A/N: This chapter is brought to you by my complete lack of desire to do my international studies paper. Big thanks to Sam, Exhile87, and Lady Croft for the reviews!
"Wake up, sleeping beauty," a familiar voice intruded into her dreamless sleep.
Lian tried to say something along the lines of "fuck off," but the message got lost somewhere between her brain and her mouth and only came out as a whimper. She clung to the comfortable darkness of sleep, trying desperately not to succumb to the voice that was so determined to pull unconsciousness away from her. But the battle was lost before it began. She was awake and there was nothing she could do about it. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.
"Good morning, sunshine," Gabe said cheerfully, giving her a light squeeze. Lian had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he had reached his arm across her back to touch her far shoulder when he was trying to wake her up.
"I don't see any sunshine," Lian replied, gently loosing herself from his grip to stretch.
"Maybe not, but it really is morning." Gabe raised his arms over his head to stretch them, too.
"Are we almost to the insertion point?" Lian asked.
"Yep," Gabe replied with a smile.
"Well, aren't you in a good mood this morning?"
"Waking up next to you, who wouldn't?" Lian backhanded him in the ribs. "I guess you're not in such a good mood, are you?"
"Don't even try to be nice to me. You woke me up," she retorted with a glare.
"I didn't want to, I swear! Would you have preferred that just I threw you out of the chopper and prayed that you woke up before you hit the ground?"
"I would've gotten more sleep that way," she answered, already feeling her animosity slipping away. How does he always manage to diffuse me when I'm in a bad mood? she asked herself.
"Yeah, more sleep than you'd ever want." Lian was laughing by now, and realized that she wasn't tired anymore. The flight from Washington to Ethiopia was the only chance she'd had for a decent night's sleep for weeks. She looked at her partner again and noticed the exhaustion which had been in his eyes for days was gone. No wonder he's in such a good mood. "You might want to get your stuff together," Gabe said, interrupting her thoughts, "ETA ten minutes."
"Right," she replied, and went about getting the equipment on the other side of the cabin attached to her person. They were traveling light, since the caves were often treacherous and narrow, so there wasn't much to carry beyond what she always did, except for food and water. It didn't take long for her or Gabe to get ready.
The pilot called over the comm. that they were over the drop point, and it was time to go. "Ladies first," Gabe told her with a wink, stepping aside to give her room at the hatch.
"Gee, thanks," Lian replied and jumped. Gabe followed her shortly afterwards, and they were on their way.
* * *
"Damn, that was fun," were the first words out of Gabe's mouth when he met Lian outside the cave's entrance about fifteen minutes later.
"You really worry me sometimes, ya know that Gabe?" Lian asked him, but she was smiling. She had decided a long time ago that her partner was crazy, and that she wouldn't have him any other way.
"Oh, come on, you thought it was fun, too. Admit it."
"Let's just get into the cave and as far from the mouth as possible before the bats come back."
"Right. Vamanos, amiga," he replied quickly. Lian debated whether or not to tease him about his obvious dislike for the furry flying creatures, but Gabe didn't give her a chance to reply before he started off into the cave.
"Espera para mi," she called after him. Gabe turned around and gave her a confused look. "Your Spanish a little rusty?" Lian asked sweetly.
"Uh, actually, funny thing is I never really learned that much of it."
Lian laughed. "I told you to wait for me. Shouldn't we check for motion and thermal sensors?"
"I'm not too worried about it. With all the bats, it'd be too hard to get a clear reading. But, you're right, we should check anyway. This is Aramov, after all."
It didn't take them long to scan the area and find that there were no electronic devices present.
"Okay, I feel better now," Lian said, "but we should check again once we get closer to the complex. Irrashai."
"Now there's a language I do know."
"That's really sad, Gabe, ya know?"
"How is that sad?"
"You know Japanese but you don't know Spanish, which is quite commonly spoken in your own country."
"I just never got around to it, that's all."
"Uh huh," was Lian's only reply. They had reached their first obstacle: a 10 foot drop off. The rough path that they had chosen sloped down at a dangerous but not vertical angle, and the bottom was rocky so there weren't very many good places to land.
"I'll go first," Gabe said, and half skidded, half fell down the slope before she could protest. He landed more or less on his feet and raised his arms in an obvious invitation to catch her. Lian ignored them and jumped down, flipping in air and landing with feline ease. "Show off," he remarked, throwing her a half-serious glare.
"Oh, come on, you're just jealous," Lian responded. With a laugh, she continued down the cave with Gabe in tow.
"Yeah, yeah, we'll see who's jealous when you crack that pretty head of yours open."
"Like you have any room to talk, Mr. I'm-gonna-jump-off-a-crashing-train-into-a-helicopter."
"Hey, I did that out of necessity!"
"Oh, yeah? What about the time you went rock climbing without a harness?" she asked, teasing him. Giving Gabe crap was one of her few pleasures.
"You've done it too!"
Damn, I forgot I told him about that. "Okay, what about the time you ran a snowmobile through a barn?"
"Alright, I admit, that was dumb, but you're just as bad as I am! Remember the time you rode that motorcycle at reckless speeds without a helmet?"
"What? I was careful," she replied. Lian should've known he'd try to turn the tables on her.
"Yeah, right. You launched it off a ramp over a fence."
"Well, if you had just opened the damn gate…"
"Why couldn't you have opened the damn gate?"
"I was busy!"
"Yeah, busy trying to get your brains smeared all over the pavement."
"I knew what I was doing. Not all of us failed our stunt driving lessons, m'dear."
"Hey, I didn't… are you insinuating that I can't drive?"
"Who, me?" Lian asked innocently. I'm glad Gabe decided to come with me. Three days in these caverns would've been hell with anyone else. "So tell me, how many accidents are on your record?"
Gabe caught the mischievous look in her eyes. "I'm not telling," he answered, trying not to smile. She knew he liked their casual arguments, too.
Gabe and Lian continued to argue about who was more reckless until they stopped for breakfast. Gabe pulled out his ACD to check their location while Lian tore open a ration bar.
"Looks like we're making pretty good time so far, but it looks like the terrain's gonna get worse pretty soon here."
Lian's response was muffled. Gabe looked up at her and laughed. Lian was trying to tear of a piece of the ration bar with her teeth, but it was putting up resistance. She glared at him, and with a final pull managed to sever her bite of food from the rest of the "meal." Lian swallowed, then rubbed her jaw.
"Are essential vitamins and nutrients worth it when you have to burn as many calories as you get just to eat the damn thing?" she asked.
"Who knows. Maybe they made it tough to eat to entertain everyone who's watching." That earned another glare from Lian. "Try taking smaller bites, using your front teeth," he recommended. Gabe had over fifteen years of experience with US field rations. "Were Chinese rations easier to eat, Lian?" he asked her to make conversation while opening his own ration bar.
"They didn't give us much in the way of field rations. We got a few rice cakes if we were going to be gone for a few days, but other than that we pretty much only ate while on-base."
"Bet that sucked." How did they expect their agents to perform well without feeding them?
"Nah, kinda got used to it after a while. It's not like I really ate much to begin with anyway."
"Yeah, you eat like a rabbit."
Lian laughed. "Well, this rabbit's gonna remember to bring a granola bar next time."
Gabe laughed too, and they turned their attention to their breakfasts. Every once in a while Gabe would look up to watch Lian nibble at her food. She's just so…cute. Gabe smiled as he thought of Lian punching him in the shoulder if he ever told her she was cute.
Gabe had enjoyed this opportunity to work closely with Lian again. Sure, he wished that they weren't going after a friend who might already be infected with a biological weapon, but spending this much time with Lian had brought back the sense of camaraderie that he was afraid that they'd lost spending too much time in their respective offices.
"What?" Lian asked, pulling Gabe's thoughts back to the present. He realized that Lian had looked up and caught him looking at her.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"About…"
"It's nothing. We should get moving; we still have a lot of ground to cover today."
"Right," she replied, eyeing him suspiciously as she stood up and stretched.
* * *
They continued for the next hour or so in silence. This part was where the cavern was at it's narrowest, and they had to crawl. Lian's smaller frame was able to get through with little difficulty, but Gabe struggled through some spots.
"Did I ever tell you that I hate small spaces?" he asked, breaking the silence, not admitting to himself that he missed the sound of her voice.
"You're claustrophobic?" There was a hint of bewilderment in her tone.
"A little. It was real bad when I was a kid, but I mostly grew out of it. I'm still not overly fond of crawling through tunnels, vents, 'n stuff like that, which, unfortunately, I always seem to wind up doing. You sound surprised."
"Well… I guess it's hard to imagine you being afraid of anything. I mean, you did do all of those crazy stunts we were talking about earlier."
"Just because I'm crazy doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I'm afraid of lots of things."
"Like what?"
"You, for one." Gabe tried to sound like he was joking, but he knew he didn't succeed.
"Me? Why me?" Lian asked.
"Because you can kick my ass," was Gabe's response. Because you're so close. Because you've seen the best and worst of me and are still my friend. Because I care about you more than anything else.
"Yeah, right. You're twice my size."
"Come on, Lian," he responded, glad to change the subject. "I've seen you bring down guys bigger than me. Your hand-to-hand training is better than mine."
"So that's really why you're afraid of me?"
No. "Well, yeah, I mean, one of these days I'm bound to finally piss you off and I'll never see you coming," Gabe answered with a laugh. Lian laughed too. "So what are you afraid of?"
"Umm, well, snakes, for starters."
"Snakes?" he echoed teasingly. "The princess is afraid of snakes?"
"Shut up!"
"Sorry," he apologized. "Do go on."
"Well…" she stopped talking and moving. Gabe almost ran into her.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Looks like another little obstacle." Lian moved to one side of the tunnel, which was barely wide enough at this point for him to crawl up beside her.
There was a deep chasm, about six feet wide, in their path. The opposite side had more head room than theirs; once they crossed the precipice they would be able to travel upright for at least a while. That alone was inspiration for Gabe to figure out a way across as quickly as possible. "I don't remember this being on the map, do you?" he asked.
"No…Maybe an earthquake created the crack after the cavern was charted."
"That's just great. Any ideas on how to get across?"
Lian moved her flashlight around to investigate their surroundings, then turned back to him. "I think we're gonna have to jump, Gabe."
"Good plan," he responded sarcastically. "And you think I'm the crazy one?"
"Well, do you have a better plan?"
He looked around just like she had a few moments before. She was right, there weren't any other options. "Not really," he replied.
"Okay, if it makes you feel better, we can anchor the rope to this side of the wall and attach it to us, so just in case one of us screws up we only swing into the wall rather than plummeting to our deaths. The only problem is we have to allow enough slack to let us jump across and climb up the other side."
"We have plenty of rope. Let's set it up."
About ten minutes later, Gabe was attached to the cavern wall with a generous amount of rope and ready to jump. Lian backed up to give him some room, but the low ceiling kept him from getting a running start. He jumped and was able to grab the wall on the other side and climb up the ledge. He disconnected the rope from his waist and tossed it to Lian, who hooked it to herself. Then it was her turn.
In a move that reminded Gabe of a pouncing cat, Lian leapt from her crouching position, hands first to grab onto the wall on the other side.
She made it with ease, and was starting to vault herself up when the rock she was gripping crumbled and she fell. Gabe moved to grab her, but he didn't get there fast enough. The rope went taut and she swung back to the other side of the crevice and hit the wall several feet below him with a sickening thud.
"Lian! Lian, are you alright?" Oh God, he thought, she can't die. Not like this. Not when I…
"I'm okay, Gabe. Looks like the rope thing was a good idea."
"Are you hurt?"
"Not too bad. Just cuts and bruises. Give me a minute to climb back up, and I'll try that again," Lian answered in a clear, but low voice in effort to conceal her pain. She was doing a good job, he'd give her that much, but Gabe knew Lian better than that. He watched her like a hawk as she climbed up the rock face, looking for any sign that she might not be able to make it.
She did finally reach the hole they came out of again, and once more jumped across the crevice. This time Gabe grabbed her wrist as soon as she made contact with the wall and pulled her up. Lian didn't even glare at him for helping her, which he took as a bad sign.
As soon as she was safe, he ran his flashlight over her, trying to pinpoint her injuries. It looked like her left shoulder had taken the brunt of the impact with the rough rock wall, it was bloody, but it didn't look broken. The rest of her left arm and leg were covered with a wide variety of bruises and cuts, with a particularly nasty gash on her thigh. Fortunately, she was somehow able to keep her head from hitting the wall; it was not injured. At a glance it looked like she hadn't broken anything, but she definitely needed first aid.
"Just cuts and bruises, huh princess?" he teased her halfheartedly while he reached in his pack for the first aid kit.
"Like you knowing the extent of my injuries would've helped the situation," she retorted.
"It would've. You shouldn't have been climbing with your shoulder like that."
"And what would you have recommended that I do instead, just hang there until it got better?"
She had him there, and they both knew it. There was only one way out, and she had to climb. "Okay, okay, I don't want to argue," Gabe conceded. "Let me just get you cleaned up." He pulled out the lantern and turned it on, illuminating an area about six feet in diameter.
"Won't argue with you about that."
"Yeah, sure," he said skeptically as he began to remove her flak jacket. "I'm gonna have to take off your shirt."
"Gabe, this is hardly the time to try to get me out of my clothes."
"See, you're arguing already. I've gotta get to this wound and your shirt's in the way. I'll be a gentleman, I promise."
"I know, okay." She winced as he pulled the tank top away from her shoulders and off her arms.
"I'm going to have to move this, too," Gabe told her, pointing to the strap of her sports bra.
"Okay, but it's not coming off, alright?"
"Right." He moved the strap down her arm to expose her shoulder. He was able to examine the wound more clearly. It looked like a sharp rock or something crushed into it. The skin was a mess, bruised where it hadn't been torn, but luckily the shoulder blade wasn't broken, and none of the cuts went too deep. It had already stopped bleeding enough to clean.
"How bad is it?" Lian asked, craning her neck to see what he was doing.
"Not too bad, nothing's broken, except skin. Could've been worse." Gabe grabbed a peroxide soaked piece of gauze. "Hang on, this'll probably hurt like hell." She winced as he dabbed her shoulder with the gauze, watching the peroxide do its job of cleaning the wound. He worked as quickly as possible, and when he was satisfied that it was clean, he bandaged it with a sterile square of gauze and some tape.
"Well there's that part. Try not to move it for a while, okay?"
"It's kinda hard to climb around in here without moving my shoulder."
"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere right now."
"I'd normally argue, but I think I could really use the rest."
"I know. Lemme look at your thigh and we'll call it a night, okay?"
"Sounds good to me. What about some pain killers?"
"When you stop bleeding."
"Right. Bleeding to death would suck."
"Yeah, that it would. Okay," Gabe said, calling attention back to her other serious injury, the gash on her thigh, "I hate to do this to you, but I think you're going to have to take your pants off, too."
"What, do you want me to catch pneumonia or something?"
"It's not that cold in here, and it's not like I'm asking you to strip for my own personal amusement or anything."
Lian rolled her eyes and took of her pants. Gabe forced his eyes to look at nothing but the gash on her leg. For him, that was the hardest part.
The gash, unlike wound on her shoulder, went deep and would require stitches. Fortunately, the cut only went that deep for about an inch along the top of her thigh, the rest was mostly superficial. Still, he'd have to stop the bleeding before he could sew her thigh back together. Gabe took another piece of gauze out of the first aid kit and moved to apply pressure to the wound, but then stopped himself. "Uh, maybe you should hold this," he said, handing her the gauze.
"…right." She took the gauze from him and held it up against her thigh. After a few minutes, the cut stopped bleeding enough for it to be stitched up. Gabe completed the procedure with practiced ease, and soon Lian was putting her pants back on and Gabe started breathing a little easier.
He handed her a packet of Ibuprofen. "Here's your drugs."
"Thanks." She took them. "So are we gonna rest here for a while?"
"Definitely. Six hours, at least."
"Can we afford to wait that long?" Worry crept into his friend's voice. He knew that Lian would still be worried about Teresa if she was bleeding to death on the cavern floor.
"I don't think we have much of a choice. We can assume it'll take a while before they can infect her with the virus. It's only been four days, we'll make it. I'd rather you be in the best condition possible when we get there."
Lian nodded, and closed her eyes, shivering slightly. She hadn't put her shirt back on; it was probably too painful. Carefully, Gabe wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Lian, amazingly enough, did not fight his embrace and instead held him with her right hand and rested her head on his chest.
Neither of them spoke, and after a while Gabe noticed Lian's breath was deep and regular, signaling that she was asleep. Slowly, he leaned back until his back hit the ground and lay there, alert for any trouble.
"That's it," Elsa told the guard, "Bring her back here in twenty-four hours."
The guard nodded and took Teresa Lipan's arm, leading her back to her cell. Elsa tried to ignore a pang of guilt as she returned to work on the blood samples.
Dr. Weissinger couldn't stall Aramov anymore, and she had to infect Teresa with Syphon Filter. The girl would be quite ill in twenty-four hours, but she'd still be able to fight. When the guards brought Teresa back, they would overpower them and Elsa would give Teresa the vaccine. Then they would be free to go get Eva and get the hell out of this godforsaken place.
Elsa allowed herself a small smile as she pulled a vial out of the refrigerator. The vial was inconspicuously marked S-221, but only Elsa knew its true contents was not a genetic sample but a strain of the virus itself. A strain similar to the one she was forced to develop and incubate in Teresa, but different enough to where a cure could not be made without her research.
She wasn't going to give Aramov that research, but she was going to give Aramov the virus.
Elsa's smile got bigger as she pictured the Russian assassin dying a slow and painful death. That's what the bitch gets for taking my daughter. Yes, Elsa was looking forward to Teresa's visit tomorrow.