by Suzanne Robb
“How is he?”
“I’ve done everything I can for him, all we can do now is let him rest and see what he has to say when he wakes up. The other two are secured and we need sleep. This has been the longest night of my life.”
“Go on, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”
Ally made her way over to one of the couches and slipped a Morphoid pill out of her pocket—to take the edge off, she reasoned. She passed out before her head hit the armrest.
* * *
Dale opened his display panel and almost cracked it in half when he saw no new update from his contact. Three people were supposed to be dead, as of yesterday. He keyed in the code.
“You aren’t supposed to contact me after the deal’s been made,” a synthetic-sounding voice answered.
“I didn’t have a choice. You failed to hold up your end of the bargain. I want them dead, now.”
“They will be by the end of the day. Contact me again like this and you will be too.”
Dale sneered at the nerve of the person. Did they have any idea who he was? What he was about to become? He’d track the bastard down and put him in his place soon enough.
“Mr. Allgood, there are some reporters downstairs who’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Thank you, Tina, I’ll be right down.”
He stood and looked out the window of the sixty-third floor suite. The morning sky was full of brown clouds. Down below, barricades had been set in place, put up by half-assed idiots years ago to remind the poor to stay back, now to keep out the zombies.
Occasional noises were heard, people knew it was gunfire but no one said anything. No one admitted the gravity of their situation. Even the poor and drug addled hovered at the walls begging for amnesty.
A smile crossed his face. He could use this to his advantage.
* * *
The car jolted to the side causing Joseph to wake. He glanced at the time display and with a mental sigh realized he’d been sleeping for a couple of hours.
“How much longer?”
“We should be there in a few minutes, sir.”
“Good, make sure you call ahead so they don’t blow us up.”
Joseph listened as the guard next to him keyed in a number on his wrist band. Seconds later he said, “This is Karl Moore, I am Firm Head Joseph Erdmann’s personal assistant. We will be arriving in less than five minutes. Do not fire.”
He keyed off his implant and nodded to the driver to pick up the pace. Joseph glanced around, nerves taking hold of him. The data he’d collected scared the hell out of him on multiple levels, and he had no idea who to trust. Even his guards were tainted with what he knew.
* * *
Ally woke to the sound of bone crunching and muffled groans. She reached for her gun with slow motions and took in the situation.
Trevor and Richards were tied to two of the kitchen chairs and Charlie was in the process of hauling Hank’s limp form into one. The man’s face was slack and blood poured freely from a broken nose.
She stood making as much noise as possible to alert Charlie so he wouldn’t shoot her, not that he could, but it would make things awkward.
“Morning, Charlie. I take it you didn’t wake me for a reason?”
“Ally, you were exhausted. You needed the rest.”
She smiled, playing along, and examined the faces of the two bound men, for the moment Charlie let Hank puddle into the third chair. Fresh bruises and split lips covered their faces, a few teeth littered the ground. Whatever the hell happened, Charlie didn’t hold back.
“So, want to tell me why you decided to question these guys without me?”
Charlie turned to look at her, the puppy dog eyes and sincere smile gone. She was not face to face with someone entirely new, who was aiming a gun at her.
“In a few minutes, Erdman will be here. You know that can’t be good, and one of these idiots is the leak who led half the bastards here. For all I know it could be you, Ally. I have no idea who to trust.”
Ally put her gun on the table and stared into Charlie’s eyes. She didn’t move a muscle, he was wound so tight the slightest twitch would cause his weapon to go off.
“Charlie, I’ve been on a sub for ten years, then a raft for who knows how long, taken prisoner on Zombie Cruise Lines, stuffed into a trunk, whisked away to a secret compound run by a psycho, beaten, then taken by you. When in all of that did I have time to hang out with Erdman and devise this plan?”
He hesitated a moment, shook his head, then lowered his gun.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just a lot has happened in the last couple of days.”
Ally watched him fall into the sofa with a sigh, a plume of dust rose in his wake. She picked up her gun and moved to a more secure position, behind the prisoners.
A moment later two vehicles pulled up and several doors could be heard slamming. Footsteps, and then a hard knock.
Charlie panicked and pulled out his gun, firing two shots before Ally was able to jump over Hank and stop him. She elbowed him in the face and they fell to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. Enough was enough, she didn’t trust a damn person in this room. They were all hiding something, and she intended to find out what the hell it was before someone killed her. First things first, calm the angered guards on the doorstep.
“Hey, whoever’s out there, all the idiots in here are down for the count. I’m going to open the door, and let you in as long as you promise to play nice.”
“Open the door and keep your hands visible.”
Ally went to the side of the entrance and pulled open the door. Three guards poured in with weapons out, followed by Erdman. He looked older than she remembered. He spotted her and walked toward her. She drew her gun and heard the slides on three other weapons as she did so.
“You know he’ll be dead before you can pull the trigger, so why don’t you put those down and tell me why you’re here. As you can see, we’re having a sort of uninvited only party.”
One of the guards glanced to the left and smirked at the two unconscious men and two in restraints.
* * *
“Put your guns down, we aren’t here to kill anyone.” Joseph said and his men lowered their weapons. They situated themselves around the cabin so every conceivable area was covered. He eyed the woman, the survivor, the key to all of this.
“I see Myers, Richards, Jones, and Forney, but have no name to place on you.”
The woman moved a fraction of an inch, her weapon within easy reach. “Ally, but I’m not all that important. And how is it you know everyone here?”
The woman undervalued herself, or like everyone else was hiding something. After watching the speech last night by Allgood he knew time was out.
“For years I’ve been gathering information on what the Russians and Koreans have been doing. A life’s mission if you will. I wanted to take them all down and gain control of everything for myself. You have anything to drink here?” Joseph moved into the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards for something.
“Nothing I’d recommend.”
Out of the side of his eye he noticed her follow him. Good, he thought. In fact, he had an even better idea.
“Keep an eye on these guys. If they move remind them not to.” Joseph said to his guards. “Ally and I are going to take a walk.”
He turned to look at her with a raised brow.
“Lead the way,” she said.
Joseph walked out of the cabin, and sorted the thoughts out in his head. No matter how much he had to tell her, time was not on his side. The most important points were the ones he needed to cover.
“Ally, I know you’re the only survivor from the Betty Loo. I also know Williams paid someone to do it after Finnegan turned it down. I assume you know Mr. Myers and Finnegan are one in the same?”
Ally took a few steps so she was even with him and gave him a hard look.
“Yes, I knew that, in fact I know everything you’ve told me so far. Unless
you have some new information, you’re wasting my time.”
Joseph nodded and continued to walk around the wooded area, safe in the knowledge his fourth guard was keeping watch over them.
“I also know Brian Xiang was hired by Allgood to kill Monica Roark. Williams hired Finnegan to take out his research team when he realized there was no cure, and they would be able to link him back to the initial epidemics almost a year ago.”
“Again, I knew most of this. They covered up the initial outbreak on the first submarine, and then hired us to take care of The Peacemaker. Charlie went in. Zombies had already taken over the building, and gathered the data.”
Joseph watched the woman stop and give him an exasperated expression. “You’re wasting my damn time, now if you’ll excuse me I have people to interrogate with information I can use.”
Joseph grabbed her by the arm before she left, a second later he was on his ass with her knee cutting off the flow of air to his brain. A bit of rustling and his guard was standing above her ready to shoot, he shook his head as much as he was able.
Ally loosened her grip and stood, the soldier backed off and helped Joseph to his feet. He rubbed his bruised throat a minute and put it all on the line. He had to trust someone.
“In that cabin there is a spy for Richards, one for Allgood, and one for me.”
“So, other than your guards, three out of the four people in that room are traitors.”
“I would not consider my man that, though I do suggest moving forward with the utmost caution.”
“Why do you care?”
“I’m not a tyrant. I know I’ve made mistakes, but I assure you I have the best interests of the world at heart. This country might be dying, but it is where I was born and I will protect it until the day I die.”
Ally spun on him. “You were born here?” Joseph nodded.
“Why do you have a spy in the group?”
“I told you I wanted to take down the other two leaders but am not a fool. I knew I needed help to pull it off, a spy in Myers group seemed like the best idea. He was doing good things, and from what I learned about Richards, he’s the idiot who positioned Allgood to take over. I wanted to act sooner, but didn’t plan on the damn zombie apocalypse happening.”
They started to walk back to the cabin and he could hear the wheels turning in her head.
“Who’s your spy?”
“If I tell you, it stays between us. Right now the only advantage we have is they think they can pawn their double dealings onto someone else.”
“Fine.”
“Hank, he’s been looking out for Charlie the last few months when he caught wind of a traitor in the camp. He was never able to narrow it down. Yesterday, I told him about what was happening and he must have decided to go to the cabin to make sure you two were safe, only one of the spies was already here.”
Ally quickened her pace and he pushed himself to keep up.
“Just one question, how the hell does everyone know about this place?”
“Even you must know nothing is secret,” he said.
* * *
Ally needed to get back to the cabin, something was off. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but soon enough she’d beat it out of someone. She threw open the door and stopped dead in her tracks. Charlie stood over the bodies of Erdman’s guards with a smoking gun in his hand. A nanosecond later it was aimed at her.
She slammed the door behind her hoping Erdman and his guard were smart enough to catch a clue and get the hell out of there. They still might be able to do something to stop Allgood.
“Charlie, what are you doing? Erdman is on our side.”
“Don’t tell me you fell for his sob story. Poor him, family was killed, dedicated to taking down the others and restoring order to the world. So damn noble. Tell me, Ally, does a good guy spy on everyone? Does someone with a moral compass cross the lines he did in order to get the information he needed? Did he mention that he was responsible for Clare’s death?”
Ally moved farther into the room. “What are you talking about? You said that was one of Richards’s operations gone wrong.”
Charlie kicked the body of the guard away from him and holstered his weapon. He walked to Richards and backhanded him. The unconscious man’s head lolled a few times before stopping.
“It was, but Erdman hired him, it was a mission to gather information and she was a witness.”
Ally watched Charlie, the way he moved, the tenseness of his muscles. Something changed during the night. She didn’t know what, but sure as hell planned on finding out. Acting as his ally was his best bet for the moment so she went to the kitchen table and sat in the remaining chair. She pulled out the display panel Trevor gave her and looked at the results of the search she’d initiated.
The device was full of firewalls, viruses, and false leads, but she found what she needed. Trevor was working with Richards, which meant Richards had to be working for Allgood. No matter how she tried to make the puzzle pieces fit, something nagged at her.
Charlie claimed his rage, and his actions were based on Erdman and the death of Clare, yet he made no move to follow the man.
She flipped to an open channel when she saw him head toward her.
* * *
Dale inhaled the fresh scent of clean clothes. He ate a decadent breakfast oblivious to the billions of people starving around the world. He felt a few glares thrown his way by hotel staffers and knew soon enough he would have to either tone it down, or he’d lose the luster of being their savior.
A man tapped him on the shoulder and led him to a room off the side of the dining area. When they entered people applauded and yelled his name. A rush of pride enveloped him and he welcomed it. These people needed a leader, and he was more than willing to take on the mantle.
“Good morning, world. As you can see I’m still here. No one has stopped me, in fact no one has stepped forward to try to silence me. Where are the powerful firms that are supposed to protect us?”
He paused to take a drink of water. He made sure the small camera picked up the image of murky liquid.
“Let me help you. Let me lead you. Let me unite this world. The first step is to break down the barriers our ancestors put in place to segregate the poor from the privileged. If we are to survive we must work together.”
Dale stepped back and within seconds he heard screams and explosions from outside the hotel as the gathered people did what he asked. Of course that meant it was time to leave, the place was susceptible to zombies now.
His guards grabbed him and led him out a back door to a waiting vehicle. Soon billions of poor would rise up and tear down the walls keeping them away from the rich. They would of course kill them, saving him a lot of time and money.
He sighed, he hoped he would get a message from his contact and know the people who could stop him were dead.
Chapter Fourteen—
“Well, looks like Allgood is really going to pull this off,” Charlie muttered.
“Are you nuts? We have to stop him. The guy’s a lunatic. I remember him from the militia days. He’s a sadistic son of a bitch, Charlie.”
He turned on her with a venomous look. She raised her weapon but Charlie was faster and knocked it out of her hand. Before she could recover he kicked her in the chest, as her chair fell back she gasped for air.
A boot approached her face and she rolled, missing it by an inch. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed a cup off the counter. When she turned she flung the contents into his face. The millisecond distraction all she needed.
She grabbed a knife from the sink and swung it, piercing his hand and pinning the appendage to the wall. He howled in pain and she kneed him in the gut making him gasp for air. With satisfaction she made a fist and for the first time got to direct all of her anger at someone who deserved it.
As he slid down the wall, his right arm raised with a bloody trail oozing down from where his hand remained in place.
“How could you do it, Cha
rlie? You work with that bastard?”
“It’s not what you think.”
Ally hit him again, unable to listen to any more lies. The door creaked behind her and she turned to see the guard poke the nose of his rifle through.
“Come in already, it’s time to sort this out.”
Ally had Trevor, Charlie, and Richards tied up. Hank sat on the couch with Erdman examining his wound. The stiches had busted open, and the firm leader stitched them up with a gentle touch. She figured they were all playing a part; she had to figure out the good folks from the bad. The shades of grey making up their world made it difficult. The lone guard stood vigil by his leader, a bit too tense for Ally’s liking.
“Hello, boys. Happy to see me?”
Glares were the only response she received. Fine, she was used to doing it the hard way.
“Okay, two of you are spies. I already know Trevor here—” Ally backhanded him to emphasize her point—“is a spy for Richards, my guess is you’ve been a plant since the beginning.”
Some mumbling caught her attention and she removed the gag from Trevor’s mouth to see if she wanted to hear what he had to say.
“I did what was right. I followed orders from a superior officer.”
Richards tried to kick with his foot but missed.
Ally put the cloth back in Trevor’s mouth when she saw Charlie turning red from anger. Pulling out the bandana she’d wrapped around his head she waited.
“Those people in the apartment building, you killed them? Why?”
Ally removed the moist rag once again and tossed it in his lap.
“Those were my orders you pathetic excuse for a soldier.”
Richards’s eyebrows rose on the last one so Ally pulled out the Decimator she’d shoved in his trap. When he saw what it was his face paled.
