“I’m fine.” The response was automatic.
Rachel put a hand on each of the kids’ shoulders. “Why don’t you two go with Bobbie? She’ll get some dinner for you.”
“Pizza?” Brandon asked.
“If you want,” Bobbie said.
Josie glanced warily at her father. “What about Dad?”
“We’re going to go have a little talk, and he can join you later,” Rachel told her. “Josie, if you want, you can go check out the library after you finish eating. We’ve got some new books I think you’ll like.”
Ash could tell his daughter saw through Rachel’s attempt to distract her. Josie was smart, something Ash knew she must have inherited from her mother, because he’d never been that smart at her age. She had also grown up so much since that night at Barker Flats when their lives had changed that there were times when she was more adult than teenager. It killed Ash whenever he saw that. He wanted her to be a kid as long as she could and enjoy growing up, but in the back of his mind he knew that possibility had died with her mother, with Ellen.
For a moment, he was sure Josie would call Rachel out on the ploy, but she nodded and said, “Okay.”
The whole group entered the Lodge, and Bobbie headed to the kitchen with the kids.
Once they were gone, Rachel said, “We’re down in the Bunker.”
The room across the hall from the communications center was set up with several rows of folding chairs all facing a large flat-screen TV hanging on the wall at one end. Standing just to the side of the monitor beside a small desk were Matt, Billy, and Michael Humphrey. Billy was the Ranch’s doctor and all-around medical expert. Michael’s duties were a little harder for Ash to pin down, as he seemed to be involved in several things. There was no one else present.
“Great,” Matt said, as Ash and the others entered. He walked over and shook Ash’s hand. “Glad you’re here.”
Ash exchanged quick greetings with Michael and Billy, then looked around at the thirty or so empty chairs in the room. “Is it just us, or are others coming?”
“This meeting’s just us.” Matt gestured at the front row. “Please, everyone, have a seat.”
Matt remained standing while the others filled the chairs in the front row.
As soon as they were settled, he said, “Ash, everyone else here already knows this. I can tell you with certainty the day we’ve all been fearing will happen sometime in the next three weeks unless it can somehow be stopped.”
The words weren’t a surprise, given what Browne had said about the depots. The time frame was, though. Ash looked at Matt, hoping it was some kind of joke, but there was no humor in the man’s eyes. Three weeks? Even after what Ash had seen, what he’d been through with his children, and living through the outbreak that killed his wife, he never really thought it would get to this, or even could get to this.
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“Did Tom tell you about the depots?”
Ash nodded.
“Without exception, at every depot we’re aware of, our people have witnessed the arrival of truckload after truckload of supplies. This began about three months ago, and finished at all the locations three and a half weeks ago. It would be foolish not to think the same has happened at their other warehouses.”
“That still doesn’t mean they’re going to do something in three weeks.”
“That’s true,” Matt said. “But I’m not finished. Over the past four months, most of our people who were able to infiltrate the Project have been rooted out and killed. Prior to this, we had already learned that while the leadership of Project Eden doesn’t share many details with its members, activity levels had been increasing, including the distribution of new instructions to various groups within the Project. We also know that in August, Project members were given an inoculation that they were told would ensure their being around to help restart humanity. Though we were unable to obtain a sample, we know it must have been a vaccine for KV-27a, something they undoubtedly developed from what they’d learned about the immunity you and your children have.”
An image flashed through Ash’s mind-his kids strapped to hospital beds with needles in their arms, surrounded by monitors and members of Project Eden. It was all his imagination, of course. He hadn’t been there to see what was done to his children. He’d only arrived at the end, just before the late Dr. Karp was going to eliminate them.
“Undoubtedly, it is similar to the vaccine we were able to come up with and have been trying to spread. The problem is, our production capabilities are horribly inadequate, even for the population of a medium-sized city. When we’re talking the world…” He shook his head.
Ash was aware of the vaccine they’d been making based on a sample of his own blood. In fact, once he’d been reunited with his kids and found out about the resistance’s plan to develop it, he had offered more blood. What he hadn’t known was that Matt was trying to get the result of that out as far and wide as possible. No matter how small a dent that might make, at least it was good news.
Matt pointed a remote control at the screen and clicked on a video file. For a moment the screen went black, then an image appeared that was all gray and white whipping around rapidly until it settled into what appeared to be a room shot from a high angle.
“Because of the low light, he had to use night vision. What you’re looking at is a factory floor.”
Ash could make that out now. The space was large, but unlike an assembly plant or machine shop, it appeared more like what he’d imagine a brewery would look. He could see at least a dozen large, covered tanks running down the center of the room, and there may have been more in the distance, out of range of the camera. Odder still were the people moving around the tanks. He was sure brewers didn’t wear biohazard suits when making a batch of ale.
“What are they doing?” Ash asked.
“Exactly what you think. This is one of who-knows-how-many mass production sites for KV-27a.”
“Do you know where it is?”
Matt shook his head. “No location was included.”
“Have you tried to get in touch with your agent? We need to find this place.”
Matt paused a moment. “Though the footage had been uploaded for over three weeks, it wasn’t discovered until eight days ago. He obviously had to upload it in a hurry and had mistakenly put it in a folder that doesn’t normally get checked.”
“But you’re trying to get to him now, aren’t you?”
“A week before we even knew about the file, his body was found washed up on a beach near Veracruz, Mexico.”
Ash closed his eyes, shocked by the man’s death and frustrated by the lost opportunity.
“There’s more,” Matt said.
Ash reopened his eyes and focused on the screen.
The new shot was of a loading area where large drums that must have held at least fifty gallons each were being moved into shipping containers. If Matt was right, each must have been filled with the virus.
Matt stopped on an image of a loading dock where sealed shipping containers were being lowered onto big-rig trucks. He let it play for half a minute before turning it off.
“So we don’t even know where they went from there?” Ash asked.
“Does it matter?” Billy said. “Out into the world. The only reason we know none of it has been released yet is because there have been no reports of outbreaks.”
Ash thought about it for a moment, his face becoming more confused. “None of this explains where the three-week window comes in.”
“You’re right,” Matt said. “It doesn’t, but this does.”
He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Ash. On it was a series of letters coupled together. Lower on the paper was what he guessed was the decoded version:
It’s a go. Sometime in the next seven weeks. Project Eden calls it Implementation Day.
Best location BB n of sixty-six. Sci fac.