Once Jerald had him firmly convinced, however, he hung up and sat back, relieved.
He’d have to make something up.
Finally, he hit on the right story and headed up to Silo’s office.
The man looked up from his desk. Even his appearance had aged in the past several weeks. He no longer looked vital, strong. He looked weak, worried, troubled.
Mean.
Vindictive.
“What is it?” Hannibal snapped when the door was securely shut behind Jerald.
“Sir, I just wanted to give you a status report. I have lost communications with the California stronghold.”
He sat back. “What?”
Jerald held up his hands, placating him. “It’s all right,” he said. “I have already been in touch with one of our…contacts,” he said, trying to call up the persona he’d used with Silo for so many years. “They assured me that the problem is because of the unrest in the area. In trying to contain the media presence, the military is using heavy jammers and has cut cell service in the region. Just like they instituted in Los Angeles.”
Hannibal’s body language relaxed a little, his shoulders dropping. “Oh. But everything is all right?”
“I’ve heard nothing from the stronghold manager there to indicate there are any issues that need my concern at this time.”
Technically, that wasn’t a lie…
“What’s with this memo you sent out about the barricades? And vehicles?”
“Merely a precaution. My same contact asked me if we’d given serious thought to hardening the structures like that to prevent fire damage on the inside, and to help eliminate any potential incursion attempts from the outside once they’re sealed up.”
Hannibal settled back in his chair. “Oh. Why didn’t we think about that before?”
“Well, I did,” he lied, “but when going over the designs with the architects, it was mentioned that they made the strongholds look like…well, prisons. Detainment camps. Absolutely the wrong message to send. Now that people are safely living and working inside them, they won’t object to measures being taken that only improve their safety.”
Hannibal slowly nodded. “All right, then. Good work. Thank you. Keep me posted when you make contact with the stronghold.”
“I will. They’re going to try to send someone there to check on them for me and ensure everything is fine.”
“Okay. Thank you for keeping up with that.”
“I would advise, however, that we don’t plan on you traveling there anytime in the near future. Just to be safe. With communications cut off, were something to happen…”
Jerald knew despite the man’s bravado that, deep in his heart, Hannibal was a coward. The way all bullies are cowards, deep inside. They only attacked weaker prey they knew they could take down and control or overpower.
Hannibal nodded. “Probably for the best. Can we try recording custom messages for them for when they can receive them?”
“I was going to ask you if you wanted to do that, yes, Sir.” He offered him a smile.
Jerald turned to go. “So what happened to Isley?” Hannibal asked.
Jerald didn’t miss a beat, turning back. “According to the police reports, it’s a suicide.”
Hannibal’s gaze bored into him. “That wasn’t my question.”
“I was at work all day and then left the office to meet friends for dinner.” He smiled. “Whatever happened to Isley, we’ll never know more than what was in his suicide note, will we?”
He left, carefully closing the door behind him and barely able to keep the smirk off his face.
No way in hell would he admit around Hannibal that he’d killed Dr. Isley. He didn’t know what tricks the old man had up his sleeve, what he might be recording.
He’d watch every step, every word around the man.
And when he got his chance, Jerald would take him down for good.
* * * *
Ivan and Max sat in the boat, nervously scanning the horizon around them.
Raj had insisted the captain was reliable and had gotten him, and Julie Chu and her son, safely into Key West.
That he would be meeting them personally at the dock when they arrived.
Ivan hated the terror in Max’s eyes, the way he constantly looked to him for reassurance. He wished he could pull the man into his arms and hold him, but until they were safely in the privacy of their own room, alone, he wouldn’t risk it.
Ivan’s last attempt at traveling via a boat, on one far larger than this tiny private fishing boat, hadn’t ended very well. He prayed to a god he didn’t believe in that, this time, it would end well for both of them.
And the world.
It would be well after dark before they made Key West.
I hope this isn’t a mistake.
It’d been dreadfully easy for the two men to fall into a dynamic of Ivan in charge and Max following him like a puppy. Ivan hoped he hadn’t made a serious miscalculation and was leading them into danger. Max trusted him implicitly.
He did not want to betray that trust. Not when it looked like there might be a glimmer of hope not just for the world, but for them as a couple.
After a few hours, Ivan began to spy lights in the far distance, the glow of streetlamps reflecting off a few isolated clouds in the sky.
The captain pointed. “Cayo Hueso,” the man said in Spanish.
Ivan knew very little Spanish. Bubba, their contact now, had sent him a list of written Spanish phrases and what they meant in English, enough to get him and Max passage on the boat.
But Ivan did know what those two words meant.
“What’d he say?” Max asked.
“Key West,” Ivan said. “We’re almost there.”
Max turned and looked to the north. “Really?”
“Really.”
Their gazes locked in the darkness, illuminated by the boat’s running lights and what little light filtered forward from the gauges on the console.
“Then what?” Max whispered, just above the sound of the engines.
“Then we hope to god we can do what we need to do, and then spend the rest of our lives in peace.”
* * * *
Ivan’s cynical mind tried not to dredge up every possible doomsday scenario of what might go wrong by the time they hit the channel and the captain throttled back, slowing, approaching the docks.
There were people waiting on the docks, but Ivan couldn’t see them clearly in the gloom, even with the lights there.
A uniformed dockmaster checked their IDs and stick-tested them all before allowing them to disembark and the captain to motor over to the fuel dock.
He didn’t see Raj anywhere.
“What now?” Max whispered.
“I’m…thinking.”
Then, in the distance, he spotted a man and a woman running toward them. As he and Max headed down the dock and toward land, he realized as the man ran up and tugged down his face mask that it was Raj.
Dropping his bags, he engulfed his old friend in a hug. “Is this real?” Ivan asked.
“Yes. It is.” Raj hugged Max, then pulled his face mask up into place. “Sorry, we had to land at the airport instead of water. Long story. This is Panda, our pilot.”
She offered them a two-fingered salute from her temple. “Let’s move, gentlemen. There’s a weather front working its way south, and I want to be snug in my slip before it gets here later this morning.”
They walked up a couple of blocks to Duval Street and caught a taxi. No one spoke during the ride, not wanting to give the driver any information.
Once they reached the airport, Panda wasted no time hustling them all into the plane and preparing for departure. After giving the men another stick test and then going through her pre-flight checklist and getting tower clearance, she taxied the plane down the runway.
As they lifted off, Ivan reached over and tightly clasped Max’s hand.
Freedom.
Finally.
Raj pulled down his face mask, offering them a smile. “I was terrified, too,” he said. “I came in first. Made them jump through hoops to prove it was real and not another trick. Once I knew it was safe, I let Julie know.”
“Liang?” Ivan asked.
“Safe. He’s been moved to an undisclosed location with Q’s family.”
“Q?” Max asked.
“Phe Quong. Q is his code name. Mine’s Waldo.”
“Why?” Ivan asked.
“Long story. Julie is Mama, Riley is Canuck, Peter is Sin. You’ll both get code names, too. Get used to using them. The entire team has them.”
“So explain to us, now that it’s safe, what’s going on.”
Raj did.
And as he spun the tale, instead of Ivan feeling better, he felt worse. He’d tried to keep up with current events as best possible, but it wasn’t easy sometimes to follow up on US events while overseas.
“The military destroyed a city?”
“City is a generous word. Major railhead, yes. And massive tent city of refugees.” He looked grim. “And when I’d left, another team reported that they’d just destroyed a Kite drug lab in Houston, Texas.”
“Another?”
“In addition to the one in LA. We know Silo has a lab in St. Louis. They’re trying to eliminate everything they can.”
“So how close are we to a vaccine?” Ivan asked. “Really?”
“Very close,” Raj said. “But the issue is the mutations. Julie did excellent work there, engineering the virus. But it’s playing hell trying to stop it now. It degrades a little with each mutation, but it’s not degrading naturally fast enough to shut it down completely, and it makes it harder to find a vaccine that will work.”
“We need to look at the DNA,” Max said. “The key will be there. If we can predict what’s triggering the jump, the common denominator, we can get ahead of it.”
“And that’s why I’m glad you two came in,” Raj said. “It’s damned difficult trying to do this over a computer and not in a lab. When she first arrived, Julie advanced the progress in just a couple of days.”
“So where are we going?” Ivan asked.
“Secret base off the coast of Florida. Plenty of room. I took the liberty of getting you two set up in the same quarters.” He arched an eyebrow. “I hope that’s all right.”
Max gasped, earning a smile from Raj. “Please,” Raj said. “We all knew. We kept our mouths shut. We could see it between you two all the time. Just like I never dared express my feelings for Julie before, either.”
“And have you?” Ivan asked.
“Getting there,” Raj said. “We’ve been rather busy. Our priority is fixing this.”
“Will…will they object?” Max asked.
Now Raj laughed, but it sounded good-natured. “Trust me when I say that if you let everyone know you are a couple, it will not bother a single person there.”
“Why is that?” Ivan asked.
“You’ll see. And you’ll be pleasantly surprised. All they care about is stopping this virus, not who is sharing quarters or bedrolls.”
* * * *
Ax had a few minutes to himself while Lima called Papa for a sit rep with him about the latest developments. He used the time to see if Kali was online.
He was desperately trying to remember to call her that and not Mary.
Fortunately she was there, and he quickly made contact with her.
How’s your day going? she typed. The weather’s supposed to get nasty again tomorrow.
I’m not there. On assignment. He considered his next statement. If this woman Shasta was as good as she seemed to be, they wouldn’t need him right there.
He could go find her. Find Kali.
I want to spend Thanksgiving with you.
She didn’t reply at first. How will your friends react?
I’m thinking about parting ways with them. I think you and I have a common goal and I’d like to watch your six. I know you’ll watch mine.
Another long pause from her. Will they let you leave?
If they do, can we partner up and do this together?
I’m not ready to be someone else’s captive.
No. I’m not a captive.
Forgive me if I’m not very trusting, but first you find out if you will be able to leave without leading them to me. Then we’ll talk about Thanksgiving. And…beyond.
She logged off the chat, so he closed the window out and wiped his cache.
He knew what he had to do. He’d need to talk to Bubba directly and get the truth. He could still help the team from a distance. If anything, it would be better that way, drawing any attention away from the unit’s real location and mission.
And maybe it would allow him to infiltrate the St. Louis stronghold and find a way to end Silo for good.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When they returned to the hotel after making a couple of stops for food and some other supplies, Lima and the others joined them in Juju and Delta’s room for a quick update.
“Good news or bad news?” Lima asked them that afternoon.
“Bad,” everyone said.
He smiled. “We’re stuck here at least another three days.”
Delta and Juju shared a grin before staring at Shasta.
“Why is that bad?” she asked Lima.
“Oh, it’s not. I just like fucking with these two. Panda can’t get back up here yet. There’s another storm front on the way. She has to lay low at our…other base.” He and the others headed for the door. “So have fun, you three.”
Juju’s dusty green gaze met hers. “We plan on it.”
So her parents wouldn’t worry, Shasta called both of them and left voice mails that they’d get when they could. Neither of them were supposed to be on their cell phones during work, but they were good about checking their messages.
She felt a little guilty telling them she was at work, but they never tried to visit her at work. They would always call her private cell phone.
That done, she pulled off her T-shirt and stared at the men. “I believe I was promised a world-rocking by your two gorgeous cocks?”
The men grinned. They’d purchased condoms and lube while out and about. “Yes, we certainly did,” Delta said.
Juju took the lead, stripping and helping her out of the rest of her clothes. Then, bending her over the bed, he made her spread her legs before he drizzled lube down the crack of her ass.
“I’ll go slow,” he promised.
She softly moaned, closing her eyes and rocking her hips in time with his movements as he rubbed her puckered rim with one finger but not yet breaching.
Delta sat on the bed in front of her and pulled her mouth onto his cock, making him moan. He stroked her hair as he encouraged her. “Don’t make me come yet, baby. Just keep me nice and hard so that when he’s ready to work that cock of his up your ass, I’ll be ready to fuck you.”
Something broke free inside her in a good way. Here she was, practically begging these two guys who she barely knew to fuck her brains out.
And it felt right.
Really, really right.
No one was more cautious than she was. For her to be in this position…
Not that she didn’t enjoy it, because she was enjoying the fuck out of it. But then Juju added more lube and before she realized it, she was moaning around Delta’s cock as Juju finger-fucked her ass.
She didn’t know how long that lasted, only that when Juju’s finger disappeared from her ass, he drizzled more lube down her crack before adding a second finger and starting the whole process over again.
Heaven.
She knew from previous experience that preparation was key to enjoying anal, but she really wanted both their cocks in her at the same time. What Juju was doing to her ass had her even more horny. He’d even reached around under her with his other hand and started lightly rolling her clit between his fingers, triggering an orgasm as her ass clamped down on his fingers.
; “Oh, yeah. She really likes that,” Juju said.
While he had her coming he started easing a third finger inside her. She wasn’t sure she could take it until she did and realized the flat of his hand was against her ass.
He slowly finger-fucked her as she whined around Delta’s cock, her hips involuntarily flexing as she tried to get him to move faster, harder, to drive her out of her head and get her thoughts to go away for a while.
She wanted this, them, and nothing else.
If that made her shallow and uncaring, she’d own it. There’d be plenty of time to mourn Stu later. Not like he was coming back.
And Paul Waxler.
Therefore, pleasure won out, as expected. And after Juju went to go wash his hands, upon his return he quickly rolled a condom onto himself, slathered his cock with lube, and urged her up onto her hands and knees on the bed.
And she was ready.
Oooohhhh, was she ready.
Juju slowly pressed the head of his cock against her ass, Delta there under her, playing with her nipples and distracting her, forcing her to focus on him, to look at him. Pretty soon, not only was she rocking back and forth and working Juju’s cock up her ass, she realized she was the one fucking him, his hands on her waist simply holding her, not guiding her.
Then they raised her up a little and Delta, a hand around the base of his cock, guided it into her pussy.
She whined, full, stretched, and enjoying every second of it.
“Your turn,” Juju whispered in her ear. “Savor it. Fuck our brains out. You’re in the driver’s seat.”
She moved, slowly at first, getting used to the sensation and loving it. Then Delta reached down between them and started playing with her clit.
Holy.
Fuck.
Absolute orbit.
The men softly encouraged her, coaxed her through yet another climax even as Juju reached around her, trapping her breasts in his hands and playing with her nipples.
“God, you’re so damn tight,” Delta said. “Feels so good. Won’t last much longer.”
“Work it, baby,” Juju said. “You’re gorgeous. You have no idea how sexy you look right now.”