She pushed away from him and looked up at his face. “They’re here.”
He nodded grimly.
Sophie pushed a panic that was primordial, instinctive, away from her. She gathered calm around her as if it were her white lab coat. She straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath. She was a scientist, she had to function as one if they were going to get out of this alive. “Does your scanner have recording functions? Voice and video?”
Jon had stepped back too, watching her carefully, taking his cues from her. “Yes,” he answered.
“Okay. When they hit Beach Street I’m going to observe as much as I can from the swarm. So record the scene and record what I say and we can analyse it all when we get to Haven. I don’t think anyone else will have a trained eye on a swarm going by.”
He nodded. “Is there anything I can do to make us safe in here?”
“Well…” Sophie reasoned it out. “They are obviously not organized enough to pick locks but they are strong and have the added strength of numbers. Few make it up stairs, but in case some do, spray more perfume around the door and erect a barricade.” She cocked her head, listening. “I think we have a few minutes still.”
Jon moved fast. In a few moments, he’d sprayed not only perfume but squeezed lemons around the door sill and crushed cloves of garlic. Then he’d easily moved her immensely heavy Italianmadiaagainst the door, then shoved her steel reinforced Knoll sofa against it. He’d just slid the sofa tightly against the madia when the noise rose to an unbearable crescendo.
Sophie met his eyes. “They’re here,” she whispered.
Mount Blue
Haven
Elle turned awayfrom the holographic monitor, unease in her heart. As always, Nick seemed to have a secret passageway into her thoughts. He held her shoulders in a hard grip.
“I know you’re worried about your friend, and I won’t bullshit you. They’re in a dangerous position. But trust me when I say she’s got the right guy at her side. If it can be done, Jon will get her out and bring her back to you.”
She tried a smile. “Back to us. You’re going to love her.” She turned to everyone in the room. “Catherine, you’re going to love her, too. Mac…I guess the best I can say is that Mac won’t eat her. Probably.”
Mac gave a low growl.
Nick’s dark face was usually sober, serious, deep lines bracketing his mouth. He rarely smiled and the lines in his face reflected that. He didn’t exactly smile, but his face lightened for a moment. “Mac’s not that bad. I can’t say his bark is worse than his bite because…well it’s not. If you’re on his bad side, you’re toast. But we’re on his good side. And, of course, if she becomes Catherine’s friend Mac will be putty in her hands, just as he is in yours.”
Elle pulled back, the idea so ludicrous it jolted her. She turned to the huge man by Catherine’s side. He was by any measure a frightening looking man. Tall, huge, badly scarred, always scowling. “Mac, are you putty in my hands?”
He gave another low growl, offset by his wife’s light laugh. “Certainly.” She patted her husband’s huge shoulder. “He’s a real pussycat.”
Mac rolled his eyes, but his gaze softened when he looked down at his wife. Mac’s devotion to Catherine was obvious to all, even in the short time Elle had been in Haven. She couldn’t resist. “You mean if I asked him to bring me coffee he would?”
“Now wait a minute,” Mac began, then stopped when his wife elbowed him in the ribs. They were so encased with muscle he probably didn’t even feel it. “Yes,” he said through his teeth.
Nick gave a half smile. “Oh yeah. But don’t get too cocky.”
It wasn’t a laughing moment but Elle gave a choked laugh. “No.” She shook her head. “I will definitely not get too cocky around Mac.”
“Okay.” Catherine clapped her hands. “Elle and I need to get back to the infirmary. Let us know when the raid team gets back with the last of the lab equipment, and we’ll get set up for when Jon and Sophie make it back. General, how many more refugees will there be in the next 24 hours?”
“Just call me Snyder, ma’am,” the General said. “We’re in contact with several more communities just in the last hour. We’re setting up a priority list now, based on their supplies and ammo and the number of infected they’re seeing. For those who can hold out for another 24 or 48 hours, we’re airlifting supplies and ammo in. I reckon we’ll have another thousand today and maybe two thousand tomorrow. We’ve been lucky, a helo manufacturer has joined us, and he had twenty helos out on the tarmac of his production site before everything went to shit. Soon we’ll have a grand total of 22 helos when Jon gets back and a total of 32 pilots.”
“General—Snyder.” Elle turned to the stocky former general. “Factor into your plans that we could airlift cases of vaccine perhaps as soon as 36 hours from now. At some point, if we get enough of the population vaccinated and enough infected die, we might be able to turn the tide. And if we want to have some kind of basis for afterward we need people protecting production plants and power plants and hospitals.”
At her words, the men in the room visibly relaxed for a moment. Clearly none of them were thinking of an afterward, they were so busy dealing with the present and dangerous emergency.
“Good thinking, Dr. Connelly?—”
“Dr. Ross,” Nick growled.
“Dr. Ross. Sorry.” Snyder ran a short broad palm over the stubble on his head. “Not thinking straight. But it’s great to know that some people are planning beyond the moment. I’ll pass on the word, give people some hope. Because right now, it’s not looking good.”
“No,” Elle said softly. It wasn’t looking good. Pandora’s box had been opened and monsters had come out. But there had been something hidden at the bottom of Pandora’s box. Something wonderful.
