Twenty-Five
8:04 AM
Finishing off his second cup of coffee, Hayden pulled out his cell, "Joseph Neller, please."
Krycek sipped on his coffee, quietly listening in to Hayden's conversation with the director of The Resistance. They'd spent the last
"Hayden, I just got in. I trust everything went as planned?" It was a rhetorical question, Neller didn't expect anything but success.
"Yes sir. The building was taken out easily. I'm just calling to confirm advancement to the second attack."
Neller didn't answer for a moment, checking over status reports from the night before. Most of the members of the Resistance had already been at work for hours, hardly anyone kept to nine to five now. "Yes, it looks like everything is in order. I-" He stopped, the red alarm light on his desk was flashing. "Intruders…" he said into the phone before hanging up.
Hayden stared at the disconnected phone before his eyes widened. "We have to get to The Resistance right now."
They arrived to a scene of absolute disaster. A mass of people stood on the edges of police barricades, staring at the immense pile of smoking rubble that had once been a building. Known only as a pharmaceutical manufacturing company, no one knew of the organization it hid. An organization that was to stop the end of the world.
"Jesus," Hayden swore, the haunted words of the director still ringing in his ear.
"We have to get out of here, " Krycek said as calmly as possible, drawing attention to themselves would be the worst thing possible.
But Hayden wouldn't move, he was in a trance-like state, unable to take his eyes off of what had once been The Resistance building. His life was in that building, the entirety of his adult life's work was wrapped up in that building.
Then he remembered…
Claire.
He ran towards the building, a desperate rage spreading inside of him. Claire was inside that building.
"Hayden, " Krycek had to use all his strength to hold Hayden back from jumping over the police barricades. He kept screaming a women's name and it was now impossible to keep a low profile.
Making sure no one was looking, Krycek grabbed a hold of Hayden's arm, twisting it painfully. "Hayden don't forget what is going on here. Get in the car and I will figure out what's going on here." His voice had a hard edge, despite the sympathy he felt for him.
Hayden reluctantly got into the car, his expression hazed over. Krycek went over to speak to a women standing by a police car. "So what happened here," he asked conversationally.
The women turned to him, by the badge on her jacket his saw she was with the police. "Some kind of explosion." She didn't elaborate.
"Any survivors?"
The women's face looked haunted, "We don't think so."
Krycek nodded and returned to the car to find Hayden staring out the window, "Who was she?"
Hayden took awhile to answer, his voice was raspy when he did, "My wife."
Hours later, Krycek leaned his head back against the door of Sandra's apartment. He'd managed to get Hayden to contact some the Resistance affiliates, including some of the top members of the FBI, to investigate the explosion. He'd had people move in quick, before the public and media started to dig. Although equipment malfunction wasn't an excuse that would hold, they had no choice but to use it for now.
"I heard what happened."
Alex walked over to where Sandra was sitting in the dark, "What are you doing here?"
Sandra stood up, walking over to him, "How bad is it?"
He sat down heavily, running a hand over his face, "Bad. Every person in that building is dead."
Sandra knelt down in front of him, "How is that possible?"
Alex shook his head, "I don't know. Hayden and I blew up a building, one of The Puritan's bases last night." Alex stood up and walked to the window, "With the kind of technology they have, they're capable of anything."
Sandra walked over to stand behind him, "I met someone from The Puritan's."
Alex turned, "What? How?"
"I think he followed me, or…I don't know. He said he was the only one who knew where I was. He said he was there to save me from the rest of his group." She wasn't ready to admit the man was actually her ex-lover.
Alex stared hard into her eyes, "The Resistance is gone Sandra."
Sandra placed her hand to his face, "Alex we're not giving up. It can be rebuilt, the idea is-"
He walked away from her, laughing cruelly, "You couldn't have possibly thought we'd beat them, did you?" His voice cold and cynical. He'd made a decision and he couldn't have Sandra around. He would do anything to keep her safe, including losing her.
"So that's it? You're just giving up?"
He laughed, "It's not like we have much of a choice." He paused for a moment, "If we go to the Puritan's, I'm sure we can reach some kind of an arrangement. I mean they obviously weren't trying to kill you, that guy wanted something from you."
She couldn't believe her ears, "Alex what the hell is wrong with you?" Her voice was filled with more hurt than anger.
Hearing her voice and seeing the burning tears in her eyes, ripped at his heart. "I'm just looking out for number one, baby."
"I don't believe you."
Krycek grinned, "You were just an easy lay, babe." The lie burned his throat. "Obviously, you're a good ally to have around but I think the time has come to move on.
Sandra wanted to hit him, he'd done it again, she'd trusted him and he'd betrayed her. Bitterness swarmed into her, "You son of a bitch."
The look in her eyes slashed his insides, he wanted so badly to tell her he didn't mean it, that he'd do anything to keep from her being hurt. Because he wanted to comfort her so badly, to kiss her sweetly and hold her forever, he roughly slammed his lips to hers, sealing his betrayal. Without looking at her, he turned and walked out of her life forever.
The End