SECRETS Chapter Four
Think, Kara, think!
She exhaled to slow her breathing, while rapidly ticking off her options.
Confront Shevon? No, it'd take too long. Lee had only minutes.
The elevator? Small airlocks would be located on the bottom deck. She closed her eyes to focus all her attention on listening for the sound of humming machinery. Nothing.
Stairway, then. She gave a quick glance toward the direction from which she had entered the corridor. Too many people that way-- people who would notice an unconscious man being carried.
Which meant… She took off at a run toward the other end of the hallway, which led to a dimly lit, narrow utility stairwell. She leaned over the railing, gun pointed, trying to peer down into the well.
Intense relief flooded her when she caught a glimpse of her quarry rounding the bottom stairway four floors below.
Lee was still alive.
She started down the stairs, her left hand pulling out her other gun in one smooth motion so that both hands were armed. She ran quickly, but quietly, knowing she needed to retain the element of surprise if she was going to have a chance of getting both Lee and herself out of this mess.
She slowed her pace as she neared the bottom floor, listening intently before she cautiously rounded the final corner. The stairway was empty, but the exit door was about a foot ajar. Hearing nothing, Kara carefully pushed it forward, and moved into the corridor ready to fire.
No one was there.
Panic rose in her again but she shoved it down fiercely. They couldn't be far.
She heard their voices as she approached the second alcove that branched off the corridor. Staying in the shadows, she stole up to the alcove's entrance soundlessly, hands tensely holding both guns at the ready.
"Damn it, Weller, it has to work!"
"I've done it three times. I'll try it again, but it's not working."
Peering in cautiously, she could see two men standing outside the thick, glassed wall that protected the ship from the airlock beyond it. One was punching numbers into the security keypad mounted ten feet from the door into the airlock. The other had his gun pointed in the direction of Lee, who lay sprawled motionless a few feet away.
"Frak it! Phelan must have just changed it again. Bastard didn't trust us."
The other man was quiet for a moment, before saying, "Beach."
"What?"
"Beach would have the new code. He and Phelan were checking on the ship's security yesterday."
"Where is he?"
"Hangar bay, I think."
"Well, go get him. I want to get this done before he comes to." He gestured toward Lee.
Perfect, Kara thought. She would take on both of them if she had to, but much preferred the odds of taking on only one.
She ran lightly back down the corridor some eight feet and slipped into the shadows of an adjacent alcove just in time. Seconds after she had ducked into it, she heard the man's jogging steps pass her. The instant he exited into the stairwell, she was once again in the corridor, her hand tucking one gun away while she moved swiftly back toward the other man.
Entering the alcove soundlessly, she stole toward him. He had his back to her, trying out combinations in the security keypad, and holding his gun down casually.
Kara got to within five feet of him before he realized someone was there and started to turn around.
"Drop the gun," Kara said in a steely voice, her gun aimed at this head. "Or you're getting a bullet in the head."
He froze, his gun still hanging downward.
"Believe me, I would love nothing better than to blow your brains out," Kara hissed. "So don't give me an excuse. Drop it. DROP it!"
He dropped the gun.
"Kick it over here. Now turn around and open your jacket." He obeyed her. "Turn completely around. Now pat down your pockets."
Satisfied he had no other weapons, Kara bent down to pick up the gun he had kicked toward her, tucking it into her waistband.
"Now, move to the wall over there," she ordered, gesturing to her left.
Keeping her gun trained on the man as he backed to the wall she had indicated, Kara moved to Lee's sprawled, unconscious body. She crouched down next to him and shook his shoulder urgently.
"Lee. Lee! You gotta wake up now!"
She chanced a quick look down at his face. Nothing.
Damn it! The head blow he had received, coming on the heels of his earlier concussion had really knocked him out. Kara shook him a few more times, then realized she was going to have to do this the hard way.
Keeping her gun aimed at Phelan's henchman, she took Lee's arm in her left hand and began to drag him toward the corridor. If she could just get him to an elevator, she could find a place to hide with him until he came to.
"What the hell you gonna do? Drag him back to the launching bay?" the man scoffed.
Kara didn't waste any breath responding to him. She was strong, but Lee was heavy, and she was struggling to pull him as fast as the urgency of the situation required. She was also preoccupied with keeping her gun leveled on the first man, while also covering her back against the return of the second. Her head looked backward, then snapped forward again. Back. Forward. She was panting now, her muscles straining with Lee's dead weight.
Not the most graceful rescue, to be sure. But they were going to make it. Once she reached the corridor, the elevator would be only fifteen feet away, in the opposite direction of the stairs. She could pull him that far. She shot a glance back again. No one there. They were almost to the corridor. Her head turned back again to eye the man by the airlock.
Suddenly, the cold muzzle of a gun pressed into the base of her skull, and a hand clamped around her neck.
"Don't move," a quiet voice said menacingly.
She stopped, her breathing loud and labored.
"Drop the gun."
"I'll shoot your friend," Kara said harshly, desperately, her gun trained on the man she had disarmed.
The safety clicked in her ear, as the hand around her throat tightened.
"Guess what?" the man said in almost a whisper, "I don't give a shit. Never liked him anyway. And then I'll just kill you. And your friend will still go out the airlock."
Kara still hesitated, then let out her breath and reluctantly lowered the gun. He kept his hand around her throat while knocking it from her hand. The other man approached them to retrieve it and strip her of her remaining guns. "Get over there," the man behind her said, and gave her a rough shove back toward the airlock entrance.
"Good timing," the first man said, as they dragged Lee over near Kara, keeping their guns on her as they did so. "But where's Beach?"
"I went to Phelan's quarters and sent Antony to get him. Didn't want to leave you here alone in case he came to. I figured you wouldn't be able to handle it on your own, Maddox. Guess I was right."
"Oh, frak off," the first man grumbled, as they released Lee's wrists and moved back to the access keypad.
Kara was standing ten feet from them, next to Lee's limp form. Feeling painfully vulnerable without her guns, she relied on the last weapon she had left--her bravado. Arms on her hips, eyes flashing, voice coldly furious, she laid into them.
"You're going to be signing your own death warrant if you do this, you know. Lee is the son of Commander Adama. Commander-of-the-whole-frakking-fleet Adama. I know the Old Man. He will never rest until he finds out who did this to his son."
The second man scoffed. "It'll look just like an accident. We can find lots of people on this ship who'll swear they saw Captain Adama take off in his raptor tonight. Hell, we can easily doctor the logbooks to show that. They'll never pin it on us."
"You're wrong. He's going to find out." Kara kept her voice low and angry, struggling to hide her desperation. "And he's gonna kill you."
"Shut up," said the man irritably, "And back off. If I were you, I'd be thinking more about your own death. You're going out the airlock too, you know. Save your last words for him." He waved his gun toward Lee.
Kara's arms were twitching with adrenaline and frustration. Her options were closing off. She contemplated just charging the men. Better to die in a blaze of gunfire, with a chance at inflicting some harm herself, than suffocating in the cold vacuum of space.
She looked down at Lee beside her. He was pale and unmoving, his arms sprawled out like some discarded marionette. Her throat tightened. If she charged them now, he'd die alone…
No. I'm not going there. Not yet.
They were both still alive. This wasn't over.
She crouched on the floor next to Lee, stretching out her leg so she could bend down over his face, laying her cheek against his, her mouth near his ear. She snuck a glance at the men. They were still ten feet away. One—Weller, she believed—was trying out random combinations at the access panel. The other, Maddox, leaned against the wall near him, gun pointed casually in their direction.
Keeping her cheek pressed to his, Kara shifted her face a little so that her mouth touched his ear. Her hair slid over her cheek, effectively hiding their faces from the men.
"Lee," she breathed into his ear, whispering so low that the men had no chance of hearing her "Lee, it's Kara. It's me, Lee. I need you to wake up now, all right? Lee. Lee! Please come back to me, Lee." She swallowed hard. "I don't think I can get us out of here on my own, and I really, really need you. I need you, Lee. I need you."
She kept this up for several minutes, to no avail. Finally, despite her best efforts, her voice began to tremble. She swallowed back her fear, closed her eyes, pressed her cheek closer to his, and reached down to grasp his limp hand. "Lee. Please, Lee."
"Kara."
His hoarse whisper sounded softly in her ear.
Her eyes shot open, and she stole another glance at their captors, who were conversing, keeping only vague watch on them.
"Don't move!" she said urgently into his ear. Then she turned slightly, her hair still masking their faces from the men and stared into his open eyes.
"Hey," she whispered with a tiny smile, relief washing over her in waves.
"Hey," he whispered back, and winced.
She turned her head again so that they could whisper softly and inconspicuously, their mouths touching one other's ears.
"Can you move?"
He squeezed her hand in reply.
"Good," she whispered. "But let's keep them thinking you're still out. Here's the sitrep. We're in the lower deck of the Prometheus. Phelan's men plan to put us both out an airlock. And I need some help figuring out how to keep them from doing it. There's two guys here, but a third is going to show up any moment with the access code to open the lock. And then we're screwed."
"Weapons?" Lee breathed the question into her ear.
"We've got none. They took my guns. They've got about four between them."
His hand twitched again. Her hand was over his, clasping it, both hands resting on her right leg, which was stretched out next to his body. His hand began to move slowly, gently tugging their clasped hands a couple of inches down her leg. Then his finger, hidden under her hand, gave her leg a soft tap. His gentle whisper sounded in her ear.
"Did you forget this?"
Holy Frak. Her knife. She had forgotten. Lee must have felt it under his hand.
"Can you get it to me without them noticing?" Lee said softly into her ear.
Kara hesitated, then whispered back.
"Not you. I'll do it."
"No, Kara. Listen. They think I'm still out. They're going to be more careful with you. I can surprise them."
She bit her lip. He was right, but she hesitated. She didn't want to give it to him, she admitted to herself. She wanted the knife in her own hand. She wanted—needed—to have control in a crisis.
But, this was Lee. She trusted him. Even with her life.
"Okay," she breathed into his ear. Then she turned her face, resting her other cheek on his, so that her eyes were free to see down their bodies. Their clasped hands were still on her leg, above the knife. Very slowly she turned her leg inward, moving it closer to Lee's body, keeping it hidden from the men guarding them. Her finger reached out to lift the pocket flap on her lower thigh. She felt Lee's fingers reaching in and fumbling for the knife. She shifted her leg farther over, worried their actions might catch the attention of the two men. Lee carefully slid the knife out of her pocket, and she felt him move his own leg very slightly to slip the knife under his thigh.
At that moment, Beach arrived.
Kara sat up, taking care to drop Lee's hand so it was right next to the spot where the knife was hidden under his leg. She stole a look at his face. His eyes were closed, his jaw slack, his face blank.
Beach barely spared them a glance, merely went to the keypad, and began punching in the numbers.
"What the hell took you so long?" Maddox grumbled.
"We had to sabotage his Galactica Raptor and send it out first. It needs to be found drifting near their bodies."
The door behind Kara gave a soft click as it unlocked. Kara's mouth went dry, and her body tensed as she was met by the chill of the unheated air in the space in front of the airlock.
The three men all had their guns drawn now, and were advancing on them. Maddox grabbed Kara's left arm to pull her through the door. She began to struggle against him.
The trick, she knew, was to struggle enough to keep the men distracted, keep them focused on her, but not get them so worried that they'd try to knock her out.
The other trick was pretending she only wanted to get away from Maddox, not fight him. She wanted his thoughts focused on holding onto her. Not on protecting himself.
So Kara thrashed. She tried to yank her arm away. She used her leg strength, pulling away like a recalcitrant mule. And she sounded as frightened and as loud as she could—gasping, pleading, cursing. Maddox was cursing as well, straining as he dragged her about ten feet into the air lock area. She was vaguely aware that the ruse was working. Both Beach and Weller were watching her struggle, even as Weller absently reached down for Lee's arm to drag him after them.
Lee suddenly exploded into action. His arm flew up as soon as Weller touched him, the knife in his right hand sharply arcing over his head to plunge itself into Weller's chest.
At the same moment, Kara stopped pulling away, and suddenly pivoted, throwing all her weight behind the powerful right hook she smashed into Maddox's face. A second later she had kneed him viciously in the groin. As he gasped and lurched backwards, she went for his gun.
For a few tense seconds they struggled for it. Her fury aided her, as did his obvious pain. Triumphant, Kara finally yanked the gun away from him, but a moment later she heard a loud crack, and she staggered, feeling as if someone had just given her a sharp, hard shove in her shoulder. She stumbled forward to her knees, her left hand painfully breaking her fall, her right hand still pointing the gun toward Maddox, who had fallen back a few wary feet from her.
As she fell, she was aware of a strangled cry behind her. Lee's voice. She threw a panicked glance back at him.
Lee was leaping at Beach, who had his gun pointed straight at her. She heard the thud of their bodies crashing together, and watched as the two men rolled on the floor just inside the entrance to the airlock, each struggling to gain the upper hand. Then Lee was on top, his left hand holding down Beach's right, both straining for control of the gun in Beach's hand. Suddenly Lee's right hand with the knife flashed up, then sharply down. With a hoarse shout, he stabbed it into the man's throat.
Kara's attention had been completely focused on Lee, until she realized with a shock that Maddox was using her momentary inattention to dive for the gun again. Acting on instinct, fueled by adrenalin, she fired directly at him—once, twice, three times. He staggered and fell on top of her, dead.
And then, all was still.
Kara became conscious of the cold floor under her, the ringing in her ears from the gunshots, and the sounds of labored breathing from both Lee and herself. She pushed Maddox's body off her, feeling a little sick.
Then she looked over at Lee. He was still on Beach, slumped over a bit, head down, the hand holding the knife white-knuckled and clenched. Weller's bleeding body lay a few feet behind him. He looked at his hand for a moment then extended it, and deliberately unclenched his fingers. The knife clattered to the floor.
Then he looked up and met Kara's wide eyes. Instantly he got up and moved to her. She met him halfway, and they caught one another and held on.
They stood there, embracing, saying nothing, for what seemed like minutes, as their breathing gradually slowed. Her nerves were tingling with the same adrenalin rush she experienced every time she flew a mission against the Cylons; every time she succeeded in blasting the bastards out of the sky before they could kill her.
She felt intensely, completely alive.
And filled with gratitude, because Lee was alive too.
But then she became aware of another feeling. A sharp pain in her left shoulder, rapidly building in intensity, and stabbing downward into her arm.
"I thought he had shot you," Lee said against her hair.
"I think he did," Kara said.
Lee pulled away then and looked at her sharply. She tried to reach up to take off her jacket but her left arm wasn't cooperating. Lee carefully peeled it down her arms, then drew in his breath at the blood seeping from her left shoulder. "Oh, Kara."
"Oh, frak it!" Kara said, looking down at her left shoulder, grimacing at the intensifying pain.
"It's still bleeding," Lee said, and he put his palm down to apply pressure. Kara gritted her teeth against the pain, and then became aware that her body was shivering.
"Let's get out of here," Lee said, turning with her toward the door.
Kara stopped him. "We need the guns."
He nodded, bending down to retrieve Beach's and Weller's, while she pressed her own hand on her shoulder to try to slow the bleeding. Lee dragged both bodies to where Maddox lay, and after a moment's thought, he reached down and stripped off two of their jackets.
Kara was standing just outside the airlock door waiting for him. She was bending over a little, one hand on her knee, the other pressed hard against her shoulder. Lee joined her, clicking the airlock door shut behind him.
"Let's find someplace safer than here."
She nodded without speaking and let him lead her down the corridor. A little past the elevator, they found an unlocked utility room with a sink. He closed the door behind him, just as Kara, grimacing, slid down the wall to a sitting position.
Looking around, Lee found a shirt someone had left draped over a box. He ripped it into strips, wet one in the sink, then sat down at Kara's left side.
"Let me see it," he said softly.
She removed her hand, and he wiped the blood away, then gently probed the wound with his fingers.
"Bleeding's slowed down a lot, which is good. No exit wound, though, so it's still in there. Must hurt like hell."
She nodded. "I've had worse, though," she said, and consciously worked to unclench her teeth. "I just need to stop thinking about it. So let's talk about something else. How fast can we get to the hangar bay? I'm not going to feel better till we're piloting a Raptor away from this frakked up ship."
Lee leaned back on the wall, close to her. "I can get us there. As long as we're not stopped."
Kara looked at him. "Stopped? Wait a minute. I thought we just killed all the bad guys. Are you telling me there's more?" At his nod, she snickered a bit. "Good Lords, Lee, you certainly made an impression here in a few short days."
He smiled at that, then grew serious. "They're running a pretty lucrative black-market on this ship. A lot of people are involved, and they're willing to do just about anything to keep it going. I found out yesterday that they killed Fisk, the Pegasus XO. Apparently he had been involved, but then had a falling out with Phelan. Phelan's the leader of the black-market, who I…well, he's dead now."
Yeah, I know, Kara thought. But she said nothing.
"Phelan put out the word yesterday that he didn't want me leaving the ship. So his men are probably on the lookout for me. Also, I was nosing around, questioning a lot of different people for a couple of days. People may recognize me."
"Frak," muttered Kara. "Can we find a comm link, so we can patch a call through to Galactica? Any in the hallways, or someplace else we can get to?"
Lee was shaking his head. "No. Phelan seems to have removed or disabled all the public ones."
"So the only way out of this mess is getting to my Raptor."
Lee nodded.
Kara let out a sigh. "Okay, let me see if I've got this. I'm shot. We're both covered in blood. But we need to look inconspicuous, and make our way to the hangar bay. Meanwhile dodging the people on the ship who know who you are and will be trying to stop you. And then we have to get our Raptor. Which hopefully isn't being guarded." She raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "Is that it?"
Lee considered. "Yeah, that's about it."
"Oh, well, that's good. Here I was thinking it might be hard."
He started laughing then, the first real laugh she had heard from him since the morning before that disastrous Cloud Nine visit almost a week ago. The sound made her laugh as well. He turned to her, surveying her face, still smiling. "I don't think I told you how good it is to see you, Kara. And you know, maybe I just take it for granted that you're gonna be there when I need you, but, I gotta ask…" He shook his head in wonderment. "How the hell did you end up on the bottom deck of the Prometheus, about to be thrown out of an airlock with me?"
"Well, you know," Kara said nonchalantly. "I thought it might be a nice opportunity for some quality time together, just floating around in space, you and me …"
He raised his eyebrow at her.
Kara looked down and was quiet for a moment. "You were gone from the Galactica without a word for three days. I got… worried. I came over and did some snooping around. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to hear about the airlock plan."
He didn't press her for more details, just looked at her steadily for a minute. Then, "Thank you," he said, softly.
She nodded, a little embarrassed, then gave him a self-mocking grin. "Actually, I owe you one. My first attempt to rescue you was a disaster. If you hadn't woken up when you did…" She shook her head. "There's no way I could have taken out all three of them on my own." She raised her eyebrows expressively. "So, you saved my ass, too."
He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her thanks, then reached for her hand, enfolding it within his. They sat quietly for a minute, before Lee stirred and gazed down, bemused, at the bloodstains covering his arms and shirt. "You're right about the blood, though. Hard to be inconspicuous, looking like this." He looked at her face, a smile playing on his lips. "Do I look as bad as you?"
"Well, I don't know how I look, but you –I have to say —look like hell."
"Oh, thank you." He moved to get up again, then suddenly staggered, putting his hand out to catch himself on the wall. He squeezed his eyes shut as if in pain.
"Lee?" Her voice was sharp.
He didn't answer for a moment, then slowly opened his eyes and straightened himself.
"I'm fine, just stood up too fast, I think." He crossed back to the sink, got a few more of the clothing strips wet, then returned and crouched in front of her. "I'm going to clean some of the blood off your face."
"I can do that!" Kara said, annoyed.
"No you can't, so be quiet," he said firmly. "You're not lifting your arms. Now, close your eyes. "
He took her chin in his left hand and began gently but firmly scrubbing the dried bloodstains off her face. When he finished, she opened her eyes and made a face at him. "I feel like I'm five."
"Well, behave yourself, little girl, and you might get a fun little ride in a Raptor." He slowly got up and went to the sink to wash off his own bloodstains. She watched him scrubbing at them, including the long-dried ones she had noticed on him much earlier in Phelan's quarters.
"Lee?"
"Hmm?"
She swallowed. "Why did you come to the Prometheus? And why did you stay so long without contacting anyone?"
He stopped scrubbing and sighed, leaning his hands on the sink, looking down. For a long moment he didn't say anything. "I did try to contact my father yesterday," he said finally. "After I had pieced together what happened to Fisk. That's when I learned that someone had disconnected the comm line from…well, where I was staying." Kara felt a stab of jealousy at this veiled reminder of Shevon.
"So I headed to the launching bay to get my Raptor," Lee continued. "And I got jumped by someone. It was just one guy, and I got away, but I knew I needed to get off the ship. But I had to…help someone else… who I thought was in danger as well." His jaw tightened but he didn't provide more details. "But I got jumped again, this time by a few of them. They kept me locked up for a day, then hauled me in front of Phelan."
Kara nodded. She was staring down at her right hand, clenching and unclenching in her lap.
Lee sighed, still leaning on the sink. "There's actually more to it than that. But…it's a long story."
"That's fine, no big deal, just kind of curious." Kara said, with feigned nonchalance.
Lee was silent for a moment, still not looking at her. Then he said hesitantly, "It's a long story, but…it's a story I'd like to tell you sometime. If you'd like to hear it."
Kara's throat was tight. She swallowed. "Yeah. If you want to."
"I think I do."
Then he straightened up, and gave her a little smile over his shoulder. "But for now, let's just focus on getting off this ship." He came over for her inspection. "Am I more presentable?"
She nodded. "Good," he said. "Let's use these jackets I took. They should cover up some of the blood on our clothes." He reached out his hand to help her. "Can you stand up?"
She nodded, gave him her right hand, then clenched her teeth as the pain shot through her again when she moved. Leaning motionless against the cold wall for a time had helped dull it, but shifting to a standing position brought it back with a vengeance.
He watched her, his eyes concerned. "If you want, I can help support you as we walk." Kara shook her head. "Come on, Kara, I can see this is hard for you. Let me…"
"I can make it," Kara snapped. "I'm fine, Lee."
"Uh-huh. Sure you are. Well, we're going to rest when I say we rest. No arguments."
He turned around and leaned over to pick up the jackets. But doing so seemed to disorient him, for he suddenly slipped, and had to catch himself with one hand on the sink. He pulled himself up, drew a deep breath, then turned back to her, only to find Kara staring at him, concerned and annoyed.
"What I'm worried about is that concussion you obviously have, Lee. You were knocked out for a long time, and you're still acting kinda loopy. That thick skull of yours might have a fracture, with internal bleeding, and you should be…"
Now it was Lee's turn to cut her off dismissively.
"Don't worry about it, Kara. I'm fine."
"Uh-huh. Sure you are."
They both stared at each other, annoyance in their faces. Then Lee's mouth twitched and they both laughed.
"Okay," Lee said. "We'll both keep the fussing to a minimum. But I'm reserving the right to keep an eye on you." She raised her eyebrow at him. "And you keep an eye on me," he conceded. "Fair enough?"
She smiled. "Okay."
Lee helped her get the jacket on, then put the other on himself. He slipped his hand into the pocket and withdrew it, holding her knife.
"I thought you might need this back," he said quietly, reaching down to slip it into the scabbard still in her pocket. She caught his eye as he straightened.
"It's strange," he said, and cleared his throat. "I've never stabbed anyone before. It's different. More… personal than shooting someone. I don't know…more primal, I guess."
"Lee, don't beat yourself up. You did what you had to do…."
He looked at her. "No, Kara, that's just it. I don't feel badly about it. His eyes hardened. "It felt… good."
The Prometheus was not an especially large ship, but it took them over an hour to make it to the hangar bay. Aided by Lee's familiarity with the ship and the lateness of the hour, they met few people as they stuck to neglected stairways and utility corridors. But numerous times they were forced to double back on hearing voices ahead.
Each called a rest once, concerned about the other. Kara was finding it more difficult to ignore the searing pain in her shoulder, and her growing concern about the difficulty she was having even moving her left arm. She also worried about Lee. His face was growing paler and his walk a little shakier.
During the second of their rests, she looked at him, as he leaned his head wearily against the wall he was sitting against. Dark circles shadowed his closed eyes. "When did you last sleep?"
He gave her a tried smile without opening his eyes. "It's been a while."
She shook her head. "Look at the pair of us. Even if we can get to the raptor launch pad, which one of us are we going to trust to fly the damn thing?"
He smiled a little again, then after another minute of rest, his eyes snapped open. He rose, helped her to her feet, and they continued their slow trek.
Finally, though, they were close to their objective. Ahead was the reception lobby that led to the hangar and launching bays. It was quieter than when Kara had come through hours earlier, but they could still make out a few voices.
They crouched under a nearby metal stairway.
"Any other way we can get to the Raptor?" Kara asked.
"No, they set it up this way to keep an eye on anyone coming or going."
"What about if we wait a few hours? See if it clears out more?"
Lee turned back to look at her, his eyes sliding to her left shoulder, where a bullet was still lodged. Her eyes in turn scanned his pale, clammy face, and the ugly bruise over his eye.
At the same instant they both shook their heads and said, almost in unison, "You need a medic."
Lee smiled. "Okay. What's Plan B?"
They were silent for a minute, each too exhausted to come up with even the semblance of a brilliant idea.
Finally, Kara sighed, "We could just try the medical emergency tack. We certainly look bad enough to carry it off convincingly."
Lee nodded. "So you lean on me, I keep my head down, and we just blow past them, saying we need a medic. And if we're stopped…." He hesitated.
"We blow 'em away," Kara said grimly.
They checked that their guns were easily accessible.
"Ready?" Lee said.
She nodded and slipped her right arm over his neck, clenching her teeth at the wave of pain the move produced in her other shoulder.
"You okay?" Lee asked gently, looking at her face.
"Yeah," she gasped. Then she realized his blue eyes were still gazing at her intently, his face very close to hers.
"Kara, if anything happens, I want you to know…"
"Stop it, Lee!" she cut him off abruptly. "Nothing is going to happen. Not to you, and not to me. So, whatever you have to say, just tell me on the Galactica." She looked at him fiercely, willing it to be so.
He hesitated, then smiled at her. "Okay."
They took a deep breath, and together, stepped toward the reception area.
They almost made it. There were five men in the room when they came walking quickly in. They kept their heads down, Kara gasping in obvious pain, Lee holding her close, and saying solicitously, "Don't worry, honey, we're almost to the hangar bay. We'll get you some help."
A man stepped to intercept them. "What's this?"
"She fell down a flights of stairs." Lee said fiercely without looking up. "I need to get her some help. Please get out of my way!"
The man hesitated, then stepped aside.
Kara exulted inwardly.
But, two steps before the exit into the hangar bay, they were caught. "That's Adama," she heard one of the men yell, and suddenly Lee's right arm was grabbed, and he was pulled away from her. At the same moment, her wounded left arm was violently yanked backward, and the searing pain of it ripped through her body, forcing a sharp cry from her. The intensity of the pain made her both dizzy and nauseous, and she had to draw in great gulps of air to keep herself from blacking out.
She stumbled as the man holding her arm suddenly let go. Lee, swearing, had thrown himself on him. Then Lee himself disappeared under three other men who tackled him. In a fugue of pain, she pulled her gun out to help him, but felt herself grabbed around the neck, and a gun barrel pressed against her head. Tears of pain and frustration pricked her eyes as she struggled to see what was happening to Lee.
"Drop your WEAPONS!"
The words boomed into the room from the doorway. Gasping, Kara struggled to turn and see who had yelled them. Her heart leapt.
Commander Adama. Flanked by eight fully armed marines, their guns leveled at their assailants.
The cavalry had finally shown up.
TBC