by JT Sawyer
“I already found his personal location beacon this morning. He had sent a message with our current coordinates and the Durango heading and then planted it on a guy that he killed.”
“Ah, nasty business, this black-ops world, isn’t it? There’s always a trail of dead bodies to follow and often no one at the other end once you’ve put the pieces together. This time you were able to, though. That is gratification enough, isn’t it?”
“It sounds like your lust for this lifestyle hasn’t grown thin.”
Logan glanced over Travis—his tattered clothing, burnt-brown hands, and the deep furrows that ran along his taut, weathered face. “Looks like the past few months have been harder on you than I expected.”
Travis smirked and looked over at Logan. “But not you—still doling out orders from the comfort of a cushy command post or encircling the action from a safe distance.”
“I know you’ve got a lot questions and must be pretty pissed right now. I promise you, we’ll sit down sometime soon and go over everything.”
Travis leaned back, feeling the pressure continue to build in his forehead. Katy came over and stood beside him, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Was this the guy who ran your army unit back at Ft. Bragg?”
Travis looked hard into the eyes of Logan, who turned away and sighed. “Didn’t Travis tell you about me, Katy? That is your name isn’t it—Katy? Crawford told me about your entire group and what you’ve been through together. That’s how we were able to start trailing you after you all departed from Winslow.”
Katy looked at Travis, waiting for an answer. Travis grabbed a weathered wooden chair and sat down, resting his arms on his legs as he leaned forward. He took several deep breaths and then glanced at the faces of the rest of the group, who had moved under the archway of the back room. He scratched the thick black scruff on his chin and looked up at the ceiling then back at the others. “This swarthy fellow here is Logan. He heads up a counter-terrorism unit that specializes in tracking down and removing bio-terrorism threats around the world. Until last spring, I worked as one of his field operatives.”
Pete had stepped into the room beyond the others and was staring intently at Travis, who was looking into his friend’s wide eyes as he continued. “I know many of you thought I was in the army and had recently retired. The fact is…” He sighed. “The fact is, I was discharged three and a half years ago and then joined Logan’s outfit. Until just before the river trip through the Grand Canyon, I had been working as a covert operative in different hot spots around the globe. Logan and my fellow colleagues were the only ones who knew what I did for a living.”
He looked at Katy and then back at Pete. “Hell, not even my ex-wife and son knew.”
Katy shook her head. “Just when I think I’ve got the road you’re on somewhat figured out, you throw in a left turn like this.”
Travis wanted to say something, searching for the words that would make lying to Pete and the others for so long seem right. Instead, he just leaned back, running a hand over his beard and remaining silent. He looked at Pete, whose face was rigid. As Travis thought of what to say to his friend, Logan’s radio crackled. “Helos inbound in three minutes,” said the voice on the other end.
“Copy that, we’re on our way out,” said Logan. “It’s game time, Travis. Have you decided who is coming with you?”
He looked at Katy and then Pete, who turned and walked out of the room, then he shot his eyes past the group towards Becka, who still lay unconscious on her back.
“That I do.”
Chapter 15
Nikki was standing on a tawny rock ledge, glassing the windswept landscape below with her binoculars. The rest of her team remained inside the Pave Hawk helicopter twenty yards away. Other than a cold wind floating over her back and rustling the occasional clump of sagebrush, the high desert was quiet. She knew Travis and his group were holed up a few miles distant. She had received a set of final coordinates from Karl that she had relayed to the Pallas headquarters in Colorado Springs a few hours ago.
As she stood there, thoughts about the last few days began floating through her head. Ever since things fell apart in Flagstaff, communication has been more tense than usual. Why have they told me to stay put here and not sent my team in to retrieve Travis? Instead, that smug fuck, Crowley, glumly replied that I needed to await ‘new orders.’ How is it that he is running my field campaign now? This has been my operation all along and yet here I am on this dusty mesa awaiting his fucking response.
She could hear murmurs behind her and turned to see the pilot speaking into his earpiece while the other three men inside leaned intently over his shoulder. The pilot was staring out the window to his left and nodding while speaking back into his mic. The others were fidgeting with their weapons and seemed anxious. Then she saw the pilot say something to the other members behind him and, in unison, they all looked at Nikki. She quickly turned away and pretended that she was unaware of their scrutiny. She raised the binoculars up, feigning a survey of the terrain below while her heart raced. Christ—what’s going on? She took in a deep breath and let out a controlled exhale while her fingers clenched the binoculars. That must have been HQ on the radio. This can only mean one thing—they must have obtained the final coordinates on their own. She moved her torso slightly as she heard the doors of the helo opening. Those fly-bitten shitbirds think they can just dispose of me!
She kept her right hand on the binoculars and lowered her left hand to the HK pistol on her side opposite the approaching men. She slowly removed it and kept it close to her vest. Nikki heard the sound of crunching gravel as the three men approached.
“Nikki,” said the nearest man. “Can you move away from the edge so we can talk?”
“It’ll have to wait,” she said nervously, trying to focus on the location of footsteps behind her. “There’s a convoy of Logan’s trucks below headed this way and we don’t have much time,” she said while keeping her body angled from the men.
“What? Where?” said the short man. She heard his pace quicken as he walked up beside her. The other two came alongside him, to her right.
“Down there to the east,” she said, pointing to their right then handing him the binoculars. “Have a look,” she said, pulling up her pistol and shooting him in the head, then back-stepping and firing two rounds into the rear of the next man and another round into the jaw of the third man, who had just turned to shoot. With the men’s bodies splayed on the slickrock, she spun and bolted towards the helicopter with a slight limp as adrenaline overtook the pain of her recent leg wound. The crew member and pilot inside had terror-stricken eyes. The bearded man beside the pilot was stepping outside the door with an MP-5 in his hands as Nikki fired a round into his shoulder, past the cusp of the window. He recoiled back as she pounced on him, striking him in the head with the butt of her weapon and climbing into the cabin behind the pilot, who was hastily reaching for the .45 pistol on his leg holster.
Nikki thrust the muzzle of her pistol into the base of his neck. “Unless you want to join your pals as buzzard excrement, you better put that hand where I can see it.”
The thin-faced pilot raised his arms as she reached around and removed his weapon.
“We were under orders from HQ, Nikki.”
“From Crowley?” she said, jabbing him in the neck.
“Copy that. He said you were a continued liability to the success of the mission.”
“And I bet you didn’t even question him, did you—you shit nugget.”
“If I don’t follow my orders then they’ll send a strike team after me and my family. You know the deal,” he said, taking a hard swallow.
Family—my God—Marina, she thought. She felt the blood rush out of her face and her chest tighten. Have to get to Marina. She moved up into the seat next to the pilot, continuing to fix her weapon on the man. “Looks like it’s your lucky fucking day. Bein’ you’re my ride out of this graveyard, your expiration date just got extended. Radio
in to Crowley and notify him that I’m dead. Then you’re going to fly us back to Colorado Springs so I can personally visit that bug-eyed bastard.”
Chapter 16
The turbulence through the mountains around Durango was significant and rocked the Blackhawk as Travis looked out at the frigid, snowy landscape below. In the distance, he could make out entire stretches of burned-out neighborhoods and buildings dotting the contours of the former ski town. He pulled his eyes away from the charred downtown region and focused upon the still figure of Becka, who was strapped into a stretcher across from him flanked by a group of Logan’s armed men he didn’t recognize.
Becka’s skin was still the same pale color as before and her breathing was barely noticeable. The medic on board had indicated that her blood pressure and temperature kept spiking unlike anything he had witnessed with previous bite victims.
Travis twisted around and leaned over towards Logan, who was seated up front. “My son was back in Denver when the virus struck. What do you know about that city?”
Logan swiveled in his seat and shouted above the din of rotor wash, “That city and the surrounding area are hard to get any steady intel out of. Initial reports indicated that its infrastructure and population have succumbed like most of the other large cities in the world but then things went dark in the past two months and our reports have been sketchy. We had two Delta teams in Colorado Springs recently and they’ve disappeared. Last I heard they were focusing efforts on the west side of the city as it’s believed that Pallas had an off-grid research facility there that was operational. We’ve got our fingers in a lot of places around the country but not there—it’s a black hole, sorry.”
Travis thought about the contingency plans he and his ex-wife had in place if they were ever separated during a local disaster or wildfire. With most of their friends in Denver being former military, she would have linked up with them and most likely have headed out to the foothills on the east end of Boulder, where a hunting buddy had a well-stocked A-frame lodge in the backcountry. He scanned the mountains to the east of Durango, envisioning his son safely tucked away in the lodge with friends. Dammit, I’m so close now. Todd is just a few hundred miles over that way, he thought as he oscillated between despair and hope.
Travis felt a tap on his shoulder; Logan was pointing down to a cluster of trees on a ridgeline below. “This was Talia and her team’s last location before we lost contact with her.”
Travis raised his eyebrows. “Of course, Talia is still with you. Why am I not surprised? You couldn’t let a beautiful killer like her get out of your sights, now could you?”
Logan scowled and continued talking. “That was two days ago and we’ve not heard from her since so keep your eyes peeled for any movement or signaling efforts.”
“What about the snipers?”
“I sent in three counter-sniper teams shortly after her distress call and they removed that threat. Her chopper was located but there was no sign of her or her team.”
The pilot beside Logan interrupted. “Sir, we are coming up on the coordinates that Mr. Combs provided. It should be 1200 meters due north.”
“Well, this is it, Travis,” said Logan. “All these months now boil down to a few numbers scratched on a piece of paper by Pearson and that metallic case in your pack.”
Travis looked out at the spruce trees and undulating terrain below. He felt his stomach tighten and the blood rush to his head, similar to the sensation he used to have as the rear cargo door of a C-130 plane opened just before a night jump. He took a deep breath and leaned over, placing his hand on Becka’s as the Blackhawk descended into a cloud of white powder.
“Your UTM coordinates indicate that the structure we are looking for is two hundred meters through the forest, that way,” Logan said, pointing to a thick swath of ponderosa pine trees. “I want Team One to peel off to the southeast and circle around the back while I take Team Two and move in from this direction,” he yelled into the main cabin as everyone prepared to disembark. “Travis, you’re with me. My pilot and one of his crew will stay with the girl.”
“Alright,” Travis said, grabbing his rifle and his frayed pack with the vaccine. He felt the weight of the backpack as he hoisted it onto his shoulder, and hoped it would be a lighter load on the return trip. To be rid of the metallic case for good and to know that the past few months of rigor and sacrifice that had led up to this moment had been worth it.
As the side door slid open, he jumped down into knee-deep snow. He could see the second Blackhawk behind them with Team One disembarking. They separated into their designated groups as Travis jogged behind Logan into the dense treeline. The cold was brutal as the wind whipped across his face, and he realized how inadequate his footwear and clothing were going to be for an extended trek in the mountains.
After they had run for a few minutes, Logan held up his fist, indicating for everyone to stop. Travis came up alongside the man and looked at the topo map. He compared Logan’s hand-written notes from their earlier discussion to the GPS numbers that he had memorized. Logan pointed to a structure twenty yards ahead and then shot a puzzled glance at Travis.
“Is that it?”
“Hell if I know. I just got the coordinates to the place and the mention of a secret location in the mountains. I missed the evening Powerpoint presentation on the architectural details.”
Travis and Logan both studied the cylindrical metal structure ahead. It was fifteen feet across and jutted up from the ground twenty feet high, with a narrow service ladder bolted to the side and a small circular entrance hatch on top. A cluster of pine branches had overgrown the top of the structure. “That looks like just a fucking water tower to me,” said Logan. “And I don’t see any fresh tracks to indicate that it’s anything else.”
Travis searched the outline of the structure and then turned his head to scan along the trees. He could see several dozen trees that had their branches at mid-trunk all aligned at the same height. All of the branches were symmetrical and appeared identical. It was the latter that made him squint as he tried to interpret the unusual pattern. He moved up, staring at the treeline next to the ladder, then back down the row of identical branches. “There’s a fine cable running through the canopy in that single line of pine trees to the right that leads back to the hatch on the water tanker. It looks like a concealed zip-line to prevent leaving tracks in the snow. My guess is that there’s a treetop platform some distance away that leads to the other end of the zip-line. I remember seeing that kind of setup with the narco-traffickers in Panama.”
Logan examined the trees and then nodded in agreement. He motioned to his men to move up and provide cover support while he and Travis climbed the ladder. As Travis stepped forward he felt the ground shift under his foot and heard the sound of a metal plate click. His eyes grew wide and his face was frozen. “Shit, the perimeter of this place is booby-trapped, and I’m pretty sure I just stepped on a pressure trigger.”
Squatting beside him, Logan pulled out his machete and used the tip to slowly clear away the snow from the ground around Travis’s left boot. “Yep, you’re smack in the middle of an alarm or IED of some kind. I can’t tell with all the snow and ice.”
As they contemplated their next move, Travis heard the sound of metal grating upon metal as the top hatch of the water tanker opened towards them.
Chapter 17
Travis remained still while Logan and the rest of his seven-man team focused their rifles on the top of the water silo, their laser sights lighting up the rusted hatch. The heavy metal lid groaned as it opened and then a thin figure emerged. The figure stood hidden in the thick swath of pine boughs cloaking the top of the structure.
“Travis Combs—it figures you’d be the clumsy fuck who’d set off the perimeter alarms,” said the woman’s voice. “I would’ve thought you’d be more stealthy after all these months living in the wilds.”
Travis stared at the woman and blinked hard several times before he could see her fac
e clearly. “By God, if it isn’t Wonder Woman,” Travis said. “I guess Hades wasn’t ready for you yet, eh, Talia.”
“You’re alive!” said Logan, then he cleared his throat and replaced his demeanor with his usual granite expression. “It’s good to see you again, Talia.”
“Yeah, great to have you all drop by my winter chalet for brunch.”
“Pardon me for interrupting the mutual admiration ceremony but maybe you could tell me if this device under my foot is an IED or just a foot massager.”
“It’s a pressure-plate sentry alarm—you’re quite safe, Travis.”
“You better not be bullshittin’ me or there’s a good chance my foot will literally be in your ass,” he said as he slowly eased his boot off the metal trigger while holding his breath and looking up at Talia.
Travis glanced back at the ground, exhaled, and then proceeded to move up to the water tanker with the rest of the men, who gathered in a half-circle.
“You want to tell me why you’ve aggravated the shit out of my ulcer by not radioing in?” said Logan.
“Two words—no comms. It might be easier if you follow me down below. Besides, it’s fucking cold out here and I’ve had my share of near-death experiences in the elements lately.”
Logan raised his hand to his earpiece and contacted Team One, telling them to stay in their position on the west side of the water tanker. Then, each man climbed up the narrow ladder and down into the hatch as the forest resumed its wintry silence.
Chapter 18
After Travis climbed down another ladder inside the hatch, he stepped into a cylindrical chamber that made up the innards of the water tanker. He noted the reinforced concrete walls and floor that were lined with lights at ankle level. A massive door on the right, which resembled a bank vault, was open and led into a narrow corridor.
