Insurance. Purna was growing to hate that word. The men in the police station had kept Jin as ‘insurance’. ‘And if it does work?’ she said.

‘You’ll still be assets,’ Charon replied. ‘Once news of the virus gets out, I’m sure there will be plenty of factions desperate for immunity.’

‘So what you saying?’ said Sam. ‘That you’ll sell us like cattle to the highest bidder?’

‘Maybe. But don’t worry, I’ll see that you go to a good home.’

‘I thought you worked for the Organization?’

‘That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a little free enterprise.’

Purna gave him a disgusted look. ‘You’re nothing but a chancer, are you, Kevin or Charon or whatever your name is?’

‘I prefer to think of myself as an entrepreneur,’ Charon said.

‘Dealing in human lives?’ asked Purna.

‘Why not?’ Charon replied. ‘Is there a product more precious?’

Before anyone could answer, there was a groan and Yerema leaned back in her seat, screwing up her eyes in an attempt to open them.

‘Ah, and here’s Patient Zero,’ he said, ‘the most precious asset of all.’

Suddenly, briskly, he strode across to the line of chairs on which they sat and shook first Logan and then Jin roughly by the shoulder.

‘Wake up,’ he barked. ‘It’s time to go.’

Chapter 24. UBER ZOMBIE

‘YOU MUST BE the people who brought the vaccine.’

Strong-jawed and broad-shouldered, Colonel Ryder White looked every inch the capable and efficient army man. Even standing beneath the blazing sun, and despite his straitened circumstances, his green army fatigues were immaculate — every button fastened, trousers tucked neatly into the tops of his gleaming, tightly-laced army boots, red beret folded precisely beneath the epaulette on his left shoulder.

His wife’s demeanour, however, could not have provided more of a contrast. Strapped to a gurney with thick leather constraints, the clearly once slim and pretty blonde woman in the beautifully-tailored white suit was a snarling spitting harridan. Her eyes had already taken on the familiar milky glaze of the terminally infected and her skin was grey and discoloured. Even her suit looked grubby and dishevelled, as if she had been scrabbling around in the dirt, or as if the corruption of her body was seeping through her clothes.

One look was enough for Sam to tell there was no way back for her. If White believed that some miracle vaccine was going to restore his wife to life and health, then he was sorely deluded.

‘That’s us,’ said Logan in response to White’s question.

‘Why are you handcuffed?’

‘You better ask him,’ said Sam, jerking his head towards Charon, who was at the rear of the group, herding them across the wide expanse of the tower roof with the aid of what had previously been Yerema’s handgun.

‘Despite the successful conclusion to what you no doubt perceive as a heroic mission, Colonel, these people are ruthless mercenaries and should be treated with the utmost caution,’ Charon said.

Purna barked a laugh. ‘That’s a prime example of the pot calling the kettle black if I ever heard one.’

Despite asking the question, White seemed uninterested in either Charon’s explanation or Purna’s response. Looking at Charon with barely concealed desperation, he demanded, ‘Where is the vaccine now?’

Charon patted the pocket of his overalls. ‘Don’t worry, Colonel. I have it here, safe and sound.’

‘Show it to me.’

‘I don’t think that’s really nece—’

‘Show it to me,’ the Colonel insisted, employing what Sam guessed was his parade-ground bark, a tone that invited no argument. ‘I need to know it exists, that there’s still a chance …’

His voice choked off, and Sam realized how raw the Colonel’s emotions were, how hard he was fighting to hold himself together. Walking forward a few paces, Charon sighed and reached into his pocket, producing the stoppered vial of yellowish liquid.

‘There you are,’ he said, as if speaking to a spoiled child. ‘Happy now?’

White produced a Beretta M9 from his holster and pointed it at Charon. ‘Hand it over.’

Sam glanced at Charon, who was now standing to his right. The Organization agent rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, come on, Colonel, put that away. You’re embarrassing yourself.’

‘Give it to me.’

‘Why?’ asked Charon. ‘So you can feed it to your wife like medicine? Don’t be ridiculous. It has to be fully tested and an antidote manufactured. That’s going to take time.’

‘We don’t have time,’ White insisted, and he seemed twitchy now, agitated. Beads of sweat stood out on his broad forehead. ‘My wife’s sick, can’t you see that?’

‘Your wife’s dead, Colonel,’ Purna piped up. She jerked her head towards Charon. ‘And he killed her.’

‘Dead?’ White shook his head angrily. ‘No … no, she’s very ill. But she’s going to be fine.’

Charon laughed. ‘Of course she is, Colonel. Don’t listen to this woman. She’s just trying to drive a wedge between us.’

‘It’s true, Colonel,’ Purna called across the gap between them. ‘This man — Charon or Kevin or whatever he calls himself — introduced the virus into the hospital, knowing that your wife would contract it. He did it to delay your order to destroy the island if the infection achieved pandemic proportions — which, of course, it quickly did.’

Charon laughed even harder. ‘I’ve never heard such nonsense.’

‘It’s all true,’ Logan called. ‘He told us so himself. We all heard it, right everyone?’

They all nodded.

‘He’s been stringing you along, Colonel,’ Sam shouted. ‘Every step of the way. He and the people he works for want to use the virus as a weapon. They only wanted a vaccine so they could control it.’

White gaped at them, clearly not sure what to believe. Apparently unruffled, Charon said, ‘Of course they’re going to say that, Colonel. But we both know it’s not true, don’t we? It’s just a pathetic attempt to divide and conquer. But it’s not going to work, is it? We’re both stronger, more intelligent than that.’

‘Look at your wife, Colonel,’ Purna shouted. ‘Look at what Charon did to her.’

White looked down at his wife, bemused and indecisive, his capable and efficient demeanour of a few minutes before having crumbled completely. ‘You did this?’ he asked.

‘Of course not,’ snapped Charon, exasperated. ‘They’re just—’

And that was when Sam hit him.

Taking advantage of Charon’s momentary distraction, Sam threw himself sideways, his hands still cuffed in front of him. His 190 pounds of almost solid muscle smashed into the skinnier man’s midriff and knocked him off his feet. Both men landed in a heap, Charon on his back, Sam crashing down on the ground next to him and taking the full impact on his shoulder. Although Charon kept a grip on his gun, the vial of vaccine flew from his hand and hit the ground about five metres away. Despite being made of glass, it didn’t break, but instead rolled along the tower’s flat concrete roof. Furiously Charon kicked out at Sam, then brought his gun hand round and smashed him in the side of the head. Sam, who had been struggling to rise, groaned and slumped back down, dazed. Charon jumped to his feet, teeth bared in a feral snarl.

While Sam and Charon had been scrabbling on the ground, Jin, acting largely on impulse, had broken away from the captive group and sprinted towards the rolling vial. Dropping to her knees, she leaned forward and awkwardly snatched it up in one of her cuffed hands, scrambled back to her feet and ran towards the Colonel and his wife. She had a vague notion that the vaccine would be better off in White’s hands than in Charon’s, that under

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