“That it is, sir,”
“Let’s round them up and move out. We’ve got some tracking to do. Make sure Archer is up to speed. Time for him to earn his keep.”
“Consider it done, sir.”
* * *
“Right. Out. Side,” Bishop told Liz in a staggered whisper as they remained hidden in the crawlspace in the back of the Launch Control Room.
He leaned forward, bringing his eye to the edge of the cabinet, giving him a low-angle view of the room beyond.
At least one insurgent, a stocky short man, had taken position just inside the entrance with his back to Bishop.
Another pair of legs was visible a few feet beyond stubby man, but nothing more could be seen. At least Bishop could hear them chatting, their voices carrying to his position thanks to an echo off the cement. He listened as they continued their banter.
“Fletcher has given the order to roll out,” insurgent one said, his accent from Boston by the sound of it.
“It’s about time. I hate this frickin’ place. Where we headed?” asked insurgent two.
“Northeast, apparently. He’s bringing some prisoners up, too.”
“How many people?”
“Didn’t say. But they’re not people.
“What do you mean?”
“Scabs,” insurgent one said.
“Scabs?”
“I shit you not. Found them in the brig. But not just any Scabs. They’re females.”
“Seriously? Females? As in tits and ass? How’s that possible? I thought Scabs were only males.”
“Beats me.”
“Nobody else?”
“Nah, we took care of the rest,” insurgent one said.
“Roger that. Clean sweep.”
“Just as Fletcher ordered.”
“Good, ‘cause babysitting ain’t my thing. At least with the Scabs, we can burn ‘em if they get out of line and nobody’s gonna blink an eye,” insurgent two said.
“I guess we got our answer then.”
“Yep, Fletcher was serious, which is pretty much what you thought.”
“As it should be.”
“Blood simple,” insurgent two said in a steadfast tone.
“Fletcher wants guards posted at all access points, then we run a final check for stragglers, starting with sublevel 8. Work our way up. Flush them out,” insurgent one said.
“And finish them.”
“No mercy today.”
“Or ever. Not anymore.”
With that, the men disappeared from view, heading to the right in unison.
Bishop turned to Liz but held back his voice.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He shook his head and didn’t respond, unable to find the words.
Her eyes flared. “What? Tell me.”
“Well, uh, you see, they—” he said in a stutter, his mouth unable to assemble the words being sent down from his brain.
“Oh my God. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”
“Sorry, Doc.”
“Even the kids?”
“I’m afraid so. Just heard them talking. Clean sweep. That’s the term they used.”
“What’s that mean exactly?”
“It means everyone, even the little ones. No witnesses. No survivors. They want this over with. Now. Once and for all.”
“No, no, no. Not the kids,” she said as she began to sob, sending tears flooding from her eyes.
Bishop held his tongue, wanting to let Liz deal with the news. Sometimes people need a minute before you pile ten more gallons of gas on the fire.
A short minute later, her anguish turned into something else, stoking a wave of redness in her cheeks. “I told you we should’ve stayed. We could have helped them. We could have done something.”
His heart sank, pushing the pain in his chest to a new level. He was already feeling what she was feeling, but he couldn’t show it. “I know why you feel the way you do. I felt the same way. But we couldn’t, Doc. There were too many of them. We would have been killed along with everyone else.”
She raised her fists and started pounding on his shoulder, her emotions obviously driving the force behind each strike.
He didn’t resist or attempt to protect himself, knowing he had it coming for choking her out and then kidnapping her.
In retrospect, he could have charged into the fray and taken a few of them out before he caught a bullet. But that would have been a mistake. He knew he had zero chance to claim victory. Not with these odds. It would have been over moments later. For him. For Liz. For everyone.
She kept pounding. “You asshole. Why did you do that to me? I could’ve done something.”
“I’m sorry, Doc, but it was the only option. Someone has to stay alive. Someone has to make it out of here—”
Before he could finish, she stopped her assault and let her arms fall limp all at once. A moment later, her tears vanished and so did the sorrow smothering her face.
She brought her eyes up, looking like a different person. Even her voice was deeper, more resolute, as if she’d just been possessed. “—to make them pay, right?”
“Ah, sure, Doc. To make them pay,” he said after a momentary pause, not believing what he just heard. So much for her ‘do no harm’ stance.
CHAPTER 31
“So what’s the plan?” Liz asked Bishop a third time in the last minute, wondering why the man wasn’t answering.
So far, all the guy did was take the lead and act. And talk. But now he was quiet. Like a mouse. A gun-toting mouse with the ability to kidnap women against their will.
Granted, his heart was in the right place and she understood his reasoning, but it didn’t change the fact that he had run all quiet. An odd juxtaposition to be sure.
“Just like that?” he asked in a sarcastic tone, breaking his silence.
“What do you mean?”
“From honorable doctor to make them pay? Do you know what you’re saying?”
“Of course I do, Bishop,” she said, her hands moving in concert with her mouth. “Just look around. Everything we cherished is gone. There is nothing else. Nothing to hold on to. What’s the point?”
“It’s called being a civilized human being.”
“That’s rich, coming from a man like you. Kidnap a lot of women, do you?”
“I was just doing what needed doing.”
“Which is exactly what we’re going to do.”
“But not here, Doc. Not now. We’re probably outnumbered a hundred to one.”
“But they killed the children. Innocent children. Someone has to make them pay.”
“I get that, but we need to be smart about this. Plan everything. Give ourselves a chance. Right now, we have less than zero.”
“Okay then, when?” Liz asked, needing this guy to see things her way. He was stalling. That much was obvious.
“Need reinforcements, first.”
“Reinforcements? How? Everyone’s dead according to you.”
“Not everyone.”
Liz took a second to think about it. Then it hit her. “You mean Summer and Krista.”
“Yeah, wherever they are. We can’t make a stand here. Not like this. It would be suicide and I can’t let that happen.”