Recovery: V Plague Book 8 (13 page)

We were
going so fast I blasted through a tiny town before I even realized it was
there.  I had seen a small stand of trees on the horizon, approaching very fast,
and hadn’t realized they marked the edge of a few small buildings.  The Dodge
roared through at such a high rate of speed I wasn’t able to tell what any of
them were.

I had zeroed
out the trip odometer when Katie told me we were 104 miles from the turn on US
183 and I gave the instrument a quick glance.  102 miles.  Less than two to go,
and at our current rate we would cover that in less than a minute.  I hit the
button to cancel the cruise control, the speedometer quickly swinging down
until I put my foot on the gas to hold us at 80. 

“Did that
town we just went through have gas?”  The extreme speed we were maintaining was
consuming fuel at a ferocious rate.

“I don’t
know.  We went through too fast,” Katie answered, leaning sideways to see the
gauges.  “Wow!  We’ve really used half a tank already?”

“Yep. 
First, give me the distance to our next turn once we’re on 183, then call
Jessica so we can have her find us a gas station within the next hundred
miles.” 

Katie
grabbed the sat phone and started scrolling through, checking the directions
that had been texted to it.  Ahead I could see the intersection and the crashed
vehicles I had been warned about.  Lightly tapping the brakes I steadily
brought our speed down, slowing more when I realized I’d have to drive onto the
dirt shoulder to get around the wreck.

“187 miles
due north to I-70,” Katie said, pressing and holding the speed dial button on
the phone.  I reset the odometer as the phone began ringing.

“I’m
watching you turn north, sir.”  Jessica answered as I maneuvered around the
crash.  “I’ve scanned ahead and you’ve got wreckage at 52 miles and again at 131.”

I pressed
the accelerator to the floor and the Charger leapt ahead with a roar of
exhaust.

“Thanks,” I
said.  “I’m going to need fuel within the next hundred miles, then probably
about every two hundred after that if you can start working on spotting gas
stations for me.”

“No problem,
sir.  Stand by and I’ll find your first one.”

We were back
up to 140, but the new highway wasn’t as smooth as the last and I had to pay
more attention and make almost constant corrections to the steering wheel to
keep us in a straight line.

“At the site
of the first wreck you come to, sir.  There’s a small, independent gas station
less than a quarter of a mile farther down the road.  If you call me while
you’re refueling I’ll have the next one spotted for you.”

“Thank you,
Jessica.  How are the targets doing?”  I asked, referring to Rachel and the
pilot.

“Weather’s getting
really bad at their location.  I’ve lost them on thermal for the moment due to
the thickness of the cloud cover.  They were moving before I couldn’t track
them any longer and I think they were headed for a lake.  That’s the only thing
in their direction of travel that makes sense.  They actually moved deeper into
the mountains.”  She said.

“OK,
thanks.  Call me if anything changes.”

“Will do,
sir.”  There was a click and a beep and she was gone.

“How cold do
you think it is there?”  Katie asked.

“Too cold to
not be wearing anything other than a flight suit.  Hopefully that pilot paid
attention when he went through survival training.”  I pressed harder on the
accelerator but we were already going as fast as the on-board computer would
allow.

“So what
happens when we find them?”  Katie asked, scratching Dog’s head.

“What do you
mean?”

“What
happens?  What do we do?  Where do we go?”

“I don’t
know,” I answered.  “I haven’t thought that far ahead.  Just been focusing on
getting there before the weather, or something else, kills them.”

“What are
you going to do about Rachel?”  Katie asked.  “That woman is in love with you
if you hadn’t noticed.”

“I noticed,”
I said.  “And I don’t have a good answer for you.  I haven’t exactly had the
luxury of time to dwell on the subject.”

“Well, you’d
better give it some thought.  Her heart is already broken.  Whatever you say to
her just be sure you aren’t being an unsympathetic jerk.”

I gave Katie
a quick glance.

“What?”  She
asked.

“Just not
the reaction I expected from you.  That’s all,” I said.

“What did
you expect?” 

“I’m not
really sure,” I answered.  “Just not compassion for the “other woman”.”

“You really
don’t get women do you?”  She asked, shaking her head.  “This isn’t like she
was someone who tried to take you away from me.  The world ended.  No, it
didn’t just end, it crashed down around her ears and you were her knight in shining
armor.  You saved her life and have been keeping her alive for quite a while
now.  Of course she fell in love with you, and you developed feelings for her.

“I don’t
blame her one bit.  And I hope you understand I don’t blame you.  It hurts,
knowing that you have feelings for her, but I’m not some silly little high
school girl that’s going to go off the deep end about it.  If I put myself in
her shoes I understand how fragile her emotions must be when it comes to you. 
All I’m saying is that I don’t want to see her get hurt any more than she’s
already been.”

I wanted to
reach across and take Katie’s hand, but our speed on the rough road dictated
that I keep both of them on the wheel.  All these years of marriage and she
could still surprise me.

“I love
you,” I said softly, genuinely touched by what she’d just said. 

“And I love
you,” she answered, reaching out and placing her hand on my shoulder.  “I know
you’ll handle this as well as anyone could.”

“Now you’re
full of shit,” I said, laughing.  “When have you known me to handle anything
diplomatically?”

“Just be
honest with her.  But for God’s sake think about what you’re going to say
before you say it.  Some times you’re way too blunt with your honesty.”

We fell
silent after that, quickly covering the distance to the next wreck.  The
terrain was so flat I could see it well before we reached it.  Backing off the
throttle I let the car’s speed bleed off until we were below a hundred, then
used the brakes to slow us to no more than thirty.  After the blistering pace
thirty miles an hour felt slow enough that it seemed I could open the door,
step out and walk.

Steering
around the abandoned crash I spotted the first infected we’d encountered since
leaving the police station.  Three males stumbled down the middle of the road,
heading in our direction.  I imagined the Dodge was making a hell of a racket
when I pushed it up to its top speed and they had probably heard us coming from
a long way off.

“There,”
Katie said, pointing at a small, one-pump gas station a short distance down the
road.

I avoided
the infected and accelerated slightly so we’d get to our stop with plenty of
time to spare before they arrived.

“I’m going
to get the fueling started.  I’ll be under the hood connecting the pump to the
battery so you and Dog keep a sharp eye out.”  I said as I turned into the
station and stopped next to a large plate that covered the port for the
underground storage tank.

“As long as
I get a potty break while we’re stopped,” Katie said, popping her door open.

She stepped
out and immediately pulled the back door open to let Dog join her.  I would
have preferred to leave the Charger running and not take the slight risk that
the car wouldn’t start when we were ready to go, but running flat out is truly
tortuous on an engine.  The oil needed to be checked.  I wouldn’t be a bit
surprised to find it low after covering 150 miles in just over an hour.

I released
the hood and trunk, and as I grabbed the tools to open the storage tank Katie
began firing her suppressed M4.  It took her several shots to put all three of the
males down but I wasn’t about to criticize her marksmanship.

Opening the
tank was simple, taking less than thirty seconds.  Running back to the open
trunk I pulled out the larger hose and fed several feet of it into the hole in
the pavement.  Connecting it to the pump I then attached a smaller hose, which
was shoved into the Dodge’s fuel filler neck.

Power cable
for the pump in hand, I leaned under the hood and yanked the black plastic
cover off the battery’s negative terminal.  The pump had two wires, red and
black, bundled together with each one ending in a large metal clamp that looked
like the ones on the ends of jumper cables.  I attached the negative first then
clipped the red one into place.

The pump
vibrated noisily as the impeller began spinning without any resistance.  It
didn’t take it long to prime and start sucking fuel, the two hoses jumping and
twitching like snakes as the gasoline flowed.  Finding the end of the oil
dipstick I pulled it out and not having a towel, wiped it clean on my pants
leg.  I stuck it back in, waited half a second, pulled it out again and peered
at the thin strip of spring steel. 

The level
was still good and the oil didn’t show any sign of burning or breaking down. 
While I was doing this Katie fired two more shots and I looked up to see
another male that had wandered around the corner of the gas station drop dead
to the ground.  Trusting her, I walked around the car checking each of the
tires to make sure they were holding up.  I didn’t even want to contemplate
having a blowout at 140 miles per hour.

It took less
than three minutes to fill the Dodge, fuel gushing out of the filler neck the
only warning that the tank was at capacity.  I was momentarily surprised,
accustomed to it taking a long time to fill up any vehicle at a gas station,
but the pump I was using was powerful and moved a lot of gas very quickly. 
Removing the clips from the battery it spun down and I ran around to pull the
hose out of the car’s tank before gravity began siphoning out what I’d just put
in.

I got
everything drained as best I could and returned to the trunk.  Slamming the lid
I turned when Katie fired another shot quickly followed by three more.  A
female had been sprinting at us from behind the wrecked cars we’d passed.  She
was still alive, Katie’s bullets having punched into her torso and breaking her
hip.  She squirmed on the ground, crawling her way towards us.

“Stay by the
car while you’re going,” I said, raising my rifle and drilling a round through
the female’s head.

Dog trotted
to a small wooden fence and lifted his leg while Katie squatted by the front
corner of the car.  Both of them were done quickly and I took a moment to
relieve myself where I stood.  Sometimes it’s downright convenient to be a guy.

Katie put
Dog back in the rear, sitting down in front and closing her door.  Once they
were in the vehicle I climbed in and shut my door.  The car started easily and
a moment later we accelerated out of the gas station.

“What did he
say, sir?”  Martinez asked Crawford when he pulled off the headset and passed
it to Scott.  They were inside the Bradley and he’d just had a conversation
with Dr. Kanger over the FSOC system.

“He says
that there is always a possibility of someone being immune,” Crawford answered,
leaning back and rubbing his eyes.  “If he was trying to develop a vaccine then
an immune subject would be invaluable.  But, he doesn’t really need him to
engineer the Terminator virus.”

“So what do
we do with him?  Set him free and let him fend for himself?”  Scott asked.

“No, we’re
going to take him to Seattle.  The Doctor says there’s a very remote chance
that with an immune subject he might be able to develop a cure.”  Crawford said.

Martinez and
Irina stared back at him, mute with shock at the news that a cure just might be
possible.

“Don’t get
your hopes up,” the Colonel said.  “The Doctor didn’t sound optimistic.”

Irina and
Martinez exchanged looks, neither of them able to speak at the thought of
reversing the effects of the virus.

“I’m going
to go get him,” Crawford finally said.  “Be ready to move when I get back.  The
Major already has a big head start on us and will be moving at least three
times faster than we can.”

Irina
rattled off something in Russian to Igor.  The big Spetsnaz soldier nodded,
picked up his rifle and followed Crawford into the jail.  The Colonel looked at
him and smiled.  They stopped briefly in the police station to pick up some
restraints before heading through the door to the detention area.

“Are you
going to let me out of here?”  Walker asked when they walked up and looked in
his cell.

“Yes,”
Crawford said.  “And you’re coming with us to Seattle to see a Doctor.”

He stepped
forward and inserted a large key in the cell door’s lock.  Access was normally
controlled electronically but there was a mechanical back up in the event of a
power failure or malfunction of the circuit.

“I don’t
need no fucking Doctor,” Walker protested, taking a step away from the door as
the Colonel slid it open.

“This isn’t
an option,” Crawford leveled his gaze at the man.  “We need to know why you
aren’t infected and the only Doctor left that can do that is in Seattle. 
Either that, or I’ll close this door and leave you here.”

Johnnie Ray
Walker was not a brave man.  Violent when he was armed and comfortable he had the
advantage, but at heart he was a coward.  The thought of being left in the cell
to die emboldened him and he suddenly charged directly at the Colonel.

Crawford had
seen the intent in his eyes and was prepared.  As Walker lunged, he lifted his
arm and smashed an elbow into his face.  Johnnie Ray came to a stop as if he’d
hit a brick wall, falling to his ass on the filthy floor of the cell.  Blood
poured from his broken nose across the lower half of his face.

Igor stepped
forward and grabbed an arm, yanking Walker through the open door where he ended
up face down.  Roughly pulling an arm back, Igor slapped a handcuff on the
wrist then pulled the other back and locked the second shackle in place.  With
the prisoner secured he lifted him to his feet and gave him a big shove in the
middle of his back, sending him stumbling towards the stairs.

“You can’t
do this!  I know my fucking rights!”  Walker turned and screamed at them from a
few feet away.  The Colonel sighed and moved past Igor to loom over the smaller
man who shrank away from his gaze.

“You’re
right, Mr. Walker,” he said in a low, dangerous voice.  “I’m violating many of
the rights guaranteed to you by the constitution.  And I’m probably going to
violate several more before this is all said and done.  So, ask yourself.  If
he doesn’t give a shit about any of my rights, what else is he willing and
prepared to do to me?  Now, I don’t have time to be fucking around with you so
shut your mouth and cooperate and there’s a chance you’ll come out of this
alive and a free man.”

Johnnie Ray
looked at the Colonel and swallowed audibly.  The man frightened him, and the
big soldier with him had the coldest eyes he’d ever seen.  Of all the things he
was, first and foremost he was a survivor and knew when to go along to get
along.  He nodded and kept his mouth shut.  He was out of the cell.  An
opportunity to escape from his captors would present itself if he was just
patient.

Crawford and
Igor escorted Walker out of the building and into the sunshine.  Scott,
Martinez and Irina were loading all of the ammunition and small arms that John and
Katie hadn’t taken from the armory.  When Johnnie Ray saw the two women he
broke out into a big grin.

“Why didn’t
you tell me there were two hot pieces of ass like that?  I wouldn’t have argued
about coming along.  Been a long time since I seen a woman.”  He turned to look
at Igor, the smile vanishing off his face when he saw the expression on the big
Russian.  Looking back to the front he came to a stop less than a foot from
Martinez.

“You’d like
a little Latina ass?  Am I right?”  She smiled prettily.

“Chiquita,
I’d tear that ass up and leave you begging for more,” he looked her up and down
as he licked his lips.

Martinez
smiled back as her right hand flashed.  She tapped Walker’s crotch with the
back edge of a razor sharp knife hard enough to make him flinch.  Holding the
blade against him she leaned in until her face was nearly touching his.

“Understand
one thing, puto.  You are not to look at me or that other woman.  At all.  You
will only speak to us if one of us speaks to you first.  You don’t need your
cock and balls for the Doctor.  Fuck with either of us and you’ll be as smooth
between your legs as I am.  Got it?”

Her tone
never changed and the smile never left her face as she spoke.  She punctuated
the last two words with a hard tap of the blade directly to his balls.  His
eyes were large with fear and he was unable to speak.

“Do I need
to ask you again if you understand?”  Martinez tapped him even harder.

“I – I – I –
I understand,” he gasped.

Martinez
flashed him a bright smile before sheathing the knife and walking away to help
finish loading the Bradley.  Crawford looked over at Igor who hadn’t understood
what Martinez had said but clearly had gotten the gist of her warning to their
prisoner.  He was grinning from ear to ear and at a nod from the Colonel shoved
Walker towards the Bradley.

“What was
that all about?”  Irina asked as Igor got their passenger situated and strapped
into a seat.

“Just
letting a pig know that I’ll be happy to start removing offensive body parts if
he is disrespectful to either of us.”  Martinez answered.

“Good,”
Irina said, staring into her eyes.  “I’ve personally never thought much of that
body part.”

Martinez
looked back at her in surprise then climbed the rear ramp into the Bradley.  As
Irina brushed past, rubbing more of her body against her than was necessary,
she smiled and watched the pretty Russian woman settle into the driver’s seat.

“Sir, would
you like the vehicle commander’s station?”  Scott asked Crawford as everyone
moved into the vehicle and began finding a place to sit.

“Negative,
Tech Sergeant.  You’ve been doing great so far, might as well stick with the
horse that got us this far.”

“Horse?” 
Igor asked, looking around with a confused expression.  Even after Irina
translated for him he still looked like he didn’t understand.

“Captain,
why don’t you take the gunner’s station?  My Russian’s pretty rusty but I think
I remember enough to start teaching our big friend some English while we’re
driving.”  Crawford said as the rear ramp lifted into the closed position with
a whine of hydraulics.