Free Last Stand (The Survivalist Book 7) by Arthur Bradley Page A

“It’s not like I can sleep in the middle of the day.” His voice was permanently hoarse from a bayonet wound he had suffered to his throat many years earlier.
    “Suit yourself.” Carr looked down at his belt. “Where’s your sidearm?”
    Baker reached around and pulled the Sig Sauer .22 Mosquito from the back of his waistband.
    “You’ve got me damn near sleeping with this pea shooter.”
    “Good. It might just save your life.” Carr glanced at his watch again. “Dr. Tran is on after you. If he gives you any trouble, wake me immediately.”
    Baker patted him on the shoulder.
    “Go to bed, General. We’re all in this together.”
    Carr nodded and continued down the long corridor. Baker was right, of course. There was no reason for him to be in a continuous state of worry. In roughly twenty-four hours, President Glass and her entourage would emerge to face their fates, whether it was the onslaught of enemy fire or the glare of reporters’ cameras. All they had to do was keep it together until then.

    Congresswoman Lemay sat on a blood-red leather sofa with her legs crossed, admiring President Lincoln Pike’s full head of salt-and-pepper hair. There was only one small window in the office, which she usually counted as one of the many drawbacks of living at the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center. Today, however, the dim lighting cast a cozy, almost intimate, feeling to their meeting.
    “Well, how did it go?” Pike coaxed, sliding a little closer to her.
    “To be honest, Mr. President, it was all quite dull.”
    “Did Dr. Green at least say what time the team will be leaving tomorrow?”
    “She wants everyone to gather at the airfield at six-thirty in the morning.”
    “Six-thirty? Why so early?”
    “Who knows? She strikes me as a woman who has trouble sleeping.”
    “I can ask her to wait until a little later to leave, if you like.”
    She feigned a little yawn, waving her hand in front of her mouth.
    “No, no. It’s no bother.”
    He smiled and offered a friendly nod.
    “I do appreciate you keeping me in the loop on this. I want to make sure that things are done right and that no one is mistreated. You understand?”
    “Of course, Mr. President. I’m here to serve.” She batted her eyes, the lashes so thick with mascara that they looked like baby tarantulas.
    “I’m sure you are, you little whore.” The voice was that of Yumi Tanaka, an apparition of Pike’s dead lover that only he could see.
    Pike glanced over and saw that she was sitting on the edge of his desk with her skirt hiked up to the middle of her thighs. Yumi liked teasing him nearly as much as she liked confrontation.
    He gently mouthed, “Let it go.”
    “Sir?” said Lemay.
    He shook his head. “Nothing. I was just saying that I’ll be glad when you and the rest of the team have had a chance to inspect the bunker. We need to put this matter behind us.”
    “I couldn’t agree more. The sooner this is all put to bed, as it were,” she said with a wink, “the sooner we can get back to focusing on what’s really important.”
    Seeing Yumi slide off the desk was Pike’s cue to get rid of Lemay. While Yumi couldn’t harm the congresswoman directly, she could, and most certainly would, turn her jealous fury on him.
    “I’m so sorry,” he said, quickly standing and helping the congresswoman to her feet. “I just remembered there’s a matter that I need to attend to.”
    Lemay didn’t hide her disappointment at the abrupt ending to their meeting.
    “Of course, I understand. I do hope that we can meet again soon. Perhaps after I return from The Greenbrier. I’m sure we’ll have a lot to talk about.”
    “It’s a—” he stammered as he tried to avoid using the word “date.” “Yes, yes, we’ll put it on the calendar.”
    The gaff seemed to tickle Lemay, and she gave him a wink that said she knew exactly what he was thinking. She offered a handshake that lasted a little longer than it should have and then