He switched to another frequency as hammers sounded on the outside of the door. He tried another and another, and suddenly the radio came to life:
“—through Medicine Bow and we need extraction off a hot LZ, over,” a man said very fast before another voice answered, “Roger, Cougar Six Two.”
Jesus, Cam thought. What if the nanotech isn’t just in this valley? Where do we go?
There were large sections of National Forest called Medicine Bow nearby in Wyoming, and he knew those mountains were peppered with civilian and military camps. Cam didn’t recognize the call sign — Cougar Six Two might have been anyone — but they were American and that was all that mattered.
“Break break break,” he said. “Any station this net, this is Two Echo Two, any station this net, over.”
The first man responded. “Two Echo Two, Two Echo Two, this is Cougar Six Two. Over.”
“Roger, Cougar Six Two, I need you to pass along an emergency message, break. Flash code Revere. I say again, flash code Revere, over.”
Silence. The other man obviously had his own problems. He had been calling for some sort of evacuation himself, but his discipline held. The man said, “I need you to authenticate, Two Echo Two. Over.”
“I say again, flash code Revere. This is Corporal Najarro with the Seventy-Fifth. I need to speak with Major Thrun or the current operations officer in Grand Lake, over.”
His flash code was ancient by military standards. Call signs, encryptions, and communications windows were changed every thirty days. Cam had been out of contact for a year and a half, but Grand Lake would have archives that contained the OPORD mission profile from his last assignment. Grand Lake should know his name, and, knowing him, they should realize who might be with him.
“Roger that, Two Echo—” The background exploded with small arms fire and the man’s voice rose into a shout. “What is your current location, over?”
Cougar Six Two was under attack. Who were they fighting? Could there be enemy forces inside the plague zone or was Cougar defending himself from infected people? Cam spoke with icy control, trying to make himself more significant to Cougar Six Two than the disaster surrounding the other man. “I say again, Revere. Revere. I need you to pass that message ASAP, Cougar Six Two. I’ll monitor this frequency for the next thirty minutes and will come up on this station every hour on the hour for ten minutes thereafter, over.”
The man yelled just to be heard over the gunfire and screaming. “Understood, Two Echo Two! Godspeed. Out.”
“Do you think they’ll do it?” Bobbi asked, and Cam said, “Yes.” He’d seen nothing but self sacrifice from the troops he’d served with. The only thing that’ll stop him from relaying our call is the plague, he thought.
All they could do was wait. They couldn’t even scan for more transmissions because they had to sit on 925.25. Cam left Bobbi by the radio to help Susan with Brett, who was unconscious now. Maybe that was for the best. She’d done a good job of applying a pressure bandage to their friend’s midsection, and Cam tried to assess the damage. The bullet must have missed the aorta — Brett would be dead already — but it couldn’t have missed his intestines. The bacteria released from his digestive tract was a problem. They didn’t have antibiotics, which meant peritonitis would probably kill him even if he survived the wound itself. Cam nearly forgot everything else. He was among the best medics in the village, but they weren’t equipped for surgery, and opening Brett up would create at least as many complications as Cam could fix. He was still weighing their options when a smooth female voice filled the hut.
“Two Echo Two, this is Arapaho Five, over,” she said. Cam jumped on it, pushing Bobbi aside with a hand slick
with Brett’s blood. “I read you. Over.”
“Authenticate, Two Echo Two.”
“This is Corporal Najarro from Second Platoon, Echo Company, Second Battalion, Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment. Over.”
“Roger, Two Echo Two. Send your traffic, over.”
It was enough that Cam was elated. He glanced at Bobbi with his mouth bent in a thin line like a smile. The woman in Grand Lake must have run his ID on a computer. He and Ruth were probably flagged on a dozen programs along with Eric and Greg and other suspected collaborators like Allison.
He still couldn’t believe she was gone. He blurted out, “People are sick, ma‘am. I need a medevac now. Over.”
“Roger, Two Echo Two. Flash code Streak.”
That one simple word sent a chill up the back of his neck. Streak. It meant to change frequencies to avoid being trian gulated by the enemy. If she was concerned about enemy surveillance on the unsecured net, it could mean there really were hostile forces moving in behind the plague… We’d better hope they miss us, Cam thought, shifting his eyes from Bobbi to the other men and women in the hut. They couldn’t hold the town against enemy infantry.
He went up two bands as he’d been taught. “Arapaho Five, Two Echo Two,” he said on the new channel.
The woman in Grand Lake didn’t waste a moment, either, resuming their conversation in knifelike bursts. “What is your current location? Over.”
“We’re eighteen clicks southwest of Wackyville.” That was Morristown’s unfortunate nickname because so many of the people there were cultists, and Cam said, “Are you familiar with this area? Over.”
“Affirmative. Over,” the woman said, as Cam heard a snatch of a man’s voice behind her.
“—they get so close?” the man said.
“Ma‘am, I’m not alone,” Cam said urgently. “Two Echo Two is still together. Do you understand me? The gang’s all here and I need that chopper now. Tonight.”
“Can you maintain your position? Over.”
“Ma‘am, we have wounded and a lot of people sick. Over.”
“You need to hunker down, Two Echo Two, because everybody’s in the soup right now. All air assets are committed. Sit tight. I’m going to get you that helicopter, but I need a little time. Over.”
“Are you”—he almost couldn’t say it—“Are there people sick there, too?”
“Monitor the radio, Two Echo Two. We’ll patch you into our pilots as soon as we have an asset available. Over.”
“Oh, shit.” Cam stared at the handset without hitting his SEND button.
“Two Echo Two?” the woman asked. “What are you using for far and near recognition signs, Two Echo Two?” she asked, but Cam had already stood up and turned away from the radio with a cold, fresh sense of rising dread.
Bobbi touched his jacket. “Cameron?”
He couldn’t meet his friend’s eyes. What could he possibly say? He knew a Black Hawk would need most of an hour to cross the distance between Grand Lake and Jefferson — much longer, if Grand Lake was in chaos itself. He’d hoped to get them into the underground bunkers in Grand Lake, but that might be impossible if the surface of the mountain was crawling with infected people.
“Two Echo Two!” the radio said. “Two Echo Two, do you copy?”
Cam knelt and picked up the handset again as if it weighed a hundred pounds, uncertain it was worth the effort. Whoever had launched the plague, whatever the nanotech did, she wouldn’t tell him on an unsecured transmission. She might not even know.
“Just get here as fast as you can,” he said.
5
In the blue light of the display screen, the colonel’s face was ghastly pale. The effect was supernatural. The light transformed his round features into something lean and monstrous, creating shadows like a mask. He used it well, turning to grin at the four technicians beside him. He knew his teeth shone like fangs because Dongmei’s pretty mouth glowed in the same way when she matched his expression.