Quaranteam: Phil's Tale

Chapter 3

Quarantine had been rough on everyone, and the first few weeks, it felt like living in a graveyard. People were instructed to stay at home if at all possible, not to go anywhere, not even to work, and the panic was starting to set in whenever he turned on the television. By April 1

st

, everyone wanted it to just be a bad dream they could all wake up from and get away from, but no such relief was coming.

Phil found himself waking up in the middle of the night from dreams about his time spent playing fighting games, and each time he did, he wanted desperately to phone up a couple of his friends and gather them for a small tourney at his place, but he knew he couldn't. It wasn't safe.

April 7

th

was the first day anyone on the news used the words "DuoHalo" and the minute it happened, there were a dozen calls being made to Phil's office, asking if the serum could be deployed, if it would be ready for even a small number of tests.

He didn't have answers.

Just one day later, his whole world would change. April 8

th

, 2020 was a Wednesday, and Phil usually met up with his friends for poker night, but that had been put on hold with the quarantine, and so Phil had decided to stop by Target on his way home. Toilet paper wasn't going to be on shelves, but he needed some basics like toothpaste and razor blades.

The advisement was that if you had to go inside, you had to wear a facemask, and so Phil had the best available. The store was a ghost town, with only the barest minimum of employees walking through the aisles, and even they were masked up, keeping as much distance between the customers and themselves as possible. Those few customers he did see, they were wearing not only masks, but gloves, scarves, hats, goggles, anything to minimize their exposure as much as possible.

The Air Force had asked him to let them take care of getting supplies, but Phil had insisted that from time to time, he was going to go out into the world, just to make sure it was all standing. They didn't like having him out in the open, worried that he could pick up the virus, but Phil told them they had to allow him at least a little mobility, otherwise he would be likely to make mistakes at his work, something none of them could afford right now.

He hoped that he and Linda just sort of blending in to the small numbers of customers that the store had, but she kept extremely aware of what was going on at all times. He pushed the cart and she walked off to one side. He'd gotten used to her mostly being around, but disappearing for a few minutes at a time, off checking one thing or another, ensuring that he was fine and safe. It all seemed rather silly to him, but he'd learned not to question her, as it only seemed to make her grumpy.

The parking lot had been a near ghost town when they'd arrived, only a dozen or so cars, almost all belonging to employees. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the aisles of a Target looking so utterly empty. It felt like something out of a post apocalyptic film.

He was in the shaving cream and deodorant aisle when he saw Linda start to head towards the end of the aisle, stopping to look back at him. "Wait right here until I get back, okay?"

"Sure," he said, "I need a couple of minutes anyway." She didn't wait beyond his first word before turning and vanishing around the corner. Normally when she left him alone, it was just for a minute or two, but she was gone for nearly five minutes before she came back to him, walking briskly.

"Leave the cart, we're leaving," she told him.

"Are you--"

"

Now

Phil."

"Yes ma'am."

He didn't like leaving without making his purchases, but he'd not heard Linda be so short with him before, and decided that meant things were serious, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that attitude. As they approached his blue Tesla, she made her way to the driver's side instead of the passenger side, something that caught Phil off guard.

"Linda, what are--"

"Get in the

fucking

car, Phil," she growled at him, sliding into the driver's seat. "

NOW!

"

Phil hopped into the passenger's side of the vehicle, pulling the door shut quickly. The car was beeping at her, as they both struggled to get their seatbelts on quickly, and as soon as they did, she was backing the car up with a quick zip.

That was when Phil noticed the black van in the parking lot for the first time.

One thing Phil truly loved about his Tesla was that the vehicle had an immense amount of zip, and as the car whipped out onto the street, the vehicle began to play "London Can Take It" from Public Service Broadcasting, a nice electronic number with old new reel audio from the bombing of London during World War II spliced into it. "That's the spirit," she muttered to herself. "Phil, you remember that emergency number I had you put into your phone last month? Go ahead and call that for me, would you?" She snaked the vehicle around a corner, not even slowing down at the red, as Phil glanced behind them to see the black van in pursuit. "Now, if you please?"

"Uh, right, right," he said, fishing his phone from his pocket. She'd given him a number to call in case she was injured or other emergencies when she couldn't call someone herself. He'd put it into his phone as "All Hell Breaks Loose." It was on his Favorites screen.

The phone rang only once through the handsfree on the Tesla before a familiar voice popped up on the other end of the line. "Doctor Marcos," Lieutenant Redwolf said to him on the other end, "what seems to be the trouble?"

"Niko, it's Linda," his bodyguard said, not letting him get a word in edgewise. "I need you to issue a Crimson Alert to all protectorate services we have in the field right now, and get everyone back to the base as quickly as possible."

"I'm sorry Captain, did you--"

"Yes, I repeat, issue Crimson Alert

immediately

."

"Copy that."

"I also need you to issue an alert to Walnut Creek PD, as well as the Feds, and let them know there's a body of a foreign national in the women's restroom of the Walnut Creek Target. I was defending myself, and I will cooperate with their investigation, but it's a national security matter, and we need to button that shit up quickly."

"Are you wounded, ma'am?" Niko asked.

"Negative, but we are currently being pursued by a van full of hostiles," she said, her voice terse and to the point, although there was something relaxed about her tone, as if this was something she did every day. It was serenity that worried him the most. "I suspect they're going to break off soon, but I want you to get Walnut Creek PD to try and head them off if they can. We're on Ygnacio Valley Road, eastbound, just passing San Carlos Drive. If they can apprehend the van, that would be lovely, but tell them to consider the target as extremely aggressive."

"Copy that, ma'am. Do you want me to remain on the line with you until you're back on base?"

"Negative, Lieutenant," Linda said. "I need to focus. I'll see you soon."

"Good hunting, Captain."

He wanted to ask a million questions, but also didn't want to distract Linda from her driving. While Phil had thought he'd really put the vehicle through its paces, he was astonished how he hadn't even been in the same league as Linda, who was doing her best Steve McQueen, the electric car snaking across the lanes.

After a couple of minutes, he glanced back just in time to see a couple of police klaxons light up behind the van, who turned off onto Walnut Ave. As soon as they did, Linda swerved the car suddenly, making a U-turn right in the middle of the mostly empty street, moving in to slide in behind the police cars as they blazed around the van, swarming around it like angry bees. One of the police cruisers tried a PITT maneuver, ramming into the back corner of the van, sending it into a spin before it smacked up into a tree.

Linda pulled the Tesla in behind the police cars, glancing over at Phil. "Stay here, keep your head down, do not get out of the fucking car, okay?"

He didn't even have time to answer before she was out of the car, closing the door behind her with one hand, drawing her sidearm from its concealed place under her outfit. Phil saw the side of the van open and four men dressed in all black, including ski masks, hopped out, AK-47s at the ready.

Before the first one could even raise his rifle to point at the police, Linda had fired off a round at the man from her 9mm, slamming into his left shoulder, spinning him back. Her second shot went through the head of the man to his left. She slid down behind one of the cop cars, where officers had taken cover.

She said something to them, as the two remaining men sprayed a wave of bullets over at the car Linda was behind. That gave the cops behind the other vehicle the chance to pop out and fire a handful of rounds into the men, who collapsed back against the van. The van's driver slowly tried to exit the vehicle, his hands raised high into the air. The officers moved in together, approaching with caution, their weapons still at the ready, as one of them moved to cuff the driver, and the others closed in on the downed men, removing their weapons, checking to see which of them were still alive and which weren't, because the second one Linda had shot was clearly never going to get up again.

The driver's side door opened suddenly while Phil's attention was on the fight, as a big, burly man in attire matching those who had just jumped out of the van, slid into his Tesla. The man had clearly intended to just drive off with Phil in the car, but was unfamiliar with how to operate a Tesla, and couldn't get the car out of park, so Phil reached into his pocket, grabbed his stun gun and tased the man for a long moment. The man's body spasmed at the high current electrical shock then slumped forward, and Phil burst out of the car, running towards Linda, shouting "Help! Linda!"

Her head whipped around and she drew her weapon back up, firing in his direction while walking towards him, as he dropped to the ground in panic. She fired exactly twice then stopped, sprinting over to help Phil back up from the ground. "You okay? I told you to stay in the car."

"Somebody hopped

into

the fucking car!"

"Okay, that's fair then." She walked with him back towards his car, amusement in the tone of her voice behind the mask. "You juiced him?"

"Hit him with the stun gun, just like you told me to. Now can we get him out of my fucking car already?"

"Sure, just gimme a minute," she said, her voice as calm and cool as ever. It was almost disconcerting how relaxed she seemed about all of this. "Walk with me."

There had been a second man just to the right of his car that Phil hadn't seen, and it looked like Linda had put a couple of bullets into the man. She wanted to check and make sure he was downed, although it looked like the man was wearing bullet proof armor that had absorbed one of the two rounds. The other had gone clean through his shoulder. She flipped the man over onto his belly, reached into one of her pockets and grabbed some plastic ziptie cuffs, binding the man's arms behind his back by the wrists.

"Weapon down, ma'am!" an officer said in her direction.

She sighed, placing her gun on the ground. "Alright, I'm reaching for my badge with my left hand, alright? I will do so slowly." With her left hand, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a leather gatefold wallet, tossing it over towards the officer behind her. "Captain Linda Hayes, Air Force Security Services. Check your dispatch.

I

called

you

."

The officer crouched down to grab the wallet while her partner kept his gun drawn and pointed at Linda and Phil. After a minute, the crouched officer stood up, nodding to her partner. "It's okay, they're friendlies," she said, as Linda moved to pick up her weapon once more. "Sorry Captain, you know how it gets when everything gets chaotic," the officer, who Phil could now see was named Winters, said, tossing Linda back her wallet. "What the hell happened?"

"Not at liberty to offer up all the details, Officer Winters, but I'm part of a protectorate detail, and someone decided to take a run at kidnapping my client, and they seemed completely willing to dust up anyone who got in their way. Speaking of which, I'd like to get him to safety as soon as possible, if you don't mind. While we might have prevented this one attempt, I suspect there'll be others, and on other members of our client list."

"What about these clowns?"

"Get them medical attention, but do not let them out of your sights until someone from either the Air Force or the Feds shows up to take them into custody. Keep all details of who they are off the radios and computers, otherwise you may have people from an embassy trying to come and spirit them away before we get a chance to talk to them, and that's the last thing I want."

"Who the hell are they?" Winters asked her.

"Probably cutouts, but they just might have Russian diplomatic papers, so I'd rather not take that chance. Better silent than slippery."

"The Russians?" Winters said. "We back in the Cold War, Captain?"

"We never left it," Linda said, yanking the unconscious guy out of the front of Phil's car. She cuffed his limp body and then shoved him into the back seat of the Model 3. "I'll take this guy to the base myself, so I can start in on getting a handle on what the hell's happening." She looked back at Phil, gesturing back to the passenger's side. "C'mon, let's go."

As soon as the vehicle was back on the road, Linda asked him to call the number again. "Captain?" Niko's voice said on the end after half a ring.

"You got it, Lieutenant. I have Challenger secure and we are no longer in pursuit. Inform the General that I have a prisoner in tow, and that we have a handful more in police custody. Has everyone reported back in safely?"

Niko sighed a little on the other end. "Negative, Captain. Most teams are either back on base or are en route, but we have one detail that is dark and hasn't responded to hails."

"Which detail?"

"Beekeeper's. Captain Harris checked in half an hour ago, but hasn't responded to hails, and her transponder hasn't moved."

She sighed a little, perhaps the only inflection of emotion he'd heard from her since they'd left the department store. "Shit, that means they're already compromised. Patch me through to the General."

"One moment, Captain."

There was a brief click before a new voice popped onto the line, Major General Fielder, the head of the base. "Tell me Challenger is safe and sound, Captain."

"Yes sir, and we're just two minutes from the base, but Lieutenant Redwolf informs me that Beekeeper's detail hasn't reported in, so at this point, I would assume that he's been abducted."

"Any ID on the bandits, Captain?"

"Everything about them screams Russian to me, sir, but I cannot authenticate that guess at this time, although I have a bandit in tow so we can do some interrogation when he's conscious."

"Took one alive, did you?"

"This one Challenger tased himself, sir."

The General chuckled a little. "Shocked the bogey yourself, did you Doctor Marcos?" he said, addressing Phil through the speakerphone.

"He was trying to steal my fucking

car

, General," Phil said, his whole body suddenly feeling extremely exhausted. "I may kick him around a bit getting his ass out of my back seat."

"I don't think anyone would object to that, Doctor. Anyway, you two stay safe and get back here as quickly as possible."

"Pulling up to the gate now sir," Linda said.

"Good. I'll check in on Beekeeper." The line went dead, just as the Tesla pulled up to the checkpoint, and Linda glared at the guard, who lifted the rail and waved them through.

"Who's Beekeeper?" Phil asked her.

"McCallister," she told him. "How much of the project do you think he could recreate from memory if he had to?"

"Fifty, maybe sixty percent, but he'd have a bitch of a time recreating the serum without notes, and all those notes are kept on base, because he wasn't part of the initial team that built the damn thing. Why, do you think that's the intent?"

"They put a full abduction team on you," she said. "Could

you

have recreated it without notes?"

Phil nodded soberly. "Yeah, I think me and Bill McKenna are the only two who could, and if I'm off base, Bill has to be

on

base. You guys mandated that when you came on, and I remember thinking it was silly at the time."

"Not so silly now, is it?" she said to him, bringing the Tesla to park in a spot close to the door, as two soldiers headed towards the car. She hopped out and jerked a thumb towards the back seat. "Bag him and tag him, then get him set up in one of the test subject rooms. We don't have an interrogation room on site, so it'll have to do."

As the two of them walked into the base, Phil turned to ask her "So, why is my code name Challenger?"

"It's on that character select screen of the game you're always playing. 'A new challenger appears!' I guess it just stuck." Her posture was enough to surprise Phil, as she leaned her back against the elevator like it was just any other day.

"I don't understand how you can be so calm during all of that," he said to her.

"It doesn't help me any to get worked up, so I just dial in on the work that needs to be done and do everything I can to make sure you're safe and that we have an exit that keeps you on American soil."

When the elevator hit the bottom floor, another question sprung to mind. "Were you expecting someone to try and kidnap us?"

"We didn't just put the details in place for no reason what so ever, Phil," she said, the slightest flicker of amusement in her voice. "The Chinese, the Russians, hell, a bunch of people we call allies are probably looking to get their hands on your research right now, as the bodies keep piling up. Speaking of which, we need to both get tested quick here, make sure we didn't pick anything up from those assholes. I wouldn't put it past them to try and send infected soldiers after us."

The two of them walked immediately down the hallway and into the isolation room, sealing the door behind them.

"What are we going to do if we are infected?" Phil said.

"Let's just pray we aren't," Linda said. "You're a good Catholic, right?"

"Yeah, although I haven't been able to go to church for months now."

"I think God'll understand, given the circumstances."

"I hope so," he said, drawing a bit of his blood before drawing a bit of hers, putting the two vials into the centrifuge, so that it could be tested. "We'll know in a couple of--"

The doors opened and suddenly shut again, as Audrey rushed into the room, hugging him before he could tell her not to come in. The diminutive Hispanic woman clutched onto him tightly, her arms forming a hard lock around his midsection. "Jesus, Phil, don't fucking scare me like that!" she yelled at him. "I heard that someone had been kidnapped and all I could think of was that you weren't on base, and I got so fucking scared!"

He and Audrey had gone on a couple of 'dates,' if they could be called that, over the last few weeks. They'd done the classic 'dinner and a movie' but the dinner had been a meal at the commissary and the movie had been streamed on his computer.

"Audrey!" he said. "We're in quarantine in here! We were attacked and we could've been infected, so you should've waited outside! Now I'm going to have to test you too."

Linda shook her head. "No need, Phil," she sighed. "We're all infected." She held up the vial, the telltale green flecks in their blood having appeared immediately after she'd introduced the testing solution. "Well, fuck."

A few hours later, Doctor Charlotte Varma had agreed with Phil's assessment -- they were going to have to be the first human guinea pigs for the new modified serum. Dr. Varma had come up with something she was relatively certain would splice onto the serum, and that it would be safe to inject into women, and then to pass on to men through sexual contact, but it hadn't been fully tested yet, so they were going to be the first people to put themselves on the line.