The Demon Plagues Read Online Free Page A

inside of her lip. “DJ asked me to tell you in case it
came up that he thinks it’s too dangerous for a while. Something he
wouldn’t tell me about, some kind of big thing that really worried
him. In fact, he said if you had time off, you should go camping
with the kids. Somewhere away from populated areas.”
    “Dear God, is he worried about more
strikes?”
    “More than normal? I’m not sure, but I think
he’s concerned about nukes again.”
    Elise rubbed her eyes. “Damnit. You don’t
know how lucky you are to be with Larry every day.”
    “Oh sweetie, yes I do. Why don’t you pack up
the kids and come on up here? Yours and ours can keep each other
company, and if you’re at a slowdown, I guess I am too.”
    “Liar. You have a dozen irons in the fire
besides the bio program.”
    “Yes, and nothing going right. We have to
somehow eliminate the threat of these strikes on our facilities.
Doesn’t do any good for research when the staff is worried they
could be vaporized on ten minutes notice.”
    Elise shook her head. “Thank Cass and her
intel network we get that much warning. You’re right, you’re so
right. Okay, I accept. We all need a break, and if I can’t go visit
DJ, I might as well come see you…that didn’t come out right.”
    Shawna laughed, booming. “It’s all right, I
get it. Let me know when you’re on the road. I’ll have the guest
room made up; the kids can bunk together."
     
     

 
     
-4-

    Aboard the mini-sub, Kelley’s face had taken
on a sickly sheen in the glowstick’s light; funny that the Eden
Plague didn’t seem to cure seasickness. Some people got it, and
some just didn’t.
    “Oh, please don’t puke, MG,” pleaded Gunnery
Sergeant Jill ‘Reaper’ Repeth. “It stinks bad enough in here
already. The air scrubber system can’t handle it, and neither can
I. You want to set up a Stand By Me chain reaction? Doc, we got any
compazine?”
    Doc opened up his medbag, dialed the
pressurized injector for a medium dose, handed it to Kelley, then
pulled another one out. “Here, and some diazepam to take the edge
off.”
    Kelley shot himself up, then leaned over with
a groan and pillowed his head on Major Muzik’s massive thigh. The
major rolled his eyes, ignoring the amused looks. If you couldn’t
take some invasion of personal space on this mission, you were in
the wrong place.
    Repeth smiled at Muzik’s discomfiture, then
looked around at the team, checking them off in her mind.
    Colonel ‘Spooky’ Nguyen, commanding: a legend
in the special ops community even before the Eden Plague
rejuvenated him. In the field, you had better be looking right at
him or he’d fade from your vision. She’d heard his English used to
be bad, but there was no trace of that anymore. He sounded like a
Brit now. Claimed the Eden Plague had cleared his brain.
    Major Roger ‘Rock’ Muzik: deputy lead, deadly
with or without any weapon. Big, perfectly muscled, an Adonis in
the shower. She’d looked. While Jill knew she was as dangerous with
her hands as any other FreeCom trooper, Muzik made her – and
everyone else – look like a flailing child in the dojo. Everyone
but the Colonel, anyway. They all loved to watch those two go at
it.
    Master Chief Petty Officer Owen ‘Doc’
Fitzhugh, Master Corpsman. Pale skin, black hair, eerie green eyes,
what they called ‘black Irish’ descended from transplanted Iberian
stock. Even with the Plague, it was always good to have a skilled
medic along. He was also gifted with machinery and electronics, a
true tinkering polymath.
    Chief Petty Officer Michael ‘Machinegun’
Kelley: incongruously caf ￩ -au-lait Creole mix. UD, underwater demolition, which
combined with his studies this last year meant he knew how to take
apart and put together just about any system on the submarine, as
well as use scuba and welding gear.
    Petty Officer First Class Sean ‘Bitzer’
Bonnagh, ruddy and ginger. Bubblehead, formerly of the Royal Navy.
If the mission