Z-Minus (Book 4) Read online

  “You dirty sod,” John said.

  Whatever troubles they might have outside, they were brothers here, playing, fighting, arguing. A true dysfunctional family.

  “I see I’m just in time for the orgy,” a voice said.

  They all turned to see a new face appear around the door. Their smiles fell. This face was long and thin, a tall figure with gaunt eyes. It wasn’t Roach. His name was Daoud.

  “I’ll be top,” he said. “I don’t do well at submission.”

  John sat on the edge of his bed, all mirth gone. He sucked his teeth. Jacob dropped his bag on his bunk.

  An uncomfortable pause.

  “Nice to see you all too,” Daoud said.

  “I’m starving,” John said, ignoring Daoud. “Any of you boys fancy a bland meal courtesy of the military’s skill-less cooks?”

  “When you put it like that how can I refuse?” Jacob said.

  “Mark?” John said.

  “I’ll go see the CO,” Mark said. “See what we’re doing here.”

  “Suit yourself,” John said.

  He and Jacob left, tossing a dirty glance at Daoud.

  “I can see making friends is going to be a tall order,” Daoud said.

  “Can you blame them?” Mark said icily. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable.”

  He pushed the door open. It banged closed.

  12:48pm

  “Come.”

  Mark took a breath to steady himself and opened the door. A man about Mark’s height sat behind a large desk. He looked solid, immovable. Command oozed from his every movement, a man used to being in charge.

  “Ah, Mark,” Major Edwards said. “I needed to speak to you about-”

  “Is this some kind of joke?” Mark said.

  “Excuse me?” Major Edwards said.

  “Having him on our team,” Mark said.

  “I’ll have to look over our training system,” Major Edwards said. “It appears it was a mistake to remove manners from the itinerary.”

  “Major-” Mark said.

  “The last time I checked, and I check rather often, I was your senior officer,” Major Edwards said. “By several ranks, I might add.”

  Mark gritted his teeth. He knew he was wrong, but his anger made him hasty.

  “Sir-” he said.

  “You’ll speak when spoken to,” Major Edwards said. “Shut the door.”

  Mark turned, his movements stiff. It took every ounce of his self-control not to slam it. The major kept Mark waiting while he read his document. Mark turned his head to the side. Now that his anger was sated, he was annoyed with himself. Getting angry – particularly at Major Edwards – was never a viable road to success.

  Taking Mark’s calm attitude as a starting pistol, the major finished reading, put the folder down on the desk, and interwove his fingers.

  “Now,” he said. “Let’s have a grown-up conversation without forgetting proper protocol shall we? How can I help you, soldier?”

  “Sir, forgive my earlier outburst,” Mark said. “I was just pulled in from leave and my temper was a little short. I meant no offense.”

  “Accepted,” Major Edwards said. “In response to your earlier comment, no, this is not a joke.”

  The comment stoked Mark’s temper.

  “It’s bad enough you pull us back after just a few hours on leave, but teaming us up with Daoud?” Mark said. “Why didn’t you recruit Roach?”

  “Take a seat,” Major Edwards said.

  “I’d prefer to stand,” Mark said.

  The major drummed his fingers on his desk. Mark took a deep breath to calm himself and then sat down.

  “My first choice for sniper was naturally Roach,” Major Edwards said. “You know each other inside out, work well together, but unfortunately… he’s not available.”

  “Not available?” Mark said.

  That didn’t sound like the Roach he knew. He was the first to volunteer for a mission, the first to leap into danger.

  The major opened his mouth, before closing it and shifting in his chair. Major Edwards was not a man to reconsider his words often. Mark’s stomach plummeted.

  “I’ve been debating about how much to tell you,” Major Edwards said. “I wanted you to keep your mind completely on your task. But now you’re here, I can see it’s wrong to keep the truth from you.”

  Major Edwards hesitated.

  “Your friend, Roach, is dead,” he said. “He died an hour ago at Vertigo Ravine.”

  The ground shifted beneath Mark’s feet. The world paused in its revolutions. Mark just stared. He blinked. Then he shook his head.

  “No,” he said.

  He felt the chords in his throat vibrate, but he was certain it couldn’t have been his voice that came out. It was too calm.

  “He was with us this morning,” he said. “You must have him mixed up with someone else.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Major Edwards said. “It was his truck that was involved in the accident. He was seen getting into it at the bar. The driver of the lorry he swerved to avoid positively identified him. I’m sorry.”

  Operating in the theater of war, Mark was used to seeing death, but never so far from the battlefield. Never on home soil.

  “I realize this must come as quite a shock,” Major Edwards said.

  Mark let out a deep lungful of air, his hands clasped over the top of his head. With no other outlet, Mark directed his anger inward, at himself. It was his fault. He was responsible for his team. There must have been something he did wrong.

  “How?” Mark said, his voice tight.

  “Car accident,” Major Edwards said. “He was going too fast and spun the wheel to avoid a truck driver changing a spare.”

  Mark shook his head. It was nonsensical.

  “It’s always tough, losing a comrade,” Major Edwards said.

  “He should have died in the field,” Mark said.

  “Everywhere is the field now,” Major Edwards said. “Every day a fight for survival. You never know when your number is going to be called. That’s why it’s important to live every moment like it’s your last.”

  “Was it fast?” Mark said.

  “Instantaneous,” Major Edwards said. “He was a good soldier.”

  “He was a great soldier,” Mark said. “Everything a soldier should be. Loyal, hardworking, fierce. Everything Daoud isn't.”

  Daoud. Yes. He could be the scapegoat for Mark’s anger and pain. He funneled it all at the lanky streak of piss.

  “Have you spent the time to get to know him?” Major Edwards said. “The way you have the rest of your team?”

  “No,” Mark said.

  “Then you can't know him the way you say you do,” Major Edwards said. “That wasn't the way you were raised and it certainly wasn't the way you were trained.”

  He was right, as usual. The bonds formed during war were different to those formed under any other kind of experience. Going through it together formed connections that couldn’t be matched, even with a lifelong partner. Under pressure, with your life on the line, you learnt what kind of person you were.

  “You can’t replace him,” Mark said.

  “Replace whom?” Major Edwards said.

  “Roach,” Mark said.

  “Of course not,” Major Edwards said. “That wasn’t my intention.”

  “We can’t have Daoud on our team,” Mark said.

  “No one else is available,” Major Edwards said.

  “Then we won’t go,” Mark said.

  “You will,” Major Edwards said, his voice cold and hard as steel. “You’re under orders. Besides, he’s a good sniper. You don’t waste talent like that.”

  “You do when it puts the rest of us in danger,” Mark said.

  The major pursed his lips.

  “I’m aware of Daoud’s history,” he said. “I’ll have a word with him. Remind him what his priority should be.”

  “If he needs reminding, he shouldn’t be here,” Mark said.


  “Sometimes things aren’t as simple on the ground,” Major Edwards said. “Sometimes we need to make the unpopular decision.”

  Mark shook his head. A soldier’s responsibility was to the rest of his unit. It was drilled into them from the moment they arrived at training school. It was not something you needed to choose. It was automatic. You just did it.

  “Roach was… different on the last tour,” Mark said.

  “We all change,” Major Edwards said. “Service ages you. Look at me. I’m really twenty-five.”

  The major’s attempt at humor fell flat. Mark was numb.

  “You need to learn to smile,” Major Edwards said. “Death is a part of life. It’s hardest for those of us left behind, but your friend lived a good life. It was short, but he achieved a lot. More than most people do during a long life.”

  “Think I’d prefer to do nothing and live a longer life,” Mark grumbled.

  “Would you?” Major Edwards said. It was an open challenge. “Sometimes we tell ourselves that, but I’m not sure we would.”

  “Depends if you’ve got something to live for, I suppose,” Mark said.

  “You have something to live for,” Major Edwards said. “You have your country. Your honor. Your duty.”

  The major sighed. He stood up and took off his beret.

  The major had dual personalities, like a superhero. That was probably why Mark idolized him as a kid. When the major took his beret off, the stresses and strains of command were lifted from his shoulders. He became Clark Kent, and kept his superhero alter ego for the battlefield. He allowed himself to feel the equally difficult, but rewarding, emotions associated with fatherhood. He stood behind Mark and placed a thick hand on his shoulder.

  “You have me,” Major Edwards said. “Roach couldn’t deal with all the death he’d faced over the years.”

  “Don’t we all struggle?” Mark said.

  “We do what we do for our loved ones,” Major Edwards said. “Roach had no one to fight for, save you and your team.”

  “That’s fine for the cameras,” Mark said. “But we also do what we do for a paycheck. There’s little separating us from mercenaries save a long term contract.”

  “You don’t believe that,” Major Edwards said. “If you did, you wouldn’t still be here. The key is knowing you have something to live for, to die for, before it all comes to an end.”

  “You believe that?” Mark said.

  “I do,” Major Edwards said. “I have you, your mother, when she was alive. You have Tabitha. Play your cards right, and you’ll have a family with her and you’ll understand what I’m telling you.”

  I already do, Mark thought. And it doesn’t make things easier, only harder.

  “She isn't going to wait forever,” Mark said.

  “Your mother was the same,” Major Edwards said. “She waited for me. There’s no reason to think Tabitha won’t wait for you.”

  “Tell me why I’m making her wait this time,” Mark said. “A super-important mission with the fate of the rest of world on its shoulders?”

  Major Edwards smiled. He put his beret back on and assumed his responsibilities.

  “Something along those lines,” he said.

  Mark’s eyebrows drew into a frown.

  13:26pm

  Mark and his team occupied a fraction of the seating capacity in the briefing room. The isolation told them a lot about the kind of mission they were about to undertake.

  “We’re a little light on the ground, aren’t we?” Jacob said. “Where are the others?”

  “It’s just us,” Mark said.

  “Beautiful,” Jacob said, letting out a puff of air.

  Major Edwards entered the room from the back. He pressed a switch and the flaps fluttered down over the glass walls. The projector flicked on and beamed the first slide:

  CONFIDENTIAL. TOP SECRET.

  “No doubt you’re all wondering what you’re doing here,” Major Edwards said, taking to the stage. “Especially after such a short period of leave.”

  “Damn right there,” John said.

  Major Edwards didn’t chastise him. The small team of four made the meeting more personal, and informality was acceptable.

  “You’re here because you’re the most qualified individuals for this training exercise,” Major Edwards said.

  Training exercise. Just what they needed.

  “I thought we were done with training?” Jacob said.

  “You are,” Major Edwards said. “But this will not be like any other training you’ve had before.”

  That had their attention.

  “As part of Group Three, responsible for operations with AFRICOM, and deployed in the Sub-Saharan desert region,” Major Edwards said, “you have first-hand experience of the Ebola virus, its effects and how a population reacts to it. You know what it’s like when the fear of a contagious disease grips a country tight. You know what it’s like to confront people panicking for their lives and those of their loved ones. For these reasons, you have been chosen to undertake a special mission – should the need ever arise.”

  Major Edwards clicked a button and the projected image shifted. A map of a thick forest. Dust motes danced in the green-tinted high beam.

  “Uwharrie National Forest,” Major Edwards said. “One hundred square miles of wilderness. You will conduct a mission into this forest, navigate to this compound and return with a vial kept inside.”

  Major Edwards pointed to a grey square building in the middle of the image.

  “You will then rendezvous here,” Major Edwards said, pointing to a section north of the compound. “For immediate evac. Your opponents will be fellow Special Forces officers who will do everything within their power to stop you, shut you down, and otherwise prevent you from achieving your goal. They will represent your enemy. Bear in mind it is likely our real enemies will be as well-trained, well-informed, and well-armed as ourselves.”

  Mark sensed the vague details were intentional to replicate the lack of information they would have in a live mission.

  Jacob raised his hand. Major Edwards nodded to him.

  “I thought you said this training mission would be different to all the others we’ve taken part in?” Jacob said. “It’s the same so far as I can see.”

  Major Edwards smiled. Everyone suddenly felt very nervous.

  “This will be a mission to quell the potential for a pandemic,” Major Edwards said.

  The four teammates exchanged wary expressions.

  “Come again?” John said.

  “You will be our first line of defense against a new pathogen that has the potential to sweep across the planet,” Major Edwards said. “To prevent it from reaching our shores.”

  “This isn’t warfare,” Mark said. “This is clean-up.”

  “The Green Berets were designed for unconventional warfare,” Major Edwards said.

  “It’s not warfare either,” Mark said.

  “It’s biological warfare,” John said.

  “Correct,” Major Edwards said. “With terrorists screaming ‘We love death more than the infidel loves life’ at the top of their voices with C4 strapped to their chests, how long do you think it’ll be before they initiate biological warfare? Just one of them could deliberately infect himself before taking a stroll through a crowded place, say Times Square, happy in the knowledge he’s carrying out God’s will. Meanwhile, innocent people go about their lives, unwittingly spreading the disease, doing the terrorists’ work for them.

  “We need to be ready to nip this in the bud before it has the potential to sweep across the globe. You’re going to put an end to it before it even begins. That’s your job, that’s your training. And it begins today.”

  “How is us heading on a suicide mission into enemy territory meant to help anyone?” John said. “What is our objective?”

  “Your mission,” Major Edwards said.

  “Should we choose to accept it,” John mumbled.

  “Your mi
ssion in a real-life situation will be the same as the one during training,” Major Edwards said. “To get to the compound and extract the virus. You are to get in and out and then head to the extraction point. All within eight hours.”

  “Why eight hours?” Mark said.

  “That, plus the sequencing time is the number of hours a virus needs before it can spread effectively,” Major Edwards said. “To get to an international hub like an airport or conference. After that, we will have a much bigger problem containing it.”

  “That’s a lot of ground to cover,” Mark said, eying the map.

  “It’s a big world,” Major Edwards said. “Try not to get lost in it.”

  “How would us getting hold of the virus help, exactly?” Jacob said.

  “With the recent outbreak of Ebola, the powers that be have decided the military ought to be trained to deal with such an incident,” Major Edwards said. “If there was ever an outbreak in a hostile region, they would send in the military to recon and get hold of the virus. They would then use digital sequencers to upload it to the internet. Scientists all over the world would have access to the virus’s genetic code. They would work to create an antidote before it can spread. All they would have to do then is hold the infected back long enough to facilitate creating the cure on an industrial scale.”

  John raised his hand.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Maybe I missed the geek fest, but what exactly is a ‘sequencer’?”

  Major Edwards pressed a button and the image of a DNA sequencer came up on the screen. It was a fairly large machine, about the size of a complex coffee making unit.

  “In 2001, the human genome was sequenced,” Major Edwards said. “The entire genetic map of a single man was revealed to the world. The essence of what makes you and every other living thing. We are, essentially, a program, and not a particularly well designed one at that. As we evolve, our code gets copied, overwritten, deleted, and transferred. We have bugs, like any other computer program.

  “Some bright sparks decided to start sequencing other living things. Plants, animals, viruses. We discovered things about creatures no one had ever even considered before. The fact the hippo and whale are very close relatives. The fact horses and cows are further disparaged than you might think. Now we can sequence just about anything, and extremely quickly too. The US military has begun funding programs to create a global network of sequencing centers. Most recently, in Charlotte, North Carolina.