Viral

by S. K. Gregory

  “Two minutes.”

  I found his office at the back of the house. A huge oak desk sat in the middle of the room. I yanked open the drawers, searching them as quickly as I could. There wasn’t much in them other than stationery. The filing cabinet.

  “Jenna…” Wesley said in my ear.

  “I heard you the first time, just give me a minute!”

  “Fine, sixty seconds starting now.”

  The filing cabinet was locked, but I could pick it. Rushing back to the desk, I grabbed a large paper clip.

  “Fifty seconds.”

  I was tempted to rip the earpiece out, but I might need his help. I was down to twenty seconds by the time I popped the lock. It was filled with alphabetized files, but which ones were important?

  The front door opened down the hall, followed by voices. Crap. He must have been called about the alarm and just turned around. Get out now.

  In a panic, I grabbed a load of files, shoved them into my backpack and ran out of the room. Breton was talking to his bodyguard; I could see them at the control panel in the hall. I slipped quietly past them heading for the back door.

  “Did you hear something?” Breton said.

  Crap, crap, crap. I started running. I made it past the pool before the bodyguard gave a yell. He’s spotted me.

  “Get back here!” he bellowed.

  I picked up speed, my heart thumping. If he caught me, I was dead. Hurling myself at the wall, I managed to pull myself up, but at the last minute, the bodyguard grabbed my foot.

  “NO!” I cried, yanking hard. my shoe came off and I toppled over the other side of the wall, landing badly on my shoulder.

  There was no time to rest, I needed to get the hell out of here. Getting to my feet, I started running. Two blocks over, I cut through several back yards and came out on the main road. The bus was pulling away, about twenty yards ahead of me.

  “Wait!” I yelled, racing after it. The driver stopped for me and I leapt on. I saw him glance down at my feet and raise an eyebrow.

  I gave him an awkward smile and quickly took a seat. I’m sure he’s seen worse.

  Three blocks from the bunker, I got off, keeping my head down. I kept glancing back, checking if I was being followed. I was lucky my hat was still in place, but only because I had the presence of mind to clip it to my hair.

  I reached the bunker, limping inside. Dad and Wesley were waiting.

  “What the hell have you done?”

  12

  Jenna

  “How could you be so reckless?” Dad cried, throwing his hands up in the air. He had been ranting for a good twenty minutes about what I did. I was tired of listening to him. If he expected me to do nothing, then he didn’t know me at all.

  “I’m sick of sitting around doing nothing.” His great plan was taking forever to get going. At this rate, Breton would die of old age before we did anything worthwhile.

  He sighed. “We are working toward something. You have to be patient.”

  “I’ve been patient long enough. I could have done something. Put poison in his food, caused a gas leak. We would have been rid of him.” I didn’t really have the chance to do anything, but I wasn’t going to lose this fight.

  “Murder? Really? Someone else would take his place, it wouldn’t solve anything.”

  “It would make me feel better,” I muttered.

  “That’s enough!” Dad snapped. “I have to leave overnight, but I will speak to you when I get back. Wesley make sure she doesn’t leave.”

  Wesley shot him a dirty look. “Told you before, I’m not a babysitter. Jenna is an adult, capable of making her own decisions.”

  I hid a smile. At least he was still on my side. Dad glared at both of us and stormed out.

  I flopped down onto the bed. I knew he would react badly, but at least it was over now. As tempted as I was to return to Breton’s house, he would be expecting me now.

  Dad would sulk for a while, then send me back out again on another assignment. I was starting to wonder if he even knew what he was doing or if he was just winging it.

  “I told…” Wesley started to say.

  “Seriously? Don’t say it,” I said. I really didn’t need him starting too.

  “Did you at least get anything useful?” Wesley asked.

  “Thought you’d never ask.” I pulled out the files and handed them to him.

  “Well I’m sure these will be interesting,” he said, flipping through a few of them.

  “Yeah, hopefully I didn’t just grab his tax returns, or I’ll be pissed.”

  “No, it looks like employee files. There are a few old projects in here too. Might give us some insight into what Breton is planning next.”

  “How will you know what’s important or not?” I asked.

  “I won’t until I get through them. Gives me something to do anyway,” he said.

  “I think Dad has been keeping you plenty busy.”

  “Yeah, but it’s for the best. The less time I have to think, the less time I have to dwell on…things.”

  “Of course.” He was talking about the drugs. “I guess they are always on your mind.”

  “It’s not something I can help. I am trying. Look at what it cost me.”

  I stared at my hands. “I know you’ve been trying. I just…”

  “You’re scared to get close to me again.”

  I looked up.

  He smiled at me. “See, I pay attention. I get it. I screwed up.”

  “I just don’t understand why you took the Morphinal.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s hard to explain. Seeing the Morphinal was like being in the middle of the desert and it was water. It’s always going to be there. There’s no cure. I’ll always be an addict.”

  “I know.”

  He was staring at me.

  “I wish we could go back, to that day in the barn, before the helicopter. The day could have ended so differently,” I said. It was something I thought about all the time.

  He moved to sit beside me on the bed, leaning against the wall behind us. “How would it have ended?”

  “Well, for a start, you could have responded to what I said.”

  “My memory isn’t great, remind me what that was.”

  I shoved him. “You know what I said.”

  “Oh, yeah, I remember now. You were gushing about how amazing I am and how you were head over heels in love with me.”

  “You and me remember things very differently. At least I said it to your face and not a room full of strangers.”

  “You did hear that. I would have preferred to say it to you, but I didn’t think it was what you wanted to hear.”

  I reached out to take his hand. “I do want to hear it. I miss you. But the blows just keep coming and I don’t think I could stand another one.”

  “You’re strong. And just know that I’m always on your side.”

  I leaned in to kiss him. Why can’t we just run away and be happy?

  “I should get back to work,” he said.

  “Not yet,” I whispered. “Stay here with me.”

  I kissed him again, pulling him down onto the bed. I was done waiting.

  ***

  Tom

  I can’t believe she went inside his house. Well actually I could. She had no self-control, that girl. Just like her mother.

  I didn’t know it was Breton’s house. I was given the address by an associate, I never thought they would find his house. He kept himself off the grid as much as possible and with good reason.

  Matthew wasn’t like his father, he had forgone the family life, more interested in making a name for himself. He was planning on going into politics, but when his father died, he had the keys to the castle handed to him. Becoming a senator was nothing compared to running Gene-Pharm. They had more pull than any politician.

  I needed to talk to my contact again, see what else they knew. If Breton knew someone had broken in, then he could move soon.

  S
hould I leave for this meeting or stay here? I was tempted to turn the car around, but it was too important. The man I was going to see claimed to be an ex member of Chaos. He could be lying, but if not, I really needed someone who knew how they worked. Chaos were an enigma, able to operate from the shadows for so long. I still couldn’t fully accept that Angela was a part of it. It had to be a mistake, or they promised her something. She would do anything to protect Jenna, maybe they convinced her that they would keep her safe from Gene-Pharm. She couldn’t know what she was signing up for. Right now, Breton was the real threat.

  Despite what I told Jenna, knowing Breton was so close bugged me. We could do something to him, make him incapable of going into work. I wasn’t advocating murder, but it seemed like a wasted opportunity.

  I’m sure he has guards around him that would stop us from getting close.

  I forced myself to keep driving. I had a plan, I needed to stick to it. I just hoped that Jenna wasn’t doing anything stupid.

  13

  Jenna

  I woke up to find that Wesley was gone from bed. Raising my head, I saw that he was back at the computer. Not again.

  “Come back to bed,” I said, huddling under the blankets. It was cold down here.

  “I can’t, I need to finish this,” he said, not bothering to turn around.

  How can he be thinking about work right now?

  I got dressed, joining him at his workstation.

  “Is it…I mean, was it…?” I struggled to find the words, feeling awkward.

  “Huh?” He looked up in alarm. “Oh! No! Jenna, it was…wow. I’m not…Tom needs this info sent to him within the next hour. I’m just against a deadline, that’s all.”

  “Good.” He was such a dork.

  He kissed me. “Let me finish this and I’m all yours.”

  “Work fast.” Who knew how long Dad would be away, I wanted to spend as much time with Wesley as possible. All the other stuff had been pushed out of my mind. The truth was none of us were safe. Gene-Pharm or Chaos could take us all out in an instant. Why waste any more time?

  A beeping filled the air, startling me. “What is that?”

  “Tom’s sending out a distress beacon.”

  “What? Is he okay?” I looked at the computer screen, it showed a map of the city and a flashing red circle.

  Wesley typed furiously. “I don’t know. I have a location, but his comms are down.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s about a mile from here.”

  “I thought he left the city?” He should be miles away by now.

  “So did I, but this says he’s nearby.”

  I grabbed my things. “I’m going out to look for him.”

  “You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

  “I don’t care, I have to go.”

  Wesley grabbed my hand. “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Hurrying from the bunker, Wesley stayed on comms to tell me where to go. I headed further and further downtown, worrying that Dad had been caught by Gene-Pharm. What if they followed me then waited until one of us left? Urgh, why was I so stupid! If Breton had him, he would kill him.

  “I don’t see anything Wesley. How close am I?” I asked. It was early evening and still daylight, but there weren’t a lot of people on the street. Guess this is the bad part of town.

  “You’re nearly there. It should be on your right.”

  “All I see are empty stores. Is he in a building?”

  There was some static on the other end and I didn’t catch his answer, but I did spot an alley to the right. That must be where he is.

  Readying my bat, I moved into the alley, listening for any sounds. It looked empty. The walls were covered in graffiti, zoms still exist! Death to zombies and Chaos reigns. I recalled seeing a similar piece of graffiti near home. I wondered who wrote it. Someone trying to recruit others? Or just some criminal playing games?

  It didn’t matter, I needed to find Dad. If he had been here, he could have been grabbed. I searched the ground for his comms, which Wesley was tracking.

  “Wesley? Can you hear me?”

  Nothing, just static. Were the comms acting up? Or had they attacked at the bunker too?

  I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to find Dad, but I also wanted to check that Wesley was okay.

  “Dad!” I yelled. To hell with being quiet, if this was a trap, then they knew I was here by now.

  Jogging to the other end of the alley, I found a white van parked, behind a wall. I approached it slowly. Dad had a car, not a van. It could belong to anyone.

  I reached out to grab the handle at the back. I paused before I touched it. This didn’t feel right. Who knows what was waiting on the other side?

  Turning away, I let out a shriek when two men appeared behind me wearing balaclavas. There was no room to swing the bat, so I tried to back away from them. The door to the van opened and I was grabbed and dragged inside.

  “Get off me!” I screamed. Another man in a balaclava had hold of me. I threw my elbow at his face, but I missed.

  I felt something sharp prick my neck and I started to feel woozy. I lashed out with my feet trying to hit one of them, but I was fighting a losing battle. I lost consciousness.

  14

  Jenna

  I woke up as I was being dragged into a room. Two men had hold of my arms. They dumped me in the middle of the room and left.

  Getting slowly to my feet, my head was still spinning from whatever they gave me. The room was empty. No furniture, no pictures on the wall, nothing. There was a window at one end, but I could tell from the other buildings that I was too high up to jump from it.

  Where the hell am I? If it was Gene-Pharm I expected to be thrown into another cell, or were they working another angle?

  The door opened and I braced myself for Breton, sure that it was him. Instead, a man in a suit entered, followed by a woman I never thought I’d see again.

  I struggled to talk, stumbling over the words. “Mom, you’re alive?”

  She smirked at me. “Clearly.”

  I took in the white suit she wore, her hair perfectly quaffed. She wasn’t a prisoner. I thought she was dead all this time and here she was, dressed like some kind of supervillain.

  “I don’t understand…” Was I still unconscious? That seemed like the most logical explanation.

  “No, you don’t, do you? I wanted to tell you before but there didn’t seem like a right time.”

  “You work for Chaos,” I said.

  “No. I run it.”

  “You…what?” I could understand her working for them, that she had some kind of reason, but she runs Chaos? How was that possible?

  “For the last few months. My father ran it before me and he died recently, so I took over.”

  I shook my head, barely comprehending what she was saying. “Your family business is a terrorist organization?”

  “Our family business, Jenna. And we are not terrorists. Chaos is after the same thing you are. To bring Gene-Pharm down. Only we don’t pussyfoot around like your dad does. Seriously, what does he hope to achieve with his little band of refugees.” She said it with the same disregard as if she found him tinkering in the garage with his latest hobby instead of trying to bring down a major corporation.

  A laugh bubbled up inside me. I couldn’t help it, of everything I was expecting, this was definitely not on the list. I doubled over, laughing like a maniac.

  When I looked up at Mom, she was scowling at me. “That’s quite enough, Jenna,” she said.

  “Are you kidding me!” I managed to control myself, barely. “After everything that’s happened and now you are a terrorist? This is all a prank, right? Someone is going to appear with a camera any minute.” I looked around the room hopefully. The man was watching me with a scowl on his face. He was about forty-five with dark hair and a goatee. Who was he?

  Mom sighed. “I appreciate that this is a lot to deal with, but you need to get
a grip.”

  “I don’t think I can. I honestly think I’ve gone crazy. What was all that at the farmhouse?”

  “Chaos. I was getting tired of waiting for your father to show up. He kept putting off returning, but I know how he thinks. I had them blow up the farmhouse hoping to draw him out. I was already outside.”

  “Chaos shot a me!” I snapped, sobering up.

  “Yes, at you. They didn’t actually hit you, did they?” Well that made it okay, didn’t it!

  “And Wesley? Did you intend to kill him?”

  “I didn’t need him anymore. He told me all about the serum he used on you. I played dumb, but I had everything I needed.”

  “I thought you liked him. He saved my life, he got you out of prison and you were just going to shoot him?” I screeched.

  “He was never part of the plan. I know you liked the boy, but he was molded in your father’s image, he could never be trusted.”

  She’s a murdering psychopath. “Well your plan failed, he survived.”

  “I know. How do you think I got you here?”

  “You hacked his computers?” They must have been tracking me.

  “No, not at all. Wesley!” she called.

  The door behind her opened and Wesley walked into the room. No guards, no restraints, just him.

  “He told me everything I needed to know.”

  ***

  Tom

  “I was a top operative at Chaos,” Ed said, sipping on his whiskey as he spoke. He agreed to meet me in a bar, where I was expected to buy the rounds for as long as he was willing to talk.

  “Do you know where they are based?” I asked. I was sticking to water.

  “They moved around all over the place. But they knew how to get in anywhere. I know they have people in the AS, maybe even in Gene-Pharm itself.”

  I didn’t doubt it. “Who is their leader? You must know.”

  Ed downed his drink and pushed the glass across the bar for a refill. He waited until the bartender poured the drink before answering.

  “Back when I was there, he was known as Omega. It was a codename. I never had any contact with him, but he was a zealot. He truly believed he could bring everything down, planning on rebuilding this country with him in charge.”