Melt (Book 8): Hold

by Pike, JJ

  Aggie was starting to get the picture. She wished she wasn’t, but there it was. Hedwig had been forced to have sex in exchange for her life. The term “pig” wasn’t fair to pigs.

  “If anything happens to me, there’s a bag under the passenger side seat. We’re packing heat, chickee. You need never worry about running out of weapons. Ever. I’m going to make it my personal mission to ensure we’re all armed to the gills.” She slowed as they reached a small stream and took them over it at a snail’s pace. “And if they capture us and there’s no way out, you’re going to shoot me and I’m going to shoot you. Deal?” She revved the car as soon as they were back on terra firma.

  Aggie didn’t want to make that deal, but what did you say when someone was offering you a suicide pact? “I hear you. I will not leave you to the pigs. I promise.” Heck, she’d just given her word that she’d kill her new friend. What kind of world were they living in? With any luck they’d never have to put it to the test.

  The Humvee was directly ahead. Stopped. Not moving. Neither Dad nor Petra were in the front. Aggie felt her guts do a dive towards her feet. What now?

  Seriously.

  What now?

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Alice lay the sleeping bag on the ground beside Fran’s body. She wanted to look away. The girl was so crumpled and crushed and not at all the Fran she remembered, but she made herself look one last time: As penance for failing her; as a tribute to a life that had faltered at the end; as an act of love.

  There was so much to do: Talk to Christine, find out what Helen and Claire had been looking for at Jo’s place, get to her family…but taking Fran to a place where she would have a proper burial ranked up there as one of those things she could look back on and be proud of. It took time away from everything she wanted to do, but that wasn’t the point. The point was to do the right thing though it was neither convenient nor expedient.

  Michael was immobilized—not for long, only a few seconds—by the horrific state of his former lover. He walked, wordlessly, to her feet and nodded. He was willing to help lift her into the sleeping bag that was going to double as her shroud. Alice had handed all the supplies that had been in the wagon to the soldiers so she and Michael could put Fran in the conveyance and wheel her home. It wasn’t dignified, but at least it was better than being eaten by wolves or raccoons or bears or whatever found her lying there under the trees.

  They moved her gently, with a crowd of onlookers standing at a respectful distance, their heads turned away or lowered in prayer. Even the dogs knew something sacred and separate was happening. They sat and watched. No barking. No tail-wagging. No interference.

  The trees rippled and swished, layering the space with the music of air and leaves and distant birdsong. It was to be Fran’s last journey and Alice was determined to make it as peaceful as possible. She kissed her own fingers and touched them to Fran’s forehead before zipping the bag closed.

  As they finished, and the soldiers fell back into formation, Alice watched Betsy pop a couple of pills. The old woman shrugged. It explained how she was walking on her bad foot, but what did it mean in the long term? She’d been so adamant about not taking narcotics. They’d have to talk about it later. It was too delicate and personal to discuss when there were so many strangers in tow.

  Alice collected Aggie’s rifle and they set off. Michael pulled the wagon with Fran’s body. The soldiers marched behind him. Betsy was off to one side, walking in parallel with Fran. Christine was way in the back, close (but not too close) to the general.

  Which left her prisoners.

  Now was as good a time as any to talk to “the girls”. If seeing someone with their skull blown wide open didn’t unsettle you, nothing would.

  Helen and Claire were bound together and roped to a tree. She’d left them there while she dealt with Fran’s body. Now it was time to collect them and join the procession. She made a big show of carrying Aggie’s rifle in both hands, in front of her—not on her shoulder or by her side—so they would have no doubt that she meant business.

  “I’m going to allow you to walk in front of me. Step out of line and I shall not hesitate to fire on you. Understood?”

  Helen nodded.

  “Claire? You need to tell me you understand what I’m saying.”

  “Whatever.”

  Alice was so happy her teenagers had never been rude or surly. Bill had done a fine job of making sure they were engaged and engaging. If Claire had been hers…

  No. Didn’t bear thinking about. The time for switching children with birch sticks had passed.

  She undid the knot that held the young women in place and pointed her rifle in the direction she wanted them to walk. They obliged, stumbling and righting themselves until they found a pace that was suitable for both of them. Walking in sync is no easy business. Alice hadn’t meant for it to be easy; she’d tied their hands behind them and attached the rope to a stick so they were yoked like oxen. She didn’t want them to be able to reach each other’s restraints nor run with ease.

  “Where are you from?”

  Neither girl spoke.

  She let the rifle touch Helen in the middle of her spine. “Where are you from?”

  “Ithaca.”

  “What are you doing up here?”

  “We were evacuated.”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know. A few days ago…”

  “Liar.” Alice kept the gun in place. She’d seen the marks on the back of the doors in Jo’s house. They’d been around longer than a few days.

  “I don’t know. Our phones are dead. We haven’t been tracking time. We needed a safe place. No one was there so we figured we’d crash for a while.”

  “Liar. Liar, liar, liar.” They were feeding her nothing but garbage. “I saw what you wrote. I know when you arrived. Now I want to know why.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, lady.”

  “I am going to give you one last chance to tell the truth. You lie to me again and…” She pressed the gun barrel so hard Helen arched her back and glanced at her friend. “That’s right. Look at her. Look at the cuts and bruises on her face. You can expect more of that if you don’t talk to me now.”

  “You already know.” Claire was surly, apparently unfazed by the threat of more violence.

  “I know the ‘what’. I want to know the ‘why’. Why were you looking for silver in Jo Morgan’s place?”

  Claire stopped, which meant Helen was forced to stop.

  “She’s out of town. Her place is empty. There’s a rumor she has silver. Who wouldn’t go there?”

  She had a point.

  “You know what they say? ‘To the victor go the spoils.’ Why not be the victors? She’s gone. Her house is empty. There have been rumors of silver on the property. Why not take what we can while we can? This crisis will pass. The powers that be will return, but they will be weakened. It will be our time. We will rise, our rights inviolate, our coffers filled, our resolve strengthened by this test of our will….” She punched her hand in the air and doubled over laughing.

  Helen was, as the young people had it, PML, the polite version of which was ROFL. Petra had taught her that.

  Alice narrowed her eyes. Claire didn’t sound like a teenager. She had someone else’s words in her mouth. The only upside was she was telling some version of the truth. The question now was: press for more or back off and let them regroup and decide it was in their best interest to talk to her?

  There was a commotion up ahead. The procession slowed to a stop. Alice ran forward, rifle in hand.

  Michael was handing off the wagon to one of the soldiers. “Be gentle with her. Watch for potholes and ruts. Don’t jostle her too much. Ah, Alice.” He made his way to her side. “Can we talk?”

  She didn’t want to leave the girls unsupervised, but neither did she want them listening to anything Michael Rayton had to say. She buttonholed a soldier. “What’s your name, son?”

  “Sa
ndrino. Corporal Sandrino, ma’am.”

  “Corporal. I want you to supervise these girls. Can you do that for me.”

  A cloud passed over the young man’s face. Reluctance? Refusal? He was a soldier. Both of those things should have been trained out of him. Or, if not banished, at least buried so deep no one else could see them.

  “It’s not far. A little over a mile.”

  He shrugged and took her position behind Helen and Claire. How strange. She expected that kind of disrespect from a teenager, but not a soldier.

  She and Michael made their way to the opposite side of the convoy. She wanted Fran in sight at all times. It was the right thing to do.

  “You need to talk to Christine.” He wasn’t whispering, but he was talking under his breath. “She’s obsessed with me when she should be obsessed with stopping this thing.”

  Alice cut in. “I thought she was talking to the CEO of that company…you know…the one who collects garbage from the ocean…”

  Michael rolled his eyes. “We have a military escort. Top brass. Everything we could possibly want, right?” He didn’t wait for her reply. “Wrong. We’re running around in circles, chasing our tails. They have operational coms, but what’s the use of a phone if there’s no one on the other end? The world’s in chaos. We can’t reach any CEOs or politicians or scientists. The last conversation I had was with Professor Zhang. I worked with him in China. We need to reach him. He has a top-tier mind. He’ll be thinking at the highest levels…” He stopped. “I know what you’re thinking. I should have shared this information sooner.”

  She did think that. He was right.

  “You don’t know how this works. An agent never breaks cover. I mean…” He looked away. “There are times. Times I regret. But as a rule, you do not break cover for any reason. These are complex, multinational ops with far-reaching consequences and deals that go back decades. We drop the ball on this one and…” He mimed a mic drop. “BOOM! It all goes up like a tinderbox.”

  “You kept your silence but it still went ‘boom’, what do you have to say to that?”

  Michael rubbed the stubble that was close to becoming a beard. It was more salt than pepper. She could see the grey, now, coming in at his temples. She had never thought about him brushing dye into his hair, but why not? We are all vain when age starts knocking lumps off us in preparation for death.

  “Jo knows.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Jo knows I’m an agent. She also knows why I kept my silence. We were tasked with finding a person of interest. There was a list of names. How in hell I got on that list I will never know. But…”

  Alice shook her head. “The world is going up in flames and you’re tasked with finding a person?”

  “We believed we could find the person responsible, debrief them, understand what had been done to MELT to make it so virulent, and solve the puzzle.”

  “You were wrong.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” he shouted. “You think I haven’t been kicking myself? Turning this over? Questioning my mandate?”

  Everyone in the woods stopped to watch. Maggie-loo growled, flattened her ears, crunched her neck down tight. She was ready to launch herself at Michael if Alice gave the command. Alice patted her faithful guardian on the head.

  “Nothing to see here,” said Alice. “Keep it moving.”

  She took a second to check in on Helen and Claire. They were chatting to the corporal. Smiling. Flirting. What was it with the end of the world and everyone making googly eyes at each other?

  Reggie, who’d wandered off to make new friends, was back at her side, eyes on Michael, making sure the man meant her no harm.

  Michael lowered his voice. “This is my whole life you’re talking about. Up in smoke. Everything I wanted to do—make the world safer, keep our secrets close and our enemies closer, work towards a common understanding—that’s kaput. Done. Over. All I’ve got is a scientist who won’t listen to me and a team that has fallen apart.”

  He meant Fran. In Alice’s absence she’d been working with Michael to keep Christine calm and on track. Alice shot a look over her shoulder. Professor Baxter hadn’t checked out, but she wasn’t grabbing onto the problem with both hands the way she ought to have been doing. If they’d been in their labs in Manhattan she’d have known how to get Baxter to concentrate. Give her some blood samples and a centrifuge, for starters. The repetitive motion of labeling, sorting, filling the machine, and watching it spin was Alice’s secret weapon when it came to calming her genius friend.

  “I’m talking about you, Alice. We need you. Your family’s safe. You did your duty to them. Now you need to do your duty to us.”

  She couldn’t allow herself to be swayed. She’d given Bill her word. She was staying with the family not returning to her team. She was resolved. She would help while she could, but then she had to let it go.

  “What do I say to convince you? MELT has taken down a nuclear power station. That means New York is going to be uninhabitable for centuries. That would be a tragedy in its own right, but it’s only the beginning. There’s nothing stopping MELT. It’s in the water. It will travel up and down the eastern seaboard, but then the currents will take it towards Europe and Africa. It’s literally eating its way around the world.”

  “Tell me what you think we should do and I’ll talk to Baxter. I don’t know that she’ll listen if she thinks they’re your ideas, so I’m going to need to present these as mine.”

  Michael clapped his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t touch me. Don’t smile at me. Don’t let her think you’re my friend or I’m doing you any favors. If she thinks were in this together she’ll never yield.”

  He grabbed his hand back. Too dramatic. No need to make a big deal about it. He needed to chill and let her take the lead.

  “So? Solutions?” she said.

  “We need to remove all plastics from the ocean.”

  Alice laughed.

  “It means going to the competition, but those are meaningless distinctions now. You’ve read about the two young women who created a way to transform the plastic in the ocean into water?”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. We’re going to compound our error, by…”

  “They have a two-step process. It’s a combo of chemistry and molecular biology…”

  They were talking over each other. Him, excitedly. Her, utterly exasperated.

  “We just released a compound that dissolves plastic and you want me to suggest…”

  “We have to consider everything. Leave nothing on the shelf. Brainstorm with everything we’ve got. If we can create a kind of donut around the infection zone, we can…”

  “You’re insane. If you are our traitor, and frankly, I have no idea what to believe, you could be leading us into deeper waters…”

  “You’re not listening.”

  “You’re right. I’m not. I need time to think. You might be right. You might be wrong. But I’m not the right person to talk to right now. My friend is dead and there’s every chance she killed herself because of our incompetence. Walk on. Leave me be for a while. I need time to think things over.”

  Michael did as he was told and melted back into the crowd. Maggie-loo nudged Alice’s hand, eager for reassurance that everything was okay. “He’s a very annoying individual. If he’s right, this ‘donut theory’ could be a way to decimate MELT. If he’s wrong, we might be adding fuel to the fire.”

  “Alice?” Christine shouted up the line. “Alice? Come and talk to me.”

  She fell back and joined the professor at the end of the line.

  “What did he want? He was talking about me, wasn’t he? Telling you to get him back on the team? He’s never stopped trying. He’s incorrigible.”

  Alice didn’t want to feed the paranoid fire that burned in Christine’s gut. She needed her friend thinking about solutions. The personal and the petty had no room in their lives. She took a dee
p breath and smiled. “Actually, Christine, he was brainstorming ideas to combat MELT. He’s as worried as you are about the contagion. He said you’d done an excellent job of creating a protocol out of nothing.”

  “He’s right.” Christine didn’t care for compliments. There were facts and non-facts. That was all. Her world was black and white in ways most people’s worlds weren’t. She agreed that she had done a remarkable thing. The soldiers in their convoy had contracted the disease; she’d slowed its progression.

  Alice had her own set of worries. If MELT could incubate, who might have it? They might have escaped Manhattan but that didn’t mean they’d escaped the hell that MELT could bring. “Have you given any more thought to who has resistance?”

  “Without a lab, those soldiers back at Jo’s place—the ones you want to call patients, but who are genuinely specimens as far as I’m concerned—are my canaries. I’m going to chart the disease while I’m here, but when I leave I’ll have to find as much plastic as I can lay my hands on and wrap them up to keep them safe.” Christine Baxter was looking at the general.

  The woman was crushing hard. Alice had never seen Christine flirt. Chances were good the professor had never flirted in her life before now. It was cute and terrible. A bit of a car crash, but the good kind in which sparks fly and there are fireworks and everyone lives happily ever after. Too much grinning and head-tilting and batting her eyelashes but all in a good cause. He seemed not to be fazed by it at all. He returned smile for smile and offered the occasional wave.

  “There’s a landfill near here.” Alice wanted a little of Baxter’s attention. “We could probably find discarded plastics there. You could set up a series of tests, I’m sure…”