The Plagues of Pandora

CHAPTER NINE

Drake took the call in the dead of night, instantly awake. This early, Hayden’s words were a little fuzzy but he got the gist.

“Get down to the freakin’ HQ! Now!”

Mai was already awake, staring up at the high ceiling. “Time to go?”

Drake sat up in bed, rubbing his face. “Aye. Have you slept?”

“A little. I’m worried about Grace and… other things.”

“I know. I thought, during the last few weeks, we might have broached that subject a little more.”

Mai glanced at him. “A little more?”

“Well, just once would be fine.”

“It’s my mess, Matt, and if it comes back to bite me…”

“We’ll deal with it together.” Drake hugged her close. “I knew I should have gone to Tokyo with you.”

Mai pulled away and rose, keeping her back to him as she dressed. “Really? And what would you have done so differently?”

Drake sighed, realizing he was on shaky ground. “I dunno, love. You haven’t told me a bloody thing. Any road, if we’re quick, we can cadge a lift off the Mad Swede.”

Mai gave him a quick, long-suffering smile. “You talking gibberish again?”

“Oh, sorry. In the Queen’s English — put a spurt on, my dear, and perhaps we can share Mr. Dahl’s vehicle.”

“That’s better.”

Together they rushed out of the room just in time to see Dahl, who rented the large apartment opposite their somewhat more conservative one with his freshly arrived family, struggling to extract himself from his wife’s embrace.

“Need a hand, pal?” Drake asked drily.

Dahl managed to free one arm.

“We can wait two and a half minutes if you like.”

Then Dahl was free, but Johanna snagged his hair at the last second.

“Seriously. We’ll wait in the car.”

The Swede caught them up a short while later, giving Drake a sideways glance as he fell in. “Not a bloody word.”

“Me? As if…”

DC was quiet in the absolute dead of night; office buildings, museums and monuments still blazing to give it all the appearance of a functioning ghost town. Mai stared out the window as they made the short journey to the famous five-sided concrete structure, her mood also affecting the men. None of them knew why they’d been called in but, with the current unrest and hypothetical fallout from the Pythian threat, the prospects were bleak. Not knowing where in the world they would be by this time tomorrow, Drake made a point of addressing Dahl.

“Seriously though, mate, is Johanna enjoying DC?”

Dahl made a non-committal face. “It’s like picking my way through a minefield with them. So far, they’re treating it as a holiday. But when the novelty wears off, who knows, especially now since the Blood Vendetta has been lifted.”

“You did the right thing.” Drake said with eyes fixed forward. “Bringing them here.”

“Try telling them that,” the Swede grumped.

“Doesn’t matter, mate. Sometimes the best thing to do is the one that upsets someone the most and you can’t explain why. They’ll get over it.”

Mai chose that moment to catch his attention. “Do you believe that?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” She turned away again.

Drake shared a couple of raised eyebrows with Dahl and fell silent. Soon, they were entering the Pentagon and making their way toward their new HQ. Drake was still getting used to the diverging hallways and highly polished floors, the black-suited and military-garbed men striding the halls, medals catching the light, the endless walls of security. At last they entered through an oak door.

The first thing Drake saw was a disheveled, bloody Lauren Fox. Then the peculiar sight of Smyth hovering protectively behind her, also looking battered.

Hayden walked to the center of the room. “Lauren’s mission went a little… awry.” She proceeded to give a potted account of the night’s events, focusing mainly on the conversations Lauren had overheard. Drake was amazed by the scope of information, happy to see several scrappy clues fall into place.

“So London, Paris and LA are the locations of the three plague pits and they’re going to attempt to weaponize whatever they find in there? Score one, two and three for Miss Fox.”

He saw Smyth nod and put a hand on the woman’s shoulder, then suddenly think better of it. “We should all have been there,” Drake said softly.

Hayden held up both hands. “We’ll save the blame for later,” she said. “Right now, those cities are in grave danger. We must focus our efforts on them.”

“What about this factory?” Dahl asked. “Take the factory out immediately — destroy the threat.”

Lauren shot him an apologetic look. “Sorry, they didn’t reveal its whereabouts.”

“No need to apologize,” Dahl said. “This is a great step forward. Jonathan never trusted the general and because you saw his opinion through to the end, you’re allowing him to help us even now.”

Lauren’s face broke out into a smile.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Kinimaka said from behind a wooden desk. “Nicholas Bell; this Webb guy and Miranda Le Brun — they need identifying.”

“And the plague pits,” Karin added. “Where exactly are they?”

“We have no clear-cut ideas,” Hayden admitted. “But on the plus side, the Pythians won’t know who Lauren and Smyth are or how they relate to SPEAR. If we’re finally going to get a step ahead of our enemies, this is the time to do it.”

“Can I ask—” Komodo spoke up from his position at the back of the room. “What exactly is a plague pit?”

Karin was beside him. “They relate back to bubonic plague and the Black Death,” she said. “If you imagine two thirds of the population of Europe being wiped out you can see how hard it would have been to dispose of the bodies. Eventually the recognized patterns of burial collapsed, leaving us with plague pits during major outbreaks. During times like these graveyards quickly filled, with their graves used only by the wealthy.”

“And these plague pits are still there?” Komodo asked in surprise. “Under the streets of London, Paris and Los Angeles?”

“Well, yes. There’s one in Knightsbridge and another in Soho. Several around Paris and all the other major European cities. It’s commonly accepted that plague-like organisms would not survive this long, but it was also believed that all those that died were infected only by the Black Death, until recently. Now they’re speculating on other diseases too, including anthrax. What’s in the plague pits could be a mixture of several deadly, ancient diseases.”

“They intend to weaponize an ancient plague?” Mai suddenly declared as if waking up. “Are they mad?”

“If they are all like General Stone,” Lauren put in, “they’re off-their-head crazy, depraved sons-of bitches. No conscience.”

Smyth patted her shoulder to help settle her nerves.

“But also immensely powerful,” Hayden said. “Let’s not forget that.”

Hayden started as the landline rang. “I’ve already put in a call to Robert Price,” she said for the latecomers’ benefit, referring to the new Secretary of Defense. “I want authorization to move immediately on this, and to move big time.”

Hayden spoke fast, bringing the Secretary up to speed. “Everything we have is essentially unverifiable, sir, but it’s actually rock solid.”

“You realize that’s two total extremes don’t you?” Price knew that she did and went on, “Anything further as to what happened in Drago?”

Drake knew he was referring to the “house on the hill” atrocity. The entire US was united in tracking down its perpetrators, from the highest level of government to the lowliest step above the worst of the social media trolls.

“No, sir.”

“All right. Do we know where they’ll hit first?”

Hayden coughed. “Excuse me, sir, but that’s one of the reasons I called you so quickly. We believe they’re going to hit all three at the same time.”

Price was struck dumb for a moment, then: “The Pythians are hitting three major cities at once? Do they have that kind of manpower? That kind of organizational ability?”

“General Stone, despite his failings, is a first-class strategist. And who knows who else they have on their payroll?”

“Of course, of course. Jesus, this is going to get very big, very fast. I’m going to have to make some international calls, smooth out some rough ground. How are we for manpower? Homeland. The FBI. Do you need teams?”

“We believe we’ll be okay for now, sir. We have people in mind, but a high alert in the targeted cities would be appreciated.”

“After I convey this information the entire world will be on high alert.”

“Right now, that’s not a bad thing, sir.”

Price’s voice took on a tense strain. “I’m also assuming you want Stone left alone?”

“It’s the best way. He’s still our best way into their inner circle.”

Drake tuned out as Mai drifted over. The Japanese woman’s eyes were downcast, her bearing lackluster. “What’s the problem, love?”

“I can’t get Grace out of my mind.”

“Her past is not as rosy as she wanted but we can’t change that. And we’ll help her through it all. It’s bloody bad timing too.”

Mai stared. “What do you mean, bad timing?”

Drake didn’t back down. He knew his words hadn’t been spoken maliciously. “Haven’t you been paying attention? Catastrophe is on the loose and heading to town with a mean motherfucking attitude, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. We have to deal with that, Mai.”

“We’re always dealing with that, Matt. Don’t you remember Babylon? Hawaii? My goddamn trip to Tokyo?”

Drake pulled her aside, feeling the others beginning to take an interest as Mai’s voice rose. “You never did fully explain that trip. What happened?”

“I told you. Weren’t you paying attention?”

“I don’t believe you murdered a man, Mai. The term implies intent and desire to kill. He wasn’t an innocent, by your own admission. Did you even have a choice?”

Mai glanced up at him from beneath her brows. “That’s the problem, Matt. I did have a choice. I could have left Tokyo. I could have said no, abandoned the search for my parents.”

“But he was your only way into the Tsugarai.”

Mai nodded. “He was.”

“And you rescued Grace, and others besides.”

“And he also had a daughter. A son. A wife.”

“He was playing with their lives the second he accepted blood and drug money from bad people.”

“Some people have no choice.”

Drake fell silent, realizing Mai was referencing her own parents and how they had initially sold her to survive life with their first-born daughter, Chika. He was arguing a losing battle. No way could he win this.

All of a sudden he realized Hayden was talking to him. “… as soon as you can.”

He blinked rapidly. “What?”

Dahl shook his head. “Ask him again. Takes a bit of processing for a Northerner.”

Drake didn’t even register the insult as Hayden again asked him to make the call to Crouch and Alicia. “We need them now,” she said. “If they’re not in place soon they may be too late.”

Drake nodded, taking out his phone. Enough impossible questions, theories and bad tidings were amassing to give him a headache. Crouch was essentially working for himself these days and wouldn’t jump in to help unless he believed things were deadly serious. Maybe what he really needed was a chat with Alicia. That might help release the tension a little.

But he didn’t feel comfortable enough to cross blades with the feisty heroine right now.

A man’s voice answered his call. He spoke in highly stressed tones. “Are you free? Are you finished?”

Crouch paused a second, then said: “We are.”

“Then we need you. I mean, all of you, and more. This Pandora thing’s gone intercontinental; we’re fighting a war in four countries now.”

“What?”

“Drake?” Alicia’s tones floated over the connection. “You’re not making any sense.”

Drake gripped the bridge of his nose. “It’s the end of the world, Alicia. The plagues of Pandora. The Pythians are everywhere. We’re losing. This is going to take every single resource, every ounce of brainpower, every grain of courage. We’re all going to get bloody or dead on this one, Alicia.”

“We’ve faced Armageddon before, and recently. More than once.”

“Not like this.” Drake felt as troubled as he’d ever been in his life. “Something this big comes along just once in a lifetime. Survival isn’t even on the bloody menu. Saving our society, that’s all that matters.”

Alicia went quiet, seemingly lost for words. Drake then heard her say: “We have to help them.”

Crouch spoke again, his voice as resolute as iron and stone. “My team is all yours, Matt. What do you need?”

Drake thought about what Hayden, Price and Lauren had already brought to the table. “First of all head to Europe. You’ll be our response team there. We’re in the process of appointing others.”

“Europe’s a big place, mate,” some smartass put in. Drake didn’t recognize the voice.

“I realize that. We don’t have the right intel yet, it’s a fluid operation. Start with Rome. I want you on the mainland.”

Hayden stared at him. “Why Rome?”

He cupped the mouthpiece. “Pretty central. Who knows, the Pythians could even now be leading us up the garden path. If it turns out to be Paris, Crouch can make the hour-long trip on SPEAR’s coin.”

“Done,” Crouch said. “I’ll be in touch when we’ve landed.”

“Thank you. Oh, and guys?”

“Yes?”

“If you have loved ones and relatives, I’d call them before you land.”

Drake ended the call, meeting the eyes of everyone in the room. “What?” he said. “Don’t you feel it too? This is pure fight or die. We’ve been here before, more than once, and I remember every ounce of pain and anxiety and emotion. Every time-sensitive heartbeat.”

The way they all nodded, as solemn as men facing a firing squad, showed him that they felt the same way.