He pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke into it. “Hello? Richard? Anybody there?”
It took almost half a minute for Richard to respond. “Who is this? Oh my God, are there people really out there? Please respond, we’ve been stuck in here for days.” He sounded out of breath, as if he’d set the transceiver down somewhere days ago and forgotten where he’d put it.
“Calm down, Richard. It’s Louie, and everything’s going to be okay.”
“Jesus… Louie? What’s happened out there? Why the hell won’t my key work?”
“Easy. One thing at a time.” Louie released the talk button and breathed in deeply. He had been waiting for something like this to happen for years. He was in control. There was no one to answer to for what he was about to do, no consequences. His heart was pounding with exhilaration, and Louie wanted the feeling to last forever. It was the main reason he’d waited this long to put his plan into action. He had spent the last four days planning, anticipating, and building his courage. Louie pressed the button back down and continued in a slow, sure voice. “I have a gun, Richard. It’s very big and very powerful. I want everyone to step back from the door. I want at least twenty feet between me and you when these doors open in about one minute. I’ll shoot the first person that moves. Do you understand?” He looked at the Taser resting on the canisters. It wasn’t big, and it wasn’t all that powerful, but the folks on the other side of the doors didn’t know that.
There was a long pause. “Louie? Are you okay? Are you feeling ill?”
He thinks I’m deranged, that the bomb did something to me… probably figures I’m suffering from radiation sickness. “No, I’m not ill. Get back away from the doors. I’ll explain everything when we’re face to face.” Louie turned the power off on his hand-held and shoved it back in his pocket. He reached into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out a thumb drive. He inserted it into the receiving port on top of the closest canister and watched the little green light blink. Louie had worried that the miniaturized computer chips might not work at all after the bomb. He didn’t know much about EMPs, but there was a concern the circuitry had been fried. Something inside the canister lid clicked, and Louie removed the lid carefully. He set the canister back upright in its gurney slot and repeated the process with all the other canisters.
Louie realized there was a chance the diseases stewing about within could infect him. He held his breath the entire time and prayed for the best. He unlocked the doors and pulled one open. He saw Richard first, standing next to Tom Braden. Others were clustered behind them, anxious and unmoving. They looked confused and worried, but not at all scared. What was there to fear? Their savior had arrived. They were free.
Louie pushed the gurney with all of his strength into a wall less than ten feet from the stunned DSC employees. Canisters toppled over and clanged against the floor. Somebody started screaming, but the noise was cut off as Louie stepped back and slammed the door shut. His fingers shook as he tried inserting the security key into the wall control panel. It finally slid in, and Louie punched the five digit lock code in. He leaned up against the doors and exhaled the breath he forgot he was still holding. “Okay,” he whispered, “I’m no fucking scientist.”
Louie took the elevator back up to level 2. He grabbed two hard bran muffins from the cafeteria and headed for the security control room. He sat into a chair facing multiple surveillance monitors. Maybe HR was right. I should’ve kept my mouth shut and stuck with what I was good at… Security software. Monitoring… watching people. Louie typed on a keyboard and the monitor directly in front of him lit up. It showed a view from behind the reception desk on level 10. He typed some more, and the monitor next to it flickered into life.
“What the fuck?” He leaned forward and made sure the video feed was set on live mode. Louie tossed a half-eaten muffin aside and slammed his fist against the desk. “Why aren’t they dying?” The gurney had been set back up on its wheels. Tom Braden was placing the last canister back in its slot. He was moving carefully, but didn’t appear all that terrified. Others were gathered around him, shaking their heads and talking amongst themselves. Louie couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they definitely weren’t suffering. They weren’t choking and frothing at the mouth. “What’s wrong with you morons?” He yelled at the screen. “That’s frickin’ Ebola and smallpox floating in the air around you!”
Tom finished his task, looked up into the camera, and gave it the finger.
Louie grabbed the microphone headset and slipped it over his ears. He toggled an audio switch and swore. “You pompous asshole! Think you’re so much better than everyone else. I could’ve done what you did. I could’ve been a research scientist instead of a software technician if I’d really applied myself.”
Braden’s eyebrows furrowed together and he pursed his lips. “I don’t think so, Louie. You lack the most basic understanding of the work being done here.”
“I understand enough to know you’re all going to be dead in a few hours.”
Tom shook his head. He stared into the camera with pity, as if looking into the eye of a child. “We’re not going to die any time soon. The canister samples don’t pose much of a threat with the outer seals removed. If you were aware of proper disease control procedures, you would’ve known there was a second seal inside each of those containers. Those secondary seals can only be reached and released with one of these.” He produced a pen-shaped object from the pocket of his lab coat and held it up to the camera. “Don’t go getting any more stupid ideas, Louie. There’s only half a dozen of these in the entire facility, and even with full security clearance, I guarantee you’ll never gain access to them.”
Louie stared at the screen with his mouth open. A piece of muffin fell from his lips and bounced onto the keyboard. “You were supposed to die. I was going to sit here and watch it happen.”
Richard came into view beside Tom. “Give it up, Louie. Open these doors up and let us out.”
“No way, Jose… not a fricking chance.”
“It’s not too late. We can forget all about this. For Christ’s sake, we’re trapped in here like animals.”
Louie leaned back into the chair. “You don’t want out, Richard. There’s nothing left above. There isn’t even a way out to the top. We’re all caged animals, I’m afraid. Why don’t you get Tom there to unlock the canisters all the way and speed up your end?”
“You little bastard.”
Louie squirmed back even further. He was safe where he was, but seeing the big man’s leering face in the screen brought back memories of being tormented by all the bigger guys in his past. Louie had been five and a half feet tall since he was sixteen, and not much heavier than a starving dog. He’d been bullied his entire adult life, and he wasn’t going to take it anymore. A greasy clump of black hair had worked free from his ponytail. He brushed it back over his head and stared at the face on the screen. “Call me what you want, it doesn’t change how things are. You and all the rest are going to starve to death down there, and I’m going to watch.”
Tom pushed Richard out of view. “Please, don’t do anything rash. Let’s talk this over.”
“I’m done talking. I’m done being pushed around. I’m through with taking orders from assholes and being made fun of behind my back.” Louie tore the headset away and threw it against a far wall. “So maybe I would’ve sucked as a research scientist… fuck it. I’ll find something else for them to chew on.”