An Apple for Zoë ~ The Forsaken by Thomas Amo

return. Looking at his watch, James became more and more annoyed that it was taking so long. He could feel valuable clues slipping away from him.  
    Finally, James could see Kirkland and Lee leading the Hazmat crew to the hotel's main entrance.  
    "Tom, this is Steve Vermillion. He's the crew leader for Hazmat. Steve, this is my partner, Inspector Thomas James." The two men shook hands quickly and Steve asked who had the keys. Grantham reached into his pocket and retrieved them.  
    "Here you go."
    "Thanks, we will let you know as soon as we can what we find," said Steve.  
    "Wait a second, hold it, Steve. You can't go in there without us. This entire hotel is a crime scene. You gotta take us with you," commanded James.
    "You're kidding, right?"
    "No, I'm not. I can't take the chance that you or your men could accidentally compromise my scene here. We not just dealing with one homicide, everyone in this lobby is a murder victim."
    Steve sighed and radioed for someone to bring up some more gas masks. "But you're taking full responsibility for everyone who's not Hazmat cleared right?" Steve stated. James nodded in agreement as another member of the Hazmat crew arrived with respirators for James, Kirkland and Grantham.  
    "Lee, I want you to wait here at the lobby doors, handle any questions that Steve's back-up crew have about the hotel. You're also going to be our outside liaison," instructed James. He then turned to the rest of the men and spoke, "Are we ready?"  
    "We're ready. Okay Mr. Grantham, I want you to follow Jake, my second in command here. He and I are going inside first. You, Mike and Tom will be right behind us. Since you know the layout of the hotel, you can guide us where we need to go and Tom can keep the integrity of his crime scene. Understood?" asked Steve.
    Grantham nodded nervously acknowledging he understood the Hazmat leader's instructions.
    "Okay, let's go," said Steve as he unlocked the lobby doors and the five men stepped inside. Steve and Jake slowly swept their Geiger counters from left to right, checking for any signs of radiation. Jake read the Geiger counter and gave Steve a puzzled look. Moving deeper into the lobby, he switched the counter off and removed a small handheld RAE gas detector. Sweeping it from side to side and up and down he stopped in the middle of the lobby.
    "Jake, are you getting the same readings I'm getting?"
    "Same thing, Steve."
    "What is it? What do you guys have?" asked James.
    Steve turned to James and pulled his respirator off. "Nothing Tom. The air is clean."
    "You're sure?"
    "You think I would take this thing off if I wasn't sure? Here look for yourself," said Steve as he showed James the clear reading from his portable RAE unit. James looked over at Jake and watched him pull off his mask as he nodded his agreement with Steve. James slowly removed his own gas mask, as did Kirkland and Grantham.  
    "I don't know what's scarier. The fact I'm standing in the middle of a room full of dead people. Or the fact for the first time in my life, I'm afraid to breath," said James.
    "Either way Tom, it doesn't change the fact, something in this building killed these people," said Steve.  
    So it has to be something else," said Kirkland.
    "You're right, Mike. So Steve, any chance we're gonna need to put these things back on again?"
    "No, if there was any type of danger. Our instruments would have picked up even the smallest particle. But we'll stay with you guys just the same."  
    James sighed and turned to Grantham. "Okay Dick, you're on, take us to room 1219." Grantham gave a look of hopelessness. "I was afraid you were going to say that. And I do wish you would stop calling me Dick," Grantham said as he slowly made his way to the main desk. Behind the counter, two of his staff were lying dead on the floor. Their eyes wide open and their hands clutched to their throats.  
    "Oh my God. What the hell happened here?" asked Grantham as he moved to his office door. "Hey one