by Suzanne Robb
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Joseph put his hand in his pocket.
“The nuclear launch codes. I assume you want them to force the other countries into submission.”
“Smart and pretty, but you only know half of it. Have you had the pleasure to meet—”
“Wait, let me guess. Here’s the part where you tell me Allgood’s your brother. That was a no brainer. Two men going for the same thing at the same time with the same information. Give me some credit, you would only share your precious data with someone close, a person you trusted. An illegitimate brother fit the bill. I had a few hours to search public records, it was a long trip and Richards and I aren’t the chatty type.”
Joseph’s carefully controlled mask cracked a bit. “Of course, then you also know I predicted you would go to the Pentagon and come across the people there.”
Ally projected a bored expression; she hoped her mask didn’t crack before Joseph’s.
“Of course. You also knew James would come with me and assumed I would have killed Richards by now in the same way I thought Trevor would be dead.”
Trevor looked around the room, unsure what to do with himself. Joseph moved away from him as he spoke. “My, dear, I have no intention of harming Trevor, though I did expect you would have taken care of Richards for me.”
Ally laughed. “You can shovel that bull to your adoring public, but not me. I hate Richards, no lie there, but not enough to kill my only ally. As for you, Trevor.” She turned to look at him as she spoke. “You do know he’s going to replace you with James here.”
Joseph’s face turned bright red and he sputtered a few choice words. Dale grabbed the weapon from the girl. Richards moved to stand beside her and James was smart enough to stay put.
“Ally, I know you’ve been through a lot, and you hate me, but James has been helping us, remember?” Richards reminded her.
“Yeah, I do. You know he also tried to make me think he was my father. Nice try by the way, but you aren’t half the man he was,” she said with a pointed look at the older man. “And then he tried to make me think you murdered my mother. Talk about desperate attempts to get me to kill you. Makes me wonder why you’re such a threat to them.”
“What? I didn’t have anything to do with the death of your parents, that’s—”
Richards’s words were cut off by James, who’d crept up on silent feet for a man of his size and age. Ally flung a knife hidden within her sleeve and smiled as it sunk into James’s forearm. The wince gave Richards enough time to maneuver his way out and turn with weapon in hand on his attacker.
The dynamic of the room shifted. Ally stood with Richards and Trevor on one side, on the other were James, Joseph, Dale, and the girl.
“Shoot her, dammit. We don’t need her anymore,” Joseph yelled.
Ally held up her hands and smiled. “Before you shoot me don’t you want to know who’s been behind this from the start? If not, at least tell me what happened to Hank.”
* * *
The situation was not going as planned. At least not how he’d planned it. James said he’d be able to handle Ally, obviously not. Joseph looked around the room realizing Hank was missing. Where the hell did he go? When the hell did he go?
“Hold on, what the hell happened to Hank?”
The room remained silent. He did not come this far to lose. Only one person knew his entire plan. With reluctance and a touch of sadness he pulled out the small gun from his inner pocket.
“Dale, I did everything for you. I tracked you down. I made sure you lacked for nothing. I helped position you into a place of power. I took you into my confidence. How could you betray me like this?”
Dale grabbed the girl, but she pulled away. “Joseph, I didn’t do this. I didn’t betray you. You have to believe me.”
The muffled shot took everyone by surprise. A red spot blossomed on Dale’s chest and grew larger as he slumped to the ground. Joseph sighed as his brother’s body hit the ground. What a disappointment.
“Trevor, get his weapon and relieve the girl of hers.”
Joseph watched as Trevor did as he was told. The girl’s eyes were full of tears, and her body shook, but not enough for his liking. He raised the gun and motioned her to the other side of the room. He took note of the fact she placed herself next to Richards. Trevor seemed confident in his status now. Too bad.
“James?”
Trevor’s face remained impassive as he watched the others then he lurched forward as blood dribbled out of his mouth. James yanked the knife out of his back and pushed him forward with his boot. James bent over and picked up the two strange looking weapons Joseph assumed were the prototypes James messaged him about.
Putting his pistol away Joseph accepted the prototype James handed over. Damn thing was heavy, but it was the only effective weapon they had so far.
“Now, I bet the rest of you know what happens next, but you’d be wrong. I’m going to let you live for a few more minutes. Our friends on the lawn will be here soon. Now, put your weapons down, turn, and kneel.”
Ally moved with jerky movements and he could almost hear her thoughts. He smiled knowing taking orders was difficult for her.
“Ally, you were saying something about who was behind this?”
She laughed in response. He walked up behind her and put his hand on the back of her head, grabbed a handful of hair, and pulled. The slight tilt had her staring out a window where a dozen of those abominations ambled their way over.
“I can make your death easy or let you live—forever.”
She shook her head free of his grasp. “You’re an idiot, you know that, right? How could someone so smart not figure out they were being played. Hell, he got you to kill your own brother and Trevor for him. In fact, I bet he has the case right now.”
“I don’t have time for games,” Joseph yelled.
“Neither do I. Take us with you and I’ll tell you who did all of this, and then help you kill the son of a bitch.”
Joseph laughed. Was she serious? He sighed and knew deep down he had to agree.
“Fine, but leave your weapons here.”
The three stood and Joseph glanced at James who kept his weapon trained on them.
“James, open the damn emergency exit. You’re the only one who knows where it is.”
James walked over to a rusted out console and turned a lever. A portion of the floor dropped and revealed a slim ladder. James went first, followed by Ally, Richards, the girl, and then Joseph.
As he placed his foot on the ladder he only now wondered if he’d underestimated Ally Lane.
Chapter Twenty-four—
Ally stepped off the ladder and into the dark. James assured them they were safe here, the undead creatures above unable to access the tunnels, but that wasn’t what she was worried about. Two killers lurked in the shadows, aside from the ones she was walking between.
There was also the case to worry about. She knew Hank took it, making his escape when everyone was preoccupied with surviving. His partner would be down here, waiting. Somehow, she had to make sure those codes did not fall into the wrong hands—any hands. She assumed James and his men were some sort of offshoot from the militia. The only thing puzzling her were the survivors.
“I held up my end, now tell me who the hell is behind this,” Joseph demanded.
“Calm down and listen. I need a question answered first.”
“That’s not how this works. The deal was you live in exchange for information.”
Ally tripped on something in the low lighting of the passage they were in. “I like to change things up. Tell me, whose idea was it to have James play the part of my father?”
“I received a message from Hank when they discovered you’d survived the bombing. He came up with it, though it would be a way to soften you up and keep you off balance, but I can see that isn’t likely.”
Ally took a deep breath to avoid crushing Joseph’s windpipe.
“Hey, Ja
mes, is that right? Did Hank hand you all the information you would need to take on the persona of my long dead father?”
“He gave me a data file on you, and I memorized it. If there was a flaw it was in the intel, nothing I did.”
“Well, yes and no. You know what screwed you up?”
She heard the heavy footsteps from ahead slow down.
“What? Those idiots gave me surgery so I’d look more like him. Like to break their damn necks now.”
“The coffee.”
“What? That’s how you take your coffee, I didn’t mess it up.”
“You’re right, but my father died when I was a kid, not exactly my drink of choice back then.”
A muffled “damn” wafted its way to her ears.
“Looks to me like someone wanted you to fail, bet it’s the same person behind this,” Ally said.
“Tell us who it is already,” yelled Joseph.
Ally stepped with care, the tension in the confined space running high. Her conversation with James accomplished one of her goals, to get the group in tighter formation. Next she needed to get a weapon, but assumed that would be impossible with the current odds.
“I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. Who knew about the way Richards works? Who was posing as a bad guy to get information on what was going on? Who collected all of us in a small cabin?”
Ally waited to see if a name popped into someone’s mind.
“You can’t mean Charlie. Ally, he was off his rocker, went mad, not to mention he was blown up,” Joseph said with a sneer.
“Right, how about the fact Hank worked for him and is now missing? Why was Hank at the cabin? I should also point out James did do a good job, but a group of men alive in the Pentagon after all these years was over the top. My grandfather told me the story when I was a child. I told Charlie about it when I was a kid, he knew I’d head there because of hope.”
“I told him it was an idiot move, but he said he had orders from Erdman,” James said.
“Wait, I never approved that. What the hell are you talking about?” Joseph asked.
“Give up now, guys. Charlie manipulated all of you and because you were supposed to be doing something secretive he knew you couldn’t call or message back to iron out details. You did as trained, followed orders.” Ally sighed.
She moved the light stick on her hand and adjusted it so she could see down an offshoot corridor. Several eyes stared back at her, rats. Richards remained silent, trying to piece together bits of the puzzle lingering in his mind, she guessed.
“Ally, if Charlie was behind this why blow himself up? Seems self-defeating,” Richards said.
“Richards, he was one of your number one guys before he took off to right the wrongs of the world and all that crap. Tell me something. The weapons hold he’d built under the cabin, was there a reason the roof was lined with over a foot of steel?”
“I trained my men to have a safe place to go in case of—”
Ally smiled in the dark. “Yep, so we know how he survived. He planned the whole thing down to the last detail. He knew what everyone else was doing so it was easy. The only wrench in his plans was that I survived.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lisa, you’ve always been a survivor,” echoed a voice from ahead.
“There you go, Joseph. I believe he has what you’re looking for,” Ally said.
Several shots were fired and the resulting chaos of muzzle flashes created a strobe effect. Ally heard at least two grunts and one body hit the ground. James cried out that he took one to the shoulder, and Richards caught one in the thigh.
“Girl, get to your uncle and help him,” Ally ordered.
She scrambled up to where James lay and grabbed the weapon from his weakening grip. A wet hand seized her wrist.
“Don’t trust any of them. I really was trying to make sure the case didn’t fall into the wrong hands. Those people you saw are the only survivors of what’s happening up top. You need to keep them safe.”
Ally shook herself free. She was unsure what to say to the familiar face, altered or not, so remained silent. She took point placing her glasses on. The corridor burst into several layers of colors and shapes. Thirty yards ahead an arm-shaped red spot appeared. Without hesitation she fired. The resulting scream sounded like Hank.
Ally sprinted ahead hoping no one jumped out at her from the various corridors and junctions she passed. Steps behind her and knew Joseph was following. He was the only one with a reason, he wanted that case. A minute later she knelt next to Hank, his arm a bloody mess, shredded by her round.
But that’s not what killed him. The gaping hole in his side made sure he died a slow and painful death. Joseph appeared at her side and was about to say something when he saw the body of Hank.
“What the hell happened to him? He was bit, are they down here too? Where’s the case?” Frustration laced his words.
Ally couldn’t blame him. Fighting the undead was hard enough. Doing it in the dark was suicidal.
“He might have been attacked before he came down here. Give me a minute.”
Joseph laughed. “If something took a chunk out of you that big, you’d scream. Something got him down here.”
Ally used the muzzle of the weapon and moved some of Hank’s uniform material to the side. She sighed in relief. No bite marks.
“It wasn’t a zombie. Looks like a messy stabbing. We need to keep moving if we plan on catching Charlie. Those men are loyal to him and will do whatever he says. He’ll use the nukes to destroy whoever opposes him.”
Ally stood and saw Richards hopping toward them with the help of the girl. James was dead. Without him they were at a major disadvantage. He knew the tunnels and what pathways they needed to follow.
Facing front as the others were even with them she used the glasses to follow the trail of a single fading heat signature. At least the monster she was hunting this time was alive, it made things easier.
“Girl, what’s your name?” Ally asked.
“Janelle.”
“Dress Richards’s wound as best you can. We need to keep going. I don’t know how much of a lead Charlie has on us, at least ten minutes. I’ll move ahead with Joseph. Use those—” she pointed to a pair of glasses on Richards’s belt—“to follow our trail.”
Ally ignored the protests. They didn’t understand what was at risk. A few nukes were one thing, but someone hell bent on destroying the world was a different animal. She moved quick and with a single glance to Joseph made it clear she didn’t trust him.
“You do one thing I don’t like, I’ll have no reservations about killing you.”
Smart man, she thought as he nodded with no other response. They jogged, trying to close the gap between them and their prey. Ally tried not to think about what Charlie was planning, but it was hard knowing her goal was to get a suitcase full of nuclear codes. If she didn’t get them now she never would. Those men who were with James were on Charlie’s payroll and would spit blood if he ordered them to. But James was different, or did he try to go for her weak spot to help his boss with his dying breath?
The undead epidemic on the topside meant countries would be desperate for an intervention. They would give Charlie whatever he wanted if he pointed a missile to take care of the problem. As they moved she knew hundreds perhaps thousands of people of higher status had already been moved to bunkers and safe houses.
Out of the remaining population, children would not be taken into the equation. Only those who would be beneficial to the survival of mankind. Only those who would be able to help rebuild and repopulate. Only those who could afford what Charlie asked of them.
Up ahead the faint sounds of panting echoed back to them. Close. The heat signature brighter, Ally slowed her steps for a stealth approach. Joseph caught on and did the same.
As they neared the end of the escape tunnel she heard the rattle of one of the ladders being lowered. They needed to make their move now. She broke into a run and hoped t
o hell Joseph was smart enough to provide cover fire.
A nanosecond after the thought formed something whizzed by her face leaving a burn mark. Joseph returned fire and Ally was able to get to the wall and hit the button to send the metal escape route back up. The age and lack of use resulted in it stuttering and then stalling midway down.
“Damn it, why’d you go and do that?” Charlie croaked.
“You know I have to stop you. I can’t let you kill millions of innocents.”
Charlie laughed. “You always knew me too well. How’d you figure it out?”
“It wasn’t hard. You’re not as good an actor as you think. The bit about your wife being killed was a tad over the top. Trying to connect with me like that was pretty sick.” Ally hid in a corridor offshoot and tried to get a visual on where the voice came from.
“Well, there was a girl. She just wasn’t my wife, didn’t die, and I don’t give a damn about her.”
“She’s here you know. Does Richards know you’re the one who tipped off his niece?”
“Nope, he also doesn’t know she plans to kill him. In fact, he’s already dead, knowing her.”
Ally glanced over her shoulder at Joseph who was about thirty feet behind them crouched behind a chunk of concrete. She motioned for him to head back.
“Nah, you overestimate yourself as usual.”
Charlie’s sigh echoed in the cavernous area. “You know, as much as I’ve missed this banter, I’d rather kill you.”
“Sounds good to me, how’s the chest wound?”
Charlie walked into her field of vision and held out his hands to indicate they were empty. Ally didn’t trust it, but went along with the act. Playing along with everyone had gotten her this far, hell it was going to save her life.
* * *
Richards noticed a shift in the way Janelle supported him. Since they’d been reunited she acted different. In the room upstairs she had taken sides with Joseph at first, he pretended not to notice, but now wondered if everyone was a traitor.