almost an entire village. intercut with:
how the hell do i know? i'm the bureaucrat, you're the detective, remember? all i know is state wants us to lend a hand and when the secretary talks, i listen. and when i talk, you listen. you're code red. the plane's leaving at 01:30.
i'm comin' along, mike.
i'm well aware of the dangers.
nothing distracts you, colonel. you won't even know i'm there.
mike, have a little compassion for an old man who's been rotting behind a desk.
for once i'd like to be there when one of these buggers hits. you're not going to tell me i can't go, colonel, are you?
good. i feel wanted, now. i get airsick in the back. i'll be up with the pilot.
how do you breath in here?
and i thought it was a hassle wearin' a tie all day.
of course, we'll do whatever we can. cut to:
why isn't he sick?
a memo to the cdc to issue a warning to every physician in the united states to be on the look-out for this disease? what the hell is this?
are you nuts? within a week we'll know if this thing burned itself out in that village, just like iwabi said --
-- you're a smart guy, gillespie, but you can't write a memo to the cdc which says the sky is falling.
did i say that, colonel? we will monitor the situation in africa, and if this virus reappears, we will act with all our resources, not just to protect the american people but the people of the world. you will destroy this memo. that's an order. gillespie's frustrated.
the world is round, gillespie. didn't anybody fucking teach you? he grabs a metal file off the tool board and files down the side of the bench until it's perfectly smooth and round. then moves on to.  one of the huge circular freezers in the center of the lab. he punches in a seven-digit code on the keypad and the lock snaps open. he lifts the heavy lid. vapor rushes out. he looks inside, sees the 65 aluminum test tubes labeled "motaba." cut to:
tell the boys the old man wants the answer tonight. mcclintock yes, sir. mcclintock places the test tube into a clear plexiglass container which is contained within a large plexiglass container, each with its own combination lock. he twirls the tumblers. the locks snap into place. cut to:
you fucker, why couldn't you stay dead? cut to:
i know. he swivels around in his chair to the world map on the wall.
they hit kisangani, bukavu, and mbandaka as well. three hundred thousand acres of forest burned, at least thirty-seven dead. i'm trying to find out about iwabi.
terrible.
look, as a scientist, i appreciate the fact that this one fascinates you --
colonel, the pentagon's biting my ass cause we're months behind on the anthrax studies. get 'em finished. take the heat off me.
then you can fiddle with motaba as much as you like.
-- then it'd be outside our mandate. the cdc takes care of civilian problems. christ, now you've even got me buying into your paranoia. we can't protect everybody against everything. we've got to make decisions based on the odds, and the odds of motaba causing us any more trouble are a billion to one.
p.c.r. tests are tricky. it's easy to make a mistake --
request denied. civilian infections are not within our mandate --
let the c.d.c. do its job. if they need help, they know we're here.
we don't live in the african bush. we don't crap in our streets, we don't drink dirty well water filled with spit. the disease will be stopped.
you don't obey orders, gillespie. you're the last person i'd send.
the genie's out of the bottle in bonneville, oregon, donny, and we've got to get him back in. general mcclintock looks dumb.
cancel all leaves. mobilize all personnel. i'm going to want wind conditions and transmission rates -- for all insects, animals, marine, and human vectors. if this virus is spreading, i want to know how fast and where. he looks at his computer monitor, which projects a map of western oregon: the town of bonneville is close to the columbia river.
bonneville's only five miles from the columbia river and if this mother gets there, we're in big shit trouble. cut to:
of course. cut to:
sergeant, i want every specimen of motaba virus in this lab and this time no 'mistakes.' fade up country music with a real twang like the judds' "red cadillac" and.  cut to:
the secretary of defense and the president have made this a joint operation between the c.d.c. and the united states army. i've been placed in command. ford goes straight over to gillespie. briggs intercepts him halfway there, salutes, and reports:
there are one thousand two hundred and eighteen people living in this town. i want every one of them accounted for by 09:00.
you're under arrest. with major berman and captain salt --
-- stay out of it, robby. gillespie, you violated a direct order --
motaba is only spread by direct fluid contact.
that's crazy.
very well. colonel, you, major berman, captain salt.  can help dr. keough for the duration of this crisis, but you cannot leave this town and as soon as we get this under control, you'll be taken into custody.
we'll let the court martial decide that. suddenly robby's walkie-talkie squawks:
 or sick. smach cut to:
filo-four antiserum. antitoxin. anyone with symptoms or positive blood tests will get it stat.
it kills twenty-five percent of filoviruses.
in the lab. people react differently. gillespie and izzy exchange a skeptical glance: is ford losing it, or what?
we have nothing to lose -- the disease is incurable.
thank you. cut to:
the virus has changed enough so that the antibodies can't recognize it. we've got to find the host, donny.
nature is more generous than man, donny.  it creates more variablity in the antibodies. if we find the host, its antibodies may be effective against the mutated strain. mcclintock that's a guess. and there's no time, no cure. we have no choice but to implement the emergency containment plan. on ford's troubled reaction --
increase the spraying, goddamnit!
there's got to be a way to deal with it --
i want the most rapid-acting nerve gas. something so quick they'll never know what hit 'em.
it's so strange.  you look at these viruses under the electron microscope.  they're like.  like beautiful symmetrical crystals, so cold, so pure. you think you're looking at some fabulous piece of sculpture behind a museum wall.  till you see the blood and people dying all around you. i stopped it once. i thought i could stop it again.
we had to ensure that we had the only live samples of the virus.
 what do you know about the real world, gillespie? even the air you breathe is artificial. why do you think saddam hussein didn't kill our boys with his anthrax and his botulism and all the other crap he created in his labs? 'cause he knew we had something worse --
-- every fucking dictator of the future's going to use biological weapons that you can manufacture cheap in a test tube with technology you can buy at the newsrack. deterrence works. gillespie, horrified, steps away from his boss as he begins to understand the scope of the deception which he has been the victim of.
we spent years synthesizing an antibody that worked with the original african strain. we assumed it would work with this bonneville strain. we gambled. we lost. we can't afford to lose again.
the virus is going to reach the river.
if even one were sick, no matter where we were, the disease would start again. beat, gillespie knows he's right.
i did -- for thirty years.
you might be contaminated.
we have facilites to hold a few people in quarantine. get out now. take your team.
i'm sorry. beat.
that's not a consideration.
you're gillespie, you don't trust the c.d.c., you don't trust anybody.  you'd want to look at all the data yourself. ford turns to an aide, lieutenant richardson:
issue an all-points bulletin to every police department on the west coast. start with san jose. colonel gillespie and captain salt are armed, and assumed to be contaminated until proven otherwise.  cut to:
what time's that storm going to hit? frankle wavers.
goddammnit, you got every computer in the world here, what time's it comin'?
then we go at midnight. computer keys pound: santa rosa, california - 17:00
we got him! mcclintock smiles, grabs his flight helmet and races --
gentlemen, i have in my hand the final authorization to proceed, signed by the president. i know that each of us has doubts about what we are about to do. it is only human to have doubts when you are commanded to take the lives of other human beings. remember your wives, remember your children.  they will all get the disease and die if we let fear govern our hearts. we are doing what is right, and what the nation requires of us. pan across the grim faces.
i expect each man to do his duty. i know you won't fail. cut to:
give me the monkey, mike. the black hawk climbs higher and higher, through the thick layer of clouds, now absolutely black in the darkness of the night.
-- we have no way to produce them in quantity --
there's no time for that now. in the lead apache, snipers lean out the window. their telescopic sights lock on gillespie and salt. mcclintock give me an order to fire, sir. we don't need the monkey.
you've got until midnight, mike. cut to:
all the parts move with such precision he should be proud. but he's deeply troubled. he moves:
to implement the plan and to kill only a portion of the population.  that would cause great harm and solve nothing. mcclintock sir!! the nerve gas rapidly loses its potency after it's mixed. the choppers have got enough to make two runs. the virus is a quarter mile from the river. you've got to go forward.
stand down!! return your squadron to base and stand down until you receive further orders.
napalm everything from the town outward. mcclintock in the rain, the napalm will burn unevenly.
i'll take that chance.
i gave you my orders. beat. then quietly: mcclintock let's say the antiserum did work, general. you'd bus out the people, move 'em somewhere, and treat 'em. and with luck some of them would live. but it's not going to work and in the meantime you don't understand what you've done.
i understand perfectly.
i'm sorry, but my decision stands. if there is any hope of avoiding this horrible contingency, i've got to.  mcclintock has slowly drawn his belt out of his trousers. he quickly throws it around ford's neck, crosses it, and pulls violently on the two ends. ford kicks and struggles, but he's no match for mcclintock's strength. mcclintock i am relieving you of command on the basis of cowardice in the face of a national emergency.