Chapter One

Michael Bennett, a family practice physician, pulled his car in next to his wife’s SUV in the garage of their two-story colonial house at five thirty-five p.m. A few moments later he walked into the kitchen where his wife, Crystal, stood next to the stove. Sitting at the kitchen table were his two teenage children. “Hi, everyone.”

“Hi, Daddy,” said Carla, his thirteen-year-old daughter.

“Hey, Dad,” said Matthew, his fifteen-year-old son.

Michael walked over and kissed Crystal on the lips. “How’s my best girl?”

“I’m good, honey. Please sit down. Supper is almost ready.”

He raised his head and sniffed. “Supper sure smells good.”

The phone rang on the kitchen counter. “Are you on call tonight?” asked Crystal.

“No. John’s on call.” He picked up the phone. “Hello.” Michael listened to the caller at the other end of the line. “Yes, Randy Mitchell is a patient of mine.” He listened to the caller. His shoulders slumped; his face became ashen. “What was the cause of his death?” Michael looked toward Crystal. “Oh, I see. No. He wasn’t taking any medications, nor did he have any medical problems. Thank you for calling me.”

“Who were you talking to?”

“A forensic investigator from the medical examiner’s office. A patient of mine died today.”

“Oh, one of your older patients?”

“No. He was sixteen years old.”

“Did he die in a car accident?” Carla asked.

“No. His mother got home from shopping around three o’clock and found her son sitting in front of his bedroom computer with his head resting on the desk. He was dead.”

“Holy shit!”

“Matthew, don’t swear,” said Crystal.

“Sorry, Mom. But two kids today died at school. One was found in the classroom sitting at his desk with his head resting on his arms. The other one, a girl, was in the cafeteria sitting at a table with friends. They said she was talking with her girlfriend then laid her head down on her arms and died. They both died around noon.”

In the twenty years as a doctor, Michael couldn’t remember three teenagers dying in different settings with a similar presentation: heads peacefully resting on top of their arms or desks. Were they friends who ingested something in a suicide pack? A drug screen and an autopsy would answer his speculation. His sister was a Marion County Sheriff’s detective. She might know something about these deaths, or she might know if the teenagers knew each other. He’d give her a call after supper.

“What do you think these kids could’ve died from?” asked Crystal, taking the meatloaf out from the oven and placing it on the kitchen table onto a large hot pad.

Michael told her what he thought about the teenagers’ deaths. “I’ll call Janet after supper. She may know something.”

During supper, no one further discussed the teenagers’ deaths. One scenario of these deaths crossed Michael’s mind. Some type of virus, bacteria or even a devastating fungal infection could’ve caused these deaths. And were these three deaths the beginning stages of a contagious biological entity? Although, there should’ve been warning signs such as fever, headache, pain, or neurological manifestations. Did any of these teenagers have any of those medical signs before they suddenly died? There was one problem with this scenario: it would’ve been impossible for these victims to die about the same time, including the Mitchell boy, who probably also died near noon today. The teenagers being part of a suicide pack was a more logical scenario to Michael.

After supper, Michael called his sister, Janet, from the bedroom, where there could be privacy from his children. His kids would blab any of the latest information about the deaths of their fellow students to their friends at school. “Hi, Janet. How are you doing?”

“Doing okay. I’m sure you’re calling about all these deaths occurring a couple minutes before noon today. Am I right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. You always get right to the point.” He was eleven months older than Janet. They were close growing up. As the big brother, he had protected her in elementary and middle school, and up to her junior year in high school from any potential bullies. Although, his little sister could handle herself with her cocky attitude of: If you don’t like me or what I think, that’s your problem. “So, are the three teenagers’ deaths related? Like a suicide pack?”

There was momentary silence. “You know I can’t tell you anything over the phone even if I knew the answer. Unless I was authorized by the sheriff’ department’s news media liaison. But there are more deaths than the three teenagers.”

“What are you talking about? More people died today?”

“Don’t you listen to the news? Five others died under mysterious circumstances in Ocala today. They all died around twelve o’clock noon.”

“Was this a mass suicide pack? Like a cult? How could eight people all die around the same time unless it was a premeditated act by all of them?” Michael had no other explanation.

“I can’t say one way or the other.”

“Can you tell me this? Have you been assigned to the investigation? I’m sure this isn’t restrictive information.”

“You are persistent, Big Brother.” She chuckled. “Yes. I’m investigating one of these deaths. The fact is, I’m at the home of the boy who died sitting at his bedroom desk. He was homeschooled. A few minutes ago, the medical examiner left with the deceased. The ME’s investigator told me she’d talked to you earlier on the phone about the boy’s medical status. You told her the boy didn’t have any medical problems or any indications of drug abuse.”

“Yes, I did tell her these facts. I guess I’m now part of your investigation.” His sister couldn’t say too much on the phone about the deaths of the teenagers. They couldn’t be sure who might be listening in on their conversation. This was the twenty-first century, the age of the government’s stealthy listening tactics of speak no evil against the US government or its citizens or non-citizens. There was no assurance of privacy when talking with someone by phone or any other means of communication in the world of electronic surveillance today.

“Sort of. I’d say indirectly and superficially, Big Brother. I gotta get going. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

Crystal walked into the bedroom. “What did your sister have to say about the three teenagers’ deaths?”

“Nothing. Other than she’s the lead detective in one of the investigations, a patient of mine, Randy Mitchell. Janet couldn’t say too much on the phone since she’s in the middle of the investigation at the Mitchells’ house. I can’t imagine what Randy’s parents are feeling now.” He reached over, gently grabbed Crystal’s hand and kissed the back of it. “We’d be devastated if it was one of our kids.”

~ * ~

Janet Bennett put her cell phone into a holder on her belt then turned to her partner, Detective Bill Matters, who stood next to Randy Mitchell’s bedroom dresser writing something into a small notebook. “We need to check for any suicide note and anything related to suicide, cults, or anything pertinent to him suddenly dying.”

“You’re right,” Bill said, as he walked over to the desk. “I’ll examine his computer since it’s already on.”

“Good. I’ll look around the room for any evidence pointing to why or how the Mitchell boy died.”

Matters’ five-foot, ten-inch overweight frame sat at the desk chair. “I think I need to go on a diet,” he muttered as he squeezed into the desk chair. His body didn’t have any room to spare. He played halfback for the Tennessee Volunteers’ college football team twenty years ago. Of course, he gained about thirty pounds since the last time he carried the ball through an opening in the offensive frontline.

Janet opened all the dresser drawers, looked under the bed and between the mattress and box springs of the young Mitchell boy’s room for drugs, drug paraphernalia, or a suicide note. Nothing was found. “Did you find anything, Bill?”

“Nope. Not a thing. No mention of how to kill yourself without leaving a trace of evidence or material relating to dying or suicide in the computer search engines’ history files.”

Janet picked up Mitchell’s cell phone lying next to the computer and checked it for recent messages. “The last person he’d talked with was Derrick Olsen at 11:58 this morning. It’s around the time the other teenagers died. This could be the break we’ve been looking for.” Janet called him.

“Hey, man,” said Derrick. “Why did you hang up on me?”

“This is Detective Bennett from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Are you Derrick Olsen?”

“Yeah. Why are you on Randy’s cell phone?”

Janet couldn’t tell him about his friend. It would be against police procedures when dealing with a minor. “Your friend Randy can’t come to the phone. Did you talk with him this morning?”

“Yeah, detective. It was around noon. We were talking, then he suddenly stopped talking. I thought maybe his mom was coming, so he hung up on me. Is he all right? Did he get into trouble?”

“I can’t discuss this with you. Can you tell me if he said anything unusual before he stopped talking with you?”

“No.” A short pause, “He did whisper something. But I couldn’t make out what he said. Then the phone went dead.”

“Thank you, young man.” Janet then put the cell phone in an evidence bag. She told Bill what the victim’s friend had said.

“We’ll have Randy Mitchell’s computer analyzed for any hidden and relevant information by our computer forensic department. Also, his cell phone.” Bill turned off the desktop computer.

They left the bedroom, talked with the parents briefly and walked to their car parked in the street. The Crime Scene Investigation team was finishing up, gathering possible pertinent evidence, including Randy Mitchell’s computer and cell phone.

Janet pulled out of the Mitchell’s driveway. “I don’t ever remember deaths like these before,” said Detective Matters.

“Because there’s never been eight deaths occurring in the same manner, at different crime scenes, and happening around the same time.”

Janet parked their unmarked car in the designated area of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Major Crime Unit. She’d been a detective for twelve years, the last five years with the Major Crime Unit. In all her years in law enforcement she’d never encountered so many unexplained deaths at once. Her brother might be right about a mass suicide. The toxicology report on all these victims would answer the question of suicide. If the deaths pointed toward self-induced then the next logical step in this investigation would lead to the organization or group initiating these deaths.

Janet and Bill walked into their office, a large room accommodating eight desks with space to spare, including a large coffee maker in the corner of the room. All the detectives of the major crime unit occupied the room. They chatted on a serious tone with one another. Their faces were solemn, not displaying any signs of jovialness. Most mornings and afternoons, at least one or two detectives joked around with one another.

She talked with the other detectives about their investigations on the deaths of their victims. Eight victims had mysteriously died. Ages ranging from fifteen to seventy-five. One had died in her car while stopped at a stop sign; three were at work; three died at home; and two died at school. There weren’t any signs of trauma on any of the bodies. This was all the information the detectives had on their deaths so far.

Their boss, Captain Robins, walked into the room with two men in their thirties. The two strangers wore identical dark-grey suits. Janet didn’t recognize them but assumed they were federal law enforcement, likely FBI by the stoic stature and attire. Robins gestured for them to come over.

“Detective Bennett and Matters,” said the captain, “these are Special Agents Williams and Carpenter from the FBI.”

Janet’s assumption of whom the two unidentified men represented was right on. She had the innate ability to quickly assess a situation or person and come up with an accurate observation a good percentage of the time. They wouldn’t be involved unless federal law was broken by these deaths. She nodded to each of them. “I assume some federal law statute was broken due to eight people dying at two minutes to noon today?”

“Yes. Correct,” Carpenter answered. “One of the victims was in the witness protection program. And he was going to testify against a major drug dealer in New York next month.”

Janet’s legs felt rubbery as an arctic blast of frigid air seemed to wrap around her spine. The face of the dead fifteen-year-old sitting at his bedroom desk flashed across her mind. “Why kill seven innocent people in order to kill a person in hiding from an organized crime syndicate? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Or it was a coincidence the informant was included in these mysterious deaths?”

“It may be a coincidence, detective.” Agent Williams answered. “Or it may be a monstrous act by criminals or a psychopath. Either one doesn’t have any empathy toward human life.”

“Whatever the reason for these deaths, a criminal element was involved by all indications.”

Both the agents nodded.

“But what’s more intriguing with these deaths…what could’ve caused these people to die around the same moment in time?” Janet asked.

“Just as you and your detectives, we don’t have an answer yet either.”

Janet glanced away. She visualized an electronic timer of some kind inside the victims’ bodies switched to the off position at 11:58 this morning.

~ * ~

Michael walked out the bedroom with his wife, Crystal. As they walked into the living room a TV news anchor stated: It has been confirmed, eight people, including three children, had died at exactly 11:58 this morning. According to reliable sources these deaths don’t appear be a suicide pack. There hasn’t been any medical cause of their deaths. Sources aren’t excluding this was a terrorist act….

A cold chill streaked from the back of Michael’s neck to every muscle in his face, as if he had stuck his head into an opened freezer. His first assumption regarding the deaths in Ocala was that they all died due to a suicide pack. But this assumption had now lost credibility. “From what the news reporter said we’re not dealing with suicide deaths in Ocala. I’m going to call Janet back and see if she can stop by the house after she gets off work. She may know more than what was reported by the news media.”

Around eight o’clock, the front doorbell rang. He suspected it had to be Janet, since her sister told him she’d be over in about two hours. During the two hours waiting for his sister, he had searched the internet for the latest information on these deaths and, if any logical theory of how everyone could have suddenly died a couple minutes before noon today. Of course, there were the usual explanations: aliens from outer space had something to do with these deaths. Or all these victims had taken capsules at exactly 11:58 in the morning. Each of the victims had been brainwashed and programmed to take the capsules at the same time. There weren’t any medically feasible explanations for their deaths, so far. Of course, an autopsy would be done to determine a cause of the mysterious deaths. Toxicology would determine if any substances were ingested.

“Hi, Sis. Glad you were able to stop by.”

She frowned and contorted her lips as a grumpy face peered back at him. “I had to come over, otherwise you’d be calling me throughout the night with questions about all of these suspicious deaths.”

“You sure know me. Can’t help it. It’s my inquisitive nature. You’re graced with the same genetic trait in your body as do I. It’s why you became a detective and I became a doctor.”

Janet grinned. “Yeah. A Sherlock and Dr. Watson combo.”

Michael sat at the kitchen table with Janet as she discussed the findings in the deaths of the three teenagers, something she couldn’t say over the phone. Crystal watched TV in the living room. His children were in their bedrooms doing what teenagers do; communicating with friends on their electronic devices—an iPhone—and wouldn’t be listening in on their parents and aunt’s conversation. Young people and a growing number of middle-aged and older people were becoming addicted to their iPhones, iPads, tablets, laptops, desktop computers or a combination of them. Landline phones were becoming obsolete to all the generations, especially anyone born in the twenty-first century. If Carla or Matthew weren’t talking to their friends, music from their electronic devices would be blaring out the latest song or tune into their ear buds.

Janet told Michael about the FBI’s involvement.

“Does the FBI have any idea what had caused these deaths?”

“No. Not a clue. At least, this is what the agents said. Working with them in the past, they don’t always give you full disclosure of information. It’s a territorial thing. They like to be in charge. Their philosophy is, ‘what latest information is ours and what information you get is ours,’ if you know what I mean?”

“It’s like what Crystal told me after we got married.”

“What did she tell you?”

“What’s mine is mine. And what’s yours is mine.” He chuckled. Of course, she was kidding me. He and Crystal had a good relationship and shared everything with one another. They didn’t have any secrets between them. “It’s not a one-sided marriage, as you already know.”

Janet nodded, frowned. “You had to rub it in? Since you know my ex basically cared about himself, creating a one-sided marriage.”

Michael’s shoulders slumped, as he glanced away. “I’m really sorry, Sis. I didn’t mean to bring up—”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about, big brother,” she interrupted. “My marriage to him wasn’t your fault.”

He raised his shoulders, nodded and sighed. She had divorced Rick about a year ago. Thank God his sister didn’t have any kids with him. For sure, he wouldn’t have given financial or emotional support to a family. Janet stated it right, he cared about himself and no one else.

“You told me before I married him, ten years ago, he wasn’t the right guy for me. Of course, I didn’t listen to you. And I let my emotions blind me for what he was…a selfish asshole.” She got up from her chair, went to the kitchen counter and poured another cup of coffee from the coffee pot. The coffee was made by her sister-in-law earlier. She then turned around and added, “What was even worse, several years passed before I realized who and what I’d married. Toward the end of my marriage to him, I finally admitted to myself that I’d made a mistake in marrying him. I have a tough time even mentioning his name. Instead I refer to my ex as ‘him’ rather than Rick.”

“I’m sure you’ll find the right guy.”

“Hum. Maybe.”

“You’re pretty and smart.” Janet stood five-foot nine-inches tall with short, blonde hair. Her size twelve slacks with a belt containing her holstered nine-millimeter gun and a pair of handcuffs fit snugly around a slim waistline. A size twelve, grey sports coat fit comfortably on her, covering her handcuffs and weapon. Michael snickered to himself. Unfortunately, she’s probably intimidating to most men, either before or after they find out she’s a sheriff detective.

Janet smirked. “I’ve heard this line ten years ago and look where it got me. If you weren’t my brother, I’d take your compliment about me as an ominous statement and prompting me to walk away from you and not look back.”

After about an hour of discussion, Michael and Janet concluded the deaths of all these people occurring exactly at 11:58 in the morning was an act of terrorism by its definition: The use of violence to instill panic as a means of achieving some type of goal. If this scenario turned out to be true of why all these people had died—even though no group had come forward and claimed responsibility—then what was their goal or reason for this evil act? Who were the perpetrators behind this horrendous act? And another important question: How did they achieve killing eight people in different areas of Ocala at the same time? Michael suggested there had to be a network of malevolent militants using a chemical or device directed at their victims. The logistics of delivering their deadly outcome was monumental. Yet these possible unknown terrorists completed this evil act flawlessly. Michael and Janet dismissed the idea of one psychopath responsible for this heinous act, it would’ve been logistically impossible.

“These deaths were deliberate, instigated by evilness,” Janet said.

“I agree.” Michael got up, put their empty coffee cups into the dishwasher and turned off the coffee pot. He turned around and rubbed his chin as an ominous possibility flashed across his mind.

“You look as if you stepped on an explosive device ready to explode, big brother.”

“What if these deaths today were only the beginning? And possibly many more people will perish in the near future at another selected time.”

The thought of this possibility frightened them.