Dead Man Running (60 page)

The bomb exploded, causing the house to shudder on its foundation.  She got to her feet, picked up the machine gun and destroyed the zombies that the bomb didn't.

She had planned to leave the house in a more organized fashion but time
had run
out.  In the distance she could hear
faint
sirens.

She found her coat and car keys.  She would have to ditch the car as soon as she could and use her old skills as a car thief to secure another ride to get her to
Harlem
. 

The authorities would be interested in her whereabouts.

She turned the gas on at the
stove
and set three of the grenades to explode.  Sixty seconds later she was halfway down the block in her husband's BMW sedan
as
her home and several others were consumed by a massive explosion.

Mira
Hidar
took the same helicopter as she had months ago to
Fort
Detrick
, high security home of
America
's biological weapon stockpile and defenses.  She was met on the
helipad
by Major Pritchett, except this time the officer was zombie, not human.  This fact added to his already imposing physical presence.

Out from underneath the helicopter blades she showed the major the letter from Wiley authorizing her visit.
  Elias had generated the letter on Wiley's letterhead, affixed a forged signature and had secreted the letter to her through multiple converted intermediaries.

He took the letter and read it, not bothering to remove the sunglasses that covered his dead blue eyes.

Why
would a zombie need sunglasses?

He finally handed her back the letter.  "Protocol says that I need to contact Mr. Sills before anyone is admitted to
Hamid
Hidar
's quarters."

Mira
smiled a wide grin.  Her grotesque face reflected back at her in the creature's mirrored shades.  "I have a letter from Secretary Wiley, the Vice President
-
elect.  That trumps any protocol to contact his head of security."

The zombie shook his head.
  "The protocol must be followed.  It will only take a minute."

Mira
considered the dozen globes riding in her briefcase.  Could she reverse bomb Pritchett without anyone seeing? 

They
stood
near the hel
i
pad – the pilot was still in the helicopter and God knows how many others – zombies she would assume – were inside the building within earshot of any commotion outside.

"Let's go inside, get out of the cold," she said.

This time the zombie smiled.  "Cold?  We're dead
,
remember?  We don't feel any cold."  He pulled his sidearm and pointed it at
Mira
.  "I suggest you drop the briefcase and back up.  This will only take a minute, Ms.
Hidar
."

Mira
waived the letter.  "This won't make him happy.  He'll have your head."

The grin remained plastered on Pritchett's face.  "Sounds just like a desperate human," he sneered.  "Besides if he takes my head off I'll just sew it back on.  Just like some kinda scarecrow."  He laughed, took the safety off his gun and loaded one into the chamber.  With his free hand he retrieved his cell and dialed.

"I need to speak to Mr. Sills," Pritchett said.  "Yes, I'll hold."

Mira
looked down the barrel of the gun.  Once he got the word from Sills perhaps she could overpower him before he was able to shoot her too many times
.  She could stagger inside and kill her grandfather before she died.

Yeah right.

"It is a pleasure to speak to you Mr. Sills.  Yes, sir."  Long pause.  "
Mira
Hidar
has presented herself at Detrick.  We had no advance notice that she was visiting the facility.  That in itself was enough to place the base on a level one alert, sir.  She has a letter signed by
Vice President elect
Wiley authorizing her to visit
Hamid
Hidar
."

Longer pause, during which Pritchett nodded several times.  Between nods, the gun was slipped back into the holster.

"Yes, sir.  Immediately, sir."  He extended the cell to
Mira
and she tentatively placed it to her ear.

"Good morning Ms.
Hidar
."  She bristled when she heard the voice of the
Harlem
hustler.  "I suggest you enjoy your visit.  As you know, it will be your last one."  The phone clicked off and she handed the device back to Pritchett.  He now had her briefcase in his strong right hand.

"He says you are authorized for full access.  I'll walk you into the command center where we can give you a temp swipe card and pass.  Do you want to tell me why you're here?"

"No," she replied.  Her head continued to spin. 

Why did Mookie help her?

Insi
d
e the
building they walked down
an
antiseptic hallway.  Pritchett produced a swipe card and opened the glass door.  He stood aside and let her enter the room.  Inside were th
ree
female soldiers and two males.  They stood at attention as the major entered the space and he quickly ordered them to be at ease.

"Ms.
Hidar
needs to be set up with a temporary ID and swipe card.  Our leaders have authorized her full access to the facility."  He turned his attention to
Mira
– finally the glasses were off and she struggled to contain her repulsion.  Major Pritchett must not have been converted without some drama as one of his eyes was missing.

N
othing had been done to repair the vacated space
, an oozing, pulpy mess
.

He handed her the briefcase.  "I apologize for my behavior earlier."  He smiled again.

"You were merely following protocol, major.  I will speak highly about you to Mr. Wiley upon his return to the States."  It had been all over TV and the Internet about Wiley's
trip to
China
.  Most of the chatter was negative. 

My God, he's not VP yet.  What's he doing representing our nation?  Who's he think he is
, the president?

"I would appreciate that, Ms.
Hidar
.  A
base
with biological weapons designed to kill humans won't exactly be a hotbed of activity in a
short
while.  I'm eager to be more use
ful
to the movement."  He didn't wait for a reply, but executed a sharp military turn on his heels and exited the room.

One of the technicians led
Mira
through the process of creating a
n
ID card and using her DNA signature to activate a swipe card.

"Anything else I can do for you?" the helpful zombie – Corporal Sun was the name on her uniform - asked.

"I have something I need to show you in this briefcase,"
Mira
said.

Twenty minutes later she left the room, leaving five
humans
behind.  Their eyes and ears would help keep her safe for the rest of her mission.

Somewhere over the endless, timeless blue Pacific, Elias gripped the sat phone in his sweaty right hand.  It was time.  Once he got on the airplane – humorously christened Air Force Infinity by Wiley –
he
had found the seat with the combo parachute and raft underneath
and
had
claimed
that one as his own
.

He had sat through hours long strategy meetings with Wiley and his inner circle.  He had declined the fresh meat brought aboard at
San Francisco
– two dozen Chinese nationals rescued from the cargo hold of
an
illegal smuggler. 

He spent the two hours
Wiley and his team spent screwing,
murder
ing
and consum
ing
the humans speaking to the West Coast media about Wiley's mission to
China
.  How it was all about building a positive and peaceful working relationship with our
friends in the
Far East
. 

Lies, lies and more lies.
 

Elias Turnbull was so tired of telling lies on behalf of Ben Wiley. 
Following the interviews, as
he walked past Mookie Sills and his security team patrolling the plane's perimeter, he was ready to dial the number and blow the plane right there on the tarmac.  But, he had to wait.

Now, over a thousand miles from either the West Coast or
Hawaii
, it was time.  Elias' fingers were poised over the phone's buttons when he heard a voice.

"Don't dial that phone, Elias."  Elias looked up into the smiling face of Mookie Sills.  He held a white basket like the ones used to carry hot towels to the plane's
normal compliment of
pampered
human
occupants.  Behind him were two zombies, each holding a Glock not so inconspicuously against their thighs.  Elias quickly assessed that if he tried to dial, they would blow his head off.

"Just gonna check voicemail."  He shrugged, smiled.  He handed the sat phone to Mookie.  "What's going on?" he asked.

"The boss wants me to collect all electronic devices.  Do you have a laptop, tablet or cell?"  Elias reached under his seat and retrieved his laptop, which he was using to conceal the bag containing the parachute and
inflatable.

He handed Mookie the bag and deftly kicked the other bag further under his seat.  He plucked his cell phone
– no good anyway so far from any cell towers –
off his waist
and handed that over too.

"Thanks, Elias.  Give me ten minutes to complete my collections. 
Ben
wants to see you and me then."

Elias nodded and The Grim Collector and his crew move
d
on to the next zombie.

This was not good.  He looked at his watch. 
Mira
should be inside Detrick by now.  His only hope would be that she is successful.  If she kills
Hamid
, Wiley 'dies'.  And with their alpha dead, the rest of them will become listless automatons.  He could then use the sat phone to trigger the small bomb, escape the plane and watch as Wiley and all the rest crash into the Pacific with no hope of recovery.

He just had to stay alive long enough for
Mira
to do her job.

Armed with her pass and swipe card, it did not take
Mira
long to reach her grandfather's room.  She hadn't needed to use the reverse bombs on anyone else, although now she regretted not reverse bombing Pritchett, who she knew may be trouble someway, somehow, before she escaped this place.

Armed with Manchester Lee's intel from the Andrews AFB event – the fact that reverse bombs will kill
and convert the
living in order to fulfill their mission of changing a zombie to the living – she had a new plan.  Instead of murdering her grandfather she would use the reverse bomb on him.  Hopefully it would cure him of the effects of the gunshot
and the resulting coma, causing
him to be fully sound and healthy.  Of course, the reverse bomb would kill him, which would deactivate Wiley as planned.

She swiped her pass card and the door unlocked. 
As she opened the door she was met by two blows: a karate chop on her arm that forced her to drop the case holding the reverse zombie bombs and a strong jab just below her breastbone that propelled her hard against the wall facing Hamid's door.  Mira
's
head hit the wall and her feet slid
out
from under her.  She expected Major Pritchett to
be standing before her but instead it was Rebecca Singler.

"You've been converted," Mira said. 

"I have been blessed with the
Hidar
magic," it replied. 

Mira tried to stand but the thing pushed her back to the floor.  "I have permission from Ben to see my grandfather."

The creature wagged her finger.  "Pritchett told me of your visit.  You see, Ben has made me responsible for your grandfather's well being.  Whoever forged the note authorizing your visit did not know that no one may see Hamid without my escort."

"Call Mookie," Mira said.  Maybe her benefactor would help her again.

"I'll call Ben.  I need to tell him that his favorite boy has betrayed him."