John Ringo - Under a Graveyard Sky

“How much do you need?” Stacey asked. “I mean…”

“I only got about forty doses from our first run,” Tom said. “And after I said I needed two hundred doses, four hundred actually since there’s a primer and a booster, I got the estimate upped by higher. So the answer is: a lot. The general idea is to keep producing until we hit the eject bar. Or, rather, shortly before.”

“I can…” Steve said, then looked around.

“Would you like me to think ahead for you?” Tom said. “The boat needs to be secured. Although the girls and Stace are trained by you, they’re not you or I. I could detail someone to secure the boat but given the circumstance I’m not sure who I’d trust to hold a boat in the harbor. So you need to stay. And Stacey is your engineer, not to mention just about the kindest person in the entire family. I don’t see her as an assistant to our resident mad doctor.”

“Is he mad?” Stacey asked.

“No more than Steve or I,” Tom said, shrugging. “Bit of an arse, but then so are Steve and I,” he added with a grin.

“You’re saying one of the girls,” Steve said. “To assist you in murder.”

“Assuming that this ever comes out,” Tom said, “and assuming that people don’t just ignore it and assuming that Sophia’s role in it ever comes out, the most she could be charged with is accessory after the fact. The only person’s who are going to know she knows what she is doing are more culpable by far. And you can be assured I’ll be moving heaven and earth to make sure she’s not locked up when the fall comes. To the point of having the plans ready for the prison break.”

“Which will be difficult for you to affect if you’re in prison as well,” Steve pointed out.

“Which is why you’re going to have them,” Tom said, grinning. “The other reason for you to be out here , brother of mine. Seriously. I need Sophia. You have my assurance as her uncle that she’ll be secure while she’s on the island. Oh, and she’ll get paid. In gold.”

“Why would people ignore it?” Stacey asked, temporizing.

“Because I know I’m not the only one with this bright idea,” Tom said. “I don’t have any hard data on that but I guarantee that NYPD is doing the same thing. The cops aren’t going to go without vaccine. Nor is NYFD. And all the same rationales hold. One: it gets dangerous zombies off the streets without having to put them in permanent isolation. Which is consuming so many resources it’s getting ineffective. Two: it saves people. Yes, it requires that some die that others live but they’re already effectively no longer human. At least that’s what I tell myself in the middle of the night. Oh, and for another reason to release Sophia: it gets her off the boat. That’s less resource use and I know that she and Faith have been driving you nuts.”

“I’d rather you took Faith,” Steve said, shaking his head. “If I hear the word ‘bored’ out of her mouth one more time I’m going to throw her over the side.”

“Which of them would you rather have producing your vaccine?” Tom asked.

“Sophia,” Stacey and Steve said simultaneously. Then chuckled.

“Send them both,” Tom said. “I can find something to occupy that little hellion that doesn’t involve being on a BERT.”

“BERT?” Stacey asked.

“Biological Emergency Response Team,” Tom said. “And I’ll ensure they both get the same protection as any of our execs. They’ll be safe. They can quarter with me. I’ve got the room.”

“You’ll regret that,” Steve said, looking at Stacey.

“We’ll have to talk to them about it,” Stacey said. “It’s…”

“A horrible thing to ask,” Tom said. “But it’s necessary.”

“Let me go get them,” Steve said.

* * *

“We get to get off the boat?” Faith said.

“Let me get this straight,” Sophia said, carefully. “My uncle is chopping up people to make vaccine?”

“Possibly,” Tom said, calmly. “And yes.”

“And you want me to help?” Sophia said.

“You wouldn’t be directly involved in termination,” Tom said. “Or harvesting. Or certain other aspects. Just working in the lab with Dr. Curry to produce the vaccine. The worst part is the first bit. Dr. Curry will handle that. After that it’s just centrifuging and irradiating materials.”

“ I’ll help,” Faith said. “If it gets me off this boat!”

“I’ll find something else for you to do,” Tom said. “Although I’m not sure what. I can’t exactly put a thirteen-year-old on guard duty…”

“You don’t trust me?” Faith said. “Thanks a lot!”

“At my back, sure,” Tom said. Okay a little white lie. He’d rather have her in front so he wouldn’t get shot by an AD. “In a lab? Let’s face it, Faith, you’re not detail oriented.”

“True,” Faith said, grinning. “You’d trust me at your back? Really?”

“Really,” Tom said. “And I’ll figure out something useful for you to do. But not anything involving securing, terminating or harvesting. Oh, and if this does come out and the authorities become involved, nobody knows nothing. Understood?”

“Oh, yeah,” Faith said, making a zipping motion on her lips. “Sealed tight.”

“I’ll do it,” Sophia said, shrugging. “It needs to be done and I can see why you chose me. I…appreciate the trust if not… Really don’t want to chop up people stuff. But… Okay.”

“I’m sorry I’m asking,” Tom said. But he’d already been back and forth enough on the subject. “But…yeah. Thank you. And there’s another bit,” he said, pulling out some paperwork.

“You need to hire me?” Sophia asked.

“You’re going to be an intern,” Tom said. “We’ll handle that paperwork at the bank. This is paperwork making your parents ‘associated security contractors’ with the Bank and paperwork to permit the vast store of weapons I’m sure Steve brought to be legally held in New York harbor…”

“You can’t even have weapons in New York harbor ?” Steve said. “What the hell is wrong with this place?”

“The law on it is iffy,” Tom said. “But what they’ll do is have the Coast Guard board you with some NYPD harbor patrol people along. If there are weapons, they may not, legally, be able to seize them but they’ll do a bend and spread on you looking for an excuse. Right now, the City and various corporations, hem, hem, are hiring security contractors left and right. This is all the paperwork. You fill it out, I’ll file it and get the certification back to you. Technically, you’re not fully legal until the certs have been authorized by the appropriate bureaucrats. But with the certs pending review, you’re covered enough. And the office that does the certifications is overrun right now so nobody should geek.”

“When do we leave?” Faith asked, standing up. “I need to get dressed.”

“As soon as your parents finish filling out the blanks on the paperwork and you get packed,” Tom said. “Why do you think I brought the big boat? And dressed how?”

“Dressed for Zombie New York!” Faith said. “You don’t think I’m going walking through the streets of a New York overrun by zombies in street clothes do you?”

“Yes,” Tom said, carefully. “Yes, I do. Because you’re a thirteen-year-old girl. If you go walking through the streets of New York dressed up like a zombie contract hunter in Fallujah, you’re going to get escorted to juvie. Where, like as not, some kid will go zombie and bite you. So, yes, you’re going to go dressed in street clothes. I’ve got security waiting to pick us up at the dock.”

“Are there zombie contract hunters in Fallujah?” Steve asked.