Cyber Apocalypse (Book 3): As Our World Burns

by Hunt, Jack

  They were too fast.

  He was too slow.

  The first bite barely registered, masked by shock.

  Razor-sharp teeth tore into him, ripping the flesh from his bones with such fury he didn’t have time to process it. No scream escaped his lips because one of the dogs had his throat clamped between its powerful jaws. The last image Joe saw as the dogs mauled him to death was Jethro walking out of the barn.

  7

  Willits

  It wasn’t like they pulled straws to see who would go. Alex simply took charge and volunteered to go with Thomas, who’d spoken with the group. The woman they spoke with had stipulated that only two were allowed to meet with their group on the north side of Pillsbury Lake. His decision that morning was as much curiosity as it was a desire to put some distance between him and Garcia.

  Before loading the truck that morning, Alex had retreated to the banks of Lake Ada Rose to eat his breakfast in peace. Peace wasn’t what he got. Sophie had wandered down, bringing a coffee with her.

  He was perched on a dry log, scooping beans into his mouth as water lapped against the shore and the rising sun cast its first rays upon the surface.

  “Hey,” she said. “You mind?”

  “Be my guest,” he replied without looking.

  She took a few seconds, sipping coffee before she spoke. “So about yesterday.”

  He groaned inwardly.

  Here we go again.

  “What about it?” He asked.

  “You’re right. I should have told you but one, I didn’t think you would be coming back to California, and two, I didn’t expect to travel with you across the country, and three, I met Garcia long after we had parted ways.”

  “But you were still married.”

  “On paper, yes. But I kind of figured you’d be seeing someone, Alex.” He looked at her and continued to scoop beans into his mouth without giving her a response.

  He finished and set his plate on the sandy ground. “Look, Sophie, you don’t need to explain anything to me. What you do with your life from here on out, it’s up to you. I’m here because of Elisha. Nothing more.”

  She nodded and drank some more coffee. “I just thought it was best I speak to you since the disagreement between the two of you yesterday.” She paused. “He’s a good guy, Alex.”

  “I imagine he is.” He’d learned not to bother arguing. There was no point. The truth was he had no issues with her seeing someone else. It wasn’t like he believed in the idea of growing old with one person. That was like many ideals, something worth aspiring to but more of a pipe dream than anything. No, what he didn’t appreciate was having someone lie to him. Okay, maybe she didn’t lie per se as she didn’t know this was about to hit and she had her reasons for not telling him but still, it’s not like he would have flown off the handle. In his mind he’d seen her ghost long before their relationship ended.

  “This won’t change anything, will it?”

  “What, like sleeping arrangements?” He chuckled.

  She gave him a friendly jab. “No, you know what I mean. Us. What we have.”

  He snorted. “And what do you suppose that is, Sophie?”

  “Friendship. Right? Long before we were together, we were friends, Alex. I wouldn’t want that to change.”

  “There’s a lot of things we don’t want to change but they do.” He took a stone out of the soft sand and tossed it across the lake surface as he rose. “Hey, I’m happy for you.”

  “You don’t exactly sound like it.”

  He looked up the grassy slope, through the trees to the cabin. “I’m just letting you know I get it. I understand and there’s no need to tiptoe around wondering if I care.”

  She leaned toward him. “You don’t?”

  “Am I supposed to?”

  “Well… no. But…”

  The corner of his lip went up. “You think we rebounded on the trip?”

  “Didn’t we?”

  “We worked together. Probably best we don’t confuse the two. Anyway, I told Thomas I would head out with him this morning. Go check out this group, see what the situation is. Oh, and I appreciate you coming to see me after the fact.”

  He began walking up the hill and she took off after him. “Hold up a minute. What do you mean, after the fact?”

  “Well after I spent the last few weeks watching you two lovebirds, and getting the scoop from Elisha.”

  “So you’re trying to say this is my fault?”

  “Geez Louise, Sophie. Every conversation doesn’t need to be an argument. You ever heard the saying, pick your battles? Well… you can pick them.”

  He turned away from her.

  “Maybe I’m picking now.”

  “Not a good time,” he said without looking back as he continued into the grove of trees that separated the lake from the property. She sidled up beside him.

  “When is?”

  He stopped and looked at her. “What do you want from me, Sophie? Huh? You want me to sing a song, do a dance, congratulate you that you’ve found someone after our marriage ended up in the shitter?”

  “No. I just assumed…” she trailed off and looked back at the lake, one hand resting on her hip with the empty cup looped over her finger, and the other hand running through her blond hair. “Forget it.”

  “No. Say it. Because if you don’t, you’ll only bring it up later and to be honest, I really want to put this behind us.”

  She chuckled. “What’s that mean?”

  He groaned as he rubbed his eyes. It was too early. He was tired and could use a second cup of coffee before he had to deal with this kind of drama. “It means that this thing you and I have has been dragged out long enough. Look, I never walked out the door. You did. Now you can spin this a million ways and say that our relationship was doomed to fail but the only reason it failed is because one of us chose to give up. That wasn’t me. Back when I gave those vows, I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I didn’t expect to lose our son but I sure as hell didn’t expect to throw in the towel after twenty-six years of marriage. Now I’m not saying that anyone needs to be married to the same person forever, or that we don’t change and become different people because we do — age, experience, life — all of that factors into how different we are now from who we were. But I figured you would at least fight for what we had.”

  “All right.” She nodded. “You tell me, what did we have? Because from what I could see you had your work, I had mine, and the only thing that was keeping us together was the kids. So tell me, what did we have?”

  He stared back at her and shook his head in disbelief. “Each other.”

  Obviously that wasn’t enough but at one time it was.

  With that said he walked off. She never caught up with him or replied so he wasn’t sure what she made of his answer. The truth was he’d spent so much time trying to make sense of where their marriage had gone wrong that eventually he’d reached a point where he no longer cared. He just wanted to be free of the mire, and the muck associated with how bad it had become. He was tired of wrestling in the mud of excuses and blame and wanted to move on, put it behind him. In many ways he’d been relieved to hear that she was seeing Garcia, as he figured that perhaps she was ready too.

  After clearing off his plate, and loading the truck with radios and an additional rifle, he saw Sophie out the corner of his eye look at him as she went back into the cabin. He assumed he’d hear more in the coming days.

  “You got the location?” he asked Thomas who was now on the passenger side of the pickup truck.

  “Yeah.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to come?” Leo asked. “You can drop me off nearby. They don’t have to know. It’s just in case the situation goes bad.”

  “No. Stay here and watch over things. And Leo, let us know if you—”

  “Hey, hold up!” a familiar voice said. Alex looked over his shoulder and saw Liam.

  He was jogging up the driveway, out of breath,
breathing hard. Under the warm bands of morning sunshine, he came into view with what looked like blood on his neck. Alex slipped out of the truck and grabbed him by the arm. “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s not my blood.”

  “Then whose is it?”

  He cast his gaze toward the cabin. “Where’s Joe?”

  “He went home last night.”

  All the color washed out of Liam’s face.

  “Liam. What’s happened?”

  “Joe’s parents are dead. Both of them were shot. Joe wasn’t there. I went over this morning as he mentioned he was planning to head back there. I was hoping to get his help.”

  Alex released his grip and took a step back. “Help? As in… burning down more meth labs?” Liam looked at Leo. “That’s right, they told me. Are you fucking crazy? Do you know what kind of heat that brings down on us? After all we’ve been through and you go and pull that stunt.”

  “You’ve been through? You haven’t been here!” Liam shot back.

  “No but my daughter has,” he said straightening up to the kid and waving a finger in his face. “And I don’t appreciate you dragging her into your asinine plans.”

  “Drag? I didn’t drag anyone. They chose to come along. Tell him, Thomas.”

  Alex looked at Thomas.

  “Like I said last night, I didn’t want him to go alone.”

  Leo supported that. “Hey, I went because…”

  “You don’t need to explain yourself,” Alex said.

  “But I do?” Thomas added.

  Right then Elisha came out of the cabin. “Liam!?” She jogged over. “Are you…”

  He lifted a hand in frustration. “I’m not hurt. Joe’s gone.”

  She looked confused, her gaze bouncing between the four of them. “You know what, Elisha, you come with us,” Alex said.

  “But they only said two,” Thomas protested.

  “Change of plans. Get in the vehicle, Elisha.”

  “But he…”

  “Liam is an adult. He can take care of himself. Can’t you?”

  Liam nodded, his eyes darting between them. Alex guided his daughter toward the truck while starring Liam down. “You know I’m an adult too, Dad,” she said as she got in the other side and slid next to Thomas. She slammed the truck door as he got behind the wheel.

  Out of the window he spoke with Liam. “Maybe Joe’s fine, Liam. Maybe he’s not but he knew the risk when he left last night. Don’t go doing more stupid shit,” Alex said before sighing. His eyes drifted over to the cabin where Garcia was observing the confrontation. He was leaning in the doorway, eating an apple. Alex couldn’t help but dislike the guy. The truck rolled out of the driveway, its engine humming, the suspension groaned as it bounced over potholes in the road. In the quiet of the morning, the engine was liable to wake the neighbors, not that they had many along that street.

  Almost immediately, Elisha got into it with him.

  “What was that back there?”

  “You know damn well what that was about.”

  “So is this how it’s going to be every time I make a decision?”

  “Not if they’re smart.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Alex looked at Thomas who was stuck in the middle, forced to listen to the back and forth. “Every decision you make has consequences. We instructed him not to go and start trouble. He agreed. You agreed not to go. And now Joe is missing, his parents are dead. You think those two are coincidental?”

  “He would have got himself killed if he went alone.”

  “Yeah, maybe he would have but at least he wouldn’t have placed your life, my life, and everyone else’s in jeopardy.”

  “I’m not Michael!”

  “What?”

  “I’m nineteen, Dad, eventually I will be twenty, then twenty-one. At what point do I get to make my own decisions? Because, trust me, I was doing fine without you here. Cut me a little slack.” She looked out the window.

  “I will when you grow up.”

  She glared at him. “Stop the truck.”

  “Nope.”

  “Stop the truck!”

  Thomas leaned back in his seat, grimacing.

  “All right, I’ll jump out.”

  Alex scoffed. “No you won’t.”

  Seconds later the door opened and out she went. Alex slammed the brakes on and pushed out. He hadn’t been traveling fast enough to cause injury but Elisha had lost her footing and rolled, winding up in a ditch at the side of the road. She was brushing off the dirt when he made his way down. “Oh that was really smart.”

  “Yeah, it was.”

  “Get in the truck, Elisha.”

  “No. I’m going back.”

  He held on to her arm. “Get in the truck.”

  She wriggled out of his grip. “No!” And with that she took off, running back toward the cabin. Alex stood there and sighed, running a hand over his head. Sure he was trying to control her but it wasn’t because control mattered, it was her safety that he was concerned for, and, well, nineteen in his mind was still young, young enough to not know what was best. He returned to the truck and got back in.

  Thomas didn’t look at him but he did say, “She really commits when she wants to, doesn’t she?”

  That evoked a chuckle out of Alex. He glanced at his rearview mirror to make sure Elisha had made it back before he continued to the rendezvous point.

  The meeting area was located north of Pillsbury Lake at a clearing called Oak Flat Campground. It was found south of Simmons Road in a heavily wooded area of Mendocino National Forest. Thomas sat there loading his weapon as the truck weaved its way through the thick forest. There were no other vehicles on the road. They were taking a big chance in heading out there as very little had been told to them about this new safe zone except that they could combine resources. It sounded promising especially now they were bursting at the seams with the addition of Leo, Lincoln, and the girls.

  As they drove down Gravelly Valley Road and then veered right onto 18 N 40 that cut through the woodland, it soon opened up into a clearing where Alex saw a sign for the campground. There were no other vehicles in the lot as they pulled in and a plume of dirt and dust whipped up behind them.

  “You sure this is the place?” Alex asked as he stopped near an outdoor latrine which was a tiny brown shed with a male and female sign on the wall. There were picnic tables dotted around the greenery and in the distance between the trees they could see the glistening lake.

  “Not much of a safe zone,” Thomas muttered.

  Alex eased off the gas and let the truck idle as they expected to see someone emerge from the latrine or out of the woods. No one did.

  “You sure this is the meeting spot?” he asked again

  Thomas fished into his pocket and brought out a map. He spread it on his lap and looked. “Yeah, they said here.”

  As they waited in the quiet, Thomas piped up.

  “You really should ease off your daughter. You’ll only drive her away and I get the feeling that you’ve done enough of that already.”

  He scoffed. “Sound advice from a guy who got caught up with a lunatic.”

  “Whatever, man. It’s your loss.”

  He was about to reply when from seemingly out of nowhere four armed individuals clothed in camouflage outfits emerged from the tall grass with rifles at the ready.

  8

  Cheyenne Mountain Complex

  A confession was the last thing Danielle expected. After disagreeing with the FBI on the way forward, she reentered the room armed with the information that proved he had tipped off the sleeper cells before the raids. She was joined by Martin and Special Agent Wallace, a fourteen-year veteran of the bureau, a feisty redhead that had little patience for terrorists.

  Ryan stared at the tablet in front of him, the code and the message.

  As his eyes lifted and met hers, she expected to hear him deny it, make up an excuse, but instead he confirmed he’d sent the message but that it
was done to draw them out, not to help them.

  Agent Wallace leaned back in her seat. “You expect us to believe that?”

  “It’s true. You brought me here and told me to find those responsible.”

  “And you’ve given us the runaround.”

  Ryan looked at Danielle, and Wallace noticed. “Don’t look at her. She’s not here to help you.” She leaned forward, hands clasped together. “You are in a world of trouble, son.”

  “Don’t call me your son. I’m not your son.”

  “No you’re not because if you were, oh, God help you.”

  He smiled back. “Let me guess, this is the good cop, bad cop approach and you got stuck with the bad cop act? So what are you, Martin? The third wheel?”

  Martin stood in the corner of the room, arms behind his back, looking uncomfortable.

  “Time for making jokes is over, Ryan,” Danielle said, trying to keep him focused on the matter at hand and not distracted by the way things were being handled. She’d seen those in custody treated far worse than this.

  “You’re lucky you’re a minor,” Wallace said stabbing a finger at the tablet. “But don’t think for one moment that means you will get off lightly for your role in this.”

  “Hey lady, I’m guessing listening isn’t your strong point. I admitted to the message and gave you a reason.”

  “You want us to believe you tipped them off to draw them out? Give me a break!”

  Ryan straightened up and leaned forward, mirroring her and showing no fear. “Lady, I’ve spent my short life in and out of foster care homes being passed around like a rag doll, shouted at and treated like shit. So if you think coming in here and screaming at me like a banshee is going to scare me, you are very mistaken. Now if you want to bring this all to a close you had better use the two things attached to the side of your head and close your pie hole.”

  Wallace looked enraged. “Give us their location.”

  “I don’t have one. They don’t have one. Don’t you get it? These people are ghosts. Do you think they went to all this trouble to bring America to its knees to be caught from someone doing a reverse IP lookup? Please. Danielle. Where did you get this woman?”