San Marcos

Evening

          "I feel like I'm on Cops," Lan said and I snickered.

          From the passenger seat of the rental car (a suburban), Jason looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, that's about right."

          "Don't worry, if I'm right, they're looking for me anyway," I said.

          Derek looked over at me in the rear-view mirror. "Did you try focusing? Maybe we'd know where."

          "I can try." I closed my eyes and tried to focus in on the second vision that had come to me, of my fighting a Code Five. Trying to remember details, trying to place the location. It would become the team's first slay, which was a whole lot better than mine, a panic attack in a parking lot. But I had to find the building first … slowly I began to piece details together, willing that part of my brain that was receiving these things to give me a specific location.

          My eyes snapped open. "There's a parking garage three blocks down. At the third cross street, hang a left. It'll be open."

          "That close?" Chloe seemed surprised.

          I wasn't. "They know I'm one of two people who can stop them, and one just left. What would you do?"

          A few minutes later Derek swung the surburban into a parking garage which I thought actually went to some business building, which might make sense given that some Code Fives do actually have some business interests. The five of us jumped out of the vehicle and armed up immediately.

Jason, instead of toting his usual camera, was using a smaller one from CTU that fit inconspicuously on his belt, and he had the gun Michael had given me. Derek was armed with one of my reinforced training staffs, an aluminum-steel hybrid, while Lan was operating my Ehrlich with carbon-tipped ammunition and Chloe had the last of my grenades at hand. I had already requested more from London, enough to outfit the operation; I wondered whether my request or Michael would make it there first. But I was holding my SigArm, specially loaded, and didn't really care that much.

"There's probably recon," I said needlessly. "Only one way to find out."

Obediently, Chloe turned on the giant MagLite flashlight we had brought along. No telling if these Code Fives were smart enough to tell the difference between artificial and real light, but it was a chance worth taking. Together, the five of us began to advance away from the car and further into the depths. That's when all hell broke loose. Jason spotted the first one, and it was time for me to decide: resist or serve, fight or die.

Where do I put the shame?

It feels like a broken toy

I can't play with anymore

          Over the last few days I had felt worse than everyone else on the planet, burdened with guilt and any number of emotions. But that was all shelved now, burning in the fire that had taken up residence in my heart. This was what mattered. This fight Michael had abandoned. It still needed fighting. Well, that was my calling. I unlocked the safety on my weapon as I heard Jason squeeze off his first shot. His second dusted the Code Five, and sent the others responding.

Where do I put the hate?

To a pixelated screen
I can't watch anymore

          Derek tore into the first ones he could get his hands on with an unbridled ferocity. Though he wasn't volatile, I knew he understood the price and power of justice. He had anger inside of him, anger directed specifically at whatever was keeping from his brother. I was pretty sure he'd seen that QuickTime movie over and over again and each time Adam felt so close, and yet so far. Derek was determined to break that wall down, but until he did he'd take breaking the line.

All I know is that I'm here

Drifting somewhere in the vast

Somewhere in eternity

And I never want to leave

          We couldn't get a read on how many Code Fives were in the cell. I counted five plus the one Jason had dusted, which was fine because it meant even odds. The team knew that too: each was concentrating their assault on one particular target, rather than getting wires crossed. I didn't even have to tell them. Michael's evidence was becoming copper-colored remains on asphalt. This was a situation he never could have handled. He wasn't ready.

Where do I put the books?
There's so many I could read

But they all are filled with lies

          Lan was actually doing pretty well with the Ehrlich, surprising because its many modes of fire often make it a difficult weapon for first-time handlers. I'd read the manual twice before I'd felt comfortable enough to fire it, but she was smart enough to figure it out and make effective use of it. I stood my ground as another blast rocked it beneath me, another Code Five taken out thanks to her efforts. Without hesitation, she just went for the next one.


Where do I put the lies?
There's so many I could say

But it seems they're in the books

          Chloe was doing a great job of cover fire. Every time there would be a cluster of Code Fives in an area, she would toss a grenade and smoke them out long enough for one or more of us to break away and dust them. And whenever a fighting area was clear, she had the hand vacuum I'd borrowed from Leticia and would go in to pick up the ashes. She was the most weakly armed but didn't act like it, and she could get in and out before trouble started (or escalated, the more accurate term).

I have faith that you're out there

Living high up in the vast

Somewhere in eternity

And you're never going to leave

          We were down to three, having dusted I didn't know how many. The five of us all looked at each other and formulated a silent plan, admittedly only taken out of physical training and a whole lot of video-game action movies, but it worked fairly well. Jason and Lan had a double-blind going: they'd convince a Code Five Jason was the threat and Lan would fire off in a split second and vaporize the target. As for Derek and I, it was a little harder.

          He stopped what he was doing, making sure he was holding the pole firmly stable for me. I made a quick calculation, grabbed onto it, and vaulted over, able to land myself on the other side of a Code Five and cap it while he beat in the one I had jumped over. By that time, Jason and Lan were there to provide the dusting.

          We waited for more, but more never came.

Have I been telling lies to myself?

Hold me now, you know I am so afraid

To be at all

          "Everybody okay?" was my first question. I had treatment equipment at home, but still…

          "Yeah, we're fine," Jason said, breathing hard, and everybody else assented. I relaxed visibly. Chloe got the hand-vac running again and set to work. We'd need our own vault to store the ashes, but I had an idea for that. They make some incredibly cheap freezers.

          He was still holding his gun, covering Chloe in case the impossible happened and we were attacked again. "So this is how it works?" he said. "We wait until you have a vision, then we show up and smoke them?"

          "I may not be psychic," I corrected. "I might not ever know. But when it's time, they'll make it known. And then we show up and smoke them, and you get to prove it later." I saw the smirk on his face and Derek's; he'd forgotten about the camera. He'd forgotten he had footage, provided he hadn't broken the rig.

          "Damn," he said.

          We all looked round at each other, surveying the field.

Have I been telling lies to myself?

Hold me now, you know I am so afraid

To love at all

          "So what do you think?" I said. "Can we do this?"

          The implicit question was clear.

I looked up and I saw the moon
The same one that betrayed you

I looked up and I saw my place

I looked in and I felt no hate…

          Derek spoke first. "We can do this."

          Lan nodded. "We've done everything else, practically." We all started laughing, a welcome relief.

          "Right," I said, holstering my gun, "Then I'm going freezer shopping tomorrow. London is sending more supplies. We'll also need a base of operations, so I'm either converting the workout room, or…"

          "Finding a big freaky warehouse?" Jason suggested.

          "I was going to say using the apartment above us. I don't think anyone else, and we could add stairs or something." I cracked a smile. "That said, we'll get your affairs wrapped up, and since you just survived your first slayage: welcome to the team."

          Derek extended a hand ceremonially, and I took it firmly as he smiled at me and said, "Good to be here."

          It was time to go home. The work was done, and the future had been made up. Tomorrow I would start the arduous process of turning my apartment into an operations base, and of going from me to who I needed to be. CTU agent by day, CIB field leader by night, and oh yeah, full-time college student at the age of seventeen. Eastern philosophy would be proud of me. As we climbed into the van, though, I knew the best part hadn't even started.

          Game on.