“What happened to him?” Stealth asked in a clear voice.
“If I had to guess,” murmured Sorensen, “I would say he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Three or four blood vessels all bursting at once. He never knew what happened. It was just like flipping a switch. Alive. Dead.”
The doctor sat in a chair against the far wall, half hidden in shadows. It wasn’t clear to her if he was relaxed or stunned. He stared at the corpse.
“Believe it or not, it may have saved him from the ex-virus,” Sorensen continued. “If certain key parts of his brain were destroyed by the hemorrhaging, there won’t be enough left for the virus to reanimate.”
Stealth slid behind the desk and examined the body. It was still warm. Dead within the past two hours. There were no visible bullet wounds in the head, and the doctor didn’t appear to be armed, but she did not rule out the possibility of a low caliber shot in the mouth.
“What are you doing here, doctor?”
His eyes flicked up to her for a moment, looking over the edge of his glasses. “I was going to ask if they’d found Eva and Madelyn yet.”
She moved in front of him. “Your wife and daughter?”
He bobbed his head up and down.
“We were told your family was killed by exes during a recovery mission.”
Sorensen turned his head and glared at her. “Captain Freedom never recovered their bodies,” he said, “so they must have gotten away.”
“It is far more likely they were devoured or dismembered to a point where they were not recog—”
“They got away!” snapped Sorensen.
He leaped up and Stealth shifted her weight to her back leg for a kick.
“Colonel Shelly was sending out patrols to look for them. He promised me. Madelyn’s a smart, special girl. She got away.” The doctor tilted his head. “The real question is what are you doing here?”
“I was hoping to speak to the colonel about his claims of contact with a governing body. Why do you believe he suffered from a hemorrhage?”
“He’s not the first,” said the doctor. He walked to the desk. “Three people have died the same way. They all had too much on their minds. Very conflicted, just like the colonel.”
“Conflicted?”
“He didn’t want any of you out here. He just wanted to establish contact, make sure you were doing a good job, make sure you were all safe...” His voice trailed off again and he ran his fingers back and forth on the desk. The tips passed just a few inches from the puddle of blood.
“Doctor?”
“And then he changed his mind,” said the older man. He drummed the fingers of his other hand against his thumb. “Between breakfast and lunch. Just like someone flipping a switch.”
Stealth stared at him as he traced lines on the desk. “Did you have something to do with this, Doctor?”
“No, no, no.” He stopped tracing lines and glared at her for a moment like an angry child. Then his face went slack. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this,” he whispered through his fingers. “Any of it. I just wanted them to leave me alone.”
“Who?”
“The dead. The dead keep talking to me. I just want to be left alone and everyone keeps talking to me.”
She heard the footsteps and spun. A trio of soldiers stood at the door. Each wore the patch that marked them as super soldiers. The closest one was a staff sergeant named PIERCE. He looked at the body. The other two looked at her.
“So sorry,” said Sorensen. He sank back into his chair. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Stealth threw a punch at the soldier next to Pierce and the man blocked most of it. He was too fast, she realized, and they were ready for her. She swung her heel around in a wide kick. They dodged again but it gave her time to grab the ASP batons stored across her back.
She brought the weapons up and Pierce and the other man, Hancock, grabbed her arms. Her legs kicked up, caught the third soldier under the chin with her boot, and let her flip up and over. The movement surprised them enough for her to twist free.
The third man stumbled back. She spun and drove a kick into Hancock’s stomach as she snapped the batons open and fractured Pierce’s wrist. She swung her leg back to Pierce and—
Hancock had her leg. The kick had winded him but he’d grabbed hold. She could free herself, but it disrupted her timing. Just for an instant.
The third soldier was back on his feet. She freed her leg and snapped two kicks into Hancock’s face.
Pierce’s fist struck just under her armpit and she felt the jolt travel down her arm. It was like being hit with a baseball bat. She knew that from experience.
He pulled back his good hand and punched the same arm square in the bicep. Her hand went numb but she forced her fingers to stay closed on the baton. She brought her other arm around, struck the third man, and Pierce’s knuckles hit her in the side of the head. She heard the ASP hit the floor.
*