“But the coup is over? There are no more conspirators?” Anna asked.
“There are no other hostages, so I think it’s over. For now. The prisoners we took at the Telstra Tower all used to work for a hedge fund. They’re not reservists, just members of a corporate hunting club. They didn’t know of any deeper plot, and while I doubt they knew very much of the plans at all, they did give me the name of the person who owned the shell company that paid their wages.”
“Sir Malcolm Baker?” Anna asked.
“Him, yes,” Tess said.
“And you want to question him?”
“Assuming he’s still alive, yes. We think he was in his house near Brisbane. If he was the money, he’ll confirm there are no further threats to the government. Not of that kind, anyway. He’ll tell us where to find the cartel, and then we can bomb them into dust.”
“And if he’s dead, would Lisa Kempton know where to find the cartel?”
“Probably,” Tess said. “But if she knew something was coming, she’ll have disappeared into a bunker somewhere.”
“But she had an office in New York,” Anna said.
“Probably. I’ve no idea. Why?”
“Dr Avalon wants to go to Manhattan to collect samples from patient zero, or as close to patient zero as she can find.”
“How?” Tess asked. “We don’t know precisely where it began.”
“She thinks she can work that out,” Anna said. “And if we can find it, we might find out who began all this, and why. It might help with the weapon, if we ever have the time and resources to develop one.”
“So you’re sending a team to Manhattan?”
“I’m sending her. And Leo, of course,” Anna said. “By ship. Leo also wants to go to Britain to find a sample of this vaccine they claimed to have. We were supposed to receive a sample, and the formula, but it never arrived. Ian said he’d organised that, but I think he was lying.”
“A ship. From here to Britain, then to New York? The voyage would take weeks.”
“A month, at least,” Anna said. She smiled.
“Oh, no,” Tess said. “You’re not serious?”
“You always said you wanted to travel, Tess.”
“I should find Baker first,” Tess said.
“You have a week,” Anna said. “If you’ve not found him, someone else will take over. We must stop the cartel, Tess. I hate to think what kind of new world people like that would create.”
“Then I’m grabbing some sleep before the broadcast,” Tess said. She stood, stiffly, just as the room dimmed. The lights had gone out. The fan had stopped humming. Outside, the soldiers had both half-raised their weapons, while in the corridor, people had stopped, turning to one another in baffled confusion.
Her weary limbs, bruised muscles, and cut skin forgotten, Tess quick-stepped to the light switch on the wall. She flicked it once, twice, and a third time in desperate hope, but the lights wouldn’t turn on.
To be continued…
Other Titles
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Other novels:
Surviving The Evacuation & Here We Stand
The outbreak began in New York. Within days, it had spread throughout the world. Nowhere is safe from the living dead. Books 1-3 are the journals of Bill Wright, a political operative trapped in London after the city is evacuated. Books 4-7 follow Nilda, a mother searching the wasteland for her son, and Chester, a criminal in search of repentance. Books 8 onward recount how humanity’s last survivors build a new society out of the ashes of the old world.
Here We Stand is the story of Tom Clemens, Jonas Jeffries, Martha Greene, and the other North American survivors, and the collapse of the United States. The struggles of the survivors in the Pacific are told in Life Goes On, beginning with Outback Outbreak.
1: London, 2: Wasteland, Zombies vs The Living Dead, 3: Family, 4: Unsafe Haven, 5: Reunion, 6: Harvest, 7: Home, Here We Stand 1: Infected, Here We Stand 2: Divided, Book 8: Anglesey, 9: Ireland, 10: The Last Candidate, 11: Search and Rescue, 12: Britain’s End, 13: Future’s Beginning, 14: Mort Vivant, 15: Where There’s Hope 16: Unwanted Visitors, Unwelcome Guests, 17: There We Stood, Outback Outbreak, No More News, & While the Lights Are On
Post-apocalyptic Detective novels:
Strike a Match
In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt.
Twenty years later, civilization is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise, aided by a shadowy conspiracy. It is down to Detectives Mitchell, Riley, and Deering of the Serious Crimes Unit to unmask the conspirators and save their fragile democracy.
1. Serious Crimes, 2. Counterfeit Conspiracy, 3. Endangered Nation
Work Rest Repeat
Sixty years after The Great War, the last survivors of humanity have taken shelter in giant towers. The colony ships that will allow them to leave the diseased Earth are nearing completion when two murders are discovered. For our species to survive, the criminals must be caught, and the launch must go ahead.
Thanks for reading.
Life Goes On | Book 3 | While The Lights Are On [Surviving The Evacuation] Page 33