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Old 12-26-2017, 11:41 AM   #199
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Morning After

A noise approaching J Wing interrupts the reverie Taylor slipped into after finishing his report. It’s a couple of hours past dawn. The loud footsteps are two men, wearing uncomfortable, heavy boots and walking with excessive caution. They may be attempting tactical room clearing, but every movement is clumsy and very, very slow. Taylor recognises the way people move when they are wearing sealed protective clothing that must not snag on anything.

Almost automatically, Taylor checks for a weapon and an observation point with decent cover. As he realises quickly, he has no weapons more effective than his pencil or notebook and it is by no means certain he could get up from his sitting position against the cell block door leading to Sherilyn Bell’s area. Making a virtue of necessity, then, Taylor maintains his position and waits for the footsteps to finally reach the second level of J Wing. When he can hear them climbing the stairs, but before they are in line of sight with him, Taylor speaks out in a calm voice:

Taylor: “Y’all the rescue we done call in?”
Distorted voice below: “We’re police, yeah. Remain calm, keep your hands away from any weapons and don’t move. We’re gonna have to secure this building before we can get you medical attention.”
Taylor: “That’s jes’ fine. I ain’t armed an’ I wasn’t fixin’ to move anyhow.”

Still moving in a tactical formation, two men wearing Saranac hazmat suits emerge into view on the stairs. The one slightly forward is wielding a short-barrel carbine that Taylor identifies as an Mk 18, i.e. an M4A1 equipped with a 10.3-inch barrel QCBR upper, loaded with SOPMOD accessories, and the one walking behind and to the side has an M4 with an Aimpoint collimating sight and SureFire flashlight.

After scanning for other threats, entrances and hiding places, they move closer to Taylor, focusing on him. They do not point their weapons directly at Taylor, but close enough so that they could engage him quickly if he moved. Their hazmat suits hide their faces and the SCBA breathing devices they wear distort their voices, making them appear threatening and otherworldly. As far as Taylor can tell, however, they are making an effort to be friendly.

CPO Jansen: “I’m Chief Master-at-Arms Eric Jansen. Are you a part of the guard force here?”
Taylor: “Naw. Mackenzie Chase Taylor, consultant, Department of Homeland Security. Here with Col. Burr, an’ Agents Banks an’ O’Toole, along with a doc an’ a lawyer, to interview a patient by the name o’ Sherilyn Bell. Y’all oughta recognise us from yer mission brief an’ if not, yer bosses will know.”
CPO Jansen: “We recognise you, Mr. Taylor. The people you came with are already under medical care and seem to be doing fine. Before you can join them, though, I need you to tell me two things. One, are there any more hostiles nearby? And two, is… patient Bell located in this area?”
Taylor: “Ain’t no more human hostiles, Chief, but this place got rats contaminated with somethin’ experimental. Treat them lower levels an’ any place you see a rat as a biohazard an’ seal up the tunnels in the cellars as soon as there’s no more survivors down there.
Other hazmat-wearer: “Jesus [fornicating] [faeces]!”
Taylor: “Not my preferred phrasin’, but you done got the gist o’ it. Take it this serious an’ we might could avoid an outbreak o’ something real scary. Them rats seemed to be plannin’ an’ communicatin’, at least a whole lot more than is normal for ‘em.”
CPO Jansen: “I can see that you believe what you are saying and will inform my superiors of your warnings. Petty Officer Coleman here can radio it in right now.
[…]
Now, what about patient Bell? Is she in her cell?”
Taylor: “I reckon Ms. Bell is sleeping over yonder, yeah. She ain’t a patient here no more, though, an’ I figure with one thing an’ another, probably be best to wait a spell afore we wake her. She done had herself some bad shocks an’ she’s real cut up. Might could startle her, havin’ armed strangers in space suits a-walkin’ in on her in the mornin’.”
CPO Jansen: “With respect, Mr. Taylor, this is still the scene of an active shooter incident. We’ve got orders to secure this wing and our orders don’t account for Southern courtesies. I’m sorry, but you’re gonna have to stand aside while we do our jobs, Mr. Taylor.”
Taylor: “I’ma real sorry to make trouble for y’all, but I reckon I cain’t do that. Look here, I ain’t sayin’ no one kin go in this here door, jes’ askin’ y’all to let me go in first.”
PO Coleman: “Hell, no!”
CPO Jansen [with irritated glance at Coleman]: “You know we can’t do that, Mr. Taylor. No offence, but you’re both officially suspects until things clear up a little around here.”
Taylor: “I reckon y’all got yer orders, sure enough, but I got mine from Homeland Security jes’ like you did. An’ there wasn’t any mention of y’all. After we done evaluated Ms. Bell an’ sign her as a consultant, we were fixin’ to take her to our boss. An’ begging your pardon, neither one of y’all look much like Director Vani Gujarat to me. So I figure you’d best get her on a line afore we start fixin’ to have a dying duck fit.”
CPO Jansen: “The Incident Commander is a DHS bigshot called Curtis A. Ford. He’s in charge of Jewell Island now. If he has a boss, nobody introduced us to her and we don’t have any private line to call her on. I’m sorry, Mr. Taylor, but you’re going to have to accept that we’re in charge here for now. If we’re stepping on any toes, I’m sure we’ll hear about it from our bosses later, but for now, we’re the men with the guns securing a potentially dangerous location. Your director will understand that you had no choice but to obey.”
Taylor: “We all got us a choice, Chief. I figure you gotta make a choice here. Call your boss an’ see if you kin get Gujarat on the phone or decide by your lonesome to fly off your handle. An’ take the consequences.”
PO Coleman: “Oh, c’mon! There’s two of us, with carbines, and you’re alone and unarmed. And so hurt you can’t even get up! How could you stop us?!”

Taylor doesn’t reply, but stares steadily into the facemask of CPO Jansen. A very acute observer might note the muscles in his legs tensing and the fingers of his right hand adjusting the position of the pencil he was holding. Petty Officer Coleman is aiming his M4 carbine at Taylor’s head from a distance of about ten feet, but as the seconds pass, he looks increasingly uncomfortable.

CPO Jansen: “Stand down, Coleman. Mr. Taylor might not be able to stop us, but he could force us to shoot him. And I’d rather not do that if we can avoid it. Call HQ and see if we can get this Director Gujarat to contact us on a secure line.”
Taylor: “Appreciate it, Chief. Make sure they mind ‘bout the rats an’ see if there’s a mental health professional they can send to Ms. Bell. Psychological first aid trained, to debrief her an’ start her treatment. An’ make her female, if at all possible.”

After a short radio conversation, Coleman informs Jansen that they are instructed to hold tight until further orders. There is a palpable relief of tension and Taylor grins wryly.

Taylor: “I don’t suppose you boys would mind helping me up?”

The two hazmat-clad men haul Taylor up from his sitting position and support him. He indicates that he wishes to go to the bathroom and is able to stagger there by holding on to Coleman’s arm. With a comment to the effect that he’s hurt, not crippled, Taylor is allowed to enter a stall alone and takes care of bodily functions. When he emerges, he washes in the sink, against the objections of Jansen and Coleman.

CPO Jansen: “Water supply is contaminated. Use disinfectant and sanitary wipes. We can also take you to the decontamination showers right now, before getting you to a doctor.”
Taylor: “Thanks for the wipes, Chief, but I reckon I’ll jes’ wait for a shower ‘til I’ve talked to Gujarat.”

Walking back to the second level of J Wing, Taylor leans on CPO Jansen. PO Coleman is talking on the radio and stops at the base of the stairs. When he comes up, he’s accompanied by another man in a hazmat suit, holding a mobile phone. The phone is passed to CPO Jansen, who listens in silence for a while, says several “yes, sirs”, a couple of “aye, ayes” and then hands the phone to Taylor.

CPO Jansen: “It’s for you.”
Taylor: “Taylor here.”
Director Vani Gujarat: “You must think you’re a hell of a lot more charming than you are. I’ve spent the past hour listening to a litany of your failures, with an empathetic suggestion that we bury you somewhere unmarked. Shouldn’t you have something better to worry about than Ms. Bell’s beauty sleep and who is allowed to disturb it?”
Taylor: “Sorry, ma’am, but she done survived serious trauma. For her health an’ if’n you want her operational, she needs to see a familiar face when she wakes up an’ she needs a female trauma counsellor right now.”
Gujarat: “You’re lucky that we got an expert psychologist who agrees with you. Stand tight, Dr. Westman will be right with you.”
Taylor: “Thank you kindly, ma’am.”
__________________
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Last edited by Icelander; 01-24-2018 at 11:27 AM.
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