"She."
"She?"
The woman rolled over and rotated the cover toward Kate. "She: A History of Adventure. You want to read it when I"m done?"
"No, thanks," Kate said. "I"m getting all the adventure I can handle right now," she added, under her breath.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The rumble of heavy trucks at the edge of the gate rolled through the camp, and Kate sprang up and peered out the gla.s.s. She waited, hoping, and yes-they were bringing in a new shipment. The Immari had been continuously unloading people, perhaps from the rural areas beyond Marbella. This former Orchid District seemed to be their main staging area for the region. Every few hours, a new convoy brought more people, both sick and well, and troops with them. Confusion. An hour of chaos. An opening. Kate raced to the door.
"Where are you going? We"ve got count in twenty minutes-" her roommate called, but Kate didn"t stop. She bounded down the stairs. At the ground floor, she found the front desk, and searched for a floor plan. Would this building have what she needed? What would she say if a guard stopped her or even found her out of her room? They counted twice a day, and she didn"t know what they would do if the numbers didn"t add up-it had never happened before.
At the front desk, she found the first item she needed: a name badge. Xavier Medina, Vargas Resorts. It wouldn"t matter. She just needed a badge. If they checked it, she was caught already.
She moved past the gift store, and to her relief, a vast restaurant dominated the corner of the building beyond. She waded into the darkened dining room, through the stainless steel double doors, and into the kitchen. The stench was almost unbearable. She pinched her nose and moved deeper into the room. It was dark, too dark. She propped the double doors open with a stool and resumed her search.
In the corner, she found what she needed: a chef"s tunic. She unfolded it. It was soiled: green and red streaks coated the front. She knew she would need to cut it to make it work. She took a butcher knife off the center table and withdrew her hand from her nose long enough to reshape the garment. She turned it inside out and slipped into it. She clipped Xavier"s badge to her newly carved lapel, and surveyed her reflection in the stainless steel refrigerator: white coat, dangling name badge, brunette hair pulled back into a ponytail, gaunt cheeks, and a pale complexion. A single thought ran through her mind: No freaking way this is gonna work. She exhaled deeply and ran a hand through her ponytail. What the h.e.l.l am I doing?
But what else could she do? She walked quickly out of the kitchen and back to the front desk. Sunlight bathed the lobby through the gla.s.s revolving door. Two guards waited beyond. I should take this thing off and go back to my room. She shook her head. What would they do if they caught her? But she couldn"t turn back. She had to do something. She couldn"t sit up there knowing Martin was dying, that the whole world was. She would take this risk. It was her only shot.
She walked to the revolving door and pushed though. The guards stopped talking and focused on her. She walked quickly past them, and they called to her. She looked back and waved. She walked a little faster. Not too fast, not fast enough to be suspicious. Were they following her? Another look back could give her away.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate caught a glimpse of something that startled her: lights, on the water. Her hotel room had no view of the coast. She paused just long enough to take it in. The monstrous white ship glittering off the coast moved slowly, but there was no mistaking its destination: Marbella. It looked almost like... yes, a cruise ship, with large guns mounted at the ends. Was it a plague barge? Would the survivors-her included-be rounded up and loaded onto it? She had to get to Martin before it reached the harbor.
Up ahead, a thick column of people formed where the trucks were unloading. The people marched to the tables and processing attendants, with their white coats and mysterious instruments, just as Kate had done yesterday. Would they replay Dorian"s speech? Like the outdoor movie at dusk every night? The thought of him made her angry, steeled her a bit.
She fell in behind a man and a woman, both coughing, hobbling toward the building for the sick.
The four guards were talking amongst themselves, ignoring the endless flow of sick into the building. As Kate reached the revolving door, a guard looked over at her, wrinkled his brow, and stepped toward her. "Hey, what are you-"
Kate pinched Xavier"s badge and held it forward, not letting it unclip from the makeshift lapel. "O-Official business," she stammered.
She quickly ducked into the revolving door. Official business? G.o.d, she was going to get caught. The revolving door spilled her into the lobby, and as her eyes adjusted, Kate took in the scene. Nothing could have prepared her for it.
She almost staggered back, but people were rushing in behind her, pouring into the building.
Bodies were everywhere. Dead, dying, crying, coughing, and everything in between. This was a world without Orchid. And it was happening all across southern Spain-and if Paul Brenner was right, around the world. How many had died already, in the first day? Millions? Another billion? She couldn"t think about that now; she had to focus.
She had seen people flowing into the building, but she had no concept of how many people were here. There were a hundred, at least, here in the lobby, in this confined s.p.a.ce. How many in the building? A thousand? Several thousand, maybe? There were thirty floors. She would never find Martin.
Behind her, she saw the guard enter the revolving door. He knew. He was coming after her.
Kate took off, darting through the lobby and into the stairwell. What could she do? Hide here, in the crowded building, then try to get out? If they were going to demolish it, when would it happen?
She pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she bounded up the stairwell, which was relatively empty. What floor should she try? Below, the stairwell door flew open.
"Stop!" the guard yelled from the bottom floor.
Against her better judgment, Kate peeked over the rail and her eyes met his. He raced up the stairs.
Kate opened the door to the fourth floor, and- The hallways were filled with people, some lying, others sitting, many already dead. At the sight of her, a woman grabbed her white coat. "You"ve come to help us."
Kate shook her head and tried to break the woman"s grip, but others crowded around her, all talking at the same time.
Behind her, the door opened again and the guard filled the doorway, his gun drawn. "Okay, turn around. Back away from her."
The people around her scattered.
"What are you doing here?" he asked Kate.
"I"m... taking samples."
The guard looked confused. He took a step forward and glanced at her badge. Her fake badge. Confusion turned to shock. "Turn around. Put your hands behind your back."
"She"s with me," interjected another soldier as he casually exited the stairs. He was taller and more muscular than the guard that had chased Kate, and she thought he had a slight British accent.
"Who the h.e.l.l are you?"
"Adam Shaw. I came in with the shipment from Fuengirola."
The smaller guard shook his head as if trying to clear it. "She"s wearing a fake badge."
"Of course she is. You want these people to know her ident.i.ty? You think they know what an actual Immari Research ID card looks like?"
"I..." The guard eyed Kate. "I have to call this in."
"You do that," the soldier said as he stepped behind the man, quickly gripped his head and neck and ripped hard, sending a loud crack into the hallway. The guard fell to the floor, and the people in the hallway, those left alive anyway, scattered, leaving Kate alone with the mysterious soldier.
He focused on her. "Coming here was a very stupid thing to do, Dr. Warner."
CHAPTER 42.
Immari Operations Base at Ceuta
Northern Morocco
Major Alexander Rukin adjusted the sniper rifle. Through the riflescope, he could see the mysterious colonel approaching the Berber encampment on horseback. The man had ridden out wearing plainclothes, as if that could help his cause.
The colonel had been evasive about his purpose for leaving, and Rukin had only protested enough to seem believable. In truth, this was the opportunity Rukin had been waiting for. He had placed a tracker and a bug on the colonel"s clothes; they would know exactly where he went and hear everything he said. A team was also shadowing the colonel, just in case he made a break for it. That would expose him as well. One way or another, Rukin would soon know what this "Alex Wells" was after.
The colonel brought the horse to a stop, then dismounted, his hands in the air.
Three Berbers ran out of the tent. They carried automatic rifles and shouted, but the colonel remained still. They surrounded him, hit him over the head, and dragged him into the tent.
Rukin shook his head. "Jesus. I a.s.sumed the fool had a better plan than that." He packed up the rifle and handed it to Kamau. "I"d say we"ve seen the last of our mysterious colonel."
"You think-"
"I think they"re having him for dinner."
"To talk terms?"
The major smiled and shook his head. "No I think they are having him for their dinner. Or maybe the pre-meal entertainment. Either way, he"s finished."
Kamau nodded and gave a final look in the direction of the tent camp before following the major into the stairwell that led down from the roof.
"I"ve come here to help you," David insisted.
The Berber soldiers tore the last of his clothes off and carried them out of the tent.
The chief stepped forward. "Don"t lie to us. You"ve come here to help yourself. You don"t know us. You don"t care about us."
"I"m-"
"Don"t tell us who you are. I want to see it." The chief motioned to a man standing by the entrance to the tent. The man nodded once, left quickly, then returned with a small burlap sack. He closed the flap to the tent, plunging the room into almost total darkness, save for the dance of candlelight that played across the cloth walls. The chief took the sack from the man and tossed it into David"s lap.
David reached for the sack.
"I wouldn"t do that."
David looked up, then he felt it. Muscle, a finger sliding across his forearm. Then another rope gliding out over his thigh. Snakes. Two, no three of them. His eyes had almost adjusted to the dim light, and he knew instantly what they were: two Egyptian cobras. One bite would do him in. He would be dead within ten minutes.
David tried to control his breathing, but he was losing the battle. He felt his muscles tense, and he thought the snakes reacted. The one on his forearm was creeping up his arm more quickly now, toward his shoulder, his neck, his face. He took another shallow breath. He wouldn"t inhale fully-the contraction could alarm them. Slowly, he let the air escape his nose, and he focused his mind on the place where the breath touched the tip of his nose, observing the sensation, the absence of any other feeling. He stared straight ahead, at a dark spot on the floor. There was one last tingle, at his collarbone, but he kept his mind on his breath, taking in and breathing out, the sensation as the air met the tip of his nose. He couldn"t feel the snakes.
Through his peripheral vision, he was vaguely aware of the chief pacing toward him.
"You are afraid, but you have control of your fear. No rational man walks the world without fear. Only those who control their fear live a life free of it. You are a man that has lived among snakes and learned to hide himself. You are a man who can tell lies, who can tell them as if you yourself believe them. That is very dangerous. At this moment, more for you than for me." The chief nodded to the snake handler, who crept carefully toward David and collected the snakes.
The chief sat across from David. "Now you can lie to me, or you can speak the truth. Choose wisely. I have seen many liars. And I have buried many liars."
David told the story he had come there to tell, and when he had finished, the chief looked away, seeming to contemplate.
In his mind, David began rifling through the chief"s possible questions, mentally preparing responses. But no questions came. The chief stood and left.
Three men rushed into the tent, seized David, and dragged him out toward a communal fire that burned in the center of the makeshift village. The tribespeople gathered as he pa.s.sed. Just before they reached the fire, David got his feet under him and threw the man on his right off, but the man holding his left arm held tight. David hit him hard in the face and the man released his grip and fell listless into the sand. David turned, but three more soldiers were on him, dragging him to the ground, covering him, holding his arms. Then someone else loomed over him-the chief. Something rushed down, a sword, or a spear. It burned orange and smoke rolled off of it. The chief plunged the burning iron prod into David"s chest, sending waves of searing pain throughout his body and the sickening smell of burning flesh and hair into his nose. David fought not to gag as his eyes rolled back into his head and he lost consciousness.
CHAPTER 43.
Immari Sorting Camp
Marbella, Spain
Kate was safe, or so she thought. The tall British soldier, Adam Shaw, had killed the other guard and... he knew her name.
"Who are you?" Kate said.
"I"m the fifth man from the SAS team sent here to retrieve you."
"The fifth-"
"We had a bit of a disagreement over tactics. I submitted that we should alter our plans after the Immari invasion of Marbella. The other four didn"t listen."
Kate eyed his uniform. "How did you-"
"There"s a lot of confusion right now. A lot of new faces. We"ve been studying the Immari Army organization extensively. I knew enough to fake it. Getting the uniform was easy. Just had to kill one of them. Speaking of." He bent over the dead guard. "Help me get his uniform off."
Kate eyed the dead man. "Why?"
Shaw nodded to her. "Seriously? You want to walk out of here in that? Any idiot can see you sliced up a chef"s jacket, and even if you can"t see it, by G.o.d you can smell it a kilometer away. You"re a walking compost heap."
Kate raised her shoulder and tried casually to sniff the white coat. Yeah, it was less than fresh. The overwhelming stench in the kitchen had apparently numbed her to the smell for a bit.
Shaw handed her the man"s tunic, then stripped off the pants and held those up as well.