After a moment, she said quietly, “Roger that, Redoubt. Inform the Commander that I am staying on course, but if I can find enough fuel, I’m coming back, over.”
“Roger that, Air One,” Redoubt replied. “Be informed that we are shutting down the radio. We need all the power from the generators for the fence. If you do make it back, you will be landing on your own. My Guard unit is getting ready to leave for the outer fence, so I have to go. Good luck to you, Air One. Over and out.”
Stacey said, “Good luck back at you, Redoubt. This is Air One, over and out.”
Banking to starboard, she turned the plane on a heading to the east. This brought them within sight of Fort Redoubt, and she and Steve looked at it as they flew over. When it was nothing but a memory, Stacey banked the small airplane north-northeast on a heading toward Arkansas. They had been too high to see the frenzied preparations going on in and around it, but they both knew they had people they loved down there getting ready for the waves of dead flesh coming at them.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Russellville, Arkansas:
Major Jedidiah Cage leaned over his desk as he traced the numerous roads leading into the area. With so many different ways the group coming from Texas could take, he thought to himself that he might as well enlist a psychic to guess which one they would use.
Sitting across from him, Staff Sergeant Fagan said, “Give it a break, sir. Even if they left this morning, they won’t be close to us for days.”
Without looking up, Cage said, “I feel like I have to do something. Any more word from Polk about them?”
“Negative, sir,” Fagan answered. “The last word we received was about half an hour ago. Polk said that they tried to contact them again, but they were off the air. Like I told you, after that initial contact, no one has heard from them. They did intercept some secondary radio traffic about a huge group of Zs moving into the area, but that was all.”
Almost to himself, Cage said, “Then they’re probably already on the move.” Motioning for the Staff Sergeant to join him, he asked, “Where did you say they were coming from again?”
Fagan levered himself out of his chair and bent over the map. After studying it for a few seconds, he pointed to a spot on it and said, “The guy at Polk told me they were holed up with a bunch of militia just south of this lake.”
Looking at the possible routes they might take from there, Cage said, “We need to meet them as far out as possible and bring them in. If I were them, I would take the most direct route. They’re going to have to use secondary roads, though, because the freeways are one huge traffic jam and they cut through the major cities. That leaves about two dozen dirt roads and two-lane blacktops we’ll need to patrol.”
“Too many for us to cover,” Fagan commented. “We don’t have the manpower or the resources to do any kind of recon in force over that wide an area. On top of that, what if they cut cross-country? The best we can do is wait for them to contact us. I’m sure they’ll have a CB radio with them, so we just have to wait until they come into range.”
Knowing the Staff Sergeant was right, Cage leaned back as he said, “So you’re telling me that we put our thumb back up our ass and sit here until we hear from them?”
A knock on the door interrupted them.
With a raised eyebrow, Fagan said, “Maybe that’s them, sir.”
Ignoring him, Major Cage said, “Come in.”
The radio operator that had replaced Jimmy McPherson entered and handed Cage a pile of communication slips. The Major dismissed him, but the man stood dancing from foot to foot until Cage gave him a questioning, “Yes?”
Tom thought about whether to answer or just spin around and leave. He wasn’t regular military, or even National Guard. In fact, before Z-day, his only job had been working the drive-thru at Taco Bell. He had been conscripted in one of the first manpower drives, and ever since he had regretted not finding a better place to hide from the dead and the living.
Half in question, half in statement, he finally said, “You gave orders to let you know about all messages coming in that are from a group heading our way from Texas, sir.”
Rifling through the papers in his hand, Cage asked, “Have we heard from them already?”
“We did, sir,” the radioman told him, “but the transcript of the conversation isn’t in there.”
Losing patience, Cage spit out, “Then where the fuck is it, and why didn’t you call me when they first made contact?”
Cowed by the outburst, Tom took a step backward.
In a calm voice, Fagan said, “Relax and tell me and the Major what’s going on.”
Tom took a deep breath and said, “I started to contact you right away, but one of Sergeant Cain’s men was with me. He told me that if I called you or told anyone about what was happening, Hawkins would use me in one of his experiments. That’s why I didn’t call you, sir. He also took my notes before I could reproduce them, sirs.”
Fagan and Cage exchanged a look. Up until now, they had been the ones trying to sabotage the Malectron, but maybe the tables had turned.
“Think back, Tom,” Fagan said in an even voice. “What did they say?”
Swallowing hard, Tom said, “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise to protect me. I’ve heard stories about what goes on in the basement of that farmhouse, sirs.”
His voice icy, Cage said, “How’s this for a deal: if you don’t tell me everything they said, what Hawkins does to you will pale in comparison to what I’ll do to you.”
Feeling trapped, Tom wished he had never heard of Hawkins, the Army, Arkansas, or Major Cage. Seeing no way out of this, he said, “They contacted us about ten minutes ago. They do have a little girl that was bitten a couple times by one of the dead and never turned, and they said that they’re bringing her here.”
“Did they say which road they were using?” Cage asked.
Shaking his head, Tom replied, “None of them, sir.”
Knowing that time was of the essence and
the sooner they knew the route, the faster they could get a squad out to find these people and bring them to safety, Fagan asked abruptly. “Then how are they getting here?”
Imagined scenes of his torture in the cellar of the farmhouse suddenly crept into Tom’s mind. Stopping to consider again who really had the power in the camp and who could protect him, he hesitated. In the silence of the office, Fagan’s question was answered by the faint sound of aircraft engines.
***
Sitting in his private quarters on the third floor of the farmhouse, Professor Hawkins read through the notes before asking his second in command, “Has anyone else seen these?”
“Only my man and the radio operator,” Cain answered.
“The radio operator,” Hawkins said with disgust. “So that means that everyone in the camp knows what’s going on by now.”
“My man couldn’t kill him in the comm-shack,” Cain explained. “Too many people knew he was in there alone. He had to settle for threatening him to keep his mouth shut.”
“Do you think he’ll remain silent?” Hawkins asked.
Cain thought about it for a second before answering, “He’s a conscript, so he doesn’t have any love for the Army. My guess is he’ll eventually say something, though. My man had the radio guy tell the people on the plane that we would have someone meet them when they landed.”
Dropping the notes onto the top of his desk, Hawkins said, “Then we have to move quickly. I want you to get a squad together and head out to the airport as fast as you can. I want the little girl alive if you can manage it, since I’d like to eventually examine her. If that proves to be impossible, you may kill her, along with her escort. This way, we keep the focus on the Malectron and not on a cure to the HWNW virus.”
Cain was about to ask a question when the faint sound of aircraft engines caused him move to the window. Joined by Hawkins, the two men watched as a small plane passed by in the distance. Looking down, they saw that this was no cause for interest to any of the men and women in sight. Planes and helicopters occasionally flew by, but the only aircraft that drew their attention was the resupply chopper.
“That’s got to be them,” Cain pointed out.
“Then you need to get moving,” Hawkins ordered him.
As he was about to turn from the window, movement caught Cain’s eye. Looking toward Major Cage’s office, he could see him standing in front of it with Staff Sergeant Fagan and the radio operator. Fagan pointed toward the airplane and said something to Cage. As he watched, the Major gave orders to three of his men, who started double-timing it toward the motor pool.
“Shit,” Cain cursed. “Now it’s going to be a race to see who can get to the girl first.”
As he started to move toward the door, Hawkins halted him by saying, “Don’t bother, they’ve got a head start, so
there’s no way you can beat them. The best you can hope to do is to show up second and try to kill everyone. We both know that there’s little chance of that since you will be outgunned. On top of that, the minute they see you getting ready to go out, they’ll know something’s up.”
“So what do we do?” Cain almost whined.
Hawkins thought for a moment before asking, “What’s the news from Washington, D.C.?”
“Not too good,” Cain answered. “It looks like the Chairman is going to lose.”
Hawkins waved this off and said, “Then we need to approach whoever ends up in charge. It doesn’t matter if they’re right wing, left wing or a chicken wing, they will want the Malectron. If they’re fighting each other for power, the winner will want the ultimate weapon at their disposal.”
“But what about Connors and her anti-virus?” Cain asked. “She can complete it now that she has someone that’s immune to the disease. We can’t be completely sure the new leaders will choose the Malectron over a way to eradicate the dead, and with no dead to control, we lose our power base.”
A sick smile twisted across Hawkins’ features as he said, “Then we need to keep that from happening. Contact Washington, D.C. on behalf of Doctor Connors and report that the anti-virus is ineffective and all further testing is being suspended. In addition, tell them that foreign troops have been spotted in the area and I request immediate evacuation, lest the Malectron fall into enemy hands. This will get them moving since the Malectron will be their only option. Once you have confirmation that we are to be picked up, I want you to destroy the radio. Make it look like an accident, we don’t need to tip our hand too soon.”
Warily, Cain said, “But Cage and his men control the camp. When the evac team shows up, they’ll find out that there is an anti-virus. We don’t know who’s going to be in charge, and they may decide to go with a way to wipe out the dead rather than control them.”
Making a tsking noise, Hawkins shook his head in mock sadness as he said, “Ye of little faith. By the time they arrive, there won’t be an anti-virus.”
Russellville Regional Airport:
Jimmy McPherson came to with a buzzing in his ears. In the fuzzy state between being asleep and awake, he waved his hands at the gnats he imagined flying around them. As he became more aware, he realized that it was still to cool out for flies. Shrugging it off, he didn’t care what it was as long as it went away. Pulling his field jacket up over his head to block whatever was annoying him, seconds later he pulled it away when the buzzing grew into a loud drone.
Popping up from the rear seat of the abandoned helicopter, he looked up just in time to see a two-engine plane fly low over the airfield. Watching as it banked gracefully to line up with the end of the runway, he squinted his eyes to see its markings. If they were military, he would run. If they were civilian, he would lay low. The reasoning behind this was that while the military would check out everything in the area, while civilians would take one look at the wreck of a helicopter he was hiding in and dismiss it as holding anything useful. With its engine, rotor and fuel tank missing, it was nothing but a shell. And while it would never fly again, with doors that locked from the inside, it suited Jimmy’s needs perfectly.
The plane grew in size as it approached, sunlight glinting off its aluminum fuselage. This told Jimmy what he needed to know. From his own personal experience, he knew that anything and everything the Army bought, borrowed, appropriated or stole was immediately blotched with earth tone paint to break up its outline. He could never figure out why they did this with aircraft, though, since it made them stick out.
The airplane slowly dropped out of the sky to land gracefully on the runway. Ducking down, Jimmy watched as it taxied to the center of a large concrete parking apron a hundred feet away. After rolling to a stop, its engines continued to idle.
Smart move, Jimmy thought to himself. They just dropped into an unknown situation, so they’re keeping ready to take off at a second’s notice.
The hatch dropped from the side of the fuselage, and a man jumped down to scan his surroundings. He was followed quickly by a woman and a younger man, who spread out to join him in checking the area. Jimmy was pleased in his assessment of his hiding place, as none of them paid it any attention beyond an uninterested glance. They weren’t the Army, but whenever their gaze did turn in his direction, he ducked down. Your average group of looters and brigands didn’t usually land in an airplane, but it was better to be safe than sorry.