Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (32 page)

“I just thought of something. It might be coincidence.”

“What?”

“I’ve been studying the Friendship Community for three years. With no problems.” She felt Greer tense.

“I hate the thought of that, and all it means. You were there unguarded around the woodcutter.” He ran his hand down her arm. She took hold of his hand.

“Nothing happened, none of this trouble, until after I visited the Grummonds earlier this summer. What if…what if everything that’s happening has nothing to do with the Friendship Community? What if it’s because of me and Senator Whiddon—Prophet Josiah?”

Greer thought of that for a minute. He nodded. “Makes sense, at least, in the beginning. It’s caused us to discover things about the Friends that now implicate them as well. The senator’s deeply involved in King’s infrastructure, else he wouldn’t have been able to send the WKB after you. The WKB’s gotten real cozy with the Friends. From the sounds of that, it’s a new change. Something’s going on. What happened with you is just a symptom of something much, much bigger.”

He smoothed some hair from her face. “We’re going back to the Friendship Community tomorrow. Let’s see what more we can find out.”

Chapter Thirty

Wayne Dunbar had shifty eyes, Greer decided. And he looked anything but pleased to have him and Remi back in his community. He could simply demand they leave, but he didn’t, which fired off warning signals for Greer.

The number of people who came out to greet them was far fewer than before. He looked around at them, wondering what had changed in the community and if whatever it was meant he and Remi were in danger.
 

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was different.
 

Remi was bartering the use of their cabin again in exchange for additional supplies the community might need. She made it sound as if she was close to finishing her article and wanted a quiet place, off the grid, where she could focus and be isolated to wrap it up. She was non-threatening, grateful, and offered a lucrative trade that had a firm end date: she told them she needed to be back at the university before the semester began.
 

“Where is your wife, Mr. Dunbar?” Greer asked.

The man blinked, and the pause before he answered was interesting. “She’s under the weather at the moment.”

“Oh no,” Remi replied. “I’m sorry to hear that. If there’s anything I can do—”

“Thank you, but I think it’s best not to disturb her. She has what she needs.”

* * *

Lion carried Sparrow’s feverish body through the woods. He hated going to the Friendship Community in the daylight; watchers were rarely ever seen. It couldn’t be avoided now—the boy’s condition was worsening fast.

The wool blanket he carried Sparrow in made Lion’s arms itch, but it kept the boy from shivering. When they reached the clinic, Lion set Sparrow down on the bench outside, then went in search of the healer. Inside, all but two of the cots were filled, though upon inspection, Lion realized that only half the patients still lived. He pulled sheets over the faces of those who’d passed. Whatever illness Sparrow had had come with him from the community. Most of those in the cots and all of the dead patients had the same sores on their skin as the boy.
 

One of the patients was watching him. “Thirsty,” the man hissed.
 

Lion fetched a cup of water and held it to his lips. “Where’s the healer?” Lion asked.

The man lifted his hand and tried to point to the two empty cots. “The creek.”

Lion nodded. He straightened to go, but the man’s hand shot out to hold him. Lion could feel the tough blisters on his palm and fingers. “Don’t leave us. Please. Don’t go, watcher.”

“I’ll bring help back. I’ll be back. I promise.”

He filled a fresh glass with water, then took it out to Sparrow, who looked at him with sad eyes, as if he knew his fate. Lion clamped his jaw, locking his emotions away.
 

“You’re going to be fine,” he told the boy. “You’re going to pull through this. I am Lion, and you are in my pride. You will live.” The boy wasn’t listening; he’d already slipped back into his fevered sleep.

Lion took out his phone and dialed Mad Dog. The phone ran only once.
“S’up, Lion?”

“They’re dying.”

“Who’s dying?”

“Sparrow. The community.”

“
What do you mean they’re dying? Where are you?
”

“I took Sparrow to the Friends’ healer. He has a fever that I can’t break. And sores all over his skin. The infirmary is filled with the same sickness. Four of them are dead.”

“
Okay. Stay put. Greer is there. I’m sending him down to check things out.
”

“Greer.”
Max’s voice came over Greer’s comm unit.
 

“Go, Max.”

“Get over to the infirmary.”

Greer got to his feet. “What’s up?”

“
I don’t know. There’s an outbreak of something that’s filled the infirmary. Lion’s there with one of his boys. Have Remi stay in your cabin. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.
”

“Roger that.” He turned to Remi, who was watching him with anxious eyes. “I have to go check something out.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No. There could be an outbreak of something infectious. I don’t want you exposed.” He looked at her. “I mean it. Promise me you’ll stay here.”

Her eyes widened. She nodded. He went over to shut and lock the windows. “Swear you’ll stay in here.”

“I swear.” She came over to walk him to the door. “Be careful.”

He touched her cheek, then kissed her cheek. “Lock the door after me. No matter what, don’t open it to anyone other than me or someone from the team.”

Again she nodded. “I won’t. Be safe. Hurry back.”

Greer jogged toward the infirmary on the far side of the community. He was glad they’d had the foresight to put their small clinic a distance from the main section of homes.
 

Lion was standing outside the building. He looked relieved to see Greer. Without preamble, he turned and showed Greer the little boy lying on the bench, lifting the blanket covering him. The boy wore only his boxers. His head, arms, hands, legs, and some of his torso were covered with blisters.
 

“Oh, motherfucker.” Greer snapped a pic and sent it off to Max, then dialed him. “I’ve only ever seen pictures of smallpox, but I think that’s what’s happening here. It’s some kind of pox, anyway.”

“
Find the healer. Get me a picture from inside the clinic.
”

Greer stepped into the small infirmary. There were ten cots lined up on the long walls in the big back room. He saw sheets drawn over four of them. He pulled back the sheet from one patient, revealing a face swollen and so full of blisters, there was no skin to be seen. He snapped a picture, then covered him up again. He repeated that with three of the other corpses, sending all of them to Max.

None of the other patients objected to his presence or his taking pictures. Only one of them was conscious. The man coughed. He was too weak to cover his mouth. Greer took a picture of the whole room. “Help is on the way. Where’s the healer?”

“Creek,” the man said, but that little effort caused him to cough.
 

Greer left the clinic. “Lion, the healer went to the creek.”
 

Lion nodded. “It’s a common remedy to douse a feverish patient in cool water. He may not have wanted to take the time to fill a tub. The creek is easier—and colder.”

“Show me where he would have gone.”

They walked downhill through a steep draw, to a mountain stream. There, perched in a natural pool, were the healer and two boys. The healer’s dead arms still clutched the boys’ bodies. Greer snapped a picture, then went in the river to pull them out. Lion followed him.
 

“No! Stay back. My smallpox vaccine is current. You can’t come in contact with them.”

“I’ve already been in contact with it from Sparrow. And I was in the clinic.”

“Lion.” Greer leveled a hard glare at him. “Stay back. That’s an order.”

Greer pulled the three bodies from the stream and settled them several yards from the bank. He took another picture of them on the bank, and one more downstream shot from the spot where they’d been.
 

Lion looked down at the three dead community members.
 

“I suspect this is smallpox,” Greer told him, “a deadly disease that was thought to have been eradicated a long time ago.” He looked at Hope’s brother, searching for the pox on him. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired. I’ve had little sleep since Sparrow became so ill.”

“What about the other boys?”

“They seem fine so far. Once Sparrow became sick, I sent them to sleep outside.”

Greer shoved his hand through his hair. If this was smallpox, and if it had jumped from Lion’s pride into the WKB compound, they could be looking at national—even international—pandemic in no time. Where did it come from, though? Smallpox was no longer a naturally occurring disease.

“Let’s head back. I have to warn the village.”

“What about these three?”

“Leave them.”

Back at the infirmary, Lion checked on Sparrow.
 

“It’s best if you stay here, Lion. Warn anyone else who comes not to go inside the clinic. Max is sending help this way. Doctors from our world will be able to help you, your pride, the community. Even the WKB. Call me or Max if you have any problems. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
 

Greer moved quickly back to the village. He stopped at the cabin he shared with Remi. She opened the door and stepped outside as soon as he neared the cabin.
 

Greer held up a hand. “It may be smallpox. Don’t come closer.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God.”

“Do you have any hand sanitizer?”

She nodded.

“Throw it out to me, then get back inside and lock the door again.”

She did as he requested. He slathered it over his hands, arms, and face—all of his exposed skin. The disease was still on his clothes, but there was nothing more thorough he could do at the moment. He stashed the little bottle in his pocket, then hurried to the mayor’s cabin.
 

When Wayne Dunbar opened the door, Greer stepped back. The Haskels came outside with the mayor. “I’ve been down to the infirmary,” Greer told them. “Your people have contracted a deadly fever. The healer and six of his patients have passed. The others there are close to dying.”

Dunbar’s lips thinned and his eyes hardened. It was almost as if he wasn’t surprised by the announcement. Mr. Haskel didn’t show a reaction either, but his wife gasped in shock.

“Mrs. Dunbar is down there,” she said, speaking through the hand that she still held over her mouth.

Greer nodded. “We need to warn the village and ask them to return to their cabins, to stay inside until help can come.”

“No help is coming. No outsiders are allowed on our property,” Dunbar said.

“You don’t let them in, then your people—every man, woman, and child, will become sick. A third or more will die, slow, painful, horrible deaths.”

The mayor didn’t blink. “I’ll send some of the women down to the infirmary.” Mrs. Haskel started forward, ready to round up the women to help.

“No.” Greer stopped her. He looked at Dunbar. “Help is already on the way. What’s happening here can spread beyond the borders of your community fast. The government has no choice but to send doctors, medicine, and soldiers to set up a perimeter. Don’t make this worse than it already is. If we can get your people back into their cabins, isolated from those who are sick, there’s a chance they will live.”

Mr. Dunbar stood like a statue. Maybe he was in shock.
 

Mrs. Haskel grasped the situation far more clearly. “We’ll use the bell to summon them. It will be heard all the way down to the fields, where there is another one to send the call out farther.”

“Ring it,” Greer ordered when the mayor said nothing.

Mrs. Haskel looked at the mayor and her husband, waiting for their confirmation. When they remained silent, Greer repeated his order. “Do it now, Mrs. Haskel.”

* * *

Greer went over to the cabin he shared with Remi. She was standing at the front window, watching the village anxiously. He put his hand up to the glass. She held hers to the other side of the glass. Her hand was small enough to fit entirely inside the windowpane.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“All hell’s breaking loose.” He was close enough to the window that he didn’t have to shout. “The CDC’s flying in some doctors for an initial assessment. They should be here any minute. The Army’s sending soldiers to establish a perimeter. If it is smallpox, I don’t know what will happen.”

“I don’t want these people to die.”

“Nor do I. The farmers are being recalled to their cabins.” He looked around, making sure no one was in earshot. “I think the mayor, and/or the council, may have had something to do with this. The men, anyway. They didn’t look surprised by this.”

She frowned at him through the glass. “You’ve been exposed to whatever it is.”

“If it’s smallpox, I’ve had a recent vaccination for it. The whole team has. But anyone not vaccinated, or whose vaccination is older than a decade, is at risk.”

“What’s going to happen?”

Greer lifted his shoulders. “Don’t know for sure. The CDC may decide to quarantine the community. Or they may evacuate everyone.”

“But there’s no running water, no electricity…they’ll have to move them.”

“They can bring in generators and water trucks. Field hospitals can be set up anywhere.”

“I’m scared.”

“I know. I’ll get you out of here as soon as possible.” He started to turn away, but she banged on the window. She held up both hands this time. He covered hers with his.

“I love you, Greer.”

I love you.
She’d said the very thing he’d been feeling. But was it real? Or was it simply a reaction to the stress they were under? “Remi, this is all going to be over soon.”