“Better hurry up. David has had to have heard the engine of the plane by now.” Morgan grabbed a set of headphones and placed them on her head.
Heeding Morgan’s advice, Hope, too, jumped into the plane and grabbed her headset. She leaned over to Hunter and gave him the thumbs up, indicating it was time to go. Plugging her headset in, she turned to face Morgan. “How did you know what we were doing?”
“Saw the gear you had stashed behind the shed this morning. Knew y’all weren’t going out on patrol with that much stuff; figured we would follow and see what you were up to. When we saw the plane come out, decided we would tag along for the ride. Been getting cabin fever bad here lately, and needed to stretch our legs, too. Ain’t that right, Trip?” Morgan nudged Trip on the shoulder. He answered with a silent thumbs up and went back to looking outside the window as the plane started to move forward. “Now, where’re we going?”
“Colorado,” Hope answered, waiting to see if Morgan freaked out at the answer.
“Cool. Works for me,” Morgan answered back, not even flinching at the answer.
Hunter pulled back on the throttle and the plane roared to life, speeding down to the end of the runway until its wheels left the safety of the Earth and the plane took off into the blue skies. As Hope looked out the window, she saw a lone figure emerge from the woodline near the end of the runway and immediately recognized the shape as David. He was waving his hands violently in the air. Even from the height they were already at, she could understand the words coming out of his mouth by his body language. “We are so dead when we get back.”
“So, what’re we going to Colorado for?” Morgan asked over the headset.
“Let me catch you up on some details,” Hope answered before she went into a very lengthy tale, catching the new arrivals up on their mission.
Renee looked up as the small plane went over the camp, and she had a bad feeling she knew who was on board. She could tell Hope was lying to David that morning at breakfast, about going on patrol with Hunter. Hope always overelaborated any lie she was making with way too many details, and besides, she couldn’t stand being alone with Hunter for very long. Regardless of what trouble Hope was going to be in when she returned, she knew that when David got back, unsuccessful from stopping her, that he was going to be in a bad mood. So, she decided to go ahead and get her chores done before he returned, which might limit the blowback on her.
As Renee started to make her bed, she found a piece of paper hidden underneath the pillow. It was a note from Hope.
Renee,
I’m sorry for leaving like this, but something has come up and we have to go check it out. We will only be gone a few days; and if we are successful, we might be bringing the cure to the zombie plague back with us. Tell David we’re going to be okay, and not to take our lying to him out on the rest of you. You will have Morgan and Trip there to help with the defense of the camp, so you have nothing to worry about. Give Patch a hug for me and tell him I will be back soon to help him catch fireflies. I am doing this in the hope that we will not lose anybody else to this plague.
Love, Hope.
Chapter 14
Kane was sitting in his office, staring at the printout just received from Michael, looking for any clues in the language that would tell him who the two people were chatting in it. Nothing jumped out at him, though. He was on edge with everything that had happened through the night, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his brother Rowland in hopes he could get some answers that would justify everything he had learned. Then a knock at the door came, and he was taken back by who it might be, since both Rowland and Eva would not be knocking. He got up and walked over to the door to answer it when the knocking came again. He hurried the rest of the way to the door and swung it open, startling President Miller on the other side.
“What do you want?” Kane barked at the man.
“I wanted to ask about an order I just received that was sent out in my name last week.”.
“I don’t have the time for you today. Now go away,” Kane said as he went to shut the door.
Miller put his foot in the way of the closing door, unaware of how dangerous a game he was playing at the moment. “I am done with being the quiet man here. I am still the president of the United States of America, and I want some answers on what is going on here,” Miller stated right before the door was slammed in his face. “Damn it. I’m through being treated this way,” he yelled through the door as he turned around to head back to the elevator.
As Miller arrived at the door of the elevator, it was already opening, and he found Eva and Rowland coming out. He was almost knocked over by the fast-moving Eva who acted like he wasn’t even there. “Excuse me,” Miller said in a sarcastic tone.
Eva turned and gave him a cold look that told him she was not in the mood. “Do you have a problem, little man?”
Miller thought about replying until he saw the much larger Rowland approaching him with the same look on his face. He figured he would let the moment go and quickly slipped into the now empty elevator. As the doors shut, he breathed for the first time since they opened and leaned back against the wall, noticing the rather large new dent on the back wall of the elevator car.
Eva stormed into Kane’s office and marched straight to his desk. “I was told you have information on where Tovas’s killer might be.”
“Yes, here is the information I have,” Kane stated. “It’s not exact, but it gives a location to start looking. Whoever sent that transmission has some information that we need. You must find the source and get whatever they know out of them. The fact that it came from the same area we lost Tovas in, tells me they have to be connected somehow. Take whatever you need and go. Time is of the essence, and I will expect nothing but success on this.” Kane then stood up to greet his brother Rowland, who had been listening the entire time.
“Eva, I would have you take Isac with you on this. They were able to kill one of us, and he was the oldest out of all the consorts and unequaled in his battle skills,” Rowland added as he took a seat after greeting Kane.
Eva almost frowned at the mention of having to take Isac, but refrained, knowing she had always been on Rowland’s bad side. “I will gather my supplies for the mission and leave immediately.” Eva turned and exited the room.
As the door closed, Kane returned to his seat behind the desk and engaged Rowland right away. “Why am I finding out secondhand about orders being giving out?”
“Are you referring to my sending Donavan to check on Israel, or the fact that I’ve already summoned Heng to this office for a trip to Colorado, or is it the fact that I have already laid out the groundwork for our headquarters to be moved into Paris once we have eliminated the threat there, or is it the many other decisions I have made that you aren’t even aware of yet?” Rowland kept a steel gaze locked onto Kane.
“How do you know about Colorado already, as I was notified less than ten minutes ago?” Kane snapped back.
“My brother, ever since you let the first specimen slip out of your control and inadvertently started this apocalypse for mankind, I have had my hands in almost everything. You are the leader of this Council, as you have renamed us, but I am the one willing and capable of doing whatever it takes to help us meet our ends. You have made all this possible, and for that I thank you. However, your track record has been spotty on execution. Hell, that mess with that little German fellow almost cost us everything. I am not trying to challenge you for your position. I just want to get this plague behind us so I can return home to my mud huts and dirty water, as you have so eloquently put it over the years.” Rowland turned his head towards the door at the sound of the elevator opening again.
Within seconds, Heng made his appearance into the room. “My brothers, it is good to see you tonight as always, but for what was I summoned?”
Rowland turned to Kane and motioned for him to enlighten their brother.
Kane, who was still soaking in the conversation he was in th
e middle of with Rowland, was caught off guard by the shift in Rowland’s demeanor. “Well, we have a situation that Rowland and I thought you could help us out with.”
Heng, who was still trying to fit his large frame into the chair next to Rowland, looked up and motioned with a wave of his hand for Kane to continue.
“We have received a viable source of information that Mercer’s cure might be in Colorado, near Denver, and we would like you to lead a team in investigating this tip.” Kane looked over to Rowland as if he were asking if that was acceptable.
Rowland chimed in before Heng could answer. “What Kane meant, was if you would be willing to send your consorts to investigate it, we would send them with a team of soldiers to support them in the endeavor.”
Heng, who was looking uncomfortable stuffed in the undersized chair, answered very quickly. “It would be my pleasure to send them on this mission. It would give them a chance to get out of here and cure their cabin fever. When would you need them to leave?”
“Immediately,” Kane answered. “I have already called for a plane to be ready to leave as soon as they arrive. I will ride with them to the airport to give them the details.”
“I will send for them right away,” Heng said. “I am glad you do not want me to go with them. I have just gotten myself settled into a new residence and have the company of several young ladies I would most like to get back to.” Heng got up and walked over to Kane’s bar. “Oh, do you mind if I get some wine to take back with me?”
“By all means, brother. I will be waiting for Antony and Wylan in the parking garage. Just have them head straight there.” Kane turned to Rowland as he got up to leave. “We can finish our talk when I return from the airport.” Heng walked by him, carrying five bottles of wine.
“I will be in my apartment when you return,” Rowland answered as he chased Heng down to help him with his acquired loot to the elevator.
Kane nodded to his fellow brothers as they got off on Heng’s floor and waited for the door to shut before lashing out again at the side of the elevator. This time, he didn’t hold back as he drove his hand through the thick metal wall. He pulled his hand back inside just in time to avoid catching a steel beam as the car continued down to the parking garage.
Kane summoned his limousine while he waited for the two consorts to show up. His wait, though, was very short, as they arrived just as the car was pulling up to meet them. “That was fast. Let’s go, and along the way, I’ll catch you up on your mission in Colorado.”
As the car pulled out of the garage, President Miller stepped out from behind a concrete pillar and pondered what was going on to cause them to leave in such a hurry. He was going to go out for a walk to clear his head, but decided maybe he should investigate a little more, so he turned around and headed back into the still open elevator and pushed the button for the penthouse. As the elevator made the trip, he pulled out a small key ring from his pocket and smiled at the fact that he still had a key to his old office.
Chapter 15
Hunter quickly leveled out the plane at the desired altitude and set the auto pilot to take over. “All right, ladies and gents, we are on the way, so get comfortable. It will be a few hours until we stop in Arkansas for a quick fill up, and then we will be on our way to Colorado.”
Hope looked out the window and noticed they weren’t as high up as she thought they would be. “This hunk of metal can’t fly any higher?”
Hunter looked at her as if he hadn’t heard a word she had said. “Hold on. I almost forgot to do this.” He flipped a switch and suddenly the roar of the engine went almost silent. “There, that’s a lot better. Now we don’t need these headsets that you’ve already decided to quit using.” He flashed his trademark smug grin.
Hope made her statement again, but this time inserted, “You arrogant shit,” at the end of it.
“We gotta stay low. Don’t want to be picked up on any radar that might still be running out there. It ain’t the most stealthy craft around, but with the engine silencer and some other neat additions Benjy has added to this hunk of junk, it means we should be able to stay unseen and unheard all the way there. Bet you never realized every time we took this baby out, we buzzed your little Camp H to check up on you.” Hunter fumbled with a few of the controls before he got himself comfortable.
“That’s kind of creepy,” Hope answered. “Why did he do all these things to our families? What’s the purpose of all of it? Where does he keep disappearing to every other night or so? And when did you guys all find out about his other side?”
“Listen, I know you have a lot of questions and junk, but I got up really early this morning to get my baby here ready for this trip. I’m going to get a little shut eye. And after we refuel, I will be more talkative, especially if the coffee machine is still at the airfield we’re going to. So just sit back and enjoy the flight, or get some rest yourself. It’s gonna be a long day. Okay, princess,” Hunter said as he quickly put his head phones back on before he had to listen to whatever name Hope called him next.
“Ugh! Why is he such a douche?” Hope asked as she turned and looked at Morgan and Trip in the back seat.
“It’s just what he does,” Morgan said. “I don’t think he really means what he says. I think he just likes to get a rise out of people. Now fill me in on what exactly we are doing and why. I’d like to know what I’ve gotten myself into before we land.”
Hope went into a long explanation on the mission and caught both of the unexpected passengers up on everything she knew, which really was not a lot. After satisfactorily answering all their questions, she watched as both of them decided to follow Hunter’s lead and get a little rest. Hope leaned over and looked out the window at the serene looking landscape before her. She could see mile upon mile of untouched forest stretched out before her, and quickly got lost in thought, enjoying the scenery.
That was until they flew over a small city, and then she was snapped back to the harsh reality of what the world had become. Even from their height, she could make out cars, homes, and buildings. She had no idea what city was below her, but she could tell it wasn’t safe down there. She could see hundreds of slabs in the town’s center, just standing around as if they were waiting for something. She saw the definitive signs of a major fire that gutted the majority of the downtown area, and the streets were littered with debris from broken-down cars to collapsed homes and buildings. The sights were a stark reminder of what the infection had done to countless other cities and towns all across the world. As they quickly started to get away from the city with no name, she continued to look out and watched the same scene replayed several times, and before long, she wasn’t even aware of the tears coming down her face. That was until she heard a voice next to her.
“It’s a lot to take in. That’s why we either sleep on these trips or do this.” Hunter flipped a switch on the instrument panel. Suddenly, the windows started to darken as a black fluid filled up the middle of the double-paned windows. Then a red heads-up display projected up on the front windshield, giving them a very rudimentary view of the outside world. “Neat, huh? Benjy had this custom made, so he could fly during the day and avoid the sunlight, but it also works at blocking our sight of what is out there, too.”
“Is there a way to do just my window so I can see out?” Hope asked.
“Nope, it’s all or none. Why would you want to, anyway?”
“I want to see it so I know what we’re up against. My dad always said you have to know what and why you’re fighting, if you want to win. So, I want to see what is out there and why we need to win this war.”
“Benjy always talked good about your dad. He seemed like a decent guy. I’m sorry for your loss. Here, it doesn’t bother me so much anymore,” Hunter said as he flipped the switch and the windows went back to clear again.
“Thanks. I’m just gonna keep looking out. I’ll let you know when the alarm goes off when we get close to Fort White.”
“Naw, that’s okay.
I’m gonna stay up and watch outside with you. I guess what your dad said has some merit to it.” Hunter turned around and slapped the legs of the two passengers in the back seat. “Hey, you two, wake up and pay attention. We’re gonna look outside and see the devastation that’s out there today. We need to do this so we know what we’re doing all this for.”
Morgan and Trip wiped the sleep out of their eyes and gave each other a What the heck? look, but decided to just do what Hunter said to avoid an argument.
Hope glanced over at her normally hard to get along with pilot as if she had just seen the first sign of humanity within him.
For the next three hours of the flight, anytime the plane neared a city it wasn’t flying directly over, Hunter would take it off auto-pilot and fly towards it. The devastation was identical in every city, no matter the size. Jackson, Mississippi, looked no better or worse than any small city they passed. Occasionally, they would spot something that looked like a small camp of survivors gathered together. Sometimes they would see the destroyed ruins of a small camp, and Hope couldn’t help but wonder if that’s what her former home would now look like from the sky.
Everyone sat in silence, except when someone would point out something unique to the rest of the people on the plane, but other than that, they all just soaked in what they were witnessing on the trip. Just as the sun was getting to its highest point in the sky, the alarm went off, telling Hunter they were approaching the hidden airfield.
“We’re almost there. Does everyone know what to do when we land?” He got a positive response from everyone in the plane. “Ten minutes tops. Fuel and guns, that’s all we are to get. If the place looks ransacked, we go for just the fuel. If the fuel is gone, we take back off and try to get to our secondary location. But I don’t know if we have enough fuel with the extra weight I wasn’t planning on. So, let’s hope for the best.”
Juggernaut (Humanity's Hope Book 2) Page 7