Jaeda smiled at him and the tension in the
room eased.
“Do you think they know we’re in here?”
Leila asked.
“Probably,” Torque answered, turning toward
her. “They’ll review whatever video they have after they find the dead
soldiers. They’ll try to materialize into the room or dematerialize us out.
When that doesn’t work, they try to bypass the door lock. If that doesn’t work,
then they’ll try to blow the door.”
“It’s reinforced steel.” Jaeda swiveled her
chair toward the group. “They can’t get in short of destroying this whole
place.”
Grady looked around the room. “What about
the ventilation shafts?”
“Too small to get through.” Kirk pointed to
the grates then hit a blue button and entered some data into the computer. “And
I just switched our air to contained.”
“Meaning what?” Leila asked, walking over
to him.
“They won’t be able to pump anything into
the room. The control center is designed to be a safe zone once all the systems
are properly engaged.”
Grady moved over to Torque. “How the hell
are we going to get out of here? You know they’ll just wait us out.”
“Yeah, I know. Brianna is on the outside.
When she can’t get in contact with us, she’ll return and see that the facility
has been taken over. You have people who will be looking for you too. They’ll
get us out.”
Grady lowered his voice. “Sitting on my
ass, waiting to be rescued, would not be my first choice.”
“If it were just you and me, I’d agree. We
have the whole group to think of now.”
“So what are we supposed to do? Count the
cracks in the floor? I’m too worked up and mad as hell to do nothing.”
“Practice some training moves then. That’ll
work off some of your tension.”
Grady glanced toward Leila. A predatory
look crossed his face. “Actually, I can think of something more satisfying. How
about a little pussy party to take our minds off all this shit?”
“Leave her alone, Grady. Leila’s mated and
branded.”
“So? I’m a warrior. The brand won’t hurt me
and some good fucking is just what we need to bond and to get our bodies ready
for battle. That one looks like a sweet, sexy morsel.”
“She doesn’t fuck around. She’s mated to
Erik Rhodes.”
“All Xylons fuck around.” His brow
crinkled. “Erik, huh?” He seemed to think a while on that before he continued.
“I know him. He’s got a nasty temper when riled. We’ll there’s always Jaeda.”
Torque grabbed his arm. “She’s off limits
too.”
Grady pulled away. “Seems to me that’s her
decision, not yours. Nobody has a claim on her. She would have told me.”
“I’m telling you. Consider her claimed. By
me.” Regardless of his visions, he didn’t intend to let any other man touch
Jaeda unless her sanity was truly in jeopardy. He’d shared plenty of women with
other warriors in the past. But Jaeda was special.
Since Grady hadn’t zeroed in on Jaeda
first, he doubted their relationship had become physical yet. That was a great
relief and meant he still had the upper hand. He intended to play it.
“Fucking warrior mentality isn’t what it
used to be,” Grady muttered. “I miss the old days.”
Torque clapped him on the shoulder. “Check
out that break room, assess what we’ve got, and make sure there’s no other way
in or out from there.” Torque walked over to Jaeda. “Do any other accesses
exist to this area? Maybe for maintenance purposes?”
She crinkled her brow in thought. “Kirk!
Maintenance. Are there any crawlspaces that we might be overlooking to get to
the equipment in here?”
“I think it’s all via the interior of the
room but I’ll check.”
A loud pounding and then a scraping on the
door drew their attention.
“Someone’s trying to get in.” Leila took
her case and disappeared into the break room, where Grady was now looking
around.
A deafening bang made everyone jump.
“Explosives.” Torque checked the door. “It
still looks secure.” He stepped back over to Jaeda. “Level with me.”
“About what?”
“What are they after? Why this facility
when there are so many others to raid?”
“Kirk told you.”
“Yeah, weaponry, top personnel. Something’s
not adding up.”
“Then get a new calculator. They’ve
probably raided more facilities than just this one.”
“Jaeda… They’re specifically looking for
something or someone. Otherwise, they’d have infiltrated, cleared what levels
they could, then simply posted guards outside to prevent anyone else from getting
in or out.”
She stared at him for several moments then
sighed. “Fine. It’s top secret and I’ll be busted for telling you, but in a
special section of the armory, along with a cache of auto-renewable energy
resources, we store a large amount of planetary data for all inhabited worlds
currently known. We have blueprints of advanced technology at our disposal.
Powerful stuff. Experimental mostly but some awesome scientific shit. The
controls to open those vaults are located here in the control room.”
Torque just stared at her, not believing
what she was saying. “How did Earth get all that?”
She shrugged. “My classification isn’t high
enough for specific details.”
“Do you have interplanetary ships down here
too?” He was half-kidding but then wondered if it might be true.
“None that work or that can be easily
repaired. They’ve mostly been cannibalized for parts or used for
reverse-engineering purposes. Because of the pacts Earth has with various
other-world societies, they’ve been unable to completely utilize all the
technology…at least publicly. Or that’s my opinion anyhow. I think experiments
are continuing here and in other private facilities. I’m not privy to
everything, regardless of my command status.”
“Is that all?”
“Um, no. Well, I’m not sure. I’ve heard
rumors that quite a bit of experimental genetic material is stored here too,
used for military hybrid studies—building the perfect soldier and all that. I
don’t know if it’s true. We’re not a medical research facility but we have the
personnel and capabilities to do such things, so I wouldn’t discard the
possibility.”
“Fucking shit… The Egesa must have found
out about the stash. All things they can use to help them take over this planet
and others too, if they get to it first.”
“It’ll all be locked down like this area
is. Nobody will allow the Egesa access. They’ll die to protect this facility
and what it houses.”
“Someone leaked the info, Jaeda. That
someone obviously has to be high enough up for clearance and may even still be
here in the facility, helping the Egesa.”
She shook her head.
“What other explanation is there? This
entire war has been fueled by greed and traitors. Every time I get a hard-on,
another fucking spy pops up to yank the hair on my balls.”
“Firstly, you don’t have hair on your balls.
And secondly, I won’t believe that.”
Grady approached. “The break room is clear.
There’s a water fountain that still works. Leila is testing the water to make
sure it hasn’t been contaminated. There’s a place to piss. Drinks and food are
in some dispenser machines. We can break the glass to get in when needed.
There’s a couch, some chairs and tables, and a cot in the far back room, which
looks like a supply area.”
“What’s in the supply area?” Torque asked.
“Papers, filing cabinets, wiring,
batteries, boxes with some rusted-out tools. A bunch of junk as far as I can
tell,” Grady answered.
Kirk stepped up to them. “Speaking of the supply
area…I found an old heating line in there. It’s not in the current specs. I
thought I’d better check back over the old plans for anything that might have
gotten overlooked. It’s too small for an Egesa soldier to fit through if they
even know it’s there. Leila and Jaeda might be able to fit though.”
Jaeda smiled. “Great. We’ll get out through
that line, contact Sam and Brianna and General Adair, and send back
reinforcements to get the rest of you and stop the Egesa from getting their
hands on what’s stored here.”
Torque shifted and huffed out a heavy
breath. The plan didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t like the idea of the ladies
going alone. They weren’t trained for this. But unfortunately it seemed their
best choice at the moment. “Leila!”
She peeked her head around the door. “The
water’s safe.”
“Good.” He crooked his fingers. “Come here.
We’ve got a plan.” After she joined the group, he continued. “Kirk found a
small heating duct off the supply room. It’s not in the current plans of the
building so the Egesa may not know it’s there. It’s just large enough for you
and Jaeda to fit through. You can get out and reconnect with Brianna and
Briggs. Contact Halah if you can and have her materialize all of you up to the
ship. Jaeda will arrange for reinforcements to retake the facility.”
Leila nodded.
Torque turned to Kirk. “Where does the line
lead?”
“There’s an exit panel in an old boiler
room on the main maintenance floor. That room is not used anymore but there’s a
freight elevator there that’s still functional. However it only stops all the
way underground where the old tunnels used to run between the out buildings.”
He looked at Jaeda. “You’ll have to get out there and trek across to one of
them, hope they haven’t been taken over, and get out that way.”
Leila’s gaze switched to Torque. “Somehow
that doesn’t sound promising.”
“I can go alone.” Jaeda said as she checked
her weapon. “If Leila and I get separated, she wouldn’t know where to go
anyway.”
“And what happens if you get hurt?” Leila
asked her. “Everyone else here, even Kirk, can self-heal. You can’t.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re going, I’m going with you. I
just don’t think it’s the best plan I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, unless you have a better one, that’s
the one we’re going with.” Torque touched her shoulder. “Go slow. Don’t take
any chances. And have faith.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “That’s
what Brianna always says on missions.”
“I learned from the best. You have a pain
inducer on you, right?”
“No. I gave it to Erik to give to Alexa.”
Torque hesitated a moment then turned
toward Grady. “Do you have a spare weapon for her?”
Grady pulled a scatter ray out of his boot.
It couldn’t disintegrate. It wasn’t that powerful. But it could still kill. The
ray, when aimed correctly, penetrated flesh. Once inside a body, it scattered
back and forth, causing minimal to maximum damage, even death, depending on
what organs the scatter particles hit. “Here.” He quickly showed her how to use
it. As a Class 3 Warrior, her weapons experience was minimal at best. “I’ve got
it on the simplest setting. Don’t go pushing anything other than the trigger.”
“I won’t.” Leila took the weapon and then
they all headed into the break room and back to the supply area. Kirk pointed
to a wall. “According to the plans, it’s supposed to be behind those crates.”
Torque, Kirk and Grady began moving aside
the storage units until the wall behind them was exposed, revealing a square,
rusted-out grating down toward the floor. “Is that it?” Torque asked.
“I guess so.” Kirk looked inside then
pulled open the grate. He took out a small flashlight and shone it into the
tubing. “Damn. It’s narrow. The main maintenance floor is one level up, so…”
“We’ll figure it out.” Jaeda turned and
kissed Torque full on the lips.
Torque stumbled slightly then grabbed her
and returned the kiss. He heard Grady chuckle. Leila let out a sound of
surprise. When they separated, he stroked her cheek. “I expect to see you again
soon.”
“That’s a promise.” She turned and crawled
into the duct.
Torque reached out and squeezed Leila’s
hand. “Stay safe.”
“We’ll be fine.” She followed Jaeda.
The men stood staring at the grating for a
long while. Nobody spoke, each keeping to his own thoughts. Torque still had a
bad feeling about this plan, just as Leila had. He’d have felt better if they’d
gone to the armory. They’d secured the control area, which was vital but they’d
have been better armed in the weapons section.
What Jaeda had said about the importance of
this facility made sense. But he still had a feeling that she was leaving
something out. He’d been fucked over by so many people lately that he could
smell shit a mile away. And right now, things stank like a dung rat.
Jaeda led the way through the heating duct.
She and Leila had already found several ways up but they all had been blocked.
More than one duct leading to the main maintenance area was still accessible
according to the old plans but the layout was altered long ago. They might end
up having to return to the control area.
Leila held a light stick so they could see
and so they didn’t feel as closed in. There would be no way the men could make
it through here. They were too broad. The good news was that an Egesa soldier
would never be able to get through either.
Jaeda stopped and looked up. “I found
another access.” She studied the tube. “Douse the light.”
Leila did so. “I see shadows.”
“Me too. This might be it. The old boiler
room will have low-light panels along the floor. There must be an opening up
there where the light is filtering through.” Whenever they came to an access,
Jaeda would lift Leila up on her shoulders and she’d see if the opening was
blocked or not.
Leila got into position and Jaeda heard her
fiddling with the grating. “Is it accessible?”
“Yes. I think so. I just need to loosen…
Got it.”
Jaeda heard the grating flip open. Leila
screamed and Jaeda looked up as the weight on her shoulders disappeared.
“Leila!” She reached up but Leila was gone. She heard scuffling and another
scream. Then silence.
Something small and ugly poked its head
into the hole. Jaeda let out a shriek before stifling the sound. She didn’t know
what the creature was but she knew it was bad news. Before she could get her
weapon free, the creature was on top of her. She punched and screamed at her
attacker. Another one dropped down behind the first.
Jaeda scrambled backward. The first one
grabbed her boot—the one with her gun—and pulled it off as she struggled. The
weapon clattered to the ground and one of them grabbed it. “Shit!” She kept
working her way back through the heating duct. If she could make it to control,
the others would be able to shoot these things pretty easily. There wasn’t anywhere
for them to take cover. Why hadn’t they hadn’t shot
her
yet?
“Jaeda…” one of them rasped.
She froze. “How do you know my name? Who
are you? What do you want?”
“Shifter
Liusaidh Cuini
.”
Jaeda felt her heart stop, then pound
triple-time. They knew who she was. Her stomach clenched. She kicked the
creature in the head.
He screamed and fell against the other
creature behind him. Jaeda turned and crawled as fast as she could back toward
the supply room of the control section. She heard them right behind her.
“Torque! Torque!” Her thoughts briefly returned to Leila, hoping whoever had
grabbed her hadn’t killed her. She hated leaving the woman behind but she had
no choice.
When one of the creatures clawed at her
bare foot, her thoughts returned to her own safety. She kicked out at him with
her still booted foot and continued crawling forward as fast as she could.
“Torque, are you there?” She saw the opening back at control.
“I’m here,” his voice filtered through to
her. “What’s happening?”
“Fire!” She fell out of the hole. “Fire!”
He looked behind her. “Where’s Leila?”
“Fire, damn it!”
He shot into the duct. “What the hell am I
firing at?” Just as he finished speaking, one of the creatures fell out
lifeless onto the floor.
Grady and Kirk ran into the room. Grady had
his disruptor drawn. “What’s going on?”
Kirk ran over to Jaeda and helped her up.
“Are you all right? What happened?”
“What is that thing?” she asked Torque. She
tried desperately to catch her breath.
“Hell, it’s an Egesa minion,” Grady
answered. “They’re rarely used on the front lines. Vermin. A lot smaller than a
soldier, they’re used for information gathering or intimidation or a variety of
other nasty jobs.”
Jaeda worked to catch her breath. “A
minion. I’ve heard of them but I’ve never actually seen one in person.”
Torque pulled the second minion out of the
tube. “This one’s dead too.” The creature had Jaeda’s boot clutched in one hand
and her gun hung from his belt. “What happened to Leila?”
Jaeda grabbed her belongings and sat down
on the cot. “She’s gone.” When Torque didn’t say anything, only stared intently
at her, she pulled on her boot and slid her gun down the side. “We found an
access to the old boiler room and they were waiting for us. When Leila opened
the grating, they grabbed her.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what happened
to her after that. There wasn’t anything I could do. They jumped down and
started after me.”
Torque turned and walked toward the door
leading to the break room. He growled and knocked over a shelving unit on the
way.
Grady looked at the heating duct. “Let’s
seal this back up and put the crates in front of it. If they send any other
minions, they won’t be able to get in. The crates are too heavy.”
He and Kirk worked quickly. Jaeda slowly
stood from the cot and went in search of Torque. She entered the break room but
he was nowhere to be seen, so she continued out to the control area.
She saw him standing in front of a large
screen that was displaying only static as he fiddled with the controls on his
weapon. She walked up behind him. “I’m sorry.”
“Not now.” She reached for his arm but he
pulled away. “Why didn’t they kill you, Jaeda?” he suddenly asked in a low,
hard voice, though he still didn’t look at her.
She immediately went on alert, sensing his
level of anger. The fact that he’d directed that anger toward her sent her
anger up a notch too. “Sorry that I’m not dead, Torque?”
“I didn’t fucking say that.”
Grady and Kirk entered the room. “So what’s
the plan?” Grady asked. “That one stank.”
Torque turned and pointed his weapon at the
lot of them. “Someone here is a damn traitor.”
Grady narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are
you talking about?”
“They were waiting for us. In an abandoned
area of this facility. An area that wasn’t on any current blueprint or plan.
That is way too much of a coincidence to simply be bad luck. I’m getting
fucking tired of spies and traitors and will have no problem taking out whoever
the hell is working against us.”
Jaeda sensed how volatile things had
suddenly turned. She reined in her own frustrations and held out her hand to
Torque before the situation escalated even more. “You’re right. It is too much
of a coincidence. But I don’t believe anyone here is to blame. You’re upset
over Leila and not thinking clearly.” She turned. “Kirk?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it possible that the control room is
bugged?”
“No way.”
“Either this area is bugged or Torque is
right.”
Kirk grimaced. “I’m on it.” He looked to
Torque before he moved.
Torque nodded.
Muttering and shaking his head, Kirk headed
over to a bank of computers and sat down.
“So are you going to keep us at gunpoint?”
Grady asked, looking none too happy.
Torque lowered his weapon. “Go help Kirk.”
He stepped forward and grabbed Jaeda’s arm. “Come with me.” He pulled her into
the break room.
She twisted out of his hold. “Don’t
manhandle me.” Anyone else she would have punched in the gut. She allowed
Torque more freedom. But there was a limit and he was quickly approaching it.
When he started to pace, but didn’t say anything, she’d had enough. “You don’t actually
suspect me, do you, Torque?”
“Of course not. But I’m not happy.”
“Yes, we all can see that.”
“I was responsible for Leila. There has to
be another way out of here, Jaeda. And some way to find her before it’s too
late.”
The look in his eyes, the pain, softened
her frustration with him. She calmed herself before she spoke. “Nothing
workable where we won’t be seen or easily caught ourselves.”
He looked up at the venting. “How much can
you shift?”
She followed his gaze. “Not that much. My
head and hips have limits.” She looked toward the supply room and guilt
overcame her. “I’m really sorry about Leila. I’ll go back in and look for her,
if you want me to.”
He stepped closer and looked into her eyes.
“You would, wouldn’t you?”
She stroked his cheek. “Yes. She’s
important to you.”
“She’s important to a lot of people. Sending
you back in there alone, in such an enclosed space, while we know that minions
are in the facility, would be too dangerous. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
His eyes softened. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“Hey!” Kirk called.
They turned at the sound of his voice.
Jaeda followed Torque back out to the control area. She hoped Kirk had found
something. Torque didn’t question him. He just waited for the man to speak. She
could feel his tension.
“I didn’t find a bug, as such, but the
computer is picking up an open communication’s channel. It’s not originating
from our comm panels though. Or from my cell.”
Grady pulled out his unit. “Not here.”
Jaeda looked at hers and shook her head.
“Start searching the room,” she ordered. “Look in all the drawers for a cell
phone, wireless comm set, anything with a mic that can transmit.”
“I thought communications was down,” Grady
said as he tore open a storage unit next to him.
“It must be an Egesa device.” Torque looked
inside a cabinet, moving books and papers aside.
“Which means that a traitor was here.
Someone who maybe worked with us and was paid off by Daegal.” Jaeda felt sick
to her stomach at the possibility. Torque had said that this war was being fueled
by greed and deception. She was starting to believed that he might just be
right.
After searching every place possible, they
still came up empty. Frustration ate away at Jaeda. She saw Torque staring up
at another venting grate. He already knew that she couldn’t get through it.
“What are you thinking?” she asked him.
“What if the Egesa dropped a listening
device into the venting shaft from the floor above us?”
“That would be a long drop. We would have heard
it fall,” Jaeda said.
“Fuck!” Grady dragged a chair over to the
wall and hopped up on it. Though he was too low to look in, he was able to pull
open the grating and reach inside. “Nothing.” He pulled the chair over to the
next one. “Nope.” He tried the next vent. “Oh yeah, I’ve got something here.” He
pulled it out. “Shit. You called it, Torque.” He tossed down the tiny unit.
“It’s a flyer device.”
Torque caught it and closed the channel.
“Check all the other vents.”
“Flyer?” Jaeda asked. “You mean an
airborne-controlled bug?”
“You got it,” Grady answered.
“Wonderful.” She wondered how much they’d
actually heard. “When it stops transmitting, they’ll know we found it. What if
they try again?”
“They won’t,” Torque answered. “They’ll
know we’re monitoring the situation now. They’ll try something else.”
After checking the remaining vents, Grady
jumped off the chair. “Hey, dumbass,” he called out to Kirk. “If they can get a
comm unit into the venting, why can’t they pump gas in here? You said it was
contained.”
“I said the air was contained. As long as
we leave the vents in place, the grating will scrub out any impurities, even
stuff we can’t see or smell. Pure air is pumped in from a separate, contained
source. Anything else will be filtered down and out.”
“And what if they drop a bomb?” When
everyone just stared wide-eyed at Grady, he shook his head. “Like I thought. No
fucking answer. Dumb…Asses.”
Kirk punched some buttons and studied the
readout in front of him. “According to this, the grating is designed to absorb
minimal blasts as long as the vents are secured. There’s also an explosive
detection system in place with an auto suck-and-eject feature in each safe zone
venting line. So we should be all right. Oh, and Grady?”
“Yeah?”
“Call me or any of my colleagues a dumbass
one more time and I’ll rip out your ugly, alien tongue and stuff it down your
fucking throat.”
* * * * *
Deep Space
Braden sat in the control seat of the
fighter. Erik had taken the opportunity to get some rest while he could,
leaving Braden to his thoughts. He checked their course to Earth and their
weapons
cache. A squadron of Xylon Warriors surrounded
him. They flew a non-military pattern, not wanting to draw too much attention.
More warriors had been sent ahead of them. Another squadron was scheduled to
follow as soon as possible. When they got closer to their destination, they’d
cloak if necessary.
Erik sat up with a start and emitted a
sound that Braden had never heard from him before. Something between a moan and
a cry. Dread touched him like the cold finger of death. “What’s wrong?” he
asked, turning in the control chair.
“They’ve got her!” Erik jumped to his feet.
His eyes grew wild. “The Egesa have Leila.” He slid into the seat beside Braden
and started checking the readouts—speed, course setting, time to destination.
“We have to hurry. We have to—”
“We’re at max.” Braden grabbed his shoulder
just for a moment to steady him. He knew what Erik was feeling and he didn’t
doubt what the man was saying. His connection to Leila was strong. He feared
for his friend who had always been more of a brother to him than even his own.
Erik fisted one hand and squeezed tight,
obviously trying to control himself and his emotions. “She’s alive. I feel it.
But she’s scared. If they—” He shook his head. “I can’t even say the words. I
can barely think straight right now.”
“Daegal won’t kill her, Erik. Or let his
soldiers kill her.”
“No, he’ll just have her tortured. He’s
always had some sort of morbid fascination with her. She was probably the only
woman ever to survive all she’s been through at the hands of his followers
without losing her mind.”