Project - 16 (34 page)

“
I'm sure he wanted you to read this and hopefully pass it on
to his family back home,” I said, handing it to her.

“
That bastard, Corban-" said Alex.

“
He's dead now. Miller killed him,” said Riley.

"Good," he said. "But it isn't over yet. They'll still come
after us."

“
Alex - what the hell are they after?” I asked.

He sighed and gently pulled away from Saska as she began to
gather herself together again. She apologised to me in Russian and
left the room, taking Piotr's things with her. I heard another door
down the hallway open and close.

“
In a nutshell? They want what's in the lab's vaults. They
want the antidote to a disease that's already wiped out most of
America. They want what me and Saska discovered down here silenced
- namely that the US created this 'thing' as a weapon and then
leaked it by accident when a plane carrying samples exploded
mid-flight"

“
I saw the images of Chicago. That wasn't a virus,” said
Riley.

"That's the thing - the virus doesn't kill people. It's more
subtle than that. Saska could give you all the science but quite
simply it causes a kind of depression that cannot be treated with
conventional anti-depressants. The disease takes about eight weeks
to fully react with the infected person but by then they're
considering suicide. By the end they've probably made it
happen.”

"But the riots?" said Riley. "The fighting, the
chaos..."

"The symptoms seem to show themselves differently depending
on the victim. Some people lose the will to get out of bed, others
funnel it into rage, anger, fear, horror. I've been watching some
of the videos coming out of the States and I've seen people so
scared they're just firing off guns into crowds, others so angry
that they're murdering the Police men trying to control the
situation."

"So it's all true then. There's no hope for the people back
home?"

“
The hope was hidden until now, hidden until we uncovered it,”
said Alex. “And discovered that the cure was down here, in a vault
and the bastards back home want it for themselves. They've no
intention of helping the rest of the world - only covering up their
mistakes and making sure they are the ones still standing at the
end."

"You can't mean the whole Government wants this?" said
Riley.

"There is no Government now. There's only those who have
taken the power on themselves, those like Corban who only want to
gain from other people's suffering."

“
How did you find all this out?” I asked.

“
I was given the job of cataloguing old paper files whilst
serving aboard ship and I came across a bizarre reference to
Project 16 and how it'd been shelved a long time ago. I was bored -
ship life does that to you - so I had a bit of fun with it,
checking signatures and names against those on record. I didn't
intend to find anything, maybe I was just seeing how far I could go
before someone noticed. The next thing I new I had an email from a
girl saying she'd noticed my searches and expressed her own
interest in the project.”

“
And you didn't think that was suspicious?” said
Riley.

“
At first I did. I was about to report it to my C.O, but the
risk of him finding out what I'd been doing in the first place was
too high so I left it. We began talking and soon we were exchanging
our findings, filling in the gaps for each other. Eventually we
realised the size of what we were on to so we switched to
hand-written letters.”

“
Where was Saska at the time?” I asked, wanting to see if the
stories added up.

“
At first she admitted she was in Moscow. Then she told me she
was on her way to check out this bunker based on a lead she'd
gotten from an ex-pat of England. She said she was in contact with
someone who had even more information to share with us about
Project 16 and that she'd been advised to get to the bunker and
secure it. I was to follow the moment I could, going AWOL in a taxi
as soon as shore leave had been granted. I drove across Europe and
hired a boat to bring me here.”

"So you just believed it all? Just like that? You took a hell
of a risk," said Riley.

"It was too risky not to. Believe me, I spent a lot of time
weighing it up in my head. In the end I felt that the risk of
ignoring the evidence was too great. Plus I had the evidence of the
virus itself to confirm what I was hearing."

“
So you've been down here all that time?” I said.

“
Yeah. We're starting to go a little crazy but Saska thinks
it'll only be a matter of days before we can create a working cure.
It's just a shame we weren't able to get the original cure. It
would have saved us some time. More people could've been
saved."

“
Why aren't we affected?” asked Riley.

“
You might be but in a different way. Some people show little
or no signs of reaction to the disease. Others deteriorate much
quicker. We've been lucky so far and it doesn't seem to be as
potent here. That might be because of the lack of people to infect
and spread it."

My eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. I wanted to
sleep but I also wanted to know the rest. I sat upright and
forward, clasping my hands in front of me just to keep me
moving.

“
You said the cure was in the vault. Why can't you get in?
Were you not given a code?”

“
It's not coded - it's a DNA scanner. I'm trying to bypass it
but I’ve been working on it for weeks now and I'm no closer. That's
why Saska is on with plan B - to try and create her own cure in
case we can't get in.”

“
Who's DNA?” asked Riley. Alex shrugged.

“
We don't know. One of the bunker's Science Staff I guess but
look around - do you see any?”

“
You said the US wanted it for themselves?”

“
Yeah - to control it's distribution. They think that if they
can still get their hands on it they can open negotiations with the
NSU in return for gas and oil deals. Russia will have to give in to
their demands in order to have a chance of surviving.”

My head lolled forward and I jerked awake again. Alex saw me
and laughed. “I'll show you the bunks and you can grab some sleep.
We can continue this later.”

We stood and followed him down the hallway, passing storage
rooms piled high with dehydrated foods and bottled water in plastic
crates. We passed through some more doors and I stopped paying
attention until we were outside bunk room 3.

“
Aunt Riley, you take this one. Miller, take number 2. I think
they're pretty well stocked so help yourself to a shower. The
facilities are still active and the water comes from a giant
reservoir built into the place. We can eat once you've
slept.”

“
Thanks Alex,” said Riley, giving her nephew another
hug.

“
No, thank you. I'm glad to see a familiar face. We were
feeling forgotten down here.”

Riley smiled and went into her room whilst I went into mine.
It was a four-man bunk room with steel frames that held thick
sprung mattresses. There was a table in the corner, a wash basin
and mirror, and through a door on the right was a toilet and shower
room. It was all decked out in green and white paint with military
stencils here and there. Right then it could have been bright pink
- all I wanted to do was sleep and it didn't matter
where.

I threw my pack down onto the floor and stripped off, going
straight for the shower to try and wash off two weeks worth of dirt
and sweat. I didn't care where I was or who was trying to kill us.
I just wanted to feel clean - just for five minutes before it all
started again.

I washed but didn't hang around - I could have slept under
the hot water if I wanted. Instead I dried on a towel that was
hanging there and found a thin green cotton dressing gown on the
back of the door. I put it on, went to one of the bottom bunks and
threw my sleeping bag on top of it before lying out flat on the
bed. The springs creaked as I settled and I felt like I'd tripped
and landed in bliss. My head was swimming with fatigue - so much so
that I didn't even notice Riley creep into my room and lie down
next to me.

“
You showered?” she whispered.

“
Yeah,” I mumbled.

“
Fantastic, wasn't it?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Move over - I can't sleep in there.”

“
Why?”

“
There's some kind of weird smell in there, something died in
there I think.” My head was filled with her scent - soap and damp
hair and when her breath touched my face it was hot and minty. I
pulled open my sleeping bag and she wriggled inside, locking her
body with mine and sliding her warm hand under my gown until her
fingertips rested on my stomach.

“
You did good today,” I said, still groggy. “But this doesn't
fit with your bad-ass reputation.”

“
What doesn't?”

“
This - all delicate and smelling nice. Shouldn't you be
eating iron and shitting bullets or something?”

“
There's always two sides to a person, Miller. You don't
always get to see both.”

“
I think a person has to be very special for them to see this
side of Claudia Riley.”

“
You're fucking right there,” she said. I found her moist lips
without opening my eyes and we kissed. “But we're still not going
to fuck.”

“
I'm too tired anyway.”

We led there in silence and I listened to her breathing
softly, her chest rising and falling under my palm and for a moment
I wanted the world to stop dead. I wanted this to go on, to never
end - just a perfect slice of beauty that smothered my senses and
that I knew would eventually come to an end. We'd leave, we'd grow
old, we'd get ill and death would come - the desecrater of
everything pure and perfect. We'd stop existing and this moment
would be forgotten forever, buried in a tomb hewn from arguments
and shame, from age and sorrow.

“
What are you thinking?” she asked.

“
Nothing much,” I replied. “You have a scar.”

“
What, this one?” she said, pointing to the small circle of
tissue to the right of her belly button. “Or the other one?” I
hadn't noticed the inch-long line running vertical below her
breast.

“
Either or,” I said.

“
This is a ricochet from... Iraq I think. I can't
remember.”

“
How can you not remember?” I said.

“
I remember getting shot - just not where. It was in a
training exercise - a live fire one. It came off a bulkhead in some
mock battleship room they'd made up in the camp. Fucking hurt
though.”

“
And the other one?”

“
I've had that since I was a girl. It's from when I fell off
my push bike. It was an ugly pink thing and I rode it into a ditch
by mistake.” Her fingers traced the curve of my chest, searching
but finding nothing. “I showed you mine - where's
yours?”

“
I don't have any more, the dog bite is the only one,” I said.
“I try not to get shot or fall off push bikes.”

“
I'm the same but sometimes these things just fucking happen
to me.”

The desire to sleep was quickly replacing the desire for
other things and my eyes began to close again. I told her as much
and she giggled.

“
I'm not being cold with you - you know that, don't you?” she
said.

“
I do.”

“
It's just-”

“
I prefer it this way,” I said with total honesty. “We're not
whores for each other. If we want it, we'll both be ready at the
right time.”

“
You see,” she said, sitting up and looking at me. “That's why
I fucking love you - you get me! Nobody ever gets me. They think
I'm some fucking fridge or something.”

“
I get you, Riley. I think that maybe you even get me
sometimes.”

“
Sometimes. Other times, like back at the bunker, I just
don't. But I promise you - the moment this is all over and we're
back at you're house-”

“
Our house.”

“
Okay, our house - the moment we're back there you WILL get
me. All of me.”

“
Both sides?”

“
Every fucking side, Miller, in every room of that big ole'
house of yours.”

We slept until my watch had gone round the numbers and maybe
we'd have gone on sleeping if Alex hadn't knocked on the door. But
he did and he came in and saw us led there and smiled.

“
Sorry,” he said. “But breakfast is ready. Or should I say,
supper.”

“
What time is it?” mumbled Riley from under the bag. Her hair
was stuck up in all directions and she had one eye closed against
the hallway light.

“
Twenty-hundred.”

“
Wow - we sure slept in!” she said.

“
I'll let you guys... Well, you know." He closed the door
behind him, grinning.

“
Smooth,” she said, rolling out of bed. “Real smooth. I'll
meet you out there.”