Since the outbreak started, cellular service had been nearly non-existent, and the DSL and land line phone was down and worthless. With a determined set of the jaw, Cade grabbed his phone and punched in the numbers to Brook’s cell. A busy signal droned on in his ear. Taking a look at the phone’s display, he was not surprised to see that there were no new voice mails or text messages. On a whim he tried again to call Brook on her cell. He was relieved to finally at least get her voice mail; he left her a brief disjointed message.
“This is Cade. I am worried about your safety. How is your Dad? He may be infected. Be careful. There is a serious contagion on the loose. It is transferred by saliva contact. The infected seem to go comatose or die and reawaken prone to violence. If anything happens there, if you see any of the infected… leave immediately and get to Fort Bragg and contact Mike Desantos. Call or text me when you get service. I love you two. Give Raven a hug for me, Daddy loves you. Bye.”
Cade had no way of knowing if Brook would be able to access her voice mail or if his message would reach her at all. The instructors at Fort Benning always expected their pupils to have a backup plan. For redundancy’s sake he also composed a lengthy text message.
I haven’t heard from you and I couldn’t get through to your mom and dad’s phone… busy signal only? Be careful! There’s definitely a pandemic! Get to Fort Bragg ASAP and contact Captain Mike Desantos 910-555-5555. He knows me from the Sandbox. Just refer to me as “Wyatt.” Desantos is a good man and in the loop. At all costs stress the need to contact him or send him a message if they fail to allow you a face-to-face meeting. He will let you inside the wire. Love Cade.
Wyatt was Cade’s nickname in the teams, the name derived from his prowess with a pistol. During training he held top score on many of the shooting drills. He also more than lived up to the name in combat.
All operators were given their nickname by their peers. Mike had been a member since the early days; his name came from the amount of time he had spent behind enemy lines in “Indian” country, so they started calling him “Cowboy.”
Mike was Cade’s commander and team leader in the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force for short. During the last deployment in Afghanistan they had seen a lot of combat together, and trusted each other with their lives.
During one particularly intense engagement they were about to be overrun by a much larger force of insurgents and Taliban. They had been forced to call in “danger close” artillery fire, and the rounds impacted all around and nearly on top of their position. A-10 Thunderbolts, heavily armored, slow moving, ground attack jets, the ground soldier’s best friend, rolled in time after time making gun runs. The nose-mounted Vulcan cannons spit lead, decimating scores of enemy in the process. In the middle of the fighting, each man had vowed that should either one of them die the survivor would look after the other’s family.
Mike Desantos’s phone went to voice mail after the first ring. Cade left a concise message detailing his wife’s and daughter’s situation and asked him to be on the lookout for them.