Milwaukee Deep
Chapter 33

Harding slammed his weapon hard on the table causing Sam to jerk in his chair.

“Where the fuck is he?” Harding demanded, “Damn it, this isn’t a game, Crease!”

Sam kept his eye on Harding’s gun, but didn’t respond to the barrage – if he wasn’t handcuffed to the chair, he almost certainly would have grabbed it.

Harding took a moment and walked to the other side of the interrogation room. He composed himself…

“Why do you protect him, Crease?” he asked, “after what we’ve told you, why won’t you give him up?”

Sam raised his eyes and looked across at Harding.

“Because an innocent man doesn’t deserve to die – especially one that’s under my care.”

“You haven’t heard one thing I’ve said to you, have you?”

“Where’s Perks?” Sam asked.

“What?”

“I said, where’s Perks?”

“He’s close,” Harding replied, “But I can’t have him here – he’ll compromise the situation.”

“You mean he’ll stop you from killing me,” replied Sam.

“I’m not here to kill you, Crease – I’m here to save you.”

“Like you saved Kelly Burton.”

“For God’s sakes, Crease, don’t you get it!? If you don’t tell me where Burton is then we’re all dead, every one of us – he’s infected don’t you understand that!?”

“If he’s infected, then why aren’t I?”

Harding didn’t respond – he stood in the corner of the room, his frustration growing with every response.

Sam again looked down at the gun.

“I want to speak to Perks,” he said, “Get me Perks and we’ll see what we can work out.”

“You better not be fucking with me,” Harding said.

Sam looked up at Harding

“You want Burton, don’t you?”

Harding walked over to the table and pressed down on the red intercom button that sat discretely on the underside of the table top.

“Anthony,” he said calmly, “Get in here.”

While Harding waited for Perks to arrive he picked up his weapon and placed back in its holster.

The door to the interrogation room opened. Perks entered and sat opposite the prisoner.

“How are you, Sam?” he asked, ignoring Harding.

“I’ve been better.”

“You know that I never meant for this to happen.”

“I know, Anthony – this isn’t your fault – you weren’t to know.”

“So, how are we going to get through this, Sam - we’ve got ourselves into a pretty sticky situation.”

Sam took a deep breath.

“Well if you’re right and Burton’s infected, then two things – one we’re in trouble and two, we don’t have much time.”

“I am right, Sam, and yes we are in trouble, real trouble.”

“Well maybe I can’t get us out of this mess, but I think I can buy us more time.”

“How?” asked Perks

“I’ve noticed some things about Michael that I haven’t been able to understand until now.”

“Explain?”

“Phil found a tumour attached to Michael’s heart – he detected it when he first ran tests on him.”

“Yes?”

“Well there’s something not right with this tumour - it isn’t malignant or benign – it’s regressing – it’s the strangest thing.”

“And how does that buy us more time?”

“The thing is Phil calculated that the tumour would disappear completely – within 30 days to be exact.”

“So what’s your point, Sam?” Perks asked.

“My point is - I believe we have 30 days before the virus is released.”

“And you’re basing this information on what?” Harding interrupted.

“I don’t know, call it a hunch,” Sam replied looking back at Tom.

“A hunch? Well that’s just fucking great – we’re dealing with a global killer, something that is going to wipe out every human on the face of the earth and this guy’s dealing with hunches,” Harding spat.

“You can’t be certain of this, can you, Sam?” Perks interrupted.

“No, I can’t, Anthony, but I’ve been with Michael for a while now and there’s no sign of him getting any worse.”

“The virus does not infect the host,” Harding interrupted, “the host is the carrier – once the virus gets airborne, that’s when it kills everything in its path.”

“And how long does it take to infect the majority?” Sam asked.

“We don’t know the exact time, but calculations set it at no more than five days, maximum,” Harding said.

“And that is why we need to eliminate the host, Sam,” added Perks.

“Can you contain him, rather than eliminate him?” Sam asked.

“No,” replied Harding, “the host must be terminated – the risk is far too great.”

“Now hold on, Tom, Sam might have something here,” Perks said.

Anthony looked across at Sam.

“Sam, if I can guarantee you that Burton won’t be killed; will you lead us to him?”

“There’s no reason why I wouldn’t.”

Harding kept quiet – he wanted to see where Perks was going with this.

“Tom,” Perks turned to Harding, “the facility in Jersey, Ganton’s chamber, that’s air tight isn’t it?”

“It is, yes.”

“Good, because I think I just found a home for Burton – at least for the short term.”

“Short term?”

“Sam, listen, this is the best option for Michael and for us. If anything, we at least eliminate the risk of infection while we figure out what to do next.”

“But - .“

“I promise you he won’t be harmed, Sam – and until we replace a way to contain the virus in the long term, Michael will be safe.”

There was silence as Sam pondered his next move.

Sam turned to Harding.

“Do I have your word that he won’t be harmed?” he asked.

Harding stared back at Sam – he knew he should have lied.

“He won’t make it to the facility, Crease – they won’t allow it – I told you he’s too great a risk.”

“Then we have to hide him,” said Perks.

“And how do you propose we do that?” asked Harding.

“Simple. You tell your crew that you’re moving Sam to another interrogation room - we then slip out of here and meet Burton and the doctor in Jersey.”

“Just like that?” Harding replied, “It’s that easy, is it?”

“Well it’s worth a shot.”

“Send your team on a wild goose chase,” Sam suggested.

Both Harding and Perks turned to the prisoner.

“What did you say?” Harding asked.

“Slap me around a little – I’ll give you a location. They’ll follow it up, guns blazing, while we slip out of here and follow Anthony’s simple plan.”

Harding turned to Perks.

“Sounds good to me,” replied Perks.

Harding stood there silent.

“Tom, we have to trust Sam,” Perks continued, “It’s the only way. Now I’m going to give my word that I will not harm Burton – will you?”

Harding turned to Sam.

He scratched the back of his head and sighed.

“Okay. You have my word.”