“Yes, we do, although you’re right, it has been hard hit by the virus, the same as everyone else.” He gestured to the house. “Can’t we talk inside? I really can’t leave until I talk to someone.”
“Can’t leave or won’t leave?” He didn’t care for the implied threat.
The man shook his head. “I’m afraid my orders are to find this Cole Evans.”
“He’s probably dead. Everyone else is.”
“You’re not.”
Cole froze at the comment. Did he know Cole’s identity? Or was he just pointing out that Cole, just some man he was talking to, wasn’t dead. His instincts were to get rid of this guy but curiosity about why they wanted him prodded him to respond, “What happens if you find this man?”
“I just want to ask him some questions. I’m not looking to hurt anyone. In fact, our goal is to help everyone.”
Cole didn’t buy the nice guy act, but if this government agent, or whatever he was, was looking for him, chances are, there was someone higher up who had given the order to find him. Putting this guy off wouldn’t put an end to a search. Only drastic measures might do that, and Cole wasn’t ready to kill someone in cold blood. But, if he talked to the man and found out what he wanted with him, without letting on that he was Cole Evans, it might set his mind at ease.
He shifted, his legs cramping as he crouched behind the barbecue. Bringing the guy into the main house wasn’t a consideration. He glanced at the door of this cabin. It was the one Joe and Jake lived in but neither were on the island right now. The fire in the stove would probably be banked though, and the room would be warm.
Before Cole could do anything, he needed to make sure the others knew what was going on. To do that, he needed to get to the house. He could go behind the houses and in the back door, but he needed to make sure this guy wouldn’t pull anything while he updated Elly and the others.
“Give me five minutes. Don’t move a muscle.” Cole raced around to Sean, gave him the rundown.
“Do you want me out here? Or in with you?”
Cole shook his head. “I need you to keep an eye on those two. I wish we had the radios—”
“I can whistle if they try anything—just before I shoot.”
Sean had a good strong whistle he managed without using his hands. Cole had to use two fingers to achieve the same volume. He nodded. “Perfect. I’m going to run and tell Elly what’s going on so she doesn’t wonder.”
Keeping out of sight as much as he could, Cole made his way to the house, going to the back door, only to find it locked.
Before he could knock, Jenna shouted at him to get back or she’d shoot.
“Damn it, Jenna. Open up. It’s me!”
She peeked out of the small window before unlocking the door. “Well how was I supposed to know? I have the kids back here ready to escape.”
Cole nodded to Sophie, who held a child by each hand. All were bundled with backpacks. “Good thinking. Where’s Elly and Piper?”
“Elly’s guarding the front door, and Hunter and Piper are out there somewhere. I heard you talking, so I hope they heard too. They should have, if they stayed close.”
Cole thought for a second. It wasn’t ideal to have them out there, but then again, they were well hidden and having more eyes on the invaders, guarding from the outside, made him feel better. “Okay. I’m going to talk to the guy who seems to be their leader. I’ll bring him into Joe’s cabin. I’d send him away, but I think it would be good to know why they’re looking specifically for me.”
Elly shook her head. “I don’t like this, Cole. What if they want to kill you?”
“I thought of that, but why me, specifically? I’m no threat to anyone. They didn’t need to come all the way out here to kill me. No, they’re looking for me for some reason. They went to the trouble of finding out that I own this island. That information was only in a few records that I know of since I only got it the year before the virus hit.”
Elly bit her lip, glancing at the helicopter outside. “Yeah, I guess…but dammit, they’re scaring me.”
“I’m a bit scared too, but I’ll be fine and with Hunter, Sean, and Piper out there, and you and Jenna in here, armed and dangerous…” he smiled to try to lighten the mood, but Elly wasn’t having it. He sobered quickly and wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, gently pulling her forehead to his lips. “It’ll be okay. You’ll hear if there’s any shooting. Do what you think is best.”
“Jenna will run with the kids to the hickory grove. If we have to flee, that’s where we’ll go first.”
“Good plan. The forest is thick there, and there’s enough undergrowth to build a shelter.”
She nodded. “Yeah. And we’ll do our best to cover our trail.”
He gave her another quick kiss, this time on the lips, then dashed out the back door, stopping only to grab a mask from the store of them they kept in the pantry. He grabbed an extra for the invader. He wasn’t sure why he thought of him with that name, but it’s what popped into his mind. Invader. Their sanctuary was now known, and who knew if the helicopter had been able to transmit by radio to let others know that the island was occupied.
10
Before he returned to Joe’s cabin, he ran past it and around to Sean’s spot amongst the trees to let him know that Hunter and Piper were out there somewhere. He didn’t want them getting shot accidentally.
By the time he made it back to Joe’s cabin, sweat traced a path down the back of his neck into his parka. He saw the leader, huddled and shivering near the helicopter, and smiled. The guy would be thinking about the cold and getting warm for the first few minutes. It would give him a moment to study the other man up close.
Cole stepped out from behind the barbecue grill. He didn’t hide his rifle, but he did try to appear non-threatening. “Come on over. We’ll talk in here.”
The man looked surprised and glanced at the main house. Clearly, he’d thought that’s where they would go, but he shrugged and approached.
Donning a mask, Cole handed the man one when he arrived, but the man shook his head. “No thanks.”
Cole stood with the mask dangling from his fingers for a few seconds before he shoved it at the man. “Wear it, or leave.”
Chuckling, the man shook his head but took the mask, tying it around the back of his head. “Really, there’s no need.”
Ignoring his comment, Cole motioned to the porch rail. “Put your hands on it, and spread your legs.”
The man did as he was told, but fumed, “Really? You’re searching me for weapons? What about you? You’re carrying openly.”
“Yeah, well it’s my—” He was about to say ‘island’ but cut it short just in time. Or he thought he had until the other man finished for him, “…island?”
Not responding and finding the man free of weapons, Cole gestured to the door of the cabin. “After you.” He wasn’t about to turn his back on this guy to enter the house.
Cole directed the man to sit while he added more wood to the fire. As he’d expected, Joe had left it banked. Crossing his arms, he stood at the end of the table where he could see both his ‘guest’ and through the window, out to the henchmen standing at attention by the helicopter, seemingly impervious to the cold.
“So, who are you and what are you doing here?” There was no need to beat around the bush and pretend to exchange niceties.
The man’s eyes widened briefly before he nodded. “Fine. I’ll get to the point. I’m Pete Holland. Several years ago, I was assigned to the bio lab at Aislado Island—maybe you remember me?”
Cole tried to school his face to show no reaction—obviously Pete wasn’t fooled by Cole’s claims to have never heard of Cole Evans, but he refused to admit anything to this man. Not yet. Pete studied his face, searching for signs of recognition from Cole and apparently not seeing any, shrugged and continued, “There’s no real reason you’d remember me although I do recall seeing you around. I also read your report about the work we were doing o
ut there. You were right, you know. We should have destroyed the virus right then, but, anyway, we can’t go back in time.”
“What does any of this have to do with here and now?” Now wasn’t the time to gloat and say, ‘I told you so’.
“Bear with me. I am ashamed to admit that at the time of the outbreak, I realized what was going on a day or so before anyone else. My first instinct was to flee, and damn it, I tried like hell to get off the island, but there weren’t any seats available.” He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck. “That probably saved my life, now that I think about. Those flights would have been hot incubators of the virus and every passenger who got off a vector.” He waved a hand. “Whatever. I did the next best thing—I stocked up on food, water, and other supplies, and took off for the opposite side of the island.”
Cole remembered that hardly anyone lived on that side. It was arid with very little rainfall compared to the lush, tropical side of the island the base was on. A large, dormant volcano rose up from the middle of the island which disrupted the winds and causing the discrepancy in moisture. He’d driven around the volcano once, but the roads were narrow and twisted with barely any shoulder. It had been a white-knuckle drive and he’d only done it the one time. He supposed, if given a heads up, it would have been a suitable refuge. But that didn’t excuse that Pete had fled instead of trying to help stop the pandemic.
His disgust must have shown in his eyes, because Pete said, “I understand your revulsion. Believe me, it’s not my proudest moment, but there was nothing I could do by then. Too many people had already spread the virus beyond the island. I did what I could. I had a few other guys from the base, and we managed to survive on our supplies and turtles, crabs, and fish. It was tempting to stay there longer, but we had to know.”
“Had to know…?”
Pete rubbed his eyes with the thumb and fingers of his right hand and his voice caught as he went on, “We had to know if anyone else on the island survived.” He raised his gaze and shook his head, giving Cole the answer.
“That’s rough. We know how you feel, although we have found other survivors in the area. One group was…let’s just say, they were bizarre and a bit scary.”
Pete drew a deep breath. “Yeah, I found some crazies in D.C. too, when we finally made it there. But, when we came out, I went back to the lab and tried to find anything I could to help me understand what had happened. One of the records I came across listed you as having been ill the year or so before.”
Cole blinked. “And…?”
Pete leaned forward. “I think you were patient zero.”
Cole knew exactly what that meant. That he had been the first victim of the disease, but that couldn’t be because he was just fine and his symptoms when he’d been ill on the island hadn’t been the same as those who had Sympatico Syndrome. “I don’t buy it. I had a bad strep pneumonia.”
“That’s what they told you then. What were they going to say?” He made air quotes, adopting a falsetto as he said, “Whoops, we accidentally let our experimental virus escape the lab?”
Cole took a step back, his mind also retreating to that time. He’d been so sick he barely remembered anything about it. He seemed to recall them giving him clotting factor and had assumed he’d developed DIC, a bleeding disorder that sometimes occurred as a side effect of infections.
“To make a long story short, I figured you were the first patient, and from what I can tell, the only survivor of Sympatico Syndrome.”
“But my symptoms weren’t like everyone else’s and you have no proof that’s what I had.” Elly would know more about what was the current thinking at the time the virus hit, but from what he recalled, there was no definitive test for the disease. There hadn’t been time to manufacture one.
Pete leaned forward, his eyes boring into his. “Listen, Cole, you had it. The doctors knew about it, but covered it up—but, I figured it out. They even had samples of your blood stored in the lab and were trying to make a vaccine before the shit hit the fan. Unfortunately, they never got a chance to finish.”
Cole shook his head, trying to deny what Pete said, but it all made sense and he couldn’t think of a reason this guy would make it up. “How did you get here?”
The abrupt change of subject caught Pete off-guard and he blinked a few times before he caught up to what Cole had asked. “The guys who hid with me were—are—pilots. One flies both helicopters and jets, the others are fighter pilots. We had to island hop a bit to change aircraft and find enough that were filled with fuel, but we finally made it to the west coast.”
Hope brimmed in Cole. Maybe the disease had been less devastating there. His eyes must have reflected his thoughts because Pete dropped his head, shaking it. “If anything, they were harder hit than here. When we flew to several states and towns between San Diego and New York, down to D.C. and it was the same everywhere. From the sky, it looks so strange. As if time had stopped. There’s no movement—no light.”
Cole pulled a chair out and sat heavily. He braced his elbows on the table and ran his hands through his hair. With next to no communication with the rest of the world, there had always been a drop of hope that some corner of the country had been spared. Now that drop had evaporated. “So, you still haven’t explained why you’re here.”
“Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I know who you are. I saw you on Aislado, and I recognize you, so don’t even try to deny it.”
He opened his mouth to protest when Holland held a hand up in a stop gesture. “I’m here to take you to Washington with me.”
Caught off guard, Cole pushed back from the table. “Like hell! I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I need your blood so I can create a cure, and maybe one day, a vaccine. Only your blood carries the antibodies.”
Cole stood, his mind in turmoil. Of course he wanted a cure for the virus. Sympatico Syndrome had spread like wildfire last summer and with the warm months approaching, there was always the threat it could return. But would it? It began on an island with accidental transmission to military personnel. It wasn’t a naturally occurring infection and he wasn’t sure if there were still active cases out in the wild. Viruses often had some kind of reservoir even if they were dormant. He supposed as fast as it had spread, there had to be remote villages that had never been reached. At least, he hoped so. But what if there were still people actively spreading the virus?
Had his and his family’s isolation fooled him into believing that the threat had passed? There was really no way for him to know for certain. And if it was still a threat, and if he alone held the key to survival of the human race, then he had to take whatever measures he needed to take to unlock the door to a cure.
“I can’t leave. I have responsibilities here.”
“Your family? I take it they’re still alive? How’s your son? Hunter’s his name, right? And your brother’s family? They’re okay?”
Cole clenched his jaw, hiding his surprise at how much Holland knew about him. But if he found his medical records, it was just one more step to find out about his family and how Hunter had lived with Sean while Cole was stationed at Aislado Island.
“They can all come. I can’t bring them all at once due to lack of room, but in a few days, we can come back and get the rest.” Pete smiled as if offering to take them on an all-expenses paid vacation.
“No. That won’t work.” Even if he was for the idea, which he wasn’t, he doubted the others would want to go. Hunter would come with him if asked, and Sophie would go where Hunter went. Elly would come also, he was sure, but the others might not want to leave the island. Sean would probably fight leaving, and if he stayed, so would Jenna and Piper. If Piper stayed, so would Jake. The kids would lose half of their new family too. After they’d so recently lost their own mother, he couldn’t do that to them. And Cole couldn’t even blame Sean for balking, if it came down to it. He’d throw on the brakes if Sean wanted to drag the whole group to D.C. What kind of life woul
d await them in the capitol? Unless… maybe things were better there. “Is there even a government left in the capitol?” Maybe there would be law and order back East.
Pete gnawed on his lower lip before he replied, “I wish I could say yes, but from what I saw, there were two small factions that were fighting over who would claim leadership. Neither seemed too promising.”
“What about the President? Didn’t he survive?” His earlier adrenaline had drained away and with heavy steps, he paced between the door and the far wall, stopping to throw a few more sticks in the stove. The drying sweat chilled him.
“I’m not sure. He may have been sequestered away—you know, down in the bunker.” Pete spread his hands. “I wish I knew more, but things were chaotic.”
“Then why go back there?”
“Because it’s the Capitol, there are areas where power is still running for at least a few hours a day. I guess someone at the power company basically kept a skeleton staff locked in, unless they showed any signs of illness, then they were shot dead where they stood.”
“Seriously? How do you know this?” It sounded so cold and ruthless, but then again, with no cure and how quickly the virus spread, he understood the drastic solution.
“I don’t know for certain, but that was the rumor. They said the government sent the workers supplies—that somebody near the top had enough foresight to at least try to keep services going.”
Cole gazed at the men by the helicopter. One stamped his foot, probably starting to feel the effects of the cold and it made him think about Sean, Hunter, and Piper still out there. They’d be feeling the cold too. He should let them know that there was no imminent threat.
“So, they have power, but that still doesn’t mean I have to go to D.C. Take my blood here and now. I don’t object to that part.” He swept his hand out towards the lake. “We have plenty of ice to pack it in.”
“But we may need to run a few tests on you as well. And maybe having your family come out would also be a good thing. We could test them as well.”
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 62