"What are you doing?" Anna asked, puzzled by Jersey's strange actions.

"Remember the phrase they taught us in Biological Warfare cla.s.s? "The solution to pollution is dilution.' That means the only chance I've got to prevent this BW from spreading 105.

105.

throughout the entire camp is to dilute whatever bug is in there with plenty of water."

As she finished speaking, Jersey slipped off the bank and into the stream.

"Cover me with your side arm," she called softly to Anna, looking around for crocs as she scrubbed at her skin under the water to try to wash off the chemical solution, though she knew in her heart it was impossible to decontaminate herself in such a manner.

Anna pulled her Beretta out and searched the water for any signs of life. "You think that's going to work?" she asked.

Jersey shook her head as she climbed from the stream, water coursing down her naked body. "Naw, it won't help me keep from getting sick, but it may keep you guys from getting it"

She took off through the jungle, still naked. "Come on, we haven't got long before they discover that body in the lab. We've got to get the h.e.l.l out of here."When they got back to the base barracks, Anna slipped inside and quietly woke Coop, Harley, and Hammer, whispering to them to come outside.

She led them around the side of the building to where Jersey was waiting, standing naked in the shadows.

"What the . . ." Harley said as they saw her condition.

"Keep your distance," Jersey said. "I've been contaminated with whatever biological weapon these guys are working on. Our only chance to prevent them from using it is to get me back to Santos and the ship before I die so the doc can use me to make some sort of vaccine."

Coop noticed her shivering in the cool night air and walked over to her, slipping his T-shirt off.

"Coop, stay back!" she said.

"Screw that," he said, his lips curling in his trademark grin. "You're cold and you're naked. Here," he said, handing her his shirt.

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After she slipped it on, he stood there with his arm around her, trying to warm her and stop her chills.

She looked up at him. "But you'll get it too," she said softly.

He shrugged. "Then Doc'll have two specimens to work with. It'll double his chance of getting enough blood to make a vaccine."

Harley and Hammer stepped over to Anna and asked her what had happened at the lab. She told them everything, including the fact they'd left Mingo Higgins's dog tags on the dead guard.

Harley nodded. "Good. That may give us a few extra hours. As soon as they discover those tags, they're gonna come for Higgins."

"While they're wasting time interrogating him, we can be making tracks for Santos," Hammer added.

Harley glanced at Coop and Jersey. "Hammer and I will gather up what clothes and weapons we can for the trip and we'll meet you out here in five minutes."

"It's gonna take us a day or two, so bring some rations too," Coop advised.

Harley nodded, and he and Hammer and Anna disappeared into the barracks.

After they were gone, Coop squeezed Jersey's shoulder. "How long do you think we have before we get sick?"

"Most BWs are designed to work fast. I'd say we'll begin to experience our first symptoms within twenty-four hours."

"Any idea just what it is we're dealing with here?" he asked.

"No, there wasn't a clue in the lab. But," she added with a shiver, "you can bet it'll be bad.""You think we'll be able to make it twenty-five miles through the jungle if we get sick?"

"We'll have to," she answered. Then she looked up at him and caressed the side of his face with her hand. "Coop, thanks," she said.

"For what?" he asked, a surprised tone in his voice.

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"For the shirt, and for being with me," she said.

Even in the moonlight, she could see him blush.

"Oh, well, I couldn't have those h.o.r.n.y b.a.s.t.a.r.ds looking at you like that. It wasn't right."

She smiled. "I noticed you didn't turn your eyes away."

He glanced down at where her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pushed against the thin cloth of his T-shirt, her nipples clearly visible.

"h.e.l.l, no," he said. "I'm a gentleman, but I'm not completely stupid."

She looked over her shoulder and saw no one watching them. She turned her body into his and put her arms around him. "Did you like what you saw?" she asked, her face turned up to his, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s pushing against his chest.

As he returned her gaze, she felt his answer as his body responded to her closeness.

"More than anything I've ever seen," he said, leaning his head down to kiss her gently on the lips.

After a moment, she drew back with a deep sigh. "Better quit, while I still can," she whispered.

"You think they'd miss us if I picked you up and carried you off into the jungle," Coop asked, his voice husky with desire. ; Jersey was saved from answering by the approach of Hammer, Harley, and Anna, their arms full of clothing and weapons and other gear for the trip.

Jersey and Coop quickly slipped into their BDUs and boots while the others kept watch.

"I figure they'll be here for Higgins any minute, so let's make tracks outta here," Harley said.

"Wait a minute," Jersey said. "Won't they notice we're not here when they come for Mingo?"

Anna shook her head. "No, we fixed up our bunks with pillows to look as if we were still in them."

"Let's travel, people," Harley whispered, his voice urgent as he turned to lead them into the jungle. "We've got a lot of108 ground to cover," he said, glancing over his shoulder, "and we don't know how long until you two get too sick to travel."

As they moved off into the darkness, with Jersey and Coop well back from the others, Coop asked, "Any chance of getting the communications gear and having them pick us up in a chopper?"

Harley shook his head. "Too risky. They could track the chopper and it'd lead them right to the ship. No, we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way and walk home."

"Just what I was looking forward too, a leisurely traipse through the jungle at night," Coop said, glancing nervously around him at the thick underbrush surrounding them.

Jersey quietly reached out and took his hand as they walked. She idly rubbed at the spot on her chest where the BW had stained her shirt. Her skin was already beginning to itch, but she thought that was probably just her imagination.

Mingo Higgins's head lolled on his chest, blood dripping from his shattered nose onto the concrete floor between bis bare feet. His hands were tied behind the back of the chair he was sitting on.

Bruno Bottger stood before him, his eyes glittering hate as he questioned the mere. "Who sent you here?" he shouted, slapping Higgins awake again.

Higgins answered through swollen, split lips. "No one," he said, his voice barely intelligible.

"Why did you break into my lab?"

Higgins shook his head, the movement making him wince as waves of pain shot through every part of his body. "I already told you, I don't know what you're talking about."

Bottger scowled and stepped back, allowing Sergeant Herman Bundt to step forward. Bundt's hands were covered with padded black gloves, and he delivered two quick blows to Higgins's face, snapping his head back and shattering his two front teeth.

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Bottger took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped away blood that splattered onto his boots.

"I think it is time for the chemicals," he said.

"But, Herr Bottger," Sergei Bergman said, "they will turn his mind to mush. He will be useless to us afterwards."

Bottger cut his eyes to Bergman. "He is already useless. Do you think I would trust him again? Do whatever you have to and make him talk!"Bergman nodded his head at Bundt, and the sergeant picked a syringe up off a nearby table and filled it with a colorless liquid from a vial. He bent next to Higgins and jabbed the needle into his arm vein, depressing the plunger and sending the liquid coursing through Higgins's body.

As his eyes clouded over under the influence of the truth serum, Higgins began to mumble and laugh to himself, as if he were sharing a private joke in the recesses of his mind.

Again, Bottger put the question to him. "Who sent you here to spy on me?"

Higgins's eyes rolled back in his head as he tried to focus on the man standing in front of him.

"No one sent me. I came on my own to find work," he answered, his voice slurred as if he were drunk.

After another fifteen minutes of this, Bundt finally said, "It is of no use, Herr Bottger. Either he is innocent, or he is so well trained we will never get the truth out of him."

Bottger threw his bloodied handkerchief into the wastebas-ket.

"You want me to have him shot?" Rudolf Hessner asked.

"No, send him to the lab. The scientists can always use another subject for their experiments."

He hesitated, thinking of what to do next. "And while you are there, tell them to conduct another search of the lab to make sure nothing is missing."

"Yes, sir," Hessner said as he bent to untie Higgins's hands and help him to his feet.

"Rudolf," Bottger said.

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"Yes, sir?"

"When you're finished at the lab, go with Sergei and Sergeant Bundt and have all of the trainees a.s.sembled in the squad yard. It's time to find out just who is loyal and who isn't."

"Yes, sir," Hessner said.

111.

Mike Post knocked and entered Ben Raines's office just after breakfast.

"Hey, Ben," he said, as he took his usual seat opposite Ben's desk.

"Mornin', Mike," Ben said over the brim of his coffee cup. "What've you heard about Osterman and her current plans?"

Mike looked at a sheaf of papers in his hand. "Lot of reports of troop movements to the north. Nothing on a large scale, but lots of small units seem to be on the move, and all of them are heading south.""You think she's getting her troops in position to make a move against us?"

Mike nodded. "That'd be my first guess. That, combined with the intel from Harley Reno's group saying the meres in South America are gearing up for an offensive within one month, suggests that she's planning on hitting us from the north simultaneously with the offensive from the south in Mexico."

Ben smiled. "I guess she thinks she can keep us so busy defending ourselves here we won't be able to help the Mexican Army stand off Perro Loco and whoever is fronting the meres from South America."

"Yeah, and I've gotta say it's not a bad idea. It's gonna be real hard to manage a war on two fronts."

Ben's face grew reflective. "She's certainly studied her history. No major power has ever been able to do it successfully."

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"What do you think our chances are?" Mike asked, stuffing the papers back in his briefcase.

"If you mean keeping Mexico free as well as fighting off Osterman from the north, I'd say about fifty-fifty."

"That low?" Mike asked, his expression becoming worried as he contemplated the idea of the SUSA losing a war.

Ben nodded. "In fact, if we expended a major effort to save Mexico City, the odds would be even lower than that."

"So, what do you plan to do?"

"Since the president of Mexico is being so stubborn about accepting our help before the fact of an invasion, I think we're gonna have to let him do it his way and defend his capital city on his own."

"You think he can pull it off?"

Ben shook his head. "Not a chance," he said. "The man is a complete imbecile where modern warfare is concerned. Mexico City is far too large and spread out to defend in the usual manner, and Perro Loco has too much sophisticated weaponry to be held off the way the Mexican president wants to."

"So, you think Mexico City is doomed?"

"Yeah, sooner or later, and probably sooner, Loco with the help of the meres will take the city."