Free Plague War by Jeff Carlson

probably expected to meet us,” Cam said.
    “What?” She turned from the body to stare at them, although Cam was only aware of her peripherally. He kept his eyes on Newcombe, who made a vague, restless motion with the binoculars, but Cam didn’t reach for them and Newcombe set the binoculars down on the hood of the car.
    “Bringing in more people is a great idea, actually,” Cam said. “They †y in a whole plane full of their best guys. We inoculate them. Then everyone spreads out with the vaccine.”
    “You’ve been talking to them?” Ruth asked Newcombe.
    Newcombe carried all three of their radio units. The components didn’t weigh much, but it had seemed like another team-oriented gesture, sharing his strength. Now Cam realized that the soldier’s decision was entirely sel‚sh.
    “He’s probably just acknowledging messages,” Cam said, “tapping on the send button again, like Morse code. Right? If you broadcast too much, Leadville could zero in on it,” he said, just as another idea hit him. “That’s why you wanted to get away from us yesterday. You knew we couldn’t set any more food traps. You just wanted to use the radio without us around.”
    “Listen,” Newcombe said, holding his arms away from his sides. It was an open, nonthreatening posture.
    “What else aren’t you telling us?” Ruth asked, trying to put herself between them. Cam was proud of her, †eetingly, even as he kept his attention locked on Newcombe’s hands.
    “The ‚ghting’s escalated,” Newcombe said. “It’s total war. If we get the chance, we have to get out of here.”
    “This man,” Ruth said. “His plane was shot down?”
    “The rebels and the Canadians are putting as much pressure on Leadville as they can, one offensive after another,” Newcombe said. “And it’s working. Most of Leadville’s attention is back in Colorado right now.”
    “But this man,” Ruth said.
    Cam’s heart beat hard in anticipation and his head swam as he imagined jets and helicopters spearing across the Continental Divide, down from British Columbia, up from Colorado. There would be others dodging west into the gray sky above him, engaging each other over the deserts of Utah and Nevada.
    “Even if someone managed to reach us,” he said, “we’d be crazy to get on a plane right now.”
    “That’s our best bet,” Newcombe said.
    “No.”
    “You said it yourself,” Ruth said. “Leadville is distracted. This is our best chance to run into the mountains.”
    “But then you’re still nowhere,” Newcombe said. “It still leaves you an easy target.”
    You’re. You. Newcombe was already separating himself from them in his mind, Cam realized. Should he say it? You go. He and Ruth could keep hiking while Newcombe made the rendezvous. Maybe that would be best. Splitting up was a way to double the odds that someone got away and Newcombe would have his success, completing at least some of his mission goals.
    “Our ‚rst priority has to be to spread the vaccine,” Ruth said, never swerving. “That has to come ‚rst.”
    “Christ, lady, that’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish,” Newcombe said as his gaze slid away from Cam to her backpack. To the data index.
    “You go if you want to,” Cam said quickly.
    “My job is to see you safe,” Newcombe said.
    What did they tell him? Cam wondered. What kind of promises would I hear if I had one of the radios at night?
    “We have to get you back to the labs,” Newcombe said. Cam raised his left hand like a schoolkid with a question, his bandaged hand. A few inches of gauze had come loose and dangled from his glove, stained with dirt and one rust streak from the fender of a car like blood. He raised his hand in a big distracting gesture and then drew his pistol with the other.
    Newcombe †inched. It looked like he almost went for his ri†e, but he froze with both palms out.
    “Give me the radios,” Cam said.

5
    Major Hernandez moved carefully, trying to keep the