Plague Years (Book 3): This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine

by Rounds, Mark

  “What are you doing?” said Nora eyeing Mary suspiciously.

  “The patient was convulsing,” said Mary as she palmed an auto injector full of Slash. “I was going to check on him.”

  “The protocol was very clear,” said Nora, reverting to her lieutenant’s role. “We do not approach the patient alone, ever! Was that not clear to you?”

  “Yes ma’am,” said Mary who quickly moved away from the door, “but I don’t like to see anyone suffer. Drugging a patient like this is wrong!”

  “I don’t like it either,” said Nora nodding, “Let’s check out those convulsions.”

  Mary stood aside as Nora went for the door and opened it.

  “He seems quiet now,” said Nora peering in at the recumbent form.

  As Nora walked in the door, Mary pressed the auto injector against her lower back and triggered it.

  “What the …” said Nora as she spun around. The injector contained Slash as a last-ditch defense in case Nergüi broke free. The dose was as large as possible, given the size and relative health of the patient. For Nora, who was very fit but petite, it could be fatal.

  The drug acted quickly and before she could raise the alarm, Nora collapsed unconscious.

  “Come in, child,” said Nergüi from the bed. “You did the right thing. Now release the restraints, for we have much to do!”

  July 15th, Wednesday, 10:13 pm PDT

  TLQ, Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord, Tacoma WA

  Amber Hoskins sat bolt upright in bed. Chris, who was next to her, was sound asleep as they had been involved in three unproductive attempts to interrogate Nergüi.

  “The son of a bitch is awake!” shouted Amber who ripped back the covers.

  “He’s not,” said Chris who had mistaken the exclamation for a comment on his status. “I was sound asleep … for the first time in a week.”

  “Not you,” said Amber as she got up and started throwing on clothes, “Nergüi’s awake. And he is up to something, I can feel it.”

  “Shit,” said Chris as he swung his feet out of bed. “He should be doped out of his mind.”

  “Remember when they said they were going to cut back on his dosage?” said Amber strapping on her shoulder holster, “They must have cut it back too far.”

  Chris was now dressed and checking his carry piece.

  “Shouldn’t we call someone?” said Chris, “It’s more than a mile to the medical center and we’re on foot.”

  “Call whoever you want,” said Amber from the door. “I am headed over there. I can be there in less than eight minutes. Race me?”

  “No chance,” said Chris who punched up Captain Nixon’s number on the phone.

  “Nixon,” said the young intelligence officer over his business phone. He was still on duty with both ops going on.

  “Amber says Nergüi’s awake,” said Chris, “we’re headed over there now.”

  “Isn’t he drugged or something?” asked Nixon, who a moment before had been monitoring the com feeds from Major Eveleth’s operation.

  “I don’t have time for this,” said Chris, “Amber is already gone. Get a team over there as soon as you can. If this is a wild goose chase, I’ll call you back, but Amber is a gazelle and she is probably halfway there by now.”

  Whatever comment Nixon was going to make was lost as Chris slammed down the receiver of the land line and took off after Amber. As he exited the door, he looked up the street and saw that she was already half a block away.

  “Jeez,” wheezed Chris, “Slow down!”

  “Damn it,” said Amber, who remembered that Chris was still recovering from being shot so she slowed down just enough that Chris could catch up. Then up ahead, there was a squad on security duty guarding one of the armories.

  “Stop right there,” shouted a grizzled sergeant who had obviously come back on active duty with the beginning of the plague. He was also pointing an M-4 in their general direction and his squad was following his example.

  “Wait! we’re good guys!” shouted Chris holding his shotgun in the air. Amber was holding her hands well away from her pistol.

  “Maybe you are and maybe you aren’t,” said the sergeant looking them over. “You sure aren’t wearing any uniform I know about.”

  “Look,” said Amber soothingly, “We have ID’s. There is an emergency at the Medical Center.”

  “Y’all don’t look like doctors,” said the sergeant skeptically. “I need to call this in.”

  “Shit,” said Chris under his breath. He knew in his heart that the sergeant was doing the right thing, and pushing back would likely get them delayed or shot at in the worst case, but Nergüi was awake and hell could break loose.

  July 15th, Wednesday, 10:17 pm PDT Lakewood Mall, Lakewood WA

  Major Eveleth and his augmented Special Forces A Team began their deployment. Along with his normal twelve-man detachment, Eveleth had an attached sniper team to back them up when they went in. They had spent the last forty-five minutes creeping up on the Lakewood Mall. Earlier phone calls had placed their targets within thirty meters of the JC Penny’s store. It looked like they had set up housekeeping using furniture and bedding found in the stores in the Mall. Several phone calls seemed to come out of the same area so they were being complacent about an outside threat which was all to Major Eveleth’s liking.

  Eveleth’s ruminations were cut short by his comm sergeant, Staff Sergeant Stirling, who handed him the headset for their AN/PRC-148. Normally, this was a hand-held unit but they were using the optional headset to keep things quiet.

  “Green team,” said the voice on the radio, “this is Haven Control. The target is confirmed, in location alpha and currently on the phone. You are good to go.”

  Eveleth clicked the transmit button twice indication that he had received and understood the message. He then nodded to his Exec, Chief Warrant Officer Jed Duty who winked in rely, and headed for the west outside entrance of the JC Penny’s as they had pre-briefed. The sniper team was in the Stonefire Grill covering both exits.

  Major Eveleth’s team was poised near the entrance between Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the Supercuts Salon. Of course, all the stores were closed and there had been some attempt to board up the entrance to the mall, but it took the Infected only a few days before they were inside the building, scavenging for whatever they could find.

  He waited the four minutes they figured it would take for the sergeant’s team to get in position. Eveleth waited for two more minutes just for luck and then he and his team entered the mall.

  The glass and the plywood had long since been moved aside. But the entrance was still obscured. With their night vision equipment, they could see that there was a sentry by the door but he was very casually talking to individual who looked like another gang member. Their pre-brief had mentioned that the opposition had co-oped several gangs for foot soldiers at other locations and it looked like they were staying true to form here.

  There was no getting around them so Eveleth nodded to his weapons sergeant who was carrying an MP-5SD, the suppressed version of H&K’s 9mm submachine gun. The weapon was very quiet, as it used special low powered subsonic ammunition, but still there was an audible clank when it fired. Eveleth hoped that the sound would be somewhat muffled by the hall they were in and perhaps overlooked.

  The sergeant, with an economy of motion that signified years of practice, put the weapon to his shoulder and fired a three-round burst, hitting the first target, the unfortunate sentry, in the ear and throat, taking him out almost silently. Then he quickly acquired the next target who was the gangbanger as he was just registering surprise when the second burst took him in the sniper’s triangle and he slumped down out of sight.

  The team stacked up and moved forward as one man and filed into the darkened mall. There were Coleman lanterns in the JC Penny’s and another in the Bed, Bath, and Beyond store.

  It was clear that several of the gang bangers had already ingested a dose of Slash and were not moving. Others we
re doing regular housekeeping chores. Amazingly, there were no guards other than the two sentries they had just taken out.

  The team split into two three man elements, each taking a side of the hall headed toward the JC Penney’s store where the transmission had been located. The leader of each element carried a suppressed MP-5 with the goal of maintaining surprise as long as possible. The second man carried a shot gun, in this case an M-870, with the first round being a rubber stun round the rest were standard OO buck. The final team member carried an M-4.

  They had nearly reached the door to the Penney’s store when a young man in dreadlocks walked around the corner, already unbuckling his pants with the intent to relieve himself as soon as he could get outside. Stirling dropped him with another three-round burst, but he fell backwards, clearly visible from inside the store. Eveleth had hoped to get closer before they were discovered but they had to move now or lose the element of surprise. Eveleth keyed his mike.

  “Go LOUD!” shouted the Major.

  July 15th, Wednesday, 10:22 pm PDT

  Above the Providence Medical Research Center, Spokane WA

  Little Bear ducked behind a corner. Three mercenaries rushed by him. He effortlessly caught the last one and buried his knife in his throat, silencing him and at the same time ending his life. He was a little upset that Ngengi had got away with the sat phone but he didn’t have time for that now. His primary job was to cause enough chaos to delay and confuse Macklin’s forces. Now, with the rescue team working its way down from the roof, he had to get back to the lab where he hoped Strickland and his lab group were still hunkering down.

  Above, on the second floor, Little Bear could hear gun fire and stun grenades. The need to sort out the targets was slowing down the rescue and that worried him. Macklin was of little concern. Little Bear was pretty sure he wasn’t a killer, for all the people that had died at his behest. Little Bear was worried about Ngengi, who would kill without hesitation.

  Little Bear tried to open the lab door and found that was jammed shut. That might have been to the lab team trying to protect itself, but Little Bear had asked them to have someone on lookout so that he could get in and so they wouldn’t be surprised. Rather than trying the door, Little Bear crept up to the fogged glass window in the door and listened carefully.

  “OK, Strickland,” said a voice that Little Bear all too clearly recognized as Macklin’s. “One of my people who you thought was bribed by your new wonder drug came clean with me a couple minutes ago and told me you have a lot more of your drug than you let on. We don’t have time to mess around. Where is it?!”

  Little Bear also heard what sounded like someone being beaten. Macklin, for all his depravity, wasn’t much of a hitter. Besides, if it was just Macklin, they’d rush him. More than likely, it was Ngengi who had become Macklin’s right-hand man and if it was Ngengi doing the beating, the target had seconds to live.

  Little Bear picked up a waist high trash receptacle and ran with the rounded top foremost at the window. As he had hoped the glass shattered inward. Little Bear stopped just before he hit the door, and gave the can a mighty shove through the window sending it clattering across the room. Then he dove through the window while the trash can was still clattering across the floor. As he had hoped, the beating stopped and, using the momentum of his dive, he rolled right into the attack. Ngengi, who had just turned from beating Robert Strickland was caught unaware and took the full force of Little Bear’s kick into his chest. A lesser man might have crumpled, but Ngengi merely staggered back and then joined the fight.

  Macklin pulled his pistol and was about to intervene when Bob kicked him hard in the ankle, staggering him. As Macklin pointed his pistol in Strickland’s general direction, one of the lab technicians hit him over the back of the head with an Erlenmeyer flask, causing him to lose his grip on the gun. As there was no love lost between Macklin and his charges, another tech took the opportunity to kick him in the stomach so hard that he vomited and was dazed for a few crucial seconds.

  Meanwhile, the unequal struggle between Little Bear and Ngengi continued. Ngengi was much stronger and had reach on his smaller opponent, but Little Bear had the reflexes of a wild animal and stayed out of his grasp, occasionally landing a blow that, unfortunately, Ngengi was able to shrug off. Finally, Little Bear zigged when he should have zagged and Ngengi’s big right hand caught up with the side of Little Bear’s head. Little Bear collapsed like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

  “Strickland!” gasped Macklin as he struggled to his feet, pointing his pistol at the unfortunate scientist. “There is nobody who can save you now. Where’s the rest of your stash! Tell me that, and we’ll let you go!”

  Chapter 16

  July 15th, Wednesday, 10:24 pm PDT

  Providence Medical Research Center, Spokane WA

  As Price had predicted in their mission brief, the top two floors were largely empty, save for some temporary living arrangements. With limited electrical power, all water had to be trucked in and nobody wanted to lug it upstairs to flush toilets.

  The situation changed on the first floor as that was where most of the living quarters and all the labs currently in use were. When Filby kicked open the door on the landing of the first floor, he took fire from two different corridors and was only saved because he had just kicked the door open and had not entered the landing. Before the door had swung shut, it had been penetrated by several rounds from at least three different weapons.

  “What now, coach?” said Filby to LT. Price. “We open the door to toss out a flash bang and they’ll either shoot us or cover up.”

  “Dietrich,” said Price, “do you have any ideas?”

  “I do,” said Detrich with a smile. “From the pre-brief, I remember that there is a big glass door at the end of this corridor. Me and some of my boys will go up a flight of stairs and around to that front office we cleared. We’ll punch out the window and rappel down the front. I suspect the door is locked and maybe barricaded, but we’ll use a breaching charge on the glass door. Then we’ll open up with automatic weapons fire through the glass, it should give you an opening. Then you toss the flashbangs in and rush them. If the rifle fire doesn’t break it up, we’ll bust down the rest of the barricade and we’ll meet you in the hallway.”

  “Sounds like a winner,” said Price.

  “Give me a couple minutes to get in position. When you hear the breaching charge, wait a minute while we fire up the hallway, then bust in. We’ll meet you at the pass.”

  Priced nodded and Detrich gathered up his troops and disappeared up the stairs. Price got his troops sorted out to break in, and then they waited.

  July 15th, Wednesday, 10:25 pm PDT

  Lakewood Mall, Lakewood WA

  Eveleth’s team sprinted into the door, his weapons sergeant firing a short burst into the mid-section of the guard at the entrance of the JC Penny’s. Other inhabitants made for weapons or tried to hide. The place bore little resemblance to the department store it had been just a few short months ago. The residents of the store had used the various departments as living quarters, further dividing them up using the shelving and partitions in the store. Sanitation wasn’t very good and the only light came from lanterns and incense candles. The result was a dim, fetid warren of narrow passages and cubby holes, ripe with opportunities to ambush Eveleth’s troops.

  It got worse, as it became clear to Eveleth that there were fifty or sixty people living in the store in various groups, all trying to get out or attack the Special Forces troops. Eveleth could hear the other teams on the other side of the store, firing to clear their path. Luckily, they didn’t have to search each of the warrens. The sensors and the computers that analyzed the cell phone data had narrowed down the source of the transmission to a two-square meter area which was where they were headed.

  Eveleth’s team set up a hasty defense in the entry of the store while he consulted his AN/PSN-13 GPS. It was accurate to less than a meter and fit inside a two-magazine pou
ch.

  “We need to head that way about fourteen meters,” said Eveleth, pointing to the northwest. His team of three immediately headed towards the target. The other teams, one under Stirling and the other two under Duty, were rousting out all the inhabitants of the store, shooting those who resisted and bypassing those who ran or hid. Those who exited the building armed were taken down by the sniper team.

  Eveleth’s team went straight for the target. They did an end-run around one set of shelves, stopping only long enough to toss a flashbang into the enclosure. The resulting screams left no doubt as to the grenade’s effectiveness. Eveleth stopped the team and crouched behind a set of shelves, signaling that the target was just beyond shelves.

  Eveleth counted silently with his fingers and on three, he pushed over the shelves. Sergeants Stirling and Mix were waiting. The collapsing shelves revealed four people. There was one young and very pretty Hispanic girl bound to a chair. One of the three men in the room moved to grab a pistol at his waist. Sergeant Mix fired his shotgun and the stun round hit the guy with the pistol squarely in the solar plexus. He went down and curled up into the fetal position.

  Another tried to run, but Sergeant Stirling put a three-round burst into his lower body. Two rounds missed but the third hit his knee and caused it to buckle. The third man, seated in an easy chair brought over from the furniture section, began to move but Sergeant Mix, put his shotgun in his face.

  “Freeze, dirt bag!” said Mix gesturing with the shotgun.

  Meanwhile, Major Eveleth untangled himself from the shelving unit and brought his M-4 to bear.

  “Nice and easy,” said Eveleth quietly, “put your hands behind your head.”

  “I got rights,” said the man in the chair belligerently.

  “Yep,” said Eveleth. “You do, but if you move, Sergeant Mix here will become angry. So stay put until the area is secured.”

  “And if I don’t?” said the man as he tried to rise.