Indestructible: V Plague Book 7

by Dirk Patton

  Dust was still drifting out of the tunnel, but the density of the cloud was lessening and I walked over to peer inside. I couldn’t see anything other than glowing dust, the night vision scope completely useless as all it did was make the cloud look brighter. Lowering the rifle, I stood there for a moment listening.

  There was an occasional groan of overstressed rock and frequent falls of dirt and small stones that sounded eerily like some giant subterranean spider skittering along the rock walls. The good news was there weren’t any females trying to attack us. The bad news; I was fairly certain the tunnel was completely blocked and we were trapped.

  I wanted to go into the tunnel and check how bad the cave in was, but decided to wait until I could see. Caves and caverns are dangerous enough when you can see where you’re going and what your doing. With zero visibility I could stumble into a hole that had opened up in the floor, walk into the arms of a female who was lying in wait, bash my skull in on the ceiling, or any number of other unpleasant things.

  “So what now?” Katie asked.

  “You ask me that, dressed like you are?” I grinned. She was still wearing only a thong and bra, and the bra had definitely seen better days. It was torn and ragged, revealing much more than it concealed.

  “You’re amazing,” she laughed. “Didn’t Rachel take good care of you?”

  “Hey! Absolutely nothing happened between us.” I said, probably a little more emphatically than I should have as Katie gave me one of her looks.

  “I was just teasing. She and I had a long talk and she told me everything. Or I thought she had. Anything you need to tell me?”

  Katie stood looking at me with her arms crossed. I looked back at her, feeling the heat rise from my neck and spread across my face. This was hardly the time and place to be discussing Rachel, but I also didn’t want to let the thought fester in Katie’s head. At the moment, we were relatively safe.

  “I have feelings for her, yes.” I finally said in a low voice, looking at the sand at my feet. “We’ve been through a lot, then when I saw our house had burned I was sure you were dead at worst, or if you were alive I’d never see you again. I thought about being with her, a lot, but I couldn’t. So, yeah, I feel guilty. But not because I did anything. Because I thought about it, and wanted to.”

  Katie stood there looking at me for what felt like an eternity. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I felt like a complete ass, but at the same time I wasn’t going to lie to her. She had the right to the truth, not just about what I did or didn’t do, but also what I had thought about doing. Maybe I could have kept my mouth shut, but she’s a smart and intuitive woman, always able to read me like a book, and would have figured it out anyway. Better to come clean and take my lumps.

  “Should I be worried?” Katie asked after letting me squirm through several minutes of silence.

  “Absolutely not!” I said, finally looking up and meeting her eyes.

  Katie finally nodded, smiled and stepped into my arms. She wrapped me up and held me tight.

  “Good,” she said. “But remember one thing. I can cut your balls off and feed them to the infected if you don’t behave. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Got it!” I said, smiling from ear to ear as I held her against me.

  33

  “Who is she?” Petty Officer Simmons asked her Lieutenant as she tweaked the photo.

  The image was of Rachel, taken from a security camera at Tinker and wasn’t the best quality. Captain Blanchard had been talking with Lieutenant Hunt and had gotten excited when he’d learned the NSA satellite had a facial recognition feature. He had quickly pulled images of Major Chase and Rachel from the security archives and sent them to Pearl Harbor.

  “She’s a civilian that was with the Army Major when their aircraft went down.” Hunt answered, pointing at another monitor that displayed a slightly better photo of John. “The Army’s trying to find them before they bug out for the Bahamas.”

  “Leave it to the Army to pick a tropical paradise,” Jessica said as she worked on the pics.

  “That from a woman stationed in Hawaii,” Hunt said with a grin as he watched her work.

  Jessica snorted, but kept her attention on the monitors. Soon she had the two photos cleaned up and cropped. A few more clicks and she had them uploading to the satellite. While the files were transmitting, she configured the software to limit its search area by using her mouse to draw a box that encompassed the eastern half of Oklahoma, then pinpointed the Osprey crash sight as the beginning scan location.

  “Any idea how long this will take?” Hunt asked, watching over her shoulder.

  “None,” she answered. “I’ve dug into the system and normally it would process all the faces the satellite can see through servers at Fort Meade, but since there is no Fort Meade any more, all of the processing will have to take place on board the satellite.”

  “That’s going to take forever,” Hunt said.

  “Maybe. Maybe not. We’re focused in on a small geographical area, and there’s not that many people left. Plus, I’m excluding everyone that is within the perimeter of Tinker. Figure if these two are on the base and the Army doesn’t know about it, well… Sometimes the grunts aren’t too bright.”

  The computer beeped as she finished speaking, indicating the two files had successfully uploaded to the satellite. A moment later the system notified her that the facial recognition process was running, searching for two targets. The process would continue to run until either locating both faces, or until Jessica told it to stop.

  “Yep, it’s not going to be fast.” Jessica said, watching another monitor. “The bird’s CPU just shot up to eighty percent utilization. That’s facial recog causing that. Now we wait.”

  “What’s the status of the surveillance of the Russians?” Hunt asked.

  “We’re filling up our hard drives with data, and there’s a team from Naval Intelligence going through it. I have no idea beyond that. Don’t speak or read Russian.”

  Hunt nodded and watched the monitors for a few moments before heading back to his station to call his counterpart in Intelligence. He had to brief Admiral Packard in a couple of hours and wanted to find out if there was anything noteworthy that had been gleaned from all the conversations and data transmissions the satellites were vacuuming out of the air.

  “This is just some amazing shit,” Lieutenant Richardson, duty officer at the Navy’s Intelligence unit said on the phone when Hunt connected with him. “Why the hell the NSA wasn’t sharing is frankly pissing me off. I’m sitting here right now reading a transcript of all of their C2 traffic for the past twenty-four hours. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. One of my analysts found out what happened to the Alaska. One of their Akulas, the Magadan, sank it.”

  “How the hell did they pull that off?” Hunt asked. “Those Akulas are almost thirty years old. The sonar suite on the Alaska should have heard it long before it got close enough to fire a torpedo.”

  “That’s the sixty-four thousand dollar question, isn’t it?” Richardson said. “As fascinating as this is, I don’t imagine you called to just shoot the shit.”

  “No. I was going to ask if you had anything for me to include in my briefing for Admiral Packard, but now I think it would be better if you came with me.” Hunt said.

  “Thanks, but no thanks. Last thing I want to do is stand up in front of the old man. I’ve heard the stories about him taking people’s heads off for not having all the answers, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of all the data that’s flowing in. I’ll have my Senior Chief write something up for you and send it over. How soon do you need it?”

  “Briefing is in two hours, and trust me, you’ll want to be there. As soon as I start trying to tell him what you’re doing the first thing he’s going to ask is where you are. Do you want me to tell him you were too busy?” Hunt said.

  “You’re an asshole, you know that? Anyone ever told you that?” Richardson said sourly.

  “Hey, it’s u
s assholes that take care of everyone else. So, I’ll see you at the Admiral’s office in two hours?”

  “Fuck you, Hunt. I’ll be there, but if he climbs up my ass you’re going to owe me big time!”

  “Sir, we’ve got a hit!” Jessica interrupted Hunt before he could respond.

  “Gotta run, Tom. See you in two.” He said and slammed the phone down.

  “Already?” He asked, standing and moving quickly to Jessica’s station. “Which one?”

  “The woman,” she said, pointing at a monitor.

  The screen was displaying two images arranged side by side. The left one was the original photo of Rachel that had been uploaded to the satellite. The one on the right was an incredibly crisp, high definition color shot taken from the satellite less than three minutes ago.

  Rachel was sitting on the ground in the middle of what looked like a prairie. A dog and a man with black hair in a ponytail sat with her, three horses a few yards away. To their east the terrain became hilly before transitioning into a large series of canyons. Even though the photo was taken at night, her features were clearly visible, leaving no doubt the software had correctly identified her.

  “Is the man our other target?” Hunt asked, realizing he wasn’t before Jessica could answer.

  “Wow, that thing takes some amazing shots,” he said. “OK, get her coordinates to that Army Captain and keep looking for the Major.”

  34

  After half an hour the dust had settled enough for me to enter the tunnel. Ten feet in, at the first bend, the passage was completely blocked by tons of rock and dirt that had fallen from the ceiling. Maybe a team of professional miners with the right equipment could have dug their way out, but I didn’t see any way we would be going down that tunnel again.

  Katie had followed me in, walking gingerly. She was barefoot and was OK moving around on the soft sand, but the floor was now littered with small, sharp rocks. Going back into the larger cavern I stood looking around. The walls and ceiling were solid, the only other opening the large crack from which water poured into the pool. At least we wouldn’t die of dehydration.

  “Did you bring anyone with you? Anyone looking for us?” Katie asked.

  “Rachel and an Indian I met are up top, but even if they could fight their way past the females, I don’t see how they could help us.” I said after a moment.

  “You found Rachel?” Katie sounded surprised.

  “Just in time,” I answered. “She was in bad shape from the heat.”

  “I was afraid she wouldn’t make it.” Katie said as I walked over to the edge of the pool. She walked up next to me and stood staring at the water. “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that’s a whole hell of a lot of water pouring out of that crack every minute, but this pool is staying at the same level. That means there’s an opening somewhere under the surface where it’s draining.” I said.

  “That’s crazy,” Katie said a moment later when she realized what I was talking about. “We have no way of knowing how long it stays below ground or where it goes.”

  “You have a better idea?” I asked. “I’ve always said I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I’d like more time than we have if we just sit here and do nothing.”

  Katie opened her mouth to argue, but couldn’t come up with anything. After a long moment she finally nodded.

  “I should be the one to go,” she finally said. “I’m the better swimmer and I know I can hold my breath longer than you can.”

  “We both go,” I said quietly. “There won’t be any coming back. Not against the current. One of us going alone won’t do any good. The other will just be left standing here with no way of knowing if the other made it.”

  I turned and looked at her. I really didn’t want to go in the water, into an underground river that led to God knows where. Being rushed along in the current we could be slammed into rocks and killed, or trapped in a narrow opening and drown. The river could run for miles before it surfaced again. The odds weren’t good, but they were better than staying where we were. Sitting on our asses until the chamber became our tomb. Not how I wanted to go out. At least the water gave us a chance, regardless of how slim.

  “Let’s at least take another look around before we decide.” Katie said, heading for the side wall. I watched her walk away, appreciating the view of her in the thong.

  “Quit watching my ass and try to find a way out,” she shouted over her shoulder.

  “Really? How the hell did you know?” I asked, shaking my head and turning to the other wall.

  “I know you better than you know yourself,” she said. “Besides, you’ve been checking out my ass since the first time we met in that damn jungle.”

  I grinned, knowing she was right. Reaching the wall to the left of the waterfall, I slowly made my way along the base, looking carefully at every inch of the surface. Rough rock covered with phosphorescent lichen was all I found. Reaching the tunnel entrance I decided it wouldn’t hurt to take another look.

  The rock fall still blocked it and in frustration I raised my head and blew out a big breath, puffing my cheeks until I must have looked like a chubby baby. When I raised my eyes I saw a darker patch on the ceiling that I’d failed to notice before. Raising the rifle I peered through the night vision scope. My heart started beating faster when I saw that it was actually an opening in the ceiling, not just darker rock.

  From where I stood it sure looked like there was some sort of tunnel that had either been created or revealed by the collapse. I moved around trying to see farther in, but couldn’t get a better angle. The opening was at least ten feet off the floor, going straight up for a foot before turning towards the waterfall. But I couldn’t tell if it was just a big chunk of rock missing or the start of an actual tunnel.

  “Katie!” I called, nearly jumping out of my skin when she answered from right next to me.

  “What did you find?” She asked, giggling at me.

  “Take a look.” I handed her the rifle and she looked through the scope.

  “Give me a boost,” she said after a few seconds, handing the rifle back to me.

  I got the sling over my head, bent at the waist and formed a stirrup with my hands by lacing my fingers together. Katie put her foot in my hands and stepped up, balancing herself with a hand on top of my head.

  “When we get out of here you need to shave this,” she said, rubbing the stubble on my head.

  “Been a little busy, and I'm not the only one that needs a razor,” I said, after grabbing her legs to steady her as she stepped onto my shoulders.

  “Since when did a little hair on my legs slow you down?” she teased, reaching into the opening and feeling around.

  “I think it’s a passage. Let’s see how far it goes.” Katie lifted her right foot and put it on my head, gaining another foot of elevation, then her weight was gone as she worked her way into the ceiling. The pressure made the gash on my head feel like it was being torn open, but I bit my lip and stood steady.

  It didn’t take long for her to lower herself back onto my shoulders. She squatted and I grabbed her waist, lifting her off of me and gently setting her on the ground. I was surprised when my fingertips almost touched each other when I held her around the middle.

  “You’ve lost some weight,” I said when her feet were back on the sand.

  “Nice of you to notice,” she said, stepping away from me and looking at the ceiling. “I’m pretty sure it’s a tunnel. There was some airflow coming at me. Not a lot, but it was definitely there. Only one problem.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “The opening is tight for me. No way will your over developed shoulders make it through. You’d get stuck like a cork in a bottle before you made it more than two feet.” She said. I stood there looking up at the ceiling.

  “I guess we try the water,” Katie said, pulling my attention back down.

  “No. You try the tunnel. It’s better odds than the water.”
I shook my head for emphasis.

  “And just why do you think that?” She asked, hands on her hips. Uh oh. I know that body language. “You’re always more worried about me than yourself. We go together, or we don’t go. That tunnel could narrow down before it goes ten feet. Any number of things could be wrong with it. So, knock your shit off. We go together and that’s that.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Katie was having none of it. Before I could speak a word she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. She squeezed, hard, and after a moment I heard a quiet snuffle.

  “I was sure you were either dead, or at best alive but lost to me forever. Now that I’ve got you there’s not a chance I’m going off and leaving you. You’re stuck with me, buster. So let’s work on getting out of here together, or go sit down and wait to die. As long as we’re together, I don’t much care at this point.”

  What the hell do you say to that?

  35

  The water was cool as I waded in. The sand floor of the chamber sloped gradually into the pool and I wasn’t submerged much beyond my waist after walking ten feet. Everything was strapped as tightly to me as Katie and I could get it. My big concern was the rifle sling that could snag on something and cause me to drown, but it was now under my vest and pulled as tight as possible.

  Katie wasn’t wearing enough clothing to have to worry about getting caught up on anything. She stood next to me, water to the bottom of her breasts. Reaching out I took her hand and squeezed it. She smiled at me and squeezed back, then jackknifed into the pool. Her bare ass broke the surface, quickly disappearing, then her feet came up and started kicking as she dove.

  Taking two quick breaths, I gave her a moment to gain some space, drew the deepest breath I could and followed. There wasn’t much light in the pool, but whatever it was that was growing on the cavern walls and giving us illumination was also floating in the water. It was slightly disorienting, but I focused on my wife’s kicking feet and followed her deeper.