“How kind of you to say,” Dom said, rubbing his hand over his buzzed sandy-blond hair.
“That’d be me,” a woman’s voice called. Meredith strode to the chart table and leaned across it. Truth be told, Meredith didn’t look much better than Thomas, bandaged and bruised as she was, but Dom still thought she was beautiful. He smiled at her, and she grinned back.
“I’m a wizard with the clippers,” Meredith said with an exaggerated wink at Thomas. “Looks like you could use a trim, Santa. Your beard’s getting a little rough.”
“I’m an old man,” Thomas replied. Dom could already tell he was headed into one of his half-complaining, half-joking diatribes. “I don’t give a crap about what I look like. I’d wear my boxers and a dirty white T-shirt if Dom would let me, but he insists there’s got to be some modicum of respectability aboard the ship. Whatever that means.”
“Got to have some rules to keep you in line,” Dom said.
“Not like someone out there is going to see me.” Thomas gestured past the glass windows lining the bridge to the choppy waves. “You keep me on the ship like a caged puppy. I’m itching to get out, and I promise I won’t pee on the deck like Maggie does.”
“And last time you tried to get off the ship, what happened?” Meredith nodded at his bullet wound.
Thomas sighed and slumped into a chair over the chart table. “Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Like I said, I’m an old man. Should be reaching Angola within the hour. Just in time for you all to run off and leave me again.”
“Very good,” Dom said, all business again. He walked to the foremost section of the bridge and stared through the glass. If he squinted, he thought he could see land. A quick glance with a pair of binoculars confirmed his suspicions, though the port city of Soyo was merely a thin shadow tracing the horizon at this distance. “Thomas, have the Hunters prepare our landing party.”
“As you wish, my liege,” Thomas said with mock reverence. Sarcasm or not, he was already on his way down the ladders to the lower decks.
With the Oni Agent threatening to devour the remnants of humanity, they had all learned the importance of quick, decisive action. Thoughtful, slow deliberation led to long meetings between military leaders and whatever remained of world governments. Every second spent debating the finer points of tactics and politicking meant more people infected by the Oni Agent. Skulls were massacring the few surviving humans clinging to a miserable existence in hopes someone somewhere would save them from this mess.
Meredith reached out, finding his hand. Their fingers intertwined, and Dom felt a warmth spread across his skin. A soothing calmness came over him, allaying the anxiety of their fast-approaching mission. She leaned into him and placed the unbandaged side of her head against his shoulder. “This past week was almost like a cruise, you know? You, me, the girls. The ocean breeze in what’s left of my hair.” She looked up at him and smiled her toothy grin. Her freckles gave her a youthful charm despite the five decades she had spent on Earth.
“I know,” Dom said. “Except for the lack of soft-serve ice cream, pools, bars, a casino, ridiculously overpriced souvenirs, comfortable beds, and buffets big enough to feed a small country, this was just like a cruise.”
She gave him a playful elbow to his side. The jab caught a bruised rib, but he didn’t wince. “You big oaf.”
Dom wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. Shafts of shimmering light broke through the clouds as they approached Soyo.
“I hate to leave the girls again,” Dom said after several minutes of companionable silence shared with Meredith.
“Me too.”
“I think they really like you.”
“Of course they do. I keep saving your ass.”
A soft chuckle escaped Dom’s lips, but her words held as much truth as they did humor. The Hunters had all saved each other’s lives at least once. That trust was a big part of what made them work so well together as a group. But they didn’t always succeed, and each mounting loss pressed on Dom’s conscience. They’d already lost Ivan, Scott, Hector, Brett, Owen, and Adam.
Good God.
He closed his eyes to reinforce his memory of the men they’d lost in this fight. If he forgot them, even for a minute, the details might start to slip away. He had to ensure they hadn’t perished in vain. Soon they might finally meet someone or some group responsible for the Oni Agent outbreak. His muscles tensed as he thought about what he would do in that moment, and he turned away from Meredith, away from the ocean and the dancing sunlight on the waves, to look at the chart table where a town in the middle of the disputed and dangerous Democratic Republic of the Congo was circled in red marker.
Bikoro. That was where he had decided to go first. There, Dom hoped to find the clues that would bring down the people behind the Oni Agent outbreak. He would make them pay for what their terrible crimes had cost his team, had cost his country, had cost the world.
***
Kara stood at the gunwale of the Huntress and peered over the prow. Water sprayed her face, but the large waves breaking against the hull didn’t frighten her. She’d seen things far worse, violence perpetrated by both Skull and man. A shudder snaked down her spine, and she tried to push the haunting thoughts from her mind.
“You okay?” a familiar voice asked.
She turned from the water and toward her companion. Kara was very aware of the scars on the side of her face as his eyes, as dark as the cloudy sky, studied her. She saw the pain behind those eyes. She knew he had been through just as much as she had, if not more. Navid had been forced to kill his girlfriend-turned-Skull with his bare hands. Then he’d risked his life trying to save Kara and her sister, Sadie.
He wasn’t a soldier like her father’s Hunters. He’d been a student, like her. And like her, he’d been broken by his experiences and pieced back together into something different than he’d been before the outbreak. Yes, there was pain in his eyes, but there was also compassion—and steel.
“Kara, you okay?” Navid asked again.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she said.
“Thinking about your dad’s new mission?” he guessed.
“I wasn’t. But I am now.”
“Sorry.”
“No need to be.”
Navid sighed. “Thinking about the past, then?”
“Always.”
They had both been spending long hours in the lab helping Lauren with her research. Navid had toiled with cell cultures and a complex setup of glassware that was supposed to help synthesize new drugs. Kara had run simulation after simulation to test new Phoenix Compound developments on the lab’s computers. And between the experiments, they’d talked—about their histories, their regrets, and their roles in the new Skull-filled world.
“Can’t believe all the Hunters are leaving us again,” she said. “And, yeah, I’m worried about my dad. I wish he didn’t have to go back out there.”
“You aren’t going to stow away with them, are you?” Navid asked. She’d thought he was joking at first, but the look in his eyes let her know he was serious.
“No,” Kara said, tracing a finger along the slick metal rail. “I think I’ve had enough adventures for a lifetime.”
“Good,” Navid said, looking away from her and back out over the gray waves. “We definitely need you in the lab. Plus, your dad is going to be fine. I’m convinced he’s a goddamned superhero. Our very own Super Dom.”
Kara let out a short laugh. “I’m glad you think so.”
“The Hunters are like the Justice League or Avengers or something. I mean, Renee is basically Wonder Woman, right? You should have seen her save me from that sinking ambulance. And Andris is like a Latvian version of the Punisher, with all those guns.”
Now Kara laughed. “All right, you’ve got a point.” But she couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her gut. Even Superman had his kryptonite, and they all knew the sacrifices the Hunters had made so far in their self-appointed mission to save the world.
Navid placed his hand on her shoulder lightly—a friendly, reassuring gesture. Or was it more than friendly? Either way, his touch comforted her, dispelling the dark thoughts.
“I know you worry. And you have every right to,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you not to, either, because you’d probably just tell me I’m stupid for saying that.”
Her eyes felt watery, but she grinned. “You’re absolutely right I would.”
Navid smiled too. “But if anyone in this world can tear through the jungle and find a nest of bad guys, it’s your dad.”
She sniffed and then nodded. “Thanks.”
The ship rose, its prow pitching to the sky as they crested a large wave, and they both tightened their grip on the rail. Water splashed around them in freezing droplets as gravity pulled the ship back down. As the clouds parted, yellow light spilled over the ocean toward the horizon. Sunlight glinted off metal, and for the first time, Kara could clearly see Soyo, the devastated city where her father and his crew planned to start their mission.
“My God,” she said, her stomach twisting at the sight.
Kara no longer felt better about her father’s mission.
-3-
Meredith followed Dom down the ladders to the electronics workshop. Their footsteps echoed in the empty corridors. The rest of the crew was at work, preparing for the upcoming mission. Meredith and Dom were greeted by the sounds of buzzing computers. At her desk, Samantha stared intently at a bank of monitors, energy drink in hand. Nearby, at a clean desk where every spare pen and electronic component was neatly stowed, were Chao and Miguel Ruiz. Miguel’s prosthetic arm was laid across the table, and Chao was working on it like a surgeon, pointing to some new accessory he’d added to the arm.
“What’s going on, boys?” Meredith said as she and Dom joined them.
Chao pressed on a metal cylinder amid the wires and servos of the prosthetic, and a small panel slid back over Miguel’s arm, concealing the mechanical artistry within.
“Chao hooked me up with a new toy,” Miguel said, a wide grin breaking across his ruddy face.
“Do we get a demonstration?” Dom asked.
“Wouldn’t want one in here,” Miguel replied.
“Kill it with the suspense. What’d you do?” Meredith asked.
Chao tapped on his mouse, and a schematic of the prosthetic appeared on one of the screens mounted to the bulkhead. “A while back, Miguel joked about using a Drooler’s spray as a weapon.”
Meredith nodded, recalling all too well the fatal acidic spray that came from the strange Skulls. “But you didn’t actually do it, did you?”
“I did,” Chao said. “Acid seems to be an effective weapon against the Skulls’ organic armor, and you guys need all the help you can get.”
Samantha seemed to realize her captain had arrived. She stood, stretched, and ambled over to them. “Plus, an acid cannon is just plain badass. Who doesn’t want to be badass?”
Meredith’s smile froze as she caught sight of Adam’s empty workstation. They’d kept his things exactly where he’d left them, his toys and action figures arranged like a shrine to the young man’s memory. “Chao’s right. We need any weapon we can get.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Against the Skulls and against whoever else wants to kill us in the jungle.”
“You got that right,” Dom said. “Let’s get to it. What’s the situation on shore?”
Chao hit two keys on his keyboard, and the monitors displayed an array of images taken by the ship’s outboard cameras. Meredith had seen the destruction across Boston and Washington, DC. But what she saw at Soyo made both places look almost untouched in comparison.
The Congo River met the Atlantic Ocean at the Angolan port city. Once, the water traffic must have been heavy. But now, no traffic would get in or out. Several huge freighters jutted from the water. Terrible gashes had opened up along their hulls, as if they were gutted animals. Smaller craft, ranging from cutters to rust-pocked fishing vessels, rocked against the sides of the freighters in a jumble. Flotsam was strewn over the ocean, tangled in fishing nets and the cables hanging from fallen cranes around the port.
As the cameras panned over the wrecked vessels, Meredith gasped. Picked-over skeletons littered their decks. It took no leap of imagination to guess why or how the bones had been broken and the meat devoured. Skulls ambled among the dead, still dragging their carcasses under the hot sun in search of food.
The shore told a similar story. Huge crates of abandoned goods studded the landscape, and rubble filled the streets. Charred vehicles and empty steel drums sat like ghostly reminders of a once densely populated city. Glass shards glimmered across the asphalt near one storefront advertising fresh produce. Even if the fruit and vegetables hadn’t been rotten, the monsters prowling the streets were strict carnivores. Meredith spotted a Goliath lumbering near a row of large white oil tanks.
“Good lord,” she muttered. “We’ve got to get past all of that?”
“Even a Zodiac won’t fit through all that wreckage in the water,” Chao said.
“Looks like we’re going for a walk,” Dom said.
***
Lauren Winters held up a silver pistol-like paint sprayer and doused another set of black Hunter fatigues with clear liquid. Once she’d saturated the garment, Sean used a UV light to cure the liquid plastic onto the fatigues.
“Perfect,” she said, handing the fatigues to Divya. “I think we’re done here.”
“The Hunters better appreciate this,” Sean said. “Took me forever to scrounge up enough polyethylene microparticles for all these fatigues.”
“I’m sure they will,” Divya said. “Having clothes that are impermeable to Drooler acid spray? You bet they’ll be thanking you.”
“And don’t worry, Sean—even if they don’t say thanks, you know I will,” Lauren said. “Just as soon as you two take care of our patients.”
“You got it, Doc,” Sean said. He and Divya left the lab to join Peter Mikos in tending to their patients.
Lauren ducked out of the lab and med bay and then peered into the passageway. A tennis ball zipped by her head, and a golden retriever bounded after it, tail wagging. Lauren turned the opposite direction and called to the girl at the other end of the hall. “Hey, Sadie, want to help me with something?”
“Sure!” Sadie said enthusiastically, running toward her. “Maggie, stay!”
The dog obediently sat outside the med bay with the slobbery tennis ball in her mouth, and Sadie followed Lauren into the lab.
“I need your help getting these to the Hunters,” Lauren said, gesturing to the pile of uniforms. “Think you can do it?”
“Of course!” Sadie said, grabbing an armful of the fatigues.
Lauren hoisted the rest, and they trooped along the passageway to the cargo bay. The Hunters were already there, packing supplies into one of the Zodiacs. Lauren dumped the uniforms on top of a crate and waved at Dom. He called the Hunters to attention, and all eyes were abruptly on her.
“These have been treated with polyethylene. They should be acid resistant. Not perfect, but it’ll help against the Droolers. That being said, it’s still best to avoid the acid, got it?”
“Trust me,” Terrence Connor said, rubbing the scarred flesh along his neck. “I don’t want to get near one of those things again.”
“You can say that again, brother,” Glenn Walsh said, his deep voice sending a little thrill up Lauren’s back. “Drooler breath is worse than Terrence’s.” Then he winked at Lauren. “Though if it means you’ve got to take care of me again, I can handle it.”
“Get a room,” Jenna Reed said, blue eyes flashing with a hint of good humor as she shook her head.
Lauren walked over and grabbed Glenn’s hand. She could feel the calluses from a life of hard work beneath her fingers as she gazed into those intelligent brown eyes. “You better not get sprayed or bitten or anything, got it? I want you whole and functional.”
Glenn
wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll be fine.”
“Promise?”
He bent to her level, looked her straight in the eyes, and gave her a quick kiss. “Promise.” They embraced again, and she let herself be absorbed by his warmth. She wished for one more day at sea, one more day where they could find an hour or two to be alone, to talk about medicine and science and what it was like to travel the world before the Oni Agent. Lauren had denied herself a relationship with Glenn once before, and she wasn’t about to lose him a second time. From the look in Glenn’s eyes, she could tell he longed for the same thing. They parted at the sound of Dom’s voice.
“All right, you know the drill. The name of the game is quick and quiet,” Dom said as the Hunters gathered around him.
Lauren retreated to the hatch, where Sadie was waiting.
“I don’t want them to go,” Sadie said.
“Me neither,” Lauren said.
A low growl resonated in the bay, and the bright yellow lights went off, replaced by the ominous glow of the crimson battle lights. The bay doors opened to reveal a star-studded sky. The waning moon reflected across the gentle waves rolling toward Soyo. The crew had waited until nightfall to begin their descent, hoping that the cover of darkness would provide them some advantage, no matter how slight. Lauren worried that it wouldn’t be enough.
A lone Skull howl drifted across the water. It sounded like the call of a demented siren, and shivers crept through Lauren’s flesh. She gazed at the Hunters’ faces, praying she’d see them all again.
-4-
Dom watched the cargo bay doors close from his vantage point on the Zodiac. His fingers curled around the rope secured along the gunwale of the small craft as it bobbed over the waves, leaving his girls behind once again. Saying good-bye had been as difficult as always. Mission after mission, it never got easier.
But now was the time to turn off emotions and prepare for battle. Their goal was far beyond the broken ships and derelict city of Soyo. Somewhere along the Congo River, they would find the town of Bikoro—and, he hoped, some clue to who was responsible for the Oni Agent.
The Tide (Book 5): Iron Wind Page 3