FBI Special Agent Matthew Ryker pays Dr. Bruce Ivins a visit after Bruce was arrested for the anthrax attacks that have been terrorizing the nation. “Do you sleep much?” Bruce asks Ryker in this EXCLUSIVE preview of The Hot Zone: Anthrax. Ryker replies, “Rarely, you?”
Bruce continues, “I know it doesn’t matter if I did it or not. You got a bunch of little pieces I guess. But what’s the motive?” Ryker says, “Vaccines.” Bruce adds, “A little evil for the greater good.”
Bruce wonders what charges he’s facing now. Ryker tells him that he’s being charged with five counts, and the prosecution is expected to push for the death penalty. “If I did it I guess I deserve that,” Bruce says.
Bruce changes the subject and asks Ryker if he’s ever experienced euphoria. Bruce ends up calling Ryker “delusional” for thinking he’s in control of his life. “A poster child for fortuitous living,” Bruce adds. The word “fortuitous” catches Ryker off guard.
Ryker explains how he witnessed the Pentagon attack on 9/11 with his own eyes. Bruce asks if Ryker saw all that “devastation.” Ryker says that’s not exactly how it went down. Ryker tells Bruce that right around the crash site the “grass was perfect” and no one was running out of the building screaming.
He adds that the plane “exploded inward and practically disintegrated.” A visibly shaken Ryker tells Bruce it was “pure terror.” Ryker continues, “All the debris and all the fallout was forced inside, buried.” Bruce says, “I take it I’m the imploding building. Well, you’re never going to see what’s inside.”
The Hot Zone: Anthrax takes place in the months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Five people ended up dead after letters containing anthrax were sent around the United States. The Hot Zone: Anthrax finale airs on November 30 at 9 p.m. on National Geographic.