Moon Shadow
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| USAMRIID Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The soldiers on board the C130 knew their lives were in danger when they joined the service. Pepper felt a tinge of regret for allowing his men to be in harm’s way; after all, he had trained them, knew their families, ate meals and even gone to church with some of them. They were more then soldiers, they were like members of his family. It was their sworn duty to sacrifice their lives for their country. It was, in effect, friendly fire, if he should do what he knew he had to do. And he did feel deep regret for the deed, but he also felt pride welling up. He was, at least in his mind, saving the world from a potential pandemic.
“Once more into the breech,” he whispered. He made the call at precisely 3 PM. He walked to the railing along the deck, looking around covertly before he dropped the burner phone overboard. If somehow it was ever found, it could never be traced back to him. Burner phones were good for that. If it was somehow recovered, the fingerprints and DNA would have long ago washed away.
The escort jet reported back to its headquarters that the Hercules C130 cargo plane exploded suddenly and burst into flames at exactly 3PM, and that tiny bits of burning wreckage was strewn for several miles across the uninhabited and desolate desert floor. No survivors were reported seen by the pilot in the escort jet. The C130 was annihilated.
The escort jet was ordered back to base and a search party was hastily deployed was made up of soldiers dressed in protective HAZMAT gear. When they arrived on scene, they reported they found no human remains, but placed every item they found carefully into a pile which was later incinerated and reduced to ash. No physical evidence remained of the Hercules C130, any of its crew, or passengers. The fire ball in the air consumed almost everything anyway. Fire was the only way.
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By Reggie Ridgway
Mariah had taken the cruise to get away for awhile, never imaging that she would leave the ship in Alaska, get married...and die there...
She had been married by the Captain of the ship, believing the man she had met on shore would be giving her a good life. But as soon as he had her home, he changed, regularly abusing her, beating her... The only things that kept her going was her dog, Rusty, and her garden...
Ironically, it had been something in her garden that led to her death... But, it did give her, for a short time, the strength to kill her husband...
The neighbors had heard the fight and discovered what had happened, taking Mariah to the small local clinic. Unfortunately, there was no reason to look for the small prick of her finger that had happened in the garden when she found "it..."
Trevor Bentley was the local doctor, having a nurse to help and, later, a visiting biologist to whom Trevor had given space for research, studying the potential environmental impact of the installation of a new oil line.
While taking blood from Mariah, who had been unconscious since she was brought in, the nurse broke a vial and then cut her finger...that was all it took. Whatever had infected Mariah was now flowing through the bloodstream of the nurse.
Neither Bentley, nor any of those who became involved, could identify the cause of death--but they knew it could easily spread...and did...as more and more of the local people started to become ill...
And then a major twist of focus! CDC had no way to identify what had been found in the blood samples. The USAMRIID, a special group that had been put together to handle biological warfare was now in charge.
But what happens when the leader of this group sees the "disease" as the enemy? And people as containers of that disease...
Ridgeway definitely put together a multi-genre novel that focuses on biological terrorism--part romance, part thriller and lots of horror! The story line is unique, the main characters, Trevor and Jodie Gibson, the biologist, quite enjoyable as a couple who find attraction moving toward something else, at the same time, they are trying to stop an epidemic, and then later forced to fight for their own lives when the Army arrives...
There are some rough spots of TMI--too much information provided which forced readers to slow their pace, which should have been edited out, and one major omission, although that could be because a sequel is coming as suggested at the end, but...somewhere in Alaska, a large black stone with a gem pointed out could be the cause of...more deaths...starting with birds...
The book was strangely compelling, especially when spreading of the disease became all important--and only fire would ensure safety--the Scorched Earth Protocol... I think many of you will enjoy this, if you don't mind the need for a little editing...I know I did...
GABixlerReviews
Reggie Ridgway is a full time writer and is the published author of two successful thrillers which have earned great reviews. He was a finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Author contest. He is a member of International Thriller Writers. He enjoys blogging and uses social networking to promote his work and hone his writing skills. He is married and lives in Southern California. He earned a BA from National University Vista in Computer Science. He is a Viet Nam War vet and retired after forty years in the medical field as an x-ray technologist and sonographer.http://characterswellmet.blogspot.com/
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