Plagued: Book 1 (17 page)

“I will.”

His kindness cheered her immeasurably after the strange and terrible events of the past two days. Just remembering there were nice, normal people who were not involved in spy games and subterfuge.

The cafe mocha tasted wonderful and she did as the guard advised, draining it to the last drop. Wearily getting to her feet, she checked her phone on the way to the elevator. There were several missed calls. Some from the other members of the squad, two from her aunt and Rickey's mom.

Chanting “
please don't let him be dead,”
over and over under her breath, she took the elevator up to ICU on the fifth floor. The nurses station checked their list and issued her a pass. Then it was through the disinfectants in the Clean Room, and finally she was at the East Wing and Rickey's.

She caught her breath, biting the knuckles of her hand to keep from crying. Tubes large and small wound around her friend's still form, a breathing tube taped into his mouth. His skin was gray. His cheeks sunken. Monitors skipped and jumped on a table next to the bed. He looked so fragile and heartbreakingly young. Almost as young as Bruno, she thought.

Taking her arm, Mrs. Antonelli gently steered her outside.

“My darling girl, what happened? You look like death!”

Sky felt her lip tremble and she tried to will herself not to cry, which never works. The tears spilled over. Instead of comforting Mrs. Antonelli, Rickey's mom tried to make Sky feel better.

“It looks bad, I know.” She hugged Sky, which wasn't easy seeing how pregnant she was. “He's stable for now. The next few days are critical.”

“Can I sit with you guys or do you want to be alone?”

She kissed Sky on the forehead. “My dear, you are family. Sit for a little while. Then I want you to go home and rest or study or whatever you want to do, all right?”

Rickey's parents eventually dozed off in their chairs – they'd been at the hospital for over twenty-four hours straight – and Sky decided to have a look at the media Rickey had given her. Maybe she could find a lead on what the hell was going in with Hugo and her unit. Everything he said had a terrible logic she could not just dismiss.

Delusions had not built the blood vault, shot Rickey or murdered the Victims Army woman as a coverup.

The secure connection at her house was suddenly looking not quite so safe in the light of today's revelations. That meant the hospital wouldn't be any safer. She switched off the camera and the WiFi connection on her tablet before putting the media in a reader and plugging it in.

The screen opened immediately to the files. It wasn't even password protected. Maybe because he was afraid she wouldn't be able to read it if something happened to him. As it did.

With her ear buds in, she watched and listened to the file with the stealth bikes. Everything went exactly as Rickey said. Right down to the retina and facial scans of the riders.

She found several audio files labeled 'Major Dick'. That made her laugh. Those must belong to Major Bromwell. What she found sent her running to the car as soon as she could get away. Raj and Chase came together and offered to sit with Rickey's family, so she did not feel so guilty about being forced to leave.

She had to talk to her sister. Talk to her in person
now
.

Because Captain Kara Christensen was a traitor.

Chapter 18

Blood Ties

After finally reaching home, Sky ran up the stairs to the master bedroom, threw open the door and yelled at Kara, “
You traitor!”

“What the hell, Sky?” Kara was propped up with pillows and wrapped in blankets, Max a big furry lump on her stomach.

“
Traitor!
” Sky yelled even louder. “Admit it. You and the major are in it together. Schemers.
Liars
.”

Kara stared at Sky, scooting back in the pillows and shoving Max off. “That's impossible. You can't know anything.”

“I have proof. Rickey has you on audio talking about 'the package' and 'operation rendezvous' with your C.O. Over your cell phones. Dates and times. Evidence!”

“No,” Kara had her hands in front of her as though to push Sky's words away.

“Yes. Tell me everything or I swear I will call whoever it is you call on base for this.”

Just like before, Kara's face crumpled in upon itself. Her lips trembling, she threw herself into the pillows and began to cry. No, not cry. Wail.

“I tried to lose the baby. I admit it, I did it on purpose.”

“Your baby? What about the baby? Jake...”

“
Is not the father.
”

Oh crap. Sky had not expected that. “Whoa, Kara, no way. Then who?” Sky came to the bed and tried to get her sister to look at her. “And w
hat does that have to do with the major.” Then the realization hit her. Operation Rendezvous. “Oh my God, Kara, you didn't. Not with your C.O.”

She wailed louder.

In between the tears, Kara told Sky she was pregnant with the major's child.

“I wanted to lose the baby. I
had
to lose the baby. Daniel, the major, didn't know I was pregnant. He couldn't know. He's married. He would have had me transferred to some outpost in the middle of nowhere to protect himself. Derailed my career. And Jake, I didn't want him to know I'd been cheating.”

“Why try to lose it? No one is going to make you keep it. You could go to the medical center.”

“Records, you idiot,” she said with some of her old bite. “Everything would come out on the medical record. When I came up for my next review, it would show I had been pregnant. There'd be questions.”

“But Kara, your commanding officer?”

“He was someone I admired. I wanted to please him.”

“In bed?”

“You don't know. You're a child.”

“A smart child. The smarter one who doesn't cavort pants-less with her commander, Major Dick.” 

Kara slapped her across the mouth. In retrospect, she should have slapped her back, but Sky was too surprised. Then to make things worse, Kara put her head on her knees and began to cry harder. Big heartrending sobs that shook her whole body. Tricia came running out from the back of the house, jumped on the bed and tried to lick away the tears. Kara pushed her back several times then gave up, wrapped her arms around the poodle, and began to cry more.

“What am I going to do? I waited too late. I took some pills. The kind that make you spontaneously abort.”

“So you tried to give yourself a miscarriage? I thought you fell when the bomb exploded.”

“Not really, I wasn't actually close enough to the explosion to be hurt much. In the dust and confusion I cracked myself on the side of the head with some concrete and pretended to fall. It was just a couple of feet actually. Not very far. The pills though. That's what nearly killed me. I figured if the major found out
after
I lost the baby, I wouldn't get in trouble. The medicine I'd gotten was meant for the first couple of weeks, not the end of the first trimester. The stupid doctors at the hospital saved us both and now, here I am, back with my toes hanging over the edge.”

“Well, you're going to have it, him, her. Mostly because you could kill yourself if you try the pills again and you're too late to get it medically induced anyway. If something were to go wrong, think what it would do to mom, to lose you. Can you even imagine how her heart would break?”

“My career.”

“Screw your career. Okay? Military is not your only option. And screw the major.”

Her sister gave Sky a shocked look.

“Crap. I didn't mean that the way it came out. Besides, unless he does a DNA test, how will Jake know the baby isn't his.?

“How naïve are you? Jake is Chinese American. The Colonel is a redhead with about enough skin pigmentation to fill a thimble. And of course the hospital will do a DNA scan along with the blood work. The procedure is standard on newborns.”

“It is? I didn't know that. Just let me get this perfectly clear. You, Kara Elizabeth Murphy-Christensen, are not and never have been involved in any scheme to steal American blood reserves for a European Cartel?”

Now Kara really did look confused. “What blood scheme
thing
are you talking about?”

The relief was so great, Sky felt her hands begin to shake. Kara was a bitch and the least generous sister in the world. She wasn't a traitor and had no part in these murky plots and murders.

Eloise came bursting through the door, breathing hard as though she'd been running. “What on earth is going on in here? I heard you two shouting all the way from the carport.”

Kara reached out both arms, her face twisted with distress. “Oh, Aunt Ellie, I am in so much trouble.
I want mom
.”

Sky left them, saying to her aunt on the way out, “I need to speak to you later.”

Sitting on the couch hugging a pillow, Sky couldn't help wondering what they were doing to Hugo right now. Something terrible. She hugged the pillow tighter. Maybe he was already dead. Maybe it would be her turn tomorrow or the next day. Her stomach churned and she felt as though her insides were in a slow burn. The situation was helpless and hopeless at the same time. Like Rickey, she was scared. She needed more information. Tomorrow she would go to the hospital and try to speak with Hugo's father. Tonight she needed to see what her aunt could tell her.

When Eloise finally came into the living room, Sky was curled around her nest of pillows half asleep on the couch. She stirred, rubbing her eyes and wiping her mouth. She'd been drooling.

“Aunt Eloise, I want you to tell me about the Power Company.”

Her aunt didn't pretend to misunderstand her. “You've been talking to that Hugo boy, I guess. Sky, I cannot tell you about the Power Company. I have taken an oath and I am not prepared to break it.”

Sitting on the other end of the couch, she cocked her head expectantly, as though anticipating another question.

Sky thought over her aunt's words. Oaths were generally quite specific. Perhaps Eloise could talk about the past instead of the present. A history lesson.

“Then can you tell me how the Power Company came into existence?”

Eloise nodded as if she approved of Sky's approach. “That, I can do.”

They sat on the couch with Tricia curled up between them.

“You know that once the die-offs began in earnest, the government had to be scaled back, simplified so the chain of command could be maintained and Martial Law enforced. The same applied to intelligence gathering. Before the plague there were around sixteen different departments charged with gathering and analyzing threats to the US, both domestic and international. Most of them were dissolved.”

Eloise held up her hand and counted off on her fingers. “The National Reconnaissance Office – they monitor satellites –the State Bureau of Intelligence and Research – a sort of think tank of gifted academics – and the National Security Agency, one of the most powerful and secret of them all. Those three were bundled together into Homeland Security. The Center for Disease Control got thrown in later. As the death toll increased, the FBI joined the party. Over the last twenty years, the Bureau of Homeland Affairs has grown into a beast with big teeth. They codenamed it the Power Company. Regional and local units were set up within real utility service offices and power plants. An excellent cover. They operate twenty-four seven, employ large numbers of people and nobody questions you if you work for the utility services In fact, they're grateful.”

“Are they the good guys?”

“Sometimes they are, sometimes they are not. They have maintained order within the continental United States aided by the Home Guard and Tactical over some very terrible times.”

“Are they trying to kill Rickey and...” She added very softly, “Me?”

“All I can tell you is there are a number of covert operations going on in the Bay Area. None of them involved scrubbing two high school students that I know of.”

Sky started to protest.

Her Aunt held up a hand to forestall her. “That is not saying someone else, perhaps involved in profiteering, did not conduct that action.”

“What can I do? I'm scared. There's something going on at Base. Rickey found out.”

“I've contacted someone about this.”

“Someone who will help?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what you do at the company?”

“I am employed at the plant as an analyst. I report on weaknesses within the system.” Eloise gave Sky a significant look, urging her to understand the new interpretation those words had.

Hugo had been right. Her aunt was a spy.

“But,” she protested. “Does that mean you're not really a pet psychic?”

That made Eloise smile. “The Power Company is what I do. A pet psychic is what I
am
.”

Patting her on the knee, Eloise went in to make dinner. Sky lay down with Tricia next to her, tired and sore in body and mind.

She didn't wake up until the morning sun was in her eyes, still on the couch, several fluffy blankets tucked carefully around her. Kara walked by on her way to the kitchen. That must have been what woke her.

“What time is it?” she asked groggily. Her head was pounding and she felt like someone spent the night beating her with a stick. A big one.

“Nine o'clock,” her sister called out from the kitchen. “And don't freak out. Eloise phoned your school and said you wouldn't be in today. Go back to sleep.”

“Kara, I want to...”

“I don't. Don't talk to me.”

“
Fine,
” she said irritably. “I don't want to talk to you either.”

Sky dozed off again, curled up in her warm blanket cocoon There was a clatter from the kitchen, Tricia barked, followed by the sound of something breaking.

“Klutz,” Sky shouted.

Her stomach growled. Maybe she would go in and make some toast. Buttered toast was good she thought a little hazily. The events of the previous day had yet to blast in upon her consciousness. Then she thought of Hugo and all was lost. Her well being washed away on wave after wave of fear that reached up from the pit of her stomach to choke her with nausea. He might be dead now. Over what, she still didn't really know. He'd only hinted at the conspiracies reaching out from the shadows around her. The plague children carrying the fate of the world in their blood. Her family's mysterious involvement. Secrets piled on top of secrets.

A call buzzed in on Sky's phone. She had fallen asleep in her clothes and had to dig through the blankets on the sofa to find it. “Don't hang up!” she implored, finally locating it between the couch cushions. The screen said the call was from an unknown number. She had never wanted to ignore a call more. It could be from the kidnappers. Or, she reminded herself, it could be from Hugo needing help.

Groaning, she tapped the cell. “Hello?”

“Miss Christensen? This is Philip St. James. Hugo has been returned safely. I thought you should know.”

Her heart leaped into her throat before she remembered she wasn't supposed to like him anymore. “Is he all right? Is he hurt? And what do you mean by 'returned'?”

“His brother gave him back. The police or Home Guard or whatever they call themselves these days have been informed. If you could come by, I am sure he would be pleased to see you.”

'His brother?'
she thought wildly.

He terminated the call before she could ask anything else.

Pulling one blanket off the couch, Sky wrapped it around her and shambled towards the kitchen. This sort of news could not be faced without caffeine.

“Kara, is there any coffee?”

“Here's a cup,” a man's voice answered.

Sky stared. The beautiful young man with the crooked nose and thin white scar was standing in their kitchen holding out a mug of coffee. He was dressed much like she'd seen him the first time, in a very grown-up style. White shirt, trim cut coat and matching trousers that hugged his body. He smiled a cheerfully.

“Go on, take the cup. Your sister won't be needing it.”

Inside the kitchen, Sky saw Kara sagging limply in a chair, her head on her chest, her long, tangled hair masking her face.

Sky made a move towards her. “Kara!”

The man blocked her path. Bringing up a pistol fitted with a silencer in his other hand, he shook his head. “Not just yet, Skylar. Take the coffee and have a seat. Please?” He said the last word politely and offered her the cup again.