Read Recovery: V Plague Book 8 for Free Online Page A

nodded,
glad she was here.  Digging in my pocket I pulled out two small tactical radios
with earpieces.  I had taken them off the bodies of the two Marines in the
downed Osprey.  Handing one to Martinez I clipped the other to my vest and
inserted the earpiece.  We briefly tested them and I was happy when they
worked.  Giving Katie a quick kiss I headed for the exit to the main floor, Dog
at my side and Colonel Crawford right behind me.
    We spaced
out several yards so as not to give anyone lying in wait a nicely bunched up
target.  They might get one of us, but by keeping some distance between us it
would be much harder for an ambusher to get both.  Dog stayed close to me, ears
straight up and nose twitching as we moved.
    I had
forgotten just how large the building was.  And how many hiding places there
were.  Martinez was spot on, as usual.  With only two of us we needed an
advantage, and finding security would hopefully give us just that.
    We made our
way through the dimly lit interior.  I kept half an eye on Dog, counting on his
keen senses to alert me to any danger before I could detect it, but he remained
quiet.  The smell of the bodies had been noticeable as soon as we’d left the
VIP area and grew as we progressed across the floor.  Soon the stench of decomposition
was nearly overpowering, but it wasn’t anything we hadn’t dealt with before so
we pushed on.
    Passing the
poker room that Martinez had assaulted I noted the carnage from the grenades
she had used.  Bodies and body parts were tossed about, blood and other fluids
staining the carpet, furniture and walls.  Nothing was moving and I pushed Dog
farther away so he didn’t step on any of the shattered glass that was scattered
across the floor.
    I remembered
seeing an entrance to the administrative offices and suspected that was also
where security would be located.  Reaching a set of heavy wooden doors I tugged
on the handle, but they were secured with an electronic lock and didn’t budge. 
Stepping back I fired a burst into the bolt that held the doors closed.  Wood
splintered, but I had to fire a second burst to damage the mechanism enough to
force it open.
    We made
entry into the hall the same way we’d cleared every other space, and it took a
long time to work our way through a rabbit warren of small offices and
cubicles.  The casino apparently had employed a lot of people that worked
behind the scenes.  One of the rooms we’d cleared as we moved through the area
was a large space with banks of monitors mounted to the wall and a control
station that looked like something out of a Sci-Fi movie.
    Satisfied
the entire area was clear, we moved to the monitoring room and stepped through
the door.  All of the monitors were dark, but the control station had numerous
lights of different colors glowing softly.  It looked like things hadn’t come
back up when the power was restored.
    “You have
any idea what you’re doing?”  Crawford asked me as he turned to check the hall
behind us.
    “Nope,” I
said, pulling out a rolling office chair and taking a seat at the station. 
“But it’s not like I’m going to start World War III if I push the wrong button,
so…”
    I took a
close look at the buttons, switches and keyboards in front of me.  Everything
was neatly labeled, but it was all technical terms specific to the system and
none of it meant anything to me.  Saying the hell with it, I reached out and
began flipping switches and pushing buttons.
    It took some
time but I finally hit the right sequence to activate all the monitors at the
front of the room.  They flared to life, each resolving into a blue screen. 
Several minutes later I finally figured out how to start the computer that ran
the whole thing, a large screen set into the console winking on.
    Once the PC
finished its boot sequence it automatically loaded a menu for controlling the
casino cameras and I smiled when I realized it was actually very user
friendly.  I