The Soul Collectors by Chris Mooney

filters.’
    ‘Bio safety Level 4 rating. If they don’t have that equipment, they’re not to approach the bombsite under any circumstances. I have no idea what chemical agents were used. Your job is to limit the contamination as much as possible. After you call the fire departments, get on the horn to all the area hospitals. Have them seal the front and emergency-room doors to give their people time to access their hazmat gear. Tell them they’re looking for victims showing signs of nausea and difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth.’
    A pause, and then the woman said, ‘Are you saying there’s been some sort of biological attack?’
    ‘That’s exactly what I’m saying. The hospital staff will know what to do, they’ve all had training.’
    ‘Okay. Okay, I’ll call them right –’
    ‘Hold on. I also want you to make sure that you have people guarding the shooting victim – the guy the EMTs picked up from the front bushes of the Rizzo home. What’s his status?’
    ‘He’s gone,’ the dispatcher said.
    ‘He died?’
    ‘No. I mean, I don’t know. The ambulance never showed up at the hospital.’
    Darby glanced over her shoulders at the APC’s back doors, listening to the woman’s frantic tone. ‘Union Hospital called and told us. They’ve had no contact with the ambulance in question. We sent out a patrol but haven’t heard back from them. I also informed Senior Corporal Trent of the development and we haven’t heard from him either – we haven’t heard from anyone except residents calling about a fire and what they think was some sort of explosion.’
    ‘What local agency do you call in case of bio-attack?’
    ‘We, ah … I, I don’t know, we haven’t ever faced –’
    ‘Where’s your emergency protocol sheet?’
    Darby heard shuffling of papers, things being moved.
    ‘Where’s the nearest army base?’
    ‘We don’t have one stationed here any more,’ the dispatcher said.
    ‘What about the Pease base in Portsmouth? The air force still has someone stationed there – they could mobilize one of their Air Mobility Command Units to –’
    ‘They’ve been shut down. Budget cuts. And the hospitals in the area, I know for a fact they’re not equipped to deal with multiple contaminated patients. Maybe two or three at a time, that’s it, but if it’s something as large as you’re saying, we’ll –’
    ‘Boston University has a new Biological Agent Research Lab,’ Darby said. ‘They have people equipped to handle this, and you’ll need trained people here anyway to identify the type of gas or chemicals used. They’re in the South End, about an hour away. I’ll make the call and brief them. Call the fire department first, then the hospitals.’
    Darby hung up without giving her cell number – no need since her number had been captured on the dispatcher’s computer system.
    At the beginning of the year, BU had opened their brand-new 1.6 billion-dollar research lab, courtesy of funding from former president Bush’s Project BioShield, created to increase the US’s response to bio-terrorism. The BU lab had a Biosafety Level 4 rating, the highest security classification, as it dealt with the world’s most infectious and incurable pathogens. It also had, in conjunction with the army, a specialized Crisis Response Unit that could respond to any biological attack or catastrophe on the East Coast.
    The public didn’t know about the unit, but police and federal law enforcement agencies did. Every Boston cop and lab technician had been given the hotline number with strict orders to programme it into their cell phones. Her temporary suspension had forced her to turn over her badge and laminated ID card that gave her access to almost every area inside the Boston police department. She’d also had to turn over her beeper but not her work cell. She found the hotline number quickly.
    The man who answered the phone identified himself as Sergeant-Major Glick. Darby gave her name and