The Dead War Series (Book 2): Desperate Times (6 page)

When the non-glamored pilot opened the door, to climb out, Ovidius pressed his hand to his chest, halting him. “Not you. Tell me, how is this helicopter on fuel?”

The pilot blinked, but then took a glance at the control panel, checking the fuel gauge. “We have enough to make a trip to Springfield and back, but that would be it. Unless you have some fuel handy.”

“Jefferson Barracks isn't too far from here. I'll have you go there and see what can be gathered,” Ovidius said.

“Perhaps you should send someone with piloting skills to obtain any extra helicopters,” Cassian suggested.

Ovidius reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He entered a quick text and then slipped it back into his pocket. Less than a minute later, a male vampire opened the roof top door followed by a female vampire. Both approached the two Master vampires, bowing to each one.

“Hans... Sierra, I want you to travel with this human to Jefferson Barracks. If there are extra helicopters there, take them. Then Hans, I want you to gather as many humans as you can safely transport in these aircrafts,” Ovidius ordered. “Sierra, I want you to collect as much fuel for this aircraft as you can carry.”

Both vampires nodded and without wasting one more second, climbed inside the helicopter. Hans taking the side passenger seat and Sierra sitting in the back. Ovidius took hold of the pilot's jaw, forcing him to make eye contact. “You will do exactly as you're told, do you understand?” He gave the command along with his unbreakable mental persuasion.

“Yes,” the pilot droned out.

“Excellent. Go with my lord, Hans, and follow his every command.”

“Yes.” The pilot nodded and climbed back into his cockpit and started the engine. The blades began to rotate, slowly at first, and then more rapidly.

Both Master vampires turned, making their way inside
Costco
with the humans trailing behind them.

Cassian huffed as he descended the stairs. “What is the current state of the nation?”

“As I already mentioned, Chicago was bombed twenty minutes ago. I don't know how much effect it had, considering the spread of the virus has reached as far as Nebraska, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. There's no pattern, it's just all over.”

Cassian turned sharply, taken aback by this news. “My God!' he gasped.

One of Ovidius' vampires ran up to them, giving quick bows out of respect. “Master, Marcus has just reported seeing the zombies twenty minutes away from here.”

Ovidius growled in frustration, baring a flash of fangs. “Did he kill them?”

“At first, he was able to thin the crowd, but more started coming. It became too dangerous for him to stay. He's on his way here now,” the messenger informed.

“We knew this was coming. That's why we've been preparing,” Cassian pointed out.

“Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it,” Ovidius shot back.

“Master, what do you want me to do?” the messenger asked, inadvertently interrupting the two men.

“Help with the wall, Get everyone who's here on it,” Ovidius said.

The messenger nodded and ran off to do what he was told.

“You did well preparing this place, Ovidius. I'm proud.”

Ovidius nodded, appreciating the praise from his sire. Even after all of these years, it still mattered that his maker was pleased with him.

“So, where do you want to put them?”  Ovidius pointed at the humans silently standing by.

“I will have more words with these four,” Cassian pointed to Vincent, Felicia, Dr. Powers and the Major. “You can put her with the rest of the humans.” He pointed to Sarah. “As for these two, they may be of use, especially this one.” He pointed to Sgt. Santiago. “So you can put them where we're keeping the prospects.”

“Very well.” Ovidius walked up to Sarah, Sgt. Santiago, and William. He caught each one in his gaze, trapping them with his mind. Cassian released his mental hold over the three humans to allow for the other Master to take control. “Come with me.”

Ovidius turned, taking them to the two separate holding areas with the other humans who may be “of use” which was on the other side of the store from those humans who would be “food”.

Cassian took the others into one of the vacant offices. He sat down in the cheap leather chair behind a paper-cluttered desk with a monitor, keyboard and printer on top along with a plastic organizer where the stationary was barely organized. Taking a deep breath, he released his mental hold on the four humans. Immediately he felt the relief of the pressure that was threatening to give him one hell of a headache. He could feel himself growing weaker with every ounce of strength he'd used to do the things that needed to be done. As far as he was concern, the night couldn't come fast enough.

The humans studied him silently, not sure who should speak first or even what they should say. Cassian's steely gaze panned over each one waiting to see who would be bold enough to be the first to start asking questions.

Cassian decided he'd break the silence. “Major, I need you to contact the President; he needs to know that St. Louis will be off limits. Right now, the government is bombing cities in an attempt to minimize the spread of this virus. It won't work. The only thing that
will
is finding a cure. We need to make sure he doesn't make the mistake of bombing this city. He needs to know that not only do we have all of the research data, we also have the one scientist who can find a cure,” he said.

“The American government isn't going to accept this situation you're trying to initiate,” Maj. Garrett said.

“Oh, I think he will.”

“The president will take this as a hostage situation, most definitely.”

“Then tell him whatever you need to. Tell him if he tries to infiltrate our stronghold, we'll kill all of our hostages. Isn't that the protocol in these matters?” Cassian retorted. “Point is, he needs to refrain from setting bombs on this location, this city. So tell him whatever he needs to hear to make the right decision. We all want the same thing and that is a cure to save the human race. The safest place for that to come about is here, not in some lab that won't be protected enough from what's coming.”

“He'll want proof, I'm sure.” Maj. Garrett frowned, he was unable to hide his total dislike and distrust of Cassian and he wasn't too happy with being manipulated at the moment.

“He'll have you and if need be, Dr. Masterson himself along with these other two,” Cassian made a lazy gesture towards Felicia and Dr. Powers. “Now, enough stalling. Get to it.”

Maj. Garrett gave the strange and obviously inhuman man before him a cautious look as he pulled his satellite phone from his bag. He dialed the number of his highest-ranked contact and the woman answered right away.

“We've been trying to reach you for over an hour, are you all right? What's the situation?” Amanda Sellers, the United States Secretary of Defense.

“There's been a change in plans, Ma'am,” Major Garrett began.

“What do you mean? What's going on?”

“I'm currently in St. Louis with Doctors; Masterson, Anderson and Powers. We will be setting up base and working on a cure here.”

“You were given a direct order to rendezvous with Dr. Hawkins at the CDC, why have you changed course without approval? This is unacceptable. The CDC has a lab prepped and ready, waiting for your arrival. We can't delay,” Amanda's tone was authoritative as she laid down the law.

“Ma'am, the matter is completely out of my hands. We were taken against our will by a group of people who claim they are the only ones who can save us. I do have footage that we managed to record that I can send to you if you require proof.”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean you've been taken? What's going on?”

“I'm not entirely sure, ma'am. Our helicopter was hijacked and we were taken to a location in St. Louis.” Maj. Garrett wanted to give her more information. He wanted to tell her there were at
Costco's
but for some reason the words never left his mouth.

Cassian watched the soldier converse as well as listened to the telephone conversation. He made sure the man only told the Secretary what he wanted him to tell her.

“Have they made any demands?” Amanda asked.

“Only one, ma'am. That you do not set bombs to this city.”

“I'm going to have to insist that you send that footage right away so that we can get some idea of what we're dealing with,” Amanda said. She tried very hard to conceal the fear and uncertainty she was feeling. She was very confused as to what was really going on with the Major and his company.

“I'll send it to you shortly. Ma'am, I would highly recommend that you adhere to this demand. Like I said, we have all of the research, everything is here including the sole surviving scientist who was working on that project. If you have any plans in motions, please abort that mission. Get the President to sign off on that, I beg of you,” Major Garrett pleaded.

“We don't negotiate with terrorist, you know that,” Amanda said, trying to hold solid to her resolve.

“This isn't that kind of situation and I don't believe we have all that much of a choice in the matter.  If we don't give them what they want, we may be dooming all of humanity if we lose the research, especially. Not to mention, they have over...” He paused looking at Cassian.

Cassian mouthed the words “six hundred” knowing exactly what he wanted from him.

Major Garrett nodded and continued. “...They have over six hundred people here. You can call them hostages if you want. They say they don't want to hurt them, that they want to protect them and come up with a cure. They say they want the same thing we all want, to save humanity from whatever the hell is going on out there.”

“Those things are already in St. Louis. What if we send in a few choppers and get you out of there--”

“Ma'am, that is not an option,” Major Garrett interjected, having watched Cassian shake his head. He didn't know how the man was doing it, but apparently he could hear every word he spoke with Amanda.

“Shit! I'll let the President know of your situation. We can't risk losing that research, if you can tell me your location, I can get an extraction team out there.”

Fed up, Cassian rose from his chair and was around the desk faster than the humans could track. The four gasped and jumped back instinctively as Cassian yanked the phone from Maj. Garrett's hand.

“Let me speak to the President, who I'm sure is very near to you in that underground haven of yours,” Cassian said.

“Whatever you want to say to the President, you can say to me,” Amanda countered.

“I'm afraid that won't do. You see, I need a certain confirmation that only he can give. You don't have the authority to grant my demands. Now please, do as I say... I'm sure you realize by now, you really don't have any other choice,” Cassian pointed out.

“Just one minute.”

Cassian waited with more patience than he wanted to give to the humans. If it took her any longer to get him that audience he was seeking, he might have to do something drastic. The last thing he wanted the humans to think he was doing was bluffing. A few minutes later, the President's distinct voice, laced with concern and integrity came over the phone.

“This is President Goodall speaking. I'm told you want to negotiate terms.”

“Listen carefully, Mr. President,” Cassian said. “This is the one and only line of communication we'll have. My demands are simple. There will be no extraction team, if you send anyone here, they will be met with extreme hostility. Who we do not kill, will be taken hostage. The research recovered from SciTech Labs and Dr. Masterson will remain here until a cure is available--”

“You don't make those kinds of calls around her--”

“It would appear, from where I'm standing that I am in control of this situation,” Cassian interrupted. His tone was ominous and held an underlying layer of preternatural superiority.

The President was taken aback from the harsh command and though he wanted give him a piece of his mind, lives were in jeopardy. He had to see this situation through if they were going to reach their end result. According to his Secretary of Defense, this person was holding all of their winning cards.

“As I was saying, your facility in Atlanta is nowhere near secure enough to offer protection during this time. You have no idea the true measure of the threat you face. These are desperate times and they require desperate measures. My people are no doubt gathering humans to protect them in compounds much like the one we have constructed.  So you would do wise not to arbitrarily bomb cities as you will be destroying humanities only chance for survival. We do this because we must. Allow me to reiterate: We have
all
of the research data and we are your best chance for a solution.”

“I can't offer you a guarantee that we won't bomb St. Louis if the matter gets worse,” President Raymond Goodall said.

“Oh, it will get worse. It will spread across the entire country before the end of the day. You won't be able to stop it by bombing every city. The end result of that is the total destruction of humankind and an annihilation of your resources. Mark my words, this epidemic will spread to Canada and South America within seventy-two hours. This is the reality we are all facing. It's time to put aside inconsequential rules of engagement and do what's best for the people you represent. St. Louis is off limits. That is your only option,” Cassian said. He made certain to speak in a measured tone as to not engage the mortal in a battle of words over the telephone. He needed the government's capitulation, not a declaration of war.