Report #3270, Transcript Section #30
(Operation SANDMAN)
©1998 Shane Ivey

Keeper:
The group left the FBI evidence van in the hands of Agent Wang's team of friendlies and Mr. Kelley.

Keeper:
Lundquist, Rogers, and Danforth went to interrogate some TBC executives. Cabot remained apart from the team, watching the overall scene from among the crowds.

Keeper:
Keen was... heck, I can't remember where he was at this time.

Cabot:
I think he was with the interoggators.

Keeper:
If anyone has the log on-screen maybe you can check. With the interrogators sounds good.

Keen:
I remember last that I was in that van... :)

Keeper:
During the interrogation, Kelley called Cabot and started yelling about getting a flamethrower.

Cabot:
I couldn't get the damn thing out of my pocket! ;-)

Keeper:
Things sounded... stressful.... So, Cabot called Lundquist and Rogers to tell them to get to the van, and he ran to it, calling cops and federal agents nearby to look that way as smoke started coming from it.

Keeper:
As he got to the van, Wang and another tech came stumbling out, disoriented and frightened.

Keeper:
Then something colorless and formless slithered out the door, toward Cabot on the stairs. Cabot blasted it with a borrowed shotgun.

Keeper:
It splattered on his pants. He entered the van and saw other techs on the floor, unconscious, and Kelley in the back, wielding a severed ether tube as a makeshift flamethrower, looking singed and red-eyed.

Keeper:
To make a long log short, Rogers and Lundquist came in; more gunfire followed; the colorless stuff apparently escaped the van and attached itself to an FBI agent outside.

Keeper:
The team now is clustered around this agent, who remains nearly unconscious and suffering anaphylactic shock as if from an allergic reaction.

Keeper:
When paramedics arrived, the team told them to establish a quarantine, warning them of a possible chemical weapon attack.

Keen:
Did the crowds outside witness all this? And the gobbly gook?

Keeper:
The gobbly gook was very hard to see except up-close, so it's unlikely that anyone saw it.

Cabot:
I am topless having attempted to lose the "protoplasm" that climbed my body by removing my shirt once it reached my torso.

Keeper:
But the crowd is not far off, and watching closely, as firefighters wearing HAZMAT masks come up and start trying to figure out the scope of the chemical-biological emergency at hand.

Keeper:
The firefighters have motioned the paramedics back from the scene, those that did not already come close.

Keeper:
Others have already gotten on the radios to other teams, warning of the possible incident and initiating protective measures: it sounds like they are trying to expand the barricades another block, for starters.

Keeper:
Rogers, you know that New York's city agencies have practiced this sort of thing often in recent years. Standard procedure is also to have police sharpshooters set up to protect the emergency crews.

Keeper:
NYFD is the organization in charge, supported by NYPD-ESU.

Cabot whispers:
That FDNY ;-)

Keeper:
FDNY, that is.

Keeper:
But, that's the immediate scene. There are two FBI agents crouched close to the infected one, within spitting distance of your team.

Keeper:
There's also one paramedic in that group, and a couple of firefighters in protective suits who just arrived and are shouting questions.

Cabot:
I had the initial idea of blood testing all the personnel that may be contaminated and conducting a serum test ala' "The Thing".

Keeper:
Oh, right... Cabot had told the firefighters to bring a syringe and needle for blood tests.

Keeper:
One of the firefighters had tried to get the group to back away from the infected agent.

Keeper:
"Up and back away," he shouts through his mask. "But stay close and sit tight!"

Cabot:
And Rogers suggested we tie this in with the DM incident that occured previously.

Keeper:
Meanwhile: Lundquist and Cabot, you notice the beginnings of reaction in the crowd, nearby. It sounds like a touch of fear.

Rogers:
Yep

Cabot:
That's probably for the better.

Keen:
Not if they stampede. :P

Cabot:
To Rogers: "Listen, you've got rank here, right?"

Lundquist:
Yeah, I could use a panic-inspired stampede right now... :-/

Cabot:
I seriously doubt they'll stampede INTO to Hot Zone, tho.

Cabot:
How's Kelley doing?

Keeper:
The firefighter gets more insistent. "Are you guys deaf? UP, and BACK!"

Keeper:
He grabs Lundquist and pulls him, trying to break up the group.

Rogers:
"No that's Mr L."

Keeper:
Kelley seems to be watching the crowd, calculating, and then glancing up at the emergency crew movements.

Lundquist:
I don't leave "my" patient. "Get a gurney over here then!"

Cabot:
"Whoa, whoa, guys. Relax. This is a federal incident, these guys have some insight into what may have occured here. He's (pointing to Lund) a physician and he's already contaminated, so let him treat this guy."

Keeper:
The firefighter relaxes his grip on Lundqusit. "Contaminated? How? Give me some details."

Keeper:
He turns and signals to the other firefighters and shouts into his radio for a gurney.

Cabot:
I move to Lundquist and Rogers, "Now's the time to feed them the DM spiel, if you're gonna."

Cabot:
That was whispered, BTW>

Rogers:
"Look, Cabot your getting confused I'm the Doc here and Lundquiest there is in charge from DoJ, he's treating the patient because he was first here now I'm going to take over and as we've all been exposed there's no point in evacuating us."

Keeper:
The firefighter looks exasperated in his mask. "Exposed to WHAT?"

Rogers:
"I want this patient moved into a secure ambulance accompanied only be personel exposed to what I suspect is a drug we encountered recently."

Rogers:
"Did you hear abbout that raid on the house in harfleur?"

Lundquist:
"Yeah, that raid?"

Keeper:
"Of course I heard about it the raid."

Lundquist:
"We believe that the same agent present there may be involved here."

Rogers:
"The drug there that affected all the ESU men through their respirators? I think it's the same substance. Talk to Mr. lundquiest there but get me that gurney and the ambulance now."

Keeper:
He looks down at the fallen FBI man, then he looks up at the others. "What symptoms are you showing?"

Keeper:
The firefighter squints at Lundquist, Rogers, Keen, Cabot...

Lundquist:
"It looks like some sort of allergic reaction, triggering anaphylactic (sp?) shock."

Lundquist:
I look busy with the fallen FBI guy.

Rogers:
"I'd agree with that assesment but I want to get him into a well equipet emergency room before I run some more tests."

Cabot:
"We really need you guys for clean-up, but we can't begin that until we examine the scene for evidence. Can you guys do some atmospheric monitoring? See if you pick anything up?"

Keeper:
"Yeah, and that's all great, but what symptoms are YOU showing?" He points at Rogers. "You said you're infected, right? What gives you that conclusion? Quick, man, we need to get this shit sorted out."

Lundquist:
"We're not showing any symptoms at all. We were just potentially exposed, and we're playing it safe."

Lundquist:
"Symptoms could develop at any time, so we're keeping an eye on each other."

Cabot:
"We're not in encapsulating suits, and this may be an aerosol contaminant."

Cabot:
"I said we're potentially CONTAMINATED."

Keeper:
"All right. I want some verification on the nature of this incident before we start taking steps. Do we have any symptoms besides allergic shock in these victims?" He gestures at the Friendlies being bundled up.

Keeper:
Two others run near with the gurney and drop it next to the agent.

Cabot:
I meander over to Kelley and nod toward the forensic van, indicating that he should follow me.

Lundquist:
"No, but we want to watch them very closely. There are still a lot of unknowns at work here."

Rogers:
"Well the symptoms of this drug are as follows; It typically sets in after twenty-four hours, and is marked by muscle cramps and spasms, cyanosis, nausea, vertigo, fever, and violent but vague hallucinations.

Keeper:
They do preliminary checks on him, carefully checking for neck or back trauma before they load him on the gurney.

Keeper:
Kelley walks with Cabot.

Keeper:
He wipes his eyes again; they're still swollen and runny.

Keeper:
The firefighter leans in to listen to Rogers' description. "Cyanosis, hallucinations... what makes you think THIS is the same thing?"

Keeper:
(What are you up to, Keen?)

Cabot whispers:
FYI: Hospital won't accept a contaminated patient. HazMat can't decon until they identify the contaminant and research an effective decon procedure. The HazMat team won't be in any hurry.

Keen:
I'm gonna help out with our team of scientists, and help whereever I can, but avoid authority figures.

Keeper:
The other firefighters get the agent onto the gurney and strap him down. They strap on a mask and throat-tube to help his breathing.

Keen:
I'm available to the team if they need my help on anything. :)

Cabot whispers:
To Kelley: "We need to find out if that shit's in us."

Keeper whispers:
Interesting... I figured they would be in a hurry to figure it out, to minimize the risk to the victim.

Cabot whispers:
No, he's already contaminated. The concern is now for cross-contaminating others.

Keeper:
The firefighter looks at Rogers. "Well?"

Rogers:
"The linking causal factor is the men from Breckenridge, one of the dead bodies we recovered from in there, showed signs of the drug Dreaming Man that is what I'm going on."

Cabot:
I enter the forensic van and cautiously look for a syringe or scalpel.

Keeper whispers:
Kelley nods as you walk toward the van. "We have friends who can maybe run some tests. I don't know if it will turn up, or if they can do the RIGHT tests, but it's worth a try. They can't do it until we're someplace private, though."

Cabot whispers:
"Humor me a minute, okay?"

Keeper:
The firefighter shakes his head. "Listen, you got one guy with that shit inside, but you got a half dozen with different symptoms out here."

Keeper whispers:
He nods cooly, but you detect wariness. "What do you have in mind?"

Cabot whispers:
"Don't worry, I'll do me first." Do I find a sterile, sharp object? Also, what's the status on the burning ether? Did Kelley turn off the gas before we exited or is there still open flame?

Keeper:
Nearby, police begin the arduous task of pushing the barricades back a block, pushing the crowds back, checking doors and buildings, bringing in new barricades for the new intersection...

Rogers:
"Plus the fact that it affected this guy so fast after the FBI forensics team and our agent in there started hallucinating and seeing stuff that a team member attacked with a shotgun."

Keeper whispers:
Still open flame. He propped it up, but he didn't turn it off. The wall is scorched above it. And you do find scalpels and other tools.

Rogers:
"Look if I'm wrong I look like an idiot, if I'm right and we don't act now we could have a major problem on our hands, in that raid at the drug house NYPD ESU guys were shooting each other."

Keeper:
"Who was hallucinating?"

Cabot whispers:
I move to the ether tube and take a sterile scalpel out of its wrapping. I then make a small laceration on my thumb and allow the blood to drip onto the exam table or some nearby surface. Then I apply the flame.

Rogers:
"The symptoms don't all occur at once, the one sin the van could have had the symptoms he's got now and no one saw them the first we knew was when they started hallucinating and attacking the hallucinations."

Rogers:
"Now the patient out here has not yet started hallucinating, neither have any of the members of our team experienced any of the symptoms yet, lets just be ready in case it does happen."

Keeper whispers:
The blood cooks as you would expect it to: it boils off and leaves a lumpy blackish residue.

Rogers:
"... as we are possibly exposed we may as well work with the patient here rather than someone in a chemtron space suit." "We're here investigating this drug and are the nerest thing there are to expert on it in NY"

Rogers:
"I'm assuming that the team inside were hallucinating as they were shooting at nothing when I looked into the van."

Keeper:
The firefighter nods. "All right," he says, finally. "So what's the containment procedure?"

Cabot whispers:
"Okay, Kelley, your turn." I hand him another scalpel.

Cabot whispers:
"This may not mean shit, but if we both pass and that tech out there fails, we can be pretty sure we're clean."

Keeper whispers:
He nods and repeats the procedure without blinking. His hand is a little shaky from adrenaline. After a few minutes his blood cooks off with the same result.

Rogers whispers:
Is the stuff we've got here the same as the microorganism in DM? Or can't I tell yet?

Cabot whispers:
"Okay, let's go check the tech." I grab a syringe and a test tube and head toward Dr. Lundquist and his patient. "You may have to provide a little interference for this."

Keeper whispers:
The Friendlies were still running tests when all this broke out. You don't know if they finished yet or not.

Keeper whispers:
Kelley nods.

Keeper:
"Well," says the firefighter. "What's the containment procedure?"

Keeper:
Cabot and Kelley come jogging out of the van toward the group.

Cabot:
I approach Lundquist and the patient and kneel beside them. I whisper to Lund: "I have an idea for a field test." I hand him the syringe and test tube. "Can you draw a blood sample?"

Rogers:
"Well basically your already enacting it, 20ft distance from any exposed individual prevents the spread of symptoms we just need to watch everyone within 20ft of the van for now for symptoms generally 24hours is sufficient. Most of my team came in from further than 20ft away though so we should be ok."

Keeper:
Kelley approaches the firefighter. "You," he says loudly. "I want a gas mask! I don't want to catch this shit!" He sounds genuinely terrified as he gets in the firefighter's face, interrupting the discussion.

Rogers:
"Mr. Lundquiest can you help the firefighter out I want to check the team from the van."

Keeper:
The other firefighers squatting next to the infected agent look up at Cabot, then at Kelley and the lead fireman.

Lundquist:
"Look, we can't go into too many of the particulars right now. This is part of an ongoing criminal investigation. I understand that you have a job to do and that this raises a lot of problems for you. The reasons why we suspect exposure here have to remain classified right now. I'm sorry." Persuade roll. Is this guy buying this at all?

Keeper:
The lead fireman holds his hands up to pacify Kelly and scowls as he tries to listen to Rogers and Lundquist. "Back off, sir, goddammit," he says to Kelley, "Calm down and we'll take care of you..." JTRogers walks over to the FBI forensics team and calls Kelly and Cabot over

Lundquist:
"We're already containing it. We really appreciate your help. We just need to maintain this perimeter."

Keeper:
Kelley turns to the other firemen. "Crap--you guys, get us something, get us some protection! Help us out here, for god's sake!" He gestures animatedly but not threateningly.

Cabot:
To Lund: "Quick, get us a blood sample."

Keeper:
(Rogers, Cabot is right next to you and Lundquist now... Kelley is nearby with the main firefighter.)

Lundquist:
Keeper, I quickly and quietly draw the sample as Cabot asks.

Cabot:
"Great. I'll keep some for future testing, but I gotta know something right now." I take the sample and head back to the van with it.

Keeper:
All those night classes and books pay off, Lundquist: you draw the blood like a pro. Kelley stomps around more excitedly, shouting until one firefighter gets up to pacify him and the other watches.

Cabot:
I imply with a nod that I wish Rogers to follow me.

Rogers:
"You may as well give him a gas mask, psychological reassurance is a good idea at a time of stress."

Keeper:
The main fireman is talking into his radio. As Cabot heads to the van, Kelley scowls and curses once more, then backs up and seems to calm down. "Fine, damn it," he says sullenly. "If we catch that shit, you guys better hope we stay weak!"

Cabot:
I nod Kelley to the van, then.

Keeper:
"That's enough of that," the main fireman says. "Look, I want to have it on record: you're saying a twenty-foot perimeter is enough containment, is that right?"

Cabot whispers:
If Kelley's following, I reenter the van and look for an additional container that I can place the test tube in.

Cabot:
I specifically want an evidence-type container that can be effectively sealed.

Keeper:
Kelley slumps off after Cabot.

Cabot:
Woops, that was a whisper.

Keeper whispers:
There are plenty of those on hand.

Rogers:
whispered to Cabot "Wahts the plan?"

Keeper:
The fireman looks to Lundquist as Rogers follows Cabot, as well. "Well? Twenty foot perimeter?"

Rogers:
"I'll come with you."

Cabot whispers:
I hand Kelley the container. "If anything freaky happens and that shit gets in me, fry me." I take a portion of the blood sample and place it in a speciman plate. Recap the test tube and put it in the container Kelley has.

Lundquist:
"As far as we know it is. I'd like two or three blocks, to be honest. But from our experience with this thing so far twenty feet ought to suffice."

Cabot:
I'm in the van, Kelley's with me. I'm not sure of the others.

Rogers:
Rogers follows Kelly.

Keeper:
In the van, Cabot hands an evidence container to Kelley and mutters something to him. Kelley nods grimly. Cabot pours some of the blood sample into a specimine plate. He recaps the test tube and puts it into Kelley's container.

Cabot:
I wave the flame from the ether tube near the specimen, my free hand on the volume control nob of the gas.

Keeper:
Waving the flame near the blood sample produces no result--that's assuming you're not yet cooking it.

Cabot:
No, not yet. Just wanted to see what heat in proximity did to it. Now I cook it.

Rogers:
I though Mr. L was staying if he's not I'll stay.

Keeper:
Under flame, the blood sample boils and hisses for a moment as it cooks; then a chunk of the sample, a minute glob of slime, darts slitheringly to the edge of the specimine plate and drips off.

Cabot:
"Shit!" I jump back, turn up the flame and roast it.

Keeper:
"Fuck!" Kelley steps back instinctively and watches.

Keeper:
Cabot, you lose sight of the blob immediately, but you play the fire expertly across the floor. The place stinks of burnt plastic.

Cabot:
"How's the rest of that specimen doing, Kelley?"

Keeper:
"I didn't see it come out this side," Kelley says.

Keeper:
He looks at the container. "It's doing nothing. No reaction."

Cabot:
I back out of the van and nod for Kelley to do the same. "It wasn't very big, so keep you're eyes open. I don't know if I got it or not."

Cabot:
Okay, pow-wow time for the team.

Keeper:
Kelley nods to Rogers. "Let's back out. What about the rest of this sample? What if there's more of it?"

Cabot:
"I gaurantee there's more of it. Like that whole guy laying over there. We have to check the rest of the surviving forensic team and the dead ones. At least we can be reasonably sure we're allright."

Cabot:
I motion for Rogers to come over to us and Kelley and I brief him on what just occured and the procedures used. Rogers: do you fulloy understand what we did?

Rogers:
"Yes got it nice idea, I'm working under the hypothesis that the organism is the same one that can be cultured from the DM drug."

Rogers:
"Which means that this situation just got a lot worse."

Cabot:
Okay, so you're fully briefed on what we did and what we found out about the patient and ourselves?

Rogers:
"I need to speak to the technicians and check my hypothesis."

Rogers:
"Well Kelly looks like you were right, fire'll kill anything."

Keeper:
"Yeah," he says. "That's one thing good, today."