Italics signal thoughts, bold italics signal telepathic conversations.
Chapter ten: Strategies and flirting
Shalimar opened her eyes after a brief nap. She looked at Anna and Loalys, who were curled up in their brother's arms, at Ashleigh and Gwen, who were lying beside each other, and finally spotted Ben leaning against the wall, his large blue eyes glued to ceiling. He dropped his eyelids, closing his eyes for a couple of long moments. Finally his eyes fluttered open, and he smiled at Shal.
She motioned for him to come closer, and he did, sitting beside her. "You look tired", she whispered.
Ben nodded with a smile. "I've been saving up all my energy to concentrate in order to send Kay a message."
"You strong enough yet?"
He shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm going to need Ashleigh and Anna to amplify it, so I'd better wait for them."
It was thirty more minutes before either of them woke up, in which Shal and Ben remained quiet, analyzing their current situations. As soon as they woke up, Ben explained his plan to the others, and both girls agreed. They each took one of Ben's hands between their own, and they closed their eyes. Ben was the last to do so, his eyelids covering his deep blue eyes slowly. His forehead glowed silver as he tried to connect with Katharine. Kay? It's Ben.
Kay was typing frantically in her laptop, trying to locate her team's location. Jesse entered her room with some tea, which she accepted gratefully. He sat beside her, smiling.
"You have to calm down, Kay, I'm serious. You're working too hard."
She smiled. "I have to find them Jess, soon. For my sake, and Brennan's sanity."
His expression turned grim. "Brennan barricaded himself in his quarters. Maybe you should go and talk to him."
She nodded. "I will, after I have a talk with my friends at the CIA. Sarane's been paging me all day, and I think I'm starting to exasperate her."
Jesse smiled and nodded. She pulled the computer from her lap and placed it on the bed carefully, then walked a little around the room to get the blood flowing in her legs again. Then she stopped dead in her tracks as she received Ben's message. Kay? It's Ben.
She assured Jesse that she was fine and concentrated on formulating a reply. About time! How are you all?
We're okay, but we need to get out fast. I'm getting weaker every passing moment.
Kay sighed worriedly. I know Ben, but I need an open mind link to find you guys.
He took his time, and when he finally replied it sounded strained. Can't talk much anymore. Trace Anna's comlink: 1114-721-428-1123, and please hurry.
Ben? Kay asked, concerned. The moments passed and he didn't reply, and she realized that his messages were probably amplified and draining them all. She walked over to the laptop, and opening the central CIA search engine, Synapse, she entered Anna's comlink and hit trace, Jesse looking at her all the time.
Ben opened up his eyes after losing the connection and smiled tiredly. "Kay's coming for us", he assured everyone, "we'll be okay."
Shalimar, however, feared that they would be moved again. Picking up her thoughts, Michael shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. I doubt they've thought about Anna being marked by the CIA. If they had, she'd be dead."
Everyone agreed with her, unaware that Viviane was listening outside. "Perfect", she whispered, "they will lure her here and we'll take care of that nuisance once and for all."
Kay exited the room after leaving Jesse in charge of supervising the search. She walked to Brennan's room and knocked when she arrived. She sensed him inside, and when she had confirmed that he was clothed she reckoned it was safe to enter, she phased through the door and saw him sitting on the bed with a picture between his hands.
"Brennan?"
He lifted his head and she could see that he had been crying before. She moved towards him and sat on the bed. "You know what happened to Shal, don't you?"
"Yes." His voice broke and he shivered, a single tear escaping its confine in the pool of his dark eyes and making its way across his cheek.
Kay lifted his head so that their stares leveled and spoke softly. "We will get her back, I promise. Everything's going to be all right, somehow."
He gritted his teeth. "I just want to kill him for hurting her."
"I understand how this must be for you, but you have to keep your emotions in check around Gabriel or he'll use them against you."
Brennan nodded and they hugged each other, looking for comfort, when Jess pushed the door open, his face sporting a huge grin. "We have a hit! They're in Myelin Island."
Brennan and Kay both yelled "woo-hoo!" at the same time and ran out to the hall. Bren pulled Kay, Kay pulled Jess, and Jess pulled Emma as they ran into her. "Let's go!" he said as he grabbed her arm and they marched towards the lab. When they stopped, Emma crashed into Jesse's arms.
"Sorry", she muttered, embarrassed. He looked down at her smiling and shook his head to show it was nothing. They locked gazes for some instants and Brennan flashed a smile to Kay, who looked rather pleased with herself at the recent turn of events. They drew their gazes away from the pair, using all of their will not to collapse due to their laughter.
Kay cleared her throat and they all walked over to the main console, crashing onto each other all over again. Just then Jesse noticed Kay's change of wardrobe and chuckled. She was wearing jogging pants and sneakers with a sports bra doubling as a blouse. Kay turned to him, raising an eyebrow, and he shrugged. "I didn't say anything!"
"It's not what you said, sweetheart", Kay said, "It's what you thought. I can hear your thoughts, remember?"
Kay pressed some buttons and faced the console expectantly. She gasped when at the other side, instead of seeing her CIA contact, she saw Marius. It was some instants before her mind registered and then she chuckled. "Marius!"
"Hello, Katharine", he drawled softly.
"Kay", she corrected. "What are you doing over there anyway?"
Marius smiled slyly. "It's a long story."
Kay laughed. "I'm glad you got that over with. Can I speak to Rina?"
Marius lifted his finger to shush her. "Rina! Could you come here for a minute?"
Footsteps were heard and Marina appeared. "Hi, Kay! I got what you requested. Mom should be delivering it any minute."
"Good." Kay looked at the others, who looked rather lost, and turned back to the screen in time to see Sarane walk in with her hair still damp from her recent shower. "Hi, Sarane!"
"Hi!" She waved at Kay and smiled at Marius and Marina.
"Obviously, you're very busy and I don't want to keep you, so let's just do this."
Sarane shook her head. "I will pretend you didn't mean anything by that. Anyway, you have a location and a plan, I presume."
"Obviously, I just need troops."
Sarane thought for a minute. "Well, I think Ashleigh's fiancé will want to go, and Stuart for Loalys, and Christina for Michael. You, obviously, and Evan will want to go if you're going, so that about settles it. Oh, and me and Marius."
"Squadron leader?"
She bit her lip, and a nod from Marius prompted her on. "Ryan Melhriam."
Kay whimpered. "You cannot be freaking serious! I will not, I repeat, will not, work with him."
"Kay, if we don't do this, Devlin's taking away my operational approval! We have to let him come with us. You can kick his ass when we're done if you want to, but I do not want your personal problems with Melhriam interfere with our mission."
Kay rolled her hands into fists and squeezed until her knuckles turned white, then sighed exasperatedly, punching the console and shaking in silent fury. She then turned to Sarane, her face determined. "I'll do it. But he steps out of line once, just once, and I fry him. So do me the favor of letting him know beforehand."
Marius smirked. "I knew you'd do the right thing. And don't worry, I'll help you fry him if he tries anything."
Kay smiled gratefully and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "So, we'll meet in half an hour on the roof of the Charter Base."
Sarane nodded. "See you there."
Kay pressed the button to end communication and turned to the others, walking towards them. "We leave in ten minutes, meet you guys in the hangar." She pushed past them to leave and was stopped by Jesse's hand on her arm.
"Who is Ryan Melhriam?" he asked, his voice low.
"The bane of my existence." She turned away from him and walked steadily towards the door, her stride decided and hurried. Everyone stood there looking at each other, until Adam signaled them to go get ready.
They all walked off the Double Helix and onto the roof where the team had been awaiting them. Kay spoke first, greeting her squadron and gazing coldly at Ryan. Evan moved closer to her in a protective gesture, and it was obvious that his mere presence was enough to soothe her. She looked calmer and a lot more focused than she had before.
After outlining her plan and having everyone's approval, Kay gave the order to ship out to Myelin Island. As she climbed back into the Double Helix, she looked up into the sky and sighed. She had an ominous sense of foreboding, and it was going haywire just then. Something was wrong, and she could feel it, but for some reason she couldn't sort it out.
Evan pulled her arm delicately, motioning for her to come in. She did so, and as the doors closed behind her, a sudden stillness settled inside her. It was time. Evan could feel it too, and they both united in silent prayer, hoping what they sensed was wrong.
A/N: Well, this is it. A lot longer than before, and there's still a lot of excitement coming on. But we are reaching the end, and I think it'll be two more chapters. But don't worry, the sequel's gonna be nice and long. This story is basically an excuse to post the second part.