The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

"But you don't use it as an excuse to execute people you don't have to. If you've seen the file then you know I didn't even mention the thing last October where they took out that guy with the burning hands. He was going for them and no one would expect them to try and sweet talk him into calming down given everything. We both would have told them to shoot him if we were there. I only mentioned the cases where it wasn't needed at all."

  That got another sigh, but no lecture, because, Brian knew, he was right. It wasn't the agent's job to tell him that right now, that was clear. No, he was there to try and stop him from doing anything if he could. He'd even suggested a detour to Las Vegas to try and keep him busy until the clock ran out. If it took longer than seven days he'd have to go back to the base, in order to make sure he had medical care after he fought. He didn't always need it, but about one out of three times it came in handy. As it was, Brian spent a lot of energy trying to act like everything didn't hurt constantly.

  But they were wrong about one thing. Running the clock out wasn't going to stop him this time. If he didn't make it in time... he'd just stay. This might be the last thing he did before he died anyway. It was getting close to time now. He could feel it. He was slowing down, too injured, too internally battered, to keep going for much longer. One day soon Brian would get in the way of the wrong person and not be able to do what he had to in order to make it. He didn't have super-strength or speed, not by a long shot. In another few months, maybe less, he'd functionally be like an out of shape eighty-year old as far as fighting went. No one could survive his life in that condition.

  No matter how this went, Brian wasn't counting on being around for the fallout from it.

  That didn't get mentioned though. Lancaster wasn't going to put up with him being a wimp after all. The guy was ex-special forces and had a job that was actually considered harder than that. Brian mentioning his impending death would probably just sound like whining to the man. It kind of did to himself too, so there was no real point to doing it.

  Turning off onto main street Brian headed towards the Comfort Inn without ever bothering to turn on the GPS. He knew the way after all. It ran just past his old house. In fact it was only a few blocks away. Since the city was more than big enough, having over twenty hotels, motels and even a bed and breakfast or two, he figured this was done on purpose for some reason. He didn't know why though. He sent the idea back into his head, so Dharma could hear it, but she just sat in the back seat, pretending to chew some bubblegum and looking like a little Goth girl. It was her chosen style. Black lipstick and piercings that were stupid for someone that used to fight for a living. Probably fine for a ghost though.

  "I have no clue. Probably meant to bring back old memories and make you nostalgic, but if so they picked the wrong location. The scene of the crime, where they first grabbed you for no reason... Hardly a brilliant way of getting you not to think about it. Maybe they just didn't consider that though?" She stopped talked as they pulled in to the hotel parking lot, a place that looked pretty boring as far as such things went. It wasn't a dump, but not high end either. The IPB was footing the bill and he wasn't on Team One, so didn't expect a lot from them that way. It was done on purpose, so that people wouldn't think that the IPB was wasteful.

  The man at the front desk gave Lancaster a slightly strained look as he tried to get a room, the one that had been reserved for them, but he positively scowled at Brian. His face going hard.

  "I'm sorry, it looks like we accidentally gave your room out already. Yes..." He pretended to look at his computer screen, tapping almost randomly at the keyboard.

  "In fact, all the rooms have already been let out. You'll have to go somewhere else." He gave them both a snotty looking smile and shook his head. "Though I doubt that you'll find a room too easily right now."

  Lancaster sighed and looked at Brian as if wondering what he was going to do about it. There wasn't a lot he could do though, except beat the man in front of them for obviously lying. That probably wouldn't help though, so he just waited.

  The tall agent looked at the man behind the desk and shrugged, which caused his firearm to show under his left arm just a little.

  "Why is that exactly? Convention in town?"

  The man shook his head, actually managing to seem a little less like a prick for a moment, at least when he leaned into whisper to them.

  "No. It's that attack on D.C. and the IPB base in Colorado. No one wants to be too near you people right now. This isn't even just about business or the Infected. If I let you in here, and someone dies, I'd probably be lynched. I can't risk it. Even if it means getting fired for sending you away. I'm sorry, but... I don't think anyone will risk it. Not if they're smart." He stood back then, as two people, both men, came through the door.

  "So, no rooms. Sorry." He looked at the men and smiled again, as if he knew them. "All full."

  Lancaster looked ready to argue the point anyway, but Brian just nodded and turned to leave. It meant that he saw the weapon come up, aimed at Lancaster's back before the man could fire. If he really planned to at all. It didn't matter much, because the gun was out of his right hand, trigger finger broken and testicles more than a little squished by a kick long before that would have happened. The younger man next to him froze, but didn't seem to be armed anyway, so Brian left him alone.

  It took a while to sort things out then.

  The one with the weapon was a private security man for the hotel, and he shouldn't have drawn his weapon, but, he claimed, he'd seen Proxy and gotten scared. That didn't explain why he'd drawn on Agent Lancaster though. Not at all. The other man, who was a few years younger just stood, his eyes wide, not speaking at first at all.

  "Um... that isn't true. Not totally." He swallowed hard as he stared at Brian.

  "I'm... He's my uncle. Please don't hurt him." The younger man didn't add anything else immediately, since the older one gasped at him first.

  "Shut up. It was like I said, that's all. Things are tense right now. I didn't mean anything by it, but you can't be too careful." The guy was doing a credible job of acting like he didn't have an injured hand, even though the snap had been decently loud. A real tough person then.

  "So, if you aren't going to arrest me for this, maybe we should all go on with our day? I apologize for the mix up." It was funny, but he kept staring at Lancaster, not Brian. Even though he'd called Proxy out by name more than once so far.

  Dharma giggled a little, pointing at the younger man, her hands moving around him quickly, showing where there were differences in physiology.

  "Clearly Infected. Probably super-strength and speed. Laid back though, or we'd be fighting right now. Not a fearful or paranoid type either. Seems harmless enough on first glance. The older guy seems to be his bodyguard."

  He just nodded a little. They were there for another reason and calling attention to this young man, who only looked to be about eighteen, so six years younger than Brian or so, wouldn't help anyone.

  "Fine. Keep the weapon holstered unless it's an emergency next time." He handed the weapon back, to the man's left hand, hoping he wasn't going to start shooting. It would make him look bad if nothing else.

  The agent just raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it, nodded to both men then took his small duffle bag and walked out, Brian following about five feet behind. He had his armor on under his casual clothing after all, so if the bullets didn't hit him in the head or hands, he'd be safe. It made sense for him to be in the line of fire at least.

  They didn't speak until they were back on the road.

  "I get that you want to keep a low profile, but the man pulled a weapon on us."

  Brian shrugged, still at the wheel.

  "The kid's Infected and his uncle probably thought we'd come to kill him. A lot of people don't get that we do more than that. Probably not all that powerful, since he didn't even notice me at first. I wasn't expected at all, though he recognized my face. He saw you though, in your black suit and didn't hesitate to draw.
He knows what the expected threat level is here, which means he's done some research. I saw no reason to out the kid. Besides, we got his information, you can see if we have a position for him somewhere. The uncle I mean. The IPB is always struggling to get agents and he had decent reflexes. Worth looking into." He meant it to sound joking, but it came out flat and dead again.

  It still got a chuckle.

  "All right. I'll send in a call later. Are you sure about the kid?" Lancaster tended to call anyone under thirty "kid". Because his forty-five or so was just so ancient.

  "Pretty sure. Strength and speed, pretty calm first mode. Probably not all that big a deal really. It might be best if he could be kept out of this? He didn't do anything. I can't really say that I know anything for certain either."

  There was no answer, not a verbal one, since the agent was busily searching out the windows for attackers. Given that last bit, being kicked out of the hotel they had reservations for, it was hard to blame the man.

  Brian nodded just a little to himself.

  "So, on to the next place? Maybe if you go in alone... so no one recognizes me?"

  It was a plan, and sounded good, but didn't help at all. The second Lancaster tried to pay with an IPB card the hotels all found a reason he couldn't stay. Every time. After the first four he just got in the car and growled for a few seconds.

  "I'm used to bigots, but this is over the top, I'm a fucking government agent. They should be too scared to try and pull shit like this to my face. Something is wrong here." He kept searching the horizon, which got Brian to nod.

  "Could be the police, if they knew we were coming. I think we should head straight to the station then and cut them off before they have a chance to do anything worse. Normally I'd say we needed to get the lay of the land, but we don't have time if this is going on already. Luckily the warrant has full provisions."

  That meant that anyone trying to hide a person with Death Warrant on them could be killed legally too, at the discretion of the serving agent or operative. If the police tried to do even one more thing after they were told that the Warrant officially existed, Brian could just kill them. The idea made him smile, which apparently actually worked for once.

  "Hey, pull back a bit, kid. We don't know it's them and besides that, we didn't bring either the manpower or the ammunition to take on a full police force. We'd do better to retreat, get out of the area and wait." He sounded serious, as if it would have ever been his real plan.

  "Nope. Let's go in and talk to the Chief here. I know that you're trying to run out the clock on this one Daryl, but we have an actual job to do and it's legal for us to do it. I get that you probably have orders to get in my way, but screw Moore. This is too important for me to just let go. If you can't work with me on it, that's fine. I can handle it on my own." It was true. He could probably even do a better job that way. He really didn't care about doing it legally anymore. Suddenly, not giving Officer Shaw and his buddies any warning seemed to make a lot of sense, didn't it?

  Telling them was legally required, but not very smart.

  "I'm in Brian, just, you know, let's use our brains on this too, not just anger and bullets. That kind of thing will get us killed. Don't take these guys lightly, just because they don't have any powers."

  That one earned Lancaster a smile at least, a real one, though it had a bitter edge to it.

  "Like you and me? I think I can remember that. They tried to kill me. Slowly, letting me die of thirst. It... isn't an easy thing to just forget." Not for him.

  The station wasn't hard to find, but it did present a problem. The law required that any Death Warrant being served in a given area be reported to the local authorities first. That was to keep the police from rushing in and accidentally starting a fire fight. Of course they weren't supposed to be the ones having it served on them, so it made this situation dicey. It also didn't help that he was pretty much recognizable to the police automatically. They all hated him, for having failed to die several times now. That wasn't how they'd put it, he was sure, but it was what the truth was.

  Still, it had to be done. He got ready to fight and moved into the building fast, causing Lancaster to jog behind him to keep up. There was no need to start the fight, but he didn't want to let them shoot him a hundred times before moving either.

  Inside no one even tried to stop him though, the man behind the desk just stared and shook his head, slowly figuring out what was happening. Or at least who it was.

  "Fuck." He was watching Lancaster closely, not Brian.

  The big man nodded.

  "That's right, me again. Get me the man in charge here. Now. If he's not in, get him from home. Don't waste time sending me to the watch commander or whatever you call it here. If you do I'll have your ass." It was clear that these two had met before, but Brian didn't recognize him and the man didn't look at him at all, too busy trying to glare at Lancaster. He didn't do it that convincingly either. It had a bit too much panic in it for his own good.

  The phone call got a response though, the man that came out was a Captain, not a Chief, but close enough. They were just required to inform them, not hold their hands while they worked out chain of command. They could have just mentioned it to the lowest rookie on the force and called it good, but instead they were going higher than that. It seemed like wasted effort to him, but what the heck, they were already there.

  He followed the other men to the Captain's office, which wasn't some kind of executive suite or anything, just having a desk and a few chairs. It looked like the man might actually just come here to do a job or something, instead of drink brandy and talk about the hookers he'd banged the week before with his buddies.

  Brian was shaking anyway. It wasn't fear though. Well, not just that. It was mainly anger. This man, maybe even more than the ones that had beaten him illegally, was responsible for helping them get away with it. It was all he could do to not execute the man right there and then.

  Worse, instead of begging for his life, the man snapped at them, as if he thought he was in charge. Moron.

  "What? If this is about more allegations of anti-Infected activity here, we're already investigating it. We haven't found anything so far. Wasting taxpayer's dollars on witch hunts..." He didn't just sound like he was deflecting though, he was angry about it. Really mad.

  Since he knew for a fact that they had a problem, that meant he was almost certainly part of it.

  Brian knew he didn't look like anyone official, but decided to speak anyway. The man could deal with it, since no one had come in just to impress him. If that was the case they'd have brought a muffin basket.

  "Death Warrant. For three of your officers. Proceeding to do anything that I, as the serving operative, finds to be obstructing me in my duty can lead to death sanction for anyone getting in my way. Do you understand this?" He smiled, which got the Captain attention well enough it seemed. "By the way, saying you don't will be counted as obstruction right now. Just figured I'd save you the time."

  It was dickish, but he made the man answer anyway, instead of letting him off the hook.

  "What?" He looked at Brian as if he suspected he might just be crazy. That was probably true, sure, but it also didn't matter. The only thing that kept the Captain alive was Lancaster stepping in front of the guy, knowing that Brian was about to move.

  "You heard him. You have about two seconds before he comes around me, so I suggest you say you understand. It's that kind of situation."

  "I... yes. I just meant, who? Why would you be serving a DW here? Were we infiltrated by Infected or something?" The funny thing was that it sounded like the man was actually baffled by the idea, as if there was no other reason that the IPB could have possibly been going after their people. Saints that they no doubt were.

  Brian took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. It was something that Mark from the base had been working with him on. Using brainwave control and relaxation to help him fight. They didn't bother trying to claim it was about a
nything else. There just wasn't time for that anymore. It did help with pain control, which was a plus. He was needing to use that trick more and more often now, as the drugs helped less.

  "No. About nine months ago you held a man in a cell for five days, some of your officers trying to make sure he died? Does that sound familiar at all?" It was a trick question, because if the man said no, he planned to kill him.

  Lancaster obviously got that. You didn't get to be an IPB agent if you were stupid.

  So it seemed, did the Captain, or at least he nodded and stared at the back wall for a few seconds as if trying to remember it all clearly.

  "Some lost paperwork I think. A few men getting a long weekend and no one being near that particular cell. It was all pretty innocent." He spread his hands, trying to look like a politician. He actually succeeded pretty well at it.

  Brian nodded back.

  "Except for the part where the prisoner was beaten while in custody, twice, and the arresting officer, one Jeffery Shaw, told the prisoner that he was going to die. Also coming back halfway through the event, so the idea that there was just some paperwork error is an outright lie."

  The Captain growled again, as if forgetting who he was talking to. It was a problem the police often had, when dealing with the IPB. They didn't like to be made to feel powerless. Then, nobody really did.

  "We checked into it, the men were reprimanded. What more do you want?"

  This time Brian blinked and waved the paper in his hand a bit, which made a soft rattling sound.

  "Um, have you not been paying attention? We want them dead. Death Warrant. That's what it means. Get them out here now or we're going to have some real problems." This time, finally, he sounded happy about what he was saying. It had been a long time since that had happened, so he added a smile to it. That worked less well apparently.

  The Captain stood, fists clenched.

  "Fuck you, we're not giving over our personnel based on the lies of some Infected freak."

  Brian calmly stepped around the large Agent, took the Captain's arm gently and gave it a soft tug.