Meredith must’ve seen the expression Kara was making. “Don’t worry! None of it is ours!”
When they reached the top of the ladder, Dom scooped up his daughters and enveloped them in a bear hug. Kara threw her arms around his neck and pushed her head into the crook in his shoulder. She felt like a giddy little girl, overjoyed to see her daddy come home from work. Then again, Dominic Holland was technically returning from a long day on the job—but a job more dangerous and important than any other on earth.
Reluctantly, she let him go, although Sadie still clung to his neck like a monkey. She turned to Meredith and gave the woman a shy smile, but Meredith surprised her with a hug. The whole time, Maggie danced and barked at their feet, her tail waving madly.
“Glad to see you too, girl.” Dom scratched the dog’s head. He started to ruffle the fur between her shoulders, but she shot out from under him when Miguel finally made it to the top of the ladders.
“How’s my best buddy?” The dog jumped, and Miguel caught her in his arms.
“Traitor,” Dom muttered good-naturedly.
Kara watched the soldier gingerly move his prosthetic arm to avoid hurting Maggie’s still-healing front limb. More Hunters spilled into the passageway, all looking like they’d been through hell. The golden retriever greeted each with wet kisses, and Kara watched their smiles cut white crescents through the grime caked on their faces. Maggie’s pack had grown, and Kara figured the Hunters here were better off for it.
“Thomas said everyone’s okay,” Kara said. “Is that true?”
Dom nodded. “We all made it, at least.”
“Did you get what you were looking for?”
“I don’t know.” A sly grin spread across Dom’s face. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me?”
Kara refrained from rolling her eyes. Then she realized how crazy it was that their usual father-daughter banter could survive this whole mess. She gave her father a pretend dirty look. “You realize you aren’t paying me nearly enough to go through all those data on molecules and drugs you gave to Lauren.”
“Yeah,” Sadie said. “If we’re going to be testing every single one of them on FoldIt, you should at least raise my allowance.”
Dom laughed. “I’ll see what we can do.” His expression turned serious, and he leaned closer to Kara. “Listen, the other survivor—”
“Navid, that’s his name, right?”
“Right. He’s had it rough. Lost his girlfriend. She turned.”
Kara’s limbs felt weak at the thought. “Oh.”
“I know this is asking a lot, but he might need to talk to somebody.”
“And you thought I could talk to him...because of Mom.”
“Right.” Dom gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Think you can handle that?”
“Of course,” Kara said in as confident a tone as she could. “I won’t let you down.”
***
Navid shivered as a cool breeze whipped around the cargo bay. He wrapped the emergency blanket around himself more tightly. A tinge of fiery orange and golden yellow chased the blackness in the pre-dawn sky. But across the water, Boston was still dark. Navid figured no number of sunrises would lighten the real darkness plaguing the city.
“You’re going to be okay now,” Renee said, offering a hand.
Navid took it and stepped over the side of the Zodiac. He doubted he would really ever be okay after everything he’d seen. “It’s really like this? All over the world, I mean?”
Renee’s eyes traced the deck before catching his again. “As far as we know, yes. I’m really sorry about everything that’s happened to you, Navid.”
He bobbed his head up and down. He couldn’t force any more words out, despite the flurry of thoughts storming through his mind. His friends. His parents. His sister. Abby. Everything and everyone he’d known. Gone.
“Let’s find you some dry clothes and a bed.”
“Okay,” Navid managed. He focused on that little joy. Dry clothes. No more water sloshing between his toes. He’d worn the same outfit for days on end, and he’d almost forgotten what it felt like to have a clean shirt.
He almost turned around to say something to Abby about it, but then he remembered. He would never speak to her again. He almost wished Renee and Spencer had left him in the ambulance at the bottom of the river.
“Or food? Do you want to eat first?” Renee asked, shooting him an inquisitive look as she guided him between the crates and racks of equipment.
“Food,” Navid said automatically. He hadn’t had anything substantial to eat since...since he and Abby had eaten those last granola bars together. He stopped walking, frozen in place. That was the last meal he’d shared with her. Damned granola bars.
His knees buckled, and he crashed to the deck. He clamped his palms over his eyes and clenched them shut until he could feel the veins pop in his forehead. Oh God. Why’d he lose everything? Why hadn’t it been him instead of Abby?
Renee knelt beside him and placed both her hands on his shoulder. He expected her to say something, to offer some trite condolences or hollow promises. If she told him he’d be okay, Navid thought he might lose it. Nothing would ever be okay again, and nothing she could say would change that.
But Renee said nothing. She stayed there with him in silence until Navid willed his breathing to return to normal. He opened his eyes and sat up straight.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just—”
Renee shook her head. “Nothing to be sorry about.” She helped him stand, and she looked around at the others carrying equipment from the Zodiac. She spoke in a hushed voice. “I’ll let you in on a secret. When I’m alone in my quarters, when I’m holed up at night, trying to fight for an hour or two of sleep, I can’t stand it. I’ve cried myself to sleep more nights than I can count, or lain awake thinking about how fucked up the world is. Me and the rest of the Hunters act cool, but we lean on each other to keep going. I can’t imagine what you went through out there alone.”
“Thanks,” Navid said, and he was surprised to find that he meant it.
“Don’t thank me. But if you want some advice, you need to find your reason to keep going. Be part of something. We’re trying to turn this shit around, and I guarantee you somebody on this ship can find a way for you to help. Think about it.”
Navid stood silent for a second as he stared up at the hatch leading into the ship. Yellow light spilled from the passageway, beckoning him. He saw Dom, Meredith, and two auburn-haired girls that had to be the captain’s daughters. And a dog, an honest-to-god golden retriever, crept to the edge of the hatch and looked down at him, her tail wagging.
“Yeah,” Navid finally said. “I’ll do it. I want to be a part of this.”
***
Lauren watched Connor hug his parents. They managed to wrap their spindly arms around him, but she saw he had far more strength in his grip than either of them. Fortune must’ve truly shone on the family to allow this reunion, against all odds. On another bed near them, Terrence sat, his legs dangling over the side. Divya applied an antibiotic salve laced with medicine to help the Hunters’ singed skin heal from the acid burns.
“Droolers, huh?” Lauren asked Glenn, who was seated on the edge of another examination bed. She and Peter sutured up the lacerations across his scalp and on his arms. Nothing had torn into him too deeply, thank God.
“Yep,” Glenn replied. “Bastards spit this acidic goo. Burns through clothes and skin, apparently.” He gestured at Terrence and grimaced. “Poor guy.”
“I’m glad you guys brought back samples. And...I’m glad you’re back. Sorry, but this is going to hurt.” Lauren inserted a thin suture needle into Glenn’s skin. She created a small loop and poked the suture needle in again.
“Ouch! I hope you’re gonna kiss that and make it better.”
Lauren smiled and shook her head. “Looking at those guys’ biochemical makeup, along with the Goliaths’, might give us some clue why the Oni Agent’s doing that to t
hem.”
“And hopefully that helps us figure out how to kill them better, right?”
Peter laughed. “I thought bullets were doing the trick.”
“Ain’t enough bullets in the world,” Glenn said. “Besides, you guys come up with some science trick to eradicate those bastards, I’ll take you all on a vacation. Someplace nice.” He winced as Lauren pulled another suture through. “Maybe a resort. You can have a spa day where the only treatments you get are those mud mask things—none of this chelation business. What do you say, Lauren? I’ll even get you one of those fruity drinks with the little umbrellas.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” Lauren tied off the suture. “All done.”
“Do I get a lollipop, Doc?”
“Fresh out.” Lauren leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Will that work?”
“Hey, I’m not done yet,” Peter said as he secured a bandage over the sutures. He finished applying a piece of surgical tape over the bandage. “There. Now, I’m finished, too. You want a kiss from me?”
“I think I’m good,” Glenn said. He arched an eyebrow at Lauren. “You’re sure you gave me the right amount of chelation therapy this time, right?” He pointed to the small bandage covering the injection site where Lauren had administered the treatment. “I don’t want to have to sit out on another mission due to weak bones again.”
“I wish you would sit out on a mission or two,” Lauren said. “But we’ve gotten better with the treatments, and yes, I think you’ll be fine.”
“Glad to hear it.” Glenn stood from the examination table. A smile etched his face. “I’ll get out of your hair so you can focus on finding out what the deal is with those Goliaths and Droolers. I’m anxious to learn what you find.”
“Likewise,” Lauren said.
“I’ll bet the Detrick scientists are dying to know, too, huh?”
Lauren winced, inhaling sharply.
Glenn’s eyes went wide. “Something happened, didn’t it?”
“Detrick’s gone, Glenn.”
-23-
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dom said, fighting to hold back the anger boiling inside him. He clenched his fists until his fingers went numb and the vessels in his arms popped.
The screen at the front of the electronics workshop lit up with an overhead image of Fort Detrick. The still frame showed gray smoke billowing up from wreckage strewn across the wall. Even at this magnification, the pale forms of Skull bodies were visible, littered across the grass, streets, and parking lots. Chain-link fence lay flat where it had been torn down. Dom thought he spotted a Goliath or two scattered in the carnage. A field stretched between two buildings, and Dom pointed at the large, dark shapes on the grass.
“Wait a second. Are those helicopters?” he asked.
Samantha moused over the image and zoomed in on the area Dom had indicated. The screen flashed and then refreshed with the magnified area.
“Hey!” Adam said, standing abruptly. He knocked against his desk, and one of his Watchmen figurines fell over. “That’s an Apache! And that looks like a Chinook.” He pointed wildly at two of the helicopters. “I’m almost certain.”
Dom squinted at the image. “You might be right.” He folded his arms across his chest and paced. “For a man who said he wasn’t going to reinforce Detrick, Kinsey sure brought a lot of firepower to get them out.”
“If the base was overrun, maybe they needed to bring in the cavalry for a safe evac,” Adam offered.
“Maybe,” Dom said. “But all this happened while we were in Boston. You know how fast the Skulls strike. For Kinsey to muster that kind of force, I don’t think he waited until Shepherd told him Detrick was going down.”
“Wait,” Samantha said, one dark eyebrow arched. “You think Kinsey already had troops headed that direction?”
“I do, yes.”
Chao scowled and scanned through the transcripts of their communications with Fort Detrick and General Kinsey. “He always said Detrick was on their own if they chose to stay instead of leaving with his men. He made no mention of ever sending an escort.” He leaned in closer and frowned. “Huh, that’s weird.”
“What is it?” Dom peered over Chao’s shoulder.
“Kinsey definitely said the 82nd was going to pull out at 2300 hours.”
Dom gestured toward a line with his index finger. “But the message from Shepherd’s team said the evac didn’t happen until 0600 this morning.”
“Maybe Kinsey changed his mind about letting Fort Detrick personnel stay behind,” Samantha said. “Maybe he sent the extra choppers to whisk everyone away.”
“Then why didn’t he tell Shepherd?” Dom shook his head. “And why didn’t Shepherd tell us?”
“I don’t like this,” Adam said. “Seems like we’re being left in the dark.”
Dom wrung his fingers together. “Then see if you all can’t shed some light on this. Have you heard anything from Shepherd since his evac?”
Chao shook his head. “Every inquiry goes unanswered. Nothing from Shepherd, Fort Detrick, or Kinsey.”
“Understood,” Dom said. “Do what you do best. Intercept any encrypted comms you can between Kinsey and the base, track their movements, and try to find out what the hell happened to Shepherd.”
Dom started to turn toward the exit, when Chao called his name.
“Captain!” Chao said. “We’re getting a call!”
Dom turned around. “Shepherd?”
“No, it’s General Kinsey.”
“Answer it.” Dom frowned as he walked slowly to a comm panel. It was all too much of a coincidence, and his gut told him that he wasn’t going to like whatever Kinsey had to say.
***
Meredith dropped her tac vest by the bench and slumped down. She let out a long sigh as she pulled the armor plates and leftover magazines from the vest.
“Long night,” Andris commented. He took the magazine out of his SCAR-H, cleared the chamber, and then rechecked it. He started disassembling the rifle for cleaning. “Can’t wait to pass out.”
“You got that right.” Meredith let down her hair and pulled her fingers through it. It had tangled into greasy strings beneath her helmet. “Maybe a shower first.”
“Eh, showers are overrated. When I joined the French Foreign Legion, they had us hiking and running in the woods for days. No showers. None of this deodorant. Just the outdoors and a whole lot of sweat.”
Meredith snorted and picked up her rifle to start cleaning it. Her gear needed tending before she could take care of herself. “Why’d you join the Legion?”
“Typical story, I suppose. Wanted to get out of Latvia. Kind of hoped I’d get injured during service.”
Meredith paused cleaning her rifle. “Why’s that?”
“Well, you know how most people in the Legion come from other countries, right?”
“Of course. I always thought that was unique. No one’s ever really succeeded in pulling together a modern-day fighting force of foreign nationals like the French have.”
“I tend to agree,” Andris said. “But to your question, if I got hurt, I’d automatically become a French citizen.”
“Why France?”
“I would’ve taken anywhere outside of the old Soviet bloc countries. My family was poor. They did not do so well under the Communists. I needed a way out. Any way out.”
Meredith took off her jacket. “I guess you found it.”
“And you’re wondering why, no? Why does this Latvian man fighting for the French join a covert contractor to protect the United States?”
“When you put it that way, yes. I’m a bit curious.” Meredith hung the jacket up and undid her knife sheath.
Andris stowed his rifle in one of the weapons lockers. “A couple of years ago, you sent Dom to Syria.”
“I remember that well.” She’d tasked the Hunters with taking down a terrorist organization supporting the Assad government. The group had threatened to unleash a newly developed nerve agent
targeting rebels and civilians alike. “Were you on that mission?”
A smirk crossed Andris’s face. “Not on purpose. A detachment of Legionnaires was also sent to investigate.” The smirk vanished. “Only, we were not so successful. Most in my unit perished in a firefight. I was left for dead. Then the Hunters came.”
“So with that injury, you got your French passport.”
Andris laughed. “No, no. My wish didn’t come true. The French still think I’m KIA. Dom whisked me back to the Huntress. The Legionnaires were long gone by then, and I was bleeding out.” He lifted his shirt to show the crooked scars in his abdomen and chest. “I would’ve died had they not brought me back here to Lauren and Peter.”
“I guess Dom’s habit of bringing back strays to his ship isn’t new.”
“He is a good man.” Andris opened his locker and stuffed his tac vest in along with his sheaths.
“Certainly is.”
Andris slammed the locker shut. “And that’s why I worry about him.”
“Oh?”
“He’s too good, Meredith. Think about it.” He placed a hand over his chest. “Letting me join after saving my life. Granted, I turned out to be a magnificent asset to his team, yes? But now we are playing host to many others who have not been vetted.”
“We have to do something for them, though. If we don’t, who will?”
“I agree. I really do. But we do not know who we’re letting aboard.” Andris looked around the armory to ensure they were the only ones left. “If someone deliberately caused the Oni Agent outbreak, then we must be vigilant. We do not know who our enemies are or where they might be.”
Meredith considered this. She was used to thinking strategically, trying to stay two steps ahead of an enemy. But it hadn’t occurred to her that there might be spies or conspirators amongst the survivors. Maybe Andris was just being paranoid...but her time in the CIA had given her a healthy respect for paranoia.
“I don’t think I’m overstating our purpose when I say the human race may be relying on our success.” He gestured toward her. “You and Dom know more about the Oni Agent and the CIA’s involvement than anyone else here. Maybe more than anyone else in the world.”
The Tide: Salvage Page 16
