Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (33 page)

“I know that. That’s not why I said—oh, forget it.”

“Did you mean it?” His fingertips pressed into the glass until his nails were white.

“Yes.”

“Good. ’Cause I had no intention of letting the woman I love slip out of my life when things return to normal.”

She slowly smiled. “You love me, too?”

“Fuck yes.” He heard the first helicopter approaching. “Gotta go. I’ll be back. Stay put.”

Max was having the doctors land in the field nearest the hospital. Two men disembarked. Greer waved them over toward the infirmary. They both paused long enough to pull on masks, gloves, and surgical covers over their clothes. One of them went inside. The other knelt beside Lion.

He pulled the edges of Sparrow’s blanket apart. Seemed the boy had even more sores than before. Greer watched as the doctor checked his pulse, then drew his hand down over the boy’s eyes.
 

“I’m sorry, son.” He looked at Lion. “Are you his brother?” the doctor asked in a calm voice.

Lion squeezed his eyes shut, then looked away. “Yes.”

“He’s no longer feeling pain. He’s dead, son. Where are your parents?”

“I am—I was—his guardian.” Lion covered Sparrow up, as if the kid still needed the warmth. A tear spilled down his cheek.

“Do you know if anyone from your family has been over here to the clinic?”

Greer braced himself for whatever Lion would say. The doctor understood nothing of Lion’s world or his pride or the Friendship Community.
 

“No one has been here. When Sparrow became so sick, I had the rest of the pride sleep outside.”

Greer silently sighed as the doctor sent him a questioning look. “There are unique living arrangements in this community. Leave it at that. For now, it’s enough to know that no others from Lion’s family have come over here.”

“I did go into the clinic,” Lion told them.

“Then you’ll need a vaccination.”
 

“What is that?”

“It’s a shot. In the arm,” the doctor said.

“I had one of those.”

“When?” Greer asked.

Lion eased himself from under Sparrow and stood. He pulled his sleeve up and showed the doctor his arm. “Is it this shot?” There was a mark on his arm of a recently healed sore.

“That’s it.”

“When did you have that?” Greer asked.

“Six weeks or so. Before Sparrow came to live with us.”

Greer and the doctor looked at each other. Someone had known about the outbreak…and they’d been preparing for it.

The other doctor came back out from the clinic and confirmed Greer’s worst fears. It was smallpox. They stepped a short distance away and called in their assessment.
 

Greer set a hand on Lion’s shoulder. “I’m sorry about your cub.”

Lion’s nostrils flared. He nodded. “He came to us because his mom died. Do you think she had this illness?”

“It’s possible. The doctors will do an investigation.”

* * *

Structured mayhem took over in the next hours. More helicopters arrived. Tents were set up for a morgue and others to triage sick patients. Sparrow’s body and the others from the clinic were put in body bags and transferred to the temporary morgue.

Greer showed the doctors where the healer and his two patients were, then he and Lion went up to the guest cabin. Kit was there, with Lobo and the other guys.

“Lion and his pride were inoculated against smallpox about six weeks ago,” Greer told Kit. “All except the newest member.”

“Does his boy have smallpox?”

Greer nodded. “He did. He died.”

Kit set a hand on Lion’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lion. Jesus. Tell me about the shots you and your pride received. Who authorized it? Who did them?”

Lion shook his head. “King ordered them. A man showed up one night a while back and administered them. We were told if we discussed the shots with anyone, we would be arrested by your government, that the pride would be dissolved, the cubs separated.”

“We’re not going to let that happen.” Kit looked at Greer. “I need you to take one of the physician assistants to the house to vaccinate everyone there. Take Lion and let him clean up. You guys need to stop at the station over there to change into a pair of scrubs. Put your clothes in a laundry bag. They’re giving out instructions for washing…which only apply to us and the other responders, since there are no washing machines in the community. While you clean up, the PA will vaccinate everyone else—including the Jacksons. Doc Beck is going to be at the house, too. He needs a vaccination in case this spreads wider than the Friendship Community.”

“I want to get Remi out of here.”

Kit sighed. “She can’t go. No one who was exposed and unvaccinated is allowed to leave.”
 

“Then I’m coming back to stay here with her.”

“Good. We could use you here.” He looked at Greer. “Listen, Greer—Ivy can’t get the shot.”

Greer frowned. “Why?”

“She may be pregnant. We’ve been trying, anyway.”

“I’ll be sure the PA spells that out for her and the others.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Greer changed, then went to say goodbye to Remi. The silence inside the small cabin was deafening after the chaos outside.
 

“I can’t take you home yet, Remi. As an unvaccinated person, you’re caught up in the quarantine.”

“I know.” Her mouth tightened. “I’m dreading calling the university. The semester will be starting before my quarantine is over. They told me to stop, and I didn’t. And now look what happened.”

A thought occurred to Greer. He looked at her, almost hoping she’d shut him down. “Shit. Remi. Do you know if Senator Whiddon had anything to do with their changed opinion of your research?”

She shook her head. “He’s a Colorado senator. Why would he be involved with the University of Wyoming?”

“Because he figured out who you were. Sweet little Chastity grew into a major threat to him. As a senator, he could pull strings.”

Her eyes widened. “Do you think he did?”
 

“I can find out.”
 

She bit the tip of her thumb as she turned from him, deep in thought. “You could be right. When I went down to the Grummond’s earlier this summer, I gave them my academic credentials. When they wouldn’t let me in, I asked to speak to some of the women I grew up with.” She looked at Greer. “I told them I used to live there.” Panic grayed her face. “I told them I used to be known as Chastity.”

“Oh hell. That’s it. The senator is still plugged in to that community.”

“I did bring this on myself.”

Greer took hold of her arms. “No, you didn’t. You had no idea Prophet Josiah was Senator Whiddon. And you had no knowledge of his connection to the WKB.” God, he wished he could hold her tight and tell her everything was going to be fine, but even that contact might endanger her.
 

“I’m going to do a little digging when I get back to the house. Kit or one of the guys will stand guard over you here until I return. Don’t call the university yet. Let me talk to Kit and Owen first.”

She gripped his wrists. “Okay. Let me know what you find out. I’ll walk with you part of the way. Kit said they’re doing vaccinations now. I need to get mine.”

“I’m afraid to kiss you. I don’t want to contaminate you. I’m taking one of the medics home so he can vaccinate everyone there. Is there anything you want from the house?”

She shook her head. “I have everything I need.”

They crossed the main square. Already, it looked like a war zone. Military trucks were driving across the property, carrying troops and supplies. Residents were standing in small groups, holding each other, watching the goings-on with frightened eyes. Remi’s hand tightened in his.
 

“This isn’t going to be forever, Remi. Just a few months. Half a year. Only as long as it needs to be. Soon they’ll clear out. Next summer, this will all be a memory.”

She shut her eyes and nodded.

Mayor Dunbar was standing on one of the picnic tables in the community square. His arms were raised and fists clenched. Sweat cloaked his face. A truck went past, keeping them from hearing what he was saying. People from the community were gathered around his table in a half-moon throng.
 

Off to the right side of the square, a neat line of residents was queued up for their shots, their numbers and complacency in sharp contrast to the rabble the council leader was whipping up.
 

Kit caught up to them. “What’s going on?” Greer asked.

“The CDC can’t vaccinate the residents involuntarily.” He gestured toward the mayor. “This portion of the community doesn’t want the inoculation.”

“What’s with the construction vehicles?”

“The powers that be decided it was best to quarantine the virus here. They’re setting up a field hospital with separate concrete tents for exposed and feverish, individuals with the poxes, and those in recovery.” He looked at Greer. “There’s also going to be a morgue.” He gave the crowd a baleful glare. “There’s pushback on the fact that those who pass from smallpox need to be cremated.”

Greer shook his head. “It’s a lot to take in. It was a shock for us, and we’ve been somewhat prepared for a biological attack.”
 

“Do you think this was an attack?” Remi asked.

Greer nodded. “Yes. Someone infected these people.”

“Kit—let me talk to them,” Remi said. “Of all the outsiders here, I’m the most familiar to them.”

Kit nodded. “Go for it.” He looked at Greer. “Keep with her.”
 

No sooner had they started into the dense throng than Mayor Dunbar called them out. “This is all their fault. They brought this disease to us!”
 

Greer’s nerves sharpened as they became the focus of the mob. He wanted to pull Remi back with him and get her behind the line of soldiers that had quietly surrounded the square. Before he could act, the crowd separated, opening a path for them that led straight to the mayor.

“None of this happened until they came here,” Dunbar said, pointing at them.

Remi jumped onto his picnic table without hesitation. She held up her hands, commanding silence from the crowd in a way that made Greer wonder just how unruly her classes at the university were.
 

“Smallpox doesn’t occur naturally anymore and hasn’t since before 1980,” she said. “For it to show up now, and here, it had to be intentionally released.”

“That’s what I said! You released this into our community.”

“No. We didn’t do that. In fact, I will need to get the shot myself. If I had released it, I would already have had the vaccine. The vaccination is not a big deal. It makes a very tender sore, which becomes a blister. It’ll need special care for a few weeks, but then you won’t get the terrible, terrible disease that is already ravaging your village. If you don’t get the vaccine, history shows us that thirty percent of you will die. Many of you will have terrible scarring for life. Instead of one sore from the vaccine, you’ll be covered in itchy, painful, pus-y sores. They’ll be all over your face, in your nose, your ears, your mouth. Down your throat. In your lungs. In your eyes. You’ll go blind.”

The crowd went quiet. They began to look at each other. “How is that preferable to one shot?” she continued. “One sore. No disease? Greer, show them your vaccination scar.”

Greer stood on the picnic bench so his arm could be seen across the crowd. He lifted his sleeve to show them the white, puckered scar that was smaller than a dime.

“You have that,” Mrs. Haskel said, pointing to her husband. “I had to take care of your sore.” To the crowd, she said, “Dr. Chase is right. It just makes one sore. We’ve seen our loved ones in the infirmary. They have the sores all over their bodies.”
 

“Silence, Mrs. Haskel,” the mayor snapped.

Mrs. Haskel’s eyes narrowed as she looked from the mayor to her husband. “You knew this was coming. You knew it. You got that shot long before Mr. Dawson and Dr. Chase came to us.”

Greer cautiously watched the crowd. Another woman spoke up. They’d been introduced to her—she was the wife of another councilman. “My husband also got the shot.” She shouldered her way through the crowd and came to stand near to Mrs. Haskel. “Like you, I cared for it. He said it was a spider bite.”

She stepped up to the picnic bench and faced the crowd. “Who else has already had this shot? Who?” She pointed to another councilman. “You?”

Everyone turned to face the man she called out. He shrugged. “The mayor said it was mandatory. All the councilmen took the shot.”

“But not the councilwomen. I didn’t have the shot.” Mrs. Haskel turned wounded eyes on her husband.

He tilted his head and lifted his hands. “He owns us. He knows everything about us. We were told we couldn’t come out with the news. We weren’t allowed to tell you.”

“Who owns you?” Greer asked, his question heard across the suddenly quiet assembly.

“King.”

Greer looked back at Kit and the guys. Lobo was watching them, too. “How does he own you?”

Mr. Haskel looked at the mayor, whose face was hard as stone. “Your own wife may be dying,” he said to the mayor. “We can’t keep this up. It has to end.”
 

The mayor said nothing.
 

“King knows our sins,” Mrs. Haskel said.

Greer shook his head. “I’m not following.”

“The sins we committed during our tithes. Our payment for the privilege of being allowed to live here,” Mr. Haskel said. “It’s why no one talks about their tithes.”

“See what it got us?” Mrs. Haskel said. “We’ve brought this terrible day to our own community. I told the council it needed to end. I begged you to let us change our policy.”

Greer looked at Kit, then back at the three leaders. “All right.” He nodded. “So this terrible outbreak is the result of your choices. What happens next is up to you. Tell your people to get the vaccination. Live to tell your stories. Live, so you have the chance to straighten this out.”

Mrs. Haskel sent a glance around at those gathered, then nodded. She climbed down from the picnic table and went over to stand in line for her vaccination. When the others followed her, Greer helped Remi down.