Red by Ted Dekker

New York and Atlanta. They started with the airports, following indications in Bangkok, and they hadn’t needed to go any farther.
    Svensson was using the airports.
    Had used the airports.
    The first critical decision was now upon the world leaders. Should they shut down the airports and by so doing slow the spread of the virus? Or should they avert public panic by withholding information until they had something more concrete?
    According to Raison Pharmaceutical, closing the airports wouldn’t slow the virus enough to make a difference—it was too widespread already. And panic wasn’t a prospect any of the affected governments were willing to deal with yet. For now, the airports would remain open.
    Thomas had been awake for only four hours, but now he was eager to fall asleep. He held the thin manila folder in his hands and read the contents for the fifth time.
    Kara frowned. “It might not have the kind of power you need—it’s pretty slow burning—but Gains was right. Black powder is the only explosive you have any chance of pulling together in the middle of nowhere.”
    â€œHow am I going to find this stuff?”
    â€œThey tell me the kind of firepower you need isn’t impossible. The Chinese figured it out nearly two thousand years ago by accident. You can be nearly 50 percent off on the combination of ingredients and still get a decent bang. And the three ingredients you’ll need are very common. You just have to know what you’re looking for, which you now do. Do you have sugar there?”
    â€œSome, yes. From sugarcane, just like here.”
    â€œIf you can’t get to the charcoal quickly enough, sugar will work as a fuel as well. Here’s a list of more substitutes. The ratios are all there. Stall the Horde, and stall them hard. Deploy a thousand soldiers to find what you need.”
    â€œA little research and you’re ready to start commanding armies?” He grinned. “You’d be good there, Kara. You really would be.”
    â€œYou like it better there than here?”
    He hadn’t considered the comparison. “I’m not sure there is a ‘there’ that’s not also ‘here.’ Hard to explain and it’s just a hunch, but both realities are actually very similar.”
    â€œHmm. Well if you ever figure out how to take others with you, promise to take me first.”
    â€œI will.”
    She sighed. “I know this isn’t exactly the best time to bring this up, but do you remember the last thing I told you before you disappeared for fifteen years last night?”
    â€œRemind me.”
    â€œIt was only twelve hours ago. I suggested that you become someone who could deal with the situation here. Now you’ve come back a general. It just makes me wonder.”
    â€œInteresting thought.”
    â€œYou really have changed, Thomas. And I hate to break it to you, but I really think you’ve changed for the sake of this world, not that one.”
    â€œMaybe.”
    â€œWe’re running out of time. You’ve got to start figuring things out. Get past all this noncommittal ‘maybe’ and ‘interesting thought’ stuff. If you don’t, we just may be toast.”
    â€œMaybe.” He grinned and closed the folder. “But unless I can figure out how to survive as General Hunter there, I won’t be around here to figure anything out. Like I said, if I die there, I think I die here.”
    â€œAnd if you die here?” she asked. “What happens if the virus kills us all?”
    He hadn’t connected the dots in that way, and her suggestion alarmed him. But it only made sense that if he died here along with the rest, he would die in the forest.
    â€œLet’s just hope this black powder of yours works, sis.”
    â€œSis?”
    â€œI’ve always called you that.”
    She shrugged. “Sounds odd now.”
    â€œI am odd, sis. I am very, very