Spore Series | Book 5 | Torch

by Soward, Kenny

  She scoffed. “Believe me, Bryant. I had to put myself on mute the whole time. It was like listening to a live movie.”

  “Mom was pacing herself,” Riley said over the channel, and he could practically see his daughter rolling her eyes.

  Bishop looked to his right as they passed the bus, watching as his wife waved from the driver’s seat. The black RV came next, and Kim pulled in behind them in a true convoy.

  Chapter 14

  Jessie, Palestine, Arkansas

  Exhausted from her tapering adrenaline, Jessie gladly followed the Stryker as it got off at the small town of Palestine. They turned right and cruised slowly down Main Street to the Loman’s Travel Stop.

  On their left was a RestWell Motel. The armored vehicle pulled into that lot and circled the building before returning to the entrance to park.

  She’d seen a few of the Strykers up close working on government projects, but never in action. With Bishop and Bryant driving it, not many would survive challenging them.

  She pulled the bus in behind the armored truck, parked it, and stood. She turned to find Fiona, Dex, and Garcia waiting for her. She knelt as the girl ran into her arms for a big embrace.

  “I heard all the guns,” she said with wide eyes. “Pow pow.”

  “I know,” Jessie replied giving her a playful shake. “And we came through without a scratch.”

  “Like Wonder Woman.”

  “That’s right,” she chuckled. “Just like her.”

  Dex and Garcia rose from their bucket seats, grabbed their rifles, and slung them on their shoulders. She caught Dex’s eye, and they traded a smile. Much of the black dots in his sclera had either diminished or disappeared.

  She thought he would have forgotten his admission of her “beauty” at Paul’s. He’d been sick and delirious at the time. Yet, the soldier’s eyes glinted whenever they were around each other. Jessie’s heart stirred, too. No matter how much she tried to dismiss it as desperation, she couldn’t deny they’d shared a wonderful moment at a very dark time.

  “You guys are looking a lot better. How do you feel?”

  “Throat punched,” Garcia said in a rough voice. “But at least I can breathe. And I’m stronger.”

  “Why don’t you stay here,” she told Garcia. “Keep Weissman and Burke company. I’ll take Fiona and Dex to meet everyone.”

  The soldier nodded and stood aside as she took the girl’s hand and pulled her through the living room into the crew quarters. The trio passed though the small office area to the back of the bus and entered the decontamination chamber. Jessie used her palm device to release the door, and the three stepped outside.

  She looked to her right at the Stryker where Bishop and Bryant stood beside the armored truck, clasping hands and nodding to one another. The soldier was only slightly smaller than the former college football player. Both were large and imposing men.

  With that pair forming their defensive team, and Corporal Dex and his men improving by the hour, Jessie felt safe. Even with Lexi prowling around somewhere.

  She turned and faced the familiar blue CDC bus. It was a ghost of the vehicle she’d seen back at Paul’s. Rope held the front fender on, and they’d filled a peppering of bullet holes with brownish filler, sanded to a rough finish.

  Jessie’s jaw hung open as children filed out from the bus’s rear and spread out in the lot. They all wore air filtration masks, some with bundled up clothes wrapped tight with tape.

  Someone dropped a soccer ball, and they began kicking it around like it was just any other day.

  “Recess in the apocalypse,” she mused out loud.

  Kim followed behind the children, helping an injured woman walk. She’d lost some weight, though Jessie guessed they all had. She poked herself in the side to confirm her ribs were slightly more pronounced than four weeks ago.

  “That woman must be Savannah,” she told Dex. “She’s sick like you guys. She just took the serum a few days ago, that’s why she’s still wearing a mask.”

  It was important to keep their respiratory systems shielded until the medicine could work its magic. Dex and the others had several days of lung-clearing coughing before they could easily breathe the outside air. They wouldn’t be free of their masks until they reached Redpine.

  He nodded behind his visor.

  By that time, Bishop and Bryant were approaching. The soldier enveloped her in a bear hug and turned to make introductions.

  “This is Kim’s husband, Bishop. Bishop, this is Jessie.”

  “Good to meet you,” the big man said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

  “Are you kidding me? I’ll have a hug, please and thank you.” She let go of Fiona’s hand and reached out with her good arm, grabbed him, and squeezed hard. It took her two seconds to realize how much muscle Bishop packed beneath his burly shape.

  His deep laugh resonated in his chest like a mini earthquake, and Jessie instantly fell in love with it.

  She backed away with an affectionate stare. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time, big guy.”

  “Me, too.” The man had dark eyes set in a roundish, but rugged, face. His soft brown features nearly matched her own in tone, his head topped with dense curls. “I’m just glad to be on the team.”

  “On the team?” Jessie looked between the two looming figures. “You two were the team today.”

  Bishop laughed while Bryant gave him a friendly forearm to the shoulder.

  “And this precious thing...” she stepped aside, “...is Fiona.”

  She placed her hand on the girl’s back and encouraged her to come forward. The girl’s eyes went wide as she stared up at the new giant, even bigger than Bryant.

  Bishop dashed her fear by kneeling to her level, arms folded over his knee. A smile spread across his face. His voice was naturally loud, though he purposefully softened it for the girl. “Now this is the real star of the show. Miss Fiona. Kim told me a lot about you, too.”

  The girl hesitated.

  “Go ahead,” Jessie encouraged her. “Say hi. He’s Kim’s husband.”

  Fiona stepped forward and placed her tiny hand on Bishop’s forearm, squeezing it as if to check that he was real. Then she jumped back behind Jessie, peering around her legs with a shy smile.

  Jessie chuckled. “Looks like you’ve got an admirer.”

  “I’ll talk to you later,” Bishop winked and stood.

  Jessie turned to see Kim walking up. The woman looked pale, but healthy, with the faint scars on her face and lips from her fight with Richtman.

  Kim paused a few feet away, staring with her wide blue eyes and picking at her own fingers. “Paul,” she whispered.

  “I know.” Jessie’s heart broke, her expression crestfallen.

  Kim rushed forward and clutched her in a desperate embrace, sobbing into her shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged her friend back with her good arm. Soon, the two women were a mess of tears and sniffles, apologies and affirmations.

  “He really pulled us through.” Jessie’s words were hushed and breathy in Kim’s ear. “If it weren’t for him, none of us would be here right now. He worked so hard in the end.”

  “He was dedicated.” Kim nodded.

  It was only when they separated that she noticed everyone around them had gone silent. Kim glared at the RV, no doubt wondering where they kept Burke.

  “Bryant recorded his funeral on video,” Jessie said changing the subject to re-direct her friend’s hate-fueled thoughts. “I hope you like how we did it.”

  “I’m sure I’ll love it,” Kim nodded briskly, dragging her attention from the sleek black vehicle to matters at hand.

  “So, why don’t we have a meeting of the minds and talk about how we’re going to approach Redpine.”

  Everyone standing around nodded in agreement.

  Kim wiped tears from her eyes as she composed herself. “My bus is full of crazy kids. Maybe yours would be better.”

  Bryant pointed to the RV. “Let’s
set a watch and meet on our RV in ten minutes.”

  “I’ll take it,” Dex volunteered, flashing Jessie a smile.

  *

  Cleaned up, masks off, they gathered in the living room of Jessie’s RV. She and Kim sat next to each other at the pull-down kitchen table and bench. Bishop took up the entire seat opposite them.

  Bryant sat at the end of the table on an equipment box he’d brought in from the crew quarters. Between them rested a pair of computer tablets and Jessie’s handheld device.

  A pack of bottled waters sat on her right as well as two extra-large bags of jerky, energy bars, and soft drinks. Bishop had bucked the system and chosen beef stew, microwaving it until it was piping hot.

  He was on his third bowl, the rich gravy aroma filling the air and making Jessie second guess her decision to go with the jerky.

  “Kim says I need to gain some weight,” Bishop explained as he crumbled a handful of crackers into the bowl.

  “Regain your fighting form, huh?” Bryant snickered dryly.

  “That’s right.”

  Kim sat wordlessly, staring at a tablet that showed the video of Paul’s thrown-together funeral. She wept quietly at Jessie’s eulogy, her hand flying to her mouth when Fiona whispered, “Scooby Doobie Do” as her own tribute to the man.

  Kim’s expression turned amused and sad when they zoomed the camera in on the LP that served as the man’s gravestone.

  “We buried him with some of his books and records,” Jessie explained. “I think they were his favorites. I brought a few on board the bus, too. I figured I’d read them sometime. Or maybe if we ever find a record player...”

  “We’ll play them,” Kim said, nodding. Her eyes drifted toward the back of the bus, and her expression hardened “Where is he, Jessie?”

  “He’s in the rear storage compartment. Small room. Chained up. Nothing to do. I’ve stationed Garcia and Weissman with him. He’s not going anywhere.”

  Kim nodded. “Have you given him a dose of serum?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Good.” Kim practically spat the words. Then she shook her head as if the cruel thought didn’t sit well with her own conscious. “I’m sorry, guys. I just can’t believe he killed Paul. It makes me sick.”

  “He almost got Fiona, too,” Jessie agreed. “Only Garcia’s sharp shooting saved the day. But I don’t want to dwell on the negative. How about we look ahead to Redpine?”

  “Sounds good.” Kim placed the tablet on the table and opened a bottled water. Then she selected a Teriyaki beef stick, peeled the wrapping back, and took a bite.

  Satisfied her friend had forgotten Burke for the moment, Jessie moved the tablet to the center of the table. She used her finger to open the Redpine application.

  “This is the outside of the facility.” She flipped through the same pictures she’d shown Dex. The road cut into the hillside with stone walls and guard towers crowding it. The round courtyard and massive doors, wide enough for a tank to drive through.

  “It looks impregnable,” Bishop said.

  “There are more service entrances and tunnels on the back side of the mountain.” Jessie switched to the 3D schematics of the site. She pointed to the rear of the facility, using her fingers to zoom in on specific areas like a smartphone. “Just inside the doors is a motor pool. They have several Jeeps and three Humvees, all in working condition.”

  Kim’s eyes went wide. “Wow, Burke wasn’t messing around with this place.”

  Jessie continued. “The upper floors hold three full-sized labs, ten large bio reactors, and a chemical supply room with fifty-thousand square feet of storage, all of it occupied.”

  Kim’s jaw dropped. “That could make a lot of vaccine.”

  Jessie nodded. “The middle floor holds a workout facility, gymnasium and basketball court, weight room, and cafeteria. Their food stores are as massive as their chemical supply. I even have full access to the inventory at my fingertips.” She tapped the screen and showed them.

  Kim glanced at Bishop before her eyes darted back to Jessie. “What else?”

  “The sub-floors hold a barracks for the security team, and three apartment wings. They can comfortably house up to four hundred people for an indeterminate length of time. And they’re currently only about one-third full. Ninety people, to be exact.”

  “That’s plenty of room for us and the kids,” Kim said with dawning realization.

  “And get this,” Jessie added, still perplexed about the next bit. “The power is provided by a small reactor.”

  Bishop looked up from his bowl of stew.

  Kim narrowed her eyes at Jessie and ticked her head in doubt. “You mean, a nuclear reactor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How in the world did he hide that? The signature must be off the charts.”

  Jessie shrugged. “It’s buried deep. Right here.” She pointed at a chamber far beneath the facility. “They have full containment and a team to manage it.” She put her hand over Kim’s. “We can live in Redpine until things get better out here.”

  Kim shook her head in disbelief. “What about the cure?”

  “We’d have teams to distribute it,” Jessie said, glancing at Bryant. She’d talked some of her ideas over with him while they drove to Memphis. Nothing was written in stone. “Over time, we could bring humanity back.”

  “Provided humanity doesn’t kill itself first.”

  Jessie leveled her gaze, uncertain about the next part. “That’s why we’d pick who gets the serum and vaccine.”

  Kim raised an eyebrow. “You mean, we get to play God?”

  “It sounds bad when you put it that way.” She backtracked. “What I mean is, we should try to help everyone. Just not people who shoot at us.”

  “That makes sense,” Bishop agreed. “We can’t help those who are purposefully destroying others. But we’d have to turn it over to the military, right, Bryant?”

  The soldier balked. “Four weeks ago, I would have said yes. But now, I’m only half convinced. There are rogue factions all over. They’re consolidating stockpiles of food and weapons. A lot of them. Letting the cure fall into the wrong hands would be disastrous. The only person I trust right now is General Miller, and he’s only hanging on by a thread. Dealing with low morale and logistical concerns.”

  They paused, letting the silence loom as the information settled on them.

  “So many questions,” Kim tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears. “I think we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves. We’re assuming we can waltz into Redpine and take it over without a fight.”

  “We have to walk in like we own the place,” Bryant said.

  “But we don’t know those ninety people inside,” Kim countered. “What if they don’t care about Burke or a cure? What if they want to hunker down and have an underground slumber party for the next twenty years?”

  “That’s where we have a leg up on them.” Jessie grinned again. “After a few run-ins with Lexi, and you with Richtman, Bryant and I have a theory.”

  “It’s really her theory,” the soldier pointed out.

  Jessie flashed him a playful scowl. “We think Burke has something on everyone who works for him.”

  “You mean, dirt? That’s meaningless.” Kim raised her hands in a shrug. “It’s the end of the world. Who cares about dirt?”

  “Yeah, but what if Burke had a facility where he held the workers’ family members hostage? Maybe a secure location, not Redpine. What if he threatened violence to them if his people didn’t do what he asked?”

  Kim gave a bit of a nod. “That actually makes sense. And that would mean Burke is our leverage to get into Redpine.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I don’t know. It seems far-fetched.” Kim backtracked. “I mean, he would have been doing this for years. Someone would have caught him.”

  “Maybe not.” Jessie poked her finger at the table. “Out of the thousands of people who worked for him, he could have singled out a select
few. He might have had a contingency plan if any of them threatened him or leaked information.”

  Bishop moved his head to the side as he considered her statements, and Kim made a thoughtful sound.

  “When the spores hit,” Jessie continued, “maybe he expedited his plan.”

  “Or maybe he implanted tiny explosives behind their ears,” Bishop said. “If they didn’t obey him...” He made a boom gesture with his hands.

  Kim shot him a glare.

  He shrugged. “I wrote it in one of my books.”

  “I didn’t see anything like that in his personnel database,” Jessie said. “At least not for Redpine.”

  “He has an employee database?” Kim asked.

  Jessie blew air between her lips. “Oh, boy. Wait ‘till you see this.” She used her finger to click selections on the screen until several clusters of green dots overlaid the schematic. “It’s part of the program subroutine.”

  “Okay, what am I looking at?”

  “Don’t ask me how, but these green dots are Burke’s employees.”

  Kim blinked at the screen. “He’s tracking them? He has trackers in his people.”

  Jessie nodded, amused at Kim’s response. “I know. It freaked me out, too. Normally, it’s not something I would take advantage of, but it could work for us. We could track their locations and even pull up vital information on them.”

  “Did Burke write the files?”

  “I don’t think so. They’re professionally done. Almost like a resume. But I haven’t dug too deep.”

  Kim shook her head as she processed the information. “I’m not sure this is a good thing. Spying on people is serious.”

  “I totally agree,” Jessie said, feeling a little dirty. “But we only use it if they try to undermine our efforts.”

  “It’s creepy.”

  “It’s survival.” She lowered her eyes and her tone, adding a hint of warning. She didn’t want to argue with anyone, but they had to see her point on this matter. “Right now, we have to use every advantage. And this is the best one we’ll get. Like Bryant said, we have to walk in there like we own the place.”

  Kim stared at Jessie, slowly nodding. “We only use it if we have to. For strategic purposes.”