Break of the Six (The Preston Six Book 4) (12 page)

She hated thinking of her old friends in that way, pitting herself against them, but what choice did she have? They pushed her out of their circle a long time ago. Now, she would push back a little, show them the life she was living. Prove to them how much she had become her own person.

A tap on her door.

Derek moved closer to the door with his good hand on his sidearm.

Samantha waved for the young woman to enter.

“Hello, Miss Samantha, I’m Lisa, your new assistant.” She seemed nervous and held onto her tablet with shifting hands.

Samantha leaned back in her chair and studied the woman, another early twenty-something woman, pretty and dressed in a sleek black suit. Samantha wanted to warn Lisa being near her would be a danger to her health. In one week, she’d gone through two assistants, one arrested and sent to who knows where and one killed by militants in a helicopter attack. She chuckled and shook her head. When thinking of it, it seemed so ridiculous. “Nice to meet you, Lisa. Derek, give her some room.”

Derek backed away but kept his hand on his firearm.

“Please, come in.”

Lisa timidly stepped toward her desk. “Here are the reports for France for you to go over.”

“Send it to my station.” Samantha pointed at her screen.

Lisa clutched her tablet against her chest. “We’ve been directed to deal in these tablets only, moving forward.” She handed her the device.

“Thank you, I’ll go over them and get back to you.”

“Thank you and, Samantha? We’re all very happy to have you back.” The corners of her mouth pushed to the sides of her face and almost looked genuine.

Samantha paused on her eyes. The blue hue looked familiar, maybe she thought of Joey at first, but that wasn’t it. This girl had an old feeling about her eyes, like she’d seen too much for a person of her age. Zach probably picked up another sorrow case, he seemed to have a soft spot for people without families and turbulent histories.

“Thanks, Lisa. If there is anything else, let me know.”

With Lisa gone and Samantha’s guard dog calmed down, she turned on the tablet. For the next few hours, she signed off on orders and directed air drops of the cure over designated spots across much of Europe and Asia. She wondered how much weight her signatures held and if she didn’t sign off on one, would the drop not happen? She didn’t want to test it.

With much of the formalities taken care of, she turned the TV on and changed to the news channel. The news reporter wore a red tie and his eyes looked puffy. He stared directly at the camera in silence. The silence brought her out of her chair and she stood in front of the TV. The man seemed to be frozen on screen. Finally he moved and looked to something off camera.

“You sure?” He faced the camera again with a smile spreading across his face. “We just got word from the White House that a deal has been made with the mysterious Zach Ryan Baker. Distribution of the cure shall commence immediately throughout the country.”

Cheers roared in the offices of ZRB. Samantha saw Derek do a fist pump. She took another step closer to the TV and listened to the excited reporter talking about the LA and Preston drops and how the positive results were confirmed and real. It
was
a cure.

Zach did it. He got the US to agree to let him distribute unobstructed. She figured there was more to the deal than what was reported, but it didn’t matter. Finally, she could save everyone in the country.

She sat back in her chair.

Lisa busted into the room, full of smiles. She skipped to the side of her desk.

What happened to knocking?

“Did you hear? We’re distributing in America.”

“Yeah, it’s incredible. I’m really not sure why it took so long.” She looked at the news reports discussing some of the statistics. Apparently, over ten million Americans had perished to the Cough and estimates were getting close to a billion worldwide as the poorer, crowded countries had been hit the worst.

With that many people sick, how could Zach make good on the promises he’d made? Samantha had already seen the documents showing much of their supply was heading to Europe and Asia. What was left for America?

“Oh, and Zach sent over the US details. Check your . . . tablet?” Lisa bit her lower lip.

Samantha skimmed the pages, seeing the towns and delivery estimates scroll by: Detroit, Chicago, New York, Miami, Barstow, Springfield, and many more. She saw her signature request on each delivery. She sighed and thought it was a waste of time to sign each page. Then she reached the bottom and a
Sign All
button appeared.

She pressed it and signed her name across the screen.

Done. The world could recover from this. Things could get back to normal and then she could have Zach all to herself. She thought about staying in his amazing cliffside house and resisted the urge to hug herself. Soon the world would know about their relationship and they’d be the power couple who’d saved them all. Maybe when things settled down they could go do an interview with Oprah. Did she still do interviews?

She felt the weight lifting off her shoulders. Everyone would have the cure in the next few days, there wasn’t a need to fight anymore. Tapping the thin red line over her eye, she searched for a hint of pain, but it didn’t come.

“Woo-hoo!” Lisa yelled.

Samantha jumped back in her seat and Derek stepped forward with his hand on his gun.

Lisa smiled and looked from her to Derek. “Sorry, but this is the best news ever. We should throw a floor party.” Her eyes went big with enthusiasm.

While Samantha did agree about it being great news, she didn’t share in her enthusiasm for a floor party, as that meant it would include the whole sixteenth floor—she didn’t have many fans out there. “I don’t—”

“No, Miss Samantha, we are doing this. After all you’ve been through, you need this. I’ll make all the arrangements.”

Samantha opened her mouth in protest but Lisa turned and left the office.

“Feisty one,” Derek said.

“Yeah, she means well. I think.”

“Good, you should always have some doubt about the people around you, especially new people.”

Samantha looked past her glass door. Lisa stood next to the receptionist desk with her arms flailing in excitement. She seemed harmless, but she couldn’t remember ever seeing her before. “I think there is room for trust in people.”

“Don’t let them fool you. If I dig, I can find out something dark on Lisa.”

“Like what, she cheats on crossword puzzles?”

“You might be surprised what people suppress in public. I’m the closest thing in this world to a mind reader and people’s minds are a terrifying place.”

“Really, you think Lisa is a possible threat?”

“I don’t know yet, but she faltered when saying tablet. It was strange.”

“So?” Samantha rolled her eyes but had thought it was weird as well.

“Something is behind those eyes, way beyond the floor party planning, and there is a depth to them. I find her very interesting.”

She opened her laptop and typed in Lisa. Her smiling face popped up but under employee information, it just said pending. She must have been a new hire and the HR department hadn’t updated her info; unusual but nothing to send up red flags about. Now she wanted to know more about this Lisa and why Derek had an interest in her.

“Fine, let’s make a bet then. You find your ‘something dark’ on Lisa and I won’t complain about you shadowing me. On the other hand, if it isn’t sufficiently dark, I win and you will call me Samantha and drop the Miss crap.”

“Done, but I bet you won’t like what I find.”

Her phone dinged. A text.

Zach: They are lying. Launch protocol 32 from your station.

Samantha: What?

Zach: I’m pinned down right now. The whole meeting was a setup. They are trying to take it from us. Launch 32!

Samantha: I just signed all the releases for a US distribution, Lisa gave me the list.

Zach: Who’s Lisa? 32 do it now! gtg omw

Samantha set her phone on the desk and scrambled to get her laptop open. She sent the mouse to the protocol box and scrolled down to thirty-two. Hesitating, she glanced through her glass wall at Lisa and shook her head. There she stood, holding the phone, probably ordering catering for the floor party. How did Zach not know who she was? He knew everyone.

Samantha pressed thirty-two and clicked on the confirmation. A metal shade slammed over the window behind her. Derek pushed off the wall and drew his gun. She leaned back in her chair and sighed. “I think I’m going to have to get used to you calling me Miss Samantha.”

“YOU THINK HE’S GOING TO be okay?” Hank asked, staring at the machine containing his dad.

“Yeah, he should be fine,” Harris said.

“We have to do something about Earth, Harris.”

“I know, and I’ve already set it up. We could leave now. Your dad is safe here and from the sound of it, Earth needs our help.”

Hank nodded and they discussed a rough plan while walking to the Alius stone. He’d threatened Jack with a few choice words to drive home the importance of taking care of his dad in his absence.

“Can you ride a motorcycle?” Harris asked.

HANK’S BUTT FELT SORE FROM the long ride and he looked suspiciously at the large warehouse outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. “So that’s where they’re making the cure?”

“Yes.” Harris kneeled next to a fence and scanned the area. “Only a couple of guards. Shouldn’t be hard to find out what’s going on inside.”

A nearby shed blocked them from the guards’ line of sight. Barbed wire swirled over the top of the fence and a few blacked-out school buses were the only vehicles parked near the doors of the warehouse.

Their motorcycles were parked a few miles down the dirt road leading to the warehouse. They stuffed them behind a group of bushes and snuck up to the back of the building using the sparse vegetation as cover.

“So, how are we going to get in there?” Hank asked.

“I’m going to the back door, while you—”

Alarms blared out from speakers around the building.

They laid flat against the ground, turning their heads in every direction. Harris brought a gun out. “Something’s wrong. I don’t think that’s for us,” he whispered.

Hank’s breath stirred up dust and he breathed it in with his panting. He wanted to cough it out but refused to make a sound. A guard ran around the building’s corner and punched a code into a panel next to the door. He flung the door open and entered the building.

“They’re on lockdown,” Harris said and then froze. “Hear that?”

“No.”

“Get up.” He grabbed Hank by the arm, lifting him to his feet and pulling him away from the fence.

Hank stood, shocked at Harris’s strength, before running with him. Harris slid into a ditch and lay on the bank. Hank matched him and looked around for the danger Harris was obviously sensing.

Harris rolled in the dirt. “Get dirty, they might not see us.” Harris picked up handfuls and threw it over his clothes.

Hank rolled around, getting his clothes dirty.

Harris stopped and put a hand on him. “Do not move.”

He heard it now. The sound grew and he searched the sky.

“There,” Harris said.

Hank looked in the direction Harris was watching. A group of black helicopters flew toward them. He saw the details of the angled helicopters and the blacked out glass. He pressed his body against the dirt bank and tensed up.

“Stay still, they’re going to fly right over us.”

The helicopters roared overhead and reached the building. Two hovered, while one landed. Dust swirled around the one as men ran out of it.

Black rope lines dangled from the other two and soldiers dropped in quick succession. Hank counted a dozen soldiers on the roof with another six on the ground. The soldiers on the ground threw something on the door to the building and it stuck against it.

An explosion rocked the roof and the door at the same time. The soldiers on the roof dropped from sight, as four of the soldiers on the ground ran into the building. Two stayed in position, next to the door.

“What are they doing?” Hank searched for an American flag or any identifiers beyond the double triangle.

“Must be a militia of some sort. When you’re the only person with a cure for the world’s problems, you’ll get all kinds of unwanted attention.”

“They’re fighting with us?”

“Don’t mistake a common enemy with a friend. They’d shoot at you just the same as they would the people in that building.” Harris peered over the desert grass. “I don’t like this. Something’s not right here.”

Rapid gunfire blasted from inside the building. The two helicopters rose higher into the sky and hovered. More gunfire and an explosion, smoke billowed out from a hole in the roof. The soldiers guarding the outside rushed into the building. More gunfire and two more explosions. A few more scattered shots and then silence. The helicopters thumped away from above but not another sound of gunfire.

“Look!” Hank pointed at the door. A soldier staggered out of the door holding his chest. Blood spilled over his hand and he collapsed to the dirt near the door.

“We’ve got
to help him.”

“We step out there and we’ll get shot, Hank. Stay here.”

Hank balled up his fists and hammered the dirt in front of him. He heard a scream from inside the building. Jumping up before Harris could grab him, he made a run for the fence.

Harris yelled for him to stop, but he couldn’t just sit by and watch the man die. Hank reached the fence and threw his jacket over the barbed wire. On his climb up, he felt a hand grasp his ankle. He kicked it off and lunged his body over the fence, striking the ground. He turned back to see Harris cutting a hole through the fence with a laser pen.

“Could have given me a second.” Harris pushed the cut fence in and stepped through. He ducked next to the shed and Hank settled in behind him. Harris peeped around the corner and came back. “That guy’s dead. Sorry, Hank.”

“This may be our best way to get into that place,” Hank said.

“This chaos has formed a nice distraction. We make a run for the building and we have a chance of not getting shot from above. How fast can you run?”

Hank shrugged. “I don’t know, pretty fast I guess.”

Harris nodded, looking like he’d expected a more precise answer. “Three, two, one.”

The smell of smoke hit his nose as soon as they entered the door, and he thought of the burnt building in Ryjack. He remembered carrying Poly to the stone and getting her home. It felt so distant. A building in another world, a place he could escape. But this was Earth.

“Stay close,” Harris whispered and pulled out two handguns.

Hank matched Harris step for step. They walked over a fallen soldier; his frozen, dead eyes looked shocked. Smoke wafted by and the light from the hole in the roof shone down on a cluster of dead soldiers. The long room was too wide for a hallway, with doors on one side. Each one marked with a number. Bullet holes riddled the walls, smears and splatters of blood caked every surface. But it wasn’t just blood, there were splatters of black mixed in with the rest.

“Those aren’t gunshot wounds.” Harris looked at the dead men. “They have cameras on them.”

Hank stared at the slice wounds on one of the soldiers and felt his anger rising. Slain like animals at a slaughter house.

The loud sound of the helicopter blades took off. Dust blew past the door and down the hole in the roof. Hank watched as the hovering helicopters flew away.

“Retreating,” Harris explained, looking through the hole. “But I bet they’ll be back. Let’s get what we came for and get out of here.”

Hank picked up a rifle off the concrete floor and pointed it at the doors down the hall. Whoever attacked the men, must have come from one of the doors.

Harris raised a hand, stopping to look at the ground. Hank looked around him to see what he was staring at. A long dagger with a curved blade and golden hilt stuck out of one of the soldiers. He knew that blade, seen it many times on another planet.

All of the doors to the hallway flung open and Arracks poured into the space. There was no rush to their movements as they slowly walked toward the two in a seemingly never ending supply. Many carried the long curved daggers in their hands.

Seeing their faces brought back a flood of horrible memories. Hank had watched their leaders die from the cloud that covered their planet. He swallowed and wondered if any of these Arracks were there that day. Would any of them recognize the delivery man?

Harris’s back bumped into his. “Don’t move.”

Both stuffed their guns away and held up their hands. Hank glanced from one set of yellow eyes to the next. The idea of Arracks on Earth choked out any rational thought. As they got closer, some sniffed the air and cocked their heads at the visitors. Many hissed out words Hank didn’t understand.

“I’m sorry, Hank,” Harris whispered.

“Don’t be, I got you into this mess,” he replied.

“Maybe, but if they know who we are, we’re both dead.”