Anvil (3 page)

I came awake
feeling like I was frozen to my core.  My hands were so numb I had no
feeling and I was shivering violently.  At least I didn’t feel warm, which
would have meant my body had shut down and I was about to die. 

It may have
been seconds, or minutes, but the current situation finally dawned on me and I
tried to sit up.  Tried.  The mind told the body to do it, but the
body told the mind to go pound sand. 

The side of
my face resting on the wet ground seemed to have some feeling, but the other
side was fully exposed to the rain and wind and all it registered was… numbness. 
I couldn’t even tell it was still raining by feel other than when an occasional
drop splashed into my eye.

Finally, I
forced my battered body to start moving.  Slowly, with every tiny motion
causing a cry of agony from a muscle or joint, I managed to lever myself up
onto my hands and knees.  Behind me the water was still rushing.  I
was lucky it hadn’t risen and washed me away while I was unconscious.

I turned my
head to check on Katie, momentarily confused when I didn’t see her. 
Confusion turned to panic and I frantically checked the sling that was attached
to my belt.  It was still there, the loop that had been secured around
Katie’s wrist pulled open and lying on the sand.  She had freed herself?

Standing up
as fast as I could, I looked around, failing to see her.  Forcing my feet
to move, I clambered to the top of the embankment.  Spinning through a
slow circle, I shielded my eyes from the wind and rain with my hand.  The
landscape was bleak, nothing more than sand, rock and scrub in every
direction.  And there was no movement.

Turning back
to the water I tried to look for Katie, but it was still dark.  All I
could tell was that the river was very straight.  Too straight to be
natural.  It must have been a flood control channel for the water coming
out of Mountain Home. 

Perhaps the
underground reservoir was full and it was being diverted?  Or maybe there
wasn’t a reservoir and Titus had repeated a rumor.  Regardless, the water
was running fast.  If Katie had gone back in, she’d be miles away by
now.  But I doubted she had.

There was
still enough intelligence in there for her to loosen the sling loop and slip
her hand out.  That meant it was very doubtful that she’d make a decision
as bad as going back into the water.  And I was still alive! 

I’d been out
cold, but she hadn’t attacked or killed me.  Why not?  Were there
still some memories in there?  Enough to override what seemed to be an uncontrollable
urge to kill?

I’m
generally a pretty logical guy.  I don’t normally fall prey to unfounded
theories or suppositions, but the faint hope that Katie wasn’t completely gone
pushed all logic aside.  Right then and there I accepted the idea that she
was still capable of love and reason, otherwise why was I not a rotting
corpse.  Now I just had to find her so I could help her.

Shivering in
the biting wind, water dripping from my clothing, I tried to think about how I
was going to go about locating my wife.  Where would she have gone and why
had she run off?  It didn’t make sense, but not much made sense at the
moment.  But how the hell was I going to track her?

Tracks! 
That’s it!  Stumbling back down the embankment, momentum overcame my
exhausted body and I wound up falling and splashing into the water. 
Freshly soaked and shivering harder, I crawled to the point where I had dragged
her earlier.  The sand was wet and had taken prints that were easy to see,
even in the near darkness.

It was a
jumble in the area where both of us had lain, but as I cast around I found a
clear set of prints heading up and over the embankment.  Slowly getting to
my feet, I followed them as best I could.  I stumbled and tripped over a
rock as I reached the crest.  Getting back up, I finally thought to check
for weapons. 

I wasn’t
surprised that only the Kukri, sheathed at the small of my back, was still
attached to my body.  No rifle.  No pistol.  No Ka-Bar
knife.  Several full magazines were still secure in my vest, but without a
rifle they were about as useful as a rock.  Almost dumping them to shed
weight, I thought better of it at the last moment and began stumbling along the
path my wife had taken.

Moving slow,
I followed her weaving trek.  The wind was getting stronger, working in
concert with my drenched clothing to sap my body heat.  I could feel
myself growing weaker with each step, but I stayed focused on the trail and
kept putting one foot in front of the other.

I rounded a
low hill and had gone another fifty yards before realizing the path had
suddenly straightened.  Had she decided where to go or seen
something?  Standing there, I stared at the prints in the sand.  I
was so cold I couldn’t feel any part of my body, but it seemed as if the
shivering had stopped.  That was good.  Right?

Walking
again, I trudged along following Katie’s trail.  My head was bent to look
at the ground, all of my energy focused on not loosing my way.  One foot
at a time, I kept going, failing to notice that the rain that had been falling
had turned to snow.  Wind drove it against the side of my face.  Where
it began to stick, I actually felt warmer.

Pushing on,
fighting the wind, I wanted to sit down and rest.  Just for a few
minutes.  But I wouldn’t let myself stop.  There was a part of me
that still had enough awareness to recognize the danger of stopping.  A
part that knew if I sat down I’d never get up again.  Wherever I sat would
be my final resting place.

Then the
hallucinations began.  Katie suddenly appeared right in front of me. 
She didn’t speak, just stood in the steadily falling snow and looked at
me.  I reached for her but she stepped away before turning and walking off
in a new direction.  I called out to her, but she didn’t respond.

Forcing my
frozen legs to move, I followed.  I called her name and reached for her,
but she was too far in front and ignored me.  Just kept walking, her long,
red hair whipping in the wind.  A couple of times she looked over her
shoulder to make sure I was still there and my heart leapt when I didn’t see
red eyes.  She was OK!  But why wasn’t she talking to me?

I tried to
put on enough speed to catch her, but she easily outpaced me.  Stumbling,
I fell face first into the snow, unable to look up when she screamed.  I
heard her race away into the storm when I called her name.  With a supreme
effort of will, I pushed myself up and tried to follow my wife.  I was
taking a step to pursue when Rachel suddenly appeared in front of me, wrapped
her arms around my shoulders and pulled me down towards the ground.

“There, sir.” 

Petty
Officer Jessica Simmons pointed at a spot on the large display.  Admiral
Packard, his aide and Jessica’s CO, Lieutenant Hunt, stood behind her and
looked where she indicated.  The giant, flat panel monitor showed a pallet
of greys with two red blobs.  They were watching a thermal image of Idaho,
having tracked Major Chase and his companions after the havoc he had unleashed
on the Russians.

One of the
red blobs was following the other.  The one in the lead was bright red and
easily followed.  The one behind enough cooler for the difference to be
detectable by satellite.  They came to a stop and Jessica zoomed the
image. 

After a
moment, the hotter of the two bodies raced away to the northwest, leaving the
other where it was.  Then a third person appeared, glowing bright red. 
The new arrival merged with the one that had been left behind.

“Where the
hell did that one come from?”  Packard asked, riveted to the image.

“Must have
been under or in some sort of shelter, sir,” Jessica replied as the two blobs
began to move, then disappeared from the display.

“They’re
screened from the bird, sir.” 

Jessica zoomed
back out.  The person who had led the way was still moving fast and
Jessica used her mouse to draw a box around the blob.  She marked it as
target Bravo. 

The system’s
software would continue to track the target as long as it was visible.  A
new window opened in the display and began scrolling data related to the
target.  The location, direction of travel and speed on the ground were
continually updated.

“I think
that must be an infected female, sir,” Jessica said, peering at the data
scrolling through the smaller window.

“Explain,”
Lieutenant Hunt said.

“The speed,
sir.  She’s moving at a steady twenty miles an hour.  That’s damn
fast.  Too fast for an infected male and too fast for an uninfected person
unless they’re a professional athlete.  I’ve seen some of the females hit
twenty-five miles an hour for short distances, and that’s… uh oh.”

The red blob
suddenly slowed to three miles an hour before also disappearing from the view
of the orbiting thermal imager.  Jessica’s fingers flew across the
keyboard, the displayed image rotating through several colors as she tried to
reacquire the target with different light and heat spectrums, but she was
unsuccessful.

“We’ve lost
her for the moment, sir, but the system will keep watching the point where she
disappeared and lock on again when she’s visible.”

“Did you
target Major Chase as well?”  The Admiral asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Commander,”
the Admiral spoke to his aide without taking his eyes off the monitor.  “I
want an update on the extraction plan for those people on my desk in fifteen
minutes.”

“Sir, the
Russians have complete control of the airspace and there are still ground
troops arriving as we speak.  We have no assets remaining in North America
other than the SEAL team at the lab in Seattle.  If we go in too soon,
we’ll tip our hand.”

“Commander,”
Packard’s voice grew hard as he turned his steely gaze on the junior
officer.  “I didn’t ask you to tell me why it was going to be hard. 
We are not leaving one of our own behind.  You now have fourteen
minutes.  I suggest you get busy.”

“Yes,
sir.” 

The younger
man snapped to attention before turning and rushing out of the room.

“Petty Officer,
are you able to keep track of all of the targets?”  Packard asked in a
calmer voice.

“Yes,
sir.  The system will do that and I’ll personally monitor it.  The
only thing is, if they’ve gone into some sort of cave system and come out at a
different location I may lose them.  Or if the weather worsens it will
blank out the thermal and we won’t have any eyes on them.  Sir.”

“Young lady,
you’ve done a great job and I have faith in you.  Lieutenant, update me
immediately if there’s any change.”

“Yes, sir,”
they chorused as the Admiral turned on his heel and strode out of the room.

“Good work,
Jessica,” Lieutenant Hunt said once the Admiral was gone.  “You’re making
both of us look good.”

“Just doing
my job, sir.” 

Jessica
smiled at the praise.  Hunt smiled back then returned to his work station
to continue monitoring Russian troop movements in the western US.  Jessica
double checked the system to make sure it was properly set to maintain
surveillance of the targets, closed out two files she’d been working on and
locked her terminal.

“Sir, if
it’s OK I’m going to step out for some air,” she said, rolling her chair back
and looking at her CO.

“The system
will alert me if there’s any activity?”  He asked, looking up over the rim
of his glasses.

“Yes,
sir.  It will beep and transfer to your station.” 

Jessica
stood and stretched, trying to remember the last time she had eaten or slept. 
He nodded and returned his attention to his screen.

“OK. 
Try and keep it short in case the Admiral comes back.” 

“Ten minutes,
sir.  Thank you.”

Jessica
grabbed her small purse that held nothing other than a lighter, a pack of
cigarettes and two condoms, and headed for the exit.  She checked out
through the layers of security, finally emerging into fresh air.  Taking a
deep breath, she ignored the million-dollar view of Pearl Harbor and headed for
the bench she liked to sit on while on break.

Rounding a
thick planting of Birds of Paradise bushes, she smiled when she spotted the
figure seated on the bench.  Chief Petty Officer Mark Hiram heard her
approach, standing to greet her with open arms.  Jessica ran the last few
steps, falling into his embrace and lifting her face to accept his kiss.

“Do you have
time?”  He asked, squeezing her ass with both hands when they finally came
up for air.

“I wish,”
Jessica breathed, shuddering with pleasure as he pulled her pelvis tight
against his.  She could feel his manhood pressing hard against her
abdomen.  “That Army Major I told you about is still alive and there’s
going to be an attempt to extract him.  They’re going to be needing data
from me very soon.”

“We don’t
need long,” he purred in her ear, making her knees go weak.

“Maybe you
don’t, but I do.”

Jessica
smiled and placed her hands on his chest, opening some space between them
before she lost all control and took him right there on the bench.  Taking
a deep breath, she sat, digging out a cigarette and lighting it.  Hiram
set next to her, circling his arm around her narrow waist and pulled her close.

“How is he
still alive?  I thought the Russians were closing in on him,” he said,
gently rubbing her thigh with his other hand.

“They
were.  They did.  He had some surprises for them and escaped through
a storm tunnel.  I’m watching him on thermal right now, about ten miles
south of town.  It’s snowing there and I hope we can get to him in
time.  At least he made a clean escape from the goddamn Russians,” Jessica
said, leaning her head onto his shoulder.

The two
lovers talked for a few more minutes as Jessica finished her smoke.  They
embraced and kissed deeply after checking to make sure no one was around, then
she broke away and dashed back to the building where she worked.

When Jessica
was out of sight, Hiram turned and strode across the neatly mown grass to the
parking lot where he had left his personal vehicle.  He had been waiting
for two hours for her to take a break and was relieved to be moving
again.  Getting behind the wheel, he drove across the sprawling base,
careful to stay below the posted speed limit.

Reaching the
cargo area of the harbor, he parked and stepped out, looking around and seeing
no one else.  Keeping a close watch, he moved deep into a maze of stacked
shipping containers.  Stopping close to the middle of the massive storage
area, he checked for observers again before removing a key from his pocket and
approaching a container at ground level.

He had
carefully selected this one, reviewing its history and satisfying himself that
it hadn’t moved in over a year.  Due to its unique size and shape it would
likely sit for another year or more before being loaded on a ship.  Well,
that would be if the world hadn’t ended.  Now, it would probably never
move again.  It would just sit there until the salt air rusted it into
oblivion.

Stepping to
the door, he pulled on a pair of thin, latex gloves so he wouldn’t leave
fingerprints.  He inserted the key into an old lock scrounged from the
motor pool where he worked.  It was tarnished with age on the outside, but
well lubricated and the key turned easily, the hasp popping open. 
Removing it, he raised the locking lever and tugged the door open, taking
another look around before stepping into the container.

Clicking on
a small flashlight, he ignored the debris scattered across the floor and stepped
quickly to a battered shoe box lying amidst a pile of loose packing
material.  Raising the lid on the box, he retrieved a small satellite
phone and pressed the power button to turn it on as he walked back into the
open air to get a signal. 

A minute
later the phone finished its boot sequence and had locked onto a signal. 
Hiram pressed a speed dial button and listened as a phone deep within GRU
headquarters in Moscow began ringing.