Disclaimer: Not mine except new characters.
A/N: Seems not many people want to know what happened to Alec and Sam, so for those who do want to know, I've updated, but 374 minimum for next update, or you'll have to wait until Sunday.
Many Thanks to my reviewers for this chapter:
Elle6778: Nicotine addict yes, I wouldn't call it getting along. As for the execution it's necessary to fool White. Max wants Ben to realise they're together.
Lakergirl08: Glad you're lost, makes finding the answers more fun.
Honey X5-452: Glad you like Sam.
Angelofdarkness78: Glad you enjoyed 55, aiming for a few funny lines.
Shygirl1: Glad you like, hope you continue to enjoy.
Darkangelgirl262: Heat is only the new girl, Russia next chapter, This is Alec & Sam! I'm enjoying your story 'The Truth' hope you get some more reviews soon.
Alec494: With such long reviews I wish I could answer personally! Glad you liked the dummy. Russia and cult mission next chapter. All about Alec and Sam below.
ThisIsWhereMyNameGoes: Sam was testing the waters, but wanting a punch bag for her frustrations. Glad you enjoyed the execution. It was the early stages of heat, only another female would notice, it was planned as the laugh moment.
Ankari 238: Thanks for the review of chapter 4.
Who Loves The Teacher?
Chapter Fifty-seven: Issy's Worse Fears
As the dust settles on TC White surveyed the scene on his monitor, "I got you this time 494 and 452," he sneered with glee. The building where he had seen them standing moments before had now collapsed and was a pile of rubble.
He picked up his cell and dialled the number, "fe'nos tol, the deed is done, they are dust," he said. Closing the cell he turned to his team, "ok move it all out, we were never here."
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Dix was monitoring White's cell as Alec had asked, "White's happy he's done it," he announced to the assembled transgenics.
"Well don't forget to tell Alec," Mole grinned.
Dix tried to contact Alec, "sorry guys there's no response, we're going to have to do it the hard way."
"What do you mean do response?" Issy's heart had leapt into her throat; surely she would know if anything had happened; the link had been so strong recently. She tried to contact him mentally, but even she couldn't get a response.
Mole had been watching her, "so what's happened to princess this time," he demanded.
"I don't know," she replied weakly, feeling more uncertain.
"Right, Dix get the team leaders to start looking for injured, Issy get to med bay and prepare for incoming," Mole snapped taking charge.
Issy didn't move. "It's ok I'll sort med bay, you look for Alec," Dage told her.
She looked at him not quite focused, "thanks," was all she could say.
Mole was talking again, "before we all start rushing up to the surface, remember this exercise was to convince White he'd killed most of us. Stick to the underground passages where possible, break the surface in pairs and keep alert. Joshua you stay below ground and check for injuries. Issy if you want to look for Alec, you're with me and you do as you're told," he demanded gruffly.
"While you're up there check the satellite link," Dix requested.
"Let's hope her ladyship doesn't try to contact us yet," Mole commented as he took Issy out of the room.
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Max, Dara and Tori returned to the others in the rec. room; as they entered all eyes turned to them accusingly.
"Where's Raven?" Judd asked protectively.
"She's guarding the girl from Belize," Max replied. "What's her name anyway?"
The black man from Belize replied, "she's Faith, I'm Wes and that's Myles," pointing to the other man, "but why does she need a guard."
"We were about to ask you that," Max replied, they looked confused, "when did you run out of meds?"
"We got hold of some tryptophan about 3 months ago; we were getting short, why?"
"She's going into heat, so you obviously didn't realise that Manticore meds included a heat suppressant for the females," Tori replied caustically.
"So that means she's out of bounds to all of you until it's over," Max glared at the guys.
"She might be hot, but I've no intention of being a heat buddy for anyone," replied Den and all the males agreed.
Max looked at Ben and hoped he didn't think that was all he was to her. "Before anyone else arrives can we do a quick debrief on your missions and set up sentry duty," Max requested. "You first Tori."
"We completed the task twelve months ago and returned to the US six months ago, where after meeting Raven and Judd in Florida we decided to try our hand in Las Vegas," she summed up quickly.
"Ok," Max replied, "and what happened in Belize," she turned to Wes, as he seemed to be doing the talking.
"We were doing quite well on the mission when 159 got shot in the cross-fire of a local skirmish and some medical team got to her first, we finished the mission tried to follow the trail, but got the signal to return first," he replied.
"So when did you return to the US?" Lydecker asked out of curiosity.
"Two months ago," he retorted, "why is there a problem."
"Only that you had not been told to return to US soil," Lydecker sighed.
"But we were trying to retrieve 159, surely that was a priority," he snapped back.
"What's done is done," Max interjected, "I need to contact TC to bring them up to date and see what's happening there." She went over to where the computer was set up and tried contacting TC.
Ben watched her as she started to get frustrated, "what's the matter?" he asked casually.
"Stupid thing isn't working," she replied checking the cables.
"Why don't you ring Alec's cell?" he asked.
"Good idea," she replied ringing the number, but there was no reply.
Max was getting worried and Ben realised. "Look they said they were expecting trouble, maybe it came sooner than they thought and they just can't answer at the moment," he suggested, "why don't you just try later when we've sorted everyone here."
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Issy and Mole were walking around TC inspecting the damage as they headed towards the building where Alec and Sam had been.
"The charges seem to have taken out those buildings we wanted demolishing," Mole tried to sound upbeat.
"Yeah but that's where they were," Issy rebuked.
"But you know princess, gets himself into a mess, but always comes back for more," he tried to joke.
Issy stopped and looked at him, "Alec usually has someone looking out for him who he trusts, I don't put Sam in that category."
"I hear you but we'll find them," Mole replied as they searched the ruins of the building. Mole remembered where Alec had said to look if he hadn't contacted them, looking at the mess of the building Mole realised he didn't want Issy with him. Looking at the satellite dish he realised that was his excuse, "Issy if we don't get the dish sorted Max is going to be ready to skin us," checking his watch, "she'll probably have tried calling us already, let's fix the dish and tell her we're all ok, then we can search again."
"You're giving up," she admonished.
"No just being practical, it's bad enough having you moping," he replied, "if she thinks there's a problem she'll abandon her mission to sort it out and we need those units."
"Ok you go I'll carry on looking," she answered clambering over rubble.
"No, if Alec, Biggs and you are missing she'll panic," he replied, "and I can't get Biggs, so you'll have to do it."
She wanted to protest but knew it was futile; he'd only pick her up and carry her if she continued arguing.
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Max had decided that Judd and Tori would be the first lookouts and as soon as they'd had coffee they took up their posts.
"Why did you choose them," Lydecker asked her quietly in the corner of the room.
"Because they're both open and helping, I want to get to know the others a bit before using them," she replied.
"Still concerned about TC?" he looked sympathetically at her as she nodded, "Alec and the others can take care of themselves you know, it's what they were trained to do."
"I know but what if things go wrong?"
"You're too far away to do anything, trust them," he replied sympathetically, "that's what we had to do whenever we sent anyone out on missions."
The door of the room suddenly flew open and Judd walked through, "well we were only just in time to stop these walking out again," he called as three people followed him in.
"So who are they?" asked Ben.
"We've been in Iran, 494," replied a man with Arab features.
"Sorry to disappoint I'm not 494, but 493," Ben replied irritated.
"Nice to meet you," greeted Max holding her hand out to the man, "perhaps you'd like to explain what happened on your mission."
"Where's the handlers?" the man replied warily.
"No handlers, no Manticore, just freaks on the loose needing your help," Ben replied bored with this mission, he'd rather like to get Max alone to talk; they hadn't had time to talk since they'd arrived.
Den came over, "look we've all been through this and although I'd like to talk to 494 to confirm what we've been told, we have no reason not to work with them yet, so just answer the questions."
The Arab man looked from Den to Ben to Max, "ok we've just returned from Iran, I lost one member of the team there, but completed the mission."
"Two further questions, how did the member die and what do you call yourselves, I'm Max."
"They accused her of adultery and stoned her, the body was burned," he replied, "I have been using the name Tareq, that's Ghazi and Nura," he finished indicating first another male then the female.
"Nice to meet you, I'm sure you'd like a drink and rest after your journey," Max welcomed them in.
As everyone took their seats Dara called from the computer, "hey Max TC on the line."
Max ran over to the screen hoping to see Alec's cocky grin, only to find Issy and Mole looking very serious, "where's Alec."
'At the moment we don't know,' Mole replied, seeing no reason to lie, 'White sent some bombers in, blew up several buildings, including the one where Alec and Sam were.'
"What were they doing in there?" Max had a horrible feeling about this.
'Thula said White wanted the two of you dead, so Alec thought if he and Sam were in the thick of the fire White would believe he had killed you both,' Mole replied.
"Is that why he didn't want me to know what he was planning?" Max accused.
'You weren't the only one to be kept out of the loop,' Issy said.
"So I presume something went wrong?" Max asked.
'We don't know yet,' Mole replied, to the quizzical looks from both women, 'he said he would leave it to the last second to get out, when the dust would cover their manoeuvre, but we haven't heard from him yet.'
"So he's either injured, captured or dead," Max suggested.
'If he's captured he's unconscious as I can't get through to him,' Issy replied.
"So it's one of the other two," she snapped, "and where's Biggs and Jondy?" Max had suddenly realised that she couldn't see her sister.
'Out, but I can't tell you where,' Mole replied, 'they should be back in two days, how about you.'
"At the rate of return we should follow them home, only waiting for two teams now," she replied, "suppose I'd better let you get back to looking, call when you find them, any other casualties?"
'A few minor injuries but nothing that won't repair, speak to you later,' Mole cut the link.
"So things aren't so good at home," Ben commented.
"Who's Alec?" asked Tareq.
"494 to you," replied Judd, "I'm sure he's alright," he tried to reassure Max. "Many's the time that we thought he'd left something too long and was dead, only for him to saunter back as though nothing happened."
"Yeah the difference being that Issy can usually sense when he's ok, they've got a sort of telepathic link," she replied.
"Always thought there was something going on between them," retorted Tori, "he spent far too much time in counselling."
"Never stopped any of the females chasing after him though," laughed Judd, "just lucky for us guys that he already knew who he wanted."
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Jondy, Biggs and their team made it out of TC as the bombs started falling and went straight to the boat that had been left at the docks for them. As they sped up stream towards Tukwila they looked back towards TC.
"Don't fancy anyone's chances out on the streets of TC with that lot coming at them," remarked Greg.
"Well I just hope Alec is on form," replied Biggs.
"Why's that?" asked Jondy, not liking the feeling that his reply caused.
"Cuz he was taking Sam up to the roof of one of the buildings that was rigged to blow, so White would think they were dead in the rubble," he replied.
"How many know what he was planning?" Jondy asked in alarm.
"Just Mole and I, just in case anything goes wrong," he replied as he concentrated on where they were going.
"Max will kick his ass when she finds out," replied CeCe, "and I don't suppose Issy will be so calm when she finds out."
When they stashed the boat they found the vehicle that had been hidden for them to make the journey to Roslyn.
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Mole got Issy to check on the injured and asked Joshua to accompany him as he went to search the rubble again. He hoped she wouldn't notice that he was gone until he had found both Alec and Sam.
Meanwhile in a space under several tons of rubble Alec woke up, 'well that could have gone better,' he thought. Looking around he realised that they had landed roughly where he had planned, but with the dust even they couldn't see where they were landing. He could see Sam lying across the room from him; it looked like she was still unconscious, so no help there.
Obviously some of the roof had fallen after he had knocked himself out because he couldn't move for the weight of a beam across his legs. He didn't want to call for Issy, she'd be worried enough he realised checking his watch. It was an hour since he'd last had contact with anyone in TC, he hoped Mole remembered where he told him to look for them. He thought about using his cell, but who to call, if he rang TC Issy would hear, if he rang anyone else they'd have to ring TC.
He looked at his cell, missed call was displayed, he checked who it was, Max. So now she'd be wondering what had happened. Putting on a cocky grin he rang the number and waited for her to answer.
'Who's calling Max,' she snapped, still worried about Alec.
"Now Maxie you're going to have to work on your telephone manner," he teased, "just returning your call, I was a bit tied up at the time."
'Where are you, everyone is worried about you, you idiot,' she replied breathing a sigh of relief and a smile beginning to form on her lips.
"Now why should anyone worry about me I'm alright, I'm always alright," he replied cockily, although he felt anything but alright.
'I've spoken to Mole,' she replied.
'Damn,' he thought, 'I was hoping she wouldn't know anything yet.' "So what's the old worrier say this time?" he asked, beginning to feel woozy.
'Just that they couldn't find you and Sam after the raid,' she replied, feeling more relieved as the conversation continued, he seemed ok. 'So how come you haven't got back to them yet?'
'Stall Alec, can't tell her what's happened,' he thought. "I need some help with Sam and can't leave her," he replied beginning to slur. 'Gotta end this quick,' he thought. "Gotta go speak to you later," he finished quickly.
'If she knows so much I'd better let Issy know I'm alive, if not well,' he thought. Then projecting the thought to her, 'Issy I'm alive in the rubble, Mole should know where to look, Sam's out cold and I can't get out, but don't panic,' then he passed out.
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Hearing his voice in her head Issy dropped the glass she had been holding and tears of relief started running down her face, "he's alive, he's alive," she cried to Psyche, who had been with her in med bay.
"Well go find him then," Psyche urged pushing her towards the door.
Issy didn't need any more prompting and she rushed out of med bay to where she and Mole had been searching earlier.
As she got there she called to Mole, "Mole where are you, he's alive."
Mole poked his head out from the rubble, "you sure?"
"Yeah he was talking in my head, but I think he's injured and so is Sam," she replied, "I don't think there's much point expecting an answer at the moment."
"Why?" asked Joshua.
"It was like he was leaving a message," she replied, she didn't like the feeling that voicing the thought gave her. "Where did he say he'd be?"
"Fourth floor of that building," Mole replied pointing to a pile of rubble.
"Oh," she replied suddenly worried again, "he said to look where he said he'd be."
"Let's try that window then, it looks like it should have been the fourth floor."
Mole climbed through and helped Issy in with Joshua's help. The room had hardly collapsed although it was now nearly on the ground floor, Issy was surprised and looked questioningly at Mole.
"We rigged the first three floor to blow but left this, hoping that it would stay together enough to protect them," he answered as they looked around the room.
Issy looked out of the window, "where do you reckon they were when they jumped?" she asked.
"Probably up there," Mole replied.
"So we need to try the room next door," she suggested and climbed out of the window as the doors wouldn't open.
Joshua and Mole followed her to the next window and they climbed in, this room had collapsed more than the previous and they couldn't stand up. They saw Sam curled up near the window still unconscious, but it took a few minutes for them to find Alec. First they saw his legs sticking out under a beam, then as Issy approached she realised that she was right about him being unconscious again.
"Joshua go get Dage, ask him to bring medical supplies and two stretchers, we'll probably need something to move the beam," Issy instructed.
"Joshua and I can move the beam when you're ready," Mole answered. "What's up with her?"
Issy went to check Sam for injuries, "fractured leg and possibly skull."
"And princess?" he asked concerned for his friend.
"Probably just pinned by the beam and concussion, but won't be sure until we move the beam." Then she saw the pool of blood beside him.
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A/N: I think that's the right place for the adverts, so 374 reviews before the next.
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