Chapter Four: A Case of Separation

Chapter Four: A Case of Separation

Zach worked through the invaders systematically, firing from his protected position in the hall taking down any foolish enough to get in the line of fire. He knew this was a fight for survival, and fully understood the consequences if he failed. Luckily Logan had his back or this would be a rout, Lydecker seemed to be taking no chances when it came to their capture/execution. He ducked as another soldier returned fire on him rolling to the opposite side of the hall and quickly running up to the junction of hall and the room beyond he reached around the corner and dragged the offender with him by the throat. He threw the man down knocking him unconscious with one sharp blow. Zach fired at another that he caught sight of at his periphery, the man crumpled backwards. No one else tried to prove that they were brave enough for long moments, and Zach took a moment to actually breath.

He was doing well, and had nearly worked through the group in front of him. He was still at a loss about how he and Logan were going to get clear of the building and away to find Tinga and the others. A ray of hope was shining through though the troops were thinning out.

Without warning he was tasered from behind, biting his tongue painfully as his muscles locked up and convulsed with the shock. He reached up and back quickly pulling the probes out of his skin tossing them to the floor, "You'd think that they would have learned by now that tasers don't slow me anymore," He thought. Manticore had used that on the X-5's too many times lessening the impact of the shock on their system. Recovering quickly he spun on his would be captors knocking the first out cold with one chop to his neck as more moved to take his place. He looked over the heads of those around him looking for his partner in this venture. He was nowhere to be seen, "Damn it Logan," He shouted above the din, "I knew it!" He automatically discounted the idea that he may have fallen to the numbers, already coming to the conclusion that he had deserted Zach buckling to the pressure of the fight.

Zach fought hard trying to win free, but the numbers were more than he could handle and eventually he fell to them. They dragged him out into the street and dropped him thoroughly shackled at someone's feet. Zach looked up into a shadowy face hallowed by the sun at his back.

"Zach," The man said in an all too familiar voice, "I told you, that you couldn't stay away from me forever," He smiled a short triumphant smile, leaning down he asked, "Where's Tinga, Zach?"

Zach's jaw worked furiously, both for the humiliation and for the betrayal at Logan's hands. He refused to answer Lydecker. The older man straightened again, "Who is your new partner? Another X-5?"

Zach still remained silent, as mad as he was at Logan's desertion it was still them against Lydecker, "Just kill me, Lydecker," Zach growled glaring up into Lydecker's still silhouetted face, " That's what you're going to do anyway…get rid of the threat I pose to you and to Manticore."

Lydecker sighed, then he looked at the guard, "Take him to camp," The man nodded and immediately complied. Two of them lifted Zach to his feet and moved away. Lydecker looked at another soldier standing by for orders, "The initial reports said there was two of them, where is the other one? Did you get a good look at the man that was with him?"

"No sir, it was pretty much mass confusion in there. And he was fast whoever he was."

"Where is the man now?" Lydecker asked impatiently.

"Sir?" The guard questioned.

"Where is he?" Lydecker said acidly.

"He disappeared during the fight, same as the X-5's that we were originally after. We have been trying to locate him without success."

"Find him! I want him and the rest found… You understand me?"

"Y…Yes sir," And the man trotted away to relay his orders.

"Damn it," Lydecker whispered turning away and missing the shadow that peeled away from a nearby tree and disappear into the thick woods beyond the house.

Logan groaned heavily, rolling over, blinking several times. His head pounded sharply causing him to grimace in pain. He raised a shaky hand to the back of his head feeling the knot of pooled blood under the skin at the back of his head. He was a bit dizzy but other than that he seemed to be OK. He looked about him or tried to, it was pitch dark. He waited for his eyes to kick in and allow him his night vision, only it didn't happen, "Great," He whispered to himself, "Bad time for a relapse."

He stood up unsteadily grimacing again as his left thigh protested spasming heavily from overwork. He readjusted taking pressure off of the tender leg, hoping that he hadn't damaged the still healing tissue permanently… He hoped he wouldn't be totally crippled by the end of this venture. He wondered exactly what had happened. He remembered the swarm of soldiers and having to retreat, and then… Logan looked up toward the ceiling, the floor had given out, and he had fallen hitting his head on the way down. He found that where he had fallen through the floor the light that should have been pouring through it was no longer there. A pang of anxiety hit him as he realized that. He had fallen through some kind of trap door, but who had sprung it? "Zach…" He said softly in concern realizing what it meant. Logan disappearing meant that Zach was alone upstairs to hold back Lydecker's men. He had to get back upstairs, surely as good as Zach was he was not going to win against the odds that were present up there. That would at best mean that he had been captured, at the worst…

No matter how much they had not gotten along, he was not about to let Lydecker kill Zach. His need for vengeance was a secondary issue now.

"But where am I now?" Logan thought looking about with dark blinded eyes. From the look of the place from above he would never have guessed that this place had a basement. Or was it a naturally occurring cavern? He couldn't be sure and the view that he remembered after his fall was very limited. He slowly spun around trying desperately to get his eyes into night vision mode, his fall must have affected his tentative control of his ability. He extended his arms out like a blind man and slowly moved away from where he landed searching for a way out.

He blinked in the dark as his fingers stubbed into the rough wall nearest him, "Ow!" He grumbled, already annoyed with his fumbling movements, all the graceful talent in the world did no good if he couldn't see where he was putting his feet. Turning left he maintained contact with that wall walking hesitantly with high steps to prevent himself from stumbling on some unseen obstacle his free arm out in front of him. After a few dozen feet he encountered the adjacent wall and did the same yet again. The texture of the walls and the angle of the corner told Logan that this was some sort of manmade room or basement, rough hewn to be sure but a construction none the less.

After just a few feet the wall that he had put on is right side fell away from his fingers and he stopped unsure whether it was a passageway to some unknown point or just another jog in the wall of the room. He didn't want to stumble down some passage leading into the unknown, for all he knew it would put him right in the middle of Lydecker's encampment. His mouth thinning he turned back and started to trace his way back, etching the dimensions of the room in his mind. After about half an hour he came to a point where the wall fell away on his left and he calculated that it was the opposite side of the hall he had encountered before. The room was relatively rectangular, and the edges had been free of any obstructing furniture. He sighed quietly, that left him only one option, to move down the unknown hall and hope that it came out in daylight somewhere.

Here the floor was smoother, graded almost, but the walls were rougher, mid sized rocks brushing against his outstretched fingertips. The passage was fairly narrow, as Logan reached out he could touch the opposite wall. He continued on, extending his right hand before him to prevent him from hitting a wall head on.

A pang hit him again without a reason it seemed and Logan's breath caught in his throat realizing with only a slight delay what it was telling him. There was danger nearing him, only he did not know from which direction to expect it. He wanted to say ahead of him, but Lydecker's men may have found the door, through which he fell and may have been coming up from the rear. Surely they had night vision technology with them, he'd be easy to pick off stumbling around in the dark as he was. He picked up his pace a bit hoping that he didn't stumble on something he didn't see. OK so his radar was intact… what little good it did him. It only served to make him anxious and paranoid. He wished yet again to be able to see the danger he was walking into.

Suddenly, acutely his radar pinpointed the source of his feeling, so intense was the action that he winced physically. There was someone coming up behind him. It was as if he saw it behind his eyes, a bright nova of light approaching him fast and at the last second he spun around throwing an arm up and blindly blocking the blow that had been intended to knock him unconscious. His vision momentarily flashed green and he saw clearly the face of his attacker, then it was gone again and he was hurled back into blackness. Before he could speak he felt the right-hook catch him squarely in the jaw and grunted heavily as he went down. She was on top of him now and his eyesight came back on line and thankfully stayed on. Her hand came down quickly but Logan was able to catch it and hold it back. She was caught off guard again and Logan threw a left into her cheek watching as her head whipped to the side. Before she could recover, Logan slipped his right leg under her and up to his chest, planting his foot against her, pushing out hard, and throwing her off balance. She fell back heavily but quickly jumped to her feet assuming a stance for defense.

"Tinga wait," Logan finally had time to say, standing in his own battle ready position. They were wasting their energy fighting each other. There were higher considerations now.

Her eyes widened, then narrowed angrily, "Who are you?" She hissed not relaxing her stance an iota, "How do you know my name?"

"It's Logan," He said quickly, "You may not remember me, I helped Zach and Max get you out of Portland about seven years back. I came here with Zach to help get you guys out."

She stood straighter eyeing him up and down in confusion, "Yeah I remember…Zach never mentioned that you could fight, much less with our ability."

Logan sighed his relief, "I keep getting that lately… It was not something that he knew before last week. Where are the others?"

"Safely away from here," She said cautiously, "They should be out of town and on their way to our rendezvous."

"And you remained behind because?"

"Because I found out about Lydecker's plan to get a hold of Zach. I couldn't let him walk into that situation."

"You dropped me through that hole," He stated, "Why?"

She looked away, "I thought you were one of Lydecker's boys. I overheard Lydecker saying that Zach's partner had been in the house, and that he had disappeared. I knew I had made a mistake."

"So then why'd you attack me?"

"I was expecting an X-5. When I came down here to contact that person I found you. I didn't recognize you and had thought that Lydecker had misled me, that it was a trap to get to me."

"Zach's still up there trying to hold back Lydecker's whole army," Logan added still angry.

She shook her head, this time in the negative, "No he's not. They've captured him," She said with assurance.

"Crap," Logan said. He turned away from Tinga, "Now they'll surely kill him."

"I don't think so," Tinga said and Logan turned to face her, "They want him alive, because Lydecker wants me and they heard about you. They want what information he can give them about you."

"What about me?" Logan said as his stomach dropped, "They know who I am?"

"No, they just think that there is another X-5 with Zach, and they want him, you, too," Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, "How are you able to fight like us."

Logan looked down and Tinga saw the flash of pain on his face, "That is the million dollar question. But I have neither the time nor the patience to explain it to you," He said evasively, " We have to think of a plan to get Zach away from Lydecker, before he decides that Zach is more a liability than he's worth."

"Agreed, but how?"

"Do you know where their base of operations is?"

Tinga nodded, "About three miles down the road."

"Well that's a start" Logan mussed, "But first things first, get me out of here before my eyes decide they don't want to work again."

"What do you mean?" She said confused.

"Just what I said, my control in that area is not 100% yet and I've done enough fumbling around in the dark for one day," He turned away from her starting back up the hall. Pausing he turned back to her, smiling wryly, "If you hadn't noticed I'm kinda new to this."

Her mouth thinned and she nodded once moving past him to take the point, "This way."