Chapter 7
"Cole!" Mel's anxious voice came over the headsets. "Company. Two people headed your way from the south..."
Cole glanced at Mara, who was looking around quickly, assessing the situation. "Ventilation," she mouthed, nodding towards a grate near the ceiling.
Cole nodded faintly and quickly climbed the wall, pulling the grate off, and giving Mara a hand up. She went quickly and Cole followed, pulling the grate against the hatch again.
"...can't believe we had to show her the tape."
"It doesn't matter at this stage, Wilkes. The point is that she was convinced."
"Yeah, but will her Intel be any good?"
"Of course it will. She knows what's on the line. She'll play ball and the information she provides will be invaluable in connecting this rogue back to the others."
Cole frowned. They were talking about him. Mara made a questioning gesture, but he shook his head. He could worry about their interest in him later. Right now, Lana was their objective. Still, if they had someone feeding information about him to them... He shook that off, waiting for their footsteps and conversation to fade.
"Cole, you're clear."
"Thank you, Mel," he whispered, climbing out of the shaft and helping Mara out.
"Sounds to me like you have a traitor in your midst," Mara noted quietly.
"I thought we were to maintain complete silence unless absolutely necessary," he answered gently, replacing the grate before sliding down the wall.
"What are you two waiting for?" Zin demanded. "You're not moving. Come on, you're almost to her!"
"And she's surrounded by about a dozen people," Mel added. "Be careful guys."
"We will," Cole assured her, gesturing to Mara. "Come on."
She nodded and leaned around the corner, glancing down the hall for a moment before gesturing to Cole.
"Arm yourself," she murmured, pulling out her stunner as they approached Lana's cell. "Troop disposition?" she asked into her headset.
"Looks like three in the observation room and five in the main cell," Mel answered after a moment. "I can't tell if they're soldiers or scientists."
Mara opened her mouth to speak again when the door to the cell started to open. Cole grabbed her arm and pulled her back around the corner.
"...having some kind of seizure or something!" a voice shouted. "Get Kelley in here!"
More shouting was audible in the hallway, from multiple voices, including a series of pained shrieks from Lana.
Mara cursed and looked up at Cole. "It has to be now. They're killing her."
He nodded and hoisted the stunner. "What's the range?"
"Twenty feet. The rooms are smaller than that. We're good. Let's move."
"What the hell is going on there?" Zin's voice demanded over the headset. "It looks like mass chaos."
"It is," Mara answered flatly. "Initiating extraction," she added, turning off her headset. "Now," she told Cole.
He nodded and both broke into a run, bypassing the observation room and heading straight for Lana's cell. Her shouts had been joined by frightened cries, frantically barked orders, and a woman trying to be heard over it all, demanding to know what the hell was going on.
"Damn it, Kelley!" a man's voice lifted over the cacophony. "I'm holding you personally responsible if anything happens to her!"
"You'll have to get in line to punish her," Mara informed him as they entered the cell, lifting her stunner and discharging it twice as he turned to face her.
"What the..." Kelley stared from the convulsing woman on the table to the woman who had just shot Parker. She reached for the alarm, almost managing to trip it before Cole hit her with a bolt from his stunner.
Mara lifted her hand to fire at one of the orderlies, but Cole caught her arm, shaking his head and looking at the frightened humans. They were harmless, innocent third parties. "You should leave now," he suggested gently. "We're just here to retrieve our friend. We don't want any trouble."
One of the orderlies glanced anxiously at the others for a long moment before he broke and ran. Cole let him pass and Mara gestured for the other two to follow. They were too busy looking at Lana to notice. Her skin was rippling and distorting itself, changing shape and color.
"Out!" Cole bellowed, shooting a beam of energy at the security camera. The last thing he needed was a video recording of a woman turning into a Vardian.
"Observation room!" Mara told him quickly. "They'll have recording equipment as well. I'll see to Doctor Lana."
He nodded and jogged into the observation room, where two men were staring through the glass with wide eyes and pale faces. He quickly stunned both before sending several thousand volts through the computer-system. When he reached the cell again, Mara had Lana out of her restraints and on the floor, the transformation almost complete. He was not surprised that the humans had mistaken her condition for a seizure the way her body was quaking.
"Get her clothes off," Cole directed as Mara struggled to still Lana. "They aren't designed for a Vardian. It has to be painful"
As if in response to this statement, the room was filled with the sound of ripping fabric as Lana's long tail emerged and met resistance. Lana hissed in pain and unsheathed her claws, tearing at the remains of her clothes until they no longer constrained her. She also managed to tear the flesh of her legs, thighs, and one arm before freeing her legs from the spandex she had been wearing when captured.
"It's okay, Lana," Mara assured her, producing a knife and cutting away the rest of the fabric. "You're among friends now. We're here to take you home," she soothed.
"Not until I kill that one," Lana said, jerking her head in Kelley's direction. Her words sounded oddly guttural filtered through Vardian vocal cords.
"No. Zin says no deaths."
"Why?" Lana demanded, struggling to rise. Her knees buckled before she was even fully upright.
"Careful," Cole warned, lunging to catch her. "You're very weak."
Lana stared up at him with a confused, wary expression. "Mara, why have you brought him here?"
"On Doctor Zin's order. He's here to rescue you," Mara answered, suddenly quite grateful that Lana was as weak as she was. She looked up at the sound of booted feet running in the hallway. "Five minute warning."
"Yes," Cole agreed, closing and locking the door. "Here, she's bleeding."
"I can lick my own wounds, thank you," Lana said, pulling away as he reached for her bleeding thigh.
"Lana, I am Cirronian. You have scratched yourself badly. I can help you. It will take these injuries weeks to heal otherwise," he pointed out gently. "I am Cirronian. I will not hurt you..."
Lana stared up at him with narrowed eyes for a moment. She nodded and bowed her head, leaning heavily on Mara as Cole healed the damage.
"Zin waits?" she asked Mara.
"With Neko, at the hybrid female's bar. I will take you there first. The Tracker will stay and destroy all evidence of your presence here."
"How are we to escape? They are many."
"We have this," Mara told her, pulling the artificial Hyperspeed field generator out of her pouch.
"How much did Zin have to pay?" she asked, staring at it.
"You can discuss that with Zin later," Cole told her. "Now you must flee this place. Can you walk?"
"I'll crawl if I can't."
"I can carry you," Mara said, handing Lana the Hyperspeed device and carefully lifting her into her arms. "It's for the best anyways. You are not as strong as you feel."
"I couldn't possibly be weaker..." Lana moaned, shifting until she could rest her head on Mara's shoulder. "Next time remind me to get you a larger host," she grumbled when she had to crane her neck to accomplish this.
"Micro-charges and flash-charges," Mara told Cole, nodding towards her backpack. "More than enough to destroy the evidence. Take them and go. Good luck."
"To you as well," Cole murmured as he retrieved the items from her pack. "Be quick. The battery works only sporadically."
Mara nodded. "Now, Lana."
The two vanished from sight.
Cole waited for a few breaths before walking to the door and opening it. The entire base had obviously been thrown into a state of high-alert and confusion by the report from the orderlies, which, as far as Cole was concerned, was a very good thing. They would be so busy guarding the exits that the labs and storage areas would be relatively unwatched. Leaving the door open, he reentered the room, climbing the wall and crawling into the ventilation duct. He was just pulling the grate back on when soldiers started pouring into the room.
"Where the hell are they?" a man with an eagle on his collar demanded, glaring around the room and ignoring the prone forms on the floor. "What the hell happened here?" he demanded, rounding on one of the orderlies.
"Colonel, sir, the prisoner seemed to have some kind of seizure. While we were trying to treat the problem, two people came into the room, a large man and a small woman. Something very strange was happening to the prisoner."
"Define 'very strange'," he ordered, rolling his eyes at the orderly's inexactness.
"Well, sir, it... It looked like something from a werewolf movie," he admitted in a sheepish voice.
Cole bit his lower lip at the comparison. The Colonel's resulting tirade more than covered the sounds of his retreat deeper into the ducts. Shaking his head, he activated his headset.
"Mel, can you hear me?" he whispered.
"Loud and clear. You okay?"
"I am, Mel," he assured her. "Has Mara reestablished contact?"
"Yeah. She's on her way with Lana. Zin's downstairs with Neko now."
"Okay. I need you to get me to the main lab complex."
"Right. Hang on while I pull up those schematics." There was a pause, followed by. "Okay, South down that duct for about fifty yards. There's a t-joint. Go east."
"Thank you, Mel," Cole said softly, starting in that direction.
***
"He got out," Mel announced, entering the barroom where Zin and Neko were conferring in low voices.
"Wonderful. And all the evidence destroyed?" Zin asked.
"Yeah." She nodded faintly. "What about Mara and Lana?"
"ETA is five minutes or less," Neko said, rifling through his bag. "Lana is in and out of consciousness and not very coherent when she is awake." He looked up at Zin, his expression grave. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not sure how promising her prognosis can be under these circumstances. She seems to be losing ground quickly."
"You're the best physician I have, Neko. I have faith in your abilities."
"Well, I will do my best," Neko assured him. "She's a sweet child."
"Thank you, Neko," Zin murmured, patting his shoulder. "How's your back, Miss Porter?" he asked abruptly.
"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the question.
"You keep rubbing it. Is it painful? I can have Neko give you something."
She shook her head. "It's a tic."
"You have a lot of those. Are they... a recent development?"
"I've always been a little high-strung," she said, shrugging.
"Which recent events have no doubt only aggravated. I'm sorry for my role in them."
Mel raised an eyebrow, staring at him. An apology, over anything, was the last thing she would have expected to hear out of Zin's mouth. And even if she had, she would have expected it to be over her murder at his hands rather than over Kaehto's actions, actions over which he had no control.
She opened her mouth to answer and promptly let out a startled yelp instead. Mara was back, and she was carrying a very frightening creature in her arms. It resembled nothing so much as an overgrown, scruffy, grey and black cheetah. Or, it would have if it had not also been in possession of two long, tusk-like teeth.
"Lana!" Zin gasped, crossing the bar at a run and taking her from Mara's arms. Her breathing was ragged and her skin cold. "Neko!" he called, carrying her over to one of the couches and sitting down, cradling her in his lap as Neko checked her over. "What did they do to her?"
"At a glance, I'd say they drugged her heavily. I'll have to run her blood."
"Do it," Zin said, nodding and rocking Lana as the physician rose and retrieved a syringe and small black device from his bag.
"I'll take enough now to run a full course when we get her back to the infirmary," Neko said, uncapping the syringe and taking Lana's hand in his. Turning it over, he eyed her arm for a few moments before finding a good vein. "Here, Mara, hold her arm, will you?"
Mara nodded and moved to brace Lana's arm. Lana whimpered as the needle was inserted, shaking her head and struggling against Zin and Mara. Mel jumped backwards as she unsheathed four-inch claws.
"Nishkta," Zin murmured, nuzzling Lana's cheek. "Nishkta, Lana. You're safe here. You're among friends. No one's going to harm you. I promise."
She stared up at him with glassy eyes for a moment before touching her nose to his and murmuring, "I never gave up hope. I knew you would recover me."
"You know me well," he whispered, leaning into the touch and affectionately scratching her behind the ears.
To Mel's amazement, Lana closed her eyes and started purring. It was absolutely the most surreal scene she had ever seen in her life.
"All done now," Neko murmured, withdrawing the needle and giving Lana's hand a gentle pat. "Good child. I'll just run this through the spectro."
"Do you require assistance?" Mara asked.
Neko shook his head faintly as he deftly transferred a few drops of blood from the test-tube to a tiny glass tube and inserted that into one end of the machine. "It'll take a few minutes, depending on level of contamination," he told Zin. "There's not much else I can do for her until I know what they've given her."
"She's not dehydrated, is she?" Zin asked, frowning down at the girl with concern.
"No. They wanted to keep her healthy."
"You call this healthy?" he demanded incredulously.
"Alive, then," Neko amended. "Mara, would you mind running ahead and making sure the infirmary's prepped?"
"Not at all. With your permission, sir?"
Zin nodded, carefully shifting Lana from his arms to the couch and rising. "With my permission and my thanks, Mara." He approached the woman and pressed his lips to her cheek. "You've done wonderfully. You were brilliant. Anything in my power to give is yours."
"I'll get back to you." Winking, she turned and left.
Zin chuckled and shook his head. "This is going to cost me..." he murmured. He turned as he became aware that Lana was stirring on the couch, her sleep troubled. "Oh, it's okay, Princess," he murmured. "I'm right here," he whispered, gathering her into his arms again. "You're safe now. Nishkta."
Mel blinked. Had Zin just called Lana Princess?
"Multiple positives for barbiturates and benzodiazepines," Neko announced, glancing at the readout. He pulled out his cell-phone and quickly dialed. "We're going to need a detox kit ready by the time we're there. Fire up the scrubbers now and get as much blood as you can." He looked up at Zin as he hung up. "We need to go. Now."
Zin snarled softly, climbing to his feet and hugging Lana to his chest. ""Miss Porter, I had hoped to stay long enough to thank Daggon in person. Will you convey my gratitude to him?"
"Of course."
"Thank you, as well. There are not words to describe how grateful I am. This will not be forgotten," he promised. "You are... a remarkable woman. I'm happy he found another person he could love the way he loved Nally. He deserves to be happy. Kindly do me the favor of seeing that he remains that way."
Mel nodded slowly. "I'll take good care of him," she promised. "Good luck with Lana. I... I hope she's okay."
"Thank you." He inclined his head, then turned and followed Neko from the bar.
"God," Mel sighed, dropping into a seat. "That was... different." The bar-phone rang and she rose to answer it. "Watchfire," she said, wondering who would be calling at this hour on a Sunday. Monday now, she realized, glancing at her watch. "Hello?" she asked when there was no answer. Strange. And, in her current state of mind, unnerving. She actually shrieked when her cell phone rang, breaking the silence. Shaking her head, she hung up the bar-phone and answered hers. "Yeah?"
"Mel, it's me," Cole said. "I just wanted to let you know that I won't be back for a few more minutes. Traffic. I didn't want you to worry."
"Thank you, Cole." Mel smiled at his consideration. "You hungry? We can have an incredibly late supper."
"How about an incredibly early breakfast," he countered.
"Sounds good. French toast?"
"Yes, please, Mel. I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you, too, baby. Drive safe."
***
Vic woke to find Maria already dressed and obviously on her way out the door. "Mar?" he asked, glancing at her. "You leaving already? What's up?"
"Oh, I forgot I have this whole stack of paperwork. That pendejo of a partner of mine left it last night..."
"Maybe you should talk to the Captain."
"And inflict Johansen on some other hapless soul? Give it a few weeks and I might." Shaking her head and muttering under her breath in Spanish, Maria walked off without a backwards glance.
"Okay... That was odd." Vic shook his head and dropped back onto the bed, reaching for the phone and dialing.
"Hello, Vic," Cole answered the phone.
"How'd you know it was me?"
"Mel thought you would call."
"Ah. How'd it go last night?"
"We managed to recover Lana without incident. Neko was unsure if she would recover when they left."
"Ouch. Pretty beat up, huh?"
"She was heavily sedated. She is not a strong woman."
"You could have fooled me."
"How is Detective Cruz? Is she feeling better?"
"Must be, because she was off to work first thing."
"That is good."
"Well, I'll let you go. Bye, Cole."
"Goodbye, Vic."
***
Maria did not have to turn around to know who had just walked up behind her in the empty parking garage. "How did I know you wouldn't stay away?"
"Because that would be too easy," Sampson answered. "Do you have anything?"
"Minor hangover," she said, turning around and smiling bitterly at him. "Look, let's cut the shit here. I don't like being lied to. You're not Bureau so kindly stop pretending. Who do you really work for?"
"Would you believe Majestic?"
Maria raised an eyebrow. "As in President Truman and the Roswell crash?"
"Which organization better to investigate the presence of extra-terrestrials?"
"Please," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and turning to leave.
"I'm not joking." He grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me," she suggested in a low voice. "You piss me off to begin with, so you do not want to give me a valid excuse to kick your ass."
"You always this touchy?"
"Only with men who resort to extortion and blackmail with me," she answered, scowling at him. "Now remove your hand or I will remove it for you..."
He snorted indelicately at the comment, but did as directed. "Do you have anything for me?" he asked again.
"Not yet, no."
"How long do you plan on making us wait?" he asked levelly.
"I told you I'd keep my ears open. Short of drugging and interrogating Vic, what more do you expect me to do?"
"You're a police Detective. You should be good at finding things out."
"I'll keep my ears open," she said, turning and starting away. He caught her arm again and she spun around, dropping her fist hard against his forearm. He hit the floor with a grunt. "Next time, I will break it," she said softly, stepping over Sampson and walking to her office. "Pendejo..."
