In the Grey Read Free

this possible?”
The tone of his voice spoke his horror.
    “ How is anything
possible?” she said.
    “ You’re sure?”
    She nodded.
    “ What does this mean?” he
asked.
    “ They’ve been
awakened.”
    “ I know that,” he said.
“What does it mean for us?”
    Beep, beep,
beep!
    She ran to her phone and
read the text message there.
    “ It’s Nancy,” she said.
“They’re on their way. Can you?”
    He hopped out of bed and
began pulling on his clothing.
    “ I . . .”
she started.
    “ Go,” he said. “I’ll call
the wives. Go. Get to Wyatt before . . .”
    She ran to the door of the
balcony that ran across the back of the house.
    “ Love?” he
asked.
    She turned to look at
him.
    “ You’re naked.”
    John’s arms encircled her.
His surgeon trained hands stroked her behind. She gave him a
crooked smile.
    “ I wish,” he kissed her
lips. “Go!”
    She gave him a soft smile
and ran to the closet. She pulled on a pair of fleece pants, her
heavy snow boots, and a thick fleece sweater. When she came out of
the closet, he was gone.
    She ran to the door. For
the briefest moment, she stopped to look at the safe, silent
comfort that was her life. She closed her eyes to soak up the love
and life that lingered in the air of this room. With a nod of her
head, Alex ran across the cedar balcony to Max’s bedroom. She
raised her hand to knock; he opened it before her fist fell. His
nearly identical face was etched with the same fear. They pressed
their foreheads against each other and hugged.
    “ What did Wyatt
get?”
    “ Your assignment awaits,”
Max said.
    “ Did you feel
the . . . ?”
    “ Infrasound,
yes.”
    “ What did you
do?”
    “ I locked him in the
bathroom.”
    Max stepped back and let
her into his bedroom.
    FFFFF
    Friday, early
morning
    November 5 – 5:40 a.m.
MDT
    Buckley Air Force
Base
Aurora, Colorado
     
    “ Attention!” Sergeant
Dusty called.
    Alex moved to the front of
the room. She looked out at the worried faces of her Fey Team. Her
father’s team filtered into the chairs in the back of the room. The
rest of her father’s team was listening in via computer video
feed.
    “ At ease. There is much to
get through and no time to do it,” Alex said. “Thank you for
getting here so quickly. I know that it’s snowing, and the traffic
is a bear. At least it was for me.”
    A general grumble of
agreement went through the room.
    “ First for my team,” Alex
looked up to see two more of her father’s team move into the back
of the room. “Report?”
    “ Sir?” US Marine Sergeant
Margaret Peaches raised her hand.
    “ Yes,
Sergeant?”
    “ Where is Major Walters?”
Margaret asked. “He has tracked this project from the beginning
and . . . shouldn’t we wait for him?”
    “ Major Walters cannot be
with us this morning,” Alex said.
    “ What?” US Army Captain
Troy Olivas asked from the middle of the room.
    “ Should I go get him?” US
Air Force Captain Zack “the Jakker” Jakkman stood up. “Where is
he?”
    “ Major Walters is safe,”
Alex said. “I will tell you what I know. First, I need to know the results of
your efforts.”
    “ Sir?” US Navy Captain
Vince Hutchins stood up from his seat. “At Major Walter’s request,
I’ve taken command of the project and collected the results of this
morning’s efforts.”
    “ And?” Alex
asked.
    “ The team was able to
reach about sixty percent of the subjects in question through the
phone tree,” Vince said. “The others either didn’t answer their
phones or weren’t where we expected them to be.”
    “ And those we suspect of
being the greatest threat?”
    “ We were only able to
reach about twenty percent or so,” Vince said.
    “ How many?” Alex
asked.
    “ About a hundred,” Vince
said. “Give or take a few.”
    Alex rubbed her forehead
and looked away. She could almost hear everyone’s anxiety rise a
notch. She glanced at the apparition of her best friend Sergeant
Jesse Abreu. He