Hatcher turned an angry eye to Mitch who was still staring at the major. “I did,” Mitch said quietly. “Got sick of being other people’s pit-bull, so I quit.” He motioned around him, “This is home now.”
“Seriously?” Maggie’s eyes widened, the distaste in her voice apparent.
“Yeah,” Mitch nodded, “seriously.”
“You were a warrior.”
“Still am.” Mitch kept the rifle leveled at her.
“Excuse me,” Hatcher interrupted. “Where the hell is Doctor Evil?”
Maggie rolled her eyes at him and placed her hands on her hips. “He’s not here.”
“I can see that.” Hatcher was losing his patience. “Care to explain?”
“He took a bird up to get an overview.” She turned back to Mitch. “What are the odds?”
“Slim,” he said, smiling.
Candy stepped up and stuck her hand out. “Deputy Candice Olson.”
Maggie looked at her as though she had just climbed out of a wet bag of garbage. “A pleasure.”
Hatcher motioned toward the major. “Will she work? For the plan?”
Mitch suddenly sobered and stared at him. “No, she won’t.”
“What plan?” Maggie asked.
“The ‘nunya’ plan,” Hatcher said as he pushed past her. “None ya business.” He began rifling through the things on his desk as she came around beside him.
“What are you doing?” She reached for the papers he held.
“Looking for anything we can use to help us stop Vickers,” Hatcher stated.
“There’s nothing here.” Maggie tried to pull the folders from his grip.
“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.” Hatcher jerked the file folders free.
“Hatch!” Mitch yelled. “She ain’t the enemy.”
Hatcher paused and stared at him. “She’s working for the enemy, bud. That makes her one of them.”
“Actually,” Maggie began, “I’ve been questioning my part in all of this.”
“Oh, really?” Hatcher shot back sarcastically.
“Yeah,” Maggie said in a defeated tone. “I’ve found out a few things recently that…” she trailed off.
“What did you find out?” Mitch asked as he moved in closer to her.
Candy watched his body movements and felt a sudden pang of jealousy. She watched his hand as it rubbed down the lady soldier’s back, consoling her, and Candy’s vision went red. She couldn’t explain her sudden onrush of emotions, but she knew there was a lot more to their history than met the eye.
“They’re planning on doing experiments on the survivors,” Maggie said softly. “Horrible experiments.”
“Like what, Mags?”
She lifted her big doe eyes and probed his own. “They’re going to infect them with the virus. Right here, at the park. Not in some secret government lab, but here.” Her voice nearly broke as she admitted this to him.
Mitch looked at Hatcher who froze behind the desk. “Is that what that huge white tent is for?”
“No,” she shook her head. “They’re going to use the trailer.”
Candy squared her shoulders. “Our trailer? The MU? Oh, hell no.” She glanced at Hatcher. “We can’t allow this.”
“We won’t.” Hatcher closed the folders he had been rifling through. “I have this. It’s a start.”
Maggie turned and looked at the folder he held triumphantly over his head. “What is that?”
“Top Secret orders,” Hatcher said with a smirk.
Maggie shook her head. “Those aren’t real. The real ones are locked in a metal briefcase.”
Hatcher’s face fell and he turned to Mitch. “Does that sound right?”
Mitch shrugged. “Beats me, man. I never worked with the paper pushers. I was a ground pounder.”
Hatcher turned back to Maggie. “Show me.”
Maggie stepped away from the desk and to the filing cabinet. She pushed the cabinet from the wall and pulled a metal case from behind it. “It’s locked.”
Hatcher tossed it to Mitch. “Do what you can.”
Mitch pulled his knife and made quick work of the locking mechanisms. “Cheap piece of shit,” he mumbled as he tossed the briefcase on the top of the desk.
Hatcher lifted the lid and Maggie pulled the orders from inside. “If we get out of here alive, this is what you’ll need.”
Candy nearly jumped out of her boots when the front doors of the station banged against the wall and feet could be heard running through the center. “Someone’s here,” she whispered as she melted against the wall, bringing her pistol up to bear on whoever rounded the corner.
Her eyes went wide and she quickly lowered her weapon as Buck and Skeeter came sliding across the linoleum floor. Both kids slid around the corner and nearly screamed with relief when they saw the huge black man standing in the doorway to the office. “They killed Fisher!” Buck yelled as he closed the distance to the office.
Hatcher pushed his way through the office and pulled Mitch aside so he could exit the office. “Are you sure?” Buck collided with him, nearly collapsing into his arms.
Buck was nodding his head. “Yes, sir, I’m positive. He was shot at least twice. The second one took his face off.” Buck was nearly yelling from the excitement of the run.
Candy caught Skeeter in her arms as the young girl caught up to Buck and she pulled her into the small office. “Are you okay?” She held her at arm’s length and inspected her as a mother would check a child.
“Were y’all seen?” Mitch stepped out of the office and bent his neck to peer out of the windows.
“No, sir,” Buck huffed as he tried to catch his breath. “I don’t think so.” He gulped another breath of air. “There wasn’t anybody out there when we ran across the parking lot, but somebody might have seen us from up there.” He pointed to where they had been camped.
Mitch slid over to the window and stared up at the ridge. From where he stood, he didn’t see any activity up there at the moment. He stayed against the edge of the window and continued to watch, studying the ridge for any movement. He was about to give up when he caught a slight movement at the edge and the glint of a reflection, most probably from a rifle scope.
He edged back away from the window and turned to Hatcher. “I don’t know if
