A transmission crackled on the headset she had pulled off one of the dead ROT soldiers. “Tiger 3, Tiger 4, do you copy, over?”
Static.
“Tiger 15, get your boys out there and look for Tiger 3 and Tiger 4. They were supposed to report back in over an hour ago. And hurry the hell up, we’re moving out in thirty minutes. Over.”
ROT would never find their two missing men. Davis had made sure of that. Hopefully that would help delay the departure of the ship.
Black stopped ahead to scope the ship through the torpedo grass. Davis used her gun to fight through the thick grass and crawl up to Black. Her body sank in the mud, and she had to push herself up with the butt of her M4 to see.
“What have you got, Black?”
“I don’t know. They could be preparing to fire again. Who do you think they’re targeting?”
“SZTs still loyal to President Ringgold,” Davis whispered back. “Wood is going to hit them all.”
Davis raised her M4 and zoomed in. Black was right. The ATACMS delivery launch vehicles had been moved to the starboard side of the aircraft carrier. There was motion on the deck, and she moved her crosshairs toward a crew of ROT soldiers loading missiles onto the helicopters and jets. An entire team was helping unload another crate.
Any further conflict in her mind about sinking her own ship vanished. She had to stop them. She couldn’t let this go any further. Even if some of her crew was still alive, they had to be sacrificed for the greater good. Davis was ready to give hers for the same cause.
The clank of metal sounded as the anchor began to retract.
“Black, I need your eyes up there. See how many soldiers are left at Pickens.”
He nodded and ran into the darkness. Within moments he was gone, vanishing over the hill. Davis waited in tense silence, her muscles aching as she held herself perfectly still. Black returned a few minutes later, breathing heavily.
“Looks like all but one squad have boarded the ship, Commander. There’s just one Zodiac and five men left on shore.”
“Perfect. We’re going to kill those ROT soldiers, take their boat, and board the ship, pretending to be them. Black will plant the C4 on the 140s with Robbie and Sanders. Diaz and I will take a batch to scuttle the ship.”
Robbie and Sanders exchanged a glance, but Black and Diaz nodded back.
“Does anyone have a problem with that plan?” Davis asked.
Sanders slowly raised his hand.
“Let me make something clear,” Davis said. “You are either with us or against us on this mission. Are you with us, Sanders?”
“Ah hell. If I’m going to die, might as well get blown up. Nearly did it to myself when I was a boy playing around with my daddy’s fireworks.”
He cracked a yellow grin. Davis didn’t return it. This was no time for jokes.
“We have two suppressed M9s, so we make this quiet and quick. Black, you’re with me. Diaz, secure our ride and hold onto the C4 for us.”
“Commander, please let me come with you,” Diaz said.
“We can swap,” Black said. “I’ll make sure that C4 gets to the ship if you don’t come back.”
After a moment of hesitation, Davis nodded. Black handed Diaz his M9.
She and Diaz trudged up the slope. They pushed their NVGs into position and fanned out across the field near the fort.
“High and low, keep quiet from here on out,” Davis ordered.
Diaz was already scanning battlements of the fort and the weeds around them with her pistol. They followed the wildly swinging flashlight beams straight to the ROT soldiers. These guys weren’t professionals. Davis was banking on most of the men on the ship being amateurs. She still held on to a sliver of hope that they might retake the ship instead of scuttling her.
A flash of motion froze Davis. Diaz dropped to a knee and pointed across the open field. The ROT squad was about three hundred feet away. Davis moved toward the cover of a retaining wall. They put their backs against the brick, and Davis raised her M9, waiting as the soldiers approached.
“You take the two on the right. I’ll take the left,” Davis whispered. “We can shoot the middle one together.”
“Aye-aye, ma’am.”
“Wonder what the fuck happened to Belt and Herc,” one of the ROT men said. “Think they got nabbed by some juveniles while they were taking a piss?”
There was a snort as someone hocked up a wad of phlegm. “That, or they abandoned their post. If they deserted, I’d string ‘em up and skin ‘em like them stupid Marines.”
Several laughs followed.
Davis bit her lip so hard she drew blood. She sucked in a breath, then looked at Diaz and nodded. They jumped around the wall at the same time.
In the moonlight, Davis saw the expression of shock and fear on the first man’s face—right before she blew it off. She moved onto the next bastard, firing two suppressed bullets before he could even raise his weapon. Diaz took hers down with ease, and they came together to kill the fifth man with well-aimed shots to the chest. He dropped like a statue being tipped over, slowly and with a thud.
“Nice shooting,” Davis said, lowering her weapon. She hurried over to the bodies and fired a bullet into each of their skulls, then stripped them of the Velcro name tags on their vests. When she was finished, she disarmed them and slung a pair of SCARs over her shoulder. She picked up a third while Diaz grabbed the other two.
“Okay, let’s move,” Davis said.
Diaz hesitated as she stared at the corpses.
“I…I can’t…”
“It’ll pass,” Davis replied. Two months ago she would have had the same reaction after ambushing these men. But these soldiers weren’t just following orders. They were monsters, like Wood.
“Let’s go, Diaz.”
She dipped her chin and cradled her SCAR across her chest. They ran back to the shoreline side by side.
Black stepped out from behind a tree when they approached. Sanders and Robbie emerged from a broken brick wall. She handed them the SCARs and the name tags.
“Put these on. We’re going to try to sneak aboard.”
“Billy?” Black said skeptically, looking at the name tag.
“Not sure I’ll pass for a Colin,” Diaz said.
Davis looked at her brown shoulder-length hair. The younger woman would never pass for a man, not even at a casual glance.
“Hold still,” Davis said. She pulled her knife. Diaz reared back at the sight of the blade.
“Come on, we don’t have time for this,” Davis said. She grabbed her own ponytail and sheared it off with the blade, sawing until the last of the strands parted. She gestured at Diaz impatiently. Diaz squeezed her eyes shut and turned around.
Three minutes later, Davis and Diaz had haircuts that made them look like high school boys. Five minutes after that they were all in the Zodiac, coasting over the waves toward the GW.
Davis kept her SCAR at the ready.
On the deck, the silhouettes of three ROT soldiers waited for them.
“Tiger 15, you copy, over?”
Black looked to Davis and she nodded to give her approval.
“Copy, we’re on our way back. Didn’t find all of Tiger 3 or 4, but we did find part of a leg. Juveniles must have got ‘em.”
“Roger that. Get your asses aboard, boys. It’s time to go.”
Davis swallowed hard. Everything she had been through in the past seven months had led up to this moment. If she failed, America would fall.
-24-
“Where are they?” Kate said. She paced back and forth on the edge of the forest nearest the Animal Disease Center buildings. She’d been pacing since they arrived over an hour ago.
Horn was as still as a statue, his rifle aimed out over the field and road that led to the buildings just over the hill. The Black Hawk that President Ringgold had arrived in was nearby, covered with a camouflage tarp. Two Marine pilots awaited their orders. Somehow, they’d managed to keep the helicopter hidde
n from Rayburn and Walker and everyone else on the island.
Kate looked at her watch. It had now been an hour and a half since Reed took Ellis to the radio tower.
“They should be back by now. Something’s happened. We have to find them, Horn.” When the big man gestured for her to be quiet, she said, “Damn it, give me the keys. I’ll go myself.”
Ringgold crunched through the leaves to stand next to Kate. She had her shawl over her head again. She crossed her arms over her chest in the chilly night air.
“I have bad news,” Ringgold said. “Barnes says we can give Reed and Ellis another five. Then we have to leave. I’m sorry, Kate, but ROT is here on the island, and somehow they know that I escaped the PEOC.”
Kate couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t leave Reed. She wouldn’t leave him.
“You go,” she said. “Horn, take the kids and go with them. Get somewhere safe.”
“Nah,” Horn said, shaking his head. “I ain’t leaving either.”
The baby kicked, and Kate wondered if he could feel how scared she was.
“I’m not leaving Reed,” she said firmly.
“We wait five more minutes, then we get into the air with or without you,” Barnes said. “We can’t stay here any longer. I’m sorry.”
Horn directed his gaze at Barnes and then Nelson. “Take us to the radio tower on the way out of here. If we see any sign of Beckham on the flyover, we drop down and search. You got it?”
Ringgold answered for the two men when they hesitated. “I’m good with that. It’s the least we can do for them.”
“Madame President,” Barnes began to say. “I’d highly recommend—”
“That’s an order, Barnes.”
He nodded back.
Horn snorted, heaved his SAW onto his shoulder, and walked back into the woods to gather the kids. Jake emerged first with Donna, Bo, and his own son, Timothy. Tasha and Jenny were holding Horn’s hands. The Marine pilots pulled off the tarp, and they all piled into the chopper.
Five minutes later they lifted into the air.
In the cockpit, the pilots pushed their NVGs into position and pulled the bird toward a partially flattened cornfield. They flew low over the crops. The radio tower rose over the trees just ahead and Kate’s heart pounded harder as they got closer.
“There!” Horn shouted. He pointed toward a truck parked below. They came back in for a second pass, but Kate didn’t see anyone in the pickup.
The next circle brought them over the front of the radio tower.
“Looks like a body,” Nelson said.
A man was sprawled in front of the radio station, blood pooling around his head. Kate screamed and lunged toward the open door when she saw the blue baseball cap lay on the ground nearby, but Horn and Barnes held her back.
“Let me go! Let me go!” She kicked and shouted. The kids were bawling, and Kate felt her own hot tears. “We have to go down there! We have to help Pat!”
“He’s gone, ma’am,” Barnes said. “I’m sorry.”
Horn stared out the door in shock as the pilots hovered, waiting for orders.
“I don’t see Beckham,” Horn said. He looked at Barnes. “Let me go look for him. Three minutes.”
Barnes and Nelson exchanged a glance. “We can’t—”
“We can’t abandon Reed,” Kate said, gathering the shreds of her composure. Ellis had been her closest ally and partner. They’d worked side by side for countless hours in the lab and debated over countless meals together. The thought that he was gone left a hole in her heart. But if she lost Reed too…that would break her.
“I’m going down there, Kate. I’ll find him,” Horn said. He turned to the Secret Service agents. “You ain’t stoppin’ me!”
Barnes moved to block his way. “We can’t let you do that!”
Horn raised a fist, and Jake stepped up to support him.
“Captain Beckham risked everything for me and my son in New York. We can’t abandon him now.”
“I’m picking up a message over the comms!” one of the pilots yelled. “It’s for President Ringgold.”
A moment later, a calm, self-assured voice filled the troop hold. “You’ve proven to be harder to kill than I thought, Jan. I don’t know how you escaped from the PEOC, but I will find you. It’ll be fun, actually. By the way, I have your knight in shining armor right here. Say hello, Reed.”
Kate grabbed Ringgold’s arm, trying to steady herself.
“Don’t give him what he wants,” Reed growled. His voice sounded thick and muffled, as if he was talking through a fat lip.
“Reed,” Kate called out. “Reed, hang on!”
“The comms are only one way. He can’t hear you,” Nelson said.
Wood was speaking again, taunting them. “Go ahead and keep running, Jan. I will find you. In the meantime, Reed and I are going on a little trip. See you soon, Jan. It’s been fun.”
The transmission ended with a squawk of static.
“We have to leave the island, now!” Nelson shouted.
The pilots were already pulling away from the tower.
Kate grabbed her chest, hyperventilating. This wasn’t happening… She couldn’t…
Horn locked eyes with her. “I will find him and bring him back.”
“We got company!” Nelson yelled at the same moment.
He raised his gun at two Little Birds searching the forest to the west. They dipped low, then raced toward the Black Hawk.
Horn called out over his shoulder, “Can any of you Secret Service assholes shoot?”
Barnes and one of his agents stepped up to Horn’s side with their rifles. Jake slammed a magazine into his gun and waited for a clear shot. The other agent covered Ringgold with his body.
“Take ‘em down!” Horn shouted.
Rounds lanced away from the Black Hawk. The return fire was instant, and a bullet hit one of the agents in the chest. He dropped to the floor, clawing at the wound.
Kate crawled over to help him. The man looked up at her, his face a mask of pain. Screams from the children filled the troop hold as she placed her hand over his wound and applied pressure.
Another bullet punched into the floor by her. Someone cried out, and she turned just in time to see Barnes slump over, blood blossoming on the back of his jacket. She watched helplessly as he tumbled out the open door.
The chopper rolled hard to the right, throwing off Horn’s aim. He steadied his gun and continued to fire as the pilots wheeled away from island.
Kate kept her hand pressed against the injured agent’s chest, but her eyes were fixed on the radio tower they were leaving behind. She could still see Ellis lying there, surrounded by his own blood.
She glanced back at the skyline as Horn hit one of the Little Birds in the rotors. It spun away, smoking, and plowed onto the beach. An explosion lit up the night a moment later. The pilots pulled the Black Hawk over the ocean, heading east with the second Little Bird still in pursuit.
Horn fired off another volley of rounds that punched through the windshield of the other chopper. It went into a nosedive and hit the water with such force it snapped the rotors off.
He kept his weapon on the sinking helicopter.
“Turn this bird around!” Kate yelled. “We have to find Reed!”
Nelson shook his head. “It’s too late. We go back and we’re dead.”
“I will find him. I promise, Kate. But Nelson’s right. We have to get out of here,” Horn said, his lips trembling.
Lowering his smoking weapon, he turned and looked at Kate with tears welling in his eyes. He slowly walked back to comfort his girls. They wrapped their arms around him.
Kate looked down at the agent she was trying to save. The man’s blank eyes were focused on the bulkhead. She felt for a pulse.
He was gone.
She hadn’t even learned his name.
“Where are we going?” Soprano asked.
Nelson shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“There
has to be some place we can go,” Horn said. “We can’t just fly forever.”
Kate shivered, shock setting in. Her home, the place where she was supposed to raise a family with Reed, was compromised, and the man she loved was missing.
A pair of hands grasped hers, and she found herself looking into Ringgold’s eyes. The president was crying. The two women embraced, each holding the other up, as the Black Hawk carried them into the night sky.
Beckham tried to force his eyes open, but his right eyelid was too swollen from the beating he’d taken. The bright sunlight nearly blinded his good eye, and he squeezed it shut again. There was a distant humming beyond the rush of blood in his ears, and the floor beneath him was vibrating. He could hear faint voices nearby, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
His memories were all jumbled up, and he struggled to make sense of them.
A splash of water suddenly hit his face. He coughed and spluttered, trying to sit up.
“Wake up, Captain,” someone said.
Another blast of freezing water hit his face. He blinked over and over until a blurred face came into focus. Wood was looking down at him, wearing a smug expression.
“Ah, you’re still alive. I thought we were going to lose you for a few minutes back when we stopped to refuel. You’re tougher than I thought, but not as tough as I was told.”
Beckham sat up and swung a right hook at Wood before he remembered that he’d lost that hand. A cord around his neck jerked him back to the floor. He choked, coughed, and tried to speak, but only ended up spitting out more blood.
“You aren’t that bright, are you?” Wood said. “Seriously, I feel cheated. I’d hoped you’d be more of a challenge.”
Wood crouched down in front of him, and for the first time Beckham saw where he was being held. He’d expected a prison cell, but they were in a helicopter. Outside the open door of the troop hold, the jagged skyscrapers of a large city came into focus. Skeletons of what had been great buildings were all that remained. Scars from bombs and missiles marred the structures.
The Extinction Cycle (Book 6): Extinction Aftermath Page 32
