Lobo Malo

Chapter 9 - Wolf and Bunny

ViewPoint Museum, Federal Triangle Sector
1437 EST

"Ma'am," said Lowell Ryckmen in a glacially firm voice, his MDR rock steady against his shoulder, "I'm going to need you to slowly raise your hands where I can see them, and keep them safely removed from any weapons."

Four days into a long range recon patrol, Ryckmen had been carefully making his way southeast towards the Capitol. Part of his patrol had been to get a better feel for the movements and supply lines of the True Sons. The other, and in Ryckmen's opinion more important, part was to get the lay of the land. What he remembered of D.C. before Green Poison ravaged the world no longer applied. He needed to learn what the District was like right now, and how better to get around in it.

With ISAC's initial restoration, periodic supply drops were occurring once more. In a perfect world, only Division agents in good standing could hope to open the supply containers. In the world Ryckmen and others like him lived in, no container was safe from brute force applications of crowbars and sledgehammers. ISAC had notified him of the supply drop right outside the ViewPoint Museum a little earlier. To Ryckmen's mind, the smart thing to do would be to secure the drop, then cache the gear back at the Division safe house set up underneath the headquarters of the IRS. He wasn't surprised he'd found another person trying to get into the containers, but he be damned before he let that gear fall into hostile hands.

As he studied the woman, her back fully towards him, Ryckmen noticed the watch on her wrist. Either she was a Division agent or somebody who'd scavenged the watch. Tapping his own watch, Ryckman subvocalized, "ISAC, ID check on the SHD watch four meters in front of me. Pipe audio to earpiece."

"Division Agent Annika Bundmeister, Strategic Branch. Original duty assignment, Naval Air Station Pensacola as security detail for Chief of Naval Operations and Secretary of the Navy."

"Ma'am, would you mind giving me your name?"

The woman snorted, her honey blonde ponytail shaking a little. "I think you already asked ISAC," she said in a velvety mezzosoprano voice. "But since you're checking my bona fides, my name is Annika Bundmeister. I'm an agent with the Strategic Homeland Division. I'm with the Strategic Branch."

"Long way from Toledo, aren't you?" Ryckmen asked.

"It wasn't Toledo. I was originally sent to Pensacola." She looked over her shoulder, fixing Ryckmen with a basilisk gaze, her Prussian blue eyes colder than sea ice. "Now are you going to keep playing stupid security games or can I lower my hands?"

Ryckmen lowered the weapon, a crooked smile crossing his face as she lowered her hands and turned to face him. "Professional paranoia," he said contritely. "And we definitely are in Indian country around here, so one cannot be too careful. Nevertheless, you are a long way from your area of responsibility."

Bundmeister nodded, a frown crossing her severely elegant face. "When ISAC went down, we weren't sure what was going on, but we figured at least one of us had to go check it out." She shrugged. "I drew the short straw."

Nodding, Ryckmen looked her over, eyes widening slightly. "Have you been tromping through the bush with just your sidearm?" he asked incredulously.

"Lost my rifle somewhere in northern Georgia. My shotgun's pump broke outside of Vicksburg. So, yeah, I've been getting real good with my sidearm."

"Impressive," said Ryckmen admiringly. Clearly, Bundmeister was no shrinking violet, and knew how to take care of herself out in the wilds. "Let's see if we can't get you resupplied." The two of them went over to the crates and let the sensor scan Ryckmen's watch. The crates offered up replacement equipment, including an AK-M with two hundred rounds of ammo in magazines and a SPAS-12 shotgun with fifty rounds in speedloaders. Ryckmen kept an eye on the perimeter as Bundmeister put on the new gear, amazed how much of her old equipment had held up over the journey. "Feeling better?" he asked as she finished adjusting the straps on her new backpack.