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swallowed. “I love you too, but you’re not part of this fight anymore.”
    “The hell I’m not.”
    “Way above your pay grade, sport.”
    “Really? I’m more experienced than any soldier you’ve got at taking out crylopholosaurs with a helicopter rotor.”
    She pulled away, and then held his hands. “I’ll grant you that, but if they get that far again that you need to use such creative methods of dispatch, it’ll already be too late. We have to stop them before they make landfall.”
    “We?” He searched her eyes. “I knew they’d want you, but can’t you step away, too? Come with me, be safe and we’ll wait it out, or consult with your bosses long distance. What does it matter if you’re there in person?”
    “Alex. I need to be here. DeKirk was my mission. This…this is all mine, no one has the expertise or knowledge base that I do.”
    “High on yourself much?”
    “I’m not kidding. It’s too late in the game to debrief anyone else. I need to be here at the heart of it all if there’s any chance of tracking DeKirk and ending this before it gets any worse.”
    Alex sighed, and Veronica could see the acceptance in his eyes. He knew she was right.
    “Go,” she repeated. “Be with your mother, kiss her and give her my love, and… God, I don’t know what to say at this point.”
    “You’ve said and done so much already,” Alex said. “She loves you too, like the daughter she wishes I had been.” He gave an emotional laugh. “I…”
    Veronica leaned and stood on her toes, giving him a big kiss. “Get to the airport. I’ll send clearance and reserve a plane for you. I’m assuming you can mark and track your own flight plan.”
    He nodded.
    “Good, because we may need all the other pilots we can get.”
    “That’s why I think I should stay,” Alex said. “Or at least, can I come back and help out after…?”
    He let that trail off, and Veronica shrugged. “Maybe, and yes you’re right, we may need you. Stay close to a phone and be safe.”
    “You too.” He pulled her to him and hugged her close, feeling as if it might be the last time.

6.
     
    Underground Bunker—Location Secret
    As he was prone to do of late, William DeKirk sat alone in the dark. The shadows and the lack of background illumination served to highlight the focus and reality of what he surveyed on the dozen or so screens on the wall in front of him, and the two more on his desk. A bank of servers and land-based phones occupied an alcove to his right while a great steel door stood guard at his back, behind a long conference table. Literal flesh and bone guards barred the entrance on the other side, but inside this room, he was truly by himself.
    He knew he wouldn’t be alone for much longer, so he planned to enjoy his last day of secrecy, seclusion and virtual anonymity, savoring every minute before the final thrust of his plan began.
    Checking the status of his secure communications arrays and internet pathways—a tangled and complex routing of multiple hubs and locations, all built out from this site and expanded across far-flung geographic zones without anyone being the wiser—he smiled to himself.
    This had been decades in coming, and his plan had always had just one blind spot. Actually not so much as a blind spot as what he liked to call a confident future opportunity. One he had been sure would present itself when he needed it. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have a small army of bio-engineers, researchers and doctors all working on various pieces of a puzzle only he could see in its entirety. All he needed was for one of them to come up with the silver bullet—the ultimate weapon he would unleash to bring the world to its knees and allow him to step in and take control. There had been many other potential superbugs—viruses he could have tried, ways to an end—but he was ever the perfectionist, and decided to wait until just the right tool came along.
    He was that confident in himself and his