The Susquehanna Virus Box Set

by Steve McEllistrem

  “I’m telling you the truth,” Julianna said. She shifted position, swinging her lower leg over his, pulling him in tighter. Jeremiah wanted to hold her. He wanted the warm embrace of another human being, the comfort of physical closeness, to compensate for the separation he felt in his mind. At the same time his stomach clenched. He wondered if Julianna had her knife with her. “If you think about it,” she added, “you’ll see I’m right. Elias is always playing a different game than the one he lets you in on. He can’t be trusted. That’s one of the few things in this world I’m absolutely certain of.”

  A mosquito buzzed near Jeremiah’s ear. It struggled for purchase against the hairs of his neck. He flicked it away and in the instant he did so, felt like he was about to be flicked away too, by something much greater than him.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Because, Jeremiah, I’ve reached the end. Win or lose, this is my last job. I can’t go on doing what I’m doing. Not if I want to live with myself.”

  “You’ve got me all screwed up. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

  Julianna took out a small flashlight and turned it to the lamp setting, illuminating only a small circle around them. She placed it on the trunk between them.

  “You shouldn’t do that,” Jeremiah said.

  “Look in my eyes, Jeremiah.” Julianna reached up and touched his cheek with her cool fingers, her brown eyes looking black in the rain. “I want you to know I will never betray you again.” She paused for a moment, then said, “I may have to kill you but I won’t betray you.”

  Jeremiah burst into laughter and after a few seconds Julianna joined in.

  “Seriously,” she finally managed to say, “it’s all due to Devereaux. I feel like an apostle. It started with the Mubarno mission. Remember those long discussions I had with Mubarno about Devereauxnianism?”

  Jeremiah nodded.

  “At first, it seemed like so much crap. But after I stabbed you I began to look into it—because of you, Jeremiah; because of your principles and your honor—and I realized it was just Mubarno who was full of crap. He’d distorted Devereaux’s words until he’d gotten the meaning completely wrong. But Devereaux is right. We can change. You can too. You helped make me what I am even though you’re still as lost as I was.”

  Jeremiah sighed. “I don’t know whether to believe you or not. You might be telling the truth. But you’re the greatest liar I’ve ever known. And I mean that as a compliment. I can’t read you at all. So I hope you won’t be offended if I don’t accept what you say at face value.”

  Julianna’s head dropped. “That’s exactly what I expected.” She paused for a moment, grimaced, then lifted her head. “I won’t say I’m not disappointed. But I’m not sorry I said it. Let’s get on with the mission. What now?”

  “I wish I knew why the EOs are here already.”

  “I think it’s because the President didn’t trust you to do the job.”

  “You think she wants Devereaux dead?”

  “No,” Julianna answered. “But she wants to make certain he doesn’t get away.”

  “Well, we’ve got a little time. The main body won’t be here for a while yet, but when they arrive, they’ll come in strong. No subtlety with them. What we need to do now is find that Cookie Monster fellow.”

  “Done. He’s standing behind you.”

  Jeremiah sensed the man’s presence even as he turned to look. Some smell or sound that came to him too late. But he knew Cookie Monster was there. The big man stood silently less than ten feet away. Jumping to his feet, Jeremiah reached for his Las-pistol, but Julianna grabbed his arm.

  “He’s wearing a shield,” Julianna said.

  Jeremiah looked closely and spotted the faint shimmering of the energy barrier. Even though he couldn’t see the man very well in the darkness, he knew it was Cookie Monster. He picked up the small light Julianna had placed on the trunk and shone it on the man’s face. Cookie Monster accepted this without moving. He just stared at Jeremiah.

  Jeremiah glanced down at his scanner and saw nothing. So the big man had a scatterer as well as a shield. Jeremiah’s scatterers had never worked very effectively when combined with a shield. And he’d thought he’d gotten the best. But this Cookie Monster’s technology was better than his.

  Moving the light down Cookie Monster’s sides, Jeremiah checked for weapons and found none. Nevertheless, he kept the light focused on the center of the big man’s body.

  “Okay, Cookie Monster,” he said, “it’s your party. What do you want?”

  “His name is actually Quark,” Julianna said. “This is Jeremiah.”

  “You’re working for them,” Jeremiah said to her.

  “No,” Julianna replied.

  “Then who?”

  Julianna didn’t answer.

  The big man called Quark turned to Julianna and lifted an eyebrow.

  “I don’t know,” Julianna said.

  “You don’t know what?” Jeremiah asked.

  “I don’t know what you’re going to do.”

  “That makes two of us.” Jeremiah shook his head, disgusted with himself. “You just got done telling me you were never going to betray me again. And I nearly believed you.”

  “How have I betrayed you?”

  “You two obviously know each other. You appear to be working together despite your denial. And by keeping me here talking, you allowed him to sneak up on me.”

  Quark smiled and said, “That was easy.”

  “You’re such an idiot,” Julianna said. “You’re so blinded by the past. It was your idea to stop here, not mine. And don’t blame me for letting him sneak up on you. That’s your fault. Maybe you’re getting too old for this kind of work. Did you ever think of that?”

  Quark laughed.

  Jeremiah opened his mouth to make a vicious comment, then realized she was right. The only reason he was angry was because he’d lost focus and let Quark approach unnoticed. And he couldn’t blame anyone else for that. He turned to Quark and said, “Well, what do you want?”

  “We have a common problem,” Quark said.

  “Weiss,” Jeremiah said.

  “You got any ideas?”

  “You want me to trust you?” Jeremiah looked from Quark to Julianna. “Either of you? A full unit of Elite Ops will be here soon. And we can’t beat them.”

  “Elite Ops?” Quark asked.

  “That’s right,” Julianna said. “An advance force killed that group of fugitives living off that way.” She tossed her head to indicate the direction. Her eyes became more liquid. “I don’t know how long we’ve got before the main body arrives.”

  “This complicates things immensely,” Quark said.

  Jeremiah pointed at Quark, his frustration rising rapidly. “Are you two working together or not? What’s really going on? Tell me the truth.”

  “I don’t trust you, either, little man,” Quark said. He reached into one of his pockets and removed a small device. Jeremiah grabbed his Las-pistol, even though he knew it would be useless against Quark’s shield. Quark looked at Julianna, “I suppose you won’t leave him.”

  Julianna shook her head, stood up straighter and said, slowly but firmly, “Not this time.”

  Jeremiah’s eyes welled up. He blinked. Three little words: his whole being seemed to expand with uncontainable joy.

  Quark nodded. “That’s what I thought.” Then he pressed a button on the device and tossed it at them.

  Jeremiah heard an ear-shattering noise, then everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Doug sat up slowly, his head throbbing. As the glow globe brightened, he noticed the picture of “Emerging Man” on the wall. His mind kept drifting back to Zeriphi; his body longed for another touch of her soft skin. He knew he ought to feel worse about the deaths of his fr
iends but every sensation except desire seemed muted. Was that the drugs, or had prison left him incapable of experiencing true grief?

  While at the Redwing Correctional Facility, Doug had formed a Devereauxnian group, discussing concepts like the ladder of enlightenment. He’d been shocked when Devereaux contacted him and told him the ladder was for everyone. Devereaux had encouraged Doug to use his time for bettering himself. He’d offered support and a belief in Doug’s abilities that had left Doug in awe of the great man. And when Devereaux sent him the disk bearing the image of Emerging Man, and told Doug he was going to be in Crescent Township, Doug had escaped. He hadn’t been able to help himself. He simply had to meet Devereaux. After arriving in town, Doug had talked Sister Ezekiel into giving him a job at the shelter.

  Doug had contacted his friends shortly after arriving at the shelter, notifying them of the abandoned houses. And since they’d had nowhere else to go, they’d come running. Mostly they’d stayed hidden in the woods. But a few weeks ago they’d asked for help when a little redhead named Madeline had fallen gravely ill with what turned out to be West Nile Fever. Dr. Mary’s treatment had saved Madeline’s life—until now.

  A surge of anger flashed through Doug. He pictured Madeline’s pale face in his mind—her curly orange hair. A cute girl, very quiet. But even as sorrow washed over Doug, his thoughts drifted back to Zeriphi. He desperately wanted to take her in his arms one more time. Hopefully it would take weeks or months for her to become pregnant. Boy or girl: Doug didn’t care.

  He got to his feet, the pounding in his head gradually diminishing, then adjusted his pants to ease his discomfort and took a closer look at the picture of the statue. He wondered at its significance—for variations on the picture seemed to be in every room he’d visited. Some were drawings or paintings. This one was a moving photograph that had been taken through several exposures at night, offering multiple images of the statue. As he leaned in close to study the picture, an alarm sounded. Low-pitched, it wailed insistently, impossible to ignore. Doug jumped back, then ran into the hallway. Two Escala came up behind him and pushed him along toward the main cave.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Doug asked.

  They didn’t answer, just rushed ahead.

  When they reached the common room, Doug saw about fifty people—mostly adults but a few teenagers—standing by the table looking grim. Doug had never seen the teenagers before. Where had they been hiding? They looked gawky and uncoordinated. Behind them stood Temala, her ugly face furrowed in concentration or anger. Quekri stood at the head of the table with Zod, who wore a fierce expression, as if daring anyone to challenge him. No one spoke. Doug nearly asked what was happening, but when he spotted Zeriphi standing off to the side with an older female, he stopped abruptly and turned toward her. She shook her head and held up her hand. Within seconds, another dozen adults made their way to the table from the two hallways. The alarm stopped.

  “I just talked to Quark,” Quekri said. “A few Elite Ops are in the area.” She looked at Doug. “They’re the ones who killed your friends. Their main force will be here soon. And they’ll be coming after us.” She looked around the table at the others, who nodded in agreement. “But,” she continued, “their secondary mission will almost certainly be to find and capture Devereaux. We are expendable. Devereaux is not.”

  Everyone nodded again.

  “Quark will let us know when the main force arrives. In the meantime, we must prepare for action. Probably no more than nine of us should go. Quark has asked Zod to put together the team.”

  “Why only nine?” Doug asked.

  “We have only nine Las-rifles.”

  “We can use other weapons. Knives, rocks, whatever.”

  Zod said, “Have you ever seen the Elite Ops in action?”

  “No,” Doug said.

  “You would be killed immediately,” Zod said, a hint of satisfaction behind the words. Doug supposed if he were in Zod’s shoes, letting someone else sleep with his wife, he’d feel hostile too.

  “Devereaux has asked that you be kept safe,” Quekri said. “You’ve shown tremendous potential, overcoming your past. You’re on the ladder. You can help others. So you cannot go.”

  “Who is Devereaux?”

  “It’s best if you don’t know that yet.”

  “But…” Doug looked at Quekri’s face, at Zod’s, at Zeriphi’s: at the pain and determination on each. He wanted so badly to fight for Devereaux in glorious combat—to finally have a cause worth dying for. Not drugs or turf, but ideas and the future of humanity. Didn’t they know he was a warrior? Yet apparently Devereaux had made other plans for him. How could he refuse that great man? He sighed. “Okay.”

  Quekri smiled briefly—the first time Doug had seen her do so—and she looked almost beautiful in that moment. She said, “I will remain behind too, as will Zeriphi, Probst, Wellon and Keelar.” Quekri indicated an older male and two females. “Zod will choose from those who remain.”

  “We’ve seen the Elite Ops before,” Zod said. “We know what they’re capable of. Volunteers?”

  Sixty hands went up. Sixty people crowded around the table. How Doug longed to be one of them.

  “Come,” Quekri said to Doug. “Let’s give them space to make their plans.” She grabbed Doug’s arm and directed him away from the table. Zeriphi, Keelar and Probst detached themselves from the group and followed Doug and Quekri away. Wellon stayed at the table.

  “Zeriphi,” Doug said, reaching for her hand. She let him take it. “I woke up and you were gone. Then when I checked on you later, they said you were with the doctor. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Zeriphi said.

  “You sure?”

  Zeriphi smiled. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” Doug said. “You know already?” He blinked several times in rapid succession while he processed that information. “That means I’m gonna be a father.”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s wonderful!” Doug lifted Zeriphi’s hand to his face and kissed it.

  “Please, don’t,” Zeriphi said, pulling her hand free, her smile vanishing.

  “Why not?”

  Zeriphi shook her head. “I’m with Zod.”

  “But I’m the father. It’s my child.”

  “The child belongs to all of us and we to it.”

  Keelar nodded and put her hand on Zeriphi’s shoulder.

  “What’s the matter with you, Zeriphi?” Doug said. “You’ve changed. You’re so…cold.”

  “You seem nice, Doug. But I don’t know you. I’m not with you and I’m not going to be with you. That will never happen again.”

  “I’m not askin’ you to marry me. I just thought we could be together for awhile.”

  “No,” Zeriphi said. “It’s best if we make a clean break, before things get emotional.”

  “It’s too late for that. I care about you, Zeriphi. I wanna help you and the baby. Even if you’re with Zod, I deserve a place here too. I got nowhere else to go.”

  “You care about me because of the drugs in your system. They will soon wear off. Then you’ll be angry.”

  “I’m already angry. But not at you.”

  “Why not me?”

  “You were just doin’ what you had to do. I understand that.”

  Zeriphi gestured to encompass the others. “We all did what we had to.”

  “I know. And I ain’t blamin’ anyone. I’m just angry that you people didn’t trust me. If you had just asked me to help you, I woulda. You didn’t hafta do it the way you did.”

  Probst said, “Yes, we did. There were certain hormones and chemicals that…”

  Doug glared at him. He hated these people’s concept of privacy. “Look,” he said to Zeriphi, “even if you don’t wanna be with me, it’s my child too. I got certain rights. And I wanna be involved.” />
  “We can discuss this later,” Quekri said. “Zeriphi, you should return to the infirmary. These early stages are critical.”

  Zeriphi turned and walked away, Keelar following her.

  “I can make you feel better,” Probst said, “if you like.”

  “She got no right,” Doug said. “It’s like I don’t exist.”

  Probst grabbed Doug’s hand and squeezed firmly. When Doug looked down, Probst released his grip, pulling away a small pad. Almost immediately, Doug experienced a tingling in his arm that spread to his shoulder, then his chest.

  Doug shook his arm and said, “What the hell was that?”

  “Just a small dosage to accelerate the removal of drugs from your body. Your emotional state should recede quickly.”

  Doug stabbed a finger at the large Escala’s chest. “I didn’t give you permission to do that. And those recovery drugs don’t work on me.”

  “These will. They’re for your own good.”

  Doug’s heart thumped heavily. Blood rushed to his face. His erection drooped. Rage and guilt overwhelmed him. “How the hell you know what’s good for me?”

  With an expression of surprise, Probst held up a small plastic monitor. “That’s strange,” he said. “The dosage is working, but you still seem quite angry.”

  “Damn right I’m angry.”

  “I don’t understand. This should have—”

  Quekri held up her hand. “Enough, Probst.” Probst bowed slightly and moved off in the direction Zeriphi had headed with Keelar.

  “I think it’s about damn time you told me what’s goin’ on,” Doug said to Quekri. “You said everything would be explained later. Well, it’s later. Where the hell is Devereaux?”

  “He’s safe for the moment. And we must protect ourselves. There are many people who wish to harm us. The Elite Ops will try to kill us. Others seek to lock us away. They say we aren’t human and have no constitutional rights. They say we’re a threat to society.”

  “Maybe you are. Druggin’ me, seducin’ me, then druggin’ me again.”

  “I told you. We do what we must to survive. Our children do not appear to have the sterility problem we do, so we may no longer need to use people like you once they mature.”