Free The Sixth Level (Secret Apocalypse Book 2) by James Harden Page B

starting point."

    "What if there’s no landing area near the tower?" Ramirez asked.

    "If there is absolutely nowhere to land, we drop in. Hudson will circle back and find a safe place to land and wait for our call."

    I did not like that idea at all. Firstly I didn't like the idea of abseiling out of freakin helicopter hundreds of feet above the middle of the city with a million infected below us. And secondly I didn't like the idea of going in without Daniel. He was the only one I knew, the only one I trusted fully. And out here in the absolute middle of nowhere, about to head into a warzone, the feelings I had for him were intensified and magnified.

    "Rebecca has informed us that our targets, that her friends would’ve moved further west if given the opportunity. But we can assume they have taken temporary refuge in one of the sky scrapers in the city. Hopefully they will be able to see us before we see them. Hopefully it won’t be that hard to find them."

    "What if they’re not there?" Daniel asked.

    "Then we search until we find them. We go block by block, building by building. Once we clear the city center we make our way west. We follow the river system. But we will not rest until we find them. I can’t stress the importance of this mission. We find this girl. We can stop the plague."

    The soldiers nodded their heads, visualizing the mission in their minds eye.

    "Anymore questions?"

    "When do we get paid?" Smitty asked.

    "Yeah, are we getting overtime for this or what?" Griffin added.

    "Knock it off you two. I don't need to remind you guys that this mission is black ops. We screw up. We're on our own."

    "Wouldn't have it any other way, Major."

    "All right team," Ethan said. "I want the Ospreys prepped and ready for takeoff immediately. Weather reports for the east coast indicate the dust storm is still intensifying. But as soon as the storm settles, we're moving out."

     
    Chapter 8

     
Daniel and Ramirez had finished prepping both Ospreys. Apparently one was to be left here as a backup. And Ramirez was to remain here at camp and pilot the backup if anything happened to the first one. Or if anything happened to us and we needed help.
    Ramirez told me they have a saying. "One is none. Two is one."
    Having a back up and a contingency plan was crucial. I could not have agreed more.
    Daniel let me know I had my own footlocker, so I could store my bag. I decided to keep the letter from Kenji there as well. I didn’t want to risk losing it or ruining the ink or whatever. I promised myself I would read it when we got back. No matter what.
    Daniel was worried about leaving the X-wing outside the perimeter while we were gone. So he parked it inside. The noise was amazingly loud when he fired up the engines. I wonder how much fuel he used up just to move it that short distance.

    Once it was safely parked inside, the guys started checking their weapons and their packs, making sure they had enough ammo and enough supplies for the mission. It was nearly time to go. We were about to leave and I was getting nervous. My hands were sweating profusely and my heart was beating like a drum.

    But then Ramirez informed us that the dust storm over Sydney had intensified so we had to wait some more.

    The waiting was hard. It was mentally and emotionally draining. Having our adrenalin levels so high was exhausting. Minutes turned into hours. But we still had to wait for the all clear.

    I remember once I had a fight with Kenji. Back before I moved to Sydney, back before everything went to hell. It was our first ever fight. I can't even remember what it was over. I think it was something stupid about how I didn't want to spend the night at his place because it might make things more complicated. After the fight I was just so exhausted. I was mentally and emotionally drained and tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. And I didn’t care if it was in his bed or mine.

    I wish I could have a fight like that now. It was such a