Catalyst (Book 3): Ghost Country

by Franks, JK

  Jack was laid to rest in a plot on the hill, not very far from the grave of Todd’s wife. Bobby, Skybox, Tahir, Garret, Todd and Scott carried him to his resting place. As the hole was backfilled, Scott embraced all of his friends wordlessly, ending with Todd. After several minutes, Todd pulled back and looked at the mound of fresh dirt, then over to his wife’s grave. “What do we do now?”

  Scott thought to an earlier response to that same question. His answer hadn’t changed. “We do what we must. We rise-up, battle on, we live…we love. Todd, we do what we must to survive. We honor Jack’s sacrifice.”

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Tahir sat with Skybox looking over his shoulder at the laptop. They now had confirmation that the Navy had fired at the Mount Weather facility, but had they been successful? With everything that was going on, this seemed somehow less important, but both men needed to know. “Okay, we have a bird moving into position now. It will be an oblique angle but should verify if the attack was successful,” Tahir stated flatly.

  Sky had no idea how the man could tap into top-secret channels like this but was glad he could. The laptop screen began to show the rural area of northern Virginia. All he could see were trees and a few roads until Tahir began adjusting the settings. Suddenly, the image resolved down to a scar across the expanse of green trees, then to the remains of the mountain. “Jesus,” Tahir said.

  Skybox shared his friend’s reaction. The aerial bombardment had been quite thorough. Where the mountainside had slid away, huge slabs of broken concrete were visible. In places, dark cavernous openings appeared to go deep inside the hill. “Look there,” Skybox said. “It’s an open hangar door into the parking area.”

  Tahir zoomed closer, “Losing the image in seconds, the bird is moving out of range. Looks to me that the security gates are open as well.”

  “That means someone got out,” Skybox sighed. “Damn, what are those things that look like ants going in and out of those openings in the hill?” The satellite image faded as the drone flew out of range.

  Tahir pulled up a still shot of the base and magnified and enhanced it. The ‘ants’ resolved themselves to be human. “They are the infected.”

  He was talking to Bobby about Scott; the man had barely been seen since the funeral. Skybox knew he was taking the loss hard. As a soldier, he had gotten used to saying goodbye. He’d lost way too many people over the years.

  “It’s been tough on him, man, I’m not gonna lie,” Bobby said. “Losing Jack was awful, but now he has no idea where Gia is. She should have been back days ago. The boy is worrying himself sick.”

  Sky nodded, “I have to go over to the Bataan shortly to go over some things that Tahir and I found. I’ll check in with the guys there to see what they know.”

  “Thanks, man, we need him and Todd back up to speed. The Navy is bringing the fuel for us tomorrow. After that, we have to finalize our departure and wrap up some of the smaller tasks.”

  The image of those ants on the anthill flashed through Skybox’s mind. He did not want to be in Harris Springs when those things started showing up. Briefly, he wondered if he was even a part of this migration―and what about Tommy? He filed that way for later.

  Skybox looked at the message. The small digital pager had stayed silent for so long he rarely even checked it. All members of Praetor were required to keep it on or near them always. He’d not always been in a position to obey that order, but today he had. These were not tasking instructions but instead, an acknowledgment. It was notification of a change in his command structure. He read it twice before deciding he needed to make a call.

  Three hours later, he sat in the communications room aboard the USS Bataan. It was the only operational facility with a working encrypted video messaging system. Lt. Garret had arranged it and now stood outside the door barring anyone else from entering. Memories of being aboard a ship and talking to P-command reminded him of the early days of this crisis. As he watched the white scorpion Praetor logo on the stark black screen, he wondered how far they’d actually come since then. Not far enough.

  “Hello, Sky.” The bloodied and battered face of Archangel was barely recognizable. If not for the voice, he would have had trouble identifying him as the man he’d seen just a six weeks ago.

  “Angel, what the hell happened? Are you in command?”

  “Please, let me talk,” Archangel said. “We have a lot to discuss and very little time to do so.”

  Twenty minutes later, Skybox left the conference room, his face ashen, his confidence shaken.

  The younger Garret knew something was up. “Heading back to the AG, sir…Sir? Skybox?”

  Skybox ignored the man and walked down the long corridor. Down several flights of stairs, and through the sealed doors to the bio-containment labs. He was more than familiar with the

  area, spending a great deal of time here with the science team the last several months. Several lab technicians were in the laboratory.

  He tapped on the window to get DJ’s attention. He motioned for him to pick up the old-school telephone handset they sometimes used to talk to visitors outside.

  “Hey, Sky,” the young man said cheerfully. “We don’t have you scheduled for…”

  Skybox cut him off, “Do you have any idea where Dr. Colton is? I need her immediately.”

  DJ stammered, unused to the commanding tone of his long-time patient and friend. “She, um she’s gone to one of the other labs.”

  “I realize that, but can you reach her? Do you know where the lab is?”

  DJ shook his head, which was barely noticeable with the bio-suit he was wearing. “Sorry, no, classified and all that. I believe it’s one of your guys’ locations.”

  He meant a Catalyst facility, one of the Praetor controlled labs.

  The younger Garret appeared in the door behind them asking if everything was ok. Everything is definitely not ok.

  Skybox wasn’t sure Archangel meant to show him as much of the facility as he did, but something stood out, one other person there he’d recognized, even though it was for only a fraction of a second. A lone female in the background accompanied by two guards in black uniforms. Gia Colton isn’t at any lab, he realized. She’s been captured.

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Scott Montgomery felt the floor tilt and the world went sideways. Skybox reached over to support the man. “I’m sorry, Scott, did she say anything about the facility she was heading to?”

  Scott’s mouth was filling with cotton, he couldn’t form the sounds to make the words come out. Captured, he was fixated on that word. “Lab-4,” he finally said. “Seems to be the one she’s had to go to most often…at least recently.”

  “No idea where that is?”

  Scott thought, “Um, no. I assume the Navy does. Why in the hell would anyone take her?”

  Skybox ignored the sobs of grief now coming from the man, “Not a Navy lab, its supposedly one of my people’s but not sure I can trust that either. Garret says they chopper her into a neutral location and leave, she then travels to the actual site on a Praetor bird. They’ve never been able to track them, no matter which lab she is heading to.”

  The uneasy truce negotiated between Praetor and the Navy had been mostly negotiated by Skybox. For almost eight months it had held up, but now…he wasn’t so sure. The why was easy though, she had the cure.

  Scott went berserk, “We’re getting married in a few weeks, the baby. The baby…I have to find her. Can the other man help, Archangel…he’s the one we met, right? Him or Vincent?”

  “I don’t know where they are, and he wouldn’t tell me. Vincent, well…” Skybox frowned, “Vince’s loyalties apparently were elsewhere. He and Archangel had a disagreement.”

  That was an understatement, Vince had tried to kill Angel. Somehow, he’d already had the command channels’ authentication codes, and with it, he could have taken over P-Command. That would give him command authority over every Praetor commander worldwide. The irony that Archangel
had now done the same thing wasn’t lost on Skybox; it was one more twist to this unbelievably strange day.

  Scott was going through a manic range of emotions. Skybox had no way to comfort his friend. He sat alone with him in his cabin for an hour. “I have to go, Scott, I’ll send someone to check on you later. We will get her back.”

  He walked out of the ship's cabin and down the long corridor. The bright, tropical carpet seemingly a mockery of the seriousness of the moment. What he decided not to tell Scott might have been the biggest problem of all. With Archangel in charge of Praetor, that meant he now knew exactly where Skybox was. All pretense of safety here on the AG vanished when he’d made that call. P-command could track him whenever they wanted. On what side does Archangel fall? Where are his loyalties?

  Tahir sat there with a blank face absorbing what Skybox was saying. “Yes, yes…I think I understand. You aren’t giving me much to go on, but for Scott, of course.”

  “You already know some locations for possible bases, don’t you?”

  “Well…maybe. We know some possibilities, a few we would likely have to rule out due to the spread of the pandemic.”

  “Like where?”

  “I know there are government bunkers like Greenbriar in West Virginia, but that’s out, too close to Baltimore. Raven Rock Mountain in Pennsylvania, Cheyenne Mountain or underneath the Denver Airport. North Bay, Ontario. Selfridge base in Michigan. Oak Ridge, Tennessee.” He continued to name off locations, both the obscure and the well-known. “Mount Weather would have been on the list, but well, it’s gone.”

  Skybox shook his head, “No, no…most of those are too far away anyway. She got there in just a few hours. Also, it’s not DIA, I know what the facility below the Denver Airport looks like, and that isn’t what I saw. By chopper, she would realistically need to be within 900 miles of us.”

  “Could be she was transferred to a jet.”

  “Shit, that’s true; but the runway at that airport wouldn’t work well for that. For now, let’s assume she got there by helicopter.”

  Tahir began to tap the pencil against his lips. “What places would you suspect? A place that housed your people, Praetors and NSF guards?”

  “Military bases, although many of those are abandoned or not friendly to the president’s Security Forces,” Skybox said. “Can’t really rule them out, though.” His brow furrowed as he thought. “Internment camps? Must be hundreds of those. Every major city and hell…nearly every major highway has several.”

  Tahir shook his head, “No, they would not have the infrastructure. And they are too vulnerable.”

  “Agreed.

  Existing bio-research labs?” Skybox said hopefully.

  “Let’s hope not,” Tahir responded. “Way more of them than you would believe. Besides the government based, lots of commercial labs, hospitals and even a lot of universities maintain very well-equipped research labs.”

  “Ok, let's skip that for now.”

  “Protectorates,” Tahir said. “We know those are well defended and well equipped. Although some have apparently fallen…most of them must still exist.”

  “Which ones do we know of?”

  Tahir took a printout of North America and began making marks on various locations. After ten minutes, he handed it over.

  “And how do you know this?”

  “I just do. The data was not so secure when the ‘shit hit the fan,’ as you like to say. And…I remember stuff,” Tahir said modestly.

  “Northern Texas, outside West Memphis, Ashville, North Carolina. These are the only ones I think would be in range. This…” Skybox looked hopeful, “…this feels right to me. What can we do to help narrow it down?”

  Tahir shrugged, “If it is one of these, I can find it. Someone logged something on a computer. A flight, a message, supply requisition…something.”

  Skybox patted him on the arm as he rose to leave, “Good man.”

  He was reaching for the door when Tahir asked the one question he’d been asking himself, “So, what will you do when we find her?”

  “Honestly…I don’t know.”

  A short while later, Bobby and Todd sat across the table listening to Skybox explain what he’d found. Somewhat reluctantly, he let them know that he had to assume his location was no longer a secret to the enemy. “By extension, if they know where I am—they know where you are.”

  “Time to relocate the rebel base then, commander?” Todd asked trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood.

  “This ship needs to be ready to move at any time,” Sky said. “I don’t think they would waste one of those orbital rods on us…hopefully. The Navy attack probably destroyed any apparatus to use that awful thing, but they could do just fine with conventional weapons. Your saving grace is that carrier sitting out there. The Bataan is the best weapon and best deterrent you have. As long as it is close, you are probably safe.”

  “How long will they stick around with their main scientist gone?” Bobby asked looking over at Todd.

  “Exactly,” Skybox agreed.

  “I like Garret…shit, both of ‘em, but you can’t expect them to stay here and stationary without Gia. They lost their best asset. Now they also know how vulnerable they are from the KEP.”

  Todd looked at the other two men. “I’ll talk to Commander Garret. Bobby and I can have the ship packed and ready to depart within two days, three, tops. What do we do about Gia though?”

  Bobby shook his head, “And my brother. No way he will leave her behind, not with her being held prisoner especially.”

  “I’m working on that. Not sure of our options, but once we have a location, I am going to press my people hard for answers…and action.”

  Trish stuck her head in the door and beamed when she saw Bobby. “When you have a second, I need to talk to you. Have some news on the missing girl, and I can’t find Scott.”

  Skybox pulled the pager from his pocket, the buzzing loud enough for the others to hear. He looked confused as he read the message. “Go ahead,” he said absently as he scrolled the text again. “I have to go.”

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Angel left Scott’s cabin in tears. She hugged Kaylie out in the corridor. “No better?” his niece asked.

  “No, in fact, he is in there packing a tactical bag. He’s determined to go find her.”

  Kaylie knew that was coming, “He has no idea where to even look. Tahir said even the Navy pilots have no idea, and they are the ones who dropped her off. Apparently, they went back to the airport, and the place was abandoned, no clues…nothing.”

  “Shh,” Angel whispered as she maneuvered Kaylie down the hall. “He’s breaking my heart, girl. I’ve never seen anyone so desperate.”

  “Do you blame him, Angelique? His fiancée, his child. Shit, just when things were starting to look a little better.” Kaylie walked to the small sitting area off the main corridor and flopped into the deep cushions of a pale blue armchair.

  They heard a muffled crash from down the hall, something breaking and a cry of anguish. Kaylie rose quickly to go check on him, but she was blocked by Angel's arm. “Leave him be for now, hon. He has to work through this pain.” Kaylie responded, “You really care for him, don’t you?”

  Angel looked at her somewhat embarrassed. “I do, yes, but not how you think.

  It might could have been romantic if things had been different, and if not for DeVonte, but Scott is, I don’t know…he’s just a good guy. He’s like an older brother to me but…more. He was just one of the best of us…and now...”

  “And now he’s broken,” Kaylie said sadly.

  Angel nodded.

  Skybox came through the hatch to the stairs. “Ladies,” he said in greeting. “He still in there?”

  “Yes,” they both replied as he walked past. “But I don’t think…” Kaylie began to say, but Sky was already in.

  “Follow me.”

  Scott just looked at the man, Scott’s red swollen eyes echoing the hopelessness he
felt. “To where?”

  “Just get your ass up, we have a lot of work to do if we are going to find her. Lying here wallowing in it isn’t helping.”

  “Does Tahir have a location?”

  “Not yet, but we don’t need it.”

  Scott got up, completely bewildered.

  “Bring your gear, you won’t be coming back to this cabin anytime soon There’s been a few developments.”

  Kaylie and Angel were outside the room again, both going into protective mode against Skybox. Angel got up into the big soldier’s face and was about to tell Sky to back the fuck off and leave Scott alone. She didn’t get the chance. “Stow it for now. Ladies, can you join us? This is going to need to be a group thing.”

  Everyone crowded into the conference room aboard the AG. Scott was not at the table but instead, slumped onto a padded bench along the back wall. This was Skybox’s show.

  “Thanks, DeVonte,” who was still hobbling around with a cane. He’d been asked to round everyone up for this impromptu meeting.

  Bartos was just entering, reeking of diesel and burnt motor oil. “What’s happening?”

  Skybox motioned for him to have a seat. “Couple of things, all important, so listen up. First, I am leaving. I’ve been reassigned, to be more accurate.”

  A collective gasp went around the room. No one had even considered that this could happen. They all knew he was active duty, but…well, he just seemed a part of the community now.

  He went on, “I knew it was a possibility when I spoke to command earlier. There is a lot going on out there, and none of it good. Todd will fill you in on things going on here but understand, our timetable for staying safe just shrunk considerably. We may now be on the NSF’s radar and...” Shit, he really didn’t want to give voice to the other, but, “When the president’s compound was fired on, she gave the order to use the bioweapon, the Chimera variant on all of the prison camps and a lot of other remaining population centers of any size on the East Coast. The infected are now driving south by the tens of thousands. Not sure why they are heading toward us, but they are. They will likely be here in weeks, not months.”