Apache Dawn: Book I of the Wildfire Saga (49 page)

Cooper sat behind the wheel of the commandeered charter bus and surveyed the land in front of them.
 
There was smoke and rubble everywhere.
 
Buildings that had once been an active part of a bustling Air Force Base were nothing but blasted shells.
 
Cooper had known where the base was located—even without the GPS signals—by simply following the thick columns of black smoke that stained the sky for miles around.
 
Cooper saw a shot-up sign that proudly named the base as the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command.
 

They had driven—slowly—right through the main gate, which had been smashed open by a damn big explosion.
 
Cooper gave silent thanks that the blast had cleared a path through the debris just wide enough for them to navigate the cumbersome bus through the base grounds.
 
There were abandoned cars, resupply trucks, HumVees, civilian vehicles of every sort scattered willy-nilly as far as could be seen through the smoke.
 

Cooper was glad for the darkness.
 
There were bodies, too.
 
They seemed to twitch and move by the firelight.
 
It was an unsettling scene and he was happy to keep moving.
 

Many of the dead were clustered just outside the main gate.
 
Some had been killed in the explosion that had torn the massive gate wide open, but others had been burned, their skin a charred-black that was all too visible from inside the bus—judging by the gasps and choked-screams coming from the passenger area.
 

Cooper noted many, many bodies—usually clumped together by the entrance to buildings—slumped on the ground as if sleeping.
 

“Most likely, those are flu victims,” said Dr. Alston, suddenly at Cooper’s shoulder.
 
He felt a soft touch on his arm and lightning shot down his spine in tickling waves.
 
She pointed out the large windshield.
 
“See how they’re clustered by the doors to that building?”
 

“Yeah,” said Cooper, trying hard not to let his heart rate increase because of her proximity.
 
Either he was feverish or he needed a cold shower.

“They were trying to get in when the smoke from the fires hit them and overloaded their lungs.
 
The viscous fluid this bug produces makes it really hard for you to breathe—if you threw ash and soot in there…they probably didn’t last long.”

“Horrible way to go…” Cooper observed.
 
When it was his turn to punch out, he wanted to be taking out some bad guys in a ball of fire.
 
Drowning in your own snot was
not
high on his priority list.

Within the base, there was a disturbing
lack
of bodies.
 
A few in Air Force-gray BDUs were near the destroyed guard shack.
 
Some were slumped over in vehicles.
 
There were not nearly as many as they expected to see for a base this size.

It made no sense.

“
Where the hell
is
everyone?
” Jax’s voice boomed over their headsets. He had been sent with Swede and Beaver on a recon run. The three SEALs went in different directions, looking for survivors, supplies, and shelter.
 
So far, they had found none.

Charlie, riding shotgun in the stairwell, replied: “Keep looking.
 
They gotta be here
somewhere
.
 
The NKors don’t seem to be taking prisoners.
 
They couldn’t just vanish.”

“
Hooyah
.”

“How’s the President?” Cooper asked over his shoulder at the auburn-haired doctor.
 
His eyes met hers and he had to look away quickly or risk crashing the bus.

Dr. Alston sighed—even that sounded pretty.
 
“He’s not doing too well back there.
 
He’s in and out of a fever and keeps talking about needing to give a speech.
 
Something about clearing his conscience.”

Cooper nodded and looked out the driver’s window, hoping to see something, anything.
 
The only thing that moved was the smoke that seemed to be all around them now.
 
A black fog.
 
“Does he know what’s going on?”

The cute doctor sighed again.
 
“We tried explaining to him about the Koreans…but…I don’t know if he really gets it.
 
He was,” she paused and a little wrinkle between her eyebrows appeared.
 
Cooper tried not to grin as he watched her face in the rear-view mirror.
 
“He was pretty pissed-off when we told him about Barron.”

Cooper grunted a laugh and shared a look with Charlie.
 
“Yeah, I
bet
he was.”
 
He checked his dive watch. Holding up a hand to warn the doctor he had to have silence for a moment, he spoke into the air: “Sparky, you gettin’ anything yet?”

His bone phone broke squelch in his ear: “
Negative.
 
This place is dead.
”

“
Coop, turn on the bus’s radio, man.
 
We got a problem
,” said Jax’s deep voice, drawling the words with his Texan twang.

“Roger that.
 
Find anything?” he said while flipping the switch to activate the charter bus’s radio.

“
Parking garage on the northwest corner is only partially destroyed.
 
There’s a lot of HumVees out front, like they were circling the wagons here, or something.
 
Lot of bodies, man
.”

Cooper’s follow-up reply was cut off as the EAS message on the radio kicked in: “
…unsubstantiated.
 
Spreading rumors can be dangerous.
 
Remember, see something, say something.
 
Report any suspicious activity.
 
Anyone could be an enemy sympathizer
.”
 
The obnoxious, spine-tingling beeps that interrupted the message made Cooper grip the wheel tighter.

“
This is an emergency alert message.
 
In this time of crisis, President Barron asks all citizens to remain loyal.
 
Rumors of President Denton surviving in Los Angeles with doctors and Secret Service agents are just that: rumors.
 
Likely spread by the North Koreans in an effort to distract efforts to fight this war.
 

“
If you see anyone that claims to have seen the President or know of his whereabouts, alert your local or federal authorities immediately.
 
Anyone talking about President Denton could be a Korean agent and should be considered extremely dangerous.
 
Reports of Korean sympathizers along the West Coast are increasing.
 
Stay in your homes.
 
We are coming to rescue you.
 
Care for your families.
 
Pray.
 
Remember, President Denton’s survival is completely unsubstantiated.
 
Spreading rumors can be dangerous
…”

Cooper slowed the bus to a stop and switched off the radio in disgust.
 
He threw the gear shift into park and stood up in order to turn around and face the passengers.
 
The hushed busy-sounds from the doctors, nurses and agents vanished.
 
Everyone had heard the EAS message.

“Someone mind telling me who the hell talked?” he said in a dangerous tone.

Two of the nurses in the back looked at a third who shrank down and tried to hide behind a scowling Secret Service agent.
 
Cooper sighed and leaned against a seat.
 

“Ma’am, who did you tell and what did you say?”

“I…I-I just called my husband…” she stammered, glancing at the people around her.
 
From the doctors and nurses, she received sympathetic looks.
 
From the agents, nothing but glares.
 
“I…there was no signal for so long…I just—I thought we were going to d-d-die…”
 
She broke down in sobs, hiding her face in a cloud of curly black hair that had come undone from her headband.

Cooper made his way to her and knelt in the aisle.
 
Gently he took one of her hands away from her face and waited for her to stop shaking.
 
“Ma’am.
 
I need you to tell me what you said.
 
We’re not going to do anything to you, but I have to know, in order to make sure we all survive this mess.
 
Okay?”

She nodded, sniffing loudly.
 
“I told him…told him that I was alive and that I was—” she looked around nervously.
 
“I was with—with Dr. Honeycutt and…the President—“

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” muttered Charlie from the stairs.
 
Cooper glanced over his shoulder to silence his XO.

The nurse’s words spilled out in a torrent: “And that he was alive.
 
That there were Secret Service agents here and…and…soldiers.”
 

“Soldiers?
 
Really?” scoffed Charlie from the front of the bus.
 
“You think we’re just soldiers?”

“Stow it,” growled Cooper.
 
He turned back to the woman and patted her hand as gently as he could.
 
He was just as mad as Charlie.
 
“Go on, ma’am.”

“He…my husband…he told me that on the news, they had said President Denton was dead.
 
That anyone who was spreading rumors about him being alive was a traitor or something.
 
He said they were going to offer rewards…for information…” her voice trailed off.
 
A look of despair settled on her otherwise not un-pretty face.

“So you told him where we were…” prompted Cooper.

“What have I done?” she whispered.
 
“I’m so sorry…”

Cooper stood, glancing at the agents.
 
“Well, what’s done is done.
 
They—and that means our government, which for some reason doesn’t want President Denton alive, and the North Koreans—now know he’s alive and maybe where here is.”
 
He took a moment to let that sink in.
 

“A harmless call to a loved one.”
 
Cooper put his hands on his hips and looked at the other nurses and doctors.
 
“Do we know if her husband told anyone else?
 
Who knows?
 
They’re probably listening to all cell phone calls anyway.
 
Either way—it’s out and now we have a big, fat target on our backs.
 
All of us.
 
You think about that the next time you get the urge to call home.”
 
His expression dared anyone to argue.
 
He was met with hang-dog looks and silence.
 

“I trust you all understand the gravity of the situation now?”
 
After he saw enough head nodding, Cooper turned to Agent Sheffield.

“All right, thanks to our friend here, all phones and communication devices need to be turned in.”
 
He gestured to a few other weary agents who stood and started collecting the phones.

“But—” someone said.

“
Now
,” Agent Sheffield replied.
 
“The President’s life is in jeopardy and I will
not
allow him to be injured on my watch.
 
Hand ‘em over or we will take them.”

Cooper returned to the front of the bus and accepted Dr. Alston’s phone.
 
“Battery’s dead anyway,” she mumbled.

The radio in his ears broke squelch as he reached out to take the phone: “
Yo, Coop, I got a survivor here at the garage.
 
He’s with base security.
 
Says the rest of ‘em retreated underground.
 
Some sort of secret bunker.
 
He was sent up to bring us down there before the Koreans come back
.”

Cooper looked at Charlie.
 
Charlie shrugged.
 
“Sounds reasonable.
 
What else we gonna do?
 
Try to scrounge gas and make it back to Coronado—if it’s still there?”

Cooper stared thoughtfully out the window at the smoke and destruction outside.
 
If they made a break for Coronado—for home—there was a good chance they’d be picked off from the air.
 
If they stayed here…

Suddenly the bus trembled under their feet.
 
Someone gasped in the back and a woman screamed.
 
“Earthquake!”

Cooper shook his head and pointed out the bus’s doorway.
 
A cloud of smoke was growing into a mushroom shape in the distance to the east. “Bomb.
 
Over there.
 
I’d say about a mile.”
 
A jet streaked overhead, rattling windows.
 
That settled it.

“All right, everyone hold on, we’re moving.”
 
He keyed his throat mic: “Jax, stay with your airman.
 
We’re on the way.”
 
He jumped into the driver’s seat and kicked the charter bus into gear.