Monster Nation(35)

'Bannerman.'

The man in the door had the sort of heavy body shape and steel-blue freshly-scraped jaw of a desk officer with the CIA but he wore the dark suit, red tie and American flag pin of someone who regularly appeared at press conferences. An under-secretary, surely, one of the Department of Defense's leading lights but nobody Clark would be expected to recognize on sight. He didn't offer his name. He sat down in one of the wrapped chairs, not bother to remove the plastic, and cracked open his bottle of water. 'Look at you. Veteran of multiple wars. Well decorated and commended. Thirty-five years on service and you're still just a Captain. I think we both know why.'

Clark moved his cover from one hand to another. He didn't care for the civilian's easy familiarity. 'I've never questioned my lot in life. I simply serve at the pleasure of my Commander in Chief.'

'You never married, that's why. The Army likes married men. It means they're not gay. Sit down, will you? You're annoying me with your conspicuous body language.' The civilian tore open his box of marshmallow treats and stuffed one into his mouth. 'My big weakness,' he intimated when he'd swallowed the yellow goo. 'It's less than a week since Easter, right? Anyway, I don't care if you were screwing Freddy Mercury in the seventies. I don't care if you dig sheep. Sit down, I said.'

Clark did as he was told.

'They're in Chicago now, did you know that? We're keeping a lid on it but it's bad there, very, very, very bad.' The Civilian inhaled a long, slow breath and then laid down the law. 'Look, you're off the case, you know that. FEMA is taking over in California. We need the flexibility and the ability to make snap decisions out there you only get with civilian agencies. The Army's great for doing the same thing a hundred times over and nobody questions your loyalty but this. This is serious.'

'What about Colorado? That's the state I'm sworn to protect.'

'Yeah, the Adjutant General of the COARNG gets to keep Colorado, whoop-dee-doo. He's got full-bird Colonels to put on that and you're not on the short list. But who cares about Colorado? I don't know if you've heard this or not but these dead f*ckers are taking over Los Angeles. I care about Los Angeles. The President cares about Los Angeles. Right?'

'No.' Clark placed his hat squarely on the table and turned it so the brim was facing the civilian.

'I beg your pardon?'

'No, you're not entirely right. You've fallen for what I hope will very soon be classified as an urban legend. The infected are not dead. They've undergone some kind of basal metabolic change, something that depresses their vital signs but they're not dead. I have a team from Fort Detrick looking into it right now. If I'm being reassigned I just wanted to get that fact on the record.' He began to stand up.

'Sit down. You're off the case, yes.' The civilian stood up instead. He peeled one of his Peeps away from its fellows and held it in his hairy hand as if he were cradling an actual baby chicken. 'But you're not done. I like you, Bannerman. I like your first name, I think it's funny, and I like people with funny names.' He walked over to stand behind Clark and slowly, deliberately, placed his yellow candy on top of Clark's cover. 'I also think you're a wonk and the President loves wonks. You were the first responder, the early adapter on this mess. I want you to be my go-to guy.'

Clark inhaled slowly and folded his hands in his lap. 'In what capacity?' he asked.

'As my wonk, I just said that. I don't care what you're called. The President doesn't care what you're called. You can make up your own MOS for this. You can have what you need'I'll rubber stamp anything because I know you, I've read your dossier so many times I know you would die, physically die before you would requisition a Bic pen that wasn't job-vital. What do you say, Bannerman? Are you my wonk or are you my wonk?'

It would mean reporting to this civilian. It meant operating as a free agent, without standing orders'something unthinkable to a career soldier like Clark. It also meant he would have carte blanche to find the girl and maybe bring resolution to the biggest public health crisis since the influenza of 1918.

Clark reached forward and picked up the yellow sugar bomb sitting on his cover. Without hesitation he put it on his tongue as if he were taking communion and bit down. The answer was yes.





Monster Nation





Chapter Seven


Infectuated individuals are known to be of a highly dangerous nature. Under no circumstances should you, as civilians, attempt to subdue or take them out. The police are trained for this. Let's let them do your job. [Televised speech delivered by the President of the United States, 3/31/05]