Violets in Vegas: Field of Diamonds6
I knew. I knew something was wrong, only I was too blind to see it. I was too wrapped up in trying to save the world, to command our teams and the cops and the plethora of questions being thrown at me from every direction. I was so wrapped up in it all, in myself I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.
If only I had listened to Moira. If only I had let her say what she needed to say, to tell me what she needed to tell me. It would have changed everything. Everything.
God forgive me, I should have made time for Moira.
Chaos reigned in the secret government facility but at least it was an organized kind of chaos. Squads of trained soldiers were gathering their supplies, pulling on TAC vests and arming themselves with weapons of every shape and variety. Even some not of this world.
John was going over the final plans, leaning over the table as a map was spread on it, depicting the layout of the Stratosphere and the surrounding environs. Evan was pointing, highlighting the access points, both those public and private. Elizabeth was watching as well, nodding and cradling her P90 as tenderly as a lover as she blew stray dark curls out of her eyes. Even with the air conditioning the heat could be felt beating on the walls.
"I can't reach Caldwell or Woolsey," Rodney said, entering the room. He was shoving a strange-looking contraption into a backpack. "I think there's some static interference from the solar flares. Or from the asteroid. It was close enough that the Earth's gravitational pull altered its trajectory slightly and any debris could temporarily hamper our own—"
"Whoa, back up! What asteroid? There's a fucking asteroid now?" John asked, scowling.
"There was. To be precise it was Asteroid 2002MN. It came 120,000 kilometers close to the Earth, the closest fly-by on record! It wasn't a NEA or anything like that but the—"
"NEA?"
"Near Earth Collision," Evan supplied. "Why didn't we hear a thing about this?"
"Because we didn't know about it until it had already passed. It approached from the sun-facing side and asteroids are nearly undetectable unless they approach from the dark side."
"So apart from these freakish earthquakes and a possible alien invasion we almost got pulverized by an asteroid? Oh, not to mention the lunar eclipse happening in a few hours."
"Not pulverized. It was a close fly-by but not close enough to impact the Earth."
"If it had we'd been talking an extinction event on some scale," Evan noted. "Good thing we have a paleontologist on our team, just in case."
"Yeah. Where the hell is Moira?" John dialed his phone again, waited. "She's still not answering." He crossed to the PA, hit the button. "Moira O'Meara, get that pert little ass back to the conference room now! We almost had an extinction event!" He smirked. "That should do it." He returned to the table. "What is that?"
Rodney had shoved the instrument into the backpack with some effort. He slung it over his shoulder. The backpack was bulging, appearing comical hoisted against his dark suit. "What? Oh, this will run interference for us if we don't get there before the device is activated. I've got a portable power source but I will have to be in the vicinity for the thing to work."
"All right. We'll keep trying to contact Caldwell and Woolsey, but otherwise we are doing this without them. Weir, head up the ground squads and keep the area clear. No one gets out of that observation tower. We will corner Todd and his cronies and take them out one by one."
"You do realize that Woolsey will want Todd alive," Rodney interjected, adjusting the backpack on his shoulders. It was heavier than he thought.
"Yeah. Thing is, I don't. And I'm in charge now. You have your orders, Weir. Shoot to kill. Or do you have some ethical qualm about that?"
Elizabeth smiled. "None at all, Sheppard. Gee, you sound like one of us. Almost. You've been in command before this? What it the Air Force?"
"Yeah, something like that. Now I am trying to save a city. Why is it always a city?" he wondered quietly. He shook his head.
"The planet, actually," Evan corrected, rolling up the map. "Let me try calling her. Maybe she's not answering because she's pissed at you," he offered, seeing the detective snatching his phone yet again, even as he turned expectantly to the doorway. But no one was there.
"She probably is pissed at me, but even then she always answers her phone," John stated. A thread of worry was inserting itself, although he had no reason to worry. None at all. Maybe Moira was somewhere in a lower lab where she couldn't get phone reception, or she had run out of minutes, or she had not paid her bill and was cut off from service. All logical reasons making perfect sense. Yet John's gut told him they were all wrong.
Carson entered the room, medical kit in hand. "I've got first aid and whatever else I could grab on such short notice. Just in case. Am I with Weir or with you, John?"
"With me for now. We'll be in close quarters up in the observatory. Grab a gun on the way out, would ya? I trust you can shoot."
"Yes, I can shoot. I don't like it, but I can shoot," the doctor grumbled.
"Nothing." Evan frowned. "That's not like her at all." A crease of worry lined his brow as he met John's gaze.
"Let's move out. I'll check with security and see if she signed out of the building. That doesn't make any sense but it's the only explanation. Except she would still answer her phone."
"You must have really pissed her off," Evan commented, shaking her head. "What did you do, break up with her?"
"Shut up," John muttered. "Like I'd choose today to do that?"
Richard hastened up the sidewalk. He knocked on the front door. "Moira! Moira, open up! It's me! Please, we haven't much time!" He pounded his fist on the door. "Doctor O'Meara, please! You are in danger, terrible danger! I have to get you out of here now!"
Moira whirled, startled out of her morose thoughts. Worries shattering as the voice shouted at her, a warning she didn't understand. She moved to the front door and opened it. "Mr. Woolsey? What is—"
He grabbed her arm, tried to pull her out of the house. "We have to go now! Please, I can't explain now but we have to leave!" His grip was tight. Painful.
"Let go of me!" She struggled, twisting arm and pulled free. She tried to close the door but he blocked it with his foot, his shoulder. "What is wrong with you? No!" He had grabbed her arm and forcibly hauled her out of the house only to suddenly shove her back inside it.
"Too late! Go!" Richard had heard the screech of tires as cars rolled up to the street. As boisterous men had erupted out of the vehicles and were heading straight for the house. He turned, slammed the door shut and locked it. "Run, Moira! Find a place to hide! I'll try to fend them off, tell them you escaped or ran away! Go!"
"What the hell is going on? Who are those men? What have you done? I'm calling John!" she said, backing away from him, from the door but it was suddenly kicked open. The chain snapped and the frame bucked. The wood splintered under the violent assault. She kept pressing the button on the phone even as she began to back away from the strangers infiltrating her home.
"Stop, stop, please, I made a mistake, I never agreed to this, you can't—" the rest of Richard's protest was lost as he was hit and shoved out of the way. He crashed into the glass table, shattering it as it upended. Blood spurted as he was hit, punched.
The men headed for Moira, smiling with utter glee.