No matter how he sliced it, he won.
“I am but a humble man of God…”
The words dangled in the air like bait. Would the fool really think he’d be able to manipulate Trent?
“Of course, that’s why you’re the perfect person to take charge.” Dirk wrapped an arm around Trent’s shoulders and squeezed.
His spine popped from the mangling but he didn’t move away. The conversation was just getting interesting. He blanked his expression—the perfect foundation for option one. “Take charge of what?”
“Our people.” After a brutal slap, Dirk released him. “You need to lead the new world order.”
Beautiful. Trent kept the smile from his lips. The fat man’s loose lips had just sealed his own fate. He had his leverage into the Humvee sanctum. But the other two options glittered from a distance. Catching scent of the alluring perfume of power, his nose twitched. Why should he stop now? Didn’t he deserve to lead?
“You’re unhappy with the way things are running?” There. Things couldn’t get anymore innocuous than that.
Dirk nodded, the motion rippled up and down his overripe body. “Me and a few others. These bootstraps are nothing but gun-toting thugs.”
Others? He stilled. Others had potential, especially if they’re healthy while most of the military was sick. He traced the cross embossed on the Bible. “Tell me more.”
After all, why should he share the seat of power in the Humvee?
Chapter Three
“You’re relieving me of command?” Mavis Spanner’s gut clenched. No. This couldn’t be happening. She had been working when her son was killed in Afghanistan. She’d gone to the office to file a report when her husband died. Now, when her stupid job had a chance to save the life of someone she loved, this jar-head threatened to take it away.
“I have to consider it.” Across the bench seat of the Humvee, General Lister tapped on the screen of his laptop. The blue light of the screen tarnished the United States Marine Corps insignia on his collar.
“Why?” She’d worked despite being infected with anthrax. She’d stared at reports until her eyes burned and the information blurred. She coughed into the crook of her arm. With each spasm, her diaphragm shrink-wrapped her gut around her ribs, squeezing air out of her lungs with a high-pitched whistle. God, it hurt to breathe, to blink, to think. What more could they want from her?
What more did she have to give?
“You’re obviously sick.”
Ending her coughing jag on a wheeze, she stuck her hands into her pockets. Empty throat lozenge wrappers rained like confetti on the dark upholstery. She raked her fingers through the garbage. Surely, there would be one left. Please God, let there be one left. “Practically everyone is sick.”
Billions of anthrax spores swirled in the air, clung to people’s clothes and stuck to people’s shoes.
“What makes me so special that I get relieved of duty?” If she knew, then she could find a solution to stay in her position. Her niece needed her to stay in her position. She skimmed a hard knot in her pocket, stopped and delved deeper in the detritus then came up with a foil wrapped wad of gum. Damn it! A tickle skimmed her throat before she started coughing again. The graphics on her tablet computer swam as her eyes teared up. Hacking up a lung would be so much easier.
General Lister glanced at her over the top of his wire-rimmed reading glasses. The slim silver earpieces pointed directly to his graying temples. “The Sergeant-Major and his handful of Army flunkies tell me you haven’t gotten more than a couple of hours sleep in the last two days.”
Sighing, Mavis collapsed against the seat. Her attention darted to the driver’s seat of the Humvee. Sergeant-Major David Dawson winked at her in the rear view mirror. Her Sergeant-Major as the general damn well knew. She straightened. Wait just a New York minute. “You’ve had my… men spy on me?”
Her lover spied on her? She rubbed her sternum, hoping to ease the ache building under the bone. Where was his loyalty?
“In case you haven’t noticed, Doc, the shit has already hit the fan.” Lister ripped off his glasses and chewed on the earpiece. “And now we’re being sucked into the downdraft, ready to be chopped into bits by the blades.”
And how exactly did that justify David’s betrayal? Her gaze shifted to the floor. “And the Sergeant-Major and his men are now the judges of good health and competency?”
Sure, David and his men were practically the only ones healthy since their commanding officer hadn’t shared the anthrax tainted toys. Not that the asshole had known of the biological attack at the time. The CO had been too busy lining his own pockets by selling the meals and toys Burgers in a Basket had churned out to thank the military, government officials, police, fire and healthcare workers.
And all those toy baggies had spilled their grams of anthrax masquerading as desiccant into the air, exposing the disease to everyone who breathed. She and her niece had been at one of several thousands of ground zeroes around the world. Now, she was infected and her niece, her sole remaining relative, was dying.
“Hell, the Army isn’t competent to judge their own assholes.” Lister snorted then coughed into his handkerchief. Moments later, he wiped his mouth and tucked the square of embroidered linen in his uniform pocket. “Putting the Army in charge of anything explains why we’ve gone barely ten miles in two hours. Isn’t that right, Sergeant-Major?”
“Yes, Sir.” The vehicle swayed side-to-side as David maneuvered it out of the wash and onto hard packed dirt running next to it. The Humvee slowed to a crawl as they approached the paved road.
Men. She resisted the urge to throw up her hands and smack some sense into him. As the jar-head knew, they moved slowly to pick up survivors along the evacuation route. His nonsense wouldn’t distract her from his earlier threat.
“Why are you threatening to remove me from office?” Kill my niece? And using my lover to spy on me?
“In case you hadn’t noticed, Doc,” Lister set his glasses back on his nose, “you are the only one who seems to have a bird’s eye view of the big picture. Right now, the wheels up here are spinning.” He tapped his silver temple. “But if you don’t take care of yourself, the motor will run out of oil, seize up and stop working altogether. I’m not planning on dying because you’re being self-centered.”
Her mouth fell open. She was being selfish? Who did he think she was working day and night to save? Her niece, yes, but them too. They were in this together.
“You start getting some sleep or I’ll remove you from duty.” He slid her tablet off her lap. “It’s as simple as that.”
“Fine.” She turned toward the window and yawned. No need to let the moose-jawed bully know she was tired. His gloating alone would keep her awake. Slouching in her seat, she closed her eyes. They popped back open. Come on. She needed to clear her head, needed to keep her job.
Outside the window, the world was decorated in apocalypse chic. Smoke writhed over the smoldering neighborhoods. Carbonized studs and charred tiles marked the remains of affluent homes. Ash flaked off skeletal branches of trees and shrubs. The air reeked of burnt hair and roasting meat. Singed rats scavenged in the decay.
At the top of the embankment, ash-coated survivors shivered next to their meager pile of belongings. White eyes blinked in chalked faces. A Bible-black sky roiled behind them, while flashes of lightning illuminated the mountains behind the town of Cave Creek, still miles in the distance. Trails of red climbed the dark hills as fire serpents crawled across the ground, devouring everything in its path.