Dead Reckoning by Tom Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

many of you have spouses and children back in the States. But I cannot allow any unnecessary aircraft or watercraft to come here at this time. It is simply too risky. There is no way to be sure it is not contaminated.”
                  “Furthermore,” he continued after a short pause for effect. “Lest any of you think you’ll hop in those remaining seats out of here, I’m not letting anyone leave either. I have a base to run and you’re all an essential part of it.” He had obviously realized that no one would take their families off the island into a world that could be breaking down, and so the only people likely to try to leave were essential people, people like me.
                  Several people began to object when Commander Blaine raised his hand to stop them. The room grew quiet. He was nearing the end of his tour on Kwaj, and after almost two years of dealing with a mostly civilian workforce, he had learned how to tend to our needs. A newer commander who had spent a career sternly ordering his troops around wouldn’t have taken any questions. He rubbed his clean shaven chin as he thought. I noticed the tremor in his left hand again.
                  There was a knock at the door, and the Commander shot an annoyed look at his security officer. The beefy, bald security officer got up and answered the door. There was a minor argument at the door that I couldn’t hear, but a skinny engineer named Ned was allowed into the room. He rushed over to the communications manager and whispered in his ear.
                  The communications manager, a chubby, balding, 60-something man called Sal said: “Sir, please excuse me,” and he hurriedly followed Ned out of the room.
    The Commander retained an air of irritation as he continued. “My decision is final! When Continental arrives, we’ll find out what the hell is going on.”
                  The lone woman in the room, sitting across from the Commander, was the only one who had the courage to break the ensuing silence:
    “But if it’s true about the thirty days, there could already be infected people here.”
                  “Understood,” said the commander, visibly pleased that the meeting had returned to useful business. “But we‘ll have to hope that isn’t the case and deal with it if it is. I have instructed the Chief Medical Officer to examine any personnel who have been off island within the last two weeks and, if necessary, quarantine them as well.” The commander looked at his Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Frank Pepperdine, as he spoke, and the Doctor nodded back in agreement.
    “As a further precaution, I have canceled all community events, and I recommend personnel stay in their quarters and away from other people until we determine if the virus has been able to infiltrate the base.”
                  We all knew he was right. At times like those it fell squarely on his shoulders to protect the personnel and assets of his base from all invaders, whatever the origin, and completely closing the base off to the outside was his only sure way to isolate us from the threat.
    “Any other questions?” continued the Commander.
                  There was no response.
                  “Good. We will be meeting here every morning at zero-eight-hundred for a situation report. Leads from each area will brief me. Dismissed.”
                  I was fully with Kate on this one now—I was becoming very concerned. There was no way I could get off the island, nor could they get home, and with comms down, I couldn’t even talk to her. Furthermore, from the response of the Commander, maybe the virus was actually worse than the media had portrayed it.
    After I exited the room, I walked halfway down the hall and stepped into a little alcove to wait for Jeff. As a contractor, the information I received was limited to “need to know,” but as an