Lethal Outbreak Read Online Free

collect air samples from hard-to-reach places. Lexi would have loved to analyse a sample of the air from the BSL4 lab, but the risk was far too great. She would have to be content with the robot’s high-quality imaging capability.
    Lexi, Troy and Julia sat in front of the screen in the control room while Terabyte – the best computer geek in Crime Central – operated the flying drone. ‘Is this the last door?’ Terabyte asked, as he allowed the drone to hover in the fumigation room.
    ‘Yes,’ Julia told him. ‘Vacuum on to clear the fumes.’ After a few seconds, she reported, ‘Returning to atmospheric pressure now.’ She flicked a switch. ‘Door to BSL4 opening.’
    Terabyte drove the drone forward into the toxic environment. As a machine, it was immune to any poisons in the air and it didn’t need a PPPS. ‘Where do you want it?’
    ‘The nearest body,’ Lexi replied. ‘I want a close-up of the back of the heel.’
    ‘Which heel?’ Terabyte asked.
    ‘Both.’
    The drone hovered a few centimetres over the body nearest to the door and zoomed in on Konnie Five’s right heel. Showing off the device’s camera, Terabyte said, ‘Do you want to see the whole of the heel or an individual thread?’
    ‘I just want to see if the material’s damaged.’
    ‘There’s your answer,’ said Terabyte.
    On the monitor, the clarity of the image was amazing. The protective material had disintegrated over an area of two or three square centimetres. Some small fragments of shiny tape were still adhering around the edges of the hole.
    Lexi nodded. ‘That’s how the poison sneaked in, then. Don’t bother with her other heel. There’s no point looking for anything else on the rest of her suit either. It’ll be spotless after the treatment on the way in. Move on to the next body.’
    It was Tyla Three, and the back of her right heel was flat against the floor. The drone was able to focus only on her left heel and it showed the same damage: an almost rectangular flaw with corroded fabric and flecks of tape around it.
    Both of Brandon Six’s heels were in view and his left had been sabotaged.
    ‘You are recording all this, aren’t you?’ Lexi asked.
    ‘Of course,’ Terabyte answered. ‘What else?’
    ‘I want to look at the safety cabinets,’ Troy said. ‘Is one of them damaged? Is there any evidence of SUMP getting out?’
    ‘SUMP?’ Terabyte queried.
    ‘Substance unknown – and very poisonous – from Mars probe.’
    ‘Cool,’ he muttered as he manoeuvred the drone towards the first sealed unit. ‘Are you two specializing in crazy cases?’
    Under Terabyte’s command, the drone’s camera scanned the enclosed transparent compartment. Heavy-duty gloves were fixed into the front of the unit, so that one of the scientists could place their already gloved hands into them and work on something hazardous inside the compartment without ever breaking containment.
    ‘Does it look okay, Julia?’ Troy asked. ‘Nothing unusual or broken?’
    ‘No, it looks fine. Zoom in on the gloves. They’re the only weak point.’
    But after a thorough close-up inspection, Julia did not spot any damage.
    ‘No,’ she said. ‘Everything’s as it should be.’
    ‘Move on to the next one,’ Troy said to Terabyte.
    Carefully and slowly, the drone glided back andforth, photographing every part of the glass-fronted cupboard. The fine images allowed them all to examine its exterior and, because of the transparent pane, its contents. There were several pieces of equipment lying on the spotless work surface, a lot of animal corpses – mostly mice and white rats – in cages, and bottles of chemicals, both solids and liquids.
    ‘That’s the same,’ Julia told them. ‘Nothing out of place. The seals are fine and I can’t see any tears in the built-in gloves.’
    Troy sighed. He was about to ask Terabyte to scan the final safety cabinet but the drone was already on its way across the laboratory. This time, Terabyte started