The Dying of the Light (Book 1): End (39 page)

“No wonder he wanted us to capture them ‘alive.’ He needed more subjects.”

“Exactly, and he needs more
fast
ones if he’s going to make them adequate biological weapons. Imagine the terror the average walker would cause if it was dropped on a unit… then picture a whole squad or platoon of them… then imagine how much worse it’d be if they could
all
move that fast.”

Kim shuddered at the thought. “When did you know, sir?” She paused, and reached out to him. “Oh God, was Mary– did she– she couldn’t– ”

Maxwell shook his head. “No, she didn’t know and she wasn’t a part of it. She still doesn’t know. Gardner sectioned off part of the lab with those he could trust to work on his little side projects, and she never got in. The fact that he did that was enough to raise some red flags for her, though, and she let me and Frank know, too. She helped us as much as she could, but I wanted to spare her this.”

“She deserves to know the truth.”

“She does. And I’ll tell her. Eventually. But right now, I need her focused on helping to get the research ready for transport, and keeping Gardner in the dark about everything, even if she doesn’t know she’s doing it.”

“But you and Frank. When did you two figure it out?”

“Frank and I suspected something from the beginning, actually. How could anyone meet Gardner and
not
think he was up to something? The day he arrived on the base and took over from Mary — this was while 1
^st
team was inactive — we started getting a nasty vibe from him. But we never had anything concrete. Not until he went off the deep end and tried to get me court-martialed or transferred after I fought him on the whole Tremaine thing.”

“He didn’t!”

“He did. He went all the way up the chain, as far as he could. Which is pretty far, considering. The Secretary is practically in his back pocket at this point.”

Kim snorted. “I don’t know who to feel sorry for, there.”

“I know what you mean. Problem is, Gardner and his cronies managed to snag some of the top spots in Bunker Five — the president’s bunker, in Pennsylvania — using his connections.”

“But not the president, sir?”

Maxwell grinned. “Nope, although Gardner thinks SecDef has his ear. He’s our man, though, and saw right through Gardner’s bullshit as fast as Frank and I did.”

“So what’s the plan, then?”

“We’ve got a few high-placed friends in various outfits. Frank has been getting in touch with them for a couple of weeks, and getting them ready to move against Gardner’s people. We’ve identified quite a few — most of them, we think — thanks to Lansford, but Frank’s also been cozying up to Gardner just in case.”

“That storm-out a while back?”

“All part of the plan. Gardner brought him in on some minor things after that, thinking he could turn him, since Frank was so obviously pissed.”

“When do we move?”

“We’re biding our time, waiting until everything’s in place. We’re going to need concrete evidence of more than just some experiments on walkers to take Gardner down for good. We have a lot of evidence, but it’s all circumstantial. We don’t have anything on him
directly
. We’ve got eyes on him almost all the time, though. So it shouldn’t be too long. He’s arrogant and over-confident, and we’re using that against him.”

“Good. How can I help?”

“I’ll need you there when it all goes down, Kim. I promise you’ll be a part of it. But, for now, what I really need you to do is get David back to us. Now that we know what sent him over, I’m thinking we can bring him back. Talk to Forrest and see if she’d be willing to give you a hand. Maybe something familiar can help.” Maxwell sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Where I’m
really
going to need your help, though, is when and if we
do
get him back: one way or another, he’s going to find out about Gardner, if he doesn’t know already.”

“Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. He’s going to… well, sir, I wouldn’t want to be Gardner.”

“I know he’s going to have other ideas about what needs to happen, and that’s the problem. Gardner’s the only one who knows where all the bodies are buried… in this case, literally. We need him alive. I’m asking you to see to it that he stays that way.”

Seeing the expression on her face, his own softened. “I know that won’t be easy, and I know I’m asking you to make a supremely difficult choice. But it has to be done. We have to do this the right way, Kim.”

Kim hesitated. “Sir, I…” She paused. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now let’s get back. I’m freezing my ass off out here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So that’s the long and the short of it, Morena,” said Kim, sitting on the edge of Morena Forrest’s bunk in the barracks. Michael played on the floor as the two women talked.

“So you think that seeing us brought back memories and sent him into a catatonic state?” asked Morena.

“Mary and I are fairly sure of it.”

“And you want Michael and I to talk to him, to try and break him out of it?”

“Yes. We need him back, Morena. He’s still the most experienced one of us, and he’s in a unique position to help us fight this war.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea. What if he gets attached to us, or somehow wakes up and thinks that I’m… Rebecca? Or that Michael is Eric?”

“I have to admit that the thought crossed my mind, and Dr. Adamsdóttir thinks it’s a possibility, but a very remote one. And we have to try.”

Morena looked at Michael, so happy in that moment, and realized what she would give to stay in that happiness forever, with no thoughts of zombies or the end of the world or any of it.
But that can’t happen
, she thought.
Not for any of us. Not anymore
.

Kim put a hand on Morena’s shoulder, recapturing her attention. Kim had tears in her eyes, and couldn’t seem to bring herself to speak. She looked down, picking at her nails. “It’s more than the mission, though,” she finally said, her voice breaking. “I need him back, Morena. I miss him.”

Morena took one of Kim’s hands and held it tightly. “I know, Kim. I know. But this…” She sighed, and released Kim’s hand. “I… I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise you now.”

Kim wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled. “That’s all I can ask. Just don’t take too long thinking it over. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Is the new subject ready?” Gardner asked one of the faceless — at least to him — technicians who populated his labs. He looked through the glass at the walker. The suit and tie were all but shreds at this point, but it still stood tall and gruesome.

“Yes, sir. We’ve prepared the new training room as per your orders.” The technician swallowed. “Sir, about this configuration…”

Gardner turned to the technician, bringing the full force of his glaring persona to bear on the hapless little man. “Yes?”

To his credit, this tech was braver than the others who’d worked here in the past. “Well, sir, it’s just that if the soldiers aren’t
very
careful, then this sort of configuration could lead to an accide…” He broke off as Gardner moved forward, overshadowing the small man by a good six to eight inches. For the flash of a second, the technician thought he saw anger pass across Gardner’s face; it was like looking into the pits of Hell itself… but it was gone, now.

Gardner? Pissed? Surely not. Not stoneface.

“Shhh, there, there,” Gardner said. “No need to worry. Let’s take a walk, and we can discuss it. Just give me a second here.”

The taller man leaned over his desk, checking the guard’s duty roster lying next to his computer.
Perfect. I don’t know how this little shit is piecing this stuff together, but we can’t have that, now can we, Hank, old buddy?

No, we can’t.

“So you can see…” Gardner said, pausing. “I’m sorry, your name again?”

“Williams, sir.”

“So you can see, Williams, that everything will be just fine. I’ll take care of any lingering issues, and we’ll get this addressed as soon as we can.”

As they walked down the hallway, his arm around the young technician’s shoulders in a friendly, if unnerving, gesture, Gardner noticed the door at the end, and the guard leaving his post a bit early.
Just as I’d hoped. Incompetence, just when I need it.

“Anyway, Williams… can I call you Brett? Anyway, Brett, I’m sure you’ll see this was all just a misunderstanding. One second, please.” He palmed open the security lock for the door, blocking Brett’s view into the room as it opened. “At least, that’s what I’ll tell everyone.”

He stepped to the side and shoved the technician through the door, palming the lock again just as the screams began, only to be cut off by the heavy soundproofing as the door closed once more.

Last damn time he’ll argue with me
, he thought, nodding to the replacement guard just walking up to take his post.

“Evening, sir. Colonel Maxwell wanted me to give you this, sir.” The guard extended a folded message.

“Very well,” Gardner said, taking the paper and placing it in his coat pocket. As Gardner turned to walk away, the guard spoke again. “Sir, he seemed rather… insistent. Said it was urgent, sir.”

Gardner sighed. “I see. Thank you.” He opened the message as he began walking back to his office.
Paperwork? Now? What the hell is he thinking?

He stopped at a nearby desk and picked up the phone, dialing the colonel’s extension from memory. “Listen, George, I’m afraid I can’t… No, I don’t… There’s an urgent… Look, you can’t talk to me… I see. Well, that’s that then. I’m on my way.”

Gardner glanced up at the camera facing the door he’d just come from, the one marked “DANGER: Test Subject Pen.”
It’s not like anyone knows
, he thought.
I can always erase the footage later.
He strode off toward the colonel’s office.

As he sat back down at his desk an hour later, Gardner tensed as he looked at his desk.
Something isn’t right… something’s been moved…

In a panic, he accessed the security logs from the surveillance system.
Nothing. The file’s still there, and hasn’t been tampered with.
He relaxed — for Gardner — and proceeded to erase several files at random intervals from the camera outside the test pen, including the one from earlier that evening. Then he pressed the intercom on his phone.

“Sam, come in here, would you?”

The skinny youth came into the office, and, at Gardner’s urging, sat down at one of the chairs in front of the desk. Gardner studied him in silence for a moment.

“Sam, can you tell me the status of the repair order on the security camera outside the Test Pen?”

“Sir?” said Lansford, confused. “What repair order, sir?”

“The one I asked you to issue three months ago, Mr. Lansford. I’ve just been through the files on the surveillance system, and there are many files missing or corrupted. That’s an important camera, Sam. We need to make sure it gets fixed immediately. Make this a priority.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s all. You can go.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam stood and left Gardner’s office, fuming the whole way and hiding it like the expert he had to be.
He’s up to something, and it’s not going to be good for anyone involved. I’d better tell the colonel.

As it turned out, the colonel already knew.

“Did you get it?” Maxwell’s voice echoed in a darkened corridor on the other side of the base.

“Yes, sir. It’s all there, sir. The whole file, on that flash drive.”

“Good man. I wasn’t sure we could pull this off that quickly.”

“Me, either, sir. How’d you do it?”

Maxwell grinned as he looked at the guard who had by pure coincidence left his post a bit early that evening. “The bane of servicemen everywhere, lieutenant. Paperwork.”

The guard laughed. “Imagine that asshole brought down by something like paperwork.
That
is fitting, sir.”

“I agree, lieutenant. Dismissed.”

Chapter Twenty

“Hello, and welcome to HealthWatch. I’m Tabitha Greene.” With dark circles under her eyes and her hair in disarray, Tabby had obviously seen better days.
Be careful what you wish for
, she thought.
You just might get it. I wanted more exposure, but this
…

“The ‘new flu’ has now claimed several hundred lives here in the United States, with more than hundreds more infected. The mortality rate is unusually high, and the Centers for Disease Control remind everyone to take extreme care when dealing with anyone who is or may have become infected. We will now be displaying the number you see on the bottom of your screen 24 hours a day for reports of outbreaks of this illness.” Tabitha paused for a moment, consulting her notes as footage from various cities around the country was shown, with many people wearing masks.

“Worldwide cases have also increased, with Southeast Asia being hardest hit. The Cambodian government reports that its quarantine of the small city of Phumi Rôménh has been successful thus far, though casualties from the incident are high, with even more expected in the next few days. The governments of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos have all expressed concern over the outbreaks in their respective regions, and all are currently in a declared state of emergency. Tensions are also high with neighboring China and Myanmar, which have officially closed their borders in an attempt to maintain their isolation from the spread of this illness.