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Cabrillo dropped the two s pistols, drew his second pair froain even before the corpse of the first guards tumbled off the quad bike

The reuard drove with one hand, as he reached for the AK-47 slung over his back He kept charging, even with the air around hiet off a few shots before he took his first hit, a glancing shot that carved a trench through his outer thigh He fired again, but it was as though his target didn’t care

Juan didn’t flinch as rounds whipped past hi until he found his ered in the time it takes to blink hit the rider in the throat, the kinetic i bits of tendon and sinew so that his head fell off the stu the hill, like a ’s headless horseman When it reached Cabrillo, he lashed out with his foot to kick the body off the saddle seat The dead fingers still gripping the throttle released, and the machine slowed to an idle

Cabrillo ju the crest of the hill so fast he caught air The truck had gained a quartersabot round blasted t

he rock ahead of it the driver veered sharply and gave Juan a chance to cut his lead

CHAPTER 37

MARK MURPHY HAD NEVER FELT WORSE HIS NOSE was red and painful to touch, but he kept having to blow it, so it felt like it would never heal To s worse, he was a serial sneezer If he did it once, he’d do it four or five ti point, and every breath sounded like there werein his chest

If there was one thought to give him comfort, it was that misery loves company, because nearly everyone on the Golden Sky was in a sihtly less severe than his, but she hadn’t escaped the viral infection that swept the ship like wildfire Every few seconds, she’d shiver with a bout of chills Most every passenger reallons of chicken soup and the medical staff passed around handfuls of cold tablets

They were alone in the library, sitting opposite each other, and holding books on their laps in the off chance anyone wandered in Both had tossed wads of used tissues on the nearest coffee table

“I now understand why they chose to release the virus on a cruise ship”

“Why?”

“Look at us For one thing, we’re basically trapped here like rats, stewing in our own juices Everybody gets exposed and re Second, there’s only a doctor and a nurse With everyone getting sick at the same time, they’re overwhelmed If these terrorists hit a city, there are plenty of hospitals to help and therefore much less exposure time for people to infect others An outbreak could be isolated and the victims quarantined pretty quickly”

“That’s a good point,” she said idly, too ed in conversation

A few o over it one more time”

“Mark, please, we’ve done it a thousand ti or water systems, it’s not in the food or anywhere else we’ve checked and double-checked It’s going to take a tea this tub apart piece by piece, to find the disbursal device”