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“We killed Scott a half hour ago at the airport in Albuquerque. He had his vials open, and we poured about ten buckets of gas on him, and around him, and set him on fire.”
Lucas sat up. “Ah, that’s everything I wanted to hear. Everybody is okay, then?”
Letty didn’t answer immediately, and he thoughtOh noand dropped his feet on the floor and bent over the phone and Letty said, “That part’s not so good. Alec and I both got smeared with the viral medium. We’re in our truck headed for the church. We’ve talked to Underwood, and he agreed that’s the best solution. They’re bringing in all kinds of people and they’re essentially building a hospital around the church…”
“I’m coming, kid…”
“No. No, no, no, you stay right where you are, goddamnit. If you’re infected, I’ll see you soon enough, and in the meantime, you don’t want to spread the virus,” Letty said. “If you’re not infected, there’s no reason to get close to anyone who might be. I talked to Underwood and that major, whatever her name is…”
“Vincent.”
“I told them that if they see you heading for the church, to put your ass in jail. They told me they would.”
“Letty…”
“That’s the way it’s gotta be, Dad. We’ve been reading everything we can find on Marburg and Underwood’s reports to Detrick. Alec and I have a really good chance of getting through it. We’re both in great physical condition and Homeland Security and the Army is bringing in everything they’ve got to treat us.”
“You’re not feeling…”
“We’re feeling fine. I already talked to Mom because I was worried about how you would react, and she’s going to call you in a few minutes to harangue you, so brace yourself. As soon as I get off this call, Alec is going to call his boss at MI5 and then his parents. We’ll be at the church in half an hour to see what we need to do.”
“Tell me what happened at the airport. Exactly.”
“It actually started up in Lamy…” She told him the story, and about the bulletproof vest.
“There’s no way you could have seen that coming, Letty. No way. I would have done exactly what you did,” Lucas said.
They talked for two more minutes, then Letty said, “I’ve got to go, and let Alec call home. I know you’ll worry but try not to worry too much. We’ll be okay. See you in a couple of weeks.”
—
Rae had beenin her bedroom down the hall from Lucas, heard voices too early in the morning, and walked down to his bedroom with a cup of coffee in her hands. The talking had stopped, but she still heard muffled sounds coming from the bedroom. She lifted her hand to knock but stopped before she did and listened again.
A chuffing sound. Something awful had happened. Maybe to Letty? Lucas wasn’t crying; it sounded like he was struggling not to. What was wrong with men like him?
—
Hawkins called hisoffice, got switched around, and eventually was hooked up with the director general of MI5; when that call was done, he called his parents; and when that was done, he and Letty rode, in mostly silence, the rest of the way to Taos.
As they approached the church, things had changed. There were military vehicles everywhere, and construction trucks. When they pulled into the church itself, they found two layers of twelve-foot chain-link fence surrounding the church, the church parking lot, then extending across the parking lot and around a long, low building that looked like—and was—an elementary school. The far side of theparking lot, probably a hundred yards from the church, held perhaps twenty new shipping containers.
As they approached the fence, four MPs looked closely at the vehicle, then stood well back, and pushed open the gate.
“We were expected,” Hawkins said.
“No kidding,” Letty said. Her phone rang. She looked at the screen: Underwood.
“I’m looking at you from the other side of the parking lot. You see that building on the other side of the church?”
“Yes?”
“That’s an elementary school. Lots of toilets, small cafeteria, separate rooms. We’ve taken it over. We’re sealing it up now, we’re almost done. We’ll use it as a hospital—the church is too limited. Because of…what you guys did…you’ll get a private suite. By that I mean, a teacher’s prep room with a bathroom. For now, you’ll be at the church. We hope to start moving people to the school later this afternoon. The church is a mess, as you’ll see. We told the people there that you were contaminated by Scott, before he was killed, but we didn’t tell them who you are. Either one of you. I would keep that quiet…”
“We will,” Hawkins said.
“Nobody’s sick yet, but we expect that to change in the next day or two,” Underwood said. “You two will probably get sick later. Everybody gets the best possible medical care. We’ve got people coming in from all over the world, right now. So…”
“We actually have some of the viral media on us. Is it important to get it off?” Hawkins asked.
