by Greig Beck
Alex nodded at the journal. ‘Keep reading, but one eye only. I get the feeling our friend’s not far away.’
He was looking back to check on Garmadia’s position when his ear stud gave the double vibration that indicated a message from headquarters. He frowned and slowed, gave his call sign and listened.
Hammerson spoke quickly. ‘Arcadian, I have an urgent update. Can you receive?’
Alex dropped back a step. ‘Go ahead, sir.’
‘We may have a significant problem. Are either of the CDC representatives carrying any radioactive material?’
‘Yes. Maria Vargis has stated she is carrying X-ray-grade isotopes. I can verify the radioactive material, but cannot substantiate its primary use or design.’
He heard Hammerson exhale. ‘Shit damn — as I suspected. Alex, you asked about Protocol 9, and I’ve found it. In effect, it’s an instruction manual on how to deal with everything from alien invasion and meteor strikes to a potential bio-terminal event. Be advised that the Protocol 9-nominated action for a significant terminal outbreak is a total site cleanse.’ Hammerson paused for a second. ‘I’m afraid the recommended cleanser is nuclear, or a scaled incendiary instrument. Arcadian, I believe that radioactive equipment they are carrying is likely to be a single-megaton nuclear device.’
Alex rubbed his forehead. ‘Jesus Christ, Jack, wha—’
Hammerson cut him off. ‘That’s not all. She’s sought immediate authorisation for a burn. I believe she’ll get it … very soon.’
Alex looked over to where Aimee and the boys were standing. Chaco gave him a thumbs-up and Alex winked in return.
‘Can you stop it?’ he asked Hammerson.
‘Negative, Arcadian, I’ve already tried. This is way above my pay grade — they literally told me to go to hell. There’s no time to go skating over people’s heads. Are you clear of the camp?’
Alex turned his back on Aimee who was watching him closely. ‘No, not all of us; Franks is still there. How much time do you think we have?’
‘I’m not sure. Vargis should get authorisation for initiation within a few hours, and then it’s up to her — could be anything from immediate detonation to several hours. You’ll need to be at least five miles from the blast zone. Alex, if I were a betting man, I’d say you have between two and four hours.’
Alex thought over the options before he spoke again. ‘I can have Franks delay the outcome; maybe even stop Vargis. Give us time to get everyone clear of—’
‘I say again: negative, Arcadian,’ Hammerson interrupted. ‘This has presidential authorisation. And, unfortunately, Vargis is the right person to make the call. Her brief also authorises her to use deadly force to execute a ratified cleanse. Franks would have to kill her to stop her … and we don’t want that. Arcadian, on my command, all other orders are rescinded. I’ve already dispatched a V22. We can’t put it down anywhere close, but it’ll drop some air hooks to pull you out. It’ll be coming in from the north-east coast. But be advised, I cannot order those men to place themselves within five miles of ground zero. I’ll send the pick-up coordinates, but you’ll have to get to them. God speed, Arcadian. Over.’
Alex turned back to Aimee, who mouthed, what’s up? He tried to think, but too many problems and options spun in his head. He just stared at her, like a robot temporarily stuck between gears. He needed more time. They had been travelling all day, and the sun was starting to set. Travelling all day — and they hadn’t gone that far. Certainly nothing like five miles from the detonation zone.
He’d call Franks and tell her to evac immediately. She was injured, but she was tough; she’d run till she dropped if he ordered it.
Aimee spoke his name and he focused on her face, noticing the creases of worry etched into it. He nodded and smiled at her, but his mind still raced. He couldn’t do anything for anyone else at the camp, and he shouldn’t try. Still, even though he personally couldn’t buy them more time, he could get Casey Franks to ask Maria Vargis to allow a few extra hours to get clear. Then he and Sam needed to start steering their group away from the blast zone and towards their rendezvous point without their Paraguayan chaperone realising what was going on. Alex could imagine the response of any soldier if they found out a foreigner was planning to detonate a nuke in their backyard. It’d get ugly, and he had enough problems.
He’d update Sam, but that was all; he’d need the big man’s calm intellect if they were all going to make it out alive.
He called his second-in-command over, then pulled his GPS unit from his pocket pouch and checked their coordinates. If they changed course now, they’d make it.
* * *
Casey Franks listened calmly to Alex’s clinical briefing on the situation. She’d experienced all manner of things in her career with the HAWCs, and currently being in the vicinity of some wild necrotising bug, an insane priest and a potential nuclear explosion was just another situation to be dealt with.
‘Got the coordinates, boss,’ she confirmed. ‘By the by, Michael Vargis is dead, and Maria Vargis is zoning out. I’ll try to buy us some time and then move to rendezvous with you at …’ She checked her watch: it was just on 1800 hours. ‘Approximately 2200 hours. But you know what traffic’s like around these parts.’
She allowed herself a small smile. Alex would know what she meant: Don’t wait around. The chances of her making it were slim.
She didn’t need to pack; she didn’t need food, more water or further armaments. If need be, she could live off the land. But she didn’t expect to be out there for long. The only thing she really needed was time. Her first call would be to Maria.
* * *
Maria wiped her eyes and sniffed. Any moment she expected to hear the peep of her secure comm device informing her that the initiation codes had been received. Then it was a matter of plugging them in and setting a countdown.
She felt a knot in her stomach and wondered whether she’d have the strength and courage to detonate. There would be innocent casualties. She wiped the steamy window to look out across the darkening camp. The braziers were glowing dark red and smoke was once again curling along the ground — it looked Gothic. If not for the heat, she might have expected Dracula to appear out of the mist.
This waiting was excruciating.
She got slowly to her feet. Maybe she’d take a walk over to say goodbye to Michael. It’d be her last chance.
* * *
Casey Franks spotted Maria standing in front of one of the isolation cabins. She wondered why; its last patient had long since succumbed to the foul disease.
Casey walked closer, and was about to clear her throat so as not to give the woman a start when the CDC scientist spoke without turning — as if expecting her.
‘I shouldn’t tell you this but you need to get out of here … now.’
Casey kept her expression flat as Maria turned to face her. The scientist’s hair hung in dripping bundles of rats’ tails and her face looked to have aged a generation in a day.
‘I’m going to burn it all,’ she said. ‘You need to be a long way away.’
Casey didn’t move. ‘I know.’
Maria frowned for a moment, then closed her eyes briefly and nodded in understanding. She turned back to look at the cabin.
Casey spoke as gently as she knew how. ‘How much time can you give me?’
Maria snorted. ‘Unfortunately, that’s not up to me anymore. I’m afraid the question should be: how much time will it give us.’ She nodded towards the rounded beams that kept the cabin raised up above the muddy ground.
At first Casey couldn’t see anything in the camp’s gloomy lighting, but then she detected movement. There was a black, jelly-like substance inching its way up the support beams. ‘What the fuck is that?’
‘Seems our little Hades Bug is quite sociable — likes to join with its family. It’s not content to wait for a chance interaction with its food source anymore; I believe it’s about to start looking for it.’
The jelly bul
ged in dozens of places to form small black globes like glistening, dark grapes. They split vertically to reveal opaque pupils that bulged obscenely towards the women.
Maria turned back to Casey. ‘I can give you four hours. After that, everything will be ash. God speed, Lieutenant Franks.’
Casey looked from the slime to Maria and back again. She’d seen what that stuff could do to a human being when it was microscopic. If it was now growing and about to go hunting — bring on the fucking nuke, she thought.
She had her extra time; now to use it. She turned away, bumping into Tomás who had come up behind her.
‘Señora, the men that are not sick have all gone now. They would not wait for your amigos to return.’
Casey grabbed the little man by the shoulders and looked hard into his face. ‘Doesn’t matter — you need to go home now too, Tomás. You need to go fast. Understand?’
He frowned. ‘Go home, señora … now?’
Casey gestured around the camp, then made two fists and opened them with an explosion sound. ‘Big bang coming — go home now!’
Tomás looked around the camp too, confusion showing on his face.
‘Oh, come on, Friday,’ Casey muttered, more to herself than to the little man in front of her. ‘Ahh, el grande dangera. Explodea… Oh, fuck it. Just go. Go!’ She pushed him towards the jungle.
He walked slowly towards the green wall but kept looking back over his shoulder at her. She nodded, made shooing motions with her hands, and gave a final wave goodbye.
She pulled her GPS from her pocket and used it to locate Alex. Hmm, lot of miles, she thought.
She sucked in a deep breath and winced at the pain in her throat. She tied a bandana cloth around the bandage, pulled out her longest knife, and then jogged to the edge of the clearing. She looked back at the scientist still standing in front of the hut. She waved, but couldn’t tell if Maria Vargis hadn’t seen her or was choosing to ignore her.
Casey Franks began to run, bullocking branches and fronds out of the way, and slashing at others with the razor sharp blade, as she picked up speed. Her feet kicked up sodden debris and mud as she sprinted through the darkening jungle. The mud stuck to her boots, some of it red … and some of it black.
* * *
After the strange soldier woman had left, Tomás stepped back into the clearing. He looked around and saw the other doctor woman standing in the drizzle. He decided not to interrupt her; she frightened him a little. It was just him and her now. All the men who were physically able to leave had over the last few hours. He would have left with them, but he knew that when señora Aimee returned she would need him.
He smoothed out the now illegible piece of paper pinned to his chest. He’d wait for her. She would want that.
THIRTY-TWO
Aimee knew something was troubling Alex; had been troubling him ever since he’d taken a call from Hammerson. His mood had darkened and he was on edge — he seemed to be turning inwards. She let the two boys walk slightly ahead and dropped back to talk to him. She could see Sam further back, half-turning so he could keep an eye on Aimee’s position in front and also Garmadia’s in the rear.
‘Alex, it’s too dark,’ she said. ‘Maybe we should head back.’
‘We can’t go back.’ He continued walking.
‘Huh? Why, what’s happening? What aren’t you telling me?’ She stepped up beside him and leaned around into his face.
He let out an exasperated sigh. ‘The CDC has decided that little bug of yours represents too great a threat to the human race. They’ve also decided they need a thorough burn to ensure a safe and complete sterilisation.’ He shrugged. ‘Nothing I can do about it — other than get us safely away.’
‘What?’ Her raised voice made the boys stop in their tracks. ‘That’s ludicrous. Everything’s soaking wet — just how much do you think is going to burn? Besides, we already know the Hades Bug is heat tolerant. For Chrissakes, if the top-ranking scientist in the CDC made that call, she’s a lot less qualified than I first thought. No, nix that; I think she’s insane.’ Aimee folded her arms, her jaw jutting and her eyes boring into him. ‘Well?’
‘Nuclear burn by a compact single-megaton package,’ he said in a flat tone. ‘Possibly an advanced W54 or W55 type device. Immediate vaporisation of surrounding material, and detonation expansion results in the formation of an atmospheric-displacing shock wave. Temperatures of ten to the power of seven Kelvin form in the hypocentre of a fireball columning up into a mushroom cloud.’ He looked at her, his eyes weary. ‘Aimee, what can burn, will burn. We need about a five-mile clearance so we’re clear of the shock wave and any short-term fallout.’
Aimee’s mouth dropped open. ‘But … but what about Michael, her son? Tomás, and all the men? What about Casey Franks?’ She balled her fists and shook her head in disbelief.
‘Franks is on her way; the men are all gone. Michael Vargis is dead, and Maria is—’ Alex stopped abruptly, his head whipping around to look down the trail at Sam.
Aimee put her fingers to her temples, rubbing them for a second. Then she gasped. ‘Oh, no. The drill site was never capped! The gas bed is enormous … If Maria sets off a nuke, she’s liable to light up the entire continent.’
She realised Alex wasn’t listening. His eyes were alert and focused back down the trail. She had seen that look on his face before and didn’t like it. It meant imminent danger.
Suddenly Aimee could hear her own breathing. The jungle had fallen silent.
* * *
Things seemed to be occurring in slow motion. Alex knew Aimee was speaking to him, but her voice was smothered by all his senses screaming at him. The danger he had felt all around exploded into his mind like a klaxon alarm.
It’s here. The priest is here.
Sam noticed the change in his leader’s expression and stance and immediately went on high alert himself. As he began to swing around, there was a deafening roar all around them. Chaco and Saqueo dropped to the ground and covered their ears. Aimee threw her pack to the ground and flung herself over the boys.
Alex instantly recognised the sound and leapt to cover the huddled group.
‘Where’s Garmadia?’ he yelled to Sam.
This wasn’t how or where Alex wanted the encounter to take place: boxed in on a narrow jungle trail, darkness closing all around them, and Aimee and two children in his care.
He opened his senses to the jungle and received an impression of something circling them, faster than any normal man or beast could possibly move. He pushed out harder, trying to see the thing that stalked them and anticipate its next position. He managed an image of something dark and misshapen before a bolt of agony smashed through his head. It was coming, but not for him.
He threw himself to the ground in front of Aimee and yelled to his second-in-command. ‘Sam, get back here.’
Sam took up position on the other side of the huddled group. Alex pointed both his gauntleted arms at different angles into the jungle.
‘It’s González,’ he said. ‘He’s moving around us … he’s going to come in. Wait for it … on my mark.’
Sam was looking back and forth into the darkness. ‘I don’t see or hear him. I can’t get a bead.’
‘Fire!’ Alex made two fists and triggered a double stream of ice needles into the jungle. Sam did the same with his single gauntlet. The silent projectiles flew out in three supersonic streams, shredding leaves and branches. Plant material showered down around them.
‘He’s on the move!’ Alex yelled.
A deformed face broke free of the jungle near to Sam and roared again. Its jaws opened wider and lower than was humanly possible. Rows of spiked teeth circled the entire maw.
For the first time in his life, Alex heard his tough-as-nails second-in-command swear in fright.
Aimee screamed as Alex leapt across her to join Sam in directing blasts of ice spikes at the creature. But the moment he was in position and raised his gauntlet, the face withdrew.
&nb
sp; Perhaps it’s only testing our speed and weaponry, Alex thought.
A breeze seemed to pass behind them and two gunshots rang out.
‘Cease fire,’ Alex ordered.
He could sense the priest had gone. Slowly, he moved his head one way then the other, trying to pick up the evil that emanated from the man. Another shot punctured the silence and he turned quickly to see Aimee kneeling upright, a pistol in her steady hands. She slowly lowered the gun.
Sam rubbed his shoulder, trying to ease the pain from the gauntlet’s recoil. He looked at Alex with a mix of shock and disbelief written large on his face. ‘That thing was González? Shit. You can forget about me ever going to confession with that guy.’
Alex grimaced. ‘Maybe it was González once. But I doubt it’s him now.’
Sam looked down at Aimee who was pushing her gun back into her waistband. ‘Boys okay?’
She glanced down. ‘Yeah, they’re both …’ Her face immediately creased in shock. She roughly pulled Saqueo up and flipped her pack out of the way. ‘No, no, no …’
Saqueo stood holding a scrap of his brother’s T-shirt, a frown of confusion on his face. Chaco had been ripped from right next to them without them even knowing.
The boy grabbed Aimee’s arm and shook it. ‘Dónde está Chaco?’ He held out the scrap, his voice rising. ‘Dónde está mi hermano?’
He screamed his brother’s name until Aimee grabbed him and hugged him to her, her own face a mask of anguish.
Alex remembered the breeze that had passed over them. Nothing from our world can move that quickly, he thought as he looked around slowly. There was a large moon rising, and the surrounding jungle was taking on a silvery shadowed glow. But there was nothing to see other than the dense jungle all around them.
He turned back to Aimee. ‘He’s been taken.’ He closed his eyes for a few seconds, casting out with his senses. When he reopened them, his face was grim. ‘The priest has him. He’s alive, but hurt …’
Garmadia approached slowly, his handgun held loosely by his side. Alex rounded on him. ‘Where were you?’
