Anvil

by Dirk Patton

  “Really? Couldn’t leave my underwear on?” I asked Rachel.

  She didn’t say anything, just dug through a pile of clothing I recognized as mine. Finding my underwear, she held it up so I could see and gently wrung the thin fabric. Water poured out and soaked into the sandy floor of the cave.

  “Point taken,” I mumbled, looking around for something I could use to cover myself.

  Irina was busily spreading clothing across sticks she had stuck into the sand. She had built the fire at the entrance so the smoke would vent and not suffocate us, and was now positioning our garments to dry.

  “Thank you,” I said, looking first at Irina then Rachel.

  They both nodded, Rachel reaching out and gently touching my arm.

  “Katie brought you to us,” she said softly. “Stood right outside the opening and screamed, then took off as soon as she saw me.”

  “She must still be able to think. She’s not all the way gone,” I said, hearing the optimism in my own voice. Irina and Rachel exchanged a glance.

  “What?” I asked, not liking how they’d looked at each other.

  “Maybe she isn’t, but she’s still infected,” Rachel said, looking into my eyes.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, starting to get mad.

  “Nothing. I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to think she’s still the same woman and let your guard down. Yes, she brought you here. Saved you. Some part of her is still in there. But just because it’s there now doesn’t mean the infection doesn’t progress, and…” Rachel’s voice trailed off and she lowered her gaze.

  I had been getting mad, and what Rachel said didn’t help. Anger threatening to boil over, I was starting to open my mouth when Irina spoke.

  “You are both right,” she said in a stern voice. “There is some of Katie still inside, otherwise she would have killed you rather than bringing you to us. But you cannot count on that the next time you see her. This is not her fault. It is the virus to blame. Rachel is giving you sound advice; the same advice I am giving you. I know it hurts to hear, but you need to hear it. And listen to it.”

  I stared back at her for a few moments, anger coursing through my veins. But not anger at Irina or Rachel, just a blind rage at the situation in general. I had thought our biggest threat was from the Russians or the infected. It had been a while since I’d worried about the virus. Now…

  “How the fuck did this happen?” I asked, turning to Rachel.

  “I have no idea,” she said after a moment of making sure I wasn’t about to explode. “You’re sure she had the vaccine?”

  “She said she received it when they were vaccinating everyone on base at Tinker,” I said, blowing a deep breath out.

  “Then it makes no sense,” Irina said. “The vaccine was tested for over two years and was found to be one hundred percent effective.”

  “Unless the virus has mutated,” Rachel whispered, a haunted look crossing her face.

  7

  We spent the next hour or so constantly turning our clothing as close to the flames as possible. It dried slowly, and I selfishly made sure the first item to be ready to wear was my underwear. Not that there’s anything wrong with sitting around naked with two beautiful women, but I was feeling self conscious. Odd for me as I’ve never been one to give a crap if someone gets an eyeful.

  Perhaps it was the stress and emotion of our situation, but I sat near the fire with my legs tightly pressed together until I could pull them back on. There were warm spots, and spots that were still damp and cold. Naturally, the dampest and coldest spot wound up tight against my balls. But it wasn’t wet enough to be a concern and I felt about a thousand percent better with just that little bit of modesty restored. Genitals covered, I scooted away to make room for the girls to finish drying their shirts.

  “What do we do now?” Rachel asked, turning her shirt and fluffing it to get warm air inside.

  “I don’t know yet,” I said, staring into the flames. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. I want to go after Katie, but I don’t know what the hell to do if and when I find her. She’s going to be fast and strong. Hard as hell to catch. And if I do catch her, I don’t even know how I’ll control her. There’s no option other than knock her out again, and I’m not sure continuing to pound on her head is such a great idea.”

  Irina opened her mouth to say something but caught her breath and turned to look at the opening to our tiny cave. I knew better than to speak when someone is trying to identify a sound, but Rachel asked her what she heard.

  “Shhhh,” Irina hissed, moving as close to the fire as she dared and cocking her head for a better angle to hear.

  Rachel looked at me and I shook my head, telling her I didn’t hear anything. After a few long moments, Irina spoke softly without changing the direction she was facing.

  “Rotors,” she whispered. “They’re looking for us.”

  “The fire,” I said, worried about the smoke leading the Russians directly to us.

  Irina already had the same thought and quickly scooped up handfuls of sand from the floor of the cave and smothered the flames. The temperature in our refuge quickly began dropping.

  “Get dressed,” I said, reaching for my pants. “This is as dry as we’re going to get.”

  The two women nodded and after a few seconds of sorting through the clothing they began covering themselves with the less than dry garments. Damp fabric against your skin isn’t comfortable, but it was the best we could do. At least we’d had time to remove the majority of the moisture and weren’t sitting in soaked clothing.

  I changed places with Irina, leaning my head through the opening to scan the area. It was a grey morning, snow still falling slowly. The sound of two separate rotors was clear on the cold air, but neither seemed to be particularly close. As I listened it sounded like one of them was slowly moving along the flood control channel, heading south, as the other was in a large orbit over an area on the opposite side of the water.

  At least for the moment they weren’t searching the specific area where we were hiding. Shifting my attention, I looked at the ground outside the cave. From my angle I could make out the jumble of prints that had been left when Katie led me to safety. They had been mostly filled in by fresh snow. I knew where to look and what I was looking at. It was doubtful the tracks could be spotted from the air.

  “We’re OK for the moment,” I said, moving fully back into the darkness.

  My eyes had adjusted to the light outside and I couldn’t see either of the women.

  “Will they send ground troops to search?” Rachel asked from the gloom.

  “I don’t think so,” I said, looking in the direction her voice had come from. “Too much country to cover on foot when you have air assets available. They’ve probably got them waiting to load onto trucks and head to any area…”

  “What?” Irina asked when my voice trailed off to silence.

  “I was thinking about regular ground troops. There were quite a few Spetsnaz, and they may very well send out a bunch of small squads to sweep the area. Either of you have any idea how far from town we are?”

  My eyes were adjusting to the lack of light and I could make out both of them shaking their heads.

  “We must have traveled several miles,” Irina finally said. “We were in the water for a long time and it was moving swiftly.”

  That thought comforted me to a degree. The farther away we had been swept by the flood, the less likely it would be for the Russians to be able to find us. I relaxed a notch, but reminded myself to remain vigilant.

  “So what do we do? Where do we go?” Rachel asked.

  “For now, we stay put. We have shelter and a pretty good hiding place. The Russians aren’t searching in the immediate area, but if we start moving while it’s light we’ll be pretty easy to spot.”

  We lapsed into silence for a few minutes, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Occasionally the sound of a rotor reached my ears, but I wasn’t hearing
anything to indicate they were approaching. But it was only a matter of time. I had no doubt they were performing a grid search and eventually one of them would pass directly over us.

  “Tell me what happened after I got out of the Jeep,” I said to Rachel.

  She nodded, pausing as she collected her thoughts. Her story wasn’t surprising, now that I knew I hadn’t killed everyone with the grenade launcher. Pain and anger swept over me when she told me Scott had been killed by the tall Russian I’d shot while rescuing them. She didn’t know what had become of Colonel Crawford, Igor or Dog.

  “You didn’t see them?” I asked.

  “The Colonel was running with Katie and me when we were attacked. Dog was with us, too. Scott was hit in the leg and Dog was heading for him when the helicopter Martinez was in went down. That’s the last I saw of him or the Colonel and I never saw Igor after the firefight started.”

  “Could they have survived?” I asked, not ready to contemplate the loss of so many more.

  Katie turning. Martinez dead. Scott dead. Sure, I’ve lost friends and fellow soldiers in combat before, but that doesn’t make it any less of an emotional impact when it happens.

  “I just don’t know,” Rachel said. “Oh, and they did kill the prisoner. The one we thought was immune.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Johnnie something. They found him in a jail, I think.”

  “Not surprised at that one,” I mumbled, remembering finding the man.

  “Who were you talking to that was helping?” Irina asked.

  “A survivor I ran into when I got to town,” I said.

  I’d already forgotten about Titus and a wave of worry passed over me. The man had saved my life and hopefully hadn’t given his in the process.

  “Survivor? Was he vaccinated?” Rachel asked, excitement causing her to raise her voice. Irina and I shushed her simultaneously.

  “No vaccine. He was in a bomb shelter with his family. They turned. He didn’t.”

  “Immune!” Rachel whispered.

  “Probably,” I said. “What’s the big deal?”

  “The same reason the Colonel was taking the prisoner to Seattle!” Rachel was growing more excited and reached out and grasped my arm.

  “Katie and I left to find you before Crawford decided what to do with him.”

  “With an immune subject there’s a possibility a cure can be created,” Rachel said. “Where is the man in Mountain Home?”

  “If he survived, he’s probably back in his bunker,” I said, hope lifting my spirits and making me antsy to go find Titus.

  “Then that’s what we should do,” Rachel said. “Find him and Katie and get both of them to Seattle.”

  “Can it really work?” I asked, trying to control the growing optimism I was feeling.

  “It’s possible, but by no means certain. There’s a lot of factors I don’t understand related to virology. It might not work, but it’s the best chance we have.”

  “Quiet,” Irina mumbled barely loud enough to be heard.

  I looked at her. She was staring intently out of the opening. I turned my head and saw four Russian soldiers slowly working their way across the open ground.

  8

  We huddled in the cave watching the Russian troops carefully make their way through the area. My only remaining weapon, the Kukri, was gripped tightly in my right hand. I didn’t have much optimism that if we were discovered I’d have an opportunity to use it. But, it was better than bare hands against rifles.

  As I watched, I noted they were being very cautious as they moved. The bombs and smaller charges on the manhole covers, then the Claymore mines I’d set off in town had made them nervous. And I didn’t blame them one bit. I’d be tiptoeing too, worrying that at any moment there was going to be the sudden flash of high explosives that would be the last thing I’d ever see.

  The downside to having put the fear of God in them is they were moving so slowly and were so alert to their surroundings. They were in a modified diamond formation, one in front or on point, the two in the middle close together and the rear guard holding back a good ten yards. Too spread out for me to have any hope of successfully attacking with only a blade.

  The Russian on point was hyper-focused on the ground in front of them, most certainly concerned about encountering one of my IEDs. The two in the middle had their heads on swivels, constantly scanning the full one hundred and eighty degrees on their individual sides. The rear guard spent as much time walking backwards as he did forwards. Yes, they were spooked.

  But why the hell were there already ground troops in the area? We were miles from town, or I was pretty sure we were. And I was confident we hadn’t been spotted by any of the helicopters. Miles from town meant there was a LOT of open country which translated into a LOT of square miles to search. They didn’t have enough men to cover all of that territory on foot. No one does. So how was it I was huddled in a cave looking at Russians?

  Something was wrong. Either the enemy had regained access to our satellite imaging feed, or someone was able to track me and supply information to the Russians. My mind once again went to Jessica. There was no one else I was aware of that could possibly know where I had wound up. But suspicion of her was once again tempered by realization that she would have me pinpointed. If it was her giving intel to the enemy, I’d already be dead.

  No, this was something or someone else. Could they have broken the encryption and regained access to Echelon? Doubtful. If that was the case they would have me pinpointed as well, and I wouldn’t be watching them search the area. That left someone with peripheral knowledge or information about my movements.

  I had no idea how many people might be working with or close to Jessica. As soon as I could get my hands on a sat phone I was going to have a conversation with Admiral Packard. He needed to know there was a bad apple in the barrel.

  As all of this went through my head, the Spetsnaz had only covered maybe twenty-five careful yards. Shutting down that line of thought, I focused on the emergency at hand. I had already thoroughly checked the tiny cave and there was no other way out. The entrance was well hidden in the shadows at the base of the bluff, but we were trapped.

  I caught my breath and tensed my arm when the small squad came to a stop. The point man was frozen in place, his left hand held up and clenched into a fist. He was focused on the ground where I had followed Katie. I stared hard at the snow, grimacing when I was able to faintly make out our trail.

  All around, the light snow that was falling had covered the ground in a perfectly smooth blanket of white. It was only a couple of inches deep, but had settled evenly. Except for where the passage of mine and Katie’s feet had compressed a layer.

  More snow had fallen, filling in the tracks. But not enough to completely erase them. The point man understood what he was looking at, even if it was only variations in the surface of what should be smooth, virgin snow.

  His head turned as he followed the path with his eyes. At first I had hope they would move away and follow the trail to the flood channel. Those hopes were dashed when the lead soldier pointed at the ground and moved his arm up to highlight the bluff we were hiding in. He stepped off, moving parallel to the trail, the others spreading out slightly as they followed.

  “When they get close enough I’m going to go,” I mumbled. “You two make a run for it while I’ve got them distracted.”

  “Are you crazy?” Rachel hissed, reaching out and grabbing my upper arm. “They’re armed and too spread out. You might get the first one, but they’ll kill you.”

  “No they won’t,” I said, gently removing her hand. “They want me alive. Their orders are to take me alive. They’ll be focused on me and you just might be able to get away.”

  “No,” Irina interjected. “You have killed too many. They are angry and no matter what their orders may be, they will kill you if you attack.”

  “No choice,” I said, waving for them to be quiet as the Russians drew closer to our hidin
g place.

  There was a rustling behind me that I ignored as I repositioned my feet under my hips to help me get a good lunge through the opening.

  “There is always another way,” Irina said from behind me.

  She reached out and grabbed the Kukri, yanking it from my hand. I spun to see her lift it as she held her hair back. With a quick slice she split open her scalp, then handed the blade back to me. I was stunned into immobility, thinking she must have lost her mind. It was only a moment before blood began pouring from her self inflicted wound, running down across her forehead.

  The rustling I had heard was Irina removing some of her clothing. She was nude from the waist up and quickly reached to her forehead and rubbed her hands in the fresh blood. Smearing it across her face, she pressed directly on the cut to cover her hands again, rubbing a slick coating across her chest and bare breasts.

  Grabbing my hand, she slapped it onto the freely bleeding slice in her scalp. She held it there for a moment to soak my skin with her blood, then holding my wrist with both hands put my hand on her throat. When I removed my hand there was a bright, bloody handprint left on her neck as if I had been choking her.

  “Stay here unless you see an opportunity,” she hissed.

  Scrambling forward, Irina passed through the narrow door. As she emerged from the cave she began screaming in Russian. She was a frightful sight, blood smeared on her pale skin, staining her blonde hair and running down her face. Moving forward on hands and knees, she kept screaming, shouting to the soldiers in her native tongue.

  They had frozen, rifles snapping up when she had first appeared. As she struggled towards them in the snow, she slipped and fell, leaving a bright red stain on the pure white. Still screaming, her tone was somewhere between panic and begging for help and she finally collapsed onto the ground no more than three yards from where Rachel and I remained concealed in the bluff. She rolled onto her back, making sure the blood covering her bare skin was starkly visible.