Antivirus (The Horde Series Book 1)
Page 24
While there were still many questions involving his exposure to what they had officially determined to be a new nanite-based life form, what they did know was that he had suffered severe trauma to his hands. There had been some extensive damage to his flesh and nervous system from his contact with the wall with his right hand, but the doctors had done a good job patching him up. He would have scars, but at least he still had that hand. His left hand, though, was gone. The stump was still bandaged, and it itched non-stop, but he knew it was healing. He’d just have to figure out how to live with a prosthetic.
“Very good, Mister Alders,” the nurse said with exaggerated cheeriness, as she lightly pinched each finger. “Are you feeling any additional pain?”
“No,” he said, wiggling his fingers in front of her face. “Feeling pretty good.”
“How about your other?”
“Occasional phantom pains, but nothing I can’t handle,” he answered glumly, casting another forlorn glance at the missing appendage.
“Good,” she said. “I’m told the doctor will be in later this afternoon to visit with you.”
“Is he finally going to release me?”
“That’s up to him,” she shrugged and quickly turned away. She was out of the room before he could think to shoot her a snarky comment.
Sighing again, he laid back in his bed and looked up at the darkened television. He was so sick of television. But there wasn’t anything more he could do. He’d been denied access to any kind of laptop or mobile device, and even his stay at the hospital was unknown to anyone but his superiors. He could watch television, if he wanted, but after he had watched several days of cover-up news coverage of the hazmat disaster at FutureTek headquarters in Helena, Montana, he’d grown bored and shut it off.
“Care for a visitor?” a voice sounded from the doorway, and he quickly looked up. The woman standing there was tall and slender, dressed casually in slacks and a blouse. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she offered him a smile.
“Well, if it isn’t Kathryn Hale,” he said, returning her smile. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“I was in the area and thought I’d stop in,” she said, sidling into the room.
“Denver is a long way from Helena, Montana,” he countered. “Somehow I don’t think you’re just stopping in.”
“Actually, I am,” she said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. “I’m laying over in Denver and will be on a plane to Nassau tomorrow. Figure it’s time to get out of the states and just disappear for a while.”
“Can’t hardly blame you. I’m surprised our wonderful government is letting you take the trip,” he added sarcastically.
“I’m not much use to them anymore,” she shrugged. “Systemtech made good on their offer and bought out what remains of our company. As of last Friday, FutureTek has been absorbed completely into the corporate monster that is Systemtech.”
“Really? That’s a surprise. Everything you guys were playing with will be locked down for years by the government before Systemtech gets their hands on it.”
“I don’t think Monroe believes as you do. He flew what remained of our staff to Spokane. He paid us all off to sign everything over to him, agree to a non-disclosure, and walk away rich men and women. After he cut us a check, he was on the phone with his lawyers before we were even out of his office.”
“I suppose all’s well that ends well for you guys, then,” Alders smiled.
“Yeah, and I just wanted to thank you. I also wanted to say I’m sorry,” she added. “I was kind of a jerk to you when you were questioning Jon before everything went crazy. Turns out, you were right. He was the killer. I just couldn’t accept it.”
“You know it wasn’t really Jon,” he reminded her. “It was Perry and that stupid virus the government created.”
“Better be quiet,” Kat said, shooting a glance at the door. “They still have spooks out in the hall. I’m guessing they’re probably listening to us right now.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he sighed. “It’s not like you’re a civy with no clue as to what happened. What’s the status in Helena anyway? As you can probably imagine, I don’t get much info on the tube.”
“Still quarantined,” she shrugged. “All of downtown is still basically shut down while the government deals with the situation.”
“They’re calling this a situation?”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “Talk about understating the obvious, right?”
“I guess,” he forced a chuckle.
“I just wish it could have all ended differently,” she said, the sadness reappearing in her voice. “Jon and Jen were my best friends. It’s still hard to believe that they’re dead.”
“I’m truly sorry for your loss, Miss Hale. They seemed like they were good people. They would have probably made great parents,” he finished softly, thinking back to those last few terrifying moments of the nightmare and Jen’s recognition of the baby she carried.
“I know you did everything you could to save them in the end,” Kat went on, sniffing back the tears. “I think it would have meant a lot to Jen.”
A shadow passed over his face. The horror of that night was still fresh, and he could not let go of the image of Jen Sherrard dying in his arms. He hadn’t known her all that long, but he grieved for her nonetheless. She had saved his life by killing her husband, or whatever had taken up residence inside his body. And in doing so, she had died. Her baby had died, too. He could never forget that.
“Anyway,” she went on, standing up, “I just thought you should know.”
“So what’s next for you?” Alders asked, wanting to change the subject, hoping she wouldn’t leave. He was immensely grateful for the visit.
“I just want to disappear,” she said softly. “Find a place to live somewhere off the grid. I think I’m done with technology for a while. How about you?”
“I’ll probably do what I’ve always done,” he answered thoughtfully. “I’ve seen some things that I can’t unsee, and that’s probably a threat to some people. I suppose if I remain a high-profile agent, I won’t disappear somewhere, if you know what I mean.”
“Um, should you be talking like that?” she said guardedly.
“I figure that as long as they know that I know, I’ll be okay. Besides, they know I’m a lifer and not a liability. I’m pretty sure they’ll keep me around.”
“Well, for your sake, I hope so,” Kat replied. She stuck out her hand. He took it with his remaining one and they shook. “Mister Alders, it’s been a pleasure.”
“The same, Miss Hale,” he said with a smile. “All the best.”
With a nod, she turned and left, leaving Alders alone again. He settled back into his bed again, looking up at the blank television screen. He had a lot to think about and he knew it. He was mostly truthful with Kat in that if he stayed high profile, he would probably be alright. He thought he was in enough of the government’s good graces that they would trust him not to go blabbing his story to anyone that would listen. But he wasn’t sure that staying with Homeland Security was what he wanted to do.
A knock at the door forced his future decisions into tighter focus. Looking up, he saw two men enter. Both wore standard black suits and both wore mirrored shades. They looked almost identical. He couldn’t describe them if he tried.
“Agent Alders,” the lead man said, stepping toward his bed. “We’d like a word with you.”
Epilogue
High Security Underground Test Facility, Table Mountain, Nevada: “So this is her,” the young man in the white lab coat said, peering through the frosted glass at the figure inside. His name tag identified him as a level 4 lab tech, the highest rating any of those in the facility could be given. Inside the chamber, he could make out the naked form of the woman, frozen in time. Of note were the her two defining scars – the star shaped one above her left breast and the longer incision scar along her flat stomach, just above her pubic bone. “Wow, she’s hot.�
�
“Have a little respect, Hopkins,” a second similarly dressed, but much older tech said, pushing him away from the face plate. “She was a CIA legend when she was still in the field.”
“So why do we have her in cryo?” Hopkins asked, turning away and seating himself at his work station. He was new on the project, assigned by the big man himself. Hawthorne had pulled him from his bio-tech gig at MIT, in large part because of his study and knowledge into nanotechnology. He was, he would be the first to admit, one of the foremost intellects on the subject.
“Same reason they gave you when they pulled you for this project. She has the virus inside her, or some version of it anyway.”
“I’ve read the reports. I would assume that the majority of the technology is located in her husband’s remains,” Hopkins said, pointing to the chamber next to hers. He hadn’t bothered looking into that one. He already knew that he’d find the headless body of Jon Sherrard inside, complete with alien physiology.
“It is and you’ll be doing most of your work on him.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” Hopkins lamented. He’d much rather work on the sexy lady.
“Orders came from the very top,” the older man shrugged. “They just want her on ice for future exploration, if needed.”
“I’ll volunteer for that job,” Hopkins laughed.
“You’re disgusting, you know that?”
Hopkins just smiled.
“Look, just get to work on the formulas. Hawthorne is going to want some answers and he’s going to want them soon. We need to figure out how the NSA screwed this thing up and what really went wrong with the Horde.”
“Yeah, yeah…” Hopkins said, firing up his station, his hands flying over his keyboard. “All right, people, let’s get this party started.”
It was cold.
Oh, so cold.
It was always cold.
And she couldn’t get away from it. She felt it, permeating her being, driving completely through her body. Was it death? Was she in hell? She didn’t know. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t feel her body. She couldn’t even breath. But the cold remained. The cold and the silence.
It was always cold.
It was always silent.
And then she heard it.
A voice.
A voice she knew
A voice she loved.
It was speaking to her, saying the same thing again and again. She latched onto it, feeling the life in the quiet whisper of her past. It buoyed her spirit and gradually, she forgot about the cold.
“Don’t worry, Jen. I’m here. Be strong, babe. I am with you…”
About The Author
Michael Koogler was born in Dayton, Ohio and resides today in Iowa with his wife and children. He got his start as a writer in the early eighties when he wrote an article for the local newspaper and has been writing ever since.
He is an avid reader of all things fiction and putting pen to paper is a joy hard to express. He continues to balance his time between work, family, and spinning stories and yarns ranging from end-times fiction to horror to fantasy.
.
.
.
And finally…from me, the author…to you, the reader – thank you so much for picking up my novel. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed telling the story.