Disclaimer: Primeval and all its characters belong to someone else.

Double Wedding

***Warning- violence in this chapter***

Chapter Thirty Eight- Wedding Day!

Part 3

Danny had separated from the others, leading a small group from Beta towards the panic room. Being part of the security team meant that he knew his way around very well, and all the times he'd tested Becker by physically trying out the security had led him to find a few hidden places that only a couple of people knew about, which had proved to be very useful in the past.

As they silently crept along the corridor, Danny suddenly caught sight of an ARC uniform ahead, trying to catch his attention. He signalled to his men to follow and went in the direction he'd seen the man, keeping alert in case it was a trap.

"Coles!" he said as he caught up with him, and recognised him as one of the new recruits to the ARC.

"Mr Quinn!" the soldier said, clearly relieved. "Do you know what's going on?" When Danny nodded, Kieran Coles shook his head apologetically. "I've been wandering around trying to find my way for ages- haven't been much use, I'm afraid!"

"Hey! Don't beat yourself up about it!" Danny said, clapping the man on his back- he looked so dejected. "You're doing great. Tell me what happened."

"Jennifer and Rob- you know, the other newbies… and I were in the tea room when it all started." Kieran continued. "We decided to make our way to communications to try to contact someone to help- Captain Becker, Miss Parker, or even the Minister himself if necessary. We didn't make it that far though. They had it pretty much covered and impenetrable.

We decided to try to make it outside and then raise the alarm. We mostly hid, but took down a few of them. Then we turned a corner and ran into a whole bunch of soldiers! As I pulled back against a doorway it opened and I fell backwards into a small cupboard. Nobody noticed me as I shut the door, but they captured Jennifer and Rob and took them away.

They said they were holding prisoners in the training room, so I was heading there- thought I might be able to get the guys out, maybe- I don't know, just had to do something, but I've been afraid to wander around too much because of the cameras!"

"No need to worry about the cameras, mate- Jess and Connor took care of it. They hacked the CCTV and diverted the view to their own equipment and disabled the monitors here… but I don't think they're even looking. They think they're safe! I'll come with you to the training room- see what we can do…You guys…" he said to Beta. "Carry on to the panic room- they need you there. We'll be fine…."

The men from the Beta team nodded and continued on their way to the panic room. They had their orders to follow, so reluctantly left Danny and Kieran. Danny watched them until they disappeared from view, then turned purposely back to Kieran.

"Right…let's go. No time to spare…"

~~oOOo~~

Matt and Emily hurried out of the room and made their way to the corridor where interview room 6 was sited. They peered around the corner and saw the three guards Jess had warned them about.

"Right, you distract them and then I'll take them by surprise." Matt suggested.

"Distract them? How?"

"Emily! You're a woman- your hair's all done up and you're wearing make- up. Use your…womanly wiles!"

"Womanly wiles? Oh…you mean sex! But I can't be sexy- I'm not sexy!"

"Emily- of course you are! You're the sexiest woman I've ever met! Come on now- just do it! We're running out of time!"

Emily's eyes softened at the compliment, and she became determined to show Matt she could do it. Right. He wanted sexy…she took the ends of her baggy t-shirt and tied them up, leaving her midriff bare. Matt's eyes grew big as the shirt stretched over her bosom, making them more pronounced and sending a bolt of desire through him, even in this tense situation. He licked his lips, which had suddenly gone dry and managed to nod to her, as she stepped out from around the corner and approached the guards, swinging her hips as she walked. Matt forced his gaze to stare straight ahead and not at her rounded buttocks as she swayed forward towards the men who suddenly stood upright, a leer on their faces as they saw a beautiful woman walking towards them. One of them whistled as she approached.

"Hey, darling!" he said roughly. "what ya doin here?"

"I…I er heard you were here. My friend and I work in the typing pool, and we've noticed you. She likes…him." Emily pointed to one of the others. "And I like you! Want to come and have some fun with us?"

"Oi, what about me, bitch?" the third man said angrily. The other men jeered and laughed at him.

"No one wants you, cos you're ugly!"

"Ha! You stay here and guard. You're not invited. Me an' him's gonna have some fun!"

"No!" the third man said infuriated. "You stay here too, or I'll…"

"Or you'll what?" the man said, right up in the guard's face.

"I'll report you…to her!"

This was going better than she'd expected. To have them at each other's throats would help Matt. She decided to up the ante a little. "Come on lovers!" she drawled. "Leave this loser and let's go. I can't wait much longer!"

The men turned to leave and the third guard grabbed them both by an arm. As the three of them faced up to each other, Matt silently ran from his hiding place and hit one quickly with his gun. As the man fell, Matt turned on the second, and karate chopped the back of his neck. Emily threw a punch as hard as she could manage to the third man, and he stumbled backwards. Matt grabbed him by the collar and slammed his head into the wall.

As Emily nursed her hand, Matt gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "See." he said. "Sexiest girl in the ARC!"

He put his ear to the door but couldn't hear anything coming from the other side of it. He knocked loudly. "Hey!" he yelled.

"Who's that?" came the reply.

"We're your cover. The Captain told us to take over for a bit while you guys have a break. You're to spend no more than ten minutes though!"

"Good- I'm parched…" a man began as he opened the door, only to have his words cut short by a fist in his face.

The other guard was quick and grabbed Lester. But when Lester saw who was at the door, he seemed to rally, and snatched at the man's gun, holding his wrist as they grappled. Lester suddenly threw a punch with his free fist and the man went flying.

"Good hit, Lester!" Matt approved.

Lester sniffed and took his comb out of his pocket and tidied his hair. "Yes, well er…it's about time you got here. Let's go!"

Emily and Matt shared a look, and then Matt shrugged and followed Lester out of the door.

"Alpha! Report, Alpha!" Matt said into his comms, as they hurried away.

"Matt!" Jess' voice echoed in Matt's ear. "We couldn't fix the comms so that you can all hear each other- we just couldn't do all that from here without more technology, but I can speak to each person. I'll relay your message to Alpha's commander. Hang on…

OK, Matt. Alpha have secured all the corridors and taken the Johnson's men to the panic room. The only areas not clear are the Hub and Lester's office. There are a lot of men there, Matt- and they have some ARC staff manning the computers and the ADD, under armed guard."

"OK. Have you heard from Danny?"

"Yes- he's heading towards the training room where the ARC staff are being held. He's going to try to get them out."

"Good. Contact Becker and tell him to meet us at the Hub. Hopefully we'll have the element of surprise on our side, and round them up easily enough. Tell the Alpha commander to split his men up to cover all sides, but wait for my command before advancing."

"Right-…" The comms went silent for a moment. "Done!" Jess' voice confirmed.

"Let's move out!" Matt ordered and Emily and Lester followed his lead, Lester stooping as he grabbed one of Johnson's men's gun from the floor as he went.

When they reached the corridor leading to the Hub, Matt peered around the corner. "Look there- Jess was right- there are a lot of them. But we've got plenty of men and surprise on our side."

Just then, Becker and Connor ran up to join them, and Matt nodded in greeting. "Becker can you communicate with Alpha?" Becker held up his walkie- talkie, nodding silently. "OK, tell them to advance on my order. Use force as necessary, but try to take them alive. Lester and I will take the office. Jess said there's only Christine and Wilder in there. Becker, you help us get through to the office, and Connor you head for the ADD and try to get it working properly, and fix the comms- stay out of trouble! Emily, go with him and make sure you've got his back."

Connor nodded, not sure if he was relieved he wasn't expected to fight trained soldiers or annoyed at being side-lined. Still, the ADD was important. Matt waited until Becker had relayed his instructions and then yelled 'NOW!' so that Alpha could hear him down the walkie- talkie.

~~oOOo~~

Danny, Kieran and the four ARC soldiers accompanying them began the short journey to the training room. Suddenly a fluttering of wings greeted them and a little green creature flew around their heads, chittering as he flew in circles above them.

"Rex!" Danny exclaimed. "How did you get…" he stopped speaking as he heard a low growl just ahead. The men flattened against the walls as much as possible- there was nowhere else to go.

Some grey uniformed men turned the corner. They had a huge Smilodon walking alongside them on a lead. It had some sort of contraption on its head and as it saw them, it roared and showed its teeth, drool spilling from the side of its mouth.

"Oh my God!" one of the ARC men cried, totally terrified. He dropped his weapon and began to run- fear taking over any other sensible thought. The Johnson's soldier holding the animal dropped the lead.

"Get him!" he ordered, with a sweep of one hand, pressing some buttons on some sort of remote control with the other.

The Smilodon dived forward, past Danny and the others, who watched open- mouthed, unable to do anything. The creature sprung at the fleeing ARC soldier, and Danny awoke from his stupor and began to fire his EMD.

It was too late- the Smilodon's claws dug into the man's back, and it clamped its jaws down hard. The EMD struck at that moment and the creature collapsed on the floor. Another ARC man ran to his colleague's side, and sighed with relief- he was alive but bleeding and in pain.

"Put your weapons down." the Johnson's officer ordered.

They had no choice but to obey and reluctantly placed the EMDs on the floor. The officer sent one of his men to check on the creature.

"It's coming around now, sir." he reported.

"Get it back under control, quickly."

"You can control them?" Danny breathed.

"Oh yes!" the soldier smiled nastily. "Now bring your man before I let this 'pussy cat' finish the job. You are now our prisoners."

Danny, Kieran and the men were hustled to the training room and shoved inside. There were various members if staff standing or sitting around.

"Guys!" he said as they helped him regain his feet, and the guards closed the door on them. "We've got to get out of here..."

"It's no good, Mr Quinn." Lorraine Wickes said approaching him. "We tried- this door's the only way out and they have guards out there, sometimes with a huge wild cat or something!"

"Smilodon!" Danny corrected automatically. "There must be something we can do..."

He looked around the room. He'd been here many times... In fact...he'd tried to get in without Becker noticing through the...

"Ventilation shaft!" he announced gleefully.

"Sir?"

"Listen up! Move that cupboard there- be careful, it's heavy. That's it! There's a ventilation shaft behind it. Anyone got something we can prise it open with- ah, that'll do..." he continued as someone produced a screwdriver.

Danny used the small implement as best he could to prise the vent open. Tossing the screwdriver aside, he and Kieran grabbed the vent, pulling with all their might until they managed to remove it.

"OK!" Danny grinned, panting heavily. "Get through quickly. Turn left and continue forward through the shaft until you reach the very end, where you'll get to the car park. You'll be safe there."

"What about you? Aren't you coming?" Lorraine asked.

"No-I'm turning right. I need to get to the Hub and find the others."

"I'm coming with you." Kieran stated.

"Me too." Jennifer and a few others, including Rob remarked.

"Great! Thanks- well, let's go...

To Be Continued…