“I can’t protect you if you don’t let me help you,” Albert said. “You need to see a doctor.”
“I know, and I will, right after the command center, I promise.”
Albert moved his lips to the side and then nodded. “Fine, but right after that. Even if I have to carry you there.”
“I promise.” She managed a smile and considered talking to him about his wife, Jane, and daughters, Kylie and Abigail. Charlize was all too aware that he’d chosen to protect her instead of going to them during the attack on Washington. If he regretted his choice or resented her, he didn’t show it. Then again, Albert rarely ever let any emotion show on his face. Sometime soon, they’d have to talk about what had happened.
But this was not the time or the place for that conversation. Instead, she closed her eyes to transport herself to a place where there was no pain or worry. She imagined the cockpit of her F-15 Strike Eagle, tearing over the ocean. Too soon, a hand on her arm brought her back to reality.
“We’re here,” Albert said.
He helped her stand with deliberate care. As soon as she was on both feet, the world began to spin. The green light seemed to flash in and out, and the white walls blurred. She blinked away the dizziness, swallowed, and drew in a shaky breath.
Albert helped her through the doors. Outside, Thor was talking to a Marine next to a sign that read Level A. He gestured for her to follow them down a windowless passage.
Boots pounded the tile floor behind them, the three Marines following. Charlize leaned on Albert. He was enough of a gentleman not to mention it, but his forehead wrinkled in concern. Movement flashed ahead in the first junction. A woman and man in white lab coats walked by with tablets in their hands. They glanced in her direction before disappearing around the corner.
The next hallway was filled with more people dressed in the white lab coats. Some of them chatted quietly, but others hurried to and fro with urgency. People flowed through the open double doors ahead.
“That’s the cafeteria,” Thor said. “There’s also a large study, library, and entertainment center on this level. Barracks and restroom facilities are on Level B. Labs and the medical facility are on Level C.”
“Labs?” Charlize asked. “I thought this was a bunker.”
Thor smiled like he was happy she asked the question. “This is a research facility, ma’am. We built Constellation to house over three hundred people, mostly scientists. Over the past five days, we’ve brought in the brightest minds our country has to offer.”
A flashback to the budget briefing years ago emerged in her mind. There had been a line item in that funding request for a top-secret facility. Was this it?
“President Diego wanted me to wait to give you the full tour,” Thor said. “Come on, we’re almost to Command.”
He continued walking, but Charlize had more questions.
“What is the purpose of this facility?” she asked.
Thor looked over his shoulder. “Constellation was designed to help lead recovery efforts in case of a major disaster like an asteroid strike. Needless to say, it’s also helped us hit the ground running with the response to the EMP attack.”
Thor stopped outside a pair of wide black doors, where a pair of Marines came to attention. They pushed the doors open to reveal a two-level circular room with a domed ceiling. Monitors lined every wall, and a holographic map of the United States was projected in the air over a long table at the bottom.
President Diego stood in front of that table, his arm in a sling. Staff, scientists, and military personnel bustled around the room, the worker drones in the hive of the command center. Diego looked up when the doors opened and nodded to Charlize.
Charlize tried to focus on Diego’s face, but it seemed to split into three overlapping images. She blinked several times until her vision returned to normal.
The president was smiling. “Welcome, Secretary Montgomery. Now that you’re back on your feet, I’m hoping you can start to lead the war effort.”
“Yes, sir, I’m ready.” Charlize staggered slightly, and Albert reached out. She hardly felt the pressure on her arm from his grip. She pulled away, determined to stand on her own.
“Wonderful,” Diego said.
“I’m anxious to get started, sir. We need to find those North Korean submarines before they can inflict more damage on our country,” Charlize heard herself saying, but she felt strangely disconnected from the present moment. “I ordered HSM squadrons deployed before leaving—”
The migraine that had settled behind her eyes pounded, driving a spike of pain into her brain. A powerful wave of nausea and light-headedness followed, but she remained upright. Diego reached the top of the stairs. Once again, he blurred into triplets.
“Are you ready to help me take back our country?” Diego asked.
The room began to spin, and her knees wobbled.
“Madame Secretary,” Diego said. He turned to Albert. “Is she okay?”
“No, she’s not, sir,” Albert said.
Charlize tried to protest, but the world suddenly changed orientation and she found herself staring at the domed ceiling. The white lights brightened into a blanket overhead, searing her eyes and igniting her migraine.
Albert’s kind face moved into view above like an eclipse, and she felt her body rising into the air as he hoisted her up in his arms.
“Guess I’m carrying you to that medical ward after all, ma’am,” Albert said.
IT SOUNDED LIKE someone was being tortured in another room. Ty Montgomery wrapped his arms across his chest, shivering. He was trapped in a cell smaller than his cabin at camp. There were two beds, but three kids were locked inside. Micah tried the handle again and then sat down next to Emma on the other bed. Their hair was still wet from being hosed down.
“Why did they lock us in here?” Micah asked.
“We’re hostages,” Ty said. “They don’t want us to escape.”
His mom’s bodyguard had gone over all kind of drills with him in case something bad happened, but Ty had forgotten Albert’s rules when it mattered. He never should have told General Fenix his name. But if he hadn’t, they might have hurt him like they were hurting someone right now.
The screaming stopped abruptly, but Ty continued shaking. Dr. Rollins had told him he was going to be fine, but now he was starting to wonder. The sweatpants and sweatshirt the men had given him were hardly enough to keep out the cold, and his stomach felt sour again.
Ty pulled the quilt up over his legs. Since he couldn’t feel anything below his pelvis, it was vital to keep his legs and feet warm.
Emma started sobbing into her brother’s shoulder when another scream reverberated down the hallway outside their room.
“It’s okay,” Ty said. “My mom is going to come get us out of here.”
The light bulb dangling from a cord illuminated Emma’s frightened, rash-covered face. She sat with her small legs hanging over the side of the bunk. Both her and her brother were younger than Ty by a few years, and he decided it was his responsibility to look after them.
“I want my mama,” Emma cried.
“Mama and Papa are gone,” Micah said. It sounded to Ty like it wasn’t the first time he’d explained this to his little sister.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Ty said solemnly, just like his mother had taught him to say when someone was grieving.
Micah wiped the tears from his sister’s face. She stopped crying after a few minutes, and her sobs were replaced by the plop of water from the ceiling into a bucket near the metal door. Water careened down the side of the rocky walls and collected in a puddle at the foot of Ty’s bed. He wasn’t sure where they were, but he guessed they were inside a mountain. Too bad there were a lot of those in Colorado.
“They called this place the Castle, right?” Ty asked.
Emma’s eyes widened. “Like the kind with a prince and princess?”
“No. Not a real castle,” Micah said, shaking his head at his sist
er.
“Why did they bring us here?” Emma looked at Ty for an answer.
Ty wasn’t exactly sure, and he didn’t want to scare the kids with his ideas. He still didn’t understand what Dr. Rollins had told him about helping the General create an army. How was Ty going to help him with that? All he knew for sure was that most of these men were bad and they couldn’t be trusted.
“Don’t worry,” Ty said again. “It’s going to be—”
A long, pained screech split the air like someone was being burned with a hot iron. Micah and Emma’s eyes both widened.
“Why are they hurting that man?” Micah asked, his lips trembling.
Ty tilted his head, trying to listen, but the screaming faded away, replaced with the plop, plop of water in the bucket and approaching footsteps.
“They got Joshua and Bernie,” said a smooth, deep voice that had to be General Fenix. “How the hell did you fuck this up so bad, Carson? I thought you said it was the perfect ambush.”
“They had a helicopter, sir.”
“I know they had a helicopter,” Fenix snapped. “I was in the pickup truck, but I should have been on those bluffs. Maybe then Joshua and Bernie would still be alive. You’re a lousy shot, Carson.”
The footsteps were growing louder. Micah and Emma moved away from the side of the bed, pressing their backs against the wall and huddling together.
“I-I’m sorry, sir,” Carson stuttered.
Another scream rang out.
“I’m starting to think we’d have been better off with a vet or butcher, or even that lady from the highway you shot,” the General said. “Are we sure that Rollins is a real doctor?”
Ty understood then. The man crying out wasn’t being tortured after all. He was being operated on by Dr. Rollins.
“He really needs pain meds, or we’re going to have to hear that for a while,” Carson said.
“If he’s not going to make it, then why would I do that?” Fenix said. “If he makes it, he makes it. But we need to save those meds for someone who has a better chance.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How about Tommy?” Fenix asked.
Ty’s teeth were chattering from the cold. He locked his jaw so he could hear the next response. Aside from Doctor Rollins, Tommy was the only one of the men who had actually treated Ty decently since the men took them from the Easterseals camp.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
“He took a bullet to the shoulder, but he should be okay,” Carson said.
“Good, I need his help with something later,” Fenix replied. “In the meantime, I’m going to pay a visit to our celebrity guest.”
Ty pulled the quilt up around his chest as the metal door shrieked open. General Fenix stood in the entry with a toothy grin. He stroked the bottom of his beard several times as he looked at the kids with blue eyes colder than a glacier. Carson hovered behind Fenix, his beady eyes hidden by the bill of his black baseball cap. Tattoos—some faded, some bright black, lined his exposed hands, arms, and neck.
“So, you’re really Charlize Montgomery’s son?” Fenix asked. “I heard she just got a major promotion.”
Ty decided he wasn’t going to talk to the General this time. He sat on the bed, eyes downcast.
Fenix kicked the bucket of water near the door. It hit the wall with a crack, and water blossomed across the floor. Emma sobbed into Micah’s shoulder.
“Stop crying, kid,” Fenix said. He turned back to Ty. “You don’t want to talk to me? I get it. I wouldn’t want to talk to me either, but you’re going to have to eventually. Because if you don’t talk, Little Mr. Montgomery, then I might have to hurt someone.”
Fenix looked back at Emma and Micah with a crazed grin.
The jagged mountains had swallowed the setting sun, but the magnificent glow from the forest fires in the next valley brightened the view atop the hill. Nathan watched the fires licking the terrain like the devil’s tongue, spreading out to consume everything in their path. Pillars of smoke rising off the inferno clouded the dark horizon, blocking out the stars.
He had thought they would need the night vision goggles, but the fires provided plenty of light to see that the road was blocked below. He cursed and pounded the dashboard with his gloved hand. There was no way through. They had spent over an hour on a dirt road to get back to the highway, but now they were stuck again, close to the area where Lieutenant Dupree and his men had been ambushed. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his nephew was somewhere on the other side of the blaze.
“Reminds me of the burning oil fields in Iraq,” Raven said quietly, as if he was lost in a memory.
“We have to make a run for it,” Nathan said.
“You nuts, Major?” Raven shot him a sideward glance, his dark brows arcing behind his visor. “We’ll get cooked like jerky down there. It’s already been hell just getting here.”
“You heard what they’ve been saying over the radio,” Nathan said. “This is the only way.”
Raven looked back at the windshield. “I think I’d rather take my chances with raiders than fire. At least you can fight back against men.”
Nathan reached for the door handle and opened the door before Raven could stop him. He was sick of arguing. For the past few hours they had bickered back and forth about continuing through the mountains and which routes to take.
“What are you doing?” Raven shouted. He grabbed at Nathan’s uninjured arm, but Nathan yanked it away.
“Listen, Raven, I came out here to find my nephew. If it means I have to walk through those flames, then I will.”
Raven slowly pulled his hand back and put it on the steering wheel.
“Jesus,” he muttered, staring at the flickering glow. “I get it man, I do. I’d go through hell and back for Sandra and Allie. But this shit is crazy.”
“The entire world has gone crazy, brother.”
Raven tapped the wheel. “I know, believe me. But driving down this road is suicide. Our tires will freaking catch fire!”
Nathan pulled out his binoculars and scoped the valley. The flames had consumed half of the terrain, leaving behind a path of destruction. The fire was now engulfing the forest on the western and eastern sides of the highway. The jagged bluffs at the other end of the valley served as a natural barrier that seemed to be holding the fire from moving into the next ravine.
He felt like he was on a roller coaster that was about to rocket through an oven. It was hard to imagine a situation where they would come out the other side unscathed.
Nathan zoomed in on the path, stopping on a bridge crossing a stream about a quarter mile from the bottom of the hill. Steam rose off the banks from the heated water.
The trees on the other side had been reduced to piles of embers, and several charred vehicles simmered on the asphalt just beyond the bridge. He centered the binoculars on the softened, deflated tires of a pickup truck. Raven was right; if they blew one of the Jeep tires, they were toast. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way forward.
Nathan looked at the stream snaking through the smoldering landscape one more time.
“I have an idea,” he said, lowering his binoculars and closing the door. “I think we can get through if we keep to the right side of the road.”
Raven pulled out his binoculars with one hand and brought them to his visor. He quickly lowered them. “I can’t see shit with these.”
“Try the night vision goggles,” Nathan said.
Raven placed them over his helmet and raked them back and forth.
“Still can’t see a way through, Major,” he said a moment later.
“Just trust me. If we take a dip in that stream first, we have a shot of making it across the road.”
“What if there’s another fire on the other side of this valley?”
“Then we get in that water and wait it out. Our gas masks will protect us from the smoke as long as there is enough oxygen.”
“Yeah, but not the heat,” R
aven said. “These filters remove the particles, but it doesn’t cool the air. Our lungs will burn.”
A sudden explosion flashed on the highway beyond the bridge. The gas tank of a pickup truck had burst into flames.
“That could be us in a few minutes,” Raven said.
Nathan felt his heart catch in his chest. This was a risk, a really big one, but it was the only way forward. If they turned around, they would lose hours. It was a treacherous, slow path back to the turnoff, which would take them through territory that had fallen into anarchy.
“Please,” Nathan said. “This isn’t for me. Ty is just ten years old.”
Raven let out a long sigh, tapped the steering wheel, and then shifted into gear.
“All right, sweet girl, time to show Major Sardetti what you got,” he said to the Jeep.
He pushed down on the gas. Nathan fastened his seatbelt and watched the flames flickering across his vision. The headlights cut through the smoke drifting across the road at the bottom of the hill, capturing a graveyard of burned-out vehicles.
Flakes of ash and soot slowly coated the windshield. Raven turned on the wipers and sprayed the glass, but all it did was spread the ash into a streaky paste. Raven was leaning from side to side to see around the obscured view.
Just ahead, Nathan saw something lying in the middle of the road. “Don’t hit that!”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Raven cried. He tried to correct their trajectory, but that sent the Jeep on a crash course for another bulky object half-covered in ash.
“Watch out!” Nathan reached for the steering wheel, but it was too late.
The tires thumped over it with a sickening crack and squish.
“Oh God,” Raven moaned. “That was a dead body, wasn’t it?”
Nathan didn’t respond. He grabbed the handle grip on the ceiling as the shocks jolted up and down again. Raven pushed down on the brakes, sliding across the road straight for a burning tree.
“We can’t stop or we’re going to catch on fire!” Nathan yelled. “Go left, go left!”
“Were those bodies?” Raven asked again. “Did I just run over bodies?”
Trackers 2: The Hunted (A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Thriller) Page 14