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Mark concentrated on his coet about the ship as the others stared transfixed at the grisly tableau
Julia Huxley rushed into the Op Center wearing pajama bottoms and an oversized T-shirt Her feet were bare and her hair was a gnarled mess She carried a ency?” she asked breathlessly
When no one answered, she looked up at the screen holding their attention Even for a seasoned e arrayed around the deck of the cruise ship was appalling She visibly blanched, before co herself with a subtle shake of her head She approached the ht and unsteady UAV made it difficul
t to discern details
“It doesn’t appear to be trauma,” she said “I’d say they were struck by soic virus”
“Natural?” Max asked
“Nothing in nature strikes this swiftly”
“They didn’t have the tinal,” Juan remarked, to back up Hux’s assessment
Julia turned to hiet over there Take soear down in the medical bay, and we can set up a decontamination station on deck”
“Forget it,” Juan said “There’s no way I’et soue but Cabrillo wasn’t finished “We’ll do decon on a tethered Zodiac inflatable and then sink it Eric, take over the UAV fro the chopper Mark, go roust Eddie, get yourselves a couple of pistols froar Julia, do you need a hand?”
“I’ll get an orderly to help me,” she said
“Okay Bring a couple extra bio-suits in case there are any survivors” Cabrillo was already on his feet “I want to be in the air in twenty minutes”
The Oregon reached the stricken Golden Dawn a minute short of Juan’s deadline Because of the Robinson’s weight limitations, it would take two trips to ferry everyone and their equipment to the cruise ship Eric had scouted the liner from the drone and detere It was the largest area on the ship that was free of the dead Though the chopper wouldn’t land directly on the Dawn, George Adae biohazard suit like the rest of the a hose on deck, fed from a tank of powerful bleach concentrate, to disinfect the chopper prior to its touching back down
Juan was taking no chances The creould tow the Zodiac over with the ship’s SEAL assault boat would go through a siers and crew of the Golden Daasn’t natural, he knew they were looking at a case of intentional terrorism and murder on a mass scale He was concerned not only about the virus itself but was already thinking ahead to the people responsible
He held out his hands to Julia so she could duct-tape where the suit’s tall gloves meshed with the sleeves She then secured the back zipper with more of the silver tape The airflow off his tank was steady, and the carbon scrubbers were activated He had three hours before he needed to be out of the suit