A/N: nuttin' much to say except: enjoy!
Legacy: chapter 20
An early evening fog rolled in following the intermittent rain that had plagued the harbor side 'location' for the entire afternoon. Keith Sheppard kept up an alert watch on the deserted streets below from his position high atop a nearby, four-story brick warehouse. Various other agents occupied similar nests on the surrounding buildings.
In the center of the ring of carefully positioned agents sat a small, steel frame warehouse which had once housed the products of the 'American meat processing and distribution co.' now, all the old building contained were three kids, well restrained to a center column. Highly visible to anyone who got close to any of the entrances.
Another agent occupied Keith's rooftop. A small man, but an expert marksman. Keith briefly glanced over at the man who held the stock of an incredibly advanced, and insanely expensive, sniper riffle tight to his shoulder.
Keith returned his attention to the streets. Whenever you're ready, Allie, he thought. He had an excellent view of two of the main roads passing both in front of and along the north side of the former meatpacking warehouse. The assumption was that Allie would not be stupid enough to place herself in the warehouse. So the plan was to get a visual on her while she was on the street and wait until she entered the building to spring the trap. The snipers were in place, though. If she appeared to catch on to them, the orders where to take her down with a shot anywhere but the head.
Keith hoped it would not come to that. The more he had thought about her, the more he wanted to know. To talk to her. Dissecting her brain could wait, there are some things that a surgeon's scalpel can never tell you.
The cell phone in Keith's coat started vibrating rhythmically. A brief moment of anger passed over him. No one was supposed to call, not now! Unless it was that Crawford woman… Keith decided to humor her.
"Agent Crawford, what a pleasant…" Keith was cut short by a loud grunt in the phone.
"Sorry Shepp," the unmistakable voice of Thomas Richards rumbled through the speaker. "I'm not Mary."
"Mr. Richards…" Keith did not try to hide his disgust. Even though the hushed whisper he was talking in did a good job of it.
"I am sure you are very busy at the moment so I will be brief." Thomas said. "I do hope you enjoy the gift I sent you."
"What gift?"
"I believe her name is Allie. She has your location and is coming to stop you."
Keith struggled to suppress laughter. The fool had just played the girl right into his hands. "Well done, Mr. Richards. You're an even better alien killer then I am."
There was a pause from Thomas, "I'm sure that was an insult. I hate to ruin your fun."
"And just how would you do that?"
"The girl knows all about your plan. She will be on her guard, and from the files about her previous actions, she will be very dangerous."
Keith still had a grin on his face. Like Allie's powers even mattered now! There are ten snipers on these surrounding rooftops. If she made any move, it would be her last.
Thomas continued: "I am in a predicament, Keith. I honestly do not know who I want to die more. You or that genetically engineered aberration to humanity."
"Now Richards, that's not very nice." Keith finally laughed, "You will be the first to die, my friend."
"You mean those agents who were following me?" Thomas asked. Keith fell silent. "I do not believe they will be a problem any longer."
"Those men are highly trained hunters, they will find you eventually…"
"Were," Thomas corrected bluntly.
"What?"
"They were highly trained hunters. I found them quite easy to dispose of."
"You're bluffing."
"Ahh… the automatic assumption that the old man cannot kill." Thomas chuckled, "I am an evil man, Keith. Not by choice, but by circumstance. I have learned many things from you and others… not to brag, but I believe I am more dangerous to you then that girl-like… thing."
Keith was speechless for a moment. He failed to notice the radio at his side squawking wildly, or the sniper over his shoulder trying franticly to get his attention without making a noise.
"I see you have little to say, old friend." Thomas said, "very well, I must go now… oh, and you should consider training your 'hunters' more thoroughly about hiding their tracks in the future, they are exceedingly easy to follow."
Keith slammed the cover of the phone closed before Thomas hung up. He was about to crush the phone onto the street below but the sniper finally got his attention. With a hand signal, the man directed Keith's eyes to a shadowy figure, slowly making her way up the dark street below.
The moment of the culmination of the hunt. The adrenalin induced excitement pushed the words of that stupid old man out of Keith's head. He focused a pair of miniature nigh-vision binoculars on the figure to confirm that this girl was the target. Who else could it be?
"Its her…" Keith whispered, "The moment has come." he silently pushed himself back from the roof ridge cap and walked toward the stairwell. He would face the girl eye to eye before anything else happened.
Bryan walked across the Keys front lawn away from a group of SF's who were studying a map. The last ten minutes had been hectic enough. Since Mary called with the word on Allie, Bryan had had a cell phone stuck in his ear, directing all his recon groups to converge on his location.
Which might not have been the greatest idea, considering the ten hastily parked, black, unmarked vehicles that littered the yard and the street. The news crews at the kidnapping scene down the street no doubt had their eye on all this activity. And Mary didn't seem all too concerned with that. Said it might even be a good thing.
Bryan didn't see that it would be good at all. Mary wanted to expose Keith. But a live TV news camera arriving at the wrong moment could expose Allie at the same time. Who knows what she's doing to Keith.
Bryan's memories of his first encounters with Allie's powers ran through his mind. That ship had been so real! Everything, even the sounds and violent shaking of the ground as it crashed had been real. But it was not real, once the smoke cleared and the screen dropped away.
That was one thing they didn't have to worry about, at least. Allie could most definitely take care of herself. But she would not be willing to do what it takes to end this. Bryan knew that it fell to him and his team to eliminate the agents. They needed to find Allie as soon as they could so that job would be easy. Literally like shooting fish in a barrel.
Charlie and Lisa stood in the driveway across the yard leaning against their car, Ka'len sat as still as a statue in the back seat. Bryan walked toward them but the borrowed cell phone rang again. He answered it.
"Thank god!" he almost yelled, "'bout time requisitions got back to me!" the woman on the other end fed him the traditional line of bull, Bryan cut her off, "Listen, I just need two Little Birds on this LZ five minutes ago! I don't care what you have to do, just get me those choppers!"
Bryan's jaw dropped as the woman told him the helicopters were already airborne. "Why didn't you say so? Good work!" he turned the phone off and closed the rest of the distance between himself and the Keys.
"Okay…" Bryan paused momentarily as he noticed sergeant Brady standing around a shallow corner. "We have two birds inbound," Bryan continued, focusing on Ka'len, "I want you three on the choppers as soon as they touch down."
Lisa nodded, Charlie, however, was more adamant, "I want to be on the ground." he said, "if Allie's in trouble I want to be there for her."
"No, my job is to keep you safe. The air is safest." Bryan said, looked back down to Ka'len, "you think you can find her?"
"Yes…" Ka'len trailed, not shifting even slightly from her stiff position, "but it will take much energy. I may not be able to maintain this human form."
Lisa looked back, "what do you mean?"
Ka'len's eyes remained fixed on the seat in front of her, Lisa could see the traces of a tear in the corner of her eye. "Keeping this appearance takes a large amount of my body energy." the girl said, "If I am to find Allie, It will take a larger amount of that energy."
Lisa stared at the girl who had grown so much on her. Several weeks ago, this thing that Ka'len was contemplating would not have fazed her. But Lisa understood her fear. She reached through the open window and placed a hand gently on Ka'len's shoulder. "Don't worry, I will still think the same of you. No matter what shape your body is in."
Ka'len twitched slightly from the touch, then looked up at her new friend. "Really?"
"I promise."
Sergeant Brady listened to this whole exchange in silence, but his curiosity got the better of him, "some one is going to have to tell me what's going on here." he said.
Bryan looked over at him, "oh, you can go back to your investigation now, thank you for the help."
"Hell no!" Brady said, half jokingly. "I want to see what this is all about."
"I'm not going to stop you from following us, but I strongly advise against it."
"You wont even know I'm here, sir." Brady said with a grin. Bryan didn't acknowledge him. Far off in the distance, the unmistakable sound of turbine powered rotor blades could be heard cutting their way through the air.
"Okay!" Bryan turned away, addressing the SF's closest to him, "get these cars out of the street. This is to be treated like a hot LZ people, stay alert!"
Lisa watched the young Major for a moment as he walked off giving orders to the men surrounding him, then Ka'len spoke.
"We will remain friends… if I am no longer in this form?" she asked, searching desperately for reassurance.
Lisa looked down into Ka'len's expectant eyes, "of course." she said, then followed Ka'len's gaze as it shifted to Charlie. "He… might be another story."
"I will understand," Ka'len nodded once, then closed her eyes. "I will start looking for Allie now."
There they are! Allie stood in one of the large, roll door openings of the former meatpacking warehouse. She could see Tyler, Jessica, and Seth quite clearly. They sat around a large column in the center, obviously tied to it in some way. But the puzzling thing was that there was no one else in sight.
This is a trap, a very stupid trap, Allie thought, where are they? Her eyes slowly scanned around her as she turned her head, where are you, Keith?
Tyler spotted her standing in the door; he tried franticly to yell to her, to tell her to run. But the gag in his mouth prevented it. Allie raised a finger to her mouth to signal him to be quiet. Yet she remained frozen on the threshold.
I am very weak. I cannot transport again. Allie reminded herself. This would not be easy, in fact, the more Allie thought about her situation, the more she regretted coming alone. Please hurry Mary…
Allie took one step inside and was immediately blinded as rows of massive spot lights activated, all focused on her position. She raised an arm to block some of the light and noticed some of the other men hiding in the shadows for the first time. I should have been able to feel them, Allie thought, I must be weaker then I thought.
"Allison Keys…" a voice bellowed from the street behind her. She turned quickly to find Keith Sheppard standing in the middle of the street, flanked on both sides by men with rifles leveled on her chest. "It took long enough." Keith said in a surprisingly conversational tone.
Allie was immediately confused by several things. Keith had a very unusual energy pattern. She had noticed it the first time she saw him, in the zoo, but hadn't paid attention to it. Now, however, was a different story. She knew she should be scared, but the possibility raised by that unique energy pattern fascinated her. Could it be? Allie decided to play along with the man and find out more about him, "the directions you gave me were all wrong." she said dryly
"Directions?" Keith smirked, "I understand you had to get them straightened out by a former colleague of mine."
The men standing beside Keith exchanged confused glances. Allie saw the meaning: this was not how they had planned for it to happen. What was Keith doing…
"You are obviously a very smart man, Mr. Sheppard," Allie said, "This idea is really ingenious, using one of my weaknesses like this."
"Don't try the 'flatter the villain' bit. This isn't Hollywood."
Allie lifted an eyebrow. Did he just admit he was the bad guy? "Doesn't the villain usually think he's the good guy?"
"That's not the point," Keith lifted his hand in a 'stop' gesture, "now, you're either going to come with me willingly, or in a body bag."
"Wouldn't the body bag be easer to handle?"
It was Keith's turn to lift an eyebrow, "what? You want to die?"
"It if will end this and let my friends go, I would do it." Allie lowered her eyes to the ground, "but that won't end anything. You have no idea why I'm here, on earth, do you?"
"I have my suspicions."
Allie kept her eyes on the ground for a while in silence. This man! What was it in his pattern? There was no way that he could be fully human… but did he know it? "Let my friends go." Allie said in a low, resigned voice.
"Will you come with me?" Keith asked in a voice that almost bordered on gentle.
"I will." Allie looked up at the other men, "but only you, alone."
Keith made a hand signal to the men at his side to lower their weapons. "I'm glad to see that you are as smart as I am, Miss Keys." Keith walked over and placed a hand on Allie's shoulder to guide her away. Allie forcefully pushed him away.
"No! I want to see my friends leave!"
Keith stared at her for a moment, "you are very wise." he then made a gesture toward the children in the center. Several men emerged from the shadows inside and untied the three frightened teenagers.
"You aren't afraid that I'll hurt you?" Keith asked Allie as she watched her friends being freed.
"No, I know you will not." Allie said with certainty, even thought she honestly didn't know what would happen to her.
"Allie!" Tyler yelled across the building as his gag came off. Allie just looked up at him with sorrow filled eyes, she mouthed the words, 'I'm sorry.'
Tyler was forcefully pushed away from the others as a man took him by the arm and started leading him toward the exit where Allie and Keith stood. "Allie?" he questioned as he was pushed past them. Jessica and Seth were not far behind.
Allie looked up to Keith, "let me talk to them, for a minute. Then I will go."
Keith rolled his eyes and sighed, "make it quick." he shoved her toward the three other kids as he yelled at the men to stop them.
"W--what's going on Allie?" Tyler asked with a shaky voice as he eyed the black suited men around them. "Who are these guys?"
"Yeah! What the hell is this?" Jessica demanded as she jerked her arm from the grasp of the man who had been pushing her.
Allie breathed deeply, "I don't have time to explain. Just know that I am very sorry for getting you involved in this."
"Involved in what!" Tyler spun to look at the man behind him, "What the hell is this?"
"I must go," Allie said, then leaned in to whisper to Tyler, "get away from these men, but don't leave the area. Help will arrive soon. Just tell them that you're my friends and they will take care of you."
"You're going with these guys? Are you crazy?" Tyler asked loudly. Allie was worried for a moment that he ignored what she had just said.
"I have never been so sure of anything in my life." Allie said thoughtfully, and she meant it. What ever Keith was, she would soon find out her fate. This was her fire. Like all tools must be tempered before they can be used, so to must she endure the test to follow. If she passed, the future of humanity was secure, if she failed… well, failure was not an option.
Allie backed away several steps then stopped, "I was looking forward to our 'date', Tyler. Perhaps, if you don't hate me after this is over, we can still go?"
"Hate you? Allie…" Tyler lifted an arm as if reaching out to her, but she had already turned and started walking back toward that man, Keith.
"Allie!" Tyler called over to her, she appeared not to hear, "I think… I think I…" I think I love you.