The blond middle-aged man next to Zoe looked at Nolan, the only one who had contact with the corpse.
"Hey! I'm Dr. Morgan from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Are you sure you didn't accidentally co into contact with the deceased's saliva or other secretions?"
Nolan's face turned deathly pale, and the others' expressions also darkened.
"No, I'm sure. What's wrong? You scared ."
"I reminded him to wear rubber gloves when examining the body," Nyla Harper added from the side.
"Wait a minute." Dr. Morgan ignored Nolan and turned to a bald African Arican doctor beside him, wearing a protective suit, N95 mask, and face shield.
The doctor, carrying a testing kit, went directly into the restroom to begin examining the body.
"Hey, this is a cri scene!" Nyla Harper shouted behind him, but didn't make any move to stop him. Every patrol officer who could handle all sorts of trivial matters on the streets was adept at reading people.
In this situation, everyone knew sothing serious was about to happen.
Jack wasn't too nervous. Although he didn't rember if this scene was in the original show, firstly, he had healing abilities; he couldn't say for sure what else, but whether it was an infectious disease or a chemical weapon, it couldn't kill him unless it was in a confined space.
Secondly, seeing that Dr. Morgan was dressed in a suit and wasn't even wearing a mask, he figured it probably wasn't sothing like COVID-19 that spread through the air, so at least for now, he didn't have to worry about Los Angeles turning into a Raccoon City scenario.
"Well, for now, the cri is secondary."
Zoe covered her forehead, her face extrely pale. Anyone would be in a headache if a major public safety issue requiring the deploynt of DHS and CDC occurred in their jurisdiction.
"No signs of infection!" The bald black doctor who had finished his examination in the restroom shouted loudly to the crowd outside.
"The victim was a mber of a local terrorist organization. DHS has been investigating them, and there is evidence that this organization is planning a deadly bio-terrorist attack against Los Angeles."
Zoe explained to the crowd in a low voice. After she finished speaking, the CDC doctors behind her began to lead everyone to the plastic tents that had already been set up for decontamination.
Later that evening, the Wilshire Precinct's briefing room was once again packed with patrol officers whose leave had been canceled. Captain Anderson and Commander Wade Grey, who had just finished etings with the DHS, CDC, and FBI, rushed into the room, accompanied by Dr. Morgan, the female doctor Jack had t at the terminal.
This ti, Zoe didn't speak; Commander Grey chaired the eting: "Gentlen, the information we have so far is as follows."
"Last night at ten o'clock, this person…" He pointed to the large screen hanging on the right side of the room, which displayed a photo of the deceased.
"Corey Valance, along with an accomplice, boarded a long-distance bus from Phoenix to Los Angeles. We haven't yet determined the accomplice's exact identity."
"However, it is confird that the two n are identified by the DHS as mbers of a radical nationalist organization that is extrely dissatisfied with Los Angeles' multicultural environnt and has issued attack threats."
"They arrived in the city at 5 a.m. this morning, and it is presud that shortly after arrival, Valance's accomplice strangled him in the station restroom."
Tim, in the back row, asked, "Was the motive for the murder Valance backing out at the last minute?"
Zoe nodded beside him, "Presumably, very likely."
Then Commander Gray continued, "After all, their mission was to release a deadly virus."
The patrol officers in the conference room erupted in commotion. Although news of Nolan and his companions' ordeal had already spread, confirmation from their superiors had heightened everyone's unease. After all, compared to open warfare, a biohazard attack — a story usually confined to movies — seed to instill greater panic.
The two Wilshire Precinct leaders on the stage turned their gazes to Dr. Morgan from the CDC, signaling that it was ti for a professional to step in.
"There is currently no evidence that the biohazard carried by these two individuals has been released," she paused, "but it is certain that a preditated biohazard attack will soon unfold in LA."
Jack addressed the question everyone was most concerned about: "Then we need to know, specifically, what type of virus?"
Dr. Morgan's expression shifted, and she glanced at Zoe and Commander Grey.
Zoe nodded. "Frontline patrol officers need to know what they're dealing with."
Dr. Morgan then reluctantly explained, "It's a weaponized strain of hemorrhagic fever virus. Basically, it causes infected individuals to bleed to death."
"The virus spreads through bodily fluids, with an extrely short incubation period." As she spoke, she displayed several grueso photos of patients bleeding from various orifices on the large screen.
"If the virus doesn't receive tily treatnt after onset, the mortality rate is as high as 90%."
Having been a seasoned political figure in his previous life, Jack had so knowledge of things like Ebola. He had a friend who was a doctor working in Africa and had seen so related docuntaries.
Hearing the words "weaponized" and the 90% mortality rate actually reassured him sowhat; at least for now, he didn't have to worry about Los Angeles becoming a ghost town. Weaponization usually ant there would be a corresponding vaccine. A 90% mortality rate sounded terrifying, but the extrely high mortality rate ant secondary transmission was unlikely, preventing a global pandemic of the scale seen in his previous life.
Of course, Jack didn't even bother to think about why a re terrorist organization could possess a weaponized virus; only Fort Detrick could probably answer that question.
Nolan, the only one who had co into contact with the corpse, seed sowhat shaken and quickly asked, "What if there's effective treatnt?"
Dr. Morgan replied, "The mortality rate drops to 60%, but the bad news is…"
Nolan's eyes widened in disbelief, "That's not bad news?"
Dr. Morgan nodded and continued, "The bad news is, the vaccine is still in the experintal stage, with only a few hundred doses available, flying here from Maryland on a special plane. It's completely insufficient to deal with this crisis."
Jack, sitting in the audience, secretly scoffed. A vaccine with only a 40% effectiveness rate — what good is that? No wonder frontline patrol officers were being pushed to the front lines. Shouldn't this kind of thing be handled directly by DHS or the FBI, or even better, the Army should clean up the ss themselves? After all, Fort Detrick in Maryland is directly under the Army.
Commander Grey on the stage, however, was quite outspoken, clearly also dissatisfied with the higher-ups' approach.
"The FBI will be setting up a temporary command center in this city. We've been ordered to cooperate with them. Our first task is to identify Corey Valance's accomplice, who is also the perpetrator."
"You will need to personally question all the passengers who traveled on the sa bus as them."
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