The Bones of Valhalla (Purge of Babylon, Book 9) (29 page)

* * *

“
T
he rig
definitely looks better in the daytime,” Keo said through the radio. “The name change was a nice touch, too.”

“That was Rhett’s idea,” Lara said. “Where’s Danny?”

“He ran away when I told him I was going to contact you guys before takeoff,” Keo said. “I have no idea why.”

Lara glanced over at Carly. “I guess Danny’s smarter than he looks.”

Carly sighed. “Only until I smash him in the head with his own boots.”

Lara turned back to the microphone. “Are you guys ready?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Keo said. “Lots of raw nerves, but they’ll get over it. I would be extremely doubtful this thing is going to work if I didn’t know Frank as well as I do. The guy knows his stuff.”

“What about you?”

“Not my first time on the roller coaster. Besides, who else is going to make sure this thing actually works? Danny boy’s a bit rusty. I guess that’s what happens when you start playing house with redheads.”

“I’m going to kick Keo’s ass, too,” Carly said.

“Carly sends her love,” Lara said into the mic.

“I’m sure she does,” Keo chuckled. “Tell her not to worry. I’ll keep Ranger boy alive long enough for him to come home and get his just desserts. I’m expecting at least a couple of kicks to the groin area.”

“
At least
once,” Carly nodded.

“Do me one favor, though?” Keo said.

“Anything,” Lara said.

“I can’t get Danny to promise to name his kid after me, so how about rechristening the
Trident
to the
Keo?
That has a nice ring to it.”

Lara smiled. “I’ll think about it.”

“Sweet.”

“I always wanted to ride around on my very own Keo,” Carly said. Then, before Lara could repeat it over the radio,
“Don’t say that.”

Lara didn’t, and said instead, “Bring everyone back home, Keo.”

“I’ll do my very damn best,” Keo said.

Next to her, Jane had snapped to attention. She was wearing a headset and leaning over the controls.

“I have to go, Keo,” Lara said into the mic. “Good luck.”

“Luck’s got nothing to do with it,” Keo said, “but thanks anyway. Striker out.”

A second later, their connection went silent.

Rhett had walked over and taken the headset from Jane. He adjusted the mic and spoke into it. “Roger that. Continue on course and keep us updated.” Lara waited for Rhett to remove the headset and look in her direction. “Rolling Thunder. They’re halfway to the city and are still reporting zero enemy contact.”

“Where did you hide those tanks, anyway?” Carly asked.

“We had an entire year to plan this, remember?” Rhett said. “There are contingencies for contingencies. We scouted the entire state from east to west, south to north. There are whole swaths of Texas that the ghouls don’t waste their time searching because there’s nothing there. Say what you will about Mercer, but he made damn sure we were ready for a long campaign. He always saw this as a crusade that wasn’t going to end in our lifetime.”

“That’s the right word for it: crusade,” Riley said solemnly.

Lara walked back to the map and looked it over. “Rolling Thunder is moving too fast. They’ll reach Houston before Striker does.”

“We had factored in opposition on the roads,” Rhett said. “The lack of that is putting them ahead of schedule.”

“Tell them to slow down. The last thing we want is for them to get there too soon and get bogged down in premature skirmishes.”

“Danny hates it when his skirmishes start prematurely,” Carly said.

Lara smiled back at her before turning to Rhett. “I’ve been thinking about them. The collaborators. Maybe there’s a way to cut down their numbers.”

“How?” Rhett asked.

“I’m going to ask them.”

“Ask them?” Riley said. “Ask them what?”

“To leave the battlefield.” Riley and Rhett exchanged a look, but she ignored them and turned to Jane. “We had a program on the
Trident
that allowed us to broadcast a recorded message through all the frequencies. It cycled automatically and repeated the message. Riley told me you came up with something similar?”

“Like what you did with your broadcasts,” Jane said.

Lara nodded. “Yes.”

“Mercer had me look into how you guys were doing that. It took a while, but fortunately I had a lot of time on my hands.”

“What are you thinking, boss lady?” Carly asked.

“I want to give them a choice,” Lara said. “Keo once told me about a collaborator town where people were secretly listening to our broadcasts. Maybe it wasn’t just confined to that one town; maybe there are others out there still tuned in.”

“You want to broadcast to the collaborators ringing Houston?” Rhett asked.

“Yes.” Then, before she could hear the doubting words she knew were coming from the two men in the room with them, “I know they’re not all just going to throw down their weapons and walk away at the sound of my voice. I’m not that delusional. They’ve been committed to their ghoul masters for a year now, and it won’t be easy to turn them.”

“Then what’s the point?” Rhett said.

“The point is trying to save lives.”

“Theirs?”

“Ours, theirs. If I can convince even one of them to leave their posts, that’s one less person for our people to fight.”

“She’s right,” Riley said. “Even if we can get just a handful to leave, it’ll be worth it. One less gun to deal with.”

Rhett didn’t look convinced. “So what are you going to say?”

“I’ll think of something,” Lara said.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention that they’re traitors to the human race,” Carly said. “People hate it when you call them that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Carly, thanks.”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for. That, and glowing.”

“You’re definitely glowing,” Riley said.

“Back off, Romeo; I’m already spoken for,” Carly said. “At least, until I strangle Danny to death when he comes home.”

* * *

J
ane handed her the microphone
. “Whenever you’re ready. I’ll record the message, loop it, then run it through the program and send it out into the world on multiple frequencies at the same time, so that way we’ll increase the chances of someone hearing it.”

“You improved on our program,” Lara said.

The young woman blushed a bit. “Like I said, I had a lot of time on my hands. There is still stuff in here I don’t know how to use.”

“No pressure,” Carly said from the back of the room. “It’s not like it’s my baby daddy’s life at stake, or anything.”

“Thanks, Carly,” Lara said.

“You’re welcome, boss lady.”

Lara took a deep breath, then keyed the transmit lever.

“This message goes out to all the men and women guarding the roads into Houston. My name is Lara. Some of you may know who I am. I was there at the beginning, just like all of you. I survived when so many didn’t, and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about everything and everyone I’ve lost.”

She depressed the transmit lever and looked back at Carly.

Her friend nodded. “Good start.”

Lara turned back to the mic before keying it again:

“I did what I had to in order to survive, just like all of you. It’s not my place to judge your actions; I can’t put myself in your shoes. What I can do is tell you that the past is the past. What matters is what we do from here on out. Some of you may know what’s headed your way, but you might not know why, because
they
won’t tell you. But I will.”

Another pause, then:

“Listen carefully, because I’m about to tell you everything they don’t want you to know…”

T
ake out some bad guys
. Kill some monsters. Save the world.

Keo would have laughed if he really thought about it, but the truth was he was beyond the point of no return. If he had any doubts about that, all he had to do was look out the hatch and down at the shadow of the chopper as they glided across the rippling blue surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Way too late for doubts now, pal.

“She’s going to kill you when you get back!” Keo said, shouting over the engine to be heard.

“Fuck off!” Danny shouted back.

Danny sat on the other side of the bench, with warm bodies between them. They probably didn’t really have to shout back and forth, but it was the natural thing to do when you were flying around in a very loud helicopter.

“I’m going to tell her you convinced me to tag along,” Danny shouted. “That you begged and begged until I gave in.”

“Yeah, she’ll buy that.”

“She definitely will. I have her under my thumb.”

“You’re that good in the sack, huh?”

“I’m the best, buddy. Back in college, they used to call me Danny Best. You know why?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“Because I’m
that
good.”

Keo grinned. “Just keep telling yourself that!”

“What do you think I’ve been doing since we climbed onboard this spinning machine of death?” Then, when the others looked over at him in response, “Oops, did I just say that last part out loud? I meant, this totally non-dangerous-looking contraption! Yeah, that’s the ticket.”

“Smooth!” Keo said.

They had been airborne for less than ten minutes, and Keo’s butt was already going to sleep on him. It was so much easier the last time he was in a helicopter, or maybe it was the constant (and multiple) throbbing pain that kept him from feeling the discomfort that time. He didn’t have any excuses now, even though being squeezed into the back with seven other guys, with enough guns and ammo to arm a small Third World country
clank-clank-clanking
on the metal floor around their legs, was a pretty big pain in the ass.

But at least he had the window seat, which gave him something to look at other than James’s young and way-too-handsome face all morning long. The blond kid looked wired, as if he had spent more time drinking coffee than sleeping the last twenty-four hours. Keo was used to seeing people getting jacked up for operations, but something about the way James was gripping his AR (so tight that his knuckles were actually turning pale white) between his legs made Keo just a little bit nervous.

“Relax, kid!” Keo shouted across to James.

James wasn’t really a kid, and Keo seemed to remember the other man telling him he was twenty…something
back on the
Ocean Star
. Keo had been a little occupied with other things to actually commit it to memory at the time.

Probably twenty-something…going on thirty-something, from the looks of it.

James flashed him the most unconvincing of grins. “I am!”

Yeah, right.

“I thought you’ve been out there before?” Keo asked.

“I have,” James said, “but it wasn’t like this.”

“Like what?”

“Before, we did everything possible to avoid them. That was the job. This time, we’re going straight at them.” He shook his head. “Not the same.”

Apparently the others felt the same way, because no one had really said much except for a few throwaway chitchat lines about the weather when they boarded. The nervous energy thrummed all around Keo, even from the pilots up front. Keo and Danny’s brief burst of back-and-forth had been the longest conversation since the chopper took off.

They were riding in a Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk, one that was designed for the United States Coast Guard, except the orange and white colors had been changed to dull tan to match Mercer’s army. It was plenty big enough to haul around two pilots and eight passengers, and wasn’t the same one he and Erin had flown in before; that one was also a Sikorsky, but he distinctively remembered that the interiors were different.

Keo took a moment to look at the faces in the back of the chopper with him. They were young and old, almost all men except for one woman. Danny was on the other side, and the ex-Ranger had his eyes partially closed and looked as if he were napping, much to the chagrin of the others.

He glanced out the open hatch as a flock of birds shadowed them from a distance. He thought of Mary, who was awake and already at the infirmary before he had even woken up this morning and made his way back to the
Trident
, where Danny was waiting for him all geared up with his M4A1 slung.

“Let’s get the hell out of here before Carly wakes up,” was the first thing out of Danny’s mouth.

A flurry of movement, as the copilot turned around in his seat and handed a headset to Danny. “Take a listen to this!”

Danny opened his eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s going out on all the frequencies. Looks like a little psyops at work.”

Danny took the headset and slipped it over his ears. He listened in silence while Keo and the others looked on.

“Psyops?” James said. “I didn’t know we were doing that.”

“Me neither,” Keo said.

After about a minute, Danny pulled off the headset and leaned in Keo’s direction. “Take a peep, take a peepers.”

Keo took the gear from him and slipped it on. “What is it?”

“Just listen.”

Keo did, and smiled.

Lara.

“…We’re coming to kill them. To kill
it
. The true monster that lives inside the city, that is responsible for all of this. It calls itself Mabry. Yes, the devil has a name, and its death will end our collective nightmare. Our forces won’t engage unless fired upon, so I’m asking you to get out of their way, to let them into the city so they can do what they have to do. For us. For you. For everyone. I’m asking you to be a part of the solution. I’m asking you to join us. This is our planet. Help us take it back. Don’t fight us.
Help us.
”

There was a brief pause, then the message repeated itself from the beginning:

“This message goes out to all the men and women guarding the roads into Houston. My name is Lara. Some of you may know who I am. I was there at the beginning, just like all of you. I survived when so many didn’t, and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about everything and everyone I’ve lost. I did what I had to in order to survive, just like all of you. It’s not my place to judge your actions; I can’t put myself in your shoes. What I can do is tell you that the past is the past. What matters is what we do from here on out. Some of you may know what’s headed your way, but you might not know why, because
they
won’t tell you. But I will…”

Keo pulled the headset off. “You think it’ll work?” he shouted across at Danny.

The ex-Ranger shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. They already know we’re coming. Might as well see how many we can peel off.”

James was staring at him intently, and Keo took pity on the kid and handed him the headset. The young man quickly slipped it on.

“Hey,” a voice said.

Keo turned to the big guy sitting next to him; he had a goatee and a bald head that looked freshly shaved. An M249 light machine gun was perched between his legs, and
Vince
was stenciled across his uniform’s name tag.

“Yeah?” Keo said.

“What’s she like?” Vince asked.

“Who?”

“Lara.”

“What do you wanna know?”

“I saw her on the island, but I never got the chance to talk to her. I was going to introduce myself at the meeting last night, but there were too many people in front of me and I could tell she was getting tired of answering questions.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet,” Danny said. “Barf.”

“She’s the toughest woman I know,” Keo said. “She’s got a good head on her shoulders. A lot of people wouldn’t be alive now if it weren’t for her.”

“I’m one of them,” Vince said.

“Yeah?”

Vince nodded. “I wasn’t like most of these guys. I didn’t join up with Mercer until much later. I was out there by myself, barely getting by. Running out of food, water, ammo, you name it. There were five of us in the beginning, and by the end there was just me. I was about to give up, you know, end it all myself instead of waiting for those bloodsuckers. Then one day I hear this voice coming through the radio. It wasn’t even mine. The radio, I mean. One of the guys was always playing with it, hoping to hear something, but he never did.”

Vince paused and seemed to relive the memory. Keo noticed that the others were listening, some more actively than others. Even Danny, on the other side of the bench, was watching as Vince told his story.

“Anyway,” Vince continued, “this voice comes through the radio. Telling me about silver, about all the other stuff I didn’t know. But more than that, telling me to keep fighting. I still remember what she said. ‘If you’re hearing this message, you are not alone. Stay strong, stay smart, and adapt. We owe it to those we’ve lost to keep fighting, to never give up. Good luck.’”

“You remembered all that?” Danny asked.

“Yup,” Vince said. Then he grinned almost shyly. “It wasn’t hard. That message played over and over. I must have heard it a thousand times. Her voice… It’s not even about the silver or the other stuff. You don’t know how it feels to have someone out there talking to you, even if they weren’t really talking to you. Just reaching out, telling you there’s hope. That you’re not alone.” Vince paused again before continuing. “Anyway, that’s why I was hoping to meet her last night.”

“You can, when we get back,” Keo said.

“Yeah, I’m definitely doing that. Whatever it takes this time.”

“When you do see her, you might wanna edit out the part where you wanna make beautiful babies with her,” Danny said. “She gets a little squeamish about that sort of thing.”

The others laughed, but Vince shrugged it off with, “Screw you, man,” though he didn’t sound all that offended.

“Just a thought,” Danny said before leaning back against his seat.

“I mean it, though,” Vince said, turning back to Keo. “First thing I’ll do when I get back is find a way to thank her. I know a bunch of guys who feel the same way.”

“I’ll introduce you,” Keo said.

“You guys good friends?”

“Not as good as that guy,” Keo said, nodding in Danny’s direction.

“Cool,” Vince said, and sat back looking very pleased.

“What about me?” James said, taking off the headset.

Keo looked across at him. “What about you?”

“I never got the chance to meet her, either.”

“You were on the oil rig
when she was there.”

“Things were kind of hectic back then.”

“Weren’t you also on the
Trident?
”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know who she was then. And plus, people were pointing guns at each other. It wasn’t the best time to make introductions.”

“Okay, sure, you too, then.”

“Hey,” someone else said. It was the only woman in the group:
Angie.
“I wouldn’t mind a proper intro myself. And unlike these guys, I won’t be trying to convince her to make beautiful babies with me.”

Keo grinned across at Danny. “You hear that?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny said. “We’ll see what we can do, kids.”

“Anyone else?” Keo asked.

One other person raised their hand…then another one. That left only one more—a large lump of a human being sitting between Angie and James. He had shaggy blond hair and shoulders that would have made him a lot of money in the NFL.

“What about you?” Danny asked him.

The man with
Hanson
written on his name tag said, “What about me?”

“You don’t want a piece of this action, big fella?”

“Not interested.”

“No? Then why’d you volunteer? You do know this is an all-volunteer mission, right?”

Hanson tapped the M249 sitting between his legs. “Your friend ain’t got nothing to do with it. I spent a year making silver bullets. Now I’m finally going to get to use them. That’s why.”

“Perfectly logical, albeit somewhat scary, reason,” Danny said.

Hanson just grinned back at him.

* * *

T
here were three of them
, all tan-colored M1 Abramses moving northwest on the long stretch of State Highway 288 in almost a single (though somewhat jagged) line. There was absolutely nothing but flat country and farmland flanking them, and would be for a long time until they neared Houston. There was no traffic for the tanks to worry about, but they were clearly moving slower than their forty-five miles per hour max speed. Not that a car or two (or a dozen) would have slowed them down even a little bit. He’d seen those monsters do plenty of damage against unwanted obstructions. Smartly, there was no one manning the machine gun turret just in case there were snipers out there.

“Three?” Keo said to Danny. “When did we get three? I thought it was just Peele and Alex?”

The ex-Ranger nodded. “Third crew threw in at the last minute. It’s our lucky day, Canoe.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

“Hey, chin up. We’re riding into battle. What more could you possibly ask for?”