his way back near the fire and began again to circle. If he touched branches, there would be a dusting of snow that would fall. The wind was his ally, for it too moved the bushes and made it difficult to discern what might be coming or going. After another thirty or more paces he saw a dark spot standing out against the forest hues. Grady screamed again. He could feel her anguish in his bones, but he couldn't see what they were doing to her. Tears were running down his cheeks and he wanted to kill like never before.
He waited. For a minute nothing moved. He took another step. Then he saw it. The dark spot moved. Then another moved, and another. Soon he could make out people facing the fire. From their vantage point they could see what was happen ing to Grady. He could not. Grady screamed again in pure agony. They watched the torture like cows watch a hay truck. 'Put her down on the ground,' someone near the fire said. Sam heard himself groan.
'You bastard,' he muttered. 'You miserable piece of shit.'
Flipping the M-4 on automatic, he leveled it at the men hiding in the forest. Without caring who saw him, he walked forward. Grady screamed. His angle ensured his gunfire wouldn't hit the campfire area. He pulled the trigger. Shadows moved, men screamed; he marched on, spewing death. Five or more were down. A new shadow jumped into the forest. Without hesitation he sprinted, crashing through the snowy bushes. A massive-caliber gun roared behind him. Yodo must have shown up. The forest filled with thunder from all sides, but Sam kept after the one. He stopped. Everything was black. Then he heard something running through the trees. Without thought he ran and flicked on his headlamp. A head moving through six-foot huckleberry electrified him. He knew it was Gaudet.
Sprinting, he tried to hold the beam of light on the target. He filled his lungs and ran with huge strides. Then he was on him and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him down. Sam let out a guttural cry and Gaudet turned. They clawed at each other in wild combat. His teeth snapped at Sam's head, even as his knees churned, trying to find the groin.
Sam's light wobbled crazily, filling the forest with a weird shadowy half-light. He swung with an uppercut, connecting to the ribs. Gaudet growled and gouged at Sam's eyes and face, ripping the skin off his cheeks and bruising his eyes. For once, Sam fought not with deliberation but with rage. He clawed back at Gaudet and grabbed his throat. In turn, Gaudet's hands clamped on Sam's throat and they were staring into each other's eyes.
As they squeezed one another for death, Sam's years of training took over. He released Gaudet's neck and brought his joined hands up under Gaudet's chin with a fierce strike, breaking Gaudet's hold. Sam used a palm to splinter Gaudet's nose, which sprayed blood and had him wobbling. He threw an elbow into the floating ribs, intent on piercing a lung.
Gaudet fought like a man possessed, hitting Sam in the head and body, fighting back only to be pounded in the solar plexus.
The blow crumpled Gaudet, but before Sam could move in, Gaudet managed to rise and free his knife. Blood ran down his face, covering him, but Sam saw life in his eyes as he held the knife in front of him expertly.
Sam waited. Gaudet lunged but missed. Once again Sam waited, and Gaudet jabbed, nicking Sam's arm. With light ning speed Sam grabbed the knife hand at the wrist and struck the back of the elbow with an open hand, breaking it clean. Gaudet screamed and Sam took out a knee. He threw the knife into the trees. Gaudet crawled on the ground like a cornered animal.
'Hold it.' It was Figgy. A light shone from his hand. 'I'm afraid I need to take him for the French government.'
'I don't think so, Figgy.'
'I'm taking Raval too. The French got screwed in this deal.'
Sam shook his head at the audacity of the allegation.
'You and Baptiste and Admiral Larive, and nobody else, screwed the French government and the Free World. You were going to let Cordyceps happen and reap the profits. This isn't about governments. It's about a few crooks. I'll prove that.'
'No. I don't think you will.' Just before Figgy shot, Sam leaped at him. Figgy shot probably at the head but missed. The second shot hit the Kevlar vest dead center. Sam slapped away the gun, which tumbled into the darkness. Gaudet and Figgy came at him at once, both desperate. Sam went for the uninjured Figgy first. A kick to the knee con nected. Then both men were on Sam, trying to take him down. They hit the ground in a tangle, fighting like animals, tearing, biting, going for anything vital.
Sam struggled to roll free of the melee. Somebody had a hand on his throat. He didn't have long. Sam found a throat, grabbed the Adam's apple, and pulled with all his strength. Someone gasped, and the hand on his throat loosened. He punched blindly where the throat had been and connected with a face. Lifting his right leg over Gaudet, he caught his head and squeezed with a scissor lock. Gaudet bit into his thigh, and it became a contest of pain and endurance. Sam yanked on Gaudet's neck once, then twice, then clamped down viselike once more. At last, like a dying dog, Gaudet let go with his teeth and sank back.
Figgy was still choking. He didn't seem to have any fight left.
'Think about the upcoming throat surgery. It'll be a bitch.'
The gunfire on the mountain had long since ceased. Sam shouted for Yodo, got up, and found his emptied M-4. Then he slapped Gaudet awake, yanked him up on his crippled leg, and did the same for Figgy, who couldn't stop choking. Carefully Sam checked Gaudet for weapons.
'So, you take me down. I got thousands or millions of your fellow citizens. I'm going to an American jail until the appeals run out.'
'Would you like to hear the bad news?'
It took hours to get everybody that hadn't escaped back to the cabin site that was now covered with snow- frosted debris from the torrent. Both cabins were obliterated. Yodo and three men were left, plus Raval, Michael, Sam, and Grady. Raval, who had managed to escape into the woods, had taken up arms during the firefight. Grady was okay, but for a couple of nasty burns on her thigh and a badly bruised breast. Gaudet was a mess, his face swollen nearly beyond recognition, one broken elbow, a broken knee, and a badly sprained ankle. Figgy could n't eat and could barely drink and would need an IV soon.
As soon as they were at the cabin site, now a mess of mud and wood, Sam called Jill.
'We're all okay.' 'Grady too?'
'They abused her, but no rape. She's tough and she'll heal.'
'Thank God.'
'What happened with the vector?' 'We got all the copters and all the cement trucks. It was a miracle and took three thousand law enforcement personnel, but that did it. There were some boats. They tried to evacuate everybody, but there were stragglers and some homeless that remained. It wasn't pretty. The homeless murdered each other in gruesome ways. Lost maybe fifty to a hundred peo ple. Still counting. Those that survived the fighting died from the immune response. It could have been a horrible disaster involving millions.'
'The antivirus on the Internet?' 'They say it worked.' 'Benoit?'
'Doing okay. She's going to need your help, Sam. A lot of angry Frenchmen here.'
'I'm coming as fast as I can.' 'We're waiting.'
It was twenty-four miserable hours later that the sheriff and National Guard and FBI made it to the hillside. They used inflatable rafts to cross the river-the cable across the river was gone-and then rope ladders and lines for gurneys to retrieve everyone. With the storm raging, helicopters remained impossible.
Sam went with everyone to the hospital. Just before leav ing he got a call from the director of the FBI.
'Pretty damn gutsy of me, approving that antivirus with out any testing.'
'That's real leadership,' Sam joked. 'Maybe you should write a book.'
'How come you never want to take credit for anything or be associated? It might be good for business.'
'I like my privacy. And I'd appreciate it if the Bureau would support me in that. Tell the People magazine crowd and the rest that this was the work of my good friends, Ernie and Dennis.'
Sam chose silver gray hair for the occasion, along with a mustache and horn-rimmed glasses. He watched from be hind a one-way mirror. Benoit Moreau was present with her attorney, Jefferson Peakum, a Tennessee trial lawyer hired by Sam. They sat at a big table with about twenty other people.
'This is an informal get-together to try to mediate an agreement,' the fellow from the State Department began.
'We'll begin with Benoit's legal counsel, Jefferson Peakum.'
