The Atlantis Plague (The Origin Mystery 2)

Dorian kicked the horse again. It glided through the forest. At the camp, he would make the call first, moving up the extraction time. How fast could he and the pilot get there on the horses? A better question: how long did the man have? Dorian wished he knew. That would be the deadline. The horses would save the pilot’s life. He kicked the horse again and it responded. He pulled the other behind him by the reins and it matched their pace. Amazing animals.

At the camp, Dorian slowed and dismounted before the horses stopped.

“Hey! Get up.”

Dorian made for the satellite phone.

There was no answer from the pilot.

Dorian stopped. No. He turned. He knew what he saw, yet he ran to his comrade. He held two fingers to his neck. Dorian felt the cold skin long before he knew there was no pulse, but he held his fingers there for a second, staring at the closed eyes.

Dorian stood. Rage pulsed through him. He almost kicked the man’s body. He wanted to fall to his knees and punch him in the face—for dying, for stringing him along, for… everything. He stood again and the horses erupted, backing away from him. One neighed and jumped. Stupid, smelly beasts. He turned to strike one of them, but they were out of reach. It didn’t matter. He would ride one to death, then mount the other and follow suit.

He raced to the sat phone.

“Fleet Ops.”

“Give me Captain Williams.”

“Identify yourself.”

“Who the f**k do you think this is?! How many f**king wrong number calls do you get these days? Put Williams on or I will split you down the middle when I get out of this hellhole!”

“St-stand by, s-sir.”

Two seconds passed.

“Williams—”

“Change of schedule. I will be at the LZ in less than an hour.”

“We can be there—”

“In less than an hour! One hour or less. They can develop photos that fast, you sure as hell better get your ass down here. If I have to make my own way back to the fleet, your lifespan plummets, Captain.”

Dorian heard the captain screaming to scramble helicopters.

“We’ll… be there, sir.”

“The girl—”

“We’re taking good care of her—”

“Get rid of her.”

“You want—”

“I don’t care where she goes, she just better be gone when I get back.”

Dorian disconnected the line.

He mounted the closest horse and kicked it as hard as he could.

CHAPTER 60

Somewhere off the coast of Ceuta

Mediterranean Sea

“Shaw killed him,” David said flatly.

Kate cringed and glanced at the closed door of their stateroom. “Keep your voice down.”

“Why? He knows he did it. He knows I know it.”

Kate looked him in the eyes. He was so angry. She could see it in his body, hear it in his voice, but she could also feel it—on a more basic level, as if some part of her was in him and vice versa. The anger seemed to rise off of him and seep into her, like heat off an asphalt highway. She felt it infecting her, felt herself digging in against him, subconsciously readying for another fight. Everything was spinning out of control. She had to stop it, had to start somewhere. Kate made a decision: she would start with David. She needed him, wanted him, couldn’t do this without him… wouldn’t do this without him.

David was pacing the room, thinking—dark thoughts, Kate felt it. She held her hand out and waited for him to walk into it. Without a word, she guided him to the bed and sat him down. She knelt in front of him.

“I want you to talk to me. Will you?” She took his face in her hands.

David still looked down, avoiding her. “I’ll zip-tie them all, Kamau too, just for good measure. We’ll set them out somewhere. It doesn’t matter where. Be more food for the two of us. Then I need to get in touch with the British and Americans.” He shook his head. “Sloane’s fleet is off the coast of Morocco. Why the hell haven’t they hit it yet? Why wait? We could end the war quickly. Are they out of fuel? Jet maybe, but they have nuclear subs—tons of them. We take ’em out, then we start rounding up the Immari camps, do war trials on site. Do it quick.”

“David—”

He was still looking away from her. “It sounds harsh, I know, but it’s the only way. Maybe this is what it’s all about: the plague. It’s the ultimate test. The Rapture, the day of reckoning where people are exposed for what they truly are. You should have seen what they were doing, Kate. Yes, it’s a test, an opportunity—to purge the world of anyone with no morals, no values, no compassion for their fellow man.”

“People are desperate, they’re not themselves—”

“No, I think the plague reveals what they really are, whether they throw in and help the less fortunate or whether they turn and desert their own kind, leave them to die. And now we know who they are. We round up every Immari and Immari sympathizer and wipe them out. The world after will be a better place. A peaceful place, a world where people care about each other. No war, no hunger, no—”

“David. David. This isn’t you.”

He looked at her for the first time. “Well, maybe this is the new me. That’s sort of an inside joke.”

Kate gritted her teeth. She wanted to smack him. “You sound like someone else I know. He wants to reduce the world’s population, eliminate people that don’t fit his view of the ideal human.”

“Well… maybe Sloane had the right idea, just the wrong execution. Pun intended.”

Kate was ready to explode. She closed her eyes. She had to turn the argument, redirect, draw him out so she could figure out what had happened to him, how he had changed. Focus on the facts. She heard David mumbling in the background.

“I mean if there was a problem with the subs, they could just launch some cruise missiles if they—”

“I know why they aren’t attacking the Immari fleet.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ll tell you, but you have to tell me what happened to you.”

“Me? Nothing. Just another day at the office.”

“I’m serious.”

“Well, let’s see… where to start… Sloane killed me—twice, actually.” He held his shirt up. “See, no more scars.”

The skin was smooth, like a newborn. Kate hadn’t noticed it before, when they were… With every bit of willpower she had, she fought the urge to draw away from him. What was he? “I… don’t understand.”