Lady Jaye tried to sleep, but despite her exhaustion, she simply lay staring at the ceiling. Some time later, she sat up at the sound of a key turning in the lock on the door. The light from the hallway outlined two forms standing side by side.
"Well, my dear—nice to see you again."
She jumped to her feet. "Tomax and Xamot! How did you—"
Tomax gestured at her outfit. "The uniform, of course. Neither Bludd nor Zartan were aware that we planted a tracking device on it the night you arrived, before it was given to you." They took a step into the cell.
Backing away, she asked, "What do you want? She glanced at the doorway. "Did you hurt anyone coming down here?"
Xamot laughed. "We didn't leave any corpses lying around…but we didn't come here to attack the Joes."
"We came here for you." Tomax elaborated.
She looked from one to the other, panicked. "So you're going to kill me?"
They shook their heads. "Why would we do that? We want you to join us for good," Xamot told her. He stepped forward and reached for her hand.
She shuddered at the touch. "Not a chance," she told them. "I'd rather you killed me."
Tomax smiled. "And what about your friends? Would you rather we killed them?"
"What do you mean?" she demanded.
"Zartan perfected another strain of the virus. Extremely contagious." He pulled a roll of thick cloth from his coat. "This contains enough vials of it to infect everyone on the base," he told her. "By the time they figure out that it's a different strain, it will be too late."
Lady Jaye felt numb. "No… you wouldn't…"
Xamot leaned in close. "Oh, but we would." His lips brushed her ear. "Unless you come with us." His voice lowered. "We have…plans…for you."
She shivered. Could she trust them? She could always escape later, but in the meantime…
"Work with us," Tomax whispered, grabbing her other hand.
She closed her eyes. "Yes," she answered.
Lady Jaye awoke with a gasp. She looked around the cell. It was empty. She ran a hand over the new shirt and pants she had bought before leaving town last night. She rested her head on her knees. I guess everyone does have their own weakness, she mused. Even me.
Lady Jaye lifted her head up as the door opened for real this time. She shook her head to clear it. I'm not dreaming now, she told herself. She looked up only to see the traitor framed by the doorway, regarding her icily.
"You know, don't you?" he asked. "This was all a plan. When Scarlett told us you were back, I figured it out." He tossed the keyring idly in his hand. "Too bad you didn't have a chance to tell anyone." His voice had a hint of question in it.
She played on his uncertainty as best she could. "Flint knows. But he had to go to the infirmary first." She saw his eyes widen slightly. "You failed," she said. "I stole the vaccine from Zartan's lab before I left."
He laughed. "I doubt it would take Flint two hours to get to the infirmary. If he knew, he'd have come looking for me. Now all I have to do is make sure my secret is safe." He withdrew a gun and leveled it at her.
"Wait! At least tell me why." She could think of no other way to stall for time.
He considered her request. "Why not. I have plenty of time. Law thinks he's chasing Zartan through the hallways; he doesn't even know I'm here." He showed her the mask he carried in his other hand. It was an exact duplicate of the one she had worn while at the base. "This is even Zartan's gun. No one will be able to trace your death back to me. Looks like we both failed. Only I'm going to be around to try again."
With a wicked smile, he continued. "Don't you care that you've given most of your life to a cause that's futile?" he asked. "We've been fighting Cobra so long I started to wonder why we couldn't beat them for good. I did a little digging… and I found out that there are officials in Washington pulling our strings. They decide who's expendable, and have no guilt about watching their soldiers die. Our lives mean nothing to them. So I made a deal. Cobra gets information from me, and I get to see these men squirm when their plans fall apart. We've been working our way up to the top. Duke first, then Hawk, then the Jugglers. I want to see them fall."
Lady Jaye stepped forward, but he shook his head at her. "Don't try anything. I hope you die happy knowing that you've helped those rotten bastards in Washington…" He pulled the trigger as something hit him from behind. Lady Jaye fell across the cot as the bullet meant for her heart tore into her thigh instead. She watched as he picked himself up off the floor to face Flint. He had lost his gun, but turned to face the Warrant Officer, trying to salvage the situation.
"She's a traitor, Flint!" he shouted. "She deserves to die!"
Flint glanced over at Lady Jaye, eyeing her wound, then turned to the other man, regarding him coldly. "I read your record of communications with Cobra," he told him. "I'm sorry to do this." Flint took out the handcuffs again, stepping forward. "Ralph Pulaski, you are under arrest for treason and consorting with the enemy."
Steeler stepped back, hands raised. "What? You don't believe her, do you? She left us for Cobra," he protested.
Flint grabbed the other man's shoulder, but Steeler twisted out of his grip and ran for the door. He stopped dead at the sight of Order growling menacingly in the opening. Law followed behind, and Steeler gave up the fight. "This isn't over," he told Lady Jaye.
"No, it isn't," Flint answered. "You've got a long few weeks ahead of you. Lock him up, Law." The MP took him away, and Flint rushed to Lady Jaye's side, pulling off his shirt to stauch the bleeding. "You okay?" he asked.
Lady Jaye nodded, wincing as he applied pressure to her wound. "How's Duke?"
Flint shrugged. "Lifeline's checking out the vials you gave me. I didn't stick around; he said it might be a while." He finished tying the shirt around her leg and looked her in the eyes. "Glad I decided to check out those disks you gave me," he told her, voice unsteady. His expression was still guarded, but he no longer looked angry. "So, was this all a plan?"
She grimaced. "I'm under orders…" she started. "Oh, screw it. Yes, Flint. Duke and I planned this out almost six weeks ago when he and Hawk figured out there was a traitor on the team."
He stayed kneeling beside her for a moment. "Why you?" he asked softly.
She reached out and placed her hand on his. "Don't worry. Duke trusts you. But Hawk made him choose only one person. No one else was to know. I'll tell you more later, I promise. But I am still technically under orders."
He nodded and helped her to her feet. "Can you walk to the infirmary?"
She gave him a tired smile. "Can you carry me that far?"
"If I need to."
She leaned against him, enjoying the feel of him under the thin t-shirt. "I'll make it, I think. Lifeline's busy, anyway, and I'm not going to bleed to death in the meantime." She sighed. "I don't think I'm going to do much of anything for a while, in fact."
They headed out the door. "What happened to your arm, anyway?" He tried to keep his tone light, but she could tell he was thinking about their confrontation in the hallway. There was an edge to his voice that sounded suspiciously like guilt.
"I had a run-in with Zartan on the way out of the Cobra base," she answered. "I don't know what's wrong. Either my shoulder is dislocated or my collarbone is broken. I can't tell."
His response was quiet and strained. "I'm sorry… In the hallway… I didn't mean to hurt you…I was so angry--"
She had her good arm wrapped around his waist, and she gave him a quick squeeze. "It wasn't your fault. I'd have been just as mad if I thought you were a traitor." She looked up at him. "Dash… I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to hurt you, either."
He nodded. "Let's not talk about it now. You're hurt, I haven't slept in almost five days…It can wait."
It will have to wait, she thought. I'm in no condition for a heart-to-heart conversation. She sighed. If he can forgive me, this will have been worth it—even a bullet in the leg…But if I didn't move fast enough to save Duke…She refused to finish the thought.
They made their way slowly toward the infirmary wing. It was getting to be morning, and the other Joes were starting to stir for the day. Flint flatly refused to answer any questions, leaving a collection of stunned and confused Joes in their wake. No one tried to stop them, though, which made Lady Jaye extremely grateful. She was ready to collapse, and couldn't even think about facing her teammates' queries and accusations right now. Most of them had no idea what had happened in the night, but the revelations would have to come later.
The infirmary was quiet, and Lady Jaye wasn't sure whether to be glad or worried. Flint sat her down on one of the examination tables and went to find Lifeline. They returned after a few minutes. Lifeline looked haggard and run-down. But he gave her a smile as he entered the room. "Lady Jaye, thank you. You saved Duke's life," he told her.
She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God you were able to use the treatment." She returned the smile. "You look like you've been working hard."
He nodded as he untied Flint's shirt from her leg. "Duke was getting worse and worse, and there was nothing I could do for him. When he first came down with symptoms, I didn't know what to think. Then when he broke out in a rash two days ago, I knew it was smallpox, or something close enough. Fortunately the data from the military lab was still on hand, so I knew about the experimental virus. I wasn't worried that we would have an all-out epidemic. But the lab had no data past the vaccine, which is useless once the rash appears." He cut her pants leg open to expose the puckered flesh, and pulled at the bullet wound, making her wince. "I had nearly given up hope." Lifeline glanced up at her. "Then you came back…"
He reached behind him for a long pair of thin forceps. "I take it the rumors of your defection to Cobra were greatly exaggerated?"
She nodded and let out a sharp gasp as he reached into the hole in her leg and pulled out a flattened bullet. "Low caliber. You're lucky." He picked up a bottle of antiseptic. "This might sting a little…" he told her.
Lady Jaye swore as he poured it into the wound. "A little?" she gasped.
Lifeline applied dressing to the wound and bound the leg. "Sorry," he said. "I'm a little too tired to be delicate just now."
Flint spoke up from the chair where he was watching the proceedings. "Her shoulder is injured, too," he told Lifeline.
She described what happened, and he took X-rays, checking on the computer as the images came up on screen.
"Looks like you've separated your shoulder," he told her. "Doesn't look like it will need surgery, but it's going to take a few months to get back to normal." He went through the locked cabinets at the back of the room and handed her a bottle. "Take these as you need them, but no more often than every two hours. Try to sleep. I'm going to check on Duke again. I'll see you in the morning."
After he left, Flint helped Lady Jaye get into one of the beds and under the covers. He tucked her in, made sure she was comfortable, and left. She wished he had stayed, but she supposed it was still too soon to expect things to be back to normal. Give him time, she thought. We have a lot of issues to work out… she drifted off to sleep.
A/N Sorry about the dream sequence-giggle- I couldn't help it. I needed a little more drama.
Hope no one was too offended by my choice of traitor. Obviously this relates to "Worlds Without End." I always wondered what would have happened with Steeler if he had never gone to the alternate universe. I did pull a little comic book-ness into the story, too, with the Jugglers. Have to have a motive... Next chapter should finish it. Thanks for bearing with me so far-- and for the reviews. They keep me writing long past my bedtime!
Last note-- art imitates life. I separated my shoulder three weeks ago, which has given me ample opportunity to sit in front of the computer, unable to do much else other than type. Surgery in a few weeks and a THREE MONTH recovery should mean many, many more stories. Ah, Internet, what would I do without you...