Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(14)

Auggie's cell phone rang immediately. "James drank some of the water," Jeff reported.

"Pull over. Honey, pull over," I was terrified in an instant.

Dr. Farrell was already using the ability he had to heal James when we pulled over to the side of the road. I jumped from the SUV and ran back to James' vehicle. Richard's hands were on James' chest while he sent power coursing through James' body to reverse the poison's effects.

I placed my hands on James' chest, too, only it was my goal to neutralize the poison. Richard felt my presence and turned to blink at me, astonished by what I was doing. He could feel it in his hands-that the poison was changing composition to something that wouldn't harm anyone.

"Cori? Will I be okay?" James' voice wobbled when my work was done and I removed my hands.

"Honey, you are one hundred percent okay now," I said. "You wait till I find whoever put that shit in your water, though. They have a big surprise coming, and it won't be a good one, either."

"I'm with her," Richard pulled away and nodded in my direction. "Colonel Hunter, how long is our drive from here?" He turned to Auggie.

"It's less than an hour away," Auggie said, blinking in the bright sunlight that bore down on us.

"Is everybody on the same page-don't drink the water?" Dr. Farrell asked. Everybody nodded. "Good. Whoever did this wanted to thin the herd. We're not going to let that happen."

"I order it not to happen," Auggie said. I could tell he was pissed-we could have lost James and nobody would be happy about that.

"Can I ride with you?" James reached out to touch my arm.

"Honey, you can do whatever you want right now," I said.

"Good." He climbed out of the back seat of Jeff's SUV and put his arms around me.

Honey, I know that was scary, I sent to him. You're okay. Dr. Farrell and I wouldn't let anything happen to you.

"I'm glad you checked the water," James said as I pulled him toward Auggie's SUV.

"That makes two of us," I confirmed.

*

Not far from Devil's Hole Road, just outside the triangle it forms in one area, lies an underground facility owned by the U.S. Government. Its entrance is hidden beneath an old, tin-roofed barn, sitting next to an old ranch house, its exterior hiding the more modern facility located inside. Fences, with Private Property, trespassers will be introduced to our guns and dogs signs hanging everywhere, greeted us as we drove across a cattle guard and onto the property.

"Why the hell do they need a cattle guard?" Opal asked as our SUV bounced across it, the tires clunking over metal pipes and shaking the vehicle annoyingly. There certainly weren't any cattle anywhere-it was desert, with nothing for a cow to eat until you reached parts of California.

"It's wired-it tells them we're coming, and if they weren't expecting us, our tires would have been cut and guards would have shot at us," Auggie said.

"Good news all around," Opal muttered. I laughed.

Ten minutes later, we parked in the barn, where nothing around us resembled the inside of a barn. A modernized metal building surrounded us, while the heavy, steel doors leading into the hidden facility were undergoing repairs-two welders were outside working on them. This was the survivors' final point of escape, looked like.

"I'm not detecting much scent," Nick walked about the interior of the barn, sniffing.

"There probably isn't much to detect," I sighed. "Auggie, one of them knew how to shield, I think, so they wouldn't leave that kind of a trail. It's anybody's guess how they got away, once they were outside this barn."

The facility director chose that moment to appear. He walked up to Auggie and held out his hand. "Pete Dumont," he introduced himself. "I wish I could welcome you under better circumstances, Mr. Secretary."

Pete Dumont had thick, reddish-brown hair that refused to allow any comb to tame it. Streaks of silver ran through the mess of it, indicating that Pete was in his mid-fifties. His green eyes begged Auggie to be friendly, if not nice. Pete felt personally responsible for the escape of sixteen no-longer-human detainees.

"I hope you have images and information on what it is, exactly, we're supposed to track," Auggie gruffed.

"I do," Pete said. "I'm sorry you didn't have this information before, but I was ordered not to reveal it until now."

That meant, in English, that CIA Director Merle Askins ordered it. He'd been placed by Madam President's predecessor, which automatically rendered him suspect in my eyes. Plus, he was a conniving bastard. Everybody said so, just not to his face.

It meant, too, that Merle was likely hiding a ton of excrement from Madam President. Yeah, that pissed me off. You can't ask questions about things you don't even realize exist.

"Merle Askins strikes again," Opal whispered beside me as Pete turned to lead us into the facility.

"You got that right," I whispered back.

*

"Cori," Auggie handed a fistful of photographs to me after he looked at them closely. Pete stood nearby, sweating as Auggie, wearing his Secretary of Defense hat, swore at the images before handing some of them to me, first.

Rafe sat on one side, Opal on the other, so all three of us looked at what sixteen humans had become after surviving the drug.