The Atlantis Plague (21 page)

“Wait.” Shaw picked up the guard’s gun and belt, and fastened both around Kate. “Wear this, but try not to use it.”

“Why?”

“It draws attention, for one. And if you’re shooting at someone around here who has a gun, they’re probably a better shot than you are.”

“How do you know I’m not some gun-shooting expert?”

“I read your file, Kate. Be careful.” Without another word, he set off down the stairwell, practically leaping down the flights. He exited at the bottom before Kate could respond.

Kate followed at her own pace. At the lobby, the inhabitants—those still alive—scurried away from her, giving her a wide berth.

Through the glass revolving door, she saw Shaw talking with the three guards, waving his arms, the others laughing.

Kate made her way to the restaurant, which was similar to the other tower’s restaurant, but she thought maybe it had had a different theme, though it was too disheveled to make out at this point. There were people here, but far less than she had expected. They crawled away from her as her footsteps echoed in the dining hall.

She pushed against the doors to the kitchen, but they wouldn’t open. Something, maybe a bar, was blocking them. She pushed again, but they didn’t give. She peered in through the oval glass window.

Martin sat there on the floor, slumped against the stainless steel cabinet below the counter. A pile of empty water bottles lay at his feet. Kate couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead.

CHAPTER 44

Immari Operations Base at Ceuta
Northern Morocco

The guard adjusted the binoculars, hoping to get a better look at the rider. The horse was one of theirs, the one the colonel had taken. The rider wore a bedouin headdress. The guard sounded the alarm.

Five minutes later, the guard stood side by side with the other men of the perimeter detail as the rider stopped before the city gate and slowly raised his hands in the air. He reached for the red cloth wrapped around his head and unwound it.

The guard turned back to the men. “False alarm. It’s the colonel.” Then he looked back at the man. Something was different.

David walked into the officer’s lounge and made a beeline for the major.

The major set down his cards, leaned back in his chair, and smiled. “The mighty horse warrior returns! We thought the savages might be having you for dinner.”

David took a chair from an adjacent table without asking and inserted it between two men at the major’s table, shoving them aside without a word. He opened his shirt, revealing the seared, inflamed flesh. “They tried. Too gamey for them.” David glanced at the men around the table. “Give us a little privacy here?”

The major nodded and the men all grudgingly rose from their seats, taking one last look at their cards before muttering and tossing them back on the table, as if each knew he had the winning hand and it was just his luck that he couldn’t play it out.

“I can solve your Berber problem.”

“I’m listening,” Rukin said.

“Return the chief’s daughter. The raids stop.”

The major turned his head slightly. “Who?”

“The girl. Nwella. The one you sent to my room.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true.”

“It’s a ruse.”

“Well, look, do you want to call Maury Povich for a paternity test or do you want to secure this station? That girl is all he wants. He’ll relent, stop the attacks, hell, he’ll even help us round up the other tribes. He’s set a time and place for the attack. He’ll serve them all up. But he wants his daughter and the other women first.”

“Impossible. I can’t turn them over.”

“Why not?”

“First off…” Rukin seemed to be grasping, rationalizing. “Releasing the women will likely only empower them—show them our weakness. The chief will parade the women as a sign of his own power and our weakness—our capitulation. It gives him the momentum. And that’s just the half of it. I need those women—for…
morale
. They’re about the only joy I can give these men in this desolate hellhole. I’ll have a mutiny on my hands the second they pass the city walls.”

“Men can live without sex. They’ve done it before. And the chief will stop the attacks. Look, I had a mission—to secure Ceuta before Chairman Sloane arrived. I’ve given you the opportunity to do that. You can turn it down, but if horse raiders are taking pot shots at Sloane’s helicopter convoy when he arrives, you’ll have to answer for it.”

The threat to Sloane and the possibility of failing at such a crucial moment seemed to weigh on Rukin. His tone changed. “You’re certain the attacks will stop?”

“Certain.”

“How? I mean, the idea that all these attacks, for months, have been to get her back?”

“Yes. Well, actually, those attacks were just to size you up. To test the city walls. You’ve only seen a tenth of their strength. There are other camps. They’ve just been figuring out the best way to take the base. They won’t take prisoners.”

“He’d risk them all for one girl?”

“Never underestimate what a parent will do to save their child’s life.”

Rukin looked away, searching for something to say.

David preempted him. “We’re going to give the girl back, and they’re going to help us round up the other tribes. That will secure this base and give us the freedom to focus on the upcoming mission, our role in the larger Immari plan. If we’re not ready, if we’re fighting to hold our city walls… heads will roll, and it won’t be mine. I’ve completed my mission. I’ve given you a means to secure Ceuta.” David stood and began walking away. Throughout the officer’s lounge, every table was quiet, every pair of eyes focused on him and the major.

The major spoke up. “If I release the women… the daughter. You honestly think that when the chief sees what we’ve done to his daughter, that he won’t attack then and there.”

“He won’t—”

“He—”

“Made a promise to me, before his entire tribe. His honor hangs on it. He breaks his promise, even to an enemy, he loses the faith of his people. He can’t afford it. And you’re wrong. For months he prayed that he would see her again, that she wasn’t dead. He’ll be overjoyed to see her. Nothing else will matter.” David turned and walked out. “Choice is yours, Major.”

CHAPTER 45

Immari Sorting Camp
Marbella, Spain

Kate rammed the butt of the gun into the glass again, and it finally broke, sending shards into the kitchen. The noise scared the remaining people out of the dining hall, leaving her alone.

She used the edge of the gun to clear away the sharp teeth of glass along the rim of the window and then tried to reach the metal bar that Martin had put through the door handles. She stretched, felt the last remaining shards of glass biting into her arm, and reeled back. She took the gun in her hand and reached again, and she had it. She pushed hard and the iron bar fell to the ground with a loud clang.

She pushed through the doors and rushed to Martin. He was alive, but he was burning up. She held his head in her hands. Dark spots covered his cheeks. His skin was boiling.

Kate pulled his eyelids open. His eyes rolled around, revealing milky yellow where white should be. Jaundice. Liver failure. What other organs were affected?

“Martin?” Kate tried to shake him, and his breathing rate increased.

He cracked his eyes, and upon seeing Kate, drew back. He coughed violently.

What could she do for him? Kate patted him down, searching for the case that held the Orchid pills. She might as well. It was the only thing she could do, but the case wasn’t on him. He coughed again, arching his back this time. He rolled off the cabinet to lie on the floor, and Kate saw the case—behind him, lying against the cabinet.

She opened it quickly. One pill. She glanced back at Martin, who was coughing quietly on the floor. He had rationed himself, hoping he might make it a little longer.

The double doors to the kitchen flew open, and Kate reeled around. Shaw stood there, a sack in his hands. He surveyed Kate and Martin. “Ah, bloody hell.”

“Help me get him up,” Kate said, as she struggled to right Martin against the cabinet.

“He’s finished, Kate. We can’t take him out of here like this.”

Kate grabbed a bottle of water and forced Martin to take the last pill. “What was your plan?”

He threw the sack at her feet, and Kate saw that it held another Immari Army uniform.

Shaw shook his head. “I thought we could walk out of here. Maybe if he were in better shape. Immari soldiers don’t look that sick, Kate. He’d paint a target all over us.”

Martin turned his head and tried to say something, but the words came out in a jumble. The fever was consuming him. Kate used the uniform to wipe some of the sweat off of him. “If he was well, what would you do after we left this building? What’s the plan?”

“We follow the crowd—the survivors. We get on the plague barge to Ceuta, the main Immari sorting center—”

“What?! We need to
get away
from the Immari.”

“We can’t. There’s no way out of here. They’re burning a perimeter around the Orchid district walls—almost a half kilometer.”

Kate’s thoughts immediately went to the boys, to the couple in the old city. “Are they burning the Old Town district?”

Shaw seemed confused. “No. Just a defensive perimeter around the camp. They’re turning it into a new processing center. Anyway, by nightfall the fire will be at the walls and the plague barge will be here. It’s the only way out.”

Kate made her decision. “Then we’ll be on it.”

Shaw opened his mouth, but Kate cut him off. “I’m not asking. There’s a bag in my room. You know where that is?”

He nodded.

“Bring it to me. It has the research. Then find some…” She need to try something to slow the disease progression. Normally, for any other virus, the key would be antivirals and patience. But if this disease behaved the same way it did in 1918, Martin was undergoing an immune system overload. His own body was attacking him, much the same way autoimmune diseases behaved. “Bring some steroids.”

“Steroids?”

“Tablets.” Kate tried to think of the European names. “Prednisolone, cortisone, methylprednisolone—”

“Okay, I get the picture.”

“And we need some food. When the loading starts, we’ll take him out. We’ll say he’s a drunk soldier.”

Shaw let his head fall back. “This is a really bad idea.” He focused on Kate, and seeing how serious she was, simply turned and walked out. He paused at the door and pointed at the iron bar that had blocked it. “Put that back in the door while I’m gone. And stay quiet.”

CHAPTER 46

Immari Advance Fleet Alpha
Near Cape Verde

Dorian walked onto the ship’s bridge and cringed as all the officers, including the ship’s captain, stopped what they were doing and saluted him.

“For God’s sake, stop saluting me. I’ll demote the next sailor who salutes me to seaman zero class.” He wasn’t sure if that rank existed, but the looks on the faces around the room told him that his meaning was received. Dorian led the captain aside. “Any update from Operation Genesis?”

“No, sir.”

In this case, no news was bad news. The lack of update from his operative told Dorian that his plan to capture Kate Warner was exactly nowhere. He debated changing course.

The Atlantean had been clear:
You must wait until she obtains the code
.

“Do you have new orders, sir?”

Dorian turned away from him. “No… Stay the course, Captain.”

“There’s something else, sir.”

Dorian eyed him.

“An update from Ceuta. They say the British have mined the Straits of Gibraltar. We won’t be able to pass them.”

Dorian exhaled and closed his eyes. “You’re sure?”

“Yes, sir. They’ve sent several ships in. They were hoping to find a way and guide us through, but the Brits sewed it up tight. But, we think there’s some good news.”

“Good news?”

“They wouldn’t have mined the straits if they planned to face us off the coast of Spain.”

The captain’s logic made sense. Options formed in Dorian’s mind, but he wanted to hear the captain’s opinion first. “Options?”