Franco had come along right at the peak of one of those periods. He seemed a bit off, but I couldn't put my finger on it, and besides, a lot of things were off with the world. Beyond that, I had no lasting impression of the guy. In all honesty, I'd been too involved at the time in my new life with Felicity to pay much attention to anyone else. It was, after all, technically our honeymoon.
“He had credentials from the CIA, but he said he hadn’t been with them for years and that he was now part of some Black Ops group,” Moto explained. “The General took him into a private meeting that lasted over an hour. When they came out, we were instructed to get Franco and his men anything they needed and to stay out of their way. Conrad said it was a sensitive project they were working on, and that it had the utmost importance. He said he thought they could turn things around for us.”
“I don't remember a group of civilians on base at the time,” I countered.
“We disguised them as officers,” Moto informed us. “Gave them clearance, uniforms, weapons, and anything else they needed. They slipped right in and no one noticed; no one except Sonya that is.”
“That's the problem with the military,” Sonya jeered. “Sometimes all the rules and regulations leave you blind to what's happening right before your eyes. No one is taught to question. They're just trained to salute.”
“Franco brought a handful of guys with him the next time he came back,” Moto said, ignoring her taunt. “We don't know where they came from either. Some were special ops, a few were Navy SEALS, and one guy looked like the personal interrogator of a foreign dictator. They came and left as they pleased, and answered to no one. The lower part of the lab was off limits to anyone but them. For a while no one said anything, but then the General began to have doubts.”
“That's when they killed him,” Sonya said. “Making it look like he'd died of a heart attack.”
“How could they do that?” Felicity asked in shock.
“We don't know for sure,” Moto said. “However, these operations are pretty standard for spy types like Franco. The General had a heart condition. They'd have known that. They had access to all the medical files, including his. They'd want to use that to their advantage, especially when he began talking about revoking their access to the base and ending their study.”
“So they slipped him a drug?” I asked.
“We doubt it,” Sonya said. “It seemed unlikely they'd do something that could be traced back to them, even if there was only the faintest possibility of discovery. They needed everyone to go along with their plan.”
“I thought there were drugs that didn't leave a trace,” Felicity added.
“Potassium chloride breaks down in the system,” Sonya explained. “But there's always a chance of the wrong dose either giving them away or else not doing the job. Plus, old habits die hard. Why go through all that work when there is a faster, more effective way to get the job done?”
“Air Embolism,” Moto interjected. “It's totally undetectable. A direct injection of air via syringe to any vein causes the chambers of the heart to fill with air as well, which causes a heart attack.”
“Wouldn't that leave some kind of visible mark?” I asked.
“Not if a small enough gauge needle was used,” Sonya offered. “Like the kind people use for insulin.”
“The General was a diabetic,” I said, suddenly getting the connection. “The guys who found his body probably never even checked for puncture wounds, and even if they did they'd be explained away as part of him taking his daily insulin dose.”
“Now you're getting it,” Moto said. “They mask the crime of murder with a natural cause of death like a heart attack. No one was the wiser.”
“Covering up murder is just part of the job description with these people,” Sonya said in disgust.
“I became the guy in charge, but right away I knew something wasn't quite right,” Moto admitted. “I couldn't shake the feeling that General Conrad had been murdered for questioning the secret project, but I didn't have any proof. I started asking questions about the project, but Franco told me that all his information was classified and only available on a need-to-know basis. The more I pushed him on details about it, the more tense things got. He refused to even tell me who he was reporting to, and at one point challenged me to a fight in front of the men to settle it once and for all. Two nights later Sonya tracked them into the labs. The next day I sent you to Freedom Town. That night Sonya and I hatched a plan.”
“Our first of many secret missions of our own,” Sonya said with excitement.
“We hid her on the base all day long and when night came she broke into the lab once more, stealing all the files on synthesis along with every last sample of Ibogaine, including the clones now growing below us.”
“Basically, I wiped out their entire operation,” Sonya rightfully bragged.
“How did she get off the base unnoticed?” I asked.
“I left a pair of keys along with a uniform and a clearance badge in one of the Humvees,” Moto admitted.
“What about your hair?” Felicity asked.
“I wore a hat. Honestly, they never gave me a second look. They saw the clearance and just waved me through. I drove out with the plants and the data, and they sealed the gates behind me like nothing had happened.”
“The next day Franco came storming into my room right after sun up,” Moto explained. “He was so angry it looked like steam was going to come out of his ears. He started accusing me of aiding and abetting the enemy, telling me it was treason and that he'd see that I got what was coming to me for it. He was no longer calm and in control. It was like the mask was off and what was underneath was slightly less than human – almost like a demon.”
“So what did you do?” I asked, needing to know more.
“I told him that I had no idea what he was talking about. I got real angry right back, yelling in his face that I was now the commanding officer in charge, and that if he ever spoke to me like that again I'd have him court-martialed, or worse. I figured the only way out at that point was to feign ignorance and pretend to be outraged by his accusations. It worked for a minute too.”
“How do you mean?” I pressed him.
“He started pacing around my room talking to himself,” Moto said. “He kept going on about the girl in the video footage raiding the lab, and how she looked familiar to him.”
“We'd never met before,” Sonya said. “For the record. I still think he was fishing, trying to see if Yosha, I mean Moto, would slip up if he kept talking. I think it was another one of his tricks.”
“Franco began trying to piece together what had happened,” Moto continued. “He immediately saw the theft as part of a bigger plot against him, one that had been carefully planned and executed to disrupt his project. From there he began speculating on how she'd gotten on and off the base, and insisting that we do a vehicle count. I went along with his suggestions, not expecting them to lead to much.”
“Boy, were you wrong,” Sonya put in.
“By lunch he'd convinced half the base that the same terrorists who, the night before, had attacked a secret project to end the zombie virus were to blame for the General's death,” Moto said. “He had images of Sonya passed around and declared her an enemy combatant. He even offered a reward to the soldier or soldiers who could bring her in alive. When I heard that, I felt my blood run cold. I knew right away he intended to torture her until he found out where the plants were.”
“How awful,” Felicity gasped. “What did you do?”
“What choice did I have at that point?” Moto asked. “I went along with it. If I hadn't, I would have looked suspicious myself. It didn't make much difference though, because Franco didn't trust me from that point on.”
“If you were in charge, what difference would that make? Why not just send him away?” I wanted to know.
“I was told by General Helmer in Barstow to give Franco and his men whatever they needed,” Moto said, looking frus
trated and angry. “I had to follow the chain of command. Even though I was the highest-ranking officer at Hueneme and unquestionably in charge, Franco began to assume more power, gaining the support of some of the men in the process. He formed a special team, starting with his own men, and gave them their own uniforms. Soldiers took to calling Franco's men Blackshirts because they dressed all in black from head to toe. They still follow him around wherever he goes.”
“That's unbelievable,” I objected, feeling shocked that someone had been able to slip into the base and turn it against my brother. As a Macnamara we were considered almost military royalty, due to our family’s tradition of service. Moto had worked hard to live up to that image. He'd earned the respect and loyalty of the men who served under him.
“It gets worse,” he said, looking grim. “Franco opened up an investigation into 'the attack,' as he called it, and began questioning enlisted men about their backgrounds, making profiles on everyone even remotely connected with the labs. He even formally questioned me at one point. I went along with it as much as I could, without giving Sonya away, wanting to set a good example and remain above suspicion. That's when I knew sending you away was a good idea after all.”
“All this time I thought you were punishing me for something by sending me out to the middle of nowhere,” I admitted. “Turns out you were trying to protect me.”
“Turns out I didn't send you far enough away,” Moto clucked like a mother hen, shaking his head.
“Don't beat yourself up, man,” I comforted him, seeing the genuine guilt in his eyes. “How could you have known that the neo-Nazi's I ran across in New Lompoc would join forces with the bikers and the CIA to hunt me down?”
“Given the way he was acting, I suspected it was just a matter of time before Franco tried to come at me through you,” Moto confessed. “At the time, I didn't imagine he'd unite a complex network of criminals and killers; I just felt it was his type of move, sleazy and underhanded. I couldn't take the chance of him using my girlfriend or my family against me, so I contacted Sonya by radio again.”
“I was terrified,” Sonya admitted. “I hadn't heard from him in days.”
“That's when I asked her to track you down, and keep an eye on you,” Moto explained.
“I got there a little later than I'd planned,” Sonya expounded. “Not only did I have the military on the watch for me, but Franco increased the bounty on my head. He said he'd pay ransom in food rations, water, and gasoline to anyone who took me alive so he could question me. I'm sure you've seen for yourselves by now that people will do a whole lotta crazy things to get any of those articles nowadays. Avoiding the main roads meant always watching my six for Alphas and bounty hunters.”
“Your six?” Sam naively asked.
“My backside, little man,” Sonya said with a smile. “Like on a clock. Twelve is forward, straight ahead.”
“Got it,” he said, looking embarrassed. I smiled at him and patted his head. I was so happy to have him back; I didn't care how many times he interrupted.
“Matter of fact, I arrived just in time to see a pack of Alphas hauling you off to Hellfire,” Sonya said. “I followed and sprung you. The rest you already know.”
“Why didn't you just tell us that Moto sent you?” I asked.
“Actually that was my fault,” Moto offered, casting an apologetic glance toward Sonya. “I didn't want you to know more than you had to know, just in case you were captured again.”
“I wanted to tell you so much,” Sonya said, looking to Felicity for some kind of forgiveness.
“So why did you abandon us to John and his men?” Felicity asked, crossing her arms. “If you were supposed to be taking care of us, why would you lead us right to the enemy – and then vanish without a warning? We could have died! We nearly did! Tank was going to kill us despite John ordering him not to harm us. How do you explain that?”
The look of guilt and hurt on Sonya's face made me feel sorry for her. Clearly, it wasn't her intention to see harm come to us. She was part of the family now by virtue of her importance to Moto, but Felicity was right. She needed to explain why she'd abandoned us when we needed her most, or we'd never be able to trust her again.
“I meant to take you here, back to Xanadu,” Sonya said in a small voice, “but I got turned around by the zombies tied to the trees. They were blocking the path over the hill. I guided Nelly along the main road into Ojai, not realizing what had happened. Haki found me first. He warned me that the others were just behind him, and not to waste a second. I slipped off into the trees and Nelly kept walking along until you were surrounded. By the time I reached the ridge I could hear the Jeep headed your way.”
“Why didn't you warn us?” Felicity demanded.
“There wasn't any time,” Sonya pleaded. “Don't you see? If I tried to warn either of you it would have made things worse. I knew the best thing I could do for both of you was to get back to Xanadu and raise a rescue party. I didn't stop, not even for water, until I was here and able to get help.”
“She was so out of breath it took us nearly five minutes to understand what she was saying,” Apache said sympathetically. “I contacted Moto after that and got him out here. He was able to get word from Haki that you were still in one piece, and being held for ransom by John on Franco's orders.”
“How were you able to get off base without raising suspicion from Franco?” I asked, feeling a lump in my throat as I anticipated his answer.
“I wasn't,” he replied, confirming my fears. “I didn't have time to play games with him and his squad of Blackshirts. I took a Humvee and drove it off base, ordering the guard at the gate to open the gate and not log me down. I didn't look back, either. I drove to the rendezvous point and covered up the Humvee, then met up with Apache and we rode straight to Ojai.”
“So I guess we're never going back again,” I said.
“Actually, we need to head back before dawn,” Moto countered.
“What?” Felicity and Sonya both asked in unison.
“Why?” I asked, feeling genuinely confused.
“After I sent Sonya to watch over you and my brother, Franco started a new project on the base,” Moto explained. “He had his men track down and kidnap a scientist named Dr. Winterbourne. They brought him back to the labs and have been keeping him there ever since. No one is allowed in or out to see him, except for Franco's men.”
“So what's the big deal with this scientist?” Felicity asked.
“Yeah man,” I joined in, unable to believe we were actually going back to face our known enemies, as if nothing had happened. “What's so special about this Dr. Winterbourne guy?”
“Nothing much,” Moto shrugged. “Except he created the zombie virus.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“So it's true then,” Felicity said, feeling numb at hearing his words. “Someone actually made this plague that's ruined the world. Someone is responsible for all of this misery, after all.”
After I had been brought back from being turned into a zombie, Moto had given me similar news. I remembered feeling as shocked as Felicity was at the revelation. The idea that someone had intentionally created a virus that caused so much death and destruction that it brought down all of mankind seemed like a hard pill to swallow at first. Over time I'd come to accept it as part of human nature – the dark side that yearned for chaos and annihilation, the dark side that built bigger and more terrifying weapons like the atomic bomb.
There will always be people like Franco and John, I thought. Men who crave absolute power, and the means to inflict suffering on others.
“Who ordered it?” Felicity asked.
“We don't know,” Moto replied. “It was approved by the vice president, but the president himself most likely knew about it.”
“Not signing gives him the ability to deny knowing later on,” Apache scoffed. “When it all hits the fan.”
“How did it get out?” I asked. “I mean, was it intentional?”
“We don't know that either,” Moto admitted.
“What do you know?” Sam asked innocently, looking up with his big puppy-dog eyes.
“We know that we don't want Franco being able to synthesize a new antidote,” Moto patiently explained. “Or something even worse.”
“What do you mean by something worse?” Felicity asked. “What could be worse than the zombie virus?”
“We're not planning on finding out,” Moto said curtly.
“So what is the plan then?” I asked. I was ready to go to war if Moto commanded. I'd heard enough. There was no way I was going to let John and Franco get away with whatever diabolical scheme they were darkly dreaming up, no matter what it was. These were bad guys, plain and simple, and it was our job to stop them or die trying. Moto looked pleased, but not surprised by my enthusiasm.
“You and I will take the Humvee back,” Moto said, doing his best to hide a smile. “We'll radio ahead and try to get hold of my personal security detail. That way we can get a bead on what we'll be in for when we arrive. We'll leave in the morning so we have full visibility. It's still dangerous to travel between the base and Xanadu, even in the armored vehicle. We never know when we might run across another horde of flesh eaters.”
“What about us?” Felicity asked indignantly. Sonya crossed her arms as well, looking equally outraged.
“You'll stay behind, for now,” Moto instructed.
“Like hell I will,” Sonya started, but Moto held his hand up and stopped her.
“Look,” he said. “We need to keep you and the rest of the gang here, out of harm’s way, at all costs. You've already been through enough to turn your hair white. I'm not going to allow you to suffer any more.”
“Allow me?” Sonya fumed.
“This is still a military issue,” Moto shot back, growing visibly upset before catching himself and regaining his composure. “There is still a chance I'll be able to resume control when I get back.”
“I don't see how,” Felicity protested, nervously wringing her hands. “Franco's gonna know the score when you turn up with Xander for sure, that is if John hasn't already told Franco his story. He's probably got half the military out looking for both of you right now, scouring the woods near the entrance for any sign of us.”
Zombie Attack! Army of the Dead (Book 3) Page 6
