Code Name: Luminous

by Natasza Waters

  “It’s me who owes you one now.”

  Tony roared at her, “If you fall, there is no one to catch you. There is no tomorrow for us.”

  His words hit her square in the heart. “There never was.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Try to get here as quick as you can, I’ll do my best. Good-bye, Tony.”

  She hung up and concentrated on the road. It was groomed, but she hit enough potholes to jar her teeth. A shiver ran up her spine. A big bug landed on her chest and she screeched, swatting at it, giving her even more shivers. She remembered the first time she’d put her hand through the strap, and they hoisted her high into the air. She’d been scared then too, but it hadn’t stopped her. Fear was life’s warning bell to pay attention. She squinted, seeing dust rise in the distance and it was travelling toward her. Showtime.

  * * * *

  Lumin lay in the desert after abandoning the Jeep and waiting for the oncoming vehicle to pass by. Two men got out. They searched the jeep and the surrounding area, but they didn’t find her. She would go to Dafoe, but she wanted to arrive unannounced. Once the men had gone, she began to walk. She couldn’t see any buildings ahead. Time needed to stop. Anxious, she put it into a jog. After a mile or more, she finally saw a structure growing out of the sand. Soaked from fear and the hot sun, she stopped to think and catch her breath. Would he have exterior cameras? Maybe he knew she was there already.

  He probably didn’t expect someone to cross the desert on foot. She hunched and watched. Crossing herself, she kept low and ran around the side of the building. The large home with steep roofs and a wrap-around porch appeared out of place in the middle of the desert. Peering around the corner into a window, she saw three men sitting at a dining room table. Sullen expressions and slumped in their seats, they looked bored. She ducked down and waddled toward the back end of the home on her haunches. There were less windows and it looked like an enormous garage. Keeping herself tight to the wall, she stole a look and exhaled with relief. She’d found the lab. Two men in white coats worked at a counter, peering into microscopes and moving about with a deliberate pace.

  Her cell rang, and she fumbled to answer it, her heart pounding in her chest. Her gaze skittered to either side, but no one appeared. “Stop calling me,” she hissed.

  “Lumin, bloody hell, woman. Where are you?” She heard movement around the corner and her blood chilled. She had to go up or be caught. With a running jump and the help of a planter box, she gripped the edge of the roof and pulled herself up quickly. Just as two men rounded the corner, she threw her legs over the side and lay flat.

  “Nothing. You’re hearing things,” one man said to the other. “I need a coffee. I’m heading inside.”

  The other man remained quiet, but she heard their footsteps round the house and enter a door. She lifted the phone to her ear. “You almost got me caught,” she hissed.

  “Where are you?”

  “On the roof. I found the lab,” she whispered.

  “I swear to God, woman, if you die so will I. You like your coffee with milk and sugar.”

  “What are you talking about, Tony?”

  “It means I want you to believe me when I say you’re important to me. I know I acted like an ass at the factory, but there’s a reason.” A yip of a coyote in the distance broke the silence. “Lumin, did you hear me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you believe me?”

  “No, now stop phoning me.”

  “Don’t move,” a voice commanded from behind her.

  She closed her eyes. A man hung out the second story window with a weapon pointed at her. Her hand was only an inch away from the gutter and she nudged the cell into it. “I’m here to talk to Dafoe,” she said.

  “Crawl toward me.”

  She did as he asked. When she reached the window, a hand grasped the back of her shirt and he yanked her inside. She’d been pulled into a spacious bedroom with a king bed and honey-colored wood floors. The door opened and a tall man of Middle Eastern descent walked in.

  “Have a seat, Miss Edenridge,” he said.

  The security man motioned with the gun for her to follow his instructions. She sat down on the couch.

  “You can leave,” he said to the security guard.

  The man wore suit pants and a comfortable dress shirt. He poured a glass of water from the mini bar and handed it to her.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m Callum Dafoe,” he said, sitting down across from her.

  Lumin saw a painting on the wall and she stared at it.

  “That’s my wife and son,” he said, watching her.

  “I’m sorry they’re dead,” she said. There was no point concealing she knew what happened to them. “Azeel told me.”

  “Sorry won’t bring them back.”

  She shook her head. “Neither will killing millions of people. I understand your grief, Mr. Dafoe, but I don’t understand your wrath.”

  “You wouldn’t unless you’ve lost someone.”

  She looked into her glass for a moment, then drank it all. “I’d grieve. If someone I knew was killed by a drunk driver I’d be angry, but I wouldn’t want to kill everyone who drives a car.”

  Callum Dafoe settled an inquiring look on her. “I am not a holy man like many in my homeland. I don’t care about a never-ending war over grains of sand and inches of earth. Justice for my wife’s death is within my power, and I will see it done,” he said calmly.

  She didn’t have to find the serum anymore, but maybe Dafoe would give away the Americans who helped him.

  “You told me Star was here. I want to see her.” She knew full well Star was already safe, but she had to pretend she knew nothing.

  “No, I said I would release Star if you came to me. Where is Dr. Bjornson?”

  “You have the airborne virus. What more do you need?”

  “The airborne virus dies off. We created a second virus. A stronger one that could mutate after thirty-six hours, but Bjornson escaped and he has the only antiserum.” Dafoe rose to his feet. “Make no mistake. I will release it, whether it means I have to die as well, but I’d prefer not to. Where is he?”

  “Why can’t your American partners who helped you get the Plague in the first place find him?”

  Dafoe’s sharp gaze drilled into her. “Carmichael shared a lot with you, didn’t he? Obviously the poison we gave him didn’t work fast enough.”

  “Why would the Americans who helped you want to kill millions of people?”

  “Why else, Miss. Edenridge? General Caufield is greedy. He sits at the President’s elbow and he wants the President’s position. Without money he can’t accomplish that, but he has plenty of it now, and he can aspire to be what he wants.”

  At a knock on the door, Dafoe said, “Enter.”

  One of the scientists she’d seen downstairs in the lab came in.

  “Tell me where Bjornson is, Miss Edenridge, or the next twelve hours of your life will be agonizing.”

  Tony wasn’t going to make it in time. “You’re going to kill me either way,” she said, staring at the syringe the scientist held in his hand.

  “While you succumb to the virus you will have time to change your mind. Your life depends on you telling me where Bjornson is.” Dafoe leaned over to within a breath of her. “I’m betting as death approaches, you will.” He swiftly walked toward the door. “Inject her.”

  Dafoe opened the door and two of his security detail walked in. They held her steady while the scientist stabbed her. She watched the syringe empty as the virus was set free inside her. She didn’t deserve this; no one deserved this.

  The guard grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. “Where are we going?”

  “You’re going to do us a favor and infect a lot of people. We’re taking you home,” Dafoe said.

  “What? No!” She fought but they restrained her, yanked her downstairs and pushed her into a vehicle.

  The guard gave her a dark, deter
mined look in the mirror as they drove away from Dafoe’s compound. “While we release the next test in three cities, the CDC will be chasing their tails trying to stop it. By the time we reach Las Vegas, you will be sick and very infectious. We will deposit you in the heart of the tourists. Everyone within five yards of you will become infected, then they will scramble for their planes taking it with them and depositing it all over the world. Anyone who comes near you will die.”

  * * * *

  Date: 07.26.2014

  Time: 0000UTC 1600hrs PST

  Mission: Code Name Luminous

  “Good luck, man,” the pilot said when Mace jumped from the helo before the skids hit the ground. He ran like hell was behind him. Twelve hours had passed since Nina had been injected.

  “Where is she?” he shouted as he skidded to a stop at the reception desk. “Nina Callahan, my wife, where is she? I have the antiserum.”

  “Follow me, sir. We were notified you were en route.”

  Mace ran behind the security guard, weaving their way deeper into the institute. They reached a section that required the guard to brush his security pass through the reader. Two men in lab coats looked up when he bolted through the door.

  “Where is my wife? I’ve got the antiserum for the virus.”

  “I’m Dr. Lambert, Petty Officer Callahan. We have your wife in the quarantine suite. I’ll take the antiserum. Follow me.”

  He walked behind the doctor but he wanted to grab him and run. They reached a room that looked very much like a hospital room, but it was completely contained. Someone in a bio suit hovered over Nina. She lay there, not moving, her eyes closed. He placed his hands on the window. His heart burst seeing her swollen neck and pale complexion. “Is she—is she?”

  “I’m sorry Mr. Callahan.”

  “Sorry! Sorry,” he yelled. “Give her the vaccine.”

  “Mr. Callahan, it’s too late. We’re just trying to make her comfortable.”

  “No!” he shouted. “Get me a syringe. Now!”

  “I can’t do that.”

  Mace grabbed him by the throat. “Listen to me, she might be a lab rat to you, but she’s a mother and my wife. You don’t know her or what she’s made of. Let me in there.”

  “Petty Officer Callahan, I’ll call security and have you removed if you don’t back away.”

  “Give me a god damn syringe.”

  “You’ll be infected.”

  “Then I’ll be infected,” he shouted in the doctor’s face. He’d break the lean little doctor in two if he didn’t do what he asked.

  The doctor remained wide-eyed, but resistant. “I’ve brought more serum. You can give it to me after you give it to Nina. Let me in there.”

  The doc didn’t move and Mace yanked the card pass that dangled around his neck with a snap. He turned and sliced it through the reader. The light clicked to green and the door opened into the pressurized anteroom. Quickly he slid it through the next reader and the door unlocked.

  “Get me a syringe,” he ordered to the man inside the suite. The guy turned toward the window and Mace saw the doctor nod his head. He watched the guy load it, and then snatched it from his hand and gently pierced Nina’s arm.

  Nina could barely open her eyes. Her skin was on fire when he touched her to empty the syringe. “Baby, I’m right here. You’re going to be okay. I’ve given you the antiserum.”

  “What are you doing so close? Get out. You’ll get sick.”

  She forced her eyes open, but they couldn’t focus on anything. She blinked and shivered when he rested his hand against her cheek.

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “I don’t know if you’re real or not.”

  Mace’s laugh rumbled in his throat. “Mrs. Callahan, I’m real, and I love you.”

  She smiled and took a shallow breath. “I feel like shit.”

  There was no way to order a virus to get the hell out of her body, but his beautiful wife would do it if she could. He could see the dark, dead skin surrounding the buboes. “You’ll have some scarring, but we both have that.”

  She groaned when she tried to move. “I like your scars—sexy,” she said weakly.

  Every word was a strain for her. He kissed her forehead and clutched her hand. He would not let the Reaper take her. “You have to fight now. Fight for Gabbs and for me, and for our baby.”

  “No…fight…left,” she murmured.

  Mace gripped her slender fingers and squeezed. Her wedding ring had slipped to the side and he straightened it. He’d bought her as many diamonds as he could because he wanted it big enough that no man would miss it. “Nina, you never gave up on me. I’m going to keep pushing and pulling, and I’ll carry you if I have to.” His words choked in his throat and tears welled. “Please, I know you don’t want to leave us. Please hang on, baby, I’ve got you. Fight, fight it off.”

  “Mr. Callahan?” the muffled voice came from the guy in the bio suit.

  “Yeah, Doc,” he answered, but kept his eyes on her.

  “If the serum is working, we should see a change within the hour,” the doctor said.

  “House calls?” she mumbled.

  Mace brought her hand to his mouth. “You’re gonna make it, Nina.”

  “The baby?” she asked.

  “Don’t know. We can make another baby, but I can’t do that if the love of my life isn’t with me.”

  “Bad guys?”

  He wanted her to rest, not talk. “Not yet, but we’ll find them.”

  “Outbreaks. Dafoe?”

  “Baby, would you please stop thinking.”

  “Tell…me.”

  “None. He might be on the run.”

  “Not running, Mace.” She blew out a strained breath. “Lumin okay?”

  He didn’t answer, instead he kept his sharp eyes on the rise of her chest, and prayed it would keep moving.

  “Mace?”

  “Dafoe has her.”

  “What happened?”

  “He had her friend Star. Least that’s what he told her. We found her in the Nevada lab. She’s safe, but Lumin’s not.”

  “Go. Team needs you,” she whispered.

  “Nina, until you prove to me you’re going to beat this, I’m not leaving nor will I take the vaccine until you show me you’ll fight to survive.”

  She had no strength left, but she clung to his thumb. “Tony’s in love.” She smiled. “I’m gonna have a new sister.”

  The doctor hovered behind him and offered a cup with water and a straw. Mace brought the straw to her mouth. “Drink this.”

  She tried to swallow and sputtered the water.

  He wet his fingers and drew it across her lips and she sucked it in. “Come on, baby, I know you can do this.”

  Nina opened her crystal green eyes and focused on him. “Put a bullet between Dafoe’s eyes for me, hot stuff.” She squeezed his thumb. “Go.”

  Her hand slackened and his heart jumped out his throat. He quickly felt for a pulse. Faint, but there. He turned a look over his shoulder. “Is there anything else you can do?”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Callahan. I hate saying it, but it is in God’s hands now. We’ll keep her hydrated. Her temperature has dropped a quarter of a degree. It’s a good sign.”

  He prayed for an hour and watched his wife’s slow, shallow breathing. Eventually, he could see she wasn’t struggling for air, and he sat up. Over the last hour, her temperature had dropped another degree. The doc injected him with the antiserum, and he nodded his thanks.

  “Thank you for bringing these,” the doctor said, holding three other vials Mace had given him. The doc stood beside him. “She wouldn’t tell me how she was infected. There seems to be a big lapse in information. The Plague shows up every once in a while, but I’ve never heard of it acting so quickly.”

  “That’s because it’s a weapon, Doc. Ebola and the Bubonic Plague.”

  “And—we’re not the ones in control of it, are we?”

  Mace shook his head. “Not y
et, but we’re closing in.”

  “Will we see more cases?”

  “Only if we fail.” Mace extended his hand. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “Of course. I think you may have gotten here in the nick of time.”

  “What about our baby?”

  “I can’t answer that. The fetus hasn’t aborted yet, which is often the case, although the data is hundreds of years old. Not many people survived when the Black Death was romping around Europe.”

  “For now, all I care about is seeing her get well. We’ll deal with the rest together.”

  “You’re a SEAL?” When Mace nodded, he said, “She talks a lot in her sleep. Are you going back out there?”

  “Yeah, I promised the love of my life I’d put a bullet between the guy’s eyes who’s responsible for this.” He paused. “I always keep my promises.”

  He walked to the door and stopped when the Doc said, “Make sure you kill him. I don’t want to be forced to save his life if he ends up here.”

  “Count on it, Doc.”

  * * * *

  Admiral Austen and the rest of the squad lay low in the desert sand watching the vehicle leave the house. There wasn’t another dwelling for miles. Ghost waited with his cell tucked to his ear.

  “Kayla, you back at Base Command?” He paused. “Good. You got an eye on the car that departed the subject area?” He nodded. “Roger. We’ll follow at a distance. Any early guesses where they’re going?” Ghost rose to his feet when it was safe to do so and the rest of the squad did the same. He listened, then darted a look at Tony. “Roger that. I hope you’re wrong, but we have to make sure Dafoe is the man in charge. I’m going to split part of the team and send them to contain the house and whatever is in it. Dispatch CDC here. Think they’re going to find everything that wasn’t in Nevada.” Kayla said something and then the Admiral’s harsh features softened. “Love you, sweetheart.”

  The Admiral stored his phone while Tony patiently waited, but the Admiral wasn’t quick to share. “What’s her analysis, sir?” he asked. “I want to stop that vehicle and retrieve Lumin.”

  “I know you do, Tinman, but we have to be sure he’s the main operator and not taking her elsewhere.”