Page 62 of Viral Justice

Ali squeezed the trigger.

She watched as a small dark hole appeared on the leader’s forehead. He toppled over backward.

She found the forehead of the second man, the one with his weapon trained on Bull. “Second target acquired.”

“Take the shot,” Max ordered again.

She complied, then watched as this man also fell back bonelessly.

For a moment, the scene seemed frozen in time. Some of the gunmen stared blankly at the two dead men. Others hadn’t yet seen what had happened.

A second later, people scattered, some screaming, some firing their weapons.

Bull jumped to his feet, and though his hands were tied behind his back, he launched a kick at the man who’d had his rifle pointed at Cornett before the leader had come along.

He was a fraction of a second too late.

There was a muzzle flash and Cornett slumped forward.

Bull’s kick landed, sending Cornett’s murderer to the ground. He kicked the rifle out of the gunman’s hands, and would have stomped on his head, except that someone else tackled Bull.

He hit the ground hard.

Two men raised their weapons at him, but before either could fire, they were shot instead.

Tom raced toward Bull, shooting everyone who pointed a weapon at him or Bull. He reached the soldier’s side and a knife flashed as he cut the rope tying Bull’s hands together.

Bull grabbed the rifle of one of the dead men, then he and Tom raced back into the maze of houses, where they disappeared from sight.

“Where are they?” Max asked after a couple of seconds.

“They went to ground,” she told him. “Which is what they should do in a situation like this. They’ll surface when it’s safe.”

“I’d like confirmation that they’re okay,” Max said, his voice hoarse as if he’d been yelling for hours. “Fuck, Cornett is dead.”

A bullet ricocheted off a rock near his head and they both ducked down.

When a second shot in their direction didn’t materialize, Ali used her scope to scan the area, try to find the shooter. Picking any one particular person was going to be difficult. It was chaos down there.

People were running, yelling, and there was some shooting. However, it didn’t seem planned or deliberate, only reactionary. Whoever was holding the reins to the men looking for the Americans was either dead or gone.

She and Max kept watch on the entire village, but no one stood out as either a threat or assistance.

Tom would likely wait an hour for dark to arrive before moving.

Darkness would bring more men and more supplies. She could only hope it didn’t bring more bad guys with it too.

Next to her, Max seemed particularly interested in a specific house whose front door and windows faced them.

“What are you looking at?” she asked. The place appeared average in every way and there was no activity that she could see around it. There were a couple of dead bodies, still clad in their clothing, pushed up against the wall of the house. Their faces had been turned toward the wall, but they hadn’t been wrapped in sheets or blankets.

“The dead,” he replied. He was silent for a few seconds before he added, “And the living.”

He pulled away from his scope to look at her. “I’m seeing a lot of sick people, Ali.”

A cold shiver went through her body at his tone and expression. She’d never seen him looking so worried. “What does that tell you?”

“We could be looking at a new pandemic flu.”

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