by Dirk Patton
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.
25
“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.
26
Kansas must have had a bigger road maintenance budget than Oklahoma. We screamed by a large sign welcoming us to Kansas and proudly proclaiming it was the “Sunflower State” not too long after our fuel stop. The change in the road surface was dramatic and immediate and I was able to relax slightly on the smoother pavement.
I had settled into a routine as I drove. My eyes stayed on the road ahead, constantly moving and looking as far ahead as possible so I’d have plenty of warning if there was something I needed to be concerned about. Every thirty seconds or so, I’d lower my vision to make a quick scan of the Dodge’s dash panel.
The Charger was performing well, so far, but I was pushing it harder than it had been designed for. I was keeping a very close watch on the water temp and oil pressure, which were all that were displayed, and I was expecting at any time to see the former begin climbing and the latter to start dropping. But so far it was running like a champ despite the abuse I was putting it through.
We had been in Kansas for less than five minutes when the satellite phone rang. Keeping my eyes on the road I found the button on the steering wheel that controlled the link and pressed it.
“Yes,” I assumed it was Jessica from Pearl Harbor but there was no number displayed on the screen.
“Sir, it’s Petty Officer Simmons at Pearl. You may have a problem. I’ve been tracking you on a wide view and a few minutes ago a Russian YAK fighter that was flying a CAP in your area deviated from its patrol pattern. From my view it appeared to be taking a closer look at you, but I couldn’t tell for sure. We’re monitoring the comms in and out of the plane and I’m waiting for a Russian language translator to tell me what the pilot is talking about.”
Shit!
“What are the Russians doing flying a CAP in this part of the country? We’re a long ways from any of the three air bases they occupy.”
“I thought you knew, sir. There’s been a surge in the past thirty-six hours. They’ve more than doubled their military presence in CONUS. They’re occupying five additional bases west of the Mississippi. The one that I think may have taken an interest in you is out of McConnell in Kansas. You’re within the envelope of their CAP.” She sounded apologetic, but it wasn’t her fault. I’d heard something about a Russian surge but hadn’t given it much thought other than I couldn’t fly to where Rachel was stranded.
“It’s OK, Jessica. I had heard about the surge, just wasn’t thinking. What’s our guy doing now? Is he keeping an eye on me or has he resumed his patrol?”
“He’s back on his pattern, sir. I should hear back on the translation… Uh Oh.” She broke off her thought.
“What Uh Oh?” I almost shouted.
“Two helos just lifted off from McConnell. Russian HINDs. They’re on a westerly heading which is a direct course to you.”
“What’s their ETA?” I asked, exchanging a worried glance with Katie.
“Doing the math now, sir. Stand by,” she said and I could hear her breathing over the open circuit as she worked. “OK, I had to look up their top speed and operational radius. Top speed is 200 miles per hour and their range is 280 miles, though I suspect the range would be less if they were pushing to the max.
“They’re 140 miles to your east, due east, at the moment. With only at best a sixty mile an hour speed advantage over you, if you maintain your current speed they can’t catch you.” She sounded genuinely pleased.
I breathed a momentary sigh of relief then thought some more about what she’d just said.
“OK, the Russians aren’t stupid,” I said. “They must already know they can’t catch me with the helos. So, why did they launch?”
“I don’t – wait one, sir.” Again I could hear her breathing and the occasional click of her mouse. “An aerial tanker just entered the area. They’re going to be able to refuel and stay on your track.”
“Damn it!” I grumbled. “I don’t get it. That’s a lot of resources dedicated to one car driving across the middle of nowhere. Why the hell are they so interested?”
“I don’t have any idea, sir. I’m going to see if I can come up with any ideas to evade them but for the moment stay on your current route and maintain your speed. Even with refueling it will take them a long time to catch you and maybe they’ll lose interest before then. It’s also possible they’re out on a regular patrol and just happen to be heading in your direction and we’re worrying about nothing.”
“Yeah, and if a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass on the ground every time it jumped,” I said, a moment later hearing Jessica giggle over the phone. Katie, who’d heard that little gem more than a few times, just shook her head. “Call me as soon as you know more.”
“Yes, sir.” There was a beep and she was gone.
“OK, you’re the intelligence officer in the car,” I said to Katie. “What am I missing?”
“You’re asking me? This is a military thing. That’s your world, not mine.” She answered.
“It may be the military but there’s got to be some logic here that I’m missing. You don’t put two helicopters and a refueling plane in the air to chase down a single car. That just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Unless there’s someone in the car that they want to get their hands on,” Katie said, looking at me.
“There’s no way they know who we are, and even if they did why would they care?”
“They might know,” Katie said. “How secure do you think the sat phone is? I know it’s going through an NSA satellite, but… And there are several people that know what we’re doing. You’ve got the people in Hawaii. How many of them know we’re out here? And don’t forget the two Russians riding around in the Bradley. How sure are you their defection is genuine?”
“I don’t have much, if any, doubt about Irina or Igor,” I said. “I saw them kill several of their countrymen to escape, as well as fry a bunch more with a backpack nuke. I know the Russians have gone to extremes in the past to sell a false defection so they could get an agent in place, but no one goes this far. Besides, there’s no reason for the Russians to be interested in either of us.”
Katie was quiet for almost a minute, staring out the windshield.
“What?” I finally asked. She took a deep breath and turned sideways in the seat to face me.
“Remember how Steve got in trouble for accessing your file when we first got together?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I said, not liking where this might be going. “And you stayed clear of all that. Right?”
“Well, not exactly. He was pretty upset and determined to get me back. He didn’t just look at your file, he printed it out and told me about a lot of it.” She said in a soft voice.
“So you…” I said, trying to not get upset.
“I lied,” she said, reaching across and placing her hand on my arm. “I didn’t see it, and he and I had a big fight about it, but I heard a lot of the details. Steve made it sound like you were some kind of sociopath and we had just gotten married and I was already head over heels in love with you. I’m sorry I lied.”
“Jesus Christ!” I exploded. “If you wanted to know something all the fuck you ever had to do was ask. You know that!”
“Oh, really?” Now she was getting angry, her voice growing loud. “You know how much you’ve told me about your life as an operator? Nothing. You don’t talk about it. Ever. Sure, you talk about people you knew and might mention some places you’ve been, but so what? Steve and I are screaming at each other and he starts spouting details about you, throwing them in
my face. I couldn’t help but hear some of it. I’m not sorry I did, I’m only sorry I lied about it.”
I sat there, staring through the bug smeared windshield, not sure if I should be upset or not. Deciding I had much bigger problems than a wife who had told a white lie I took my hand off the wheel and squeezed hers.
“This isn’t the time or place to worry about something that happened a long time ago,” I said. “Unless there’s anything else you lied about that you’d like to confess while we’re at it.”
I was joking but it must not have come across that way. Katie pulled her hand back and I could hear a quiver in her voice when she spoke.
“That was it and I’m sorry.” She said.
How do women do that? I didn’t do anything. She was the one that had lied to her husband. Yet here we were, me feeling like an ass for asking if there was anything else she’d lied about.
“OK, let’s move past that. You must have had a reason for dredging all this up. What are you thinking?”
“You did a lot of, um, nasty shit, when you were in the Army. And you did a lot of it to the Russians. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. I know it was missions you were sent on, but still…” She was beating around the bush, trying to be careful about what she said after her confession of being less than truthful with me.
“Honey, just spit it out. I know what I did and I’m not ashamed of any of it. What are you thinking? Something Steve told you about me stuck with you.”
“Berlin. The run up to the German national elections. Remember?”
I remembered all too well. Germany was up for grabs, politically. The Berlin Wall was down and the cold war was over. Millions of poorly educated and un-skilled East Germans were still out of work and the country was a mess. The Soviet Union was no more, but there were factions in the Russian government that saw an opportunity to move Germany away from the US and closer to them.