Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(58)

“McDougall is up north dealing with NORAD last I heard,” Lake said. “He hasn’t reported in for several days, but he will. McDougall is a patriot.”

Whose wife was best friends with Lynne Harmony, yet another reason Bret needed to get Lynne under his thumb. The Brigade and the Elite Force hadn’t worked together before, and the time was coming for them to combine. “Any reports since we reached out to the public about Lynne?”

“We have the message continually looping, and we’ve received many responses. An interesting one came from a co-op in northern California.”

“A co-op?” Bret lifted an eyebrow. “Like a farming co-op?”

“Yes.” Lake smiled, revealing stark white teeth. “They sound like a bunch of farmers with a ham radio, so we could easily take their food.”

Bret rubbed his smoothly shaven chin. “Hmm. We’re going to need food, and they know how to farm. We might have to implement some sort of tax that requires their trading food.”

“For what?” Lake asked.

“Their lives. We allow them to live, and they do as they’re told.” Bret didn’t have time for niceties, and he no longer had an IRS to take taxes. “We’re under martial law, Congress is gone, the Supreme Court is gone, and only the executive branch is left. I think this time we might take a lesson or two from feudal England.”

Lake chuckled. His pure blue eyes contrasted with his sharp buzz cut in a way that made the man look like a knife. “Yes, Mr. President.”

The perfect soldier. Bret smiled. “Are you sure you haven’t been infected by Scorpius?”

“I have not, sir.”

Interesting. Lake had the rare characteristic of lacking a moral compass to mess with his life, and Bret could appreciate that fact. A part of him wanted to infect Lake just to see what he could become, but another part counseled caution. First, he didn’t want to lose the man who’d walk through fire for him, and second, he didn’t need Lake any stronger and smarter than he already was. “You are a true soldier, Greg,” Bret said.

Lake’s chin rose. “Thank you, Mr. President, although so far I’m failing you in the most important mission, considering I personally chose the men for the Elite Force.”

“Yes, but that’s not entirely your fault,” Bret said, tugging on a small USB drive he wore on a black cord around his neck. His Harmony USB drive. All of her research as well as Nora McDougall’s research was on it. He understood most of their findings and knew more information was at the damn Myriad Labs. Why the former president had kept it top secret was beyond him, and more than a little frustrating, considering Bret had killed him before gaining the information.

The flash drive also held Bret’s pictures of Lynne, and if he wanted, he could get somebody to rig an old laptop with a generator just to see her. Although he had plenty of pictures in his paper file, which he looked at nightly. “Lynne’s uncle was a retired cop, and a damn good one. Obviously, he was also very good at disappearing. Not every soldier can be that, ah, effective.”

Lake’s jaw hardened, and a vein stood out in his neck. “I will make sure we find her, sir.”

“I believe you. She has been steadily traveling west, and if she continued her trajectory, she has to be somewhere between Arizona and the Pacific. We will find her.” Bret tapped his fingers on the desk. “She’s heading west to find Myriad. Are we any closer to locating it?”

“No. The only intel we’ve gathered is that Myriad is in California.”

Another knock rapped on the door.

Lake instantly shot to his feet and stood at attention.

“Enter,” Bret said, eyeing the canister of Scotch on the far counter. He hadn’t had a drink all day.

A young soldier entered. “Sir? We’ve had contact with a community just outside of Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Five families, basically scavenging to live.”

Bret sat back. “So?”

“They helped Lynne Harmony for two nights,” he said.

Lake pivoted around. “Are they sure?”

The soldier swallowed. “Yes, sir. She was by herself, no doubt recovering from our shooting her uncle in Tucson, and they gave her food and shelter. On the second night, one of them caught the glow from her heart through her shirt, so she ran. They haven’t seen her since, but after our message, they’re afraid they’ve been infected with the stronger strain of the Scorpius bacteria.”

There was no stronger strain. Bret fought the heat of fury at hearing Lynne had escaped once again. His temperament hadn’t returned to normal after the infection, and he had to fight to control himself. “You know we invented the rumor about her in order to get people to call us back, right?”

The kid widened his stance. “Yes, sir.”

Bret focused on Lake. “How many men do we have with us?” He’d had to spread his new units out across the country gathering intel, food, and weapons as well as protecting crucial resources.

“We have twenty-five on this mission, sir,” Lake said.

“Good. Send three seasoned men to meet with the families and get all information they might have. By any means necessary.” Bret played with a pure silver letter opener that would look beautiful piercing a traitor’s throat. “Then kill them.”