Title: Bèi dào (Stolen)
Chapter 7 – Storming Fort Knox!

"Was expecting you Commander," Ryland smiles as Chandler's expression changes from anger to surprise.

Before he could react, Chandler felt something prick his neck and turned to see a man step from the shadows with a weapon raised and hurried toward him. Chandler fired off a shot but with his body shutting down it was moot and only got himself shot in return, although not any place vital.

"That's enough! I need him intact! Bring him!"

Need him…intact…are the last words Chandler hears as his body crumples to the ground and allows his captor's bodyguard to gather him into his grasp and perform a fireman's carry and sling him over his shoulder and hurry toward the private elevator behind Ryland who presses the close button just as Sasha and Slattery bust through the first security door.

XXXXXXXX

"Where the hell…Val…can you see them anywhere?" Sasha asks in panicked haste.

"I…I can't just…hold on a sec…"

"Hurry!" Sasha whispers as she watches Slattery checking all areas of the room. "They can't have just vanished!" She states impatiently as Slattery's fist pounds on the wall panels. "Val!"

"Okay so…I can't see it but there's a hidden elevator. I think…it just stopped at a sub floor that…hold on I'm trying to get…okay it's coming back up."

"Empty or will we have company?" Sasha asks as both her and Slattery stand on either side of the elevator with their guns trained and ready.

"I can't tell…I'm searching for camera's down there now."

However, they don't have to wait too long for their answer as the doors open a few seconds later with nothing but stainless steel panels to greet them and some fresh blood spattering on the floor.

"Tom," Sasha whispers in dread.

"Go!" Slattery nods to Sasha who enters the elevator; Slattery a few seconds later.

"Val, what are we walking into down there?"

"I don't know. There are no cameras down there. Sorry you're on your own but I haven't seen any vehicles leaving but…the other service elevator is moving. Coming down. More party crashers."

"Damn…hate party crashers," Slattery grumbles as Sasha offers him a timid smile. But her mind races at Tom's absence as she knows the man who kidnapped him is evil and sadistic and will think nothing of cutting him open, taking out whatever he wants and injecting him with God knows what. "Better get him in time," she seethes in an undertone as Slattery's brow furrows as he senses more concern than anger in her tone. But at the same time, he can't help but wonder if they didn't get there in time just what horrors his friend would have to endure.

"Get ready!"

The doors slowly slide open and both Slattery and Sasha rush out their guns trained and ready – again.

"Found them! But you better hurry! The security door on the far corner of the underground compound is opening!"

XXXXXXXX

Chandler's mind flashes him horrible images that he had seen – the murders and the ones on Ping's phone. He hears Sasha calling out to him and Slattery yelling at him to not move. But it was all jumbled together and none of it made sense – until a bump in the road jolted him awake.

His eyes slightly flutter and aside from the searing pain in his shoulder, he knows that that is the least of his problems. His arms and legs refuse to move, he's unable to call out and worst of all, is being kidnapped in a foreign city that he has no idea, if he did escape how he'd alert his team to his whereabouts.

'They were experimenting on the young men. Needed white men to experiment with. Something about their DNA. Would take out certain organs and put them into others. Then they'd inject both with some kind of toxin. Then they'd just let them die.'

"Don't worry Commander Chandler," Ryland's voice is heard as Chandler tries to lift his head and look at his captor. "I won't make you suffer…too much."

He offers a grumble under the tape over his mouth and squeezes his eyes shut as his head starts to pound once more; his mind trying to block out images of the young men being carved up with his screams being heard and his rescue party arriving too late.

Mike…hurry…

Then his mind drifts to Sasha and he wonders if he'll ever see her again. I want another start with…Sasha I'm sorry…I should have said something sooner…I want that too…his eyes close and he can only pray Mike and Sasha will pick up the trail and start the chase.

XXXXXXXX

"Slattery, duck!" Sasha calls out as a hail of gunfire whizzes overhead and she takes out two just as Slattery's head and shoulders disappear from view.

"Sasha! There! Go!" Slattery shouts as he points to a waiting Land Rover; Sasha racing for it while he takes out another armed guard bearing down on her right. She hops into the front seat; Slattery in the passenger seat and taking out another guard just as he shoots out the back passenger window.

"Val!" Sasha's voice rises over another hail of gunfire as she talks into her ear piece to Val. "Where?"

"Hold on…"

"Tom's running out of time!" Sasha growls as Slattery looks at her with pursed lips. "I…I keep seeing those images. He's going to take Tom some place and…cut him up and either kill him or experiment on him."

"We'll get there in time," Slattery assures her before he speaks into his earpiece to tell Val she has to hurry.

"Okay I think…yes turn at…" she gives them their next directions, cursing the city's archaic surveillance system and then trying to get ahead of them by getting to the camera's that are near his two labs.

"This guy…Ryland…he'd know we'd go to either of the two labs," Slattery relay's as he reads Danny's text. "Wolf and Green are safe. I told them to reconvene with Burk and Val and to be ready to storm whatever fortress Chandler's being held in."

"Where else…Val did he have…something," Sasha's voice asks, once again thick with emotion. "Doesn't have to be a formal lab…something that he could…something secret."

"Yeah I think I have…hold on a second…I got it!"

Slattery looks in the rear view mirror and narrows his gaze as he sees two black SUV's race around the corner and star to bear down on them.

"Sasha! You know these streets…lose these guys!"

"Copy that!"

XXXXXXXX

Chandler's mind finally starts to bring him back to his painful reality; his senses instantly being assaulted by the deathly smell of blood and medicine. The tape was removed from his mouth but even more disconcerting than the fact that he was strapped down to what he assumed was an operating table, was the fact that his shirt was missing and he was crudely draped for surgery.

"This…this can't be…happening…" Chandler's voice tries, dry and hoarse. His lungs try to swallow but he finds he's unable and he looks around for someone or something that can help him. But…that wasn't to be.

"Welcome back Commander Chandler."

"Why…am I here?" Chandler asks as he tries once more to swallow. This time he's slightly able as he hears heavy footsteps nearing him.

"Oh I think you know," Ryland replies as he nears; coming fully into Chandler's line of sight.

"Murderer."

"Murderer? No…I'm a scientist."

"Murderer."

"Such a harsh word Commander. I want to help save the human race not murder it," Ryland looks at him with a smug smile as he holds up a clean surgical knife and then down at Chandler as the glint catches his dark glance. "This virus…it's not going to beat us. I'm going to make sure of it."

"There is a cure. We already beat it," Chandler replies a bit more smoothly as he feels some moisture coming back to his lungs and throat. "This…this is you…murdering innocent people!"

"The virus won't stay in one stage forever, you know that!"

"You can't predict how it's going to mutate! Those young men…they didn't volunteer for this! You kidnapped and murdered them!"

"All jobs have hazards," Ryland replies smugly as Chandler's gaze narrows. But his gaze slightly widens as Ryland holds up a large needle with some Green liquid in it. "Including yours Commander Chandler."

"My team…"

"Will have to storm Fort Knox if they want to get you and by the time they do…well let's just say you'll beg one of them to end it quickly….or you will. Either way…you're going to die."

Chandler's body starts to instantly struggle as the needle nears; his jaw gritting and his lips calling out to anyone who would help him.

"No one around to help you Chandler," Ryland states smugly. "Most of my other subjects I wanted silenced. But you…I want to hear…futile…word."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

XXXXXXXX

"One more…ah damn bastard!" Slattery growls as he fires off another shot, but pulls back when the incoming bullet misses him but shatters the side mirror.

"You're almost there! You have to hurry," Val tells them in a panicked tone. "This guy Ryland, he's got one hell of a security system but I was able to hack part and…he's got Chandler in some kind of medical room."

"What's the layout like?"

"Fort Knox."

"Great," Slattery starts with a grumble as he pops his head back out the busted window once more and fires off a few more rounds at the pursuing vehicle, finally taking out the two side tires and making the black SUV careen out of control and crash into the side of small building and out of the chase. "Two down but I'm sure we'll have an army waiting for us when we get there."

"Val, is there any way we can get in with the least amount of resistance?"

"Yeah…I'll send you some directions. Once inside…I can only see into certain parts but the actual testing area I can't see…so I don't know what they're doing to…just hurry. Wolf and Green are on their way. Burk is still here with me."

"I told Green and Wolf to meet us there. But they are incoming and might not make it in time."

"We better," Sasha replies as she rounds the corner and then brings the Land Rover to a screeching halt as they come across an entrance that looks almost impenetrable. "Oh damn. Got any grenades left?"

"We need something more subtle," Slattery retorts in sarcasm as Val directs them toward the front gate quickly gives them the code to get in the front door.

"You'll have to hurry because I can't see everywhere and I'm sure there will be alarm triggers waiting before I can help you disarm them."

"Just tell us where that lab is!"

"Okay…sending you what I can…"

XXXXXXXX

"Val?"

"No Rios," Slattery pauses to read his message. "He said the green tissue was purposely infected and…"

"And what?" Sasha asks in dread.

"And all of the bodies have green tissue which means…"

"All were injected with Ryland's mutated virus on purpose. We need to get to Tom before Ryland injects him with that stuff," Sasha states, not realizing they'd be a bit too late to stop that.

XXXXXXXX

Chandler's head swims with dizzying pain…searing pain and all kinds of distorted images of his past and tormented images of his tormented future.

The mixture coursed through his veins and despite the pounding in his head, he could hear Ryland's tone change and his words barking out a command to his guards and then heavy footsteps rushing past him.

Help…has arrived…his panicked mind tries to remind him as Ryland's taunting laugh nears and his brain once again tries to order him to move…struggle…do something.

Only this time, his body refuses to cooperate and he knows something's very wrong.

"Can you feel it?" Ryland whispers as Chandler's watery eyes affix on something shiny that hovers slightly above his head and to the right. "Can you feel the virus…coursing through your veins?"

"What?"

"Oh that's right…I've injected you."

"Antidote."

"Oh…there is one and I have it under lock and key," Ryland continues to whisper in Chandler's ear. "But you won't get it in time."

XXXXXXXX

"Okay I just got another camera unlocked…near the lab and…hurry! He's about to KILL CHANDLER!"

A/N: Uh oh! WHAT? I blame this all on my muse! Hehe what do you think will happen with our team and Chandler's fate? Please do review before you go and thanks so much!