Altruism | Part One : Trust

Episode Twenty

[Timeskip]

They are called into an emergency briefing.

"Okay, so here is what we know. At 10:00 last night, this man, Corey Valance, boarded a bus from Phoenix to L.A. He had a partner with him. We have no identification on that man, but we do know that they're part of a fringe nationalist group which believes that Los Angeles stands for everything that is wrong in America." Russo starts.

"The two men arrived here at 5:00 this morning. We believe Corey's partner strangled him in the bus station bathroom right after." Grey explains.

"You thinking Corey got cold feet?" Bradford asks.

"It seems likely, yes, especially since they came here with this deadly virus." Russo nods.

"Well, that explains the Silkwood shower we just took." Nolan responds.

"That was purely a precaution. There is no evidence that the biological agent they were transporting has been released." Morgan assures.

"But we do have every reason to believe that there is an attack planned in the near future" Russo continues.

"do you know what kind of virus?" Ana asks, softly.

"A weaponized strain of hemorrhagic fever, basically causes you to start bleeding and never stop. And that's how the virus spreads, through contact with bodily fluids. It has an extremely short incubation period and a gruesome pathology. If not treated quickly, it has a 90% fatality rate." Morgan explains, while showing several gruesome images of victims of the virus on the TV.

"And if it's treated quickly?" Nolan asks.

"We believe that drops down to around 60%. But the bad news is -" Morgan starts.

"That's not the bad news?" Nolan asks.

"No. The bad news is, there's only an experimental vaccine. We're flying it here from Atlanta. But there's only a few hundred doses. Nowhere near enough to combat an outbreak." Morgan finishes.

"So, obviously, the rookie exam will be postponed. The Feds are asking us to be their boots on the ground while they set up a command center here. First order of business to I.D. Corey's partner/killer. So you'll conduct field interviews with the other passengers on the bus." Grey instructs.

"Do we think Corey's killer is operating alone now?" Talia asks.

"No. We think there's one more, a local who picked him up at the bus station." Russo responds.

"So, okay, this is extremely sensitive. We can't risk the news getting out and causing a panic. That being said, you can warn your immediate families to stay away from populated areas, but no details. Understood? All right. Let's go get these guys." Grey dismisses.

Ana immediately calls her grandparents, practically ordering them to not leave the apartment, it only takes five minutes of intense arguing in Spanish for them to agree.

[Timeskip]

They're visiting a bus passenger who was on the bus.

"Man. And here I thought that test was gonna be the most stressful thing about my day." Chen sighs.

"Best case scenario, it's tomorrow's problem." Bradford replies.

"And worst case? Never mind, don't answer that." Chen decides.

"Police." Bradford says, knocking on the door of the house.

"Took you long enough. Bag's in here." The man (Langston) says, opening the door and leading them into the house and into a bedroom.