Page 13 of Shadow Blind

“Nantz, are you—”

“Admiral,” Clark broke in, doing his best to impersonate someone in the throes of frustrated annoyance. “What the hell’s going on over there? I’ve seen no evidence from the camera feed that Kuznetsov is in Karaveht, like your people predicted. Nor have I seen the A7 Drone’s prototype or any of its schematics anywhere on the video. This op of yours has been a complete disaster. We must get that drone back” He inserted confused horror into his voice. “And what the hell killed all those poor people?”

A hoarse huff came down the line, followed by a gravelly voice.

“From what we can tell, the whole damn town slaughtered each other.” Hurley sounded winded, like a pin had just pricked and deflated his righteous fury. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? The timing of this test on your new cameras is suspicious as hell.”

But Hurley didn’t sound accusatory, more frustrated and confused than anything.

“How the hell was I supposed to know that your men would run into problems on this mission? We weren’t even supposed to be testing the cameras today. They were scheduled for testing last month. Remember? Only your supply chain lost the damn battery packs, which—I’ll remind you—was your crew’s fault, not mine.”

The missing batteries had been easy enough to set up. A bribe here, another there, and the batteries had become separated from the cameras. Hell, he’d even gotten paid for the second shipment.

“Look, I have no idea what happened in that village.” Clark leaned back and swiveled his chair until he could look out over the lights of Washington, D.C. below. “You’re the one who tracked Kuznetsov to that place and assured me he’d set up shop there.” All of which was true. “How the hell would I know what went down there?”

Except, of course, he knew exactly what had happened in that doomed town. Hell, he’d instigated it. Not that anyone would ever know that. He had no intention of being brought up on charges of crimes against humanity.

“Our CIA team is still insisting their intel was solid, and that Kuznetsov and the A7V02 Drone prototype were there.”

“Obviously, your analyst was mistaken,” Clark snapped. “There’s no evidence the drone was ever in this town.”

Because it hadn’t been in Karaveht.

Hell, it hadn’t been stolen. Kuznetsov had done an excellent job of planting the fake intel throughout the dark web, to catch the CIA’s attention and lure the DOD into sending a retrieval team.

“Our analyst thinks Kuznetsov chose Karaveht to run a test using a biological or psychotropic agent. We’re mobilizing a full biological and chemical team to investigate.”

Clark smirked. By the time Hurley’s teams arrived, there wouldn’t be anything to investigate.

He had proof, on video no less, that his weapon had activated the civilian population. Too bad he didn’t have footage of the violence taking place. Kuznetsov had installed cameras throughout Karaveht for just that purpose. Unfortunately, the satellite upload link had failed. Footage of the inhabitants going crazy and attacking each other had never made it out of town. No matter. When his cleanup crew arrived, they’d retrieve the cameras, along with the dead villagers. If his luck held, the video on the cameras would still be accessible. But then, the footage of the villagers going crazy wasn’t nearly as critical as phase two of his test.

SEALs were a breed apart. Hell, a breed above. They were practically superheroes—physically stronger, mentally resilient. If his weapon affected them—which Clark fully expected it to do—and they turned on each other, as the townspeople of Karaveht had done…then he’d have proof that his baby could take down any military organization in the world.

It was only a matter of time before the infected SEALs tore each other apart. Only this time, the carnage would be caught on film. And the footage of Hurley’s mighty SEALs slaughtering each other would sell his new weapon for him.

Chapter six

Day 2

Karaveht, Tajikistan

They took the M50 respirators off as soon as they cleared Karaveht, which made it easier to breathe. Aiden focused fiercely on the shushushu of the wind as it swept over his winter BDUs. The icy burn of the breeze slipped past his balaclava, numbing the bridge of his nose and his forehead. Thank Christ for the goggles, otherwise his eyes would be sealed shut. He’d unzipped the armpits of his tactical jacket to vent the body heat buildup from the hard climb up the hill, but sweat still trickled down his back and under his arms, which was never a good thing in cold weather ops. Still, the itchy sensation was a welcome distraction. Anything to avoid the what-ifs pushing against his mind.

What if he was infected? What if Karaveht’s insanity bug was spreading through his brain? Was he about to go crazy and slaughter his teammates—his best friends?

The squeak of boot treads against ice and snow drifted up from behind him. So did heavy breathing. Steam plumed through the mesh mouthpieces of their balaclavas. The path to exfil was steep and winding, slick with ice and snow. Still, the physicality of the climb shouldn’t tax them. They’d scaled more difficult paths dozens of times before. The only difference this time was the knowledge they might not have left the danger behind once they left town. They might carry the danger with them…inside them.

As that danger alarm in his brain insisted.

Squirrel was the best friend he’d ever had. But the rest of the men on his six were his brothers in every way that mattered. He’d covered their backs for years, just as they’d covered his. He’d attended their birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. He’d hiked and fished with them, shared beers and barbeques.

The thought of snapping and putting a bullet into their brains was far worse than dying himself. He’d kill himself before he’d harm any of them.

Working up a sweat in sub-zero temperatures was a recipe for hypothermia. But the quest to put that doomed town and the horrifying possibility it represented behind them pushed them forward. They had extra warmies, thermal blankets and even puff jackets in their ditch kits. They could dry off and keep warm back at the exfil site.

Managing the threat of insanity was more difficult.

If they’d been exposed to a drug that caused psychotic behavior, wouldn’t they be symptomatic by now? The symptoms would have presented as soon as the body absorbed the dose. Karaveht was an hour behind them. Plenty of time for a drug’s side effects to show.

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