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.Turning, she unfastened her pants and lowered them to expose her ass.Tearing open an alcohol swab, I cleaned a small area and stuck the needle in.She twitched slightly, looking over her shoulder at me.“That was a little bit of revenge for all those antibiotic shots, wasn’t it?” She asked with a grin.“No.That wasn’t.This is.” I said, pushing the plunger.Rachel looked confused for a second, and then her eyes opened wide.“Holy shit! That hurts! Bad!” She said, reaching back and rubbing the spot where I’d injected her.She rubbed hard for a few seconds, pulled her pants back up and kept rubbing.Dog trotted up and sat on my foot as I closed my pack and tossed it into the SUV.Rachel walked in a tight circle, rubbing her ass and shooting me an occasional look that said somehow this was my fault.I grinned, opened the back door and waved Dog inside the Lexus.A few minutes later we were all inside the vehicle, driving west.Rachel was still grumbling, wriggling around in her seat as the painful vaccine spread through her muscles.Dog seemed delighted for things to be back to normal, taking a seat on the back floor and resting his chin on the leather upholstered console between the two front seats.I had to agree with him.It felt good to have the three of us back together.I pushed our speed up, wanting to get farther west before the storm struck.Even though it was still afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly somewhere, it was gloomy under the oppressive overcast.Rachel finally settled down, reached across the console and took my hand in hers.“Thank you for finding me.” She said, giving my hand a squeeze.“Try not to get lost again.OK?” I said, squeezing back.She smiled and relaxed back into her seat.I tried not to let myself think about the change in our relationship that had just happened.I hadn’t planned it, and in fact was surprised at myself.But, it had happened.And it felt good.Until I thought about Katie.Suddenly, I felt like shit.Like I was betraying my wife.There was only a very remote chance she was still alive.I was finally ready to acknowledge the facts and not keep going on hope and fantasy.If she was alive, somewhere without the vaccine, she could have already turned.And if she hadn’t turned yet, she would within a very few days according to GRU Captain Irina Vostov.I wanted to share my thoughts with Rachel, but I realized if I did she might wind up feeling like a consolation prize.Nothing could be farther from the truth.I’d still feel the same way about Rachel if Katie were sitting at Tinker waiting for me.I just wouldn’t have acted on my feelings.But that wasn’t something I thought I could articulate without hurting her.Damn it.“You alright?” Rachel asked, reclined in the leather seat, head turned in my direction.“Honestly, right now I’m about as alright as I’m probably ever going to be.” I answered, smiling.Giving up unrealistic hope and moving on is a freeing experience.15Colonel Crawford broke the secure video link to Hawaii, Admiral Packard’s image blinking out a second later.They’d had a lot to discuss, and the call had lasted a long time.Captain Blanchard, who had stayed quiet and out of view of the camera, stepped up and shut down the computer that was used for video calls.Air Force Brigadier General Triplett, commander of Tinker Air Force Base, sat across the table from Crawford.He was a good administrator and did a good job of running the base, but he wasn’t a tactician or a warrior.Fortunately, he readily acknowledged that fact and had no problem deferring to the Admiral and Colonel on strategic matters.Their first topic had been the immediate commencement of mass production of the vaccine.Crawford had urged they begin producing it as quickly as possible, and the Admiral had agreed.General Triplett already had Air Force personnel on the way to the University to oversee the production ramp up and ensure there was vaccine being manufactured around the clock.He would take on managing the distribution of the completed product and the prioritization of inoculations.They had moved on to several other topics, including airlifting some needed supplies from stores on the mainland to Hawaii.A couple of hours into the conference, the Admiral had muted the microphone on his end and they had seen an aide step into the camera frame.Packard’s unruly eyebrows had shot up, then he’d unmuted and told Crawford that a Russian GRU officer was calling on a secure US military circuit, demanding to speak with Major John Chase.The Colonel was as surprised as Packard, suggesting the caller be joined to their conference so both of them could hear why the Russians wanted to speak with Major Chase.The Admiral agreed, glancing off to the side at an aide.A moment later there was a dual tone beep indicating a voice caller had joined the video conference.“This is Admiral Packard, United States Navy.To whom am I speaking?”“Admiral, my name is Captain Irina Vostov.I’m with the GRU of the Russian Federation.It is urgent that I speak with Major John Chase of your Army on a most serious matter.” Packard looked out of the screen at the Colonel and nodded for him to speak.“Captain, this is Colonel Crawford.I’m Major Chase’s commanding officer.We’re on a secure line.What is this matter?”There was a long pause and Crawford was about to ask if she was still on the line when she spoke again.“If you are truly his commanding officer, you will know what I gave him and what he gave me.”Crawford hesitated.If this were really the GRU Captain the Major had briefed him about, then it would hurt nothing to reveal what he knew.But how could he be sure? What if this was an attempt by the Russians to catch the real Captain Vostov?“If you’re really Captain Vostov, you can tell me the specific injuries one of Major Chase’s team suffered while opening the loading bay doors during exfiltration from Los Alamos.” It was the only event he could come up with that had a specific answer, but wasn’t important enough for anyone that wasn’t there to have all the details.“That would be Technical Sergeant Scott.He fell and broke his right arm, below the elbow.He also suffered a head injury and lost consciousness.How is he, by the way?” She hadn’t hesitated for a second.Certainly hadn’t had to look through notes to come up with the correct answer.Crawford looked up and nodded at the Admiral, letting him know the correct answer had been given.“Thank you, Captain.” The Colonel said.“Scott is recovering nicely.So, are you calling about the vaccine, or the three special packages the Major gave you?”“The packages, Colonel.They were on board an Antonov cargo plane bound for Moscow.Two hours ago you shot that plane down as it took off from Kirtland Air Force Base.I want to know why you are going back on the deal I made with Major Chase.” Her voice had a hard edge to it as she spoke.“Captain, I assure you I did not shoot down any Russian plane two hours ago [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]