having a full briefing at 1600 hours.’
‘You got it.’ Casey looked back at Aimee and nodded goodbye.
Alex watched her go, keeping his back to the room for a few seconds to allow himself thinking time on how he was going to start the conversation with Aimee. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pillow land on top of a pile of dirty underwear in the corner of the room; he tried hard to suppress a smile.
He didn’t have to start; Aimee spoke first. ‘I’m glad you came.’
He turned. ‘They couldn’t have kept me away when I found out you were down here.’ He pulled up one of the two chairs in the room and sat down, straddling it. ‘You certainly know how to pick your holiday spots.’
She laughed wearily. ‘Holiday? Now that would be nice. But I’ll settle for just getting out of this green hell. I’m tired, I feel dirty and I want to be home.’
He sat forward and took her hands in his, looking into her eyes. ‘Tell me what’s been happening down here.’
Aimee expelled a long breath, pulling free of Alex’s hands as she sat back. She screwed her eyes shut and Alex could tell she was picking a place to start, organising her thoughts. It looked like it hurt.
‘They’ve all been leaving and not coming back. First the Green Berets; then Francisco and Alfraedo went looking for the men that wrecked the equipment; and then a group of the remaining men followed the priest out. You know we found the Green Berets …? It was horrible. If you hadn’t come when you did, maybe I’d have walked out into that deep green madness and disappeared as well.’ Aimee looked towards the ceiling, her eyes welling up.
‘And the rest of the poor saps still stuck here? They’d probably be better off out in the jungle as well, ‘cause I dug up some bad shit that’s turning them all to a black mess — they’re leaking away like ice left in the sun. Do you know what they’re calling it? The Melting Death — yep, one horrifying way to die brought to you by Uncle Sam care of Dr Aimee Weir. Hey, maybe they’ll name it after me … Weir’s Weirdness … how’s that?’ She exhaled through compressed lips, then began to laugh and cry at the same time.
Instinctively, Alex reached out and embraced her. He felt her relax. After a while, she pushed against him and sat back, sniffing on her tears. He kept his hands on her upper arms and looked into her face, focusing her attention.
‘Aimee, tell me about the Green Berets. We’ve had no contact. Do you know what happened to them?’
She sat back and stared. ‘You didn’t know? Oh, God.’ She shook her head and shuddered. ‘Alex, it was horrible — they were ripped to shreds. We think it was all of them, but we couldn’t really tell — there was nothing left, nothing to bring back, or even bury. The men think it was a jaguar. I doubt it. But I also can’t see bandits, or any human beings, being so savage.’
Alex felt like he’d been struck a physical blow. He had worked with many Green Berets in the past — they were good people, good soldiers and ultimate professionals. He dropped his hands from her shoulders and sat back to think.
Aimee reached down and picked up a soiled T-shirt and wiped her face with it, then blew her nose. She threw the T-shirt into the corner and folded her arms. ‘So, how have you been? Read any good books lately?’ She began to laugh again.
Alex recognised the symptoms of stress. She was wound wire-tight, and starting to internalise the problem as being all her own.
He gave her a half-smile. ‘Hey, same old, same old — we’re just a couple of bores, I guess.’ He sat forward until he was very close to her face. ‘Aimee, the disease was always here — you were just the unlucky one to find it. Everyone thought the biggest problem you had was the attacks on the rig by cross-border rebels. That’s why the Green Berets were sent down, as your shield. No one expected the contamination or the resulting quarantine order. And no one could have expected the GBs would be neutralised. We also strongly doubt any local bandits or rebels could have taken them out. We think there’s something else down here, Aimee. Something strange that no one was prepared for.’
‘Something strange? Yes, I think I’ve known that for days. Did you know all the animals have disappeared? And then there’s the priest — Father Gonzalez. Apparently he has a church close by and has been ministering to the locals for some time. He walked into our camp one evening and just bewitched the men. They followed him and never came back.’ She took a sip of water and turned her mouth down. ‘Or maybe the men were just bored and depressed from not being able to work and decided to keep on going after the mass. Perhaps Father Gonzalez turned up at the time when they were looking for some sort of spiritual guidance, or … I don’t know … some kind of intervention maybe.’
‘Hmm. I’d like to speak to him, ask him what he knows about the missing men — yours and ours. He has a church close by, you say?’ Alex asked.
‘Yes. Come dusk he’ll more than likely turn up here again, persuading more of the men to follow him.’ Aimee sipped more water then pointed with the bottle at the slim gauntlet attached to Alex’s arm. ‘Should I ask?’
Alex lifted his arm, hand out flat, then made a fist. A stream of clear spikes created a furrow through the mound of dirty clothing and punctured the cabin’s floor and wall. After a second, the spikes melted and disappeared.
Aimee smiled and shook her head. ‘Must be a big seller at Christmas. I’ll send you the bill for the clothing.’
Alex smiled and placed his hand over hers again. ‘The guys have managed to get the water purification back online, also lights and some of the running water systems. There’s no hot water, but I reckon an air-temperature shower around here isn’t exactly going to be cold, is it? You’ll feel better afterwards, then we can talk some more.’
She smiled. ‘Okay, okay, a girl can take a hint. I know I stink.’ She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.
A hundred memories flooded Alex’s mind and his senses, and, without thinking, he turned his face towards her. She kissed him again, this time for longer, parting her lips slightly. Alex reached up and held the back of her head, pulling her to him and feeling the warm softness of her tongue in his mouth.
Part of him knew this wasn’t the right time or place. But still his hand slid from her head and neck and travelled down her back. He felt the slick warmth of her skin beneath her shirt and her racing heartbeat. He grabbed her shirt and lifted it over her head. His own shirt quickly followed, and then he allowed himself to explore the body he could never forget — the small breasts, nipples hard under his fingers, the flat belly that fluttered when he touched it.
Aimee lay back on the small bunk and his heart ached at her beauty, and vulnerability. He saw that her blue eyes were dark, but this time it was not from anger. His searching found she was ready for him. She pulled him down on top of her and the cot squealed in protest at their combined weight.
‘I’ve missed you,’ she said.
‘I never left you.’ His mouth found hers again.
TWENTY-THREE
Inside the CDC lab, Maria’s computer screen was completely dark now, no human blood cells discernible among the black sea of bacteria.
‘Remove the slide,’ she told her son. ‘We’ll use those live samples as our test bed.’
Michael nodded and slipped his hands into the gauntlets either side of the isolation cube. As the gloves gripped the glass slide, Maria saw the image alter.
‘Hold it.’ She leaned in close to the screen, her brow furrowed. ‘Remove your fingers from the slide.’
‘What’s up? What is it?’ Michael’s voice was worried.
Maria ignored him. ‘Place your fingers near the slide again … slowly. That’s it …’ She fiddled with the magnification on the screen and took still images of the movement progression.
‘Amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
The dark sea on the screen had parted into two groups either side of the slide — right where Michael’s
