The new route was bumpy, but no military personnel tried to stop them.
It was midafternoon when they finally crossed into the city limits. The pale light of the low winter sun made the quiet town look stark and empty. Josie glanced at the houses they were passing. Though she was sure there were people inside, they all looked deserted.
About a mile from the base, they slowed to a stop.
“Was that here last time?” Miller asked.
“I didn’t get this far east,” Chloe said. “But I doubt it.”
Stopped at an angle partway into the intersection just ahead was a military truck. The disturbing part, though, wasn’t the truck itself, but the man lying motionless on the ground below the open driver’s door.
“You okay?” Chloe asked Josie.
“I’m fine,” Josie said. This wasn’t her first body.
Chloe took them forward slowly, keeping tight to the left side of the road so they were as far from the man and the truck as possible.
“Kind of looks like the vehicle that was manning the roadblock,” Chloe said.
“Well, he is wearing a uniform,” Miller said.
A nod from Chloe.
Now that they were closer, they could see the man’s open eyes staring at the sky, and under each, the dark circles that were one of the signs of Sage Flu.
“He must have been here at least half a day,” Miller said.
“Why hasn’t anyone moved him?” Josie asked.
Chloe looked around. “I’m not sure there’s anyone who could.”
They approached Malmstrom Air Force Base from 2nd Avenue. As soon as the main gate came into view, Chloe and Miller pulled to the side of the road.
“Hop off,” Chloe said to Josie.
“Why?”
“I want to check something. I’ll be right back.”
Though she didn’t want to, Josie dismounted the bike.
“Stay with her,” Chloe said. She then gunned her engine and continued down the road.
Josie stepped out into the street so she could see where Chloe was going. As Chloe neared the gate, Josie expected someone to step out of the building to greet her, but even when Chloe stopped right at the entrance, the door to the building remained closed. She waited there for a moment, then got off her bike and went inside. Two minutes later, she reappeared, hopped on her motorcycle, and raced back to Josie and Miller.
“So?” Miller asked.
“One guard. Dead. At least as long as the guy we passed.”
Josie climbed back onto the bike and they drove unhindered onto the base.
Malmstrom was a military base, so someone should have been chasing them down to find out who they were, but there was no one else on the roads, and no sign of anyone in the buildings they passed. The place had turned into a ghost town.
“Are they all dead?” Josie asked.
“If not yet,” Chloe said, “soon enough.”
They headed to the airfield where the archived radar information indicated the helicopter had landed. It was clear that a big operation, or perhaps even several, had been underway. Trucks and cars were parked in front of most of the buildings, with dozens of planes and helicopters lined up not far away, some of which looked like they were in the process of being loaded with cargo.
Chloe led them over to the nearest cluster of helicopters and parked.
The moment the motorcycle’s engines cut off, they were plunged into a chilling silence. There was nothing. No wind. No mechanical sounds. No voices.
Not.
A.
Thing.
“Check the helicopters,” Chloe said to Miller. “See if there are any logs or something like that.” She motioned at the closest building. “Josie and I will check in there.”
The inside of the building was a big, open office that had dozens of desks covered with folders and clipboards and papers. None, unfortunately, seemed to have anything to do with Brandon. Miller had similar luck with his search.
“Let’s try that next group of helicopters,” Chloe said.
They drove down to where the three aircraft were parked. These were smaller than the ones they’d just checked, and unlikely to have been the type of vehicle Brandon had been picked up in. Predictably, they came up dry again. Another building had four helicopters out front, but still no information about Brandon.
There were only two helicopters at their next stop, but their skids were about the right size to have made the indentations in the snow back on the highway where Brandon had been taken. While Miller once more checked for flight logs, Chloe and Josie searched inside the building they were next to.
“What’s this?” Josie said, carrying over to Chloe a clipboard she’d found on one of the desks.
The header on the top sheet read:
OPERATION PIPER
Below were several names, followed by numbers that ranged between five and sixteen. Some had addresses, some didn’t. But none had any of the typical identifiers seen on other documents that indicated the names belonged to Air Force personnel.
Chloe looked it over and frowned. “I don’t know. Where did you find it?”
Josie led her back to the desk. It was Chloe who found the folder. She read through a few of the sheets inside, then said, “He was here.”
“What do you mean, ‘was’?” Josie asked.
“They airlifted him out. Apparently they were gathering up kids who didn’t have guardians.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Probably thinking they were protecting them.” Chloe looked at the file again. “It says here they were taken to Colorado Springs, Colorado.”
Josie’s heart sank. “How are we supposed to get there?”
“Getting there isn’t going to be the problem.” Chloe pulled out her phone.
“Who are you calling?”
Chloe hesitated before punching in a number. Instead of raising it to her ear, she hit the speaker button so Josie could hear, too. After two rings, Matt answered. She quickly filled him in on what they’d found, and said, “We need the jet. How soon can Harlan and Barry get it here?”
“I’m not sure that’s such a—”
“Don’t,” Chloe warned him as she shot a reassuring glance at Josie. “We’re going. So how long do we have to wait?”
A pause, then, “They can be there within an hour.”
“Good. Tell them to land right at Malmstrom. No one’s here but us.”
“All right, but the minute I need them anywhere else, they’re out of there. Understand?”
“I understand.” After she hung up, she smiled at Josie. “See? No problem.”
“How soon can Harlan and Barry get it here?”
Matt frowned. “I’m not sure that’s such a—”
“Don’t,” Chloe said sharply over the phone. “We’re going. So how long do we have to wait?”
Matt thought for a second. He was loath to take the jet out of circulation, in case it was needed to ferry vaccine to any survivors they might find, but he also couldn’t justify having it sit on the runway while Brandon was taken farther and farther away from his family. “They can be there within an hour.”
“Good. Tell them to land right at Malmstrom. No one’s here but us.”
“All right, but the minute I need them anywhere else, they’re out of there. Understand?”
“I understand.”
He hung up and looked across the room. “Kenji!”
The LIC leader glanced over.
“Have a load of vaccine taken to the plane right away. Say, enough for two hundred.”
Kenji looked confused. “Is there a group out there I don’t know about?”
Matt shook his head. “I need to send Harlan on a side trip, and I want him to be ready if he needs to go somewhere else later.”
“Got it.”
Matt had Christina call Harlan with instructions, then pulled his tin of ibuprofen out of his pocket and popped four pills into his mouth. His leg was really killing him today, and the stress wasn’t helping things.