Page 94 of Viral Justice

“Not in this drop, Eugene. I’ve got three Special Forces medics assisting me and Sergeant Stone is off right now gathering eggs for me. I’m good.”

“Eggs?”

He sounded flabbergasted.

“It’s a little old school, but I want to try to culture the virus. Once I have enough, I’ll kill it and use it as a vaccine.”

“Very good, sir. Anything else?”

“Not now. Thank you, Eugene, and carry on.”

“Yes, sir.” There was a pause, voices in the background. “Sir, I have the information on your covert drop.”

“Excellent.” Max took down the coordinates and time—just after sunset—then he ended the call.

He went out to Jessup, who was guarding the front door. “Can you get Nolan to come in? I’ve requested a covert drop and we need to send a team to intercept it.”

“He’s got eyes on the front door of the building, so that’s no problem.” Jessup went to one of the windows next to the door and moved the old, ratty curtain so it covered about a third of the window.

“That’s it?”

“Simple is always better. Of course the next signal isn’t the same.”

“Huh, you have a whole list?”

“Yeah, six or so.”

Movement outside caught both their attention, but it was Ali returning. She didn’t arrive via the shortest or most direct way. She zigged-zagged all over the place.

After a few minutes she walked slowly up to the entrance and eased her way inside carrying a sack filled with lumpy egg shapes.

“How many did you get?” Max asked, pleased to see so many eggs in the bag.

“A couple dozen,” she replied.

Max nodded at Jessup and led the way to the lab.

“You were right,” she added. “There were a lot of chickens whose eggs haven’t been collected in a few days. A lot of people are dead. If the sun ever comes out, it’s going to stink worse than a funky Cadillac for miles.”

“Did you see any militants?”

“Not close up. They seemed to be moving though the tents. I hope Nolan isn’t in their sights.”

“No, I had Jessup give the secret handshake to call him in.”

Ali began pulling eggs out of the sack and placing them carefully on the plastic-covered counter. A few of them had cracked, but most, twenty-three, were intact and appeared to be fertilized.

Max smiled and turned to thank her for a job well done, when a deep-throated explosion rolled through the air and shook the building.

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