State of Decay Read Free Page A

two men approached me as I rubbed my wrist. I moved over to where the revivor lay, trying to get back up as fluid pooled around its head. I aimed the gun and fired, putting a bullet between its eyes. I fired three more rounds and the top of its head broke open, spilling black guts out onto the floor.
    “Whoa, whoa!” the officer said, holding up one hand. “You got him, chief.”
    “That is not a pleasure or a labor model,” I said, pointing at it with the barrel of the gun.
    Something was going on here. Tai was into something that went way beyond what I’d gone there to bust him for; something he’d managed to keep secret.
    I turned and saw Tai being dragged into view down at the end of the hall. Two more officers forced him against the wall, and when he tried to turn around, one of them kicked out his leg and forced him onto his knees.
    “Hands behind your head.”
    “Starting a war?” I asked him.
    He grinned. “Keep your doors locked,” he said in a low voice, glaring at me. He didn’t look angry, just serious.
    “Shut up,” the SWAT guy said. I turned and started down the hallway.
    “You hear me?” Tai called.
    “Yeah.”
    I passed the wall where Tai had pinned me, and saw his knife lying a few feet away. I approached the squad leader.
    “There are ten revivors out back,” I said to him, “plus one in the bathroom.”
    “Looks like our guys picked up another ten,” he said, “plus the rest of Tai’s men. You all right?”
    “Yeah. Process Tai and the others, then load them and the revivors into the truck.”
    “Roger.”
    “Were your techs able to get a connection into his computer system?”
    “You should have access now.”
    I scanned and found the socket, then opened a connection to it and brought up the system in my field of view. I turned the antisecurity software on it and waited for it to drill down and disable his firewall. Tai’s stuff was encrypted, but nothing fancy. I cycled through his files, which mostly consisted of inventory—the specs and identifications of revivors he had brought into the country, which ones had been moved already, and which ones were still on order. No pickup location was spelled out, but there was a series of docket numbers, and it didn’t take long to match them to receiving ports at the Palm Harbor Shipyard. It looked as if they were being smuggled in among legitimate cargo from a bunch of different sources. I couldn’t tell from where, but it was a good start.
    I headed back to the reception area, where the SWAT team had gathered the revivors. They had been grouped in rows and were now kneeling, with their hands behind their heads. Most of them were female and had cookie-cutter versions of the same body modifications. They were all dressed in cheap paper hospital smocks.
    As I headed out the door, I turned back and saw one of the men bring in the one from the bathroom, nudging it forward with the barrel of his rifle. It looked at me like it recognized me. The man forced it down onto the floor with the others, and I turned and headed back to the elevator, putting in a call to the assistant director.
    Noakes.
    This is Noakes.
    Agent Wachalowski reporting. Four suspects apprehended. Twenty-one revivors recovered. It looks like they’ve been bringing them in via Palm Harbor.
    Where are the revivors now?
    SWAT is loading them into the truck. We uncovered some pretty serious firepower here as well. Weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment. SWAT is cataloging it; you’ll have the list shortly.
    What are we looking at?
    Whoever wanted it knows his stuff. There’s enough to arm a small militia.
    Noakes didn’t respond right away.
    Get the seller down here. We need that information.
    They’re moving him and the revivors now. From Tai’s records, it looks like something was just brought in to the shipyard. I’m on my way there. If we’re lucky, no one has picked it up yet.
    A team will meet you there. Find out where that stuff was going.
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