Washington D.C.
Veronica got out of her car and rounded the bonnet. Across the street two men and a woman got out of squad car. "Thank you for responding to my call."
"Curiosity has always been a driving factor in my career. I'm just sorry we didn't flag the Senator sooner," said the man with graying hair. He offered his hand to Veronica. "Captain Grayson, and this is Sgt Pearce and Detective Holloway. We'll do our best to cover you, there rest of my department is off sick probably with that bug that's going around."
Detective Holloway was a thirty-something, attractive woman with a short blonde bob-cut hairstyle. Her smile was friendly enough but her stance said she was all business. "I've always thought McKinley was shady, but that record you faxed over blew me away. If you're going to take McKinley down for this, I hope your guys have enough to make it stick."
"That's what I'm looking to find out. Right now I need hard evidence linking him what's been happening today. There's a reason he wasn't at the White House when they ordered the quarantine, and I'm going to find the answer in there. Two inside and the others keep watch on the road, what do you think Captain?"
"Pearce, you take the squad car to the rear of the estate, it's off Regan Lane. Holloway, take Ms Walter's car and park up the street, we'll keep the lines open. After you Ms Walter," Grayson said with a wave of his hand.
Veronica headed for the main gates. She had a feeling should wait for Logan's team but she wasn't ordinarily patient. Besides she'd meet the Senator twice before. Despite being beady-eyed and far too presumptuous, he wasn't at all threatening, at least not in a physical sense.
After her blood run, Veronica put in some hard time looking into McKinley. That fact that he was not only at the center of the transgenic manhunt, but continently absent from the White House lock down made her more than a little suspicious about his involvement. He was being very thorough in placing blame on the transgenics, and she couldn't validate his claims at all. Since the well-publicized siege in Seattle, transgenics had been put on a high level watch lists of all the major government enforcement bodies. A transgenic didn't move a block without them knowing about it. The NSA were forced to release all the records they had on Manticore including DNA profiles, known transgenic mugs and active investigator placements. Reading the reports she noticed there were inconsistencies in project funding but none of her superiors raised any questions so she kept her mouth shut on it. Looking into McKinley she quickly found what she needed to get a warrant to search his property. An overseas bogus company, citing his wife as the sole director, had been trade with a trust the CIA had previously flagged with links to black market weapons trading. It had taken her more than a dozen calls to get a judge that could see her, and as soon as she had the warrant in hand, she put in a call to the local PD in McKinley's county.
Slowing to a crawl as he approached the rear entrance, Pearce put the car in park and turned off the headlights. The large oak by the roadside completely overshadowed the car and cut out the moonlight. They still had a few hours before daylight. McKinley was in the capital fielding the press and no doubt supervising the transgenic roundup, if they were lucky they'd only find the housekeeper home. Mrs McKinley had recently moved out of the family home after hushed divorce proceedings. If the Senator was as dirty as his paper trail suggested then he'd have to say good for the musses getting out while the man still had green. Unless she was in on it too, then it wouldn't matter whether she'd left him or not, she'd be going down with him. Pearce unbuttoned the top button on his uniform and pulled the neck of his white undershirt. It was getting uncomfortably hot in the car. He rolled down the window and sucked in a deep breath. Beads of sweat began to pool under his legs and armpits, and suddenly he wasn't feeling so good.
Veronica got over the wall without too much effort. It was the landing on the other side that had her disgruntled. Who grew a hedge behind a wall? Why not pansies or daffodils? Dusting off she waited for the Captain. The man already had a slight limp, maybe it would have been better if he'd waited for her to open the gate. He landed in the bushes with a thump and she heard the sound of cracking which she hoped was all twigs and branches.
She gave him a hand up. Grayson was breathing heavily but didn't complain. "He has a surveillance camera on the outside gate, and one at the main entrance of the house. We'll go around back, disable the power and then head inside."
Veronica nodded, that explained why he hadn't hung outside for her. "I'll follow your lead till we get inside." She bent a little and stuck close behind the Captain as he started along the wall. "Found blueprints for his house online, seems this design is popular in England. If he hasn't changed the plan, the study is on the first floor, east wing."
They reached the power box and the Captain flipped off the main. "How are you at breaking and entering?"
With a grin, Veronica pulled out her pocket lock pick set. "A pro."
The Captain chuckled and they made their way to the basement doors. There weren't any outside wires around the hinges and Veronica made short work of the padlock on the door. Wondering through the black maze with the aid of a penlight, they soon found another set of stairs that lead upward. The door at the top of the stairs had a doorknob and Veronica tried it.
"Locked." She passed the penlight over the door. "There's no keyhole." She felt a hand over her shoulder.
"Try this," Captain Grayson said.
He held out a bankcard. Veronica chuckled. "Right." She pushed the card into the door jam and jimmied the lock. There was a click and she tried the knob again. When it inched forward she passed the card back and gave him a triumphant grin. "Here we go."
As she pushed the door further open a read beam of light hit the corner of the door. Veronica saw it and her heart sank. "Go back." A hiss overhead caused her to look up and she saw gas pouring out from the vents above them. Covering her mouth and nose see signaled for the Captain to get out. It was too late. Neither of them moved a few steps before they collapsed to the floor. Veronica tried to crawl on her hands and knees but tears burned in her eyes and her lungs closed over. Her head slumped and she lost consciousness.
Holloway checked her watch. They should be inside by now. It wasn't like the Captain not to check in. "Captain is everything okay?" There was no answer. "Pearce, anything on your end?"
"Holl, not doing so good. I think I've got that bug…"Cursing, Holloway opened her door and got out. "Hang ten Pearce. I'll call dispatch and have them send someone to pick you up." Pulling out her cellular she called for an ambulance and then went along the wall to find a way inside.
She found the open basement doors and took out her torch. "Captain?" Venturing down the short flight of stairs she spotted them a behind a row of shelves. She bent to check for a pulse. It was faint and erratic. Her eyes watered. "What that…" Her hands shook as she reached for her radio and all of a sudden it felt as though someone was squeezing her chest. She gasped for air. Trying to go back to the open door, she stumbled a few feet before collapsing.
HQ, Terminal City
Dix and Logan momentarily abandon their work to watch the riot outside Terminal City on the monitors. A group of extremists had started a bonfire and were in the process of throwing flaming cocktails over the fence. The flames were spreading. Flashing lights appeared in the corner of the camera view, so more cavalry had arrived. It could mean one of two things either troublemakers were about to be arrested, or local law enforcement were finally getting in on the transgenic round up.
"More guns on the fence," Luke said with a sad sigh.
Mole picked up a shotgun and cocked it. "They get one foot too close and they'll lose it," he said with a growl.
Biggs turned from the table where he was going over new defense plans with a few other X5s and transhumans. He caught sight of Clemente getting out a squad car. He wasn't personally familiar with the guy but he knew Max was. The day of the Jam Pony affair, he'd been across town in hiding with a few other transhumans trying to get to Terminal City. Max said he was a good cop, but maybe the good cop and just got passed his take down orders.
Terminal City PerimeterClemente took the megaphone handed to him by one of his officers. The police dresses in riot gear stood nearby, none of them were doing much to stop the attack the civilians were launching against Terminal City. At least no one had gotten bold enough to attempt climbing the fence yet. He looked up and noticed shadows moving on the rooftops on the other side of the perimeter. He hoped Max was still on talking terms. If someone didn't cool this riot they'd have blood on their hands tonight, maybe both transgenic and human this time.
"Men your orders are to get these people back. Nobody breeches the police line. Any man or women who does will be arrested is that understood." He signaled for two officers to tape of the entire length of fence between the light pole at one end of the street and the squad car parked next to the vacant building opposite. Ducking under the tape, he walked toward the chained gate. He could see more shadows a few hundred meters away watching him. "I don't want anyone to get hurt here. Can I speak to Max? I just want to talk. We've got a lot of angry and scared people out here and if we can meet face to face, maybe we can settle a few questions we all have."
Max and Biggs hung back watching from a distance. Logan was talking in her ear and it wasn't doing a lot of good for her concentration.
"You'll be out in the open, Max. Clemente might be an honest cop but all you need is one anti-transgenic to make one wrong move…"
"Logan you're not saying anything I'm not already thinking. Please just monitor the area and keep us updated, that all I need." She tried to be nice about it, but from the breathing on the other end she knew she'd hurt his feelings. Damn it, she didn't need anyone else telling her this was crazy. She knew that, and right now her first instincts were telling her to take her kids and get out of Terminal City because it was sure to be going to hell in handbasket the second one shot was fired from their side of the fence. "Biggs, you make it clear to our guys that nobody fires unless some brings one of ours or they start barreling though the fence understood."
"Got it Max."
Stepping out of the shadows Max suddenly wished she'd taken on CeCe's habit of wearing a vest. Sure they could dodge bullets but never in her life had she felt so many crosshairs locked on her every move.
Clemente met Max at the fence, a few feet and chain mesh were all that stood between them. Her eyes momentarily flickered to his gun and he got the feeling that even though it was strapped to his side, it wouldn't be any good to him if things turned ugly. She looked like an ordinary young woman, slender build, medium height and soft looking brown hair, but in her eyes he saw different. She had hard eyes, which spoke of life experiences that a seasoned commander, wise and gray usually had. She'd probably lost more men that he had his entire career. Not that it was something he wanted to compare notes. He just knew that the experience changed you, made you cold, bitter and sometimes cynical against better judgment.
"You wanted to talk?" Max said not losing her aggressive stance for a minute. She kept her arms loosely at her sides and never lost sight of any one of the armed officers on Clemente's side of the fence.
"McKinley claims that the transgenics caused the outbreak."
"And yet you're here and we've been in Seattle for years before this."
"But if the transgenics weren't responsible why isn't there a single report of transgenic getting sick?"
Max snickered and fought the urge to fold her arms. Any sudden or suspicious movement on her part would no doubt earn a bullet in the head. She kept her anger to a minimum. Clemente wasn't blaming the transgenics, he just like a lot of others just had questions that begged answering. "If a transgenic died for anything, bullet, starvation, a lynching or this sickness no news report would cover it, none of you would be concerned about it, and it would probably go unnoticed by everyone. Why should we care when it was norms who made us immune to almost every bug and bio chemical out there?"
"If you're immune then you have to help," someone yelled.
More people joined in with similar sentiments.
Clemente ordered them to quiet down. "Are you working on helping?"
"The CDC are sending a team to take samples. We don't know if we're even compatible with humans," she lied.
Rioters behind the line grew restless and some threw a bottle over the fence, which exploded a few feet away from Max.
"We're done talking," she hissed. "Keep your people out and we'll keep ours right here. No one needs to get hurt." Turning on her heel, she hurried back to the cover of the buildings. Blood pounded in her ears and once she reached the cover of darkness she watched Clemente shaking his head as he walked away.
Clemente walked over to one of his SWAT men. "Keep a team guarding the line. Nobody goes in or out. Station men on the rooftops either side of the street. Order people home. If the transgenics can help us, we can't give them a reason not to."
The Infirmary
Lexie was busy cleaning up from the last patient to the infirmary when a buzzing caught her ear. She thought it was her hearing playing tricks on her and brushed it off the first time she heard it. But when it started again a few seconds later, she tried search out the source. It was coming from the diaper bag that they'd picked up from White. Unzipping the front pocket, she pulled out a cellular phone. She didn't recognize the number on the front and she knew better than to answer a foreign phone. White could have booby-trapped it for all they knew. Practically jumping out of her skin when it rang again, she hotfooted it to HQ, diaper bag in tow.
HQ, Terminal CityLexie arrived to find that the atmosphere in the Command Center already wrecked of tension. The only ones oblivious to it all seemed to be Max's kids who were peacefully sleeping under the watchful eye of both Max and Joshua. Lexie caught her gaze the moment she stepped through the door. Maybe it was the fact that she'd burst in slightly disheveled and shouldering a fat, pastel blue bag.
"What's wrong?" Max said standing up from the table.
The phone buzzed in her palm, and Lexie held it at arms length. "Courtesy of our not so dearly departed. Found it in here," she said off loading the bag on the table space next to the baby seats.
Max unzipped the main compartment and emptied the contents on the table. Diapers, powder, pacifiers, formula, baby wipes and a couple of empty bottles were all that were inside. She patted down the bag, no hidden extras. "Is there a number?" Lexie told her the number from memory. "Probably another cell."
"It's clean," said Joshua.
"How do you know?" Max said in surprise.
"Biggs been giving me lessons on…"
"It's nothing Josh, just might come in handy some time."
Max shot Biggs a dirty look. He was teaching Joshua how to make explosives? They needed to have a serious talk later. There was being prepared and then there was being fanatic, she didn't want anyone accidentally loosing limbs at amateur demolition school.
Taking the phone from Lexie, she answered it on the first buzz. "Who is this?"
"Miss me?"A chill snaked down her spine the microsecond his voice filtered into her ear. "White," she answered with venom.
"I won't waste time with pleasantries, no doubt Eyes Only is already trying to pinpoint my location. I'm on a secure cell but I'm not stupid enough to misjudge him, you know what I want. Give me Ray's location and I'll let your babies live."
Her hands shook as the blood under her skin went cold. "What do you mean…" Her voice trembled even as she fought to hold on to her composure.
"Think microexplosives, 494 will know what I mean."
"He won't do it Max," Biggs said.
White laughed overhearing the comment. "Do you really want to find out?"
Max gripped the phone till her knuckles turned white and the plastic cell splintered under the pressure. With trembling fingers she loosened her grip. "You'll never get away with this," she warned him coldly.
White snickered and Max could almost see his cruel smile. "I already have 452. You have one hour."
Max let the phone slip from her grasp and she sunk into the nearest chair. Biggs didn't need to hear what White said, he could tell from the look on her face that it was bad. But he had heard. He was sure all of the transgenics in the room had.
"He's not that inhuman. He kept them from the Conclave…"
"You don't know how badly he wants Ray," Max argued. "He'll do it and he won't even give it a second thought. I just want to know how?"
"He probably planned this before we picked them up. He hasn't had access to them since." Lexie cast a worried look over the babies.
Max stood up and started pacing. "I have to call Alec…"
"There's nothing he can do Max." For a moment there Biggs thought he might lose his head with the look she gave him, but Logan provided a distraction.
"I'll call Laura and let her know what's happened." Logan stood and made a move for the stairs, then frowned and went to sit down again. Running a hand through his hair he met her gaze across the room. "I can't let White have their location if she says no Max. I'm sorry but…"
"I understand," said Max bitterly. Biting her bottom lip, Max blinked back tears as she looked at her sleeping children. "I need to get out of here."
"It's going to be tough to get past the norms outside but we were supposed to be at the lab already. The sewers are going to be fowl but it's just till we make it to the junction two blocks down. We can lift a ride from there."
"Let me know the minute you get her answer," Max directed at Logan.
Logan nodded and watched her leave with Lexie. There wasn't anything in the world he wouldn't surrender right now be able to give her what she needed right now, but it wasn't up to him. Risking Laura and Ray's safety for the kids wasn't fair. Then, life never had been fair to them. A cold reminder of that fact was digging into his butt right now. He didn't really need it to walk but his legs just weren't the same. They probably never would be. He put the exoskeleton out of his mind and focused on the task at hand. Getting hold of Laura at this hour was going to be tough, but persuading her to help them was going to be the impossible deed. If he could just figure out some way to buy them more time, maybe they could get the explosives out and not have to give White anything. It was possible right? After all hadn't Alec gotten one of those things stuck in his head once?
Notes: This has been with the betas for two weeks but I still haven't gotten anything back, so please bear with any errors you come across. I'll repost as soon as I get the proof back. In the meantime I thought I'd ease the wait.