Carrion Virus (Book 2): The Athena Protocol by M.W. Duncan Read Free Book Online

fortress.
    Brutus banged on the door, and stepped to the side before the shutter opened. Cautious? Perhaps. But it served him well. A loud click, and the slider moved from position.
    “Who is it?” called a voice.
    “Santa Claus. And his elf.”
    “Brutus?”
    He stepped into view. “Open the door, Niall.”
    A few more clicks and the door opened.
    “No presents?” asked Niall Campbell with a smirk. He looked tired. Several days of stubble added a number of monochromatic tones to his face.
    Brutus raised his middle finger. Niall laughed at the gesture and slipped his Glock into the waistband of his combat trousers.
    “Is everyone here?”
    “Mostly. A few are out in the field as instructed.”
    Niall lead Brutus to the rear room. A collection of men sat around a square table, cleaning weapons, loading magazines, typing on a laptop or just leaning back in a chair, their baseball caps pulled down over their eyes. Multiple bodies confined without proper ventilation. The room stank. Brutus recognised all in the room, all former military men, elite soldiers now working in the private sector. These men represented a portion of the collective trust Brutus retained in the world. Magnus Munson, Stuart Taylor, Freddo Macleod, Daniel Ziaber and Graeme Sinclair.
    “Season’s greetings, gentlemen.”
    Greetings were returned.
    Niall pulled up a chair for Brutus and they sat next to a weapons rack that held AK-47s and a PSG1 sniper rifle.
    “Where’s Ry Watson?” Brutus asked Niall.
    “He’s at the airfield, making sure our transport is serviceable.”
    “Craig Muir? Roy Smart? Ash Gibbons?”
    “At the location. We last had contact from them two days ago.”
    “Good. We’ll move out tomorrow, be there the day after.”
    Niall leaned in close, and said in a low voice, “What are we getting into, Brutus?”
    These men were hired on his recommendation, on his assurance that he could control them and apply them to the task ahead. The money that secured their services for the next two weeks was better than any could hope to make elsewhere in a year.
    “I wouldn’t be involved if it wasn’t worthwhile,” was all Brutus offered.
    “The money is worthwhile. It’s the risk I worry about.”
    “My contact will be here in the next few hours. Then we’ll all know.”
    “I won’t stick my neck into a noose. I’m here to make money.” Niall leaned back, and edged his chin toward Brutus’s face. “Collected another scar?”
    Brutus touched the wound. A little deeper and he probably would have lost the eye. That bitch and her knife. He should have broken her neck when he had the chance. He shrugged. “We’re all scarred. I just wear mine for the world to see. Get some rest. We’re moving out tomorrow.”
     
    ***
     
    Gemma stepped off the bus into a snowstorm. Christmas Eve and she was riding along with a force of CAF soldiers and DSD agents. It had taken some persuasion before any would entertain the idea of allowing her to witness them in action. She dropped Williamson’s name enough and finally the DSD agents relented. She chatted with Danni, a female agent while they rode the commandeered bus. The sheer amount of displaced peoples in Aberdeen looking for shelter far exceeded the anticipated numbers so the CAF now looked to open more areas of the city to house these people until the containment was lifted. Several of the larger hotels in the centre of the city had been cleared out by the military; all traces of infection were removed and they now were readying to receive the displaced. It was a mammoth task but a necessary one. So Danni told her.
    Gemma clutched her camera. Her aim was simple, document everything and latch onto anyone who could provide leads or snippets of information. She pulled her coat tighter, trying to huddle against the cold. The shivers that ran up her spine and through her neck were not due to the weather, but due to the act of stepping back into the city, the place where she lost Stacey,