“We’ve got an early charter, Buddy. If you’ll excuse us, we need to get moving.” Emily moved daintily past the big man and went through the door. Buddy grudgingly stepped aside to let Sam follow.
They really did have an early charter and no time to waste. Emily settled the paperwork while Sam went through the preflight checks on the jet. It was another one of those strange cargo runs, which fit perfectly with Sam’s plans. With Emily on board, he’d probably be able to get a much better look at the contents of the crates that had already been loaded into the belly of the plane.
They were headed to West Virginia today. Coal country. Land of lots of caves and nooks and crannies. Sam thought it a perfect place to hide if you wanted to go to ground.
The charter was an overnighter. They’d be bringing cargo in and taking another load out the following day. The layover might give Sam time to do some serious recon. He had every intention of covertly following these boxes to their destination.
They got off the ground with little fuss. Sam had taken the opportunity to search the cockpit and hold during his preflight to make sure there were no listening or recording devices that shouldn’t be there. They would be able to speak freely on board.
Once they hit cruising altitude, Sam unbuckled himself from his seat.
“Where are you going?” Emily asked as he wormed his way out of the tiny cockpit.
“I’m going to take a look at the cargo.”
Her lips thinned in worry but she said nothing as he worked his way aft. The crates were sealed tight but Sam had a knack for breaking into the boxes in such a way that nobody would ever know he’d been there. He popped the cover on the first one and found lab equipment. He didn’t know exactly what the apparatus was off hand, but he knew he’d seen something like it in the team’s labs back on base. He snapped photos of the contents of that box, and each of the others, with his secure phone, sending them via satellite to the tech crew before he’d even finished putting all the covers back on.
He rejoined Emily in the cockpit a moment later.
“Everything okay?” he asked as he slid into the copilot’s chair and refastened his safety harness.
“Smooth sailing. What was in the crates?”
“Laboratory equipment. I didn’t recognize most of it but the techs back on base will be able to identify what it all is, I’m sure.”
“How?”
He patted the phone on his hip. “I sent them photos. They’re probably already working on it as we speak.”
“Pretty nifty.”
“Not as nifty as you.” Oh, man. He had it bad. Sam had never said anything cornier in his life, but her smile was worth it. She didn’t seem to find him awkward at all, which was a minor miracle.
He reached out and took her hand in his, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. He needed to feel her skin. That small touch brought back memories of the incredible night they’d spent together. Emily was a special woman. Of that he had no doubt.
The radio broke into his thoughts, air traffic control issuing guidance for their flight. They were beginning their approach to the small airstrip in the hill country of West Virginia. There were larger airports in the general area with lots of commercial traffic, so they had to pay close attention to the instructions from the ground to navigate the busy airspace.
Before long, they were on the ground and the cargo was being unloaded. Sam watched, pretending to do paperwork while the cargo handlers did their thing. He was ready to move as soon as the cargo left his sight. The airfield was small and he should be able to follow it, providing Emily arrived with the rental car in time.
He’d sent her off as soon as they landed to pick it up. They were staying overnight and one of the perks of her position was that she could spend the money on a car rental that most other flight crews weren’t allowed. As a result, they had a nondescript sedan waiting for them. All they had to do was get it and get going. With any luck, she’d be in the lot waiting for him when the cargo van they were loading the crate on took off.
As it was, Sam couldn’t have planned it any better. As he walked out to the parking area, which was adjacent to the airstrip, he found Emily waiting there for him, keys in hand. She’d even thought to let him drive.
“I figured you had more experience tailing someone than I did,” she joked in a quiet tone as she tossed him the keys.
“You figured right, ma’am. Hop in and let me show you how it’s done.” Sam threw his overnight bag into the backseat and climbed behind the wheel.
He could still see the old white cargo van trundling toward the airport exit. There was an advantage to being in such a small airport. There were few buildings, lots of wide open spaces, and a great deal of visibility.
“Did you do the check?” he asked tersely as he started the car.
“Yes, sir.” She flipped him a mock salute and took the small black electronic box from her jacket pocket. “I do believe it’s all clear.” He’d given her the box, which was designed to check for listening devices, before leaving the jet and asked her to give the rental car a discreet once-over.
“Just to be safe . . .”
He took the box and flipped a switch that would create electronic interference with any signal that might be transmitting from the vehicle.
“We’ll leave this on so nobody can track the car,” he told her, placing the box out of sight, in the center console. “We won’t be able to listen to the radio or use the GPS, but nobody can track our movements via the GPS unit in the car either.”
“Nifty.” She turned her attention to the road. They’d left the airport exit and were on a four lane highway. “Is that what we’re following?” She pointed to the truck.
“Yes, indeed. The big white whale. We got lucky. That thing shouldn’t be too hard to track, so I can hold back a bit and still keep an eye on it.”
He did just that for the next forty-five minutes as the delivery truck led them on a circuitous route through small towns and wooded areas. The terrain was hilly with steep grades in some places. They went through some obvious coal mining area where piles of the black rock lay around roadside buildings and dump trucks trundled past stacked high with it.
Eventually, the white truck slowed and turned into a narrow driveway.
“What do we do now?” Emily asked as he passed the driveway and kept going on the small mountain road.
“We look for a place to stop or turn around so I can go check out what’s up that driveway.” Just up the road he found what he needed. “This is perfect.”
He pulled into a small parking lot. There was a convenience store of sorts with a set of broken down gas pumps that were probably installed in the 1940s.
He threw the car into park and opened the door, looking around. The sun was beginning its descent over the hills, causing dark shadows to creep across the land. The place looked deserted but he couldn’t see around the corner of the building from his vantage point and it was heavily wooded. It didn’t really matter though, because all he wanted to do was switch drivers so Emily could drop him off along the side of the road on the way back down the mountain.
“Sam?” The tone of Emily’s voice caught his attention. She’d stopped in her tracks, halfway around the front fender. Her face was turned toward the side of the building he still couldn’t see.
Without hesitation, Sam joined her. He saw immediately what had stopped her cold. There were two men on the ground. One prone and one kneeling over him. Both wore dirty, tattered clothing, but the kneeling one was covered in blood. It dripped downward from his mouth and the ends of his sharply taloned fingers.
“Oh, crap.” Sam reached for the gun strapped to his ankle.
“What is he doing?” Emily asked, stepping forward as if to help. Sam stopped her by grasping her upper arm. She turned to meet his gaze, clearly confused.
“Get in the car and lock all the doors. There might be more of them. If anyone comes toward you—even if they look harmless—drive away. Get to safety. Do you understand?” He issued the instructions as quickly and quietly as he could, trying to instill a sense of urgency. He didn’t want to draw the creature’s attention just yet.
“I won’t leave you here by yourself. I can help.” It touched him that she thought of his safety, but her concern was completely misplaced.
“No. You can’t. I’ll be all right. I’ve dealt with this before, Em. Trust me. If one of them scratches you, you’re dead. And I mean dead. No turning back. You die and then come back as one of them to spread the contagion.”
“What about you? They could kill you too.” Her voice rose along with her fears, it seemed.
“Shit.” The creature looked up, spotting them. “Get in the car now, Em. No arguments. I have to deal with this.”
The creature rose and started toward them.
“Sam?” Emily froze as she got her first real look at a zombie.
“In the car!” He put some force behind his words and she finally got moving. Emily finished her half circle around to the driver’s side, seated herself behind the wheel and locked the doors.
Sam had never used the frangible bullets before. Now was his chance. He only hoped they worked as advertised.
He took aim and fired while the creature was still about ten yards away. He hit it in the chest. The impact of the bullet made the creature stagger slightly, but it kept coming. It lurched in that steady, rhythmic way he’d come to associate with the creatures.
As it drew closer, he saw the bloodstains around its mouth. They were all a fresh, bright red. They hadn’t had time to dry. With any luck, the poor soul on the ground was the only victim. Otherwise there would be dried blood on the creature’s clothes and older, brownish stains of dried blood around its mouth and on its hands.
He counted the seconds in his mind, hoping the zombie would disintegrate sooner rather than later, but he really had no idea what this new version of the toxin could do. He’d have to report in to the rest of the combat team as soon as he had some hard data on how the new weaponry worked—if it worked.
The zombie was only five feet away and the toxin still hadn’t taken effect. Sam began to back away, bumping into the side of the car. Emily had the car idling, waiting, ready for action.
“Move the car, Em. Take it about ten yards toward the road.” He spoke in a clear, loud voice so she could hear him through the closed windows over the soft purr of the engine.
She did as he asked. Sam never took his eyes off the zombie or stopped the count in his head. Twenty seconds now and no sign of stopping.
Sam backed off. The zombie followed. Twenty-five seconds.
The zombie’s face slid, its jaw dropping off its hinges as the rest of him followed close behind. When Sam mentally reached a count of thirty seconds, the creature was a pile of steaming goo and dirty clothes on the ground at his feet.
“Stay put,” he shouted to Emily.
He saw her wide-eyed nod as he took his satellite phone from its holster at his hip. Speed dial connected him with Commander Sykes.
“Sir, we’ve got a situation.” Sam spoke as he walked cautiously toward the victim, lying still on the ground.
“Where are you?”
“West Virginia. Coal country.”
“I’ll have the techs triangulate your signal while you give me a sitrep.”
“I just eliminated a single creature. Single frangible round. Thirty seconds from impact to dissolution. The creature killed one victim at a small, backwoods gas station convenience store. From the looks of him, he was the clerk. Sending photo now.” Sam used the camera feature on the sophisticated phone to send an image of the dead man.
“Are you secure?”
“Emily’s in the car, but sir, she saw the creature. I’ll have to tell her.” Sam searched the rest of the area, keeping an eye on both Emily in the idling car and the victim. Sam would have to deal with that poor soul as well, but he had some time yet.
“Understood.”
“I think I know where this creature came from. We followed a cargo van from the airport to a location down the road from here. We stopped to turn around so I could do recon of the area but encountered this situation before I could scope out the driveway the van turned into.”
“I’ve mobilized the combat team. They’re on their way. They should be there in about an hour. Do recon and report back before taking action, if possible. It would be better to let the team handle this to preserve your cover should this not be the main infestation. The intel you’ve gathered to date leads me to believe there could be multiple locations we’ll need to mop up.”
“Understood. I’ll take care of the victim then continue recon.”
“I sent cleanup specialists with the combat team. Do what you can to secure the area but recon is the priority for the next sixty minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” Sam saw the victim stir, coming back to life—if you could call it that. He was dead, but his corpse was reanimated by the contagion.
“Gotta go, sir. The victim is getting hungry.”