Page 109 of Viral Justice

“Fuck, that’s not good,” Jessup whispered. “There’s a lot of technology on those birds.”

“Hopefully nothing they can use right away.”

“Seen enough?”

“Yeah.” She broke cover and they made their way back to the battered-looking building they’d taken over.

Jessup was silent for most of the way, but about a minute out he asked, “Do you think Max can cook up a vaccine that will work?”

She glanced at him, but he was watching their perimeter. “If anyone can, it’ll be Max. Or are you really asking if any of us are going to survive this killer flu?”

“That too, I guess.”

“I don’t know.” She continued to watch her own perimeter while taking quick glances at Jessup. How worried was he? “I do know that Max hasn’t given up and neither have I.”

“Don’t get your thong in a bunch, Stone, I’ve just never seen a bug kill this many people so fast. There can’t be much doubt that it’s a weapon.”

She was going to ignore the thong comment. “Was the Black Death a weapon? Was the Spanish flu? Both of them killed large portions of the population, and both were naturally occurring pandemics. Until we know for sure, we can’t assume anything.”

“Well, aren’t you the voice of reason.”

“What the fuck is with the sarcasm?” she asked, out of patience for male bullshit.

“I thought since you’re banging the colonel you’d have some intel the rest of us don’t.” It was said in a casual tone, the kind a guy used to talk about the weather. That just made it a bigger insult.

Hmm, punch him, shoot him...punch him, shoot him?“You are, without a doubt, a moron,” she told him.

Jessup shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it.”

“Go fuck yourself. I don’t assume you’re fucking the man in front of you when you’re nut-to-butt in the dirt, do I?”

“Yeah, but—”

She cut him off with a sharp gesture. “Here’s a newsflash, I don’t work with morons.”

He frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She didn’t bother answering. They reached the hospital and went inside. Max and the rest of the team were waiting for them.

“It looks like a drone.” She kept her tone tightly professional. “It’s too early for it to be the drop aircraft. This one might have been scouting. The machine is already being picked over by scavengers.”

“Not good news, but not really bad news,” Max said. “For the moment, anyway. How many men did you see picking through the debris?”

“About a dozen, which isn’t very many.” She thought about that for a moment. “Either we’ve put a serious dent in the bad guys, or a lot of them are sick.”

“Or dead.” Max glanced at his watch, then nodded at her. “You’d better get to the drop site.”

“I’ll leave now, but I’m not taking this moron with me.” She angled a thumb over her shoulder at Jessup.

“Moron?” Max asked, his voice hard. “How big a moron?”

She glanced at Jessup now and from his frown, he still had no idea what that meant.

“What did you do, man?” Hunt demanded.

Jessup’s surprised face told her he hadn’t expected anyone else to care. “I didn’t do anything.”

His defensive tone said it all. “All I did was ask a question.”

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