Transmission: Voodoo Plague Book 5 (22 page)

I had never been in one of the Marine’s Ospreys before, and
was surprised how roomy it was.  And fast, compared to a Black Hawk.  But then
that was the whole idea.  It didn’t replace helicopters.  It provided a
different advantage.  But the one disadvantage was not having a side door I
could slide open to get some fresh air.

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life in the company of fellow
soldiers in the field.  When you’re fighting, running, hiding, all the things
warriors do, you sweat.  And there’s not a nice, hot shower waiting around
every turn.  So that sweat ripens, and ripens and ripens.  And God help you if
anyone you’re with gets one of the MREs with Chili and Beans or Southwest
Chicken and Black Beans.  Then you’ve got a constant stream of farts to mix
with the body odor.

Well, these Marines had been in the field for a while.  And
it seemed like all of them had eaten something with beans recently.  The inside
of the Osprey was just foul.  Eye watering foul.  Wrap a towel around your face
and breathe through your mouth foul.  But I was in no position to criticize.  I
was a bit ripe myself and I’m not too proud to admit my farts can peel paint.

Martinez and Igor seemed immune, as I expected, but Rachel
and Irina looked like they were ready to throw up.  They were seated as far
apart as they could get, neither apparently having forgiven the other.  Dog lay
sleeping at Rachel’s feet, unaffected by any smell so tame as just some sweaty,
gassy humans.

 The refinery outside of Midland was only a short hop by air
from where we’d been picked up.  It seemed like we’d just gotten settled in
when the pilot came on the intercom with a warning that we were only 15 minutes
out.  I worked my way forward to peer through the cockpit windshield, surprised
when I could see the lights shining brightly across the dark desert.  It looked
like the house that gets decorated at Christmas time by the guy with way too
much time on his hands. 

There was a light everywhere.  Hundreds of them, maybe even
thousands.  And every single one of those bulbs would be a beacon to any
infected. 

“Hey, Zemeck.”  I called my friend over.  “You guys got
detailed to hold the field and refinery, right?”

“Yeah.  Why?”  He asked, stooping to peer out the cockpit at
whatever I was looking at.

“You need to get those damn lights turned off.  The males
are blind, but the females can see like a fucking hawk.  You got enough
problems without attracting every woman for miles around.”  I said.

“We’re Marines.  Can’t help it if the ladies are attracted
to us.”  He said in a loud voice with a snide grin on his face.  Everyone in
the aircraft heard him and a chorus of oorah’s broke out. 

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”  He said when they quieted
down, sounding anything but sorry.  “That’s on my list.  Had to divert to come
save some dumb grunt’s ass that got lost and haven’t had time to take care of
it.”  He said in a quieter voice.  “We’ve fought small groups of them, and of
course ones and twos, but haven’t tried to hold against a large body of
infected.  You?”

“Yes.”  I said, thinking about Murfreesboro.  “They’re about
impossible to hold back once they get into a herd.  If you build a wall,
they’ll pile up on top of each other until they reach the top.  You can delay
them for a while, but the only way to stop them is to kill every last one of
them.”

Zemeck knew me well enough to understand I wasn’t
exaggerating or talking out of my ass.  He met my eyes and nodded, concern creasing
his forehead.

“Where’d you try to make a stand?”  He asked. 

I guess it was plain on my face that I was speaking from
memory, so I told him about Murfreesboro.  He asked a few tactical questions,
not liking the answers I gave him. 

“Can we hold the refinery?”  He finally asked, straight out.

“No.”  I said.  “Not if one of the herds shows up and all
you have are a few hundred ground troops.  They don’t get tired.  Don’t get
frightened.  Could care less about how many loses they are taking.  You’ll run
out of ammo long before you run out of targets, then they’ll breach your
defenses and…”

“Yeah, I got it.”  He said, looking back out the windshield
at the refinery lights.  “So what do we do?”

“If I were you, I’d be asking the Air Force to start bombing
the shit out of the herd that’s approaching.  Thin them out some.  I’d also
look at putting some of my guys in Hummers out in the desert to draw them off. 
Lead them away.  I don’t know if that will work or not, but it’s all I’ve
got.”  I said.

He nodded and we moved back to our seats as the pilot
transitioned to hover and brought us in for a landing.  The rear ramp dropped
and I held my group back so the Marines could make a quick exit.  When the
squad was clear of the door I stepped out into the night air, Dog following
because that’s what he does.  Zemeck was waiting for me, looking at the massive
collection of pipes and tanks that turned crude oil into gasoline and diesel.

“Don’t want to hang around for a bit, do you?”  He asked
jokingly.  He knew I would if I could.

“Matt,” I paused until he was looking at me.  “Remember what
I told you.  Have an exit plan.  You and your Marines are more valuable than a
refinery.  I know you don’t like the idea of running any more than I do, but
this isn’t a normal enemy.  They won’t stop until every last Marine is dead. 
When they breach, you get your asses out of here.  When I get to Tinker I’ll
see what I can do about getting you some air assets to assist.”

He nodded, turned and took my hand.  “Take care of yourself. 
Hope whatever’s going on with these Russians works out.”

“Me too.”  I said, turned and climbed back into the Osprey. 

Dog bounded up the ramp and I shouted to the pilot that we
were ready.  A moment later the ramp closed, then we were lifting off vertically. 

“You OK?”  Rachel asked, slipping her arm through mine and
resting her head on my shoulder.

“Fucking ducky.”  I said.  “Pretty sure I just said good bye
for the last time to a friend.”

Dog picked up on my mood and rested his chin in my lap. 
Rachel didn’t have anything to say and settled for just being close.  I put my
hand on Dog’s head and scratched his ears as we transitioned to horizontal
flight and headed north to Oklahoma.

Roach screeched to a stop outside the barrack where Katie
and the rest of her party were housed.  Unclipping a radio microphone from the
dash, he made an emergency call on the Security Forces frequency, alerting the
dispatchers that the fence had been breached and infected were inside the
perimeter.  10 seconds later sirens began wailing all across the base. 
Civilians stood looking frightened, unsure what to do.

Jumping out of the Humvee he ran inside the large building. 
Finding her should be easy.  In the military every room in every building is
numbered and he knew which room she had been assigned.  But when he got there,
the door was standing partially open and the room was empty.  Feeling the time
pressure, he started going down the hall, opening doors without knocking,
looking for her.

Frightened women asked him what was happening, but he
ignored them and kept searching.  As he was about to open another door, Katie
came around a corner at the far end of the building.  Moving fast, she was rubbing
her long hair with a towel, and was barefoot.  A robe was cinched loosely
around her waist, her free hand holding it closed across her breasts as she ran
down the corridor.

“Mrs. Chase,” Roach called as she approached.

“Yes?”  Katie slowed, pulled the robe tighter across her
chest and eyed him up and down.  It made him nervous when she did that.  There
was something about the woman that made him feel like she could see what he was
thinking.

“I’m Captain Roach.  We met when you arrived.  I’m here to take
you to your husband.”  He said in a rush.

Katie came to a complete stop, the towel dropping through
her fingers and falling to the floor.  “What did you say?”

“Your husband, John.  He’s back in the Army, a Major now,
and we just realized who you are.  I talked to him on a satellite phone about
half an hour ago.  He’s at an Army post a short flight away and has asked that
you be brought to him.”  Roach had practiced the line in his head and was happy
with how it sounded when he spoke it.

“The Army?  He’s alive?”  She took a step toward him, and
for half a second Roach thought she was going to collapse. 

Tears welled up in her eyes and began pouring down her
face.  She forgot all about modesty and raised her hands to her face, the robe
parting and revealing her nudity.   Roach caught his breath at the sight of her
body, but forced himself to keep playing the part and not get lost in his
fantasies and desires.

“Ma’am.  We have to go now.  There’s a breach in the fence,
and I’ve got a helicopter standing by to take you to your husband.”  Roach
added what he thought was just the right sense of urgency to his voice and body
language.  Katie nodded, realized her robe was open and pulled it closed and
tightly cinched the belt. 

“Let me get dressed.”  She said and started to dash towards
her room.  Half way there she stopped so abruptly that Roach, who was
following, nearly ran into her.

“The children.”  She said, an anguished look on her face. 
“I can’t leave them if there’s infected coming.”

“Ma’am, there are 15,000 Soldiers, Airmen and Marines on
this base right now.  No disrespect, but there’s nothing you can do to protect
the children that they can’t.  Now, we need to go before the Army moves your
husband again and we can’t find him.”  Roach improvised the last part, but it
was what was needed to get Katie moving again.

Nodding, she ran into her room and shoved the door closed
behind her, the latch not catching.  The heavy, steel door slowly swung back
open a foot before stopping.  As soon as she was inside, Katie had stripped off
the robe.  Roach stood in the hall, mesmerized by her naked form as she grabbed
clothing and dressed as quickly as she could. 

He turned before she realized he was watching her, playing
the part of a man guarding a woman’s modesty.  A moment later she stepped out
next to him, a holstered pistol on her right hip, boots and socks in her hand.

“I’ll put them on in the car.”  Katie said when he looked at
what she was carrying.  “Let’s go.”

Roach led the way outside and moments later they were in the
Hummer and heading for the flight line.  Katie finished dressing, sat up and
looked around at a speeding truckload of Marines headed for the fence breach.

“Where’s he been?  How the hell did he wind up back in the
Army?”  She asked, looking at Roach. 

“I don’t know ma’am.  Like I said, we just matched your name
with his a couple of hours ago.  When your names matched, the system popped up
a notice that he was close, so I gave him a call to make sure there wasn’t an
error with the names.  I was able to send him the picture we took of you to
verify we were talking about the right person.”  Roach was pleased with how
well he was making it up on the fly.

“Where are we going?”  She asked.  “Couldn’t he come here?”

“Ma’am, again, no disrespect intended, but were you married
to him when he was in the Army?”  Roach tried to deflect the questions while he
drove.

“Yes, I was.  And you’re right.  I know how the Army works. 
Sorry, Captain.  I had given up on him.  I was sure he was dead.  Or one of the
infected.”  Katie started crying again, tears flowing for a couple of minutes
as she fought to get her emotions under control.

It didn’t take long to reach the flight line.  As they
approached the Pave Hawk, he could see Tillman standing next to the helicopter. 
He scanned the area with his eyes, but didn’t see anyone waiting for him.  The
hangar doors were closed and Roach worried that there was a squad of cops
waiting inside to come charging out and arrest him, but he was out of options. 
Not trying for the helicopter would be a certain death sentence.  If nothing
else, there were cameras that had recorded him tearing a hole in the fence.

Approaching the aircraft, Roach patted his left pocket to
ensure the law enforcement grade Taser was still there.  Satisfied when he felt
its bulk, he turned the wheel and came to a stop 30 yards from the big
helicopter.  Tillman had climbed into the cockpit when he had seen Roach
approaching and already had the engines running, the large rotor just starting
to spin up.

“Here’s our ride.”  Roach said, killing the engine and
getting out of the Hummer. 

Katie jumped out on her side and ran to keep up with Roach. 
He knew this was a critical moment.  If she sensed anything was amiss, he
wouldn’t get away cleanly with her.  Action and movement were on his side,
though, keeping her from thinking too much if she had to hurry.

They reached the side door of the helicopter and Roach
stepped aside for Katie.  She smiled her thanks and moved past him, reaching
for the edge of the door to help pull herself inside.  As soon as her back was
to him, Roach pulled the Taser out of his pocket, aimed at the back of her neck
and fired.  Two small, metal darts trailing thin wires shot out and embedded
into her skin and delivered 775,000 volts of electricity.  Katie stiffened,
then fell to the ground.

Roach scooped her up and tossed her into the helicopter
where he quickly restrained her with flexi cuffs around her wrists and ankles. 
Slamming the side door shut he shouted at Tillman to get them in the air.

“What the hell are you doing?”  Tillman shouted as they flew
over the perimeter fence, less than 50 feet in the air.

“Worry about your wife, Captain.”  Roach said, displaying
the transmitter to the pilot.  The man swallowed nervously and looked like he
wanted to say more, but kept his mouth shut.

“Here’s where we’re going.”  Roach passed him a small piece
of paper with a set of coordinates written on it in a hasty hand.

Tillman gained a little altitude so he could enter them into
the computer without having to worry about flying into a tree or utility pole. 
A couple of moments later a large screen in the cockpit refreshed and displayed
a pulsing red dot on a map.  The pilot entered a few commands and the system
generated a flight plan based on their current position.  He swung the Pave
Hawk onto the new heading and turned to shout to Roach.

“Nav says we’re 48 minutes to destination.”

Roach nodded and sat down on the vibrating deck next to
Katie.  She was conscious, but her nervous system was still so scrambled from
the Taser’s shock that she couldn’t move or speak.  Looking down at her, Roach
reached out and placed his hand on her hip.  Slowly, he began tracing the
curves of her body, moving his hand up across her flat stomach and caressing
her breasts.  He had his leverage.