There was a long pause as Makepeace thought over what I had just said,
looking at the gun I held out towards him. "Why?" he asked finally.
"Because Sam will die if you don't. And so will we." I don't know how long we stood there, but it seemed like lifetime. I expected the guards to come rushing in at any moment. All the time there was precious and we were wasting it because Makepeace didn't think he could trust me. Finally, he reached out and took the gun from my outstretched hand.
"What now?" he asked, obviously believing I had more idea about the situation than he did. I suppose it was true, but that didn't make it any easier for me to take command. I'm no soldier and yet Makepeace wanted me to tell him the plan for getting out of the base. I decided to give him the situation and let him take charge.
"Sam isn't in any of these cells, which probably means she's up in one of the labs. There are also two children on this base: Susanne and a boy. We have to get them out."
"Where will they be?"
"I don't know. Maybe the labs, maybe they've got their own rooms." He looked at me like I was useless, which was pretty much the way I felt. I could tell he was curious about the children, but his military training prevented him from asking questions to satisfy his curiosity until we were safe. I was glad about that, I wasn't ready to tell him yet. He let the way out of the cell and along the hall, I guess he knew his way around the base a lot better than I did. It was understandable, I'd only been there once before after all. I bent down to grab a gun from one of the dead guards, trying not to think about the fact that I'd killed them. They might have had families, children, and I'd killed them in desperation. I pushed that out of my mind and followed Makepeace to the elevator.
"We'll go to the labs and get Major Carter first," he said, "then we'll see about these kids." I nodded, relieved to no longer have to be in command. I'd have preferred it if Jack could have been there, but that would have meant Simmons had him.
The alert sounded while we were in the elevator. Fear was a cold hand clenching my stomach tight. I tried to breathe steadily and not let my breaths come out in frightened gasps. "Hey, Doc J, we'll make it." That simple reassurance was the first sign that he did trust me. Somehow that was comforting, at least there was one person on this base who would trust me. Sam wouldn't, Susanne wouldn't, and Jonathon didn't even know me. I had one ally in a base full of enemies. And even Makepeace probably didn't trust me completely.
There were armed guards waiting for us as soon as the elevator doors opened. We were expecting that, and took shelter behind the opening doors, firing steadily. They had no cover and we were able to take them out quite quickly. "We won't have much time," Makepeace said. That was the understatement of the century. I let him lead me to the labs, as I silently prayed they would be there.
We struck gold in the first lab. Sam was strapped to a table, looking fairly queasy. They probably drugged her up again. Still, at least she was alive. It only took us a few moments to have her unstrapped and I gave her my arm to steady herself on as she sat up. The next minute I was being sent flying across the room. To be honest, if that's what it was like to be hit with her when she was drugged up, I don't want to be hit by her when she's at full strength.
"I enjoyed that," she said with cruel happiness in her voice.
"Glad to be of service," I muttered, massaging my sore jaw. At least if she was that angry she might take some of that anger out on the guards. I kind of hoped Simmons would show up, we both would be happy to punch him in the face.
"What the hell is going on?" she then asked.
"Susanne is on this base, along with another kid," I told her, "and we're trying to get out of here with them."
"How do I know this isn't a trick. You could both be working for Simmons."
"Sam, you know me. Please, you have to trust me." She glared at me, and I began to doubt she would ever trust me even the slightest bit. Makepeace got sick of us just looking at each other and settled the issue.
"Just give her your gun. She can shoot it better than you anyway." I handed it over and she turned to Makepeace, casting me aside as if I was useless. It hurt me so badly that she would trust someone who had been proved a traitor once before more than she trusted me. They exchanged words, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy despairing over a broken friendship which could never be repaired. It might not even have ended up worth it. We could have died there and Sam would have died hating me, believing me to be a traitor. I had betrayed everything that was important to me: my morals, my beliefs and finally my friends, and now I was paying the price. It served me right if Sam didn't trust me, after what I'd done to her I deserved nothing less. Just like I'd deserved that punch she threw at me.
"Come on!" Sam ordered me sharply. Evidently she and Makepeace had finished their discussion. We went out into the hall again, and began checking the other labs, but they were just filled with equipment and experiments. One held a whole stack of cages filled with scrabbling mice. At least mice were better than humans for experimenting on.
"Where else would they be?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that they're on this base." I was slightly worried that I'd misinterpreted what Simmons had said and that they weren't. All this could have been for nothing, and Simmons wouldn't hesitate to continue his experiments on them if he knew that they were no use for bargaining with me.
"Well we can't just search the base, we haven't got time!" Sam was getting angry now, and, justifiably, she was taking her anger out on me. I thought for a moment that she would punch me again.
"Wait a minute," Makepeace said, much to my relief, "if they spend time on this base then they'll probably have rooms near the personnel quarters."
"Where's that?"
"Level fifteen." We headed back to the elevator, with Sam ignoring me again. Well, as long as she was ignoring me she wasn't hitting me. My jaw was bruised and rather painful. We met quite a few groups of guards on the way, both before we reached the elevator and on level fifteen. I got myself another gun after we took out the first lot. Sam glared for a moment but I think she accepted that it would be better to have another gun on our side, even if she wasn't totally convinced I was on the same side as her.
Personnel quarters posed another problem for us: there was an entire floor full of rooms and probably quite a lot of guards. "We should split up," Sam said, contemplating the long search. Makepeace just looked at me. Sam saw and knew what he was thinking. "You take Daniel with you, I'll go on alone." I didn't protest. We went back to the last lot of guards we'd taken out and grabbed their radios. It wasn't like they needed them anymore. There was a slight problem that other people would be able to listen in, but Sam fixed that by fiddling with the radios so that they would broadcast and receive on a different frequency.
Again I followed Makepeace through enemy halls, praying that my children were here somewhere. Room after room proved empty, or yielded sleeping figures. It turned out that Simmons's security procedures eventually gave them away, when we reached two rooms with armed guards outside. That had to be where they were. I'm not where Simmons was getting his guards from, but I've seen five-year-olds who were better trained, and not just Susanne. We took them out with no difficulty and then each went to a different room.
I opened the door and saw, sitting at a computer, a boy who looked so much like I'd done when I was little that it was scary. He was thirteen, with a long fringe of dark blond hair flopping into his blue eyes. I remembered myself at thirteen and knew that the only difference between our appearances was that he didn't wear glasses. He looked shocked for a minute, then he began to back away from me, frightened. He must have heard the sounds of the fight outside. I didn't like the thought that my son would be so scared of me.
"It's OK, Jonathon, I won't hurt you."
"How do you know my name?"
"Jonathon, you have to come with me." He bumped into the wall and couldn't back away any more. He was puzzled, perhaps wondering about our similar appearances.
"Daniel!" I heard that shout behind me, and turned to see Susanne hurtling towards me. She flung her arms around me and seemed like a little girl again as I hugged her tightly. She didn't hate me. Jonathon came out of his room then, looking between Susanne and me as we separated.
"They're going to help us, Jonathon," Susanne told him. He became a little more trusting of me then, and slipped his hand into Susanne's. Standing there together in the hall it was impossible to doubt they were brother and sister.
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps behind me, and Susanne's face filled with fear. I spun round to see the guard fire his gun. I didn't have time to think, I just leapt, crying out with pain as the bullet tore through my flesh, the bullet that would have killed my children. There was the sound of another gun shot almost before I hit the ground, as Sam came round the corner and killed the guard. Then Makepeace was at my side, putting pressure on the wound. I looked once more at my children, hugging each other with fear, and I whispered my dying request.
"Tell my children their father loves them."
THE END
I promise I'll post the sequel soon.
"Because Sam will die if you don't. And so will we." I don't know how long we stood there, but it seemed like lifetime. I expected the guards to come rushing in at any moment. All the time there was precious and we were wasting it because Makepeace didn't think he could trust me. Finally, he reached out and took the gun from my outstretched hand.
"What now?" he asked, obviously believing I had more idea about the situation than he did. I suppose it was true, but that didn't make it any easier for me to take command. I'm no soldier and yet Makepeace wanted me to tell him the plan for getting out of the base. I decided to give him the situation and let him take charge.
"Sam isn't in any of these cells, which probably means she's up in one of the labs. There are also two children on this base: Susanne and a boy. We have to get them out."
"Where will they be?"
"I don't know. Maybe the labs, maybe they've got their own rooms." He looked at me like I was useless, which was pretty much the way I felt. I could tell he was curious about the children, but his military training prevented him from asking questions to satisfy his curiosity until we were safe. I was glad about that, I wasn't ready to tell him yet. He let the way out of the cell and along the hall, I guess he knew his way around the base a lot better than I did. It was understandable, I'd only been there once before after all. I bent down to grab a gun from one of the dead guards, trying not to think about the fact that I'd killed them. They might have had families, children, and I'd killed them in desperation. I pushed that out of my mind and followed Makepeace to the elevator.
"We'll go to the labs and get Major Carter first," he said, "then we'll see about these kids." I nodded, relieved to no longer have to be in command. I'd have preferred it if Jack could have been there, but that would have meant Simmons had him.
The alert sounded while we were in the elevator. Fear was a cold hand clenching my stomach tight. I tried to breathe steadily and not let my breaths come out in frightened gasps. "Hey, Doc J, we'll make it." That simple reassurance was the first sign that he did trust me. Somehow that was comforting, at least there was one person on this base who would trust me. Sam wouldn't, Susanne wouldn't, and Jonathon didn't even know me. I had one ally in a base full of enemies. And even Makepeace probably didn't trust me completely.
There were armed guards waiting for us as soon as the elevator doors opened. We were expecting that, and took shelter behind the opening doors, firing steadily. They had no cover and we were able to take them out quite quickly. "We won't have much time," Makepeace said. That was the understatement of the century. I let him lead me to the labs, as I silently prayed they would be there.
We struck gold in the first lab. Sam was strapped to a table, looking fairly queasy. They probably drugged her up again. Still, at least she was alive. It only took us a few moments to have her unstrapped and I gave her my arm to steady herself on as she sat up. The next minute I was being sent flying across the room. To be honest, if that's what it was like to be hit with her when she was drugged up, I don't want to be hit by her when she's at full strength.
"I enjoyed that," she said with cruel happiness in her voice.
"Glad to be of service," I muttered, massaging my sore jaw. At least if she was that angry she might take some of that anger out on the guards. I kind of hoped Simmons would show up, we both would be happy to punch him in the face.
"What the hell is going on?" she then asked.
"Susanne is on this base, along with another kid," I told her, "and we're trying to get out of here with them."
"How do I know this isn't a trick. You could both be working for Simmons."
"Sam, you know me. Please, you have to trust me." She glared at me, and I began to doubt she would ever trust me even the slightest bit. Makepeace got sick of us just looking at each other and settled the issue.
"Just give her your gun. She can shoot it better than you anyway." I handed it over and she turned to Makepeace, casting me aside as if I was useless. It hurt me so badly that she would trust someone who had been proved a traitor once before more than she trusted me. They exchanged words, but I wasn't listening. I was too busy despairing over a broken friendship which could never be repaired. It might not even have ended up worth it. We could have died there and Sam would have died hating me, believing me to be a traitor. I had betrayed everything that was important to me: my morals, my beliefs and finally my friends, and now I was paying the price. It served me right if Sam didn't trust me, after what I'd done to her I deserved nothing less. Just like I'd deserved that punch she threw at me.
"Come on!" Sam ordered me sharply. Evidently she and Makepeace had finished their discussion. We went out into the hall again, and began checking the other labs, but they were just filled with equipment and experiments. One held a whole stack of cages filled with scrabbling mice. At least mice were better than humans for experimenting on.
"Where else would they be?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that they're on this base." I was slightly worried that I'd misinterpreted what Simmons had said and that they weren't. All this could have been for nothing, and Simmons wouldn't hesitate to continue his experiments on them if he knew that they were no use for bargaining with me.
"Well we can't just search the base, we haven't got time!" Sam was getting angry now, and, justifiably, she was taking her anger out on me. I thought for a moment that she would punch me again.
"Wait a minute," Makepeace said, much to my relief, "if they spend time on this base then they'll probably have rooms near the personnel quarters."
"Where's that?"
"Level fifteen." We headed back to the elevator, with Sam ignoring me again. Well, as long as she was ignoring me she wasn't hitting me. My jaw was bruised and rather painful. We met quite a few groups of guards on the way, both before we reached the elevator and on level fifteen. I got myself another gun after we took out the first lot. Sam glared for a moment but I think she accepted that it would be better to have another gun on our side, even if she wasn't totally convinced I was on the same side as her.
Personnel quarters posed another problem for us: there was an entire floor full of rooms and probably quite a lot of guards. "We should split up," Sam said, contemplating the long search. Makepeace just looked at me. Sam saw and knew what he was thinking. "You take Daniel with you, I'll go on alone." I didn't protest. We went back to the last lot of guards we'd taken out and grabbed their radios. It wasn't like they needed them anymore. There was a slight problem that other people would be able to listen in, but Sam fixed that by fiddling with the radios so that they would broadcast and receive on a different frequency.
Again I followed Makepeace through enemy halls, praying that my children were here somewhere. Room after room proved empty, or yielded sleeping figures. It turned out that Simmons's security procedures eventually gave them away, when we reached two rooms with armed guards outside. That had to be where they were. I'm not where Simmons was getting his guards from, but I've seen five-year-olds who were better trained, and not just Susanne. We took them out with no difficulty and then each went to a different room.
I opened the door and saw, sitting at a computer, a boy who looked so much like I'd done when I was little that it was scary. He was thirteen, with a long fringe of dark blond hair flopping into his blue eyes. I remembered myself at thirteen and knew that the only difference between our appearances was that he didn't wear glasses. He looked shocked for a minute, then he began to back away from me, frightened. He must have heard the sounds of the fight outside. I didn't like the thought that my son would be so scared of me.
"It's OK, Jonathon, I won't hurt you."
"How do you know my name?"
"Jonathon, you have to come with me." He bumped into the wall and couldn't back away any more. He was puzzled, perhaps wondering about our similar appearances.
"Daniel!" I heard that shout behind me, and turned to see Susanne hurtling towards me. She flung her arms around me and seemed like a little girl again as I hugged her tightly. She didn't hate me. Jonathon came out of his room then, looking between Susanne and me as we separated.
"They're going to help us, Jonathon," Susanne told him. He became a little more trusting of me then, and slipped his hand into Susanne's. Standing there together in the hall it was impossible to doubt they were brother and sister.
Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps behind me, and Susanne's face filled with fear. I spun round to see the guard fire his gun. I didn't have time to think, I just leapt, crying out with pain as the bullet tore through my flesh, the bullet that would have killed my children. There was the sound of another gun shot almost before I hit the ground, as Sam came round the corner and killed the guard. Then Makepeace was at my side, putting pressure on the wound. I looked once more at my children, hugging each other with fear, and I whispered my dying request.
"Tell my children their father loves them."
THE END
I promise I'll post the sequel soon.
