Yet, he didn’t seem overly trained or especially athletic. He got by on grit, fearlessness, and persistence. He wasn’t easily intimidated, and that had her concerned. Maybe he was right. Maybe Bryant wasn’t the person she should be worried about.
She didn’t know if they’d actually pursue her, though she suspected they would. All she could do was race to Five Falls before her enemies arrived, get inside the facility, and retrieve her son. She didn’t care what they did after that. They could have Burke and his people. They could have it all.
Lexi had enough serum to keep the man alive and two vials of the vaccine to inoculate herself and her son. Once away from Five Falls, they could go anywhere. Do anything.
Farming a plot of land or settling in a small community would be nice. They could change their names and make up their backgrounds. They could transform into completely different people. Start over again.
It would take years for the big cities to become inhabitable, police databases brought back online, and fingerprint records checked. That would give her time to establish herself as an endearing mother only concerned about her son’s welfare. Who would argue with that in the new world?
Burke mumbled from the back of the van. She checked her rearview mirror to see he’d gotten to his knees on the bench seat, nose bleeding from the punch she’d given him, mouth covered in tape. His eyes pleaded with her, but she didn’t care.
“Don’t worry, this should be a quick trip. But keep one thing in mind. I don’t work for you anymore, and we’re not friends. You may be useful to me, or you may not. How I treat you depends on if you’re a good boy.” She raised her finger, pointedly. “A word of warning. Don’t test me. I’m not as easy going as those fools back at Redpine. Play your cards right and you may get out of this in one piece.”
Burke sank back on his heels and fell into the seat. Lexi grinned and hummed her favorite Ricardo Arjona tune, looking forward to the road ahead.
Chapter 41
Jessie, Redpine Facility, Little Rock, Arkansas
She placed her pack on the floor and guided Fiona to a table where they could talk away from the hammering workers. They were making repairs on the rec room after the firefight from the previous day.
She pulled out a chair and took a seat. Then she spun the little girl around and lifted her onto her lap with her good arm.
“Did you sleep okay?”
“My head hurt.” Fiona rubbed her temple.
“But you feel better now, right?”
“Yep.”
The children had mostly recovered from being gassed the night before. Some woke up with mild headaches that persisted into the afternoon, while others weren’t aware of anything wrong except for the half-destroyed rec room and Jessie’s blown off door.
The adults tried to play it off as best they could, chalking the damage up to the repair people making changes to the rec room. It was a paltry excuse, and the wiser kids like Jake, Saylor, and Karen probably didn’t buy it.
Thankfully, Bonnie Brewer had been sensitive about the situation and assigned workers to the task at first light. She hoped the damage could be erased within the next day, so the children could return to a semblance of normalcy.
“Are you leaving, Jessie?” The little girl asked, her eyes lingering on the backpack.
She nodded. “I am. I have a big mission to go on.”
“Where’s my backpack?”
“This isn’t a mission for little girls.”
“It’s dangerous?”
“Not too dangerous, but enough that I want to keep you here where you’ll be safe.”
Fiona looked around at all the damage in the room. The bullet holes in the wall. The pieces of table scattered across the floor. The crimson stains on the tile where several of Mueller’s traitorous soldiers had died.
“Are you sure?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Looks like guns.”
Fiona was so young, but she knew what a bullet hole was.
Jessie bowed her head and lifted her chin, lowering her tone secretively. “We had some trouble last night, but there won’t be any more shooting. You’ll be safe here with the rest of the kids until I get back.”
It wasn’t lost on her how crazy that sounded, but that was their reality. She made constant promises she wasn’t sure she could keep, with scant hope things would actually work out.
“Where’s Weissman?”
Jessie smiled to hide the pain. They’d taken the soldier to the morgue, and his funeral was planned for the following day. She wouldn’t be there to see it. It was imperative they get into the skies and chase down Lexi and Burke right away.
“He’s on a different sort of mission,” she replied, feeling her lip start to quiver. She glanced to a table where Dex and Garcia sat together with Bryant. The younger men had their heads down as they cycled through the grief of losing another friend, while the older soldier tried to help them process it.
“When’s he coming back?”
Jessie shook her head in frustration, fighting a battle with her twisting, broken heart. “I’m not sure, baby. He wanted to say goodbye, but they rushed him away. He’s in high demand, you know. Big hero and all.”
She’d been adamant that they shield her from the truth about Weissman no matter what. She would deal with the guilt over her bold face lies and deflections if it kept her from breaking the little girl’s heart again.
“Everybody goes away.” Fiona said, her bottom lip pouting out.
Jessie blinked away the tears and doubled down on her hardening heart. “I know, baby. But some of them come back, right? I mean, there’s Kim. You can hang out with her while I’m gone.”
“She’s no fun.”
Jessie laughed. “What about Bishop? You like him, right?”
Fiona’s face it up. “Yeah.”
“And Savannah, too.”
“Savannah is nice.”
“And you’ve got Mary and all the other kids to play with.”
“Yep.”
“So, you’re good?”
Fiona nodded. “I’m good.” She threw her arms around Jessie’s neck. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.” She gave the girl a hearty, one-armed squeeze and grunted exaggeratedly. “Now, go on with Savannah.”
She let her down and stood. The nanny nodded to Jessie and took the little girl’s hand. She watched the pair head back to the cafeteria where she hoped things would be safe forever.
Striding over to her pack, she scooped it up and slung it on her shoulder in one smooth motion. Then she moved to the elevator where the rest of the team assembled. They’d replaced their Redpine whites with traveling clothes. Fatigues, jeans, T-shirts, and ammunition vests.
It was Melissa and Hicks, Trainor, Mueller, and Moe. Dex and Bryant would be joining them shortly as soon as they’d had a reasonable time to talk about Weissman.
Moe stepped over to her and nodded respectfully.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “I did not know Weissman well, but he was friendly to me. I feel like we could have even become good friends in another world.”
“He was a great medic,” Jessie agreed. She raised her right arm, cradled in a fresh sling. “He patched up my arm after I got shot.”
“How’s it feeling?”
“It’s actually much better. I only keep it bundled like this to remind myself not to bump it into anything or use it too much. I’ll never have the range of motion I used to, but the pain has mostly gone away.”
“That’s good. I have many scars, too.” Moe tilted his head up to the light, showing pink scratches on his cheeks and temple.
“I noticed them,” Jessie studied the marks, “but I didn’t want to say anything.”
“It’s okay. I wear my scars with pride.”
“Me, too,” she chuckled. “Where did you get yours?”
“Firefight at my house.”
The dry reply left Jessie shaking her head in wonder. “A firefight at your h
ouse? I thought we’d been through hell. Sounds like you’ve been through a meat grinder.”
“Let’s just say the market value on my home has greatly depreciated.” The stout Navajo man gave her a rare grin.
A laugh burst from Jessie’s mouth, and she patted him on the arm.
“You are going to miss little Fiona.”
“Oh, yes,” she nodded. “But everywhere I go, turmoil and violence follows. I’m starting to think I’m the one who draws it. Might be best for her if we separated for a few days.”
“I understand,” Moe said. “I’m the same way. Maybe together we’ll incur the full wrath of the underworld and guide it away from the people we love. Or maybe we’ll defeat it and ride off in the sunset like in the movies.”
“I hope so.” Jessie flashed him a hesitant smile. “I really, really hope so.”
*
“You should have everything,” Kim shouted to Bryant. She stooped over and held her fingers to her temple to keep her hair from whipping in her face. Even though the helicopter sat far away in the center of the air pad, its spinning rotors made talking nearly impossible. “Can you think of anything else?”
The crew had just loaded and secured boxes of serum and vaccine, and Melissa and Hicks were warming up the chopper and cycling through their final checks.
Bryant hiked his thumb behind him. “We have the medicine, guns and ammunition. Honestly, it feels like we’re a small army.”
“You’ll need it.”
“I just want to get those people out of the California facility alive.”
“You and me both.” Kim nodded. “You have the location, right?”
“Jessie does.”
“Good.” She winced against the wind. He still looked scruffy and unkempt, and dark circles hung beneath his troubled eyes. “You didn’t shave.”
He shrugged. “What’s the point? Life feels like an endless mission right now, but at least I get to do it with her.” He turned his head back to the helicopter, casting a loving glance at his wife.
“And you’re an amazing team,” Kim added. “Maybe she can take over the job of saving your butt.”
“I’m sure she will,” Bryant grinned and nodded.
“I’m going to miss you, soldier.”
“I’ll miss you, too. Good luck getting to Washington.”
“Thanks.” Kim glanced toward the northeast at the blue skies and surrounding hills. “Who knows, maybe things will get easier.”
They stared at each other for a moment before shaking their heads. They spoke the words at the same time. “No, it won’t!”
Laughing, Kim reached out and patted the man’s arm. “Goodbye, Bryant.”
“Goodbye, Shields.”
With that, the soldier turned and sprinted toward the chopper where Moe, Mueller, Jessie, Dex, and Trainor stood waiting. As the rest of the crew climbed aboard, the Navajo man jogged across the air pad to Kim.
He waved as he limped up, half-slumping beneath the helicopter’s twirling rotors. Kim offered a smile and clasped her hands in front of her.
His scarred face lifted, dark eyes studying her face. “I want to say thank you for all you’ve done. This cure will save thousands of my people.”
“No problem,” she replied. “I hope everything works out.”
“The fungus is just the first part of our troubles.” Moe shook his head. “Other evils are afoot in our town and the surrounding desert.”
“Besides food and water?”
“Yes, those things will always be a struggle. But my people have started planting crops in the canyon basins like our ancestors used to do. We just need a year or two to move things along. It will take some scavenging to survive until then, but we can do it.” His eyes raised westward, his jaw slowly grinding. “But even beyond that, there’s a man I must deal with. A man so full of recklessness that I must extinguish him.”
Kim knew how Moe had survived so long. His powerful form. His scarred face. He spoke so plainly and assuredly that it sent shivers down her spine.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be the guy going up against you.” Kim frowned. “And I wish we would have had more time to talk.”
Moe dropped his eyes and flashed her a sudden, friendly smile. “Good luck to you, Kim Shields. I hope we meet again.”
“Me, too.”
They shook hands, and Moe turned and crossed the air pad to the chopper. He climbed aboard, and the door slid shut. The engine ticked up a notch, and the wind spread in waves, blowing around the surrounding treetops, scattering dust everywhere.
The Black Hawk teetered on its wheels a moment before lifting carefully off the air pad. Melissa guided it upward, rotating until they faced the northwest. Kim waved as the nose dipped forward, and the aircraft flew away.
She stood watching for a full minute until the helicopter was a dot in the sky. With a sigh, she turned and stepped into the service elevator and hit the button to go down.
The doors slid shut, leaving her alone in the deafening silence.
Chapter 42
Moe, Tulsa, Oklahoma
The helicopter rotors spun above him, churning the air and propelling them forward at maximum speed. Moe watched out the window as they chewed up the miles. They’d just left Tulsa after a brief refueling and were soaring westward at a high rate of speed.
The swaths of fresh green grasses and foliage were slipping by, giving way to more dirt and scrub land as they moved farther west. It was going to be a long trip home, and he prayed to the gods they made it in time.
He returned to his seat and buckled himself back in.
Mueller had been gracious enough to give them his last fresh chopper, a UH-60 Black Hawk. They’d mounted a pair of M240 machine guns from the captain’s small stockpile and had their cargo of serum and vaccine tightly banded to the deck’s rear. Melissa and Hicks piloted the aircraft while Trainor and Bryant were free to man the guns.
Moe, Jessie, Dex, and Mueller fleshed out the rest of the crew, unlikely allies with a big mission ahead of them. The four sat strapped into their chairs as the chopper ate up the miles. Two stops in, and they were already looking dirty and dusty.
But at least they were all following the Asphyxia treatment protocol and didn’t have to wear their air filtration masks anymore.
Moe glanced at Jessie who sat with her helmet on leaning against the mesh cage separating them from the cockpit. With closed eyes, she appeared serene.
Before they’d left Redpine, Moe had asked her a question. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
She’d nodded.
“I’m serious,” Moe said. “The American West is a long way from Little Rock Arkansas. There’s nothing out there but desert, mountains, and canyons. It’s a beautiful place, but it will overwhelm you easily. I’ll be walking into a snake pit, and who knows what you’ll run into at Burke’s California facility.”
Jessie had nodded and grinned at Moe’s warning. “I always wanted to go out west. I guess this is my chance.”
They’d used information given to them by Bonnie as well as data on the RV to determine their target location. It was a mountain stronghold north of San Francisco called Five Falls. There they hoped to unlock the final secret, release any prisoners they found, and bring Burke and his henchmen to justice.
Lexi could take several routes to the location, but they planned on beating her there and intercepting the pair before they entered. All that after dropping Moe off in Chinle.
With a smile, Moe shifted his eyes to the soldier, Dex. The man had reassigned himself to the mission with the lieutenant colonel’s permission. His willingness to follow Jessie out west showed he loved her. Moe guessed she loved him, too, and he hoped it didn’t end in tragedy for them.
It brought him back to thoughts of returning to Sage. He’d only been away from her a few weeks, though it felt like a lifetime. What would be waiting for him there? Had Waki made her scavenging runs successfully?
They were all impossible questi
ons to answer, and they would keep him awake through the coming days. He wouldn’t know for sure until they came within Chinle’s radio range, which wasn’t very far to begin with.
Still, Moe closed his eyes and tried to rest. He actually drifted, helped by the white noise of the Black Hawk’s engine and gentle vibrations of the aircraft.
Over the next hour, he caught pieces of conversation in his helmet’s speaker. The professional banter between Melissa and Hicks. Quips from Trainor. Bryant remained mostly quiet where he sat near his M240 with his right leg stretched out in front of him.
“Do you think we’ll catch them, captain?” Mueller asked in his heavy accent. “They have a full day’s head start.”
Her voice came clipped in Moe’s helmet. “The Black Hawk is a trade up from my Venom. She’s fast and covers a lot of ground. We should have fewer stops along the way, and we know which ones are safe. It’s going to be close.”
“I’ll keep Melissa jacked up on coffee,” Hicks added. “Between us, we’ll get there.”
“And I may have a trick or two up my sleeve,” Jessie said.
Moe looked over to see she’d woken up and held one of Burke’s handheld devices. While they had no idea whether the same program worked at the California stronghold, she’d convinced them it was worth a try.
“That is good to know.” Mueller said before falling quiet once more.
The chopper bore them ever westward, chasing the sun.
Chapter 43
Randy, Redpine Facility, Little Rock, Arkansas
A week later, Randy was recovering in his Redpine apartment, playing a game on a computer tablet. It still sucked lying on his stomach all the time, but he was getting better by the day. He’d even slept on his side the evening before.
His bruises and bumps had faded, and his anticipation grew knowing he’d be able to go home to the Major soon.
His doorbell beeped, and he craned his neck to the left. “Open.”
There was a brief hiss and footsteps approaching. He rolled onto his right side as Kim Shields walked in. She pulled a desk chair closer and sat with her knees together and a small syringe kit resting there. She wore her hair up in her normal style, with a pair of locks hanging down to frame her face. Her eyes looked powder blue in the apartment light.
Spore Series | Book 5 | Torch Page 31