by Kirk Withrow
Garza’s grip tightened around the handle of his war cleaver, and he remembered the twenty-one foot rule: a motivated attacker with an edged weapon could generally kill a person armed with a gun before the person could get a shot off as long as the attacker wasn’t more than twenty-one feet away. There was less than half that distance between Connor and him. Connor must have read what Garza was thinking, as he instructed both of them to throw their blades on the ground.
“Good. Forgive me for being cautious, but I’ll feel much better after my men give you two a nice pat down.”
Before he’d finished speaking, two men emerged from behind cover and advanced on Garza and Kate. They were dressed in military BDUs, and each had an assault rifle trained on the couple as they approached. One shoved Garza down to his knees and commanded him to place his hands on top of his head. He covered Garza with the rifle while his partner frisked Kate thoroughly. She gritted her teeth as the soldier checked a few places a little more carefully than others. When he finished, he checked Garza as well. Garza and Kate both breathed a sigh of relief when the soldier failed to detect the small GPS tracker.
“They’re clean, boss.” They collected the discarded weapons before slipping back behind cover. The soldier with the loose hands inspected Garza’s cleaver admiringly while the other made a show of keeping them in his rifle sights.
Connor shot Kate a long, appraising look that left her worrying that he’d somehow gotten wind of their ruse. Despite her concern, she refused to divert her eyes from the bastard that had kidnapped Ava. In his face, she saw every one of the men that had held her captive back in Hermitage Estates—men that she had killed. She only hoped that the venom coursing through her veins was not readily apparent in her eyes. After several seconds, Connor lowered his gaze to the satchel she held at her side.
“Dr. San, let me see what’s in your bag.”
It took Kate a moment to realize he had been talking to her. In an Oscar-worthy performance, she passed her hesitation off as apprehension before slowly walking toward him. She stopped when she was within arm’s reach of him, and he held out his hand as if to ask her if she was going to give him the bag or if he was going to have to take it from her. Unshouldering the bag, she turned it to face him before raising the flap to allow him to see inside.
“I’d prefer to hang on to it if it’s okay with you. The contents are fragile, and quite frankly, some of them are extremely dangerous if not handled properly,” Kate said.
Cautiously, as though he thought something might leap out of the bag if he were to get too close, Connor leaned forward and extended his neck to peer inside. The bag contained a stack of papers, which he assumed to be research documents, as well as several bottles containing various powders and solutions. Next to these items was a clear plastic tray that held five pre-loaded syringes. The assumption that Connor wouldn’t know what he was looking at proved to be correct. He had no idea that Lin had simply loaded the bag with things she no longer needed for her experiments, just as he had no idea what the syringes really contained. His eyes widened as though he’d just seen the contents of the famed Ark of the Covenant.
“Is that really it?” he asked in awe. “I’ve got to tell you, when I heard that I was going to get my revenge on Mr. Garza, there, and get my hands on a cure for the plague, I thought it had to be too good to be true.”
For her part, Kate was unaware that Connor’s true interest was in the power he thought he could obtain with it, rather than the cure itself. Even so, his fervent desire for what he thought she possessed was plain to see. He teetered on the edge of mania, which she imagined might play to her advantage by clouding his ability to recognize her ploy. When she realized that he’d bought her act hook, line, and sinker, she sensed she had an opening.
“Yes, this is the LNV vaccine. This is the end to all of this horror,” Kate replied as she glanced around for dramatic effect.
To her surprise, Connor let out a hearty laugh. “End it? Why would I want to do a silly thing like that? Don’t get me wrong—I was pretty pissed when this all started. I’d been working on something of my own, you see. What I’d been planning was good, but I’m afraid I was thinking too small scale. The way I see it, the guy behind this little disease was clearly on the right track; he just lacked the gumption to harness his creation. Something so powerful needs a master—someone to control it. It’s practically begging for it. And you, my dear, are going to help me be the one to do it.”
Connor became increasingly animated as he spoke, and Kate could tell he sincerely believed everything he was saying. He exuded the fervent righteousness often associated with cult leaders and other such fanatical figures. All she could do was gawk at him.
Sensing her incredulity, he added, “You disagree? Don’t tell me you think this is a natural phenomenon. There’s no way Mother Nature was responsible for some shit as sick as this; badness like this could only be dredged up from the heart of man.”
Kate’s mouth hung open in shock at what she was hearing. She could no longer resist the urge to tell him what she thought about his master plan.
“Do you mean to tell me that if you had a cure, you would use it to extort what was left of humanity rather than to try to help it be reborn again? You’re insane if you really think you or anyone else can control something like LNV,” she said.
Connor surprised her once again by merely shrugging his shoulders in response to her rebuke. “You might be right, sweetheart. The truth is—I really don’t give a shit. The virus can keep doing the same damn thing it’s been doing for all I care. I’m sure you’d agree that it’s been pretty effective on its own. If I can use a cure to exert a little control over the few pathetic individuals still alive on this planet—even better. But what I’m not going to do is let you stop the virus from doing what needed to be done all along.”
Connor’s eyes gleamed with madness, leaving no doubt in Kate’s mind that he was serious. A chill ran up her spine as she realized she was staring into the soul of a true psychopath.
“Now, if you’re done spouting all of your high and mighty bullshit, how about you let me take a look at this cure so that we can get down to business,” Connor said with a charismatic smile.
“How about you let me see Ava first?” Kate challenged.
“Look who thinks she’s the boss. You always let the woman do the talking for you, Hector?” Connor goaded. His malicious smile grew even wider when he noticed Garza fidgeting in response to his jab. “No, I think you’ll just have to take my word that the girl’s okay for the time being.”
Kate kept her icy gaze fixed on him as she felt around inside the satchel. A moment later, she produced a syringe containing a translucent liquid.
Connor took the syringe carefully, as though it were a bomb that might explode with the slightest disturbance. He held it up to the fading sunlight and peered into the liquid for so long that Kate wondered if he could see something she could not.
Without taking his eyes off the vaccine, Connor said, “You were probably hoping that I would be so eager to get immunity to the virus that I would shoot myself up right here on the spot. Am I right? Surely you didn’t think I would be so stupid as to inject something given to me by a stranger without seeing what kind of side effects it had first. How do I know this isn’t poison? Do I look like a dumbass to you?”
“You know what I think? I think you’re full of shit. I think you’re really just a scared, insignificant, little man with a big chip on his shoulder. You think you can do whatever you want now that no one’s around to call you out for what you really are—a coward. Am I right?” Kate said.
Kate’s comment clearly pushed Connor too far, and he raised his hand in a flash. He brought it down swiftly as if he was going to strike her but stopped short of making contact. Garza lunged forward, but Connor’s men were too fast. They intercepted him before he’d taken two steps, one of them slamming the butt stock of his rifle into Garza’s solar plexus and sending him to the groun
d. The muscles in Connor’s jaws tightened, and he spoke through clenched teeth.
“Enough! Bring him to me. Let’s see what this little vaccine of yours can do.” Connor’s men hauled Garza to his feet as he clutched his stomach. After zip-tying his hands behind his back, they dragged him to their leader.
To say that Connor had become obsessed with Sergeant Hector Garza since being shot by him outside the abandoned gas station would have been an understatement. Having long dreamt of the moment when he would once again face his nemesis, Connor found it difficult to keep his emotions in check. He could see that his vengeance was clouding his mind, and he knew it had to be tuned out for the time being. There was work to be done, and it called for his full attention. Dr. San and her vaccine presented an additional twist that had to be addressed.
Connor could tell that Dr. San was a very intelligent and shrewd adversary in her own right. He could also see animosity in her eyes, and that made her dangerous, perhaps even more so than Sgt. Garza. He understood that she would fight with her mind rather than her might, and he wondered if that meant that her vaccine would serve as her sword. Being a paranoid individual at baseline, his thoughts ran wild with the possibilities. One thing was clear to him: he needed to ensure that Dr. San wasn’t trying to poison him. What better way to explore that theory than to test the vaccine on my old friend, Sergeant Garza? Eyeing Garza with contempt, he said, “How many doses of this vaccine do you have, Dr. San?”
Not knowing what he was expecting, Kate wasn’t sure of the best way to answer him. She stuttered, and replied, “Uh…several. I have several doses. But I can make more. Please, don’t hurt him.”
Whether it was there or not, Connor heard something in her voice that roused his suspicions even further. Still sneering, he kept his wicked eyes locked on Garza’s hunched form. “Calm down, sweetheart. Everything is going to work out fine, I assure you. Now, be a doll and show me the other doses would you?”
Kate stood stock still, frozen like a deer in headlights. Garza saw out of the corner of his eye the worry rising up inside her. His concern about Kate’s well-being, which had been climbing exponentially, had now reached an all-time high. He shifted his head in her direction and gave her a slight reassuring nod. Kate reached into her bag.
“Nice and slow,” Connor said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Kate handed him the case containing the other four syringes. Just as he’d done with the first one, he held them up to the light to inspect them. She had no idea what he was looking for, and she suspected he was simply doing it for show. Connor shook his head as he looked away from the syringes in the case.
“I’m not sure this is the best one for you,” he said, glaring at Garza as he twiddled the original syringe in his hand. He placed it back in the case before removing another of the apparently identical syringes. “This one’s got your name all over it.”
Connor’s contemptuous smile grew even wider as he waggled the vaccine in front of them. Garza remained steadfast, and he hoped Kate would as well. Connor stepped toward Garza and said, “Pull his sleeve up.”
Garza didn’t resist as one of Connor’s men roughly yanked on his sleeve to expose his arm. He recalled the discussion about using the vaccine as a means to eliminate Connor. They had tried to predict Connor’s actions and correctly assumed that he might administer the first dose to one of them in order to ensure its safety. What they hadn’t counted on was his paranoia making him swap the harmless syringe for one of the tainted doses. Even though she didn’t know it, Lin’s worst fear was about to become a reality.
Garza’s mind raced to come up with a way out of this predicament, but he came up short. Despite his efforts to control it, his heart rate increased as the needle inched closer to his arm. Although he knew it wouldn’t end well, he decided that his best chance was to lunge forward and drive his shoulder into Connor’s abdomen. Maybe I can head butt him in the shoulder for good measure. With the needle seconds away from piercing his skin, Garza was about to make his move when Kate’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Have you ever even given a shot? You’re doing it wrong. If you want to see if the vaccine works, you need to make sure it’s given correctly.”
Kate’s words made Connor pause with the needle hovering just above Garza’s skin. He had never given a vaccine before and had assumed he just popped the needle in and pressed the plunger. She was a doctor, and the confidence in her voice left him second-guessing himself. Perhaps there is more to it than what you see in television shows…
Kate extended her hands and said, “May I?”
Once again, her words caught him off guard. She seemed so sure that he was about to make a critical error that he acquiesced.
Handing her the syringe, he said, “By all means, Doctor. Please show me how it’s done.”
Without hesitation, she squeezed the muscle on Garza’s upper arm and began thumping the tissue pinched between her fingers as she angled her body slightly away from the Puppet Master.
“You have to make sure the injection is delivered into the muscle. It looked like you were about to inject it just under the skin or into an area of fat. The body’s immune system wouldn’t effectively see the vaccine and thus would generate an unreliable response if any at all,” Kate said, hoping she sounded smarter than she actually felt. She had no idea if anything she just said made any sense whatsoever. She only hoped the Puppet Master knew less than she did.
“Garza, you’re going to feel a sting on the count of three,” she said as if telling him rather than warning him.
“One.”
Garza kept his gaze locked on Connor, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the proceedings. He had no idea what Kate was up to, but he decided that he didn’t have any choice but to put his trust in whatever plan she had in mind.
“Two.”
How long will I have before the infection incapacitates me? Thirty minutes maybe? Will I have enough time to kill Connor before I die? It occurred to Garza that Lin might be able to treat him with the new medication if he managed to survive the fight and make it back to her before LNV ravaged his body. As much as he hated to admit it, neither of those seemed too likely at the moment.
“Three.”
The sharp surge in pain came a split-second before Garza saw the flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He told himself that he wouldn’t flinch as his death sentence was delivered, but his mind faltered and he clinched his eyes as he winced slightly. He didn’t need to see the needle plunging into his arm to know that’s what he was feeling. Being in the military, he’d received more injections than he cared to remember, but this one hurt more than any of them for some reason. He wondered if it was due to what was being injected or the technique being used. In the end, he knew it didn’t matter. They had tried to outsmart the Puppet Master, but he’d called their play and turned it around on them.
As much as Garza felt like throwing in the towel, he knew the game wasn’t over yet. He tried to force his thoughts away from his coming fate, and instead focused on Kate and Ava. There was still time to complete his mission; there was still time to save them. The pain in his arm had merely been the starting gun at the beginning of the race; the timer was counting down.
The pain didn’t subside until Kate released the fold of skin pinched between her fingers. Only then did Garza notice the faint cold sensation moving down his arm toward his fingertips. He broke eye contact with Connor and glanced at Kate. He didn’t know what he was expecting to see—perhaps fear or dread—but he saw neither. Instead, her expression was sharp and focused. Although it was subtle and impossibly brief, Garza saw the slight raise of her eyebrow coupled with the smallest dip of her chin. He sensed that she was trying to tell him something, though what it was he had no clue.
For her part, Kate had hoped that the look she’d given him was the last bit of information he needed to figure out what she’d done. Unfortunately, such understanding was the furthest thing from what
she saw when she looked into his eyes. Instead, she saw hatred, acceptance, and resolve. She saw the eyes of a trained killer intent on exercising his craft one last time.
Connor’s face, on the other hand, was alight with sadistic pleasure. Whether because he was witnessing Garza’s pain or because Dr. San was doing his bidding, he was thoroughly enjoying the scene he had created. Somewhere to the west, the sound of raucous laughter could be heard, while the faint noise of engines echoed to the east.
32
“I think this is the place. It’s right at a quarter mile north of the mansion, and it falls on the path of Garza’s current trajectory,” Mother said.
Mother, Cujo, Plant, and Animal hunched around the map folded to show a detailed view of the area around the CDC. Mother traced the path they’d followed since leaving the CDC, before tapping his finger thoughtfully on the building labeled Georgia Hardware Manufacturing.
“I agree. Besides, there really isn’t anything else in the area,” Plant added.
“If we start angling away from the building and pick up the pace, we can arrive at the same time or before Garza and Kate. Circling out wide should minimize our risk of detection by any of Connor’s men and allow us to approach from the east. John’s team will do the same, only from the west. That will give us a field of converging fire and hopefully place us in Connor’s blind spot.”
Mother made crude marks with a pencil as he spoke, and soon the map looked like a page taken out of a high school football playbook. He glanced around at his team member’s faces to gauge their thoughts on his plan. They each nodded in agreement.
