Cloud Dust: RD-1 (R-D #1)(81)

*

The pilot of the plane was found six hours later—he'd been driving westward as fast as his truck would take him. Rafe was asleep, as was Auggie when the call came. Les Banks was in an Arkansas jail, waiting for the FBI to arrive and question him. Local authorities had already gotten some information about the mist he'd sprayed on an unsuspecting college stadium crowd in Georgia.

Sure, he'd pulled a banner behind his plane that said congratulations, graduates, but that wasn't the only thing he'd been asked to do.

"Leo, stop fretting. I don't think we could have stopped much of this, even if we'd known in advance," I said. He'd taken the call, then relayed information to James, Nick, Maye and me.

"I just feel responsible," he muttered.

"Then stop. You didn't do any of that crap," I said. My head still hurt, but I hadn't taken anything else for the pain since Rafe ousted me from our bed. He slept there, now. I could only imagine the scenarios played out across the nation as people speculated on the massacres in Georgia and Afghanistan.

The White House deliberately leaked information that the owners of Civilian Security Services were responsible for all of it, including Montana, but nobody had a good reason for any of it. That didn't stop them from making wild suppositions, however.

As wild as those suppositions were, they were far from the truth. Auggie and I would have a discussion about that—when he woke.

"They're saying that CSS was testing chemical weapons," Maye said.

"That's plausible," Leo sighed. We'd moved to the small kitchen to have a cup of coffee and discuss the pilot's arrest in Arkansas. "Do you think we'll get anything useful out of the pilot?" Leo turned to me.

"I doubt it. The money was good, as long as he didn't ask questions. He had no idea he was about to murder ten thousand people."

"Where are the survivors? With the ones in Montana?" Nick growled.

"Nick, we don't have any authority in the matter," Leo sighed. "I wish we did. I think Richard might work with them, and I wouldn't mind helping, but we've been cut out of it."

"We knew what we were walking into, up to a point," Nick said. "And it was still a shock. What will it do to those people?"

"It's complicated, and I don't feel comfortable discussing it," Leo shook his head.

I knew what he was saying—what the drug had done to me. How I'd wakened in unfamiliar surroundings in a body unfamiliar to me. After the trauma in Paris, there'd been a second trauma waiting. Poor Leo; he'd done his best to get me through all that, but some things would never fully heal, I think.

"I need more coffee." I stood and lifted my cup. To illustrate my point, I yawned on the way to the coffee maker.

That's when the call came from the President. Mr. Evil had called her back, just as he said he would. She wanted to see all of us in her office.

*

Notes—Colonel Hunter

At least I'd had four hours' sleep before I had to rise and go to the White House. Rafe looked better than I did when we loaded into vans for the trip. Mentally, he was older than I. Physically, after the drug, he was much younger.

I'd never felt my age as much as I did right then.

Corinne still didn't look good, though. She was worn out; that was easy to see. Leo was still troubled, although he was better now than when I'd seen him before going to bed.

Corinne convinced him somehow that the massacre in Georgia wasn't his fault—that others deserved the blame. She was right, but we worried that she could have kept it from happening if she hadn't been asleep.

The trip to the White House seemed to take forever. Armed guards and Secret Service surrounded our group the moment our vans were parked, and we were ushered quickly into the White House.

Madam President waited in a private study.

"He called back, just as he said he would. Pointed out that all four involved in Montana, Georgia and Afghanistan are now dead. How the hell did he accomplish that?" the President asked after we'd been seated. "Preliminary medical reports say they died of natural causes. Can we believe that? How did he manage to kill them that way?"

"What did you say to him?" I asked quietly.

"I told him no. I pointed out that he'd arranged for four deaths, after promising them something. I had no desire to work with him in the beginning, and this reinforces my decision."

"What did he say?"

"He turned to blackmail." Madam President covered her face with her hands. "He says he'll kill again if he doesn't get what he wants, only it will be more people next time. Colonel Hunter, we already have a panicked country. What will happen if he delivers on his threat on a much grander scale? How are we to extricate ourselves from all this?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. "I think we should call everyone together and discuss it."

"They're on the way, now. Dr. Shaw, we have a comfortable space arranged for you and these," she swept out a hand, encompassing Maye, Corinne and the others. "We'll keep you informed. Be advised that this could take a while."

*

Corinne

"Did you get enough sleep?" I asked Rafe as we settled on a love seat. The room we'd been led to was tastefully decorated and comfortably furnished, but I wanted to be anywhere except where I was.