“Ready when you are.”
He paid the bill and they stopped at the small convenience store to get supplies before heading back to the B&B. They were quiet on the way back. Not that they’d had much to talk about at dinner, or since leaving their room at the B&B. Emily was in a somber mood, scared to death of what the night might bring to Sam, all on his own, out there in the wilderness.
She knew he was highly trained and could take care of himself, but that didn’t stop her from worrying. She knew also that he had to go out and do his duty. There was nobody else here who could stop Jennings and protect the people of this sleepy little mountain town should things get out of hand. It was up to Sam and she had to stand by him, support him, and help him in whatever way she could.
They walked arm in arm, like two lovers out for a relaxing evening stroll. They were lovers, but the stroll was anything but relaxing. The owner of the B&B was a little old lady named Mrs. McGillicuddy. She waylaid them on their way back into the house, stopping to chat and remind them about breakfast in the morning.
Emily had one moment of discomfort when Sam told their hostess that they wouldn’t be needing room service during their stay. He politely implied that they’d be up in that room humping like bunnies, which made Emily blush as Mrs. McGillicuddy playfully swatted Sam on the forearm with the magazine she’d been reading when they walked in. Luckily, the old lady didn’t appear to expect Emily to say much and before long they made their escape to the rented room, locking the door behind them.
“Wake me at eleven thirty,” Sam said as he peeled off the windbreaker he’d been wearing. He placed his handgun on the bedside table after checking the safety and kicked off his shoes before collapsing on the bed. He was asleep moments later.
That was a neat trick. No tossing and turning, trying to go to sleep for him. Sam simply decided to conk out. The next thing you know, he’s asleep.
Emily sat in the room’s overstuffed chair and turned the television on low to catch up with the local news. She also took a good long look at the maps, committing the area to memory. You never know when the information might come in handy, she reasoned, and it gave her something to do besides worry about what was to come later that night for Sam.
Sam woke at Emily’s gentle urging, at exactly eleven thirty. He felt rested and ready to take on whatever might come his way in the woods that night. Emily leaned over him to one side of the king size bed. That would never do. He wanted to feel her against him, if only for a few moments.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her off balance, controlling her descent, breaking her fall with his body. She was soft and warm against him. That was more like it. Without warning, he caught her mouth with his, loving the mellow taste of her, the sweetness of her lips and the soft sigh of her breath as she surrendered to him. He liked the sound of that best of all.
Sam would have loved to stay like that, with her as a warm, wiggling, living blanket all night, but duty called. Much as he didn’t want to move, he had to leave soon to see if he could find out exactly what was going on up on the mountain.
Reluctantly, he ended the kiss, drawing away from her.
“Do you know how to handle a handgun?”
She looked at him quizzically for a moment. “Yeah. Shotgun and I used to go plinking out in the woods in the summer when we were teenagers. I got a Ruger 9mm a few years ago and have kept up with target practice whenever one of my brothers wants to go to the range with me, which is at least once a month. Why?”
“I’m going to leave one of my weapons with you. I picked up an extra in West Virginia.” He was glad now that he had. He rolled her to a sitting position as he got up and went to his duffel. He took out the black holster and checked that the gun was safe before handing it to her. “This model isn’t that much different from your Ruger in concept. Take a look.”
She handled the handgun with confidence, showing him she knew what she was doing. She clicked the safety on and off a few times, checking the empty magazine and familiarizing herself with the operation of the weapon. She asked a few questions and he answered, showing her the features of this particular weapon. Once he was satisfied she had the basic operation down pat, he handed her two additional clips of ammunition.
“Don’t mess with these bullets. They’re frangibles, loaded with a toxin that will turn any organic matter to a pile of goo in about thirty seconds. You see one of those creatures, you shoot it one time and count to thirty. Don’t waste the ammo making multiple shots. It won’t dissolve any faster and chances are if you see one zombie, you’ll see more. If any of the creatures gets this far, there will have been too many for me to deal with alone. Don’t look for me. Don’t wait for me. Do what you have to do to get to the car and get the hell out of here. Call the base. Get help, but whatever you do, don’t stay here.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good. This is serious. That said, I honestly don’t think you need to worry about anything tonight. This is only a precaution. I want you to know what to do if there’s trouble. Being prepared is half the battle.”
She still looked frightened and he regretted having had to put that look on her face. “I got it. If I see one of those guys, I shoot it and run as fast and as far as I can. I get help. But what about you? If they get past you, does that mean you’re dead?”
“No.” He had to reassure her on that point at least. She looked so afraid for him it was touching, really. “I have a lot of experience with these guys and all kinds of tricks up my sleeve. Try not to worry. If you have to run, don’t assume I’m gone. I’ll be in touch with base if at all possible. Worst case scenario, you can get a sitrep from them.”
“Sit rep?” she repeated, clearly not understanding the jargon.
“Situation report,” he clarified. “We can keep in touch by phone. They can double as field radios in a pinch. I have an earpiece.” He dug the little bugger out of his pants pocket and stuck it in his ear. “I can call you on Tac One. Give me your phone. I’ll show you.”
He spent a few minutes showing her the hidden features of her phone. There were several Tactical channels.
“It’s like the walkie talkie feature on some phones,” she commented.
“Yeah, it’s like that but it doesn’t make noises that would give us away in the field.”
“Can you stay on the radio with me for a bit while you go out tonight? If there were trouble I could phone it in for you while you dealt with it.”
“That’s sweet of you, but don’t you want to get some sleep?” He was touched that she’d want to monitor him and help keep him safe.
“I doubt I’ll be able to sleep much until I’m sure you’re doing okay. Can we try it at least for a while?”
He drew her into a hug. “Yeah, we can.” He kissed the crown of her head, deeply moved by her desire to help keep him safe. It had been far too long since anyone had really cared about what happened to him.
He left a few minutes later, after giving her the rest of the lowdown on the frangible rounds and how to handle them. He went over a few more safety points while he changed into his camo gear. Then he climbed out the window and down into the tree line before he could change his mind. He called her using the radio feature on their phones a short while later.
“Hey sweetheart, you got your ears on?” he whispered into the headset, keeping his voice low.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Just reached the top of the ridge. Not much going on up here but it’s a beautiful night for a little sneak and peek. The stars are out but there’s only a sliver of moon. Brisk. Just enough chill in the air to make you feel alive.”
“Thank you for the weather report.” She couldn’t keep the wry amusement from her tone and he had to suppress a chuckle.
Silence stretched while he navigated the last bit of heavy woods before the tree line. The ranch house and outbuildings sat in the middle of a large clearing. He couldn’t get much closer without being seen. He sat back to wait and see what could be seen from this vantage point. He’d move around the perimeter over time to view all angles, but he might as well start here. He had a good view of the largest barn and the front of the two story farm house.
“I can see the house.” He took out a small set of binoculars from one of his cargo pockets. “Looks like there’s a party on the upstairs deck. Zhao and Krychek are both there along with a buffet table stacked with finger foods and drinks.” He looked around, scoping out the barn.
Sam could only see the back side of the barn and the open space between the front of the barn and the house. A man walked rapidly over the ground toward the house, his back to Sam. He entered the house, shutting the door behind him, then reappeared several moments later on the balcony with Zhao and Krychek. He faced Sam. It was Jennings.
“Oh, crap.” Sam unholstered his weapon.
“What is it?” came Emily’s worried voice in his ear.
“Jennings is here and the viewing party is up on the second floor. I think the demonstration is about to start.” Silence greeted his words and he knew Emily was worried. That couldn’t be helped.
“Should we call for help?”
“Yeah. I’ll do that but I want to get a little more intel for them first.”
“What are you going to do?” Her voice was rock solid though he knew this news disturbed her. That pilot training certainly made for a cool head in times of crisis. He was glad of that now.
“I’m moving to a new position so I can get a better look. I’m going to sign off with you in a few seconds and call this in to the team.”
“How long do you think it’ll take for them to get here?”
“Several hours. I’ll have to hold down the fort until the cavalry shows up.” He was in position. He now had a better view of the opening of the barn, though he was still off to one side so he could keep an eye on the viewing party on the balcony. “Hold on, sweetheart. I’ve got to make that call. I’ll be back on with you as soon as I can. Hang tight.”
He switched from the radio function on the unit to the sat phone function and placed the call. Commander Sykes picked up on the second ring.
“Sir, I’ve got a visual on Dr. Jennings here in Idaho.”
“Are you sure,” Sykes barked.
“I’ve got eyes on him right now, sir. He’s sitting on a balcony with Zhao and Krychek. Looks like they’re about to view a show. They’ve got refreshments set up and are unreachable from the ground. Wait . . . I have activity. Confirmed. One zombie heading out of the barn on the ground level, toward the viewing party’s location on the balcony.”
Shots rang out. Sam scanned with his binoculars until he saw muzzle flashes in the lit area between the barn and the house.
“Shots fired,” he reported. “There are three men on the ground, firing at the creature. It’s moving toward the closest.” As Sam watched, that first gunman went down with one long scrape of the creature’s claws. Despite multiple direct hits from the gunmen, the creature kept going, taking its steady, menacing steps seeming unstoppable. “He’s toast. One gunman down in the dirt. The zombie is closing in on the second.”
Then the second man went down. The third tried to run, but the zombie caught him as he scrambled for cover behind one of the vehicles. No doubt he was trying to get into the car to get away but it had been locked against such a circumstance. The third man died in a spray of bright red blood as the zombie’s claws severed his jugular. Then the creature began feasting and Sam’s stomach turned at the sight.
He reported it all to Matt Sykes, even as he heard sounds of furious activity on the commander’s end of the line.
“We’re gearing up. We can be there in four hours. We’ll chopper in on the other side of the ridge and jog it in to meet you. Can you hold position?”
“So far, the activity seems to be localized between the house and barn but I’m not sure what’s going to happen when those three casualties rise to join their maker.”
“Understood.”
“Sir, I noted a good sized clearing when I was on my way in.” He gave Sykes the coordinates so the team could use the spot to either land a chopper or rappel in from one, depending on what the team leader decided to do when they got here. The situation could have changed drastically by then, so it was best to leave all options open.
“Where is Captain Parkington?” Sykes asked.
“Back at the B&B. I’ve been in touch with her since I left there and she’s aware of some of what’s going on.”
He wasn’t sure if the commander would be on his ass about disclosing the events of the evening to a civilian before he’d reported in to his commanding officer, but no way was Sam going to leave Emily out of the loop. Her safety was of paramount importance to him and if he couldn’t be there to see to it himself, he wanted her on guard for danger, armed with all the intel he could give her. If that got him in trouble with his CO, then so be it.
“That’s all right.” The approval in Sykes’ voice took Sam by surprise. “You might as well give her the sitrep so she can be on guard. Is she armed?”
“Yes, sir. I gave her my spare with the special ammo.” Sam knew that hadn’t been authorized, but he’d live with his decisions and their consequences.