Cataclysm: V Plague Book 18 Page 13

  “I should kill you now. Tear you open and rip your heart out. Sink my teeth into it while it’s still beating in my hand.”

  For the first time, I saw fear in her eyes. She tried to pull away, but her strength was no match for mine.

  “I can smell your blood.” I inhaled sharply through my nose. “It calls to me. I can already imagine the feel of it on my hands. The taste. You see, that’s something you didn’t know. Something I don’t talk about. The urges. The thirst and the hunger. It’s always there. Sometimes it’s almost more than I can resist.”

  A guttural snarl rumbled in my chest and she began frantically trying to pull away. I held fast against her struggles, then jerked her close enough to reach the side of her bare neck with my mouth. I’d only intended to brush her skin with my lips. To frighten her. Somehow, my teeth broke her flesh and coppery tasting blood flowed onto my tongue.

  She screamed in terror, flipping the table aside with her legs as she tried to twist away. For an instant, there was a nearly irresistible impulse to lock onto the tiny wound I’d caused and tear her open. To revel in the hot blood that would fountain into the air. Then I realized what I was doing. Was about to do.

  Releasing the frantic woman, she tumbled away, tangling her legs in the chair she’d been sitting in. Scrambling backward on her ass, tears flowed down her face as she wedged herself into a corner, drew her knees to her chest and crossed her arms over her breasts. Moving purposefully, I walked to stand over her as she cowered.

  “Give me Mavis.”

  Blubbering something incoherent, she shook her head. I just stood there looking down at her for a few seconds, then slowly removed the vest I was wearing and tossed it onto the counter. Her eyes followed every single movement I made.

  “Give me my daughter.”

  She was petrified, seemingly unable to speak. I picked up the chair she’d been tangled in and threw it behind me without looking. She screamed and tried to push deeper into the corner when it shattered the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the swimming pool.

  “Last chance. GIVE. ME. MY. DAUGHTER!”

  “He’ll kill me!” she blurted, sobbing in terror.

  “I’ll protect you from him,” Chapman said quickly. “Just give us the girl.”

  She looked at him for a second, then her eyes drifted back to me and she shook her head. I sighed and turned to Rachel and Chapman.

  “You should step outside,” I said.

  Neither said a word, just turned for the door. Chapman gestured to his Marine and the man trotted out ahead of them. Rachel snapped her fingers and Dog moved to her side.

  Viktoriya’s eyes grew wider, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. She looked up at me, mascara streaking her face and pure terror in her eyes. One second passed. Another. Then it was like nothing I’ve ever encountered before. Somewhere inside her, a switch flipped, and she began laughing and clapping her hands as she looked into my eyes.

  “What a masterful performance!” she cried. “You missed your true calling!”

  I stared at her in shock, unable to reconcile the woman who’d just been frightened out of her mind and bawling in fear with the smiling one who sat in front of me. Still applauding, she climbed to her feet and looked at Rachel and Chapman.

  “Was he not awesome? And I must admit, there were a couple of times when I believed he was sincere.” She finally stopped clapping and looked at me with a frown. “Shame, really. You shouldn’t have escalated things. Now I’m going to have to hurt Mavis to teach you a lesson.”

  26

  There was dead silence in the kitchen for several long seconds as everyone stared at Viktoriya. The smile never left her face as she stared right back at us.

  “That would be a grave error,” I said in a calm voice.

  “No, the grave error was what you just did.” She wiped a small amount of blood off her neck and pointedly looked at her hand. “You really are a menace that should be locked away. Or put down like a dog.”

  Once again, she was trying to get under my skin. Little did she realize that I had to care about someone before that was possible, but if I could keep her talking, maybe she’d forget about harming Mavis. And give me time to come up with another strategy.

  “Why’d you kill Chuck Black?”

  Chapman must have realized what I was doing and was helping. Viktoriya’s smile faltered and her face registered a brief moment of surprise.

  “You didn’t know,” he said.

  She shrugged and tried to dismiss the news, but I was pretty sure her armor had just cracked. Not a lot, but it was there.

  “He was killed in the drone attack,” I said. “But you knew that.”

  “What kind of heartless bitch are you?” Rachel asked. “You murder a man who is obviously in love with you when there was no reason. How do you live with yourself?”

  Viktoriya took a deep breath and pasted the smile back on her face.

  “In war, there is always collateral damage. It cannot be helped.”

  “Sir, I’ve got an idea!”

  Jessica’s voice in my ear. I managed not to react and was glad to see that Chapman’s face was as impassive as ever.

  “Gotta take a leak,” I mumbled, leaving the kitchen and finding a bathroom.

  With the door shut, I waited a few moments then flushed the toilet and turned on the tap.

  “What’s up, Chief?” I asked as softly as I could.

  “I couldn’t trace the IP because it was already disconnected. The software they’re using had time to clean up the trail. But if I can get a piece of code on the laptop at your location, I can piggyback the routing and...”

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked, interrupting an explanation that was Greek to me.

  “I’m texting you instructions on how to get to a command line prompt and the code you need to execute.”

  My phone vibrated a moment later and I looked at the message. Scrolled to the bottom and shook my head.

  “I’ll get it done.”

  Shutting off the water, I went back to the kitchen. Rachel was still talking about Black, trying to widen the crack in Viktoriya’s armor. From the expression on her face, it wasn’t working.

  “You’ve got a deal,” I said. “Me for Mavis, as long as you don’t harm her.”

  Viktoriya smiled brightly as Rachel erupted.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Colonel,” I said, turning to Chapman, “could you and our guest excuse me? I need to speak with my wife.”

  He looked at me with narrowed eyes, then nodded and waved for Viktoriya to move outside.

  “Do not take long,” she said as she moved past me. “I am due to check in with my associates in ten minutes.”

  “Let’s go,” Chapman said, taking her arm and escorting her out of the house.

  Rachel whirled on me the instant the driveway door closed.

  “What do you think...”

  I stopped her with a raised hand as I moved to the laptop and pulled my phone out. Tapping the embedded track pad woke it up and I stood there staring at Jessica’s instructions.

  “What are you doing?” Rachel breathed as she peered at the small screen.

  “Jessica’s got an idea how to trace Mavis,” I said. “I’ve got to do all this so she can.”

  Rachel looked at me looking at the computer. After a couple of seconds, she pushed me aside and held her hands over the keyboard as she read the message. When she began working, she wasn’t exactly attacking the keys the way Jessica did, but her fingers moved a whole hell of a lot faster than mine would have.

  When she finished entering the code, she took the time to compare what she’d typed with what was on the screen. Correcting one error, she pressed the enter key and the window she’d been working in disappeared.

  “Done, Chief,” I said over the radio.

  “Stand by... waiting... YES! Got it! Okay, was the computer asleep?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “
Don’t want her to know you messed with it. Lid open or closed?”

  “Open.”

  She told me how to put the laptop back into sleep mode with the screen open. It now looked no different than when Viktoriya had left the room.

  “I’m going with her,” I said to Rachel. “If this works, you and Chapman go get her back. As soon as I know she’s safe, I’ll bring Viktoriya in.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?”

  I couldn’t say what we both knew would be the result, so settled for leaning in and kissing her.

  “Let’s get our girl back,” I said with a smile.

  Rachel’s eyes were damp, but she held it together and nodded. Walking down the hall, I opened the door and waved to Chapman. He and Viktoriya followed me back inside.

  “Are we all good now?” she asked.

  “As soon as I see Mavis and know she’s okay,” I said, gesturing at the laptop.

  “You will come with no further resistance? No more attempts to eat me?”

  “Docile as a puppy dog,” I said.

  “More like a pit bull,” she muttered as she moved to the laptop and woke it up.

  I didn’t watch what she was doing. Didn’t want her to think I had any unusual interest in the computer.

  “John! Rachel!”

  I rushed forward when I heard Mavis’s voice over the laptop speakers. Other than a little frightened, she appeared to be fine.

  “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Rachel asked.

  “I got slapped, but that was probably because I kicked Boris in the balls.”

  Despite the situation, I snorted a laugh.

  “Where’s Dog?” Mavis asked.

  Hearing Mavis’s voice say his name, Dog pushed in and raised his nose to the edge of the counter.

  “That’s enough.” Viktoriya stepped forward and closed the lid. “It is time to go.”

  She went to the laundry room and returned a few seconds later wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt over her bikini. Slipping her feet into a pair of sandals, she slung a large bag over her shoulder and looked at Rachel.

  “Got a location, sir!”

  Jessica’s voice in my ear, but I couldn’t acknowledge. My eyes flicked to Chapman who gave me an almost imperceptible nod. He’d heard her, too.

  “When we reach California, she will be released. Not before. Do you understand?” Viktoriya asked Rachel.

  “Unharmed.”

  “Of course. Unless she kicks anyone else in the balls, that is,” she said with a smile.

  “If she is hurt, or you fail to release her, I will find you. No matter what it takes, no matter where you are, I will find you,” Rachel said.

  Viktoriya stared back, her smile slowly fading.

  “I do believe you,” she finally said. “But perhaps you should do something about that first.”

  She pointed and Rachel glanced down, gasping when she saw blood staining the front of her pants. I was frozen in place for an instant, then reached for her as she looked at me with a horrified expression.

  “Off your feet,” I said, which was the only thing I could think to do.

  “No! Hospital,” Chapman barked, grabbing Rachel’s arm and hurrying her outside.

  I followed, rushing forward after he helped her into one of the Suburbans. A Marine came at a dead run, jumping behind the wheel as I leaned in and took Rachel’s face in my hands.

  “It’ll be okay,” I said, refusing to imagine any alternative.

  She nodded, her face a mask of fear. “Get our girl back!”

  I kissed her, then stepped back and closed the door. The Marine had the SUV in motion immediately, backing quickly out of the drive and roaring away.

  “Shall we go?” Viktoriya asked.

  It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to not turn and beat her to death on the spot.

  “Take care of her,” I said to Chapman.

  “She’s in good hands,” he said.

  27

  Viktoriya made me remove all of my weapons and my cell phone, which I piled into the back of a Suburban. When I stepped away, she gestured and I raised my arms out to the side. She frisked me, taking her time to thoroughly check anywhere I could possibly have a weapon concealed, and a few places where I couldn’t.

  “Impressive,” she said, squeezing my crotch.

  I slapped her hand away and she laughed lightly.

  “If you are not so uptight, the journey to California could be quite pleasant.”

  “Let’s just get on with it,” I growled.

  “Your loss.”

  She shrugged and motioned for me to follow her into the garage. Inside was a sedan that looked like every other car on the road. We got in and she started the engine, then hesitated before shifting into gear and held her hand out, palm up.

  “Your earpiece,” she said.

  It didn’t matter. Without the relay booster that was in the vest I’d left inside the house, the thing’s range was about fifty feet. Plucking it from my right ear, I dropped it in her hand and she tossed it out her window.

  Worry for Mavis and Rachel threatened to consume me as she drove out of the neighborhood and got onto a highway that headed south toward Honolulu. I needed something to distract me before I was so wrapped up in expecting the worst that I couldn’t focus on what needed to be done.

  “You were a setup from the start, weren’t you?”

  I really had no desire to speak with the bitch but decided to take the opportunity to fill in some details.

  “Of course I was. It was actually quite amazing how easily I was accepted.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said, staring at the passing scenery. “I didn’t even know I was coming back from Australia. How did you?”

  “You really aren’t very bright, are you? What is it you Americans would say? All balls and no brains. That’s it!”

  I didn’t rise to the bait. There was no point.

  “So, are you just going to insult me instead of answering my question?”

  She was quiet for a few moments before nodding.

  “Very well. I do not see any harm at this point. Originally, my mission had nothing to do with you.”

  “Then what?” I prompted when she didn’t continue.

  “Your military leadership. Admiral Packard was eliminated. He was still alive, but incapacitated and days, a week at the most from death. My assignment was to create mistrust through disinformation.”

  The meaning of her words struck me like a bolt out of the blue and a cold knot formed in my throat.

  “You’re telling me that all those Naval officers weren’t traitors after all?”

  “It depends upon your definition of traitor,” she said as if the whole thing were cut and dried. “Were they working with us? No, they were not.”

  I stared at her, horrified at the thought I’d executed seventeen innocent men based on a Russian lie.

  “Then what?” I finally asked. “You said it all comes down to the definition of a traitor.”

  “Perhaps mutinous would be a better term to describe them. All were conspiring to remove Admiral Packard from command, prior to the assassination attempt.”

  “Why? What was so bad about the Admiral?”

  “He would not press the war,” she answered with a shrug. “They wanted to attack with the last remnants of your military. Fight one last glorious battle.”

  “So, you’re telling me you did all this to save lives? Are you fucking kidding me?”

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “The motive is unimportant. The results are. And I must say, your return and subsequent healing of Admiral Packard were most welcome. Not only did his reinvigorated health restore a level of sanity at the top of your military, but the removal of the high-level officers advocating an all-out attack has dramatically reduced the possibility of our two countries continuing hostilities until nothing remains for either.”

  I thought about what she had revealed. Wondered if it was even the
truth.

  “Alright,” I said after a long pause. “Start from the beginning. Why did you pick Captain Black?”

  “I do not see why I should explain anything.”

  “You and I both know I’m never going to walk away from Barinov. He’ll kill me as soon as he has what he wants. So, humor me. Think of it as a last request, if that helps.”

  She glanced at me, then focused on the road ahead.

  “Very well. Captain Black was selected for two reasons. His sense of loyalty to Admiral Packard would play into the traitor scenario, and he was single. And he was kind of cute, too.”

  I suppressed a derisive snort. It was better if I kept her talking. Doing anything that would offend her could well cause her to refuse any further details.

  “My assignment was to provoke him into removing the senior officers who wanted to continue an armed conflict with my country. It was working, too. Mafiya thugs were used to create the illusion that I had actually defected. All was proceeding perfectly. There were even plans being made to remove the targeted officers. The result would have been a vacuum in the top of America’s command structure and quite possibly open hostility between different groups within your military.

  “Then you arrived and offered an alternative. Save Admiral Packard. Which you did, and with the right nudge and the influence of Captain Black, he eliminated the threat. Things could not have been better.”

  “You think the Admiral is a pushover? That he won’t kick ass when it needs kicking?”

  “Not at all,” Viktoriya said, shaking her head in emphasis. “But we know that he will not launch an offensive unless he is not given an alternative. With the coming blight, we cannot afford to be engaged in a needless battle. Our resources are better utilized preparing the desert for our people.”

  “And you really don’t think America will fight to save ours? Do you really not understand us any better than that?”