Fractured: V Plague Book 15

by Dirk Patton

  Rachel leaned forward and peered into the side mirror.

  “You’re thinking it won’t be hard for someone to figure out?”

  I nodded, grimacing when the van nearly bottomed out in a pothole I hadn’t seen until the last second.

  “Want me to drive?” Nitro called from the back.

  “Seen you drive,” I said. “Think I’ll stay right where I am.”

  He said something that was almost certainly unflattering, but I couldn’t hear it over the constant roar of sand and small rocks being thrown up by the tires.

  “Why do you think Jessica gave you a heads up?” Rachel asked.

  Dog grunted in protest when Nitro pushed him aside so he could lean forward to hear our conversation.

  “Don’t know,” I said. “But she just put her ass on the line to help me. Maybe she’s repaying a favor.”

  “What if we got set up?” Nitro asked.

  I opened my mouth to defend Jessica’s motives, then stopped. I was pretty certain I was right about the Admiral not launching an assault on Lucas’s compound to capture me. But that kind of reinforced Nitro’s point. Have someone I’d immediately trust call and warn me that the SEALs were on their way, simply to flush me out into the open where I could be captured more easily.

  The plane with the SEALs on board couldn’t be that far away. And if this was a trick and things got bloody, no one other than Americans would be involved. The Aussies wouldn’t be terribly upset over anything other than the violation of their territory.

  “Maybe,” I finally said, conceding the point.

  “So, what do you want to do if the squids show up?” he asked.

  “I’ll surrender,” I said, shaking my head. “Not going to start shooting. Would have been one thing if we’d had a little dust up back at Lucas’s, but no one was ready to pull a trigger.”

  “Then you’d better hope your friend in Hawaii isn’t playing games,” Nitro said.

  He withdrew to his seat and Dog immediately filled the gap between me and Rachel. Glancing in the mirror, I could see Monk and Goose with their faces pressed to the windows on opposite sides of the van, looking up at the blue sky. That was fine, but if they did manage to spot the C-130, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do.

  “May have made a mistake,” I said to Rachel.

  “What do you mean? Resigning?”

  “Not so much resigning as going rogue. I’m worried that in his efforts to stop me, the Admiral may inadvertently draw some unwanted attention and give the Russians a heads up that I’m coming. If they learn I’m in Australia, it will take them about half a second to figure out why.”

  “So, what do we do?” she asked. “Turn around, surrender and go back to Hawaii?”

  “No. I’m not going back.”

  “Maybe we should give this some time,” Rachel said gently, reaching across Dog and placing her hand on my shoulder. “You don’t need to do this. Let’s go back to Lucas’s and decide where we’re going to build. You can borrow his phone when we get there and call the Admiral. Assure him you aren’t a problem and you’re going to stay out of things.”

  I can’t say the temptation to stop fighting and do exactly what she suggested didn’t nearly cause me to hit the brakes. The idea of settling down and trading my rifle for a hammer was pretty damn appealing. Then I remembered the whole reason I was here to begin with.

  It wasn’t just about vengeance. Admiral Packard would never have supported that and it wasn’t the argument I’d presented that had finally persuaded him. Barinov’s death was necessary so Irina’s uncle had a chance to seize power and end all of this. Me settling a score was nothing more than a bonus. But what the hell had changed to cause the Admiral to abort the mission?

  “What’s that town Lucas said we’d come to?” I asked.

  “Coober Pedy,” Rachel said. “Why?”

  “Maybe I should have listened to you,” I said, reaching up and squeezing her hand. “About calling the Admiral, I mean. Something’s really wrong here and I haven’t bothered to think it through since I got word of the recall.”

  “If you’re thinking about calling Hawaii, I’m not sure that’s a good idea, boss.”

  I looked up and met Nitro’s eyes in the mirror.

  “Why?”

  “Well, soon as that call connects, they’re gonna know exactly where your ass is. From that point, ain’t too hard to find you out here in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere. Unless you’re just ready to throw in the towel. If that’s the case, might’s well turn around now and go back to Lucas’s.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right.

  “You’re right,” I said. “I’ve just got this bad feeling that if we go into Sydney we’re going to stumble into something none of us will come back from.”

  “What do you mean?” Rachel asked, giving me an odd look.

  “Just that,” I said, shrugging. “Knot in my gut telling me to slow down and think things through. Probably nothing, but…”

  “But what?” Rachel prompted when I didn’t continue.

  “Hard to explain,” I said with a sigh. “Kinda like that feeling you get before you kick a door open and you decide to go in a different way. Then, once inside, you find out there was an asshole waiting on the other side of that door with a weapon. Would have blown your head off if you hadn’t changed entry points.”

  She looked at me like I was a little bit crazy, turning to stare over her shoulder when Nitro spoke.

  “Know what you mean,” he said. “Shit like that’s happened to me more than a couple of times. Wish to hell I knew how it worked. I’d go to Vegas and make a fortune!”

  “Like a premonition?” Rachel asked, trying to understand.

  “Not really,” I said, jerking the wheel to avoid a pothole the size of a trash can. “It’s not like I see something bad happening, it’s just a sensation. Sometimes, it’s like that creepy feeling you get on your arms when you’re spooked. Others, it’s just a tightness in the gut that makes me hesitate. Used to ignore it when I was young until I damn near bought the farm a couple of times. Learned better as I got older. Maybe that’s why I’m still around.”

  “My mother would have said that it’s God talking to you,” Nitro said.

  “That what you think?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Shit I’ve seen that people can do to each other, not sure I still believe.”

  “That’s sad,” Rachel said, looking at him.

  “Raised Catholic,” he said. “Never doubted my faith until Uncle Sam started sending me around the world. You see some of the shit that happens, it’ll shake anyone. Dead babies stacked like cordwood. Heads cut off and piled up like trophies. Girls as young as Lucas’s daughter used for sex slaves. If there is a God, he don’t give a shit about us. We’re on our own.”

  “Maybe he did give a shit,” I said. “Maybe he pushed a big, fucking reset button and that’s how the Russians wiped out most of the world.”

  Nitro snorted a laugh.

  “Listen to you, gettin’ all philosophical! You really think if God decided to wipe the slate clean and start over, he’d have left the likes of us alive? Shit, boss. How many people you killed? Probably least as many as me, if not more. We ain’t no fuckin’ choirboys!”

  “Ever kill anyone that was innocent? Truly innocent and didn’t deserve what happened to them?” Rachel asked, looking at Nitro.

  He stared back for several long seconds, then looked out the side window and shook his head.

  “Not that I know of.”

  “You?” she asked, turning to face me.

  I shrugged, not wanting to continue with the topic. Twisting around in the seat, she raised her voice so Goose, Bunny and Monk could hear.

  “What about you three? Ever kill an innocent? Someone that hadn’t already harmed another person, or was about to?”

  After several seconds of silence, each of them shook their heads. Rachel nodded to herself and turned her attention back
to Nitro.

  “Anything else to say?” she asked.

  “No, ma’am,” he mumbled, still staring out the window.

  I watched him in the mirror for a while, flicking my eye between the road and his reflection. It had gone completely quiet in the van, each person lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Nitro slipped his hand inside the collar of his shirt. I caught a glimpse of a large, gold cross as he gripped it tightly.

  8

  “Goddamn it!” Admiral Packard bellowed.

  Captain West stood in front of his desk, immune to the uncharacteristic outburst. He’d just informed his boss that the SEALs had arrived at Lucas’s compound in South Australia and Major Chase was nowhere to be found.

  “Do we have him on satellite?” the Admiral asked, tamping down his frustration.

  “No sir, we do not,” West said. “Seems the system rebooted and while it was offline, he departed the area.”

  “Rebooted?” the Admiral growled. “Exactly how did that happen?”

  “According to Chief Simmons, the system wasn’t responding properly and a restart was required.”

  “And that just happened to coincide with the Major disappearing over the horizon?” the Admiral asked.

  “It may be a coincidence, sir, or she may have aided him. I’ve tried to determine if this was a deliberate act to help him cover his tracks, but can find no proof that it was. Additionally, I do not believe the Chief could have known you had ordered the SEAL team to return and detain the Major and his team.”

  Packard rocked back in his desk chair, staring at his aide from beneath a set of bushy eyebrows. He considered the information for several seconds before speaking again.

  “Don’t underestimate her, Captain,” he finally said. “There’s not much that gets by that young lady.”

  “Should I have her relieved of her duties?” West asked, nodding agreement with the Admiral’s statement.

  “No,” Packard said with a shake of his head. “She’s too valuable. But I want her comms monitored. What did you tell Commander Sherman to do?”

  “He’s holding on the ground for the moment, sir. I wanted to speak with you before tasking him with any new orders.”

  “Your recommendation?”

  “Sir, this one is difficult. We’re working under the assumption that this entire premise is real. I know we’ve already had this discussion,” he said quickly before the Admiral could interject. “But we’re playing a dangerous game.”

  “Continue,” Packard said.

  “Sir, we have combat troops on the ground in the sovereign territory of Australia. Granted, they were originally sent to conduct an operation against the head of state of an enemy, but this was always intended to be a quick in and out, ending with an assassination.

  “But things have quickly escalated. We now have a small team of rogue, American operators that we can only assume are going after Barinov. And a separate team of SEALs that don’t have any local support. I’m concerned that if we send them after the Major, we will draw attention and tip our hand.

  “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not terribly concerned over the reaction of the Australians. What does worry me is the Russians. The PM will most assuredly tell Barinov and that could trigger the events that we were warned about.”

  “So, you’re proposing that we do nothing to stop the Major?” Packard said, eyes widening in surprise.

  “I think it’s worth considering, sir. Despite the new information, the circumstances haven’t changed. The planet is still dying. The Russians are still occupying the west coast of CONUS. Even if we can fight our way through, we’ll have a hostile enemy force for a neighbor. We need to reach a resolution before there’s not enough time remaining to move all our people.”

  The Admiral didn’t respond, just sat quietly at his desk, staring at West.

  “Sir, all we know, well… assume, to be precise, is that something triggered Barinov to release the gas and launch on Hawaii. We don’t know what that is.”

  “It would seem to me that it’s a safe assumption it was something done by the men we sent to Australia.”

  “Begging your pardon, sir, but we cannot make that assumption. We don’t know what will happen. All we know at this point is that it is very likely things are being done differently this time. Without the warning we received, you would not have aborted the mission and recalled the team. Major Chase wouldn’t have resigned and gone rogue.”

  “Your argument isn’t persuading me, Captain.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. My point is simply this. We are taking different actions because of the warning. At least, I believe we are, but frankly we don’t know that, even if I feel it is a fair assumption. That said, we have watched Major Chase fight both the infected and the Russians for months. He may be unorthodox and prone to impetuous decisions, but I have never believed that he lost sight of the goal.”

  “Are you saying we should trust that he’ll do the right thing?” Packard asked with a frown. “After he looked me in the eye and gave me his assurance that he would defer to the SEALs? Then, as soon as things don’t go the way he wants, he goes rogue? That’s not the actions of a man who has the best interests of this country in mind. That’s a man who’s on a vendetta and unfortunately, I believed him.”

  The two men looked at each other a moment, Captain West waiting to see if the Admiral was ready to make a decision and end the conversation. When it was clear they weren’t to that point, he continued.

  “Sir, this is hardly an unprecedented action by the Major. The handover of the SADMs to the Russians. Failing to follow Colonel Crawford’s orders. Failing to follow your orders. He has a history of willingness to adapt his actions to changing circumstances and, in each case, it has been for the best.

  “I do not disagree with you that this appears to be a quest for vengeance. He blames Barinov for his wife’s death, and rightly so. But this comes down to two choices. Allow him to proceed with whatever he is doing, or send Commander Sherman and the team after him. I see the latter option as the greater risk for the reason I’ve stated before. It will draw attention and could trigger events that are beyond our control.”

  Packard stared at his aide for nearly half a minute in silence. Captain West never flinched, holding the older man’s gaze.

  “I appreciate your input, Captain, and that was a persuasive argument. However, I can’t stop hearing what that FBI agent said. ‘Everyone dies.’ With the Major out of contact and no idea of what he is planning, I cannot allow this to continue. There are too many lives that hang in the balance. Order Commander Sherman to locate Major Chase and his team. They are to take them into custody and hold them, pending further orders.”

  “And if the Major and his men resist?” West asked.

  Packard looked away for the first time, struggling with the decision he knew had to be made. After another long pause, he turned back to face his aide.

  “By any means necessary. Alive if possible, but the SEALs are authorized to defend themselves to stop the Major.”

  “Aye, aye sir,” West said, his face an impassive mask. “I’ll issue the order immediately.”

  9

  Coober Pedy wasn’t much more than a wide spot in the road. We finally reached pavement, bumping onto the Stuart Highway. It bisects the continent, running from Darwin on the northern coast to Port Augusta in the south.

  “South,” Rachel said after consulting a large, paper map she’d dug out of the glove box.

  I turned in the indicated direction, accelerating slowly and enjoying the feel of smooth pavement. It was hot in the van, even with the AC set to max, and I tried to do the math when we passed a squat bank building with a sign displaying the temperature. After a bit, I gave up.

  “What the hell does forty-five Celsius translate to?” I asked.

  “Something like a hundred and twelve degrees,” Nitro said after a few seconds of thought. “But I could be wrong.”

  Ahead, through heat shimmers coming of
f the asphalt, I could see a large filling station. Glancing at the instruments, I saw we were down to half a tank of gas.

  “We’re stopping,” I said. “Weapons out of sight. Don’t need a local freaking out and calling the cops.”

  I slowed to give everyone time to stow away their rifles and make sure anything else on their person was concealed.

  “How are we going to pay for gas?” Rachel asked.

  I hadn’t considered that little problem.

  “Anyone have some cash or a credit card that might work?”

  I glanced in the mirror, sighing when everyone shook their heads.

  “Rack on the back with extra jerry cans,” Goose said.

  We’d left Lucas’s compound so quickly I hadn’t even noticed. Pulling to the side of the road, I told Dog to stay and stepped out onto the baking pavement. It was hot, but no worse than what I’d lived with in Arizona.

  Walking to the rear of the van, I saw there were actually two racks, one bolted to each door. Three red, five-gallon cans were secured in each and I was happy to find all of them full when I tapped on the metal exteriors.

  The racks had several levels, extending all the way to the tall roof, and above the fuel on one side were three more jugs. These were painted blue and rang solid when I banged on them. Releasing a thick rubber strap, I lifted one down and spun open the cap, verifying it contained water. There were also several battered tool boxes, a heavy-duty jack and when I climbed up for a look, two spare tires secured to the roof.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. Lucas literally lived in the middle of nowhere, more than a hundred miles from the closest outpost of civilization. The extra fuel, water and tools the vehicle carried weren’t just convenient, they were a necessity in the harsh, remote climate.

  “How far to Sydney?” I asked when I was back in the van.

  Rachel leaned over the map for close to a minute before answering.