A Darker Shade of Dead (4 page)

Matt was a Navy SEAL like Simon, though he was retired from field action now. He rode a desk these days, for whatever reason, but his experience showed in the way he handled himself around these men who were still active participants in Special Operations.

Like herself, he was a little older than the rest of the people at the table. If she had to guess, she'd say Matt was closer to forty while the others were closer to thirty. Heck, Matt might even be older than that, but his physical form was impeccable. He had the body of a twenty-year-old. Only the slight graying at his temples and the smile lines around his stunning eyes betrayed him.

Of course, she was no one to judge. She had a few wrinkles around her eyes herself these days. She didn't think of herself as old by any stretch of the imagination, but she did have a few regrets. Getting her education and gaining prominence in her work had always been more important to her than dating or looking for a life partner.

Seeing Mariana and Simon interact made her realize what she'd let pass her by. She was simply unprepared to start learning the skills most girls mastered in their teens now. She was too old to learn how to attract a man. The depressing truth was that she was too old to attract any but the most desperate of men at this point. And she didn't want desperate. She wouldn't settle for just anyone. Especially not after meeting Matt and his men.

Matt would fuel her fantasies for a long time to come. She was honest enough with herself to admit it in the privacy of her own mind. He was devastatingly handsome and the most powerful, Alpha-type male she'd ever been around. Simply put, he turned her on. Just by breathing, he made her female parts come alive as they never had before for any other man.

Too bad he was totally unattainable. Too bad she had no idea what to do with him even if she could manage to somehow capture his interest. Dreams like that never came true. Better to keep him a fantasy for those lonely hours in the middle of the night when she longed for a lover in her lonely bed.

“You about ready?” Matt's voice broke into her silent reverie.

She blinked, looking at him. “What?”

“Just asking if you were done. I have some electronics for you in my office. I didn't realize you'd be here this early or I'd have brought them with me to breakfast.”

“Oh.” It took her a moment to register what he was saying. “Mariana and I were going to check out the lab.” Mentally, she kicked herself for the rather dull-witted reply.

“My office is on the way. If you don't object to a slight delay, I'd feel better if you were outfitted properly before you got to work today. Everyone on the team has already been issued a sat phone and headset. I'd like for you to keep them with you while on duty so we can stay in contact without having to scramble for a phone in case there's an emergency.”

“Sounds reasonable.” She looked at Mariana. “Do you mind a small detour?”

“Not at all.” Mariana smiled warmly as she waved away the issue. “It's on the way. Won't take but a minute.”

They bussed their trays and stepped into the early-morning sunshine. The rest of the men took their leave and went off in other directions while Matt, Sandra, and Mariana headed for his office.

Matt ducked inside, leaving the women to enjoy the fresh air. He returned a minute later with a phone and headset, which he handed to Sandra. He spent a few minutes explaining the basics of how the equipment worked. She asked a few questions, having never seen such technology before, but it wasn't difficult to pick up. Within five minutes, she felt confident that she knew how to operate the electronics.

“Don't forget the meeting this morning. You'll have a couple of hours to check out your workspace in the lab, but don't get too caught up,” Matt warned with a friendly smile. “I've called the entire team together so we can all meet each other and talk through our strategy and duty assignments.”

“I'm looking forward to it,” she responded politely.

In truth, Sandra didn't really care about the meeting either way. She'd sit in the background and observe as usual. Strategy wasn't her strong point, and she already knew what was expected of her work-wise. She was there to work on the tech end of things. That was her only area of expertise. She couldn't fight the monsters. Not physically. No, she'd use her scientific expertise to try to annihilate them.

It was the soldiers who would do the actual physical work and employ the strategies he wanted to talk over at this meeting. But she would attend. It was expected of her and she always tried to live up to her employers' expectations. She didn't like confrontation, and she didn't like to make waves. She'd attend. She just wouldn't contribute much unless asked directly.

 

John Petit arrived at the meeting room feeling a little out of his element. It was good to be back on a military base, but after what he'd been told about his new assignment, it had a sort of
Twilight Zone
feel. He was still tempted to believe someone was playing a colossal joke on him. After all, zombies didn't really exist, did they?

John was all too afraid this wasn't a joke and some mad scientists really had crossed the line and created the living dead. It would be up to him and the rest of this makeshift team to put an end to it. He'd been given basic information on the other members of the team. Most were either Spec Ops warriors or scientific personnel.

But there was one new member of the team who truly troubled him. She was the whole reason he'd been asked to join the team, in fact, and he just couldn't wrap his head around that whole scenario. Who would have thought his little sister would get mixed up with zombies after all, much less that her involvement would lead to his being taken from his post at the CIA to join the top secret zombie-hunting team?

He was sure stranger things had happened, but he didn't know where or when.

“Johnny!” A petite fireball rocketed across the room and into his arms for a bone-crushing hug.

“Hey, sis.” John realized they were causing a bit of a scene, but he didn't care.

He'd learned only recently that Sarah had been savaged by zombies and had turned into some kind of GI Jane, working with the Special Forces to hunt the creatures down. Frankly, he couldn't believe it. He had felt so much better when he'd thought her work as a county cop involved nothing more dangerous than writing speeding tickets. Now, of course, he knew differently.

He hugged her close for a long moment. “Are you okay, punkin?” He eased away to meet her gaze.

“I'm great. I bet you didn't expect to find me here.” He never could stay mad at his baby sister when she looked at him with those big puppy-dog eyes.

“You can say that again.”

“Punkin?” Another man's voice broke into their reunion. John looked up to meet the gaze of a soldier standing a few feet behind his sister. The guy had a decidedly amused look on his face as Sarah drew out of John's arms.

She turned and stubbed one pointed finger in the man's chest, a huge grin on her face. “That goes no further, Xavier. I mean it.”

The army guy lifted both hands palms outward in a gesture of surrender, a wide smile on his face.

“I see your friend knows when it's wise to retreat.” John stuck his hand out to the other man for a shake. “I'm John Petit.”

“Xavier Beauvoir.” The soldier returned the gesture.

“Xavier, this is my brother, Johnny,” Sarah added unnecessarily. She looked uncomfortable and that well-remembered expression immediately set alarms bells ringing internally. Something was up.

“I figured that out, Sarah,” the Green Beret answered a little too familiarly. John bristled. They looked just a little too comfortable together.

“John, I spoke to Dad earlier. He wants you to call home tonight if you can. I expect he'll want your report on Xavier.” She touched the soldier's arm and laughed up at the other man. He was definitely missing something here.

“Why's that?” John included both of them in his challenge.

Sarah smiled at him in that disarming way she had perfected over the years. “Because he's my fiancé. We're getting married.”

That set John back on his heels. His baby sister engaged? To this…soldier? What was she thinking? Who was this guy?

“Isn't this kind of sudden?” John didn't know what else to say. He'd been blindsided.

“Jeez. You sound just like Dad. He said the exact same thing.” She made a tsking sound but soon relented. “Actually, you're probably the only one in the family who'll understand exactly what drew us together so quickly.”

Then it dawned on him where they were and what they were doing here. A top secret briefing about the zombie problem. Holy shit. His little sister had been roaming around the woods hunting zombies with her Green Beret friend—scratch that, fiancé—for the past couple of weeks. No wonder they'd grown so close. Combat situations often spawned deep and lasting friendships. You didn't really get to know a person until you faced death with them.

Realization dawned. His little sister was nobody's fool. If she felt so strongly about this guy, she had to have good reason. John stepped up and made an effort to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. They'd be working together now. John could observe firsthand how the big Green Beret treated his baby sis. If the army guy put a toe out of place, he'd have John to answer to.

“God, Sarah. I can't even imagine what you've been through in the past weeks.” Her face paled and he knew it had to be even worse than he'd thought. His attention turned to the soldier at her side. “Thank you for taking care of my sister, Captain. I look forward to getting to know you better.”

“Me, too, John. I know it's a shock, but it's the right thing. She and I were meant to be together.”

John wasn't much for sappy talk, but he respected the straightforward words from this special ops soldier. That and the look in his sister's eyes led him to believe there was something to this relationship. Something real that had a shot at lasting a lifetime.

“I got a preliminary briefing when they brought me in on this. You both survived attacks, right? And now you're immune?” Both Sarah and her fiancé nodded. “So you've been what—out there hunting zombies for the past couple of weeks?”

“That's right,” Sarah answered. “Xavier sprung me from the hospital after I woke up, and we've been working on the problem ever since. We've had four…or was it five?”—she looked at Xavier for confirmation—“more encounters with the creatures since then. We've learned a lot about them and managed to track back to one of the scientists who was creating them. He's dead now. Attacked by a zombie in my backyard while he was trying to abduct me again.” Her face hardened in a way John had never seen. Then her words penetrated his spinning mind.

“Again? Shit, Sarah! You were abducted by some mad scientist? Twice?”

“Once. He only got me once. He tried for me once more, but a zombie took him out before he could get me to his car.”

John couldn't believe he was having this conversation with his little sister. She was so calm about it and she could have been killed any number of times…or worse.

“Xavier rescued me the first time.” She patted the big man's arm affectionately. “Second time, too, come to think of it.”

“Now chéri, you did your part to get yourself free. I was just backup.” The Green Beret looked decidedly miffed by it, too. John took that as a good sign.

He would've asked more questions to get to the bottom of the story, but just then the meeting was called to order and they took their seats around the conference table. A navy commander took the head of the table and began to speak.

John listened with half an ear, trying to process all the surprises he'd had in the last day or two. Zombies, black ops, his sister engaged, and now this top secret briefing. And he'd thought his regular job with the CIA was interesting. It had just morphed into something out of a horror movie. Or a comic book.

M
att had noticed the Petits greeting each other. It had been hard to miss when Sarah launched herself at the man who shared her coloring, if not her height. John Petit was a much larger and more dangerous version of his younger sister. It was clear they were siblings from their angular features to their hair, but John was as big and honed as every man here, and he had a personnel file that consisted mostly of large blocks of black magic marker.

Almost everything recent had been redacted for national security reasons. Ostensibly he was a run-of-the-mill CIA operative. Of course, with the CIA there was seldom anything run-of-the-mill. In reality, Matt suspected John Petit's missions were more on the dark side than the light. Black ops was his specialty if Matt didn't miss his guess. Of course, he would never get confirmation of his suspicions. Not through official channels at least.

He'd seen enough by now to know a spook deserving of the name when he saw one. John Petit wasn't just a spook. He was a phantom.

Matt took his place at the head of the table, and everyone else seemed to take that as their cue to take their seats. This was the first time he'd had everyone all in one place. It was an eclectic mix of skills and specialties, and Matt was in charge of the whole shebang.

“Thank you all for coming.” Matt waited while they settled in. He didn't have to wait long. “I thought it would be beneficial to get us all together in one place so we can take stock of what we know, what we need to know, and how we're going to go about learning it. First, let's start with the background of this mission and how we came to this point. We have some new faces here, so I'm going to start at the beginning and then I'll ask each of you in turn to add your piece. In fact, Dr. McCormick, you might start with a brief description of your role on the initial scientific team.”

Sandra McCormick squirmed in her seat as all eyes turned to her. Though she'd been on base at Quantico all through the initial outbreak, Matt had never seen her before a few days ago. She looked nothing at all like her personnel file photo. In fact, in person, she was stunning in an elfin sort of way. Because of her photo he'd been expecting a super geek of indeterminate age. What he'd gotten was a siren with auburn hair, green eyes, and the most seductive tilt to her lips he'd ever seen.

It was all irrelevant, of course. It was entirely inappropriate to notice how beautiful she was with anything more than calm detachment. Still, the man inside the commanding officer had sat up and taken notice the moment he'd seen her and was reluctant to be silenced. Matt struggled to remain objective around her and failed miserably.

For all he knew, she could sympathize more than she let on with the rogue scientists who wanted to continue the zombie research. She'd done it herself. She'd gone against orders and continued testing and perfecting her serum to counteract the contagion on her own. That lack of discipline and disrespect for orders from the highest possible authority could be a problem. Matt should view her with suspicion, but anytime he got near her, his objectivity went right out the window. He'd have to be more on guard around her. She could be a danger to his mission, and he had to be wary.

“I was a junior member of the original research team at Quantico,” Sandra began in a soft voice that got stronger as she went along. “The goal of our research was to stimulate cell regeneration in living tissue, to promote faster healing and possible invulnerability. The more senior members of the team decided to take the testing to the next step after we'd done all we could in vitro—testing individual cells in Petri dishes. I don't know which doctors voted for using cadavers, but it was a majority, and a week later the Marine Corps shipped us several bodies that had been donated to science. Testing began, and the reagent had an unanticipated effect. The corpses reanimated and walked out of the lab in the middle of the night. The next evening, the so-called zombie attacks started.”

“Thank you, doctor.” Matt picked up the thread. “At first, the base commander sent out Marines to try to locate the bodies. When the first Marines didn't come back, they sent out more. Eventually, they called on my group of Navy SEALs. We were doing specialized training in the area and were the closest special ops unit that could be spared. That's how I got involved. We lost everyone—all the Marines and all my SEALs, except for Simon.” Matt gestured toward the only other navy man in the room.

“I turned out to be immune.” Simon took his cue to pick up the retelling. “After that, I went into the woods each night with the toxin the geeks—sorry, doctor—” Simon sent Sandra a rueful grin but she didn't seem to take offense. In fact, she smiled and Matt had to kick himself mentally to refocus on the discussion. Damn, the woman was dangerous when she smiled. “The science team had developed a toxin. I used it to take care of the problem in the woods. All the Marines who'd been infected, as well as my former teammates.” Simon's expression grew troubled and sad. Matt well understood, as did most of the men around the table. Mariana reached out and took Simon's hand, visibly confirming what Matt already knew.

“Simon came to the on-base clinic after one particularly bad night and I patched him up,” Mariana took up the thread of the story. “I'm a navy doctor, but was totally unaware of the research going on at Quantico until then. I was stationed there and rented a cabin out on the edge of the base, practically in the woods, so it wasn't long before the zombies showed up at my door. My next-door neighbors, an elderly woman and her granddaughter, were attacked, as was my postman before we could put an end to the problem.”

“That's when they disbanded the research team,” Sandra added. “We'd been kept sequestered until then, only asked to develop a toxin that could reverse the effects and destroy the reanimated cadavers. We did that, but were still held until they'd all been dealt with.” Sandra looked guilty, and Matt couldn't help the little bug of suspicion that rode his shoulder where she was concerned. “We thought we were going to be charged with something but in the end they decided to disband the research team and made each of us sign documents stating that we would never follow that avenue of research again on pain of arrest and detention.”

“But you
did
continue the research?” Matt prodded. He probably shouldn't have, since it would take them off course in the chronological retelling he was after, but he couldn't help himself.

“Only on a serum to counteract the effects of infection,” Sandra said quickly. “I was afraid some of the senior members of the research team wouldn't let their work go that easily. As it turned out, I was right.” The challenge in her green eyes made him want to go head to head with her—and not entirely in a combative way. Damn, the woman got under his skin.

“All right. Let's move to the next outbreak.” Matt needed to get back to the job at hand. He couldn't let Sandra distract him. “All was quiet for about six months and then a zombie turned up here at Fort Bragg.”

“Just one at first,” Xavier Beauvoir spoke up. “It was sighted in the woods and reported to the MPs, though nobody realized what it really was, of course. They checked out the report, but couldn't find it. That night they sent out my unit to look for it.” Devastation and anger crossed the Green Beret's face. “I woke up to discover I was immune and most of my unit was dead. By that time, you'd been brought in, sir.” Xavier nodded toward Matt. “And Simon was here, already at work. I helped him until you ordered me to pick a small team and head to Long Island.” Xavier turned to the woman sitting next to him, pretty in her new black fatigues.

“I was sent out on a prowler call to an abandoned building near Stony Brook on Long Island. Up until recently, I was a county cop on Long Island,” Sarah Petit informed the group. “There were two of the creatures waiting for me in that abandoned building. They attacked and smashed my head on the concrete floor. I woke up almost a week later in the hospital. Xavier had come in and taken over. I started working with him the next day and we began investigating. We discovered Dr. Sellars, a member of the original research team, had set up shop on Long Island and was actively working on the research again.”

“His new, improved zombies seemed to be able to follow rudimentary commands and could even speak a few words. The one I've heard most often is master.” Xavier made a disgusted face. “Sellars set himself up as the master of a small army of zombies that were harder to kill and smarter than the previous versions. It takes four darts each to bring one of the new models down, and they're capable of working together to set traps. That's how we met Donna.” Xavier gestured toward the youngest person in the room, a fresh-faced young girl seated near the end of the table.

“My boyfriend, Tony, and his entire football team got infected somehow. Tony took me hostage to use as bait, I later realized. While Xavier was trying to save me, the others were herding Sarah toward a van Sellars had set up to kidnap her.” The girl's expression reflected the horror she must've felt that night. “Tony bit and scratched me before Xavier could stop him. I woke up a few hours later in the grass and walked back to my dorm. I felt awful, so I checked myself in to the campus clinic where your guys found me a bit later. I'm immune, too.”

“So far, that brings us to four naturally immune people,” Matt reminded everyone. “Simon, Xavier, Sarah, and Donna.” Matt turned again to the youngest and newest member of the team. “Donna, why don't you tell everyone a little about yourself?”

“Well, I'm not like the rest of you.” She seemed embarrassed. “I was supposed to graduate in a couple of weeks with a master's in chemical engineering. I'm twenty-five and since I'm immune and have a technical background, I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can. I saw what this did to Tony and his friends. We can't let that happen again to anyone else. Not if we can help it.”

Matt liked the way she included herself in the team. He wasn't sure what she'd be able to contribute besides her immunity, but he was glad to have her in the group. At the very least, she could work with the science team.

“I'm sorry I left you in that field, Donna,” Xavier said with obvious regret. “They'd snatched Sarah and we had to get her back.”

“I told you before that it was okay.” Donna smiled kindly at Xavier. “I totally understand. I would've done the same under the circumstances.”

“You're a peach,
petite.
” Xavier's Cajun charm came to the forefront. “I got Sarah back, but not before
mon ami
over there got himself bit.” Xavier gestured toward Lt. Sam Archer, the man who'd been Xavier's XO, or executive officer, on the mission up north.

“You got me back by sticking a huge needle in my chest, Captain,” Sam answered with audible humor. It was clear these two were old friends and worked together well. “I woke up in Sandra's lab feeling like death warmed over.”

“Right.” Matt took over again. “He gave you the serum Dr. McCormick has been working on, and it made you immune. So you're the first induced case of immunity we've got. We're up to a total of five people who can interface with the creatures without fear of the contagion.” The repetition of facts brought everyone's focus back to the matter at hand. “While Sarah was being held prisoner, she heard Sellars on the phone with one of his comrades. Specifically, she heard names. Jennings, Rodriguez, Zhao, and Krychek.” He pointed to a whiteboard along one wall where he'd already made some notes. “We believe two of those names—Jennings and Rodriguez—refer to two members of the original science team. The others are more problematic and that's why you've been brought in, John. We need you to check the possible foreign and/or terrorist contacts.”

“Roger that,” John replied. “Already in process.”

“You seemed to be the logical choice because not only are you a former Marine, now a CIA operative, but being Sarah's brother, we figured you'd realize something was up when she quit her county job and took this one. The easiest way to keep a lid on everything was to bring you in since we needed CIA input anyway.”

“Never thought my little sis would be instrumental in getting me this kind of gig,” John joked, earning a few chuckles from around the table. He seemed basically easygoing, which made him a good fit for the team. Matt thought he'd work out well.

“All right. That brings us up to the present and why we've all gathered here at Fort Bragg. Simon, give us a sitrep about the action on base.”

Simon proceeded with the situation report.

“Yes, sir. It's been a trickle of infected individuals. Not the kind of large groups reported on Long Island. It started with one who infected some of our guys. We took care of that situation and since then we've had a few show up every couple of days. Usually one creature that infects a few other innocents along the way before we can track it down and end it. We haven't been able to figure out where they're coming from or why they're trickling in like this.”

“Which is where we start.” Matt stood, going to the whiteboard. He began diagramming where each person around the table fit into his plan of action. “We're going to attack this on several fronts. First, we use our immune personnel in the field. Simon, Xavier, Sam, you're primary. Sarah, you're with them on cleanup, but I want you to take the lead when it comes to scene investigation. Any clues you turn up, I want you to follow up, interfacing with whoever else you need on the team.” Nods all around answered his orders. “Reno and Lew, you're combat team backup. I want you on tactical support for the primaries at all times when they're in the field. Further, Reno will coordinate field operations of the cleanup teams. Which brings us to the next prong of this attack. The science angle. Dr. McCormick, you're to continue your work on your immune response serum. I also want you to work with the cleanup teams on after action reporting.”