The Zombie Deception

by Marvin Wolf

  Chelmin whispered, “Get your knife out. No mercy.”

  Chapter 97

  Ash hopped out of the MH-6 Little Bird, took a dozen steps, until she was outside the circle of its idling blades, and looked around. There, high on a tree trunk, was what looked like a video camera. She began walking in a big circle. several minutes later, she stopped, dropped to her knees, and peered at the grass in front of her. She got to her feet and turned to face the helicopter.

  “Cho! Come over here,” she said, “Please.”

  Cho stepped out of the helicopter and meandered over to where Ash stood.

  “Still pissed?” he said. “Or do you want to know what a real man can do for you?”

  Ash leaped at him, locking her knees and striking him in the chest with both feet. Then she jumped up, hauled the astonished officer to his feet, and then slapped his face hard, once with each hand.

  “Hey,” he said, breathing hard. “I was only kidding.”

  “Shut your face. Look at this grass and tell me what you see.”

  “It’s just grass,” he said, barely glancing at the ground.

  “Are those tire impressions?” Ash said, pointing.

  Cho looked, then knelt for a closer view. “Yeah. A pretty big truck.”

  “Now look over there,” she commanded. “What do you see? In the grass?”

  Cho moved to where she pointed. “That could be the impression of a skid. The things a helicopter lands on.”

  “Just one? Find the other one.”

  He moved farther into the grass, then pointed. “Here. A helicopter landed here, landed pretty hard, not long ago.”

  Ash felt her blood running cold. Another aviator had disappeared

  “Cho,” she said, pointing at a tree. “What do you see on that tree trunk?”

  Cho turned to look and after a moment he said. “That’s a video camera! What the hell?”

  A Humvee, followed by a fire engine, an ambulance, and a big, flatbed truck with a crane, came out of the woods on a dirt road from the direction of what Ash knew was a four-lane highway.

  When the Humvee stopped, Steve and Elliot got out, followed by a military police captain and the MP driver. Ash beckoned to the agents, who jogged over to her.

  “Where’s the helicopter?” Elliot said. “Where are Will and Mr. Chelmin?”

  Chapter 98

  The door swung open, temporarily blinding Will. As a man with a bucket in each hand took half a step inside, Chelmin jumped up, seized his long hair with his left hand, jerked his head upward and with his right hand cut the man’s throat. Making a gurgling sound, the man pitched forward, bleeding and gasping for air.

  Will jumped over the man and out the door, where he collided with Katrina, knocking her down. He snatched the gun from her hand. One look told him it was his own Glock.

  Chelmin pulled a pistol from the dying man’s hip and stepped out of the closet.

  “Edeenakhooy,” said Katrina. “Mudakpeedarahss! Ahyebis' Peeda'rahss!”

  Chelmin reached down, grabbed her by the collar, hoisted her to her feet, and then slapped her face twice.

  Will said, “What did she just say?”

  Chelmin smiled. “She said that you are the terminus of the alimentary canal and that I am an unhygienic homosexual who enjoys receiving anal sex.”

  “Somebody has a potty mouth,” Will said.

  Katrina looked shocked. “You speak Russian!”

  “Better than you. But you were born…in Turkmenistan? Or Uzbekistan?”

  Another torrent of curses flew from her painted lips.

  Will grabbed Katrina’s red hair and raised his survival knife. “I say we cut her head off and leave her in the closet.”

  Katrina paled.

  “Americans don’t do things like that.”

  Will said, “Americans cut Bin Laden into little pieces and threw them in the ocean.” Very lightly, he pulled the flat side of his blade across her throat.

  She flinched and turned ashen.

  “No, no. Please. I can show you to get out,” she gasped.

  Chelmin said, “If you try to escape, I’ll shoot you.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Shoot me. Better that.”

  Will released her hair and went back into the closet, returning with a large steel ring with old-fashioned keys.

  “We can find our way out,” Will said. “Let’s kill her now.”

  Katrina started to weep. Her mascara made twin black streaks down her face.

  Chelmin said, “I want her to stand trial for killing two MPs. And then there’s the kid she kidnapped. I think they still use the electric chair in this state. But they’re not very good at it. Last time, it took them three tries before they finished cooking that guy.”

  “Please,” said Katrina. “You will need my help.”

  Chapter 99

  Ash said, “Look around. There must be some trace of them. Two men and a helicopter can’t vanish into thin air.”

  Elliot said, “What are we looking for?”

  Ash said, “Anything that shouldn’t be here. A scrap of paper. A button. Keys—anything that says that they were here.”

  Steve said, “I’ll go clockwise and work my way toward the pad.

  Ash said, “Good. Elliot, you go the other way. Captain, can you and your man walk the pad?”

  The captain turned to his MP driver. “You walk every foot of the pad from the center to the left, and I’ll take the other side and do the same.”

  Cho said, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Get back into the air and fly circles around this pad. See what you can see. And while you’re up there, ask the tower to call the Provost Marshall, Colonel Moffett, and get us some reinforcements. A platoon would be nice.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Cho said and headed for his helicopter.

  Chapter 100

  Will tied Katrina’s hands behind her back with her belt. Gripping her collar in his left hand and holding his cocked gun in his right, and trailed by Chelmin, they made their way down a long, dimly lit tunnel toward a steel staircase.

  As they approached the tunnel’s midpoint, something hot zipped past Will’s left side and Katrina screamed.

  Chelmin whirled around on his good left leg and fired once. The gunman at the mouth of the tunnel toppled backward.

  “I’m shot,” said Katrina. “Help me.”

  Will released her collar and turned her around to face him. Blood trickled down the fabric on the left hip of her jeans.

  “An exit wound,” Will said. “You’re lucky that it was a through-and-through.”

  “Can you walk?” Will said.

  “A little,” she said, through clenched teeth.

  Will spun her around again, bent his knees, put his left arm around her waist and hoisted her to his side, face outward, and carried her like a rolled-up carpet under his left arm.

  As they entered the open space, Will saw a long, steep staircase ascending in three flights to a platform that Will hoped was under the faux porta-potty.

  Chelmin said, “I’ll take point,” and moved to the stairs.

  As they neared the top of the first flight, a burst of fire ricocheted off the stairs. Chelmin turned to look past Will.

  “Down,” he said, and as Will knelt and ducked, Chelmin fired.

  “Let’s go,” Chelmin said and resumed the climb.

  Above them, a door opened next to the landing and two men with AK-47 rifles appeared. Each turned sideways and one after another sat on one of the railings, then slid down toward them, firing short bursts as they descended.

  Will stopped, aimed at a point near the middle of the stairway, and as the gunman on the left side approached it, fired two quick shots.

  A moment later Chelmin fired once.

  Both gunners fell backward over the railing.

  Chelmin resumed the climb, with Will two stairs behind him.

  Chapter 101

  Elliot approached the porta-potty, then knelt and picked so
mething red up from near the door.

  “Hey!” he yelled. “Ash, I found something.”

  Ash trotted across the pad toward him. “What is it?”

  “A matchbook.”

  Ash approached Elliot and he handed her the matches. The cover was red with a yellow logo in a faux-oriental typeface that said “Szechuan Heat,” with a Huntsville address.

  Ash’s heart leaped.

  “He was here,” she said.

  Elliot grabbed the door handle and tried to open it.

  “It’s locked from the inside,” he said.

  Ash put her ear to the fiberglass wall and listened.

  She heard what sounded like distant gunfire.

  “Elliot—do you hear that?”

  Elliot shook his head.

  “Put your ear to the concrete and listen,” she ordered.

  Elliot dropped flat and cupped his ear to the thick concrete.

  “Sounds like automatic weapons,” he said.

  Now the sound was audible to everyone on the pad.

  The porta-potty door burst open and Chelmin limped out, blood running down his left arm.

  Then Will, still carrying Katrina, leaped from the tiny structure, dropped the woman, and whirled to face the porta-potty door. “They’re right behind us,” he said, then looked at the military police captain.

  “Captain, this woman is under arrest for the murder of two military policemen, and for kidnapping. She’s wounded but dangerous. She has not been searched for weapons.”

  “I’ll take care of this,” the captain said and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt.

  Chelmin favored Will with a quick wink.

  A burst of automatic fire turned the porta-potty door to Swiss cheese as everyone on the pad went prone.

  One after another, five men with automatic rifles came through the door, and one after another, the CID agents and MPs shot them.

  Ash said, “How many more are there?”

  Will said, “Quite a few.”

  But no more gunmen emerged from the porta-potty.

  Will got to his feet and Ash came closer. In a low voice, she said, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m tired from carrying that woman, I’m a little thirsty, and I need to take a leak. Other than that, I’m in great shape.”

  Will looked around and spotted Elliot Keiser. “Elliot, a minute,” he said.

  Keiser came over and Will said, “Call the post engineer again. Beneath this pad is what looks like part of an old-fashioned aircraft carrier’s elevator. Down below is a huge room, a system of tunnels and stairs with small rooms here and there. It seems to run for a long way. See what you can find out about it. Exits, entrances, that sort of thing.”

  “I’m on it,” Elliot said and moved away from the others.

  The faint but distinctive sound of a twin-rotor helicopter was heard. Moments later a giant CH-47 Chinook helicopter appeared, circled the area twice as it descended, and set down on a corner of the pad. The rear hatch of the aircraft dropped to become a ramp, and the first of three squads of military police in full combat gear emerged.

  The MP captain appeared. “Mister Chelmin, I’ve got 30 men with rifles and sidearms. What do you want us to do?”

  Chelmin said, “Beneath that fake porta-potty is a staircase. It leads to an extensive system of tunnels, stairs, and rooms of different sizes. Somewhere down there, if they haven’t fled, are an unknown number of baddies. They might be wearing Army uniforms, some even flight suits. They might be from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan—maybe even Iran. They’re heavily armed and may have a stash of millions in US currency. More importantly, we’re missing three aviators and two civilians, all male. They or their remains might be down there.

  “I’ll ask Colonel Moffett for more men. This is a search-and-destroy. Kill or capture any armed people. If you find any currency, secure it. Leave one of your men with a radio near the top of the stairs, and report back to me, Agent Spaulding or Agent Shapiro every fifteen minutes about what you’re finding.”

  “Yes, sir,” said the captain.

  “Three more things,” Chelmin said. “I’m going to send one of my agents with you—Special Agent Foosler, and he can advise you. The guy over there, Spaulding, has a key ring that might be of use to open doors. And you might want to borrow a crowbar from the recovery vehicle.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Chelmin.”

  Chapter 102

  After giving the keyring to the MP captain, Will reloaded his Glock with a fresh magazine, then walked across the field and into the edge of the forest, where he relieved himself.

  When he zipped up his trousers and turned around, he found Ash standing there, laughing.

  “I wish I could hold you,” Will said, “Wrong time, wrong place.”

  Ash said, “Let me use your phone. I’m going to ask Andrea Taliaferro to put up checkpoints on every road leading out of the area adjacent to this post.”

  Will said, “After that, or maybe before it, would you ask Colonel Moffett to search all SUVs leaving or entering the base? And then to arrest Sergeant Andrew Bender of flight ops on suspicion of sabotaging my aircraft, and secure him somewhere?”

  Ash favored Will with a look of passion, then started dialing.

  §

  As they headed back to the pad, an Army ambulance came out of the woods. Ash said, “This might sound crazy, but let’s check the EMT’s IDs.”

  Will said, “Not so crazy.”

  When the ambulance stopped, Will checked that the ambulance VIN matched the one in its log book, while Ash checked the two medics’ ID cards.

  Chelmin came strolling over, took off his jacket and then his shirt, and let one of the EMTs clean and bandage a long, shallow bullet wound on his upper arm. As he got dressed, the medic said. “You’ve got three bullet holes in your right trouser leg,” he said. “There’s no blood. Are those old holes?”

  Silently, Chelmin rolled up his pant leg to reveal his prosthesis, which now boasted a trio of through-and-through holes matching the ones in his trousers.

  “I’ll need a new suit,” he said.

  Will laughed. “How long have you had that one?”

  “These suits never go out of style,” he replied. “I think this one is from 2001. Had it made in Beirut—hand-sewn. Cost me almost fifty dollars.”

  Will said, “By the way, Rudy, where did you learn a knife move like the one in the closet?”

  “When I finished boot camp and infantry training, I was volunteered for Recon training. Then I was assigned to the division recon battalion, but only for about a week. The battalion C.O. decided that every man had to be 5’11” or taller. So they made me a corporal—about a year earlier than I expected—and shipped me to an infantry battalion.”

  Will nodded. “Go figure,” he said. “And how did you learn Russian?

  “My mother was born in Volgograd. My father was Polish—only in America! And then as a Marine corporal, I did ninety days at the Defense Language Institute and two years in the Embassy Marine Detail in Moscow. Wonderful people, wretched country.

  “Speaking of moves,” Chelmin continued, “How did you come by the mad dog routine you trotted out for Katrina?”

  Will shrugged. “Watched and learned from older and more experienced detectives, especially my training officer. He could put the fear of God into any perp.”

  Will heard his name shouted and turned to see Ash at the porta-potty door, waving frantically. He pulled his gun from its holster and sprinted toward her as fast as he could run.

  Chapter 103

  Ash was beaming as Will ran up, breathless.

  “What’s up?” he said.

  “Put your gun away,” she said.

  Will holstered the Glock. “So?”

  “So, in about one minute, you’ll have wonderful news to report to General Davis,” she said.

  “Really? For sure?”

  The porta-potty door opened and a burly MP emerged, supporting a thin, pale, bearded
man in dirty and torn slacks, a soiled sports shirt—and worn-out bowling shoes.

  Will approached the man, who used his hands to shield his squinting eyes from the sun.

  “Lieutenant Colonel Slocum, I presume?”

  The man turned his head and peered at Will. He was cautious and defensive.

  “Special Agent Spaulding, CID,” Will said. “You are safe and free, and you just made a lot of people very happy.”

  “Free? Is that true?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll get an ambulance here right away. You’ll be with your family soon.”

  Slocum began to weep.

  Behind him the door opened again, and out came McHugh, and then Lopez, and then both Thompson brothers, all thin and bearded and wearing dirty, torn clothes, and each supported by an MP. A moment later, two MPs appeared, carrying a groaning, heavy-set man in his forties with bruises on his face and arms.

  “Who is he?” Will asked.

  “Says his name is Collins and that he’s a retired staff sergeant.”

  Will got his satellite phone out and punched in a number.

  “Captain Johnstone,” said the voice on the other end.

  “Will Spaulding, sir. “I have Slocum, McHugh, Lopez, and three civilians. I need two Medevac choppers at Pad 29, as soon as possible. These men are dehydrated, half-starved, and very dirty. But all six alive. I’m sure General Davis would like to know.”

  “Spaulding, you’ll get a fucking medal for this.”

  “Sir, respectfully, I don’t give a rat’s ass about that. I just did my job, and so did all the people working with me. This was very much a team effort. If there are to be medals passed out, everyone gets one, or nobody does.”

  “Message received, Will. Anything else?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you for the privilege of working with you, if I may say that.”

  “Today, Will Spaulding, you can say anything you like.”

  §

  Twenty minutes later three helicopters set down, one after the other, next to Pad 29.