When they stopped him just outside the prison gate, he thought for sure he was in trouble for hoarding food. His heart raced and ears burned, fearing getting in trouble.
“Mr. Calhoun,” one of the English-speaking supervisors said as he approached him. “A word?”
He pulled Cal aside.
“Look, if it’s about the peanut butter…”
“No. No worries, that is your food to do with what you wish. I have good news.”
“Good… good news?”
“Yes. Your government has just negotiated a deal for your safe passage back to your homeland.”
“For me? Wow.”
The supervisor smiled. “It is for many of you. There are tens of thousands of United Kingdom citizens here on holiday or business. Or were when things began. You will be returning to your country by ship. In a few days, we will transport you to the state of Virginia to board the vessel. While you are obligated to do so, we would appreciate the help with the data until you depart.”
“Um, yes, sure. Absolutely. Thank you.”
“You are going home.” He walked away.
“Yeah,” Cal said. “I’m going home.” It seemed surreal, like a dream or some sort of trick. When he thought about that again, it hit him. He was there because Troy asked for his help. Cal didn’t know when the liberation of the camp was going to come but he was willing to wager, he would be gone before it happened.
He still had to try to help. Before heading into the other yard to do his data work, Cal excused himself and went to the only place where he absolute privacy… the porta john. There he was able to send a message to Troy. He would send him as much detail as he could, as often as he could, until he was no longer able to do so.
Holly River Base, WV
It was surprising that he had any skin at all left on his face, that was how many times Steve had rubbed his hand over chin.
It irritated Gus, who looked up from the large table and huffed at him.
The base was empty with the exception of Troy and his team; they didn’t have to leave early because they were assigned Caldwell.
“Of those in the area, we are locking down fourteen. That’s close to fourteen thousand people, possibly more,” Gus said pointing to the map.
“Where are we moving them?” Steve asked.
“Washington, PA. Untouched, no Procs there. Intel said it’s too close to Pittsburgh so it’s been left alone,” Gus replied.
“Do we know how many people in these camps are infected?” Steve asked.
“No.” Gus shook his head. “No, we don’t.”
“The infection is out of control,” Troy said. “Millions have it, millions are dying.”
“Yes, but”—Gus smoothed his hand over the map—“we have low infection rate here on the east. It’s focused primarily in the Midwest and west. Which tells me that was where it was delivered.”
Steve rubbed his chin again.
“What?” Gus snapped. “What now?”
“Well, what if they have it? What if a large amount of these people have it.”
“Then they have it. We’ll treat it. It’s treatable,” Gus said. “After Phase two, camp liberation, then we send our men out to look for antivirals and antibiotics for the sores. Welch has been in touch with a team hunkered down in Fort Dietrich. They say it is treatable, they just don’t have the means to mass produce.”
“That’s where we come in,” Troy said. “After I liberate Caldwell and drop off the refugees, I am on a team headed to Dietrich. It’s a rescue operation for those scientists.”
“Speaking of Caldwell.” Steve lifted the different sheets of paper with images. “I am not seeing a satellite of Caldwell.”
“No, we don’t have one,” Gus said. “Our man inside stopped contacting when he turned over the phone to the Brit.”
“What has he said?” Steve asked.
Troy replied. “Not much. He’s not communicated much because he doesn’t know much.”
“From what he has sent us,” Gus said, “it’s the same as everywhere. They stupidly are routine. Same time slots every day they return all prisoners to the yard. Total of eight entrance guards at the camps. Sundays all prisoners are detained in camps.”
“And like everywhere else,” Troy added, “the camps are at least a thousand feet from the hub or main town where the personnel and soldiers are concentrated.”
“Small team,” Gus explained. “Each town. I don’t know what the others are using to disable but the plan is the same across the board. We’re using a nerve agent, heavily concentrated delivered in the town, at the same time we down the fences. Our troops then pick off the soldiers. Civilian casualties to the minimum.”
“We expect runners,” Troy said. “We’ll chase them down. The plan is to get them all as fast as we can, keep it silent so word doesn’t spread. Silence is crucial.”
“What about other camps and towns?” Steve asked. “I know there are more out there than the ones we’re hitting.”
“There are.” Gus nodded. “But if this phase goes well, then we will put a huge ass dent in their efforts. Game changing.”
“So, this camp liberation is phase two? What’s phase three?”
“Welch is working on it now,” Gus said. “It’s the biggie. If all goes well it will go down about the same time as these coordinated camp attacks or shortly thereafter. So much will be happening, they’ll be chasing their tales.”
Troy looked at Steve. “I know this has come together awfully fast and it seems rushed but is has to be. We have to do this before the second wave arrives or before they send them back. Right now, they’re so vulnerable they don’t even know it.”
“As long as everyone follows the plan,” Gus said.
“What do you mean?” Steve asked.
“I mean unlike the previous phases which only had a time frame, everything in this phase is coordinated and is to take place at the exact same time. All it will take is for one team to jump the gun and it could backfire with a devastating ripple effect,” Gus said. “Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen.”
Swall, CA – San Joaquin Valley
When Joe found out Saul was ill, he was concerned. His friend looked bad and even though he tried to portray otherwise, he was quite ill. He ran into town to get Saul something but there was absolutely no medicine on the shelves of the stores. In fact, he couldn’t buy anything in the store, everything was confiscated and taken to distribution.
He knew Mary Lou was close to a woman in town who worked with natural remedies, so he called her.
She was the one that told him about the new plague. Only it wasn’t a plague, more of a virus that had been hitting other areas pretty hard and had arrived with a vengeance in Swall.
“I heard outside of Los Angeles close to a million are sick,” Mary Lou said.
“That’s just rubbish, ain’t been nothing like that since the Spanish flu.”
“I’m telling you, Joe. It’s bad, even the State News network is reporting it. If they’re reporting it, you know it’s out of control.”
The State News Network showed a fifteen-minute news segment every hour. They were always bright and smiling, reporting things like citizens who are ‘helping the Cause.’
Mary Lou told him there was a hospital set up at the gymnasium at Farmersville High School. She had been placed on volunteer duty there on weekends.
Joe convince Saul to go. When he first took him, the ground of the school was clear. Only a few military vehicles were around, a few official tents and no more than a dozen soldiers. Inside he checked him in, then they found him a cot. There weren’t as many people as Joe imagined. He believed Mary Lou was exaggerating.