“Maybe we need some of that kind of justice here in the States,” Pandora said with an evil grin. “Might nip some of that shit right in the bud. Televise it so people can watch. Hell, sell tickets and use the money to fund charity projects.”
“Might be a moot point if Q and Sin can’t get their acts together in time.”
Pandora’s smile faded. “True.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Alone in his den at home, two-star Major General George Macaletto took off his glasses and set them on his desk. He rubbed at his forehead, trying to stave off the tension headache threatening.
Before heading to their home in Alexandria, he’d stopped by a coffee shop on the other side of DC. There, he’d jumped on a public sat-link, using the laptop he’d paid cash for at a pawn shop in New York City months ago.
He sent a final message to the secret account before scrubbing that and several other private accounts he had in reserve.
Including the secret account he’d used to stay in touch with Gregor.
Considering that Gregor hadn’t reported back following the meeting in Mexico City, Macaletto had to assume the man was dead.
But Gregor also had a couple of days of leave left. And it would look weird if he raised warning flags about Gregor falling out of contact now. He’d passed on information about Gregor via the secret account, but warned them not to push too hard.
They might be able to discover something without tripping any alarms if they had contacts elsewhere.
He didn’t want to know about those contacts, however. It was better that way.
No, he’d have to wait until Gregor didn’t show for work as expected. Unfortunately, Gregor was single, divorced. No one waiting at home for him to check in with them. Although Gregor had been attending church with him and his wife, Kelly, for a couple of years.
That was how Macaletto had known the man was perfect for this, that he was a true believer, too. Many late nights they’d sat at Macaletto’s kitchen table, talking theology and politics while drinking beers.
Gregor had been a kindred spirit. Had wanted to see the US regain its former seat as the world’s superpower. Wanted to see China taken down to its knees and driven back to the Stone Ages.
Had wanted other countries to come begging to the US for help and assistance, subjugating themselves to their country instead of to the worthless UN.
Had wanted to get rid of the filthy dregs of society who did nothing but weigh their country and economy down.
When Kite broke out, Gregor was actually the one who’d seen what a boon this was, especially once The List became known and Arliss had started sending out his pet SOTIF team after leads. Gregor had been the one with the vision to see how well the situation could work to their advantage.
Macaletto had passed that on to Reverend Silo himself, and was pleased when he’d been given the go-ahead to use his best judgment to follow through.
It didn’t hurt that Silo had promised to make sure he and his family had a safe retreat in the St. Louis stronghold, and would be on the top of the list to get the Kite vaccine when it was developed.
Macaletto had no doubts a vaccine would be developed. Either at the CDC, who was still pitifully behind in the research, or via the scientists on The List. Or others. He knew Silo had extensive networks throughout the world, in various corporations, government agencies, in the military, and among high-ranking government officials.
If someone even hinted they might have a viable vaccine, Silo would be there, immediately, to take command of the situation and ensure the country charted its new and better course.
He had no doubts about that.
God willing, Macaletto just hoped he would be able to fulfill his promise to Silo and God to help make it happen before his own family fell victim to Kite, or to the growing turmoil in their country.
Chapter Thirty-Four
India was glad to finally be off the road and settled in a secure location. The irony that Spanish was the predominant language in the neighborhood surrounding their new safe house despite them having returned to US soil did not escape her.
While definitely not ritzy digs, the building was safe, and at least the three of them had a small room to themselves for the first time since leaving Colima.
And it had indoor plumbing and air-conditioning.
She definitely wouldn’t complain about that.
After they’d all spread out for the night, India used the secure sat-link connection Lima had set up for them to hit her e-mail account from her laptop.
She found an e-mail from her mom that not only disturbed her, but it pissed her right the fuck off, too.
The Church was looking for Volunteers to spread the Word of God. Your father and I applied, but They said we were outside the age range They were looking for. Maybe YOU could volunteer? The Church said They will pay the families of the volunteers. That could be PERFECT! When are you coming home? I think the program started already, but maybe you can still apply if you come home right away!
India angrily deleted the e-mail. Besides the sheer brass balls of her parents expecting she’d simply move home and support them after she’d repeatedly warned—begged—them not to throw away all their money, and the fact that they wanted her to take a volunteer position with their church so they could get the money, the random capitalization her mom had used in the e-mail had hurt India’s brain.
Grr.
She shut down the laptop and shoved it into her duffle bag. Yankee walked into their room and spotted her expression. “What’s wrong?”
After telling him, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. “Babe, ignore it. They’re too far gone. Nothing you can do about it unless they come to their senses. We’ve got a bigger picture to deal with. Just keep remembering that. The best way you can help them in the long run is for us to kick this situation’s ass once and for all.”
“I know. It just makes me mad.”
“How about I make you a deal? When we get through this, me and Oscar will go with you to meet your parents, French kiss you in front of them before we tell them that we double-team you, and then we’ll tell them they’re a couple of idiots who need to go get another job because they were the dummies who farted away their money.”
She giggled and tucked her head against his chest. “Sounds like a plan.” She derived evil satisfaction from the shock and horror she imagined would no doubt fill her parents’ faces over the revelations of all of that.
They would deserve it. She’d begged them to be reasonable, to save up their money and not empty their savings account.
She’d be damned if she’d let their poor choices run or ruin her life.
Besides, she had a world to help save.
Despite her earlier dibs with Pandora, India and her men grabbed a shower together before retreating to their room for the night. The men had shoved their bedrolls together on the floor to make a sleeping pallet large enough for the three of them.
Yankee looked concerned as he focused on her. “You doing all right?”
“Will you please quit asking me that?”
“I’m just…worried about you.”
“Stop being worried. If you spend every moment worried about me, your brain isn’t going to be focused on your job. You do your job, let me do mine.”
Now with McInnis as part of the team, they hopefully would make more progress in terms of isolating the commonalities between the Kite mutations. India had received a crash-course in virology from Q and Sin, as they were now calling him, during their journey from Mexico. She had been drafted into play as their official lab assistant.
Oscar hooked a thumb in his brother’s direction. “He’s a worrier. Always has been.”
“Bite me,” Yankee shot back.
“Not even if I was a Kiter,” Oscar replied.
India recognized where this banter would lead if she didn’t quickly nip it in the farking bud. So she did what she’d learned from Pandora would q
uickly refocus her men’s brains.
She whipped off her shirt.
Both men fell silent and stared at her.
She smiled. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m horny. We going to sit here and debate all night, or are we going to get down to the fucking?”
Oscar practically tackled her onto the bedrolls as he quickly latched on to her right nipple. Yankee took the extra time to strip first, kneeling next to her head and grabbing a fistful of hair in one hand and his rigid cock in the other. “Oh, we’re going to get down to the fucking, baby.” He guided her mouth to his cock. She opened wide, meeting his gaze as she closed her lips around his cockhead.
He let out a groan. “Yeah. Just like that.”
Oscar moved lower, shoving her thighs apart before burying his face between them. Her moans as his lips and tongue began playing with her clit were muffled around Yankee’s cock in her mouth.
Yankee’s eyelids lowered, half-closed. “Such a sweet mouth you’ve got. You know I love you, right?”
She froze, his admission startling her. Despite his coaxing to not stop, she pulled her mouth off his cock. “What did you say?” she asked, her tone barely a whisper.
Oscar raised his head. “Duh. We love you. Both of us. We love you, we’re in love with you, all that crap. You want me to keep up with the oral, or you want to talk about it?”
She ignored his snark. “Really? You guys love me?”
“Yeah,” Yankee said, arching an eyebrow in amusement. “We’re secure enough in our manhood to admit it to you first and knowing full well that you might not—”
“I love you guys, too,” she said, hoping they heard her. Her voice felt weak as the happy weight of their admission sank into her brain.
Now Oscar sat up. His tone had changed to all business. “Indy, it’s all right. We’re not asking you to tell us that if—”
“But I do. I don’t know when it happened or how, but I do. It’s more than just fun for me. I love you both.”
Slow smiles crept across the men’s faces. “Cool,” Oscar said. “Glad that’s settled.”
“Wait a minute,” Yankee said. “Shouldn’t this call for a little bit of discussion or something?” She could tell from his tone he was teasing.
She reached between his legs and cupped his sac in her palm. “How about we get back to what we were just doing and talk later?”
“We won’t talk later.” Yankee’s voice sounded a little uneven, like he was having to fight to concentrate to speak. “We’ll fuck and fall asleep. You know that.”
“What is there to talk about?” she asked. “The only thing that’s changed is that once we get Kite taken care of, I want us to sit down and plan our next step. Together.”
“Okay,” Yankee agreed, letting her lean in again toward his cock. “I’m good with that.”
Oscar chuckled. “She’s got the magic touch.” He leaned in and swiped his tongue along the length of her clit. She quickly engulfed Yankee’s cock in her mouth again to stifle the moan of pleasure that rolled out of her.
“Yes she does,” Yankee agreed.
Oscar slid first one, then two fingers inside her cunt, slowly finger-fucking her with them while he teased her with his tongue. Blast the man, he’d become an expert in reading her body, both of them had, and he wouldn’t quite let her get over the edge. He kept her hovering on the brink, just not pushing her over the edge.
Yankee cupped her head in his hands and slowly fucked her mouth. “We’re going to take our time tonight, baby. Like Papa said, we’ve got a down night tonight before we get started again tomorrow. And we plan on using it all on you.”
She saw nothing wrong with that plan.
Closing her eyes, she let the men take over, enjoying the taste and feel of Yankee’s stiff cock in her mouth, the taste, the heat of it, everything. Oscar reached up her body with his other hand and started playing with her nipples, adding another delicious dimension to her ever-growing pleasure.
It felt like forever of hovering in that delicious purgatory between orgasm and not when Oscar sat up and grabbed her legs. “Time for the fun.” He put her ankles on his shoulders and slid his cock inside her, all the way to the root, drawing another moan from her.
Then he reached between her legs and found her clit with his finger. “You know what time it is,” he teased as he quickly revved her back up to the brink again.
Yes, she knew. And this time he let her tip over the edge. She relished the feel of his cock buried inside her and she didn’t hold back her happy cries as she moaned her pleasure around Yankee’s cock.
“There she blows,” Yankee said.
Finally, both men started moving, Oscar fucking her pussy and Yankee fucking her mouth. She knew they wouldn’t have many nights like this in the future and savored the sounds, the feelings, even the scent of their lovemaking. Whatever the future held, she’d face it head-on with these twunks by her side.
Oscar came, quickly followed by Yankee. As they lay there, dozing, her mind wandered. About everything that had happened to her in the past couple of weeks. Of how her life had undergone a seismic shift in every way. How she’d gone from being alone to not being able to imagine life without Oscar and Yankee.
Followed by that, sadness that her parents not only wasted their retirement years, but were so blinded to reality that they had willingly volunteered to give up what should have been their best years all in the name of a religious huckster.
That led her to an epiphany that chilled her through to the marrow.
Her eyes flew open. “Oh, fuck,” she whispered.
Both men sounded alert. “What?” they asked.
She sat up, her heart pounding. She had to be wrong. No one could be that batcrap crazy, could they?
Then again, China had nuked North Korea over the same kind of fuckery.
“I think,” she slowly said, “that I might know exactly what Reverend Silo’s really up to.”
“What?” they asked again.
“Remember what Gregor said? All that crap about sinners and a new world and stuff?”
“Yeah?” they said.
She turned so she could look at both of them. “Bubba said he found out Reverend Silo’s church had been looking for ‘volunteers’ for a special project, right? Specific age ranges, physical types. Young, healthy people, no kids.”
“Yeah?” they said.
“My mom sent me that e-mail I read tonight, telling me the church had refused them because of their age and was starting their program soon.”
“Yeah?”
“And Paul said that the church was looking for doctors willing to work on a project, right?”
Oscar rolled onto his side and propped himself up with his elbow. “So? Spit it out, babe.”
“What has Silo’s church excelled at ever since TMFU?”
Yankee snorted and laced his fingers behind his head. “Sucking up to people who think it’s the second coming of Christ and fleecing them of their money.”
She swallowed hard. “I think maybe Silo’s the one controlling that other guy. What was his name, Macaletto? That maybe Silo’s planning on expanding the apocalypse a little more. Like maybe those volunteers Silo’s recruiting aren’t only going to be spreading the word of God. Maybe he’s hoping they’re going to be spreading Kite, too. He’s got the money to fund something like that, and as a religious organization, he’s pretty much exempt from government scrutiny in many ways.”
Both men sat up and looked at each other. In the dim light she saw the horror registering on their faces.
“Son of a bitch,” Yankee said. “That makes fucking sense.”
She stood and started hunting for her clothes.
“Where are you going?” Oscar asked her.
“We need to tell Papa,” she said. “If I’m right, the e-mail my mom sent said the ‘project’ is going to kick off soon. We need to get out there ASAP and find out what’s going on.”
“That’s not our mission,” O
scar said.
“You said yourself we’re OTG. Part of our mission is stopping Kite. If I’m right, and Silo is going to turn a bunch of civvies loose to infect people, it’s going to make our job a lot harder. He wouldn’t be the first cult leader to willingly lead people to their deaths.”
The men looked at each other and stood, sorting their clothes out, too.
“What are you guys doing?”
They both looked grim. “We’re a team,” Oscar said. “And you’re right. We need to tell everyone, including Q and Sin. Because I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I’ll let that fucker create another apocalypse just so he can line his pockets.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
It took every ounce of control Silo had not to pick up his office chair and smash it into the glass top of his desk. But he couldn’t do that with the man standing on the other side of his desk and watching him.
Instead, Silo forced himself to stand at the windows and stare out over the Sandia mountains to the east. In the waning light, they’d taken on a purple color at the base while the peaks were still bathed in a reddish orange glow.
“Sir?” Jerald finally asked.
Silo took a deep breath before turning again to face Jerald. He couldn’t afford to pitch a tantrum in front of a witness.
He could always go home and take it out of Mary’s hide. Which was probably exactly what he’d do. She was overdue for an ass fucking anyway. “So we don’t exactly know what happened to our contact’s agent?”
“The best assumption we have is that our contact’s agent is no longer…available.”
“Dead?”
Jerald slowly nodded. “The last information I have from our contact is that their agent was going to meet with an unknown party about information on locating the group. Unfortunately, our contact cannot risk further direct inquiry at this time without jeopardizing their position. I did find out from another contact in the NSA that there is a record of the agent flying to Mexico City. They did not…”