Jake nodded as Bill started to move them back down the drive. “Okay. But the army mans will probably try to stop us.”
“There are roadblocks on all the highways, byways, entrances, and exits. We have a unit combing the woods now, and choppers doing flyovers looking for heat signatures, and radioing their locations back to the ground teams. Trust me, sir, we will have this outbreak contained and cleaned up before nightfall tomorrow,” Vickers said into the satellite phone.
Major Chappell stood to the side and made notes while the colonel paced and nodded. “Yes, sir. As soon as we can,” he responded. The major glanced at him and wished that she could hear both sides of the conversation. “We’ve commandeered the local ranger station and a few police assets that were left on the scene. They aren’t much, but they’ll work for an operation of such short duration.”
Major Chappell wished that just once, the higher brass would leave the safety of the Pentagon and drag their tight asses into the woods for an operation like this one. She’d seen some of the first bodies that were brought back. They were close, and upon seeing the activity at the scene, began screaming and attacked. They were made quick work of, but the damage to the bodies before they were shot made her wonder how they continued to live, much less be so lethal.
“The CDC has just arrived and is setting up their own shop, sir,” Vickers explained. “From Fort Collins. The New Vector-Borne Infectious Disease Laboratory, or some such. I’m not exactly sure, but this is right up their alley, and they were the closest branch,” Vickers continued to explain as he kissed their collective asses. It made Chappell sick.
“Yes, sir, I’ll keep you updated,” he said again before hanging up. Vickers sighed and placed the satellite phone back into the secure briefcase. “What a bunch of morons,” he muttered.
She turned to the colonel. “And they’re the source of our black operations orders, sir?”
Vickers raised a brow at her. “Negative, Major,” he replied softly. “As far as the Pentagon is concerned, this operation is simply a contain and cleanup.” He stared out the window at the light beginning to form on the horizon. “Those orders come from a much higher source.”
“Higher than the Pentagon, sir?”
“Better not to know. Plausible deniability ring a bell? We’re going to have a long day ahead of us. And we’ll be needing that Mobile Command trailer cleaned out.”
“On it, sir,” she said as she turned to leave.
“Major, one more thing.” Vickers continued to stare out the window.
“Yes, colonel?”
“This is from the Pentagon.” He turned to face her. “There were no survivors.”
Her face never wavered as she nodded. “Yes, sir.” She turned and headed out the door to relay the colonel’s orders. As soon as she stepped out into the brisk mountain air, she felt her knees begin to buckle.
“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”
Chapter 4
Buck overcompensated on a turn and felt the pickup begin to fishtail. As he steered to correct it, the vehicle slid sideways on the dirt road and he watched in horror as the front fender collided with a parked car. The rear of the truck spun around sharply and hit another car on the opposite side of the road. The momentum carried the truck over on to its side, rolling it to its top and partially over to the other side.
Neither he nor Skeeter had bothered with a seat belt, and subsequently they bounced around the inside of the cab, smashing into each other, never feeling the cuts from a thousand pieces of safety glass as it rained down upon them. Buck found himself wedged under the steering wheel on the floorboard, his arm pressing the gas pedal to the floor, the rear wheels spinning uselessly as the engine revved faster. Skeeter lay across him at an angle, her arm wedged behind him and stuck against the side of the truck’s interior.
“That wasn’t fun,” Buck muttered as he pried his arm up and off the accelerator. “Can you move off me?” he asked as he tried to squeeze between the steering wheel and the seat.
“Oh, my God. Is it going to blow up?” Skeeter panicked as she thought of all of the movies she had seen where cars exploded as soon as they collided with another vehicle. “We have to get out before it blows up!”
“The back window.” Buck pointed to the rear of the cab. The rear window had been popped completely out of the cab and—at some point—had shattered in the rear of the bed. “Crawl out there.”
Skeeter unceremoniously stepped on Buck as she pushed herself up and out of the hole. Buck slid across the floorboard and slipped out from under the steering wheel. He saw his dad’s pistol laying against the door panel and reached down to grab it. He didn’t know if they’d be able to make it far, but he knew that any weapon they could save from this mishap might mean life or death for them both. He tucked it into his pants again and grabbed for the backpacks, tossing them out the window.
“Take these,” he said as he tried to wedge himself out the window.
Skeeter had already crawled to the ground and was feeling every stiff muscle that her body had produced in the wreck. She ignored the bags as they fell out the rear window and walked in circles as Buck fell out onto the ground as well.
“We are so screwed,” she muttered as she continued to walk in circles, staring out at the woods.
“Grab your bag and let’s get the hell out of here,” Buck said as he tried to stand
