Genesis Plague by Sam Best Read Free Book Online

opposite of
considerate.
    He helped Cassidy into
the passenger seat, his eyes lingering a little too long on her legs, then
hopped into the driver’s seat and revved the engine. He shifted into gear as
Flint and I scrambled up into the back seat. I barely had my door closed before
the driver stomped on the gas pedal. We bounced off the airstrip onto a dirt
path, toward the main road.
    “I’m Mike Pahalo,” he
said. “I’m taking you to the observatory.”
    He hit a deep,
mud-filled pothole in the unpaved road and Flint bounced up, almost landing in
my lap. He grunted as I elbowed him back to his side of the Jeep.
    “He’s Mike Pahalo,”
said Flint quietly as we left the bumpy dirt path and turned onto a paved
stretch of road.
    “He sure as hell is,” I
replied.

 
     

     
     
     
    L evino was waiting for us when Mike pulled the Jeep into the
observatory parking lot. My boss was pacing back and forth with his hands
clasped behind his back. He was short, bespectacled, almost fifty, and had a
slight paunch that pushed against the buttons of his collared shirt. All of the
hair on top of his head had long ago retreated down to the sides, as if fleeing
from the sun, forming a dark horseshoe that hugged the back of his skull from
ear to ear.
    There were several
other cars in the parking lot, all of them outfitted for off-roading. They had
spare fuel canisters lashed to their roofs, and large water tanks bolted to the
back. Most had an engine snorkel to keep the motor from flooding during stream
and river crossings.
    “Looks like quite the
expedition,” I said to Levino as I climbed down out of the Jeep. I did my best
to ignore Mike as he yanked my bag out from behind the back seat and dropped it
on the ground.
    Levino shook my hand
briskly.
    “Those aren’t ours,” he
said, gesturing to the off-road vehicles. “The bastards weren’t supposed to be
here for another two days. Somehow word got out, and now I’ll be damned if the
whole world doesn’t know about what’s going on up here.”
    Mike handed Flint and
Cassidy their bags, then stood next to Levino.
    “Oh, yes, you’ve met
Mike,” said Levino. “He’s, um, well, he’s our field assistant on this one, so,
you know. He can be a bit of an asshole, but who can’t? Besides, he’s young.”
    Levino shrugged as if
that explained everything, then he walked away, leaving Mike gaping like a
fish. I hoped the grin on my face wasn’t permanent.
    “What is going
on, Doc?” asked Flint.
    “Flint, my boy!” said
Levino, brightening up. “I’m glad you’re here.” He slapped Flint’s back and
guided him toward the Mauna Loa Observatory, a collection of long white
buildings with corrugated siding and several domed observation towers.
    “I guess we’re just the
window dressing,” said Cassidy. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek,
then followed after Flint and Levino.
    I ended up next to my
new buddy Mike Pahalo as we headed toward the observatory.
    “Field assistant,” I
said. “Not from San Francisco University, because I would have seen you in the
lab.”
    Mike grinned, as if he
had some secret that he couldn’t wait for me to uncover. “Not from the lab,
no.”
    And that was all I
could get out of him. Not very chatty, that Mike Pahalo.

 
     

     
     
     
    “T his way,” said Levino.
    He brought us into a
long white building with a low, flat roof. Cool air greeted us and there was a
collective sigh as we pulled our sticky shirts away from our bodies.
    The central room just
beyond the small foyer contained multiple workstations with various
environmental apparatus scattered about. A young technician wearing an orange
I.D. badge studied a map on the wall. The map highlighted the newly-opened
crack on the north side of Mauna Loa. A woman at a nearby desk spoke hurriedly
into her phone and took notes on a yellow legal pad. She looked as if she
hadn’t slept in days.
    “Most of our staff are already
down at base camp,” Levino said.