Lobo Malo

Chapter 11 - Air and Space

No Hope Hotel, Southwest Sector
0440 EST

Bundmeister's arm flashed up, the combat knife in a reverse overhand grip, before her eyes were even open. Its arc was arrested as her wrist hit a hard and muscular forearm, the back of the blade brushing over weathered skin. "Easy, Bunny," chuckled Ryckmen softly. "Just came to see what was going on. You were having a nightmare, I think."

"Yeah," Bundmeister replied as she slowly sat up in her sleeping bag, rubbing her eyes. "Back in Baluchistan there for a bit. One of my last jobs in Pararescue. Had to sneak into the Pakistani Tribal Areas to recover a pilot." She stretched out, then slipped the blade back into its sheath. "Lousy job. Fifteen hundred klicks from drop point to extraction, bleeding all the way from the bullet wounds."

"How did you not die?"

"I ask myself that question almost every day." Bundmeister looked over Ryckmen. "What're you doing up?"

"Been up a couple hours now. I racked out right after we ate last night. I was keeping an eye on things out on the street. So far, nice and quiet. Figured I'd come back in, see if I could scavenge some Kerman's mini-brew packs from the food service closets. Starting to get a little savage from the chicory."

"Not quite as good as Colombian, I'll give you that." Bundmeister stood up and stretched again. "I'll get Ricky and Peace up. Good hunting."

Twenty minutes later, the agents were up and munching down protein bars. Ryckmen hadn't been able to find any real coffee, but had scrounged up some packets of English breakfast tea. Gregory shook his head slightly as he took in the scene. Just another domestic moment in post-Dollar Flu America.

"Peacemaker, this is Casablanca," squawked Gregory's watch. "Stand by for White House Actual."

"Casablanca, Peacemaker here, standing by." He saw the looks on his comrades' faces and shrugged. "Guess we'll have to skip the hot yoga this morning."

"Gregory, it's Manny. You have the others with you?"

"Certainly do, Manny. Team Peacemaker is bright eyed and bushy tailed." Gregory suppressed a chuckle as Tarvey grinned and gave him the finger. "You're up awful early."

"I was rather rudely awakened. We got a hot tip from Mike Snow over at the Castle. Guessing Kelso's 'hearts and minds' visit had some impact. How close are you to the Air & Space Museum?"

"Fifteen minutes, assuming the streets stay clear. What's going on?"

"I won't say you kicked a hornet's nest," said Ortega slowly, "but it seems you may have spooked the True Sons, or at least the leadership elements immediately closest to you. Snow got word from a guy he used to know before he bailed out. The guy wants to defect, and he has some intel which he figures will help make good his escape. There's a short company working out of the museum. From what the defector is saying, they've been salvaging exhibits to try and get a working missile put together. And there was a communique last night asking for a progress report. The defector noticed there was a question about payload capabilities. Specifically chemical weapon dispersal."

The four Division agents saw echoing looks of shock on each others' faces. Aside from Gregory, they all had at least some training in what to do around chemical weapons, and how to neutralize them as quickly as possible. But that training didn't make it easier for them to be told somebody was planning to use them.

"Manny, Lobo here. Did this defector have any information on what chemical weapons they might be trying to use?"

"No, he didn't. And that's ominous. As far as I know, they don't have anything like VX or sarin. No irritants like mustard gas, either. None of that stuff would have been stored anywhere close to D.C. before the Dollar Flu, and forget during the evacuations. But it's not like there's a lack of household chemicals around here. Not mention there's still a ton of DC-62 laying around. And believe me, with everything that happened with the Dark Zones around here, DC-62 is literal nightmare fuel. It'd be suicide to try and make use of it, but a lot of folks around here these days are carrying a death wish, and there's ample opportunities to satisfy it."