Tommy had insisted it was okay that he didn’t jump. But Sean had felt like a failure, instead electing to crawl back through the ceiling and let his friend unlock the upper door from the inside. By that time, most of the senior class had arrived outside and were clamoring for the two friends to open the doors.
The prank had been an incredible success. Students flooded into the pool area, thrilled at the fact that they were pulling off the greatest prank in school history. One kid had brought a boom box, and the music blared off the facility’s walls. People danced on the concrete around the edge of the water, some of the couples made out up in the bleachers, while most of the group splashed around in the warm waters of the forbidden pool. They had had the time of their lives that night.
Sean smiled briefly as he remembered the evening. He looked around the darkened sanctuary. One of Jabez’s men stood by the door, keeping watch. They had been rotating out every two hours, taking turns so each man could get some sleep. His eyes drifted to the pew where he knew Adriana was sleeping.
Tommy’s voice from high school rang in his ears. “Jump, Sean. Jump.”
He had messed up enough with relationships in the past. At the moment, Sean had a good working friendship with Adriana. He didn’t want to jeopardize that. Then again, no risk no reward. That was the way Tommy had lived his life. Sean had, instead, chosen to take risks in other areas of his journey.
Every piece of his being told him to go back to where she was sleeping, wake her up, and tell her he wanted to see where things could lead. It wouldn’t be a cheesy conversation where he told her he was in love with her or anything like that. He just wanted to let her know he was interested in seeing what could happen.
A twinge stuck him in the chest as he realized he was still sitting there on the catwalk, hanging over the pool in high school. Sean had always wanted things to be perfect. He took every precaution to ensure safety and success. It was one of the reasons he had been the best agent Axis had ever had. His methods had caused him to be the desire of several other government agencies as well.
He looked back one last time at the pew where Adriana slept, knowing full well he wouldn’t take the leap, at least, not tonight. Letting out a deep sigh, he slid down into the church pew and rested his head on the bag he’d brought along. He slid the phone back into his pocket and pressed the button on the top to turn it off for the night.
Above, the cracked white ceiling stared down at him. He wondered what his friend would think of him at that moment, if Tommy had known what Sean was feeling and pondering. Tommy never said anything about Sean’s unwillingness to jump into the pool. That wasn’t his style. He had always been a supportive friend. They’d always had each other’s backs, no matter what. Just like brothers.
As Sean closed his eyes and started to drift away, he could hear his friend’s voice echoing through the sanctuary. “Jump.”
Chapter 44
Cartersville, Georgia
The clock on the McElroy cabin wall read 11:00 o’clock. It had been dark since 5:30. The moonlight was blotted out by a mostly cloudy sky, making the forest darker than usual.
Joe and Helen had been waiting on pins and needles, anxious to receive word from Dr. Solomon. Joe had reminded himself and his wife that those things took time. He imagined Jenny sitting over a microscope somewhere deep in the CDC trying to figure out what it was they had taken to her. He wondered if that was an accurate mental portrayal or if there were machines that would do the work for her. He believed that there had to technology out there that could do such a thing.
To pass the time and keep from worrying about what Dr. Solomon might discover, they were both reading silently in the faint illumination of a few lamps. The rest of the house remained dark. Helen and Joe enjoyed being in a room that wasn’t so brightly lit, each feeling far more relaxed when things were a little darker.
Their hound rested his old chin on the floor, droopy eyes looking up occasionally or flicking to one side then the other when one of them turned a page or shifted in their seats.
The clock continued to tick, second by second, seemingly not annoying the home’s occupants. Suddenly, a cell phone on the end table next to Joe began to vibrate violently on the hard surface. He set his book on his lap and picked up the device. The caller ID displayed Jenny Solomon on it. He gave a quick nod at his wife, who had an expectant expression on her face.
He hit the green button and answered. “Hey, Jenny. What did you find out?”
“I need you to listen to me, Joe. I don’t know how much time we have.” The grave tone in her voice caused him to sit up in the deep leather couch.
“I’m listening.” He cast Helen a concerned look.
“This thing is worse than Sean could have ever thought,” she began. “I have already alerted the authorities, but I’m getting blocked by red tape at every turn. They want search warrants, paperwork...I can’t get into that right now. Soonest they could shut down Biosure would be a day, maybe two. And that’s if they hurry.”
“Ok, Jenny. Slow down. What is it we’re dealing with here?” He could hear her rushed breathing on the other end of the line.
“The easiest way I can describe it is that this is a mutated form of the Spanish Flu virus from the early 1900s. It didn’t take me long to recognize that the contents of that vial were live.”
“What do you mean, live?”
“Typically, vaccines are made from dead or an inactive form of whatever it is that’s desired to be prevented. The shots are given to the patient, and the patient’s body learns how to fight off the virus by beating up on a weaker or dead form of it.”
“Ok,” Joe wanted her to know he understood that part.
“This sample wasn’t dead at all. The virus inside it was alive and kicking. And what’s worse, it was a strain like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“I thought you said it was like the Spanish Flu.”
“Only in what it will do,” she explained. “It will cause a cytokine storm inside a human body, but unlike other forms of the flu, this strain is resistant to every antibiotic I’ve got. And I have them all.” She let the last few words sink in.
Helen was staring at Joe, wanting an explanation. But she could tell that whatever he was hearing wasn’t good.
“What should we do, Jenny?” he asked finally.
She didn’t hesitate. “We have to shut that facility down. None of those shipments can be allowed to leave that building. If any of them get into the public, even a few samples, the results could be catastrophic.”
“Maybe Emily Starks can help us out,” he thought out loud. “She has been known to bend the rules on more than one occasion.”
“Whatever it takes,” Jenny agreed. “There’s one other thing, Mac.”
“What’s that?”
“This virus doesn’t just cause a cytokine storm to kill its victims like the Spanish Flu. It is almost as if this virus was developed to kill the healthy and the weak.”
“Meaning?”
“During the epidemic in 1918, the Spanish Flu mainly killed healthy people. Their strong immune systems were their downfall. Those with weaker immune systems managed to survive because their bodies didn’t overreact and attack the virus. With this one, it won’t matter if their immune systems react or not. The virus actively attacks tissue, feeding off of it and replicating itself at an alarming rate.”
Joe didn’t need to be a biologist to know that didn’t sound like a good thing.
Jenny kept talking. “Whoever developed this thing knew what they were doing.”
“If this virus gets out into the public, what kind of damage are we talking about?”
“In terms of the human population? Ninety percent. Give or take five percent. I’ve already called my director. He is on his way down here right now. We may be able to get the authorities over to Biosure before morning. But we have to do something immediately.”
“I understand. Thanks, Jenny. Keep doing what you can. I’ll se
e what we can do from here.”
“Alright, Mac.”
He ended the call and began looking up Emily’s contact info. His wife was still staring at him, waiting for an answer.
“It’s the worst case scenario,” he said, not taking his eyes away from the glass screen on his phone.
“How bad?” she wondered.
“Basically,” he tilted his head slightly and peered straight into her eyes. “It could mean the extinction of the human species.”
Her eyebrows lowered in a frown. “I don’t understand. Why would someone want to eradicate the entire planet?”
“Sean seems to think that whatever it is Alexander Lindsey is looking for could be the ultimate cure for any illness, virus, even death itself. It could be that he is planning on killing off almost anyone so he can start the planet over, sort of like the story of the flood from the Bible.”
Joe could tell a sickening feeling was creeping up in his wife’s throat. He felt it too as the words came out of his mouth.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“I’m calling Emily to see if she can help. Apparently, Jenny is having some problems getting through to anyone.”
“Isn’t that why we have the CDC?”
Joe forced a quick snort of a laugh. His wife made a good point. “That’s what I thought, too.”
A second later, he held the phone to his ear. After a couple of rings, Emily’s smooth, commanding voice answered.
“Hey, Mac. What’s up?”
He decided to dispense with the pleasantries. “Emily, we need your help.”
She yawned audibly over the phone before responding. “Sorry, I was already in bed. What’s going on?”
Joe tried to relay as much of the information as possible to the Axis director. He wanted her to hear everything and understand the gravity of the situation. After he got done explaining it all, he sat silent for a few seconds to wait for her reaction.
“You’re a hundred percent sure on all this?”
“Jenny wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true, Em. It doesn’t look good. We need to shut down that facility ASAP. And right now, you’re the only one that can do it. Jenny’s stuck in their protocol train right now. But she said we need to lock that place down immediately. Anything you can do to put Biosure under siege for a little while until she can get the cavalry there?”
The line went silent again as Emily contemplated what their next move should be. It was a dicey situation, and a huge leap of faith for her to take based on second hand information. But Joe wasn’t one to overreact. She knew that if Joe McElroy was concerned, the threat had to be real, especially if it was coming from a researcher at the CDC.
“Okay, I’ll get a team over there and get the facility secured. We’ll do it quietly. No need to go inside with guns blazing. I think we can do it by simply blocking all the ways in and out. I doubt anyone will notice at this hour. We can keep a lid on it until the CDC gets what they need to go in.”
“Sounds good, Em. Thank you,” Joe offered.
“No, Joe. If this is as bad as you and Dr. Solomon believe, everyone will need to thank you.”
He blushed a little and leaned back. As he did, something startled the dog, causing the animal to pick its head up quickly and snap to the left. Its ears perked up as well, and instantly, the animal began to growl. The old hound was a well-mannered dog unless there were strangers around. Over the years he’d stopped paying attention to the random animals that would frequent the wooded property. All were facts that caused concern on the faces of both the animal’s owners.
“What is it boy?” Helen asked.
Joe shifted forward again to see what was bothering the dog. As soon as he moved, the clock on the wall shattered behind him. The sudden noise was accompanied by the cracking sound of glass from across the room. He instinctively ducked down, risking a quick look at the window. A bullet hole was in the center of it, and the round had barely missed his head.
“Joe?” Emily’s voice carried through the speaker of the phone. He was still clutching it in his hand, having not yet ended their conversation. “Is everything okay?”
Helen had seen what happened and immediately took cover out of the window’s line of sight, careful to stay low on the ground next to Joe.
“Someone’s here,” he answered Emily’s question after a few seconds. “If I had to guess, Biosure’s boss found out about the missing sample. And they’ve sent their goons to take us out.”
“Can you hold out for a bit, Mac? I’ll get some support there as soon as I can.”
Joe gave a sympathetic look to his wife. He’d not wanted her to get into any danger. But the look she had on her face wasn’t one of fear. It was resolve.
“We’ll be fine,” he answered. “Just get your team to the Biosure labs, and if you can spare a few, send ‘em our way.”
“Will do, Mac. Hang tight.” The lights went out in the cabin just as he hit the red button to end the call.
In the darkness, they could see red dots scanning the walls of the living room from several angles. In the pale light of the cloudy sky, the dog still stood erect, pointing at the door.
“Easy, boy,” Helen calmed the animal.
“Looks like they’ve got the place surrounded,” Joe noted.
“You okay, honey?”
He grinned underneath his beard. “Yeah. They don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
Joe pushed against the heavy couch, sliding it toward the back wall and off the area rug covering that part of the floor. At the same time, Helen eased the coffee table toward the front of the house, also making sure the rug was clear of the furniture.
Joe belly crawled over to the end of the rug and sat up. He grabbed the end of it with both hands and yanked it back, revealing a portion of the floor with a distinct outline cut into it. The square had been cut about two feet wide, just big enough for a person to fit through. Helen stuck her finger into a little groove cut into the wood and lifted up the trap door. A narrow tube extended down into the footings of the house via a ladder of metal rungs.
An eerie silence crept over the house as Helen began to ease herself down the ladder. The dog began barking loudly, breaking the strange quiet. Immediately, windows started shattering as bullets rained through the panes and into the cabin. The dog continued to bark but jumped back, momentarily startled by the hail of gunfire. The only sounds coming from outside were muffled pops from the gun barrels. Joe figured they had sound suppressors.
He slid over on his butt and grabbed the dog, forcing the animal to submit by hugging it close to his chest. The canine struggled slightly but Joe held the hound firm until he hovered over the escape tube.
“Here,” he said. “Take the dog.” He lowered the animal down toward Helen who was already at the bottom standing in front of a metal door.
She stepped back up a few rungs and grabbed the dog with one hand, letting their pet down to the floor near her feet with care.
Joe was sure to stay low as he shifted into position in the makeshift hatch. He grabbed the edge of the rug and pulled it back in toward the center of the room as he ducked into the trapdoor, letting the thing shut over top of him.
Chapter 45
Cartersville, Georgia
Joe hung onto the rungs of the ladder while Helen punched in a five-digit code on an illuminated keypad. There was a quick buzz followed by a loud click, signaling the vault-like door had unlocked.
The dog shot through the portal as soon as the door swung open. Helen and Joe followed quickly behind, the latter sure to pull the door closed behind.
Fluorescent lights flickered on automatically as they entered a room constructed out of a steel shipping container. The space was twenty feet long and eight feet wide. As the lights came to life, rows of various guns became visible on the walls: shotguns, handguns, hunting rifles, and a few AR-15s. Helen didn’t hesitate to start grabbing belts and straps, loading them up with pre-loaded magazine
s from shelves beneath the array of weapons.
Joe began to do the same, but hesitated for a moment as he buckled a belt around his waist. “Should we just stay down here and wait until they leave?” he wasn’t worried for himself. Joe just didn’t want anything to happen to his wife.
“And let them just wreck our home? I don’t think so.” The look that accompanied her statement left no question in his mind as to what their course of action would be. He strapped one of the assault rifles to his shoulder and grabbed a few handguns.
“You thought I was paranoid to have this place put in,” she said as she grabbed a compound bow and a quiver of arrows from a corner. “Not so paranoid now, huh?”
“To be fair,” he argued, “you wanted this bunker put in just in case the government collapsed. This is completely different.” He smiled as he finished loading a magazine into a .40 caliber Springfield.
The dog sat on the floor, watching eagerly as his two masters hurriedly moved around the room.
“Stay here, boy,” Joe ordered, extending his hand out to the dog. The animal obeyed, watching the two of them head to the opposite door.
They passed into another, longer container lined with more fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The second unit was empty, and much longer than the other, stretching forty feet. At the end was another metal door like the one they’d just gone through. Helen rushed to the other side of the bunker with Joe close behind. She swung open the door, revealing a set of wooden stairs and a storm door at the top. They quietly ascended the steps and eased open the hatch, flashing their weapons in every corner to make sure it was clear.
They climbed through the opening into the tool shed, still wary of any possible intruders. Various items like a leaf blower, rakes, sledge hammers, gardening tools, mowers, hedge trimmers, and other items lined the walls and floor of the 12x12 building. The muffled sounds of the gunfire could be heard through the walls. Joe tiptoed over to the door and eased it open to get a peek at the situation.
Sean Wyatt Compilation Box Set Page 85
