Bull

Hi. My name's Michael Weatherly.

Tonight's episode of Bull deals with a citywide panic

not unlike the fears and concerns

people are experiencing all over the world at this moment.

Before we start, we wanted to remind you:

this is a work of fiction.

It was written and filmed months ago.

And its only purpose is to entertain you.

And that will do it for the headlines for the 9:00 hour.

We will see you back here at 9:30.

For New York News 3, I'm Allison Rojas.

And we're out.

Nice broadcast.

Thanks. That new shade of lipstick, that looks great on camera.

Who would send me

a birthday card two months before my birthday?

Okay, this is not funny.

Oh, no. It's in your hair. It's everywhere.

I have to be back on the air in 23 and a half minutes. No, I'll get-get,

uh, wardrobe and makeup.Hurry.

Yesterday morning, my wife... She woke up achy, nauseous.

She had a bit of a fever, said her chest hurt.

We thought it was the flu.

But then, today, she started coughing up blood.

Attendant,

let's get her to Room One. MAN: Yes, Doctor.

Let's page Dr. Farmer and the chief,

and then alert the Health Department and the CDC.

The-the CDC?

Center for Disease Control? What's going on?

Government buildings

remain closed and subway ridership

is at its lowest level since 9/11

as anthrax terror grips Manhattan.

A quiet panic has descended on the city

as New Yorkers are trying to figure out who's behind this

and when it will end.

At this hour, the death toll remains at two.

The deceased are Katie Connors,

who opened a birthday card addressed to her husband,

Manhattan Congressman Peter Connors,

and Emmanuel Bakry, the postal worker who delivered it.

But, finally, some good news.

News 3's Allison Rojas is responding to treatment

after opening an anthrax-laden greeting card

in this very studio more than a week ago.

Doctors expect her and the four other News 3 staffers

who were taken ill to make a full recovery.

Folks, we're about to roll, so I need quiet.

Five, four,

three, two...

Good afternoon from ground zero.

Here in Manhattan we're all collectively holding our breath,

waiting for the next anthrax-laden shoe to drop.

With that thought in mind, we thought we'd pay a visit

to Hudson University, which is one of the foremost laboratories

for the study of chemical weapons and bio-pathogens.

We wanted to talk with Dr. Roger Simpkins,

a microbiologist and researcher who runs this lab,

which is financed in a combination of funding

from the university and the government.

Dr. Simpkins, any words of wisdom

or homespun advice for our viewers tuning in,

missing work and school, doing everything they can

to keep themselves from becoming a victim,

falling ill, possibly even dying?

The thing we all need to remember

is that anthrax is not a virus.

It's a bacteria, and that means you can't catch it.

It can't be transmitted from person-to-person,

so if you don't have direct contact with it,

it poses no threat to you.

So calm down.

A-And I've been told that even if you do have direct contact,

it's still not necessarily fatal.

Absolutely true.

If anthrax is identified early, it can be treated.

What makes it tricky is early anthrax symptoms

look just like the flu.

So unless your doctor knows

that you've actually had contact with it,

the disease can go undetected until the drugs we use

to cure it are no longer effective.

But it's been nearly 20 years

since the last round of anthrax incidents.

How is it there's still no cure for this stuff?

Well, ironically,

uh, last year at this time, my, uh, colleagues and I

were in the process of developing

some very promising new late-stage anthrax treatments.

Wait.

"Were"?

Well, our funding, particularly with regard to anthrax research,

comes from the federal government.

And they pulled way back this year.

What can I tell you?

Go write your congressman.

The FBI is in my office.

They've determined that the anthrax used

in all these recent attacks

comes from our labs.

They want to talk to the three of you.

What did you do? Get a second job?

Aren't you afraid of dogs?

Other postal workers going postal?

- Not funny. - It's just my mail

for the last couple of weeks.

I made the post office hold it for me.

Once I found out the FBI arrested the anthrax killer,

I figured it was finally safe to pick it up

and sort through it all.

Won't be needing that anymore.

Bull in his office?

I'm in the middle

of some very important procrastination.

Hey. Sorry to interrupt.

Why are you so glum, Mr. Colón?

Haven't you heard?

It's a glorious day in New York.

Spring has sprung,

Easter's barely a month away,

and the anthrax killer is off the streets.

We can put this whole dark chapter behind us.

Well, actually, no, we can't.

What does that mean?

You remember, a couple of years ago, we signed up

to be a part of that program where private firms offer

their services to the public defender's office?

No. I got nothing on that.

Must have been trying to get into somebody's good graces.

What's the difference? We offered,

and this morning they called.

Natalie Reznick, the accused anthrax killer, is facing

two counts of capital murder and a slew of other charges.

Well, she needs a defense team, and we're one of the few firms

in the city with the expertise to handle that type of case.

Well, just call 'em back and tell 'em no.

I have a newborn child and you have...

Just say that

we really appreciate the offer, but we are not interested

in representing a terrorist at this time.

An accused terrorist.

I think you're missing the point.

The federal defender's office wasn't asking

when they called me this morning.

They were telling.

It's our case, Bull.

Happy spring.

I have no idea why I'm here.

Surely you heard the FBI agent

read you the charges before he took you into custody.

You're being charged with murdering two people

with a Tier 1 federal select biological agent

and terrorizing the city of New York.

Yes, of course, but wh-why would they think I would do that?

Well, the evidence against you

will be laid out at your arraignment,

but based on the charging documents,

the FBI has a pretty strong case.

How is that possible?

Well, when the funding for your anthrax research

was cut last year,

you sent out dozens of e-mails.

To journalists, to politicians.

The very people who've been the targets in these attacks.

Well, y-yes, b-but that's...

that's just a coincidence.

The-the letters that I was writing were about

how shortsighted and dangerous it was to cut that funding.

Just because anthrax was out of the news did not mean

that it was no longer a risk to national security.

Well, the U.S. Attorney's Office

suspects that when your warnings fell on deaf ears,

you orchestrated these attacks to prove a point.

"Anthrax is still out there. It's still lethal."

That's absurd. I am a doctor, I am a scientist.

The work that my team was doing was about saving lives.

How on earth would killing people

help us achieve that goal?

If that's all they had, I'd agree with you.

Are you aware that your office had been bleached

before the FBI searched it?

Yes.

Bleach is a disinfectant. I work with pathogens.

But yours was the only office

in the complex to have been so recently

and thoroughly bleached.

Bleach kills anthrax.

It makes it appear as if you were destroying evidence.

Your apartment had been bleached, too.

And investigators found a stash of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin

and a box of N95 face masks in your kitchen.

They suspect you used both

when you assembled the anthrax-laden birthday cards.

I mean, the masks were... I...

I was gonna paint my bathroom.

And I go on a medical mission every year.

This year, it's Cambodia.

Last year, it was Honduras,

Guadalupe.