followed her finger, out the windshield, straight ahead and slightly to the
right. There was a black speck in the
distance, too far ahead to be identifiable, but with air traffic banned, could
it be anything but the FANS chopper? “I
see it,” he said weakly, suppressing a groan.
“Ha! We’re on his tail now. He’s not getting away this time.” She leaned forward over the controls, her
eyes glimmering dangerously. Nick wanted
to be excited, but could only feel nauseated, as the helicopter lurched in the
direction of the black speck.
They
were over water now, the water of what Nick assumed to be
“Well,
we’re in US airspace now,” said Julilly after a few minutes, when they were
back over land. “I wonder if they’ve
realized we’ve kidnapped their helicopter yet.
I’d radio them if I knew the right frequency, but they might not be so
helpful, given the circumstances…”
“Let’s
just take him down and get back to the ground,” Nick pleaded.
“You
got it.”
They
seemed to be getting closer, at least.
The speck took on the distinct shape of a helicopter, and before long,
they were close enough to catch a glimpse of the infamous initials stenciled on
the side, as the helicopter veered to the left.
“You
think he knows we’re on his tail?” Nick wondered.
“Oh,
he knows. Notice he’s staying over
populated areas. That must be
“And
will we?”
Julilly
shrugged. “Not if we don’t have to. I’ll try to force him west, toward
The
waters of
“Arming
the guns,” said Julilly, once they were over the water. “Fire one!”
She shot off a round from the helicopter’s weapons, but ahead of them,
the FANS chopper swerved out of the way at the last minute. “Hang on… we’ll get him,” growled Julilly in
determination. “Fire two!” Another round.
“Damn
it,” Nick swore in dismay. The FANS
chopper was still in the air.
“Come
on, you bastard… fire three!”
The
other helicopter had rotated suddenly in midair, as if to turn on them. But this time, it took a hit on the side and started
to spin out of control, plummeting in a death spiral. Julilly began to descend after it, intent on
capturing Dr. Rough from the water, but halfway down, the FANS chopper suddenly
exploded.
“Pull
up!” shouted Nick, as a ball of flames swelled upward. Julilly yanked on the stick, and Nick was
thrown back against his seat, as the helicopter was forced to climb again
sharply.
Once
they were leveled out, safely above the inferno below, Nick gazed
downward. Through the black smoke, he
could make out the burning wreckage: the
helicopter’s mangled fuselage half sunk in the lake, the rest floating in
pieces all around it in the water, still on fire.
“What
made it explode before it crashed?” wondered Nick.
“Must
have hit the fuel tank,” Julilly guessed.
“You think there’s any way he could have survived that?”
His
eyes still on the wreckage, Nick slowly shook his head. “It’s blown apart. There’s no way... If he didn’t die in the blast, he would have
been thrown out of the cockpit; the fall alone would have killed him.” He should have felt relieved, even delighted,
over his realization, but he didn’t. He
felt strangely let down. He’d wanted to
catch Dr. Rough himself and make him pay for his crimes, not kill him instantly
in a helicopter crash.
“Maybe
we should go down anyway,” he added suddenly, “and check.” And
then I can find someone to drive me back to Toronto, he thought, vowing he
would never set foot in this helicopter – or any other – again.
“That’s
probably a good idea,” Julilly agreed, but just as she started to descend
again, the radio crackled to life.
“This
is Lieutenant Gooding, U.S. Air Force.
Identify yourself at once. Over.”
Julilly
exchanged a look with Nick, but shrugged and responded, “Copy that. This is Agent Kirk of the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service, formerly of the Royal Canadian Air Force. My apologies for borrowing your helicopter
without permission, but you’ll be glad to know that, with its help, I was able
to bring down the man responsible for the act of bioterrorism on
“Say
again, Agent Kirk? Over.”
“I
said, the terrorist is down, crashed over
“Copy. Give me your coordinates, and I’ll radio for
backup. Report back to the airport
immediately. Over.”
“Roger
that. On our way,” replied Julilly and
gave him the coordinates for their location.
“So
we’re leaving? Just like that?” asked
Nick, as the helicopter rose higher into the air.
Julilly
shrugged. “Like I said, it’s not really
my turf.”
“Well,
it’s mine!”
“You’re
not
“No,
but I’m at liberty to investigate there if I want to!” Nick protested.
“Nick
– chill out,” said Julilly, smirking at him.
“You said it yourself – there’s no way he could have survived that. Leave it someone else to worry about the
clean-up. There’s nothing to find that
would interest us, not now, anyway.
Let’s get this baby back where it belongs and see how they’re doing with
that cure. It’s just too bad we couldn’t
interrogate the bastard.”
Nick
wasn’t appeased, but he was eager to be back on the ground, so he didn’t argue
when Julilly turned the chopper northward again. He did, however, frown in confusion when she
bypassed the airport. “Uh, weren’t we
supposed to land back there?” he asked.
“Don’t
worry, I’ll go back after I drop you off,” replied Julilly calmly.
“Drop
me off? Where?”
“The
hospital – where else? So you can check
on the situation there,” said Julilly.
“Plus, then no one has to know you were involved in the hijacking of
Nick
shot her a wicked grin, forgetting, for the first time, that he was in the air
and terrified. “Blame
Julilly
rolled her eyes. “Please stop.”
“Blame
Momentarily
distracted, Nick didn’t realize they were descending upon the helipad on the
roof of the hospital until the helicopter touched ground with a rather large –
perhaps unnecessarily, on-purposely large – bump. Nick’s heart leapt into his throat, pulsing
crazily, until he realized he was safe at last.
He let out his breath in a rush and reached for the door handle.
Julilly
said something, perhaps a goodbye, but her words were lost to the roar of the
engine as Nick tore off his headset and opened his door. He jumped down, doubling over to avoid the
rotors as he scrambled out of the helicopter’s shadow. He nearly collided with a short, balding man
in blue scrubs, who was standing near a stretcher and looking confused.
“Where’s
the life flight?” the squat doctor shouted above the noise.
“She’ll
get out of your way!” Nick shouted back.
Turning, he flashed Julilly the thumbs up. She gave the thumbs up back and reached for
the controls within the cockpit.
As
the helicopter started to rise from the ground, the doctor reached up to
wave. Nick saw what was about to happen
a split second before it did, but there was no time to push the other man out
of the way. The rotor of the helicopter
caught his raised arm and severed it swiftly in a shower of blood. Nick stared in horror as the mangled arm was
thrown halfway across the roof, and the doctor collapsed in the pool of blood
formed by his spurting stump.
“Oh
shit! Sorry!” cried Nick, as the rest of
the doctor’s team sprung to action around him.
“Uh… blame the Canadian!”
± ± ±