Dead Drop Series (Book 1): Dead Drop (Rise of the Elites)

by K. S. Black

  He rolled down the window and leaned his head out. “Take good care of Okami. He’s going to be amazing when he’s full grown.”

  Hayley picked up Okami. She grabbed his paw and used it to wave goodbye.

  “I better go before I start bawling like a baby.”

  Cooper, Julie, and Hayley, with Okami still in her arms, followed the Behemoth to the end of the drive. Kevin took a quick look at them in the side view mirror before he turned his focus to the road ahead.

  * * *

  At 9:30 a.m., Kevin parked in front of the West Wind Community Farmer’s Market and Gift Shop in St. David. He had made great time on the empty highway and had only passed a half a dozen abandoned vehicles on the side of the road. St. David was an oasis in the desert that had started as a Mormon community before it became the home of a Benedictine Monastery.

  The farmer’s market was popular with many of the fine dining establishments in Tucson and generated a substantial amount of revenue for the West Wind Community. The main compound and larger growing areas were located forty-five minutes away in Bisbee along with another farmer’s market and gift shop that made an even greater profit.

  The permanent display stands at the front of the market were empty. The last time he visited, baskets and containers overflowed with the best looking organic produce he had ever seen. The Junipers, the nickname for the members of the West Wind Community, could grow anything.

  There had always been at least a handful of nubile young women manning both the farmer’s market and the gift shop during the day. Kevin closed his eyes and pictured them with their flowing hair and gauzy sundresses that in the sunlight didn’t leave much to the imagination. He hoped that they had all gone back to the main compound.

  The excitement that surged through him when he first entered St. David started to fade. The lack of activity in and around the area became apparent even before he stepped outside. In the back of the Behemoth, he donned his gear, including his mask, checked the magazine of his XM8, and chambered a round.

  What-if scenarios tumbled in his brain, but he wasn’t willing to admit that Cooper was right. Not yet. Feeling vulnerable and alone, he hesitated for a few moments before he opened the door and climbed down.

  He walked behind the produce stands and the gift shop and stood in front of an eight-foot-tall privacy fence that separated the selling area from five acres of the best organic and bio-dynamic gardens and aquaponics in the entire country. This was only a fraction of their growing area. The gate to the modern hippy hideaway was unlocked. He stepped through and surveyed the land and the house that stood about forty yards away but was not visible from the parking lot. As far as he could tell, he was alone.

  The gardens looked as if they had been untended for at least a couple of weeks, but the solar powered water system on an automatic timer kept the plants watered. Ripe, bird-pecked vegetables still hung from most of the plants and vines while rotting produce lay on the ground among the fast growing weeds.

  The sight of unpicked produce rotting in the sun made him more anxious. This would be one of the first places he would search if he lived around here. Food was plentiful. If infected people were roaming around, they would be drawn to this source of food, but there was no indication that they had been here either. Maybe they just hadn’t found it yet.

  He stepped inside an area covered with shade cloth where red bell peppers grew in six rows in large rectangular trays set up off the ground. Large, containers labeled either tilapia or catfish lay underneath the rows with water from PVC tubing dumping into them. He couldn’t see the fish through the murky water and the duckweed that floated on the surface. How much longer would the system remain viable on its own?

  Stepping outside, he counted seven more shade cloth tents and two greenhouses. The house was located behind the gardens. The three-story Victorian, with a wraparound porch, slept twenty Junipers comfortably. The exterior of the house was painted in varying shades of green. Porch swings, wooden rockers, flowering plants in colorful glazed pots, and at least a half-a-dozen wind chimes of various sizes hanging off the porch reflected the Bohemian but upscale West Wind Community lifestyle.

  The men and women would rotate in and out of the house when it was their turn to help with the farmer’s market or the gift shop, tend the gardens, perform maintenance, prepare meals or help with other chores that kept the compound running smoothly. He had been an overnight guest at the house on several occasions.

  He stepped onto the porch and stood in front of a set of heavy, polished teak doors with two small, eye-level stained glass windows. When he had visited in the past, he marveled at the handmade stained glass designs on the front of the house. Lost in reflection, he remembered time spent in this house. The Junipers worked hard, but they also knew how to party and have fun. He remembered falling in love at least twice. But nothing lasted for more than a week. Still, those were some great memories.

  * * *

  Kevin had only been to the main compound in Bisbee once and that was to meet the founder, Daniel Sanders. In his mid-fifties, Daniel resonated with joie de vivre and robust health. Kevin was in awe of him. Daniel let him know that he would be welcomed with open arms if he ever wanted to join the West Wind family. The possibility of getting lost in the arms of a beautiful girl or two only added to the attraction. Becoming a member of this family could help erase memories of death and killing that had followed him from California or so he thought before he pulled into the parking lot.

  He didn’t bother knocking and braced himself for the sights and smells. He refused to shave his beard so he had no one to blame but himself when he gagged. After the first whiff of overpowering decomp but no hint of sewer stench air inside the house, he proceeded through the entryway without much worry of being attacked but remained on his guard.

  Holding his XM8 in the ready position, he walked across the foyer into the living room. With the exception of the corpse on the red velvet couch, the room looked just as he had remembered. Shabby chic with both modern and vintage decor. He took a closer look at the body. The man’s shirt was ripped at the shoulder revealing a deep bite wound. The bullet wound to his temple and the Beretta on the floor indicated suicide.

  He’d probably do the same, given the circumstances. A bottle of Johnny Walker Black and a 9 mm. Problem solved. He picked up the gun, put the safety on, and slid it into a pocket inside his jacket before walking to the staircase.

  The women had slept on the second floor, two to a room, with six rooms in all. The third floor attic room had been converted to sleeping quarters for the men with wooden partitions to give them the illusion of privacy. Even with separate floors and roommates, a lot of cohabitating had taken place at night. He had experienced this first hand.

  The first two rooms he checked on the second floor were empty. He found two bodies wrapped in sheets in the third room. He guessed that the fourth bedroom was where the dead man downstairs met his infected attacker. She was splayed across an expensive Persian rug, her head smashed in with the Tiffany lamp on the floor next to her. Pieces of colored glass formed a halo around her head. He found a fifth body in the last bedroom, hands tied to the bed, and thought he recognized the face. Dante’s had made the rounds here.

  Shaken, he hurried downstairs, not bothering to check the third floor. He remembered that the Junipers used a radio to communicate with members traveling between the compounds. Daniel didn’t believe in cell phones because of their unhealthy impact on the body. Although they weren’t forbidden, none of the Junipers used them on either compound.

  A landline phone sat on the desk next to the radio. He picked up the receiver. No dial tone. The contact frequency for the main compound was written in red ink and taped to the radio. He carefully peeled it off and pressed it onto the stock of his XM8 and started for the front door. Before he made it halfway through the living room, an empty bottle of scotch caught his eye again and gave him an idea.

  The Junipers had always kept some really go
od booze in the house, but he never remembered seeing a bar. He made his way to the kitchen and checked the cabinets but came up empty. He opened the door at the far end of the room and walked through a pantry with shelves stocked with kitchen supplies and a large quantity of organic coffees and teas. On the back wall, he found a locked cabinet and tugged on the door handles, but they wouldn’t budge. He fired a round from his XM8 to break the lock. Liquid trickled out of the bottom cabinet as the door creaked open.

  “Mother fuh—not the Patrón! The contents of the broken bottle continued to drip to the floor. He scanned the shelves and whistled. “Man, this is some high end, shit.” He found a couple of canvas shopping bags and loaded the liquid treasure into them, glad that he didn’t break any of the other bottles.

  With the liquor loaded into the Behemoth, he wiped the boxes and himself down with disinfectant. Serious doubts about his decision to leave Tucson began to plague him.

  CHAPTER 49

  June 7 – Cyber Security, Detection, and Countermeasure Unit (CSDCU) HQ

  “We’ve located them, sir.”

  General Kiefer stood behind McGrath as he sat down in front of the monitor. White lines extended from the white dots that represented the six CSDCU teams on the map. The lines intersected. McGrath’s eyes lit up with excitement. “They’re in Tucson, Arizona. I’ll send the order for the two teams in Mexico to get to Tucson. We should have the exact position no later than tomorrow morning. Then the teams can move in and implement countermeasures.”

  “Are two teams going to be enough?”

  “These two teams could take out a small country by themselves.”

  “Let me know when the mission is complete.” General Kiefer left before he could say anything else.

  CHAPTER 50

  June 7 – Tucson

  “Cooper! There’s an alarm going off in the computer room.”

  Entering through the back door, he ran to his main computer and began typing.

  “Is it a virus?” Julie asked.

  “I don’t get viruses. One of the folders has a Trojan horse in it.”

  “What’s a Trojan horse?” Hayley looked from Cooper to Julie.

  “It’s a type malware that sneaks in disguising itself as something harmless. Then it opens up a backdoor inside something like a downloaded email to gain access to someone’s computer. In this case, it’s your dad’s computer.”

  “I thought you two were making dinner. Everybody out so I can concentrate on what I’m doing.” Cooper knit his brows together and focused his attention on the computer screen.

  “I’m not doing anything until you tell me what’s going on.” Julie stood next to the desk with her hands on her hips, her take-charge attitude back.

  “Remember the soldiers that Kevin and I told you about—the ones who shot up the back of my Humvee and the same ones in the pictures killing all those people?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “They might be trying to get a fix on my location. At least, I think it’s them. They may eventually find us. But with the safeguards I set up, I seriously doubt they’ll be able to pinpoint our exact location. And if they do, it’ll take them some time. I’ll unplug the computers for now. Just in case, we should bug out of here for a while. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  “I’ll let Mark and Ray know so they can make plans,” Julie said.

  “But what about the animals?” Hayley furrowed her brow.

  Cooper put an arm around her. “We’ll have time to move them with us, but first get all your gear together. Stay inside. The sun’s going to be setting soon, and there’s some loose fencing I need to fix.

  Hayley scooted past Julie as she came back into the room with a walkie talkie. “I can’t get a hold of Mark and Ray. Do you mind coming with me to find them?”

  Cooper got up and reached for his shotgun. Julie patted the service pistol on her right hip.

  “After we find them, I need your help for a few minutes to secure the fence near the barn before it gets dark. Looks like an animal tried to push its way through and gave up or got scared off.”

  They headed up the driveway to the house where Mark and Ray had staked their claim. They passed an oversized pickup truck with twelve-inch lifts and large off-road tires. The red, Peterbilt semi-truck parked in front of it was a bit of a surprise to both Cooper and Julie.

  “Wonder what they’re planning to use that thing for?”

  Julie shrugged her shoulders. “Who knows with those two anymore.” She put her hand on his chest. “Stay back a little and let me go first. They’re a couple of idiots around you.”

  She knocked on the front door. “It’s Julie.”

  Mark opened the door. “Howdy neighbor. You’re looking good.”

  “I didn’t come to socialize. You didn’t answer the radio.”

  “Sorry. We were busy.”

  “You may want to answer next time.” The irritation in Julie’s tone was obvious. “We may be getting some company soon. Cooper’s computers got pinged. He thinks Homeland Security is looking for him. It could get dangerous around here, so first thing in the morning, we’re going to bug out for a while.”

  “You really believe him? Homeland Security has much bigger problems.”

  “Hey Julie, why don’t you come stay here?” Ray yelled from inside the house. “We have lots of room.”

  She ignored their comments. “You’ve been warned.” She turned to leave. Mark tried to grab her arm but brushed it with his fingertips instead. “Don’t do that again.” She glared at him.

  “Why’re you always so angry these days? You used to be so sweet. But since you met that asshole, you’re different. There’s something weird about him. But I can’t put my finger on it.”

  “I know what you mean.” Ray came to the door and stood next to Mark. “I’ve seen him before, but I don’t know where.”

  She didn’t acknowledge them and walked away. Cooper stepped out from the shadows and joined her. Mark watched Julie walk away and flinched when he saw Cooper staring back at him.

  * * *

  “Run!” Cooper took aim with his shotgun and took the legs out from under the first infected that sprinted towards them from a neighboring property.

  Julie ran the race of her life through the gate and up the driveway toward the house. Cooper started his run for the front door as two infected were closing in on him.

  Julie made it inside as Cooper turned and pulled the trigger knowing he wouldn’t make it through the door in time. A twenty-something male crumpled to the driveway with a large hole in the center of his chest. Cooper stumbled. The shotgun slipped from his left hand, and he struggled to get it into position for the next runner.

  A deafening blast went off behind him, and the runner’s head disappeared in a red mist. The body fell at his feet as he covered his ears in an attempt to silence the ringing in his ears.

  Expecting to see Julie when he turned around, his breath caught in his throat. Hayley stood behind him aiming in on another infected. Without thinking, he rushed at her, threw her over his shoulder, and ran into the house. Julie slammed the door and locked it behind them. The remaining infected hurled himself against the door. His screeches became more desperate.

  Cooper set Hayley down and checked her for blood splatter.

  She stared back at him. “Dad!”

  “Cooper! Step back!” Julie pulled Hayley away from him. “Stop! You need to shower. Outside now! You’re a bloody mess. I’ll take care of Hayley. Take your clothes and boots off. Leave them right where you’re standing. You don’t want to track this gore through the rest of the house.”

  Okami barreled out of the kitchen, but before he could reach Cooper, Julie caught him by the scruff and put him inside his crate. "We need to be careful with Okami. What if animals can catch Dante’s?"

  Cooper’s head was spinning, but he followed Julie’s instructions. Twenty minutes of washing and re-washing and scrubbing and re-scrubbing every inch of
his body before he finally felt clean. Julie stepped outside before he could grab a towel.

  “Quit staring at me.”

  Julie held up the disinfectant spray and handed him a clean towel. “Don’t flatter yourself. I was disinfecting your trail. I took care of that last one banging at the door.”

  “Is Hayley okay?”

  “She’s all scrubbed up. As for the rest, she seems pretty good for a thirteen-year-old who took out a couple of infected that tried to eat her dad for dinner. She’s one tough kid—a lot tougher than some men I know.”

  “Speaking of some men you know, did you hear anything from Mark and Ray?”

  “Not a peep. Should I try to get them on the radio?”

  “Only if you want to. I’ll be inside in a few minutes.” Cooper gestured for her to leave.

  When he walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, Julie was making Hayley a cup of tea at the counter. Hayley’s hair was wet and her cheeks were rosy from all the scrubbing.

  “How’re you doing?” Cooper put his arms around her and squeezed.

  “I was fine. Dad. Stop. I can’t breathe. You’re squeezing me too tight.”

  “Sorry. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done. You saved my life.”

  “I didn’t even think about it. I just did it. I guess all that practicing with you and Kevin paid off.”

  “Absolutely. But why didn’t the alarm get triggered.”

  “It did. That’s why I was at the door with my gun waiting for you and Julie to get back. I was trying to warn you, but you both left your walkies in the kitchen.” Hayley rolled her eyes.

  “I guess I’m grounded,” Cooper said.

  “Yeah, no television until the apocalypse is over.”

  “A hero and a comedian,” he said and mouthed a silent thank you to Julie before he got to work sorting what they needed to take with them.

  CHAPTER 51

  June 7 – Bisbee, AZ