Chapter 36


"Hey, how's it going?" Tex asked as he came into Danny's room. It was just past 8am and thanks to a box of cinnamon rolls and charm he was allowed by the nursing staff to flout visitor's hours 'this one time'.

"Tex, how are you?" Danny asked surprised to see the man.

"Good, I got the morning off." Tex said as he was looking forward to hanging out with Kat. She and Kara were on a run at the moment with Halsey. He doubted that they'd go as far or as fast as Halsey liked as Tex Knew Kara knew was more into a steady jog which was a slower tempo than Kat's.

He'd been on a run with Kat at her speed and learned that his girl could run circles around him. Something he was proud of even if it did make him feel old and slow. He told his ego that Kat was a string bean unlike he who was carrying around more muscle. That and he could keep up with Green, so he wasn't that slow.

"Where's Kara?" Danny asked him as Tex placed down the half empty box of cinnamon roll on the table and rolled it over so it was over Danny's lap.

"Running with Kat and Halsey. I brought you breakfast." Tex said as he flipped the box open.

"It's half empty." Danny remarked with an amused smile as he looked into the large box that carried only 4 cinnamon rolls in

"Your ass will thank me and the staff won't check your prostate this week. So you're welcome." Tex told him with a smile as Danny blanched slightly at the mention of a prostate exam.

"But no coffee?" Danny asked him, as he pulled one of the cinnamon rolls away for the pack and took a bite. It tasted amazing but then he wasn't one to really indulge in such decadent food as it was counter productive to staying in shape. But damned if it didn't taste good.

"Geez, there's no pleasing you. No wonder Kara won't marry your sorry ass." Tex joked with a chuckle as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"I haven't asked her yet. But I think I know how I'm going to do it." Danny told him as he licked his lips really enjoying the cinnamon roll.

"You mean get down on one knee and ask the question? It's not rocket science." Tex informed Danny in an amused manner as he really didn't understand why Danny felt he needed to do a whole song and dance. He'd just asked Claire on the spot, no fancy dinners or hot air balloon rides. Tex had been listening to all of Danny's hair brain schemes ever since they left Norfolk and the kid had some really unrealistic idea of proposing. He also had some really terrible ones that Tex had managed to talk him out of.

"I was thinking maybe that I could get into the house given I'm going to be out of action for a while. As long as I don't push it and pull some guys into help me. I could propose to her in the house." Danny said to Tex.

"When exactly do you want to ask her?" Tex asked wondering what timeline Danny had on this. He liked the idea the man had. He wanted to propose to Kara in their soon to be family home. It had a nice touch to it but it meant a lot of preparation and hard work.

"Well, how long do you think it would take us to get the lounge room fixed up?" Danny asked him.

"How many friends you got? Cause we could potentially knock it over in a week" Tex told him, but he knew he wouldn't be able to help much as it was really down the crew of the Nathan James to pitch in to help them. But it did give Tex an idea.


"How are you feeling?" Julian asked Rachel.

"You drugged me." Rachel said as the feelings washing through her were euphoric but at the same time unsettling as her brain understood she wasn't safe. She also hated not being in control of her faculties especially against her choice. But right now it was all completely out of her control. Damned if it was conflicting as everything felt good given she was a prisoner, Dr Sasha Clarke sat in a chair by the wall with her wrists cuffed in front of her. She looked petrified and in pain as her posture was stiff and her expression filled with fear. She definitely wasn't in the same hold of drugs as Rachel.

"Had to keep you placid, wouldn't want you running away." He said as he smoothed a hand down the side of her face in a loving gesture like she were a treasured pet. Part of her was disgusted but the sensation of human contact just pressed all the right buttons in her. "So I gave you a little something to make you feel good and help ease that pain for you see ; I'm not a complete monster." Julian cooed at her.

"That's debatable." Rachel told him, as she looked down to find her wrists and ankles bound to the bed in restraints. He just chuckled as he sat down on her bed and looked at her with an amused smile.

"Tell me doctors are you both familiar with PKM-zeta inhibitor commonly known as ZIP" he asked them as he looked between Dr Clarke and Rachel.

"Zeta Interacting Protein. It's an experimental drug being tested with PTSD sufferers. Wreck victims, soldiers who've seen combat... Used sparingly, it can erase selected memories." Dr Clarke answered in a shaken manner. Julian clapped his hands mockingly as he applauded her.

"Yes, interesting isn't it. I've been doing my own research with many female subjects. Too much and they completely forget who they are. Too little and the memories come back in fragments to the point the brain can put the pieces together. Not exactly the desired results but I think I got a handle on it well enough to achieve what I want." Julian said to them as he moved on the bed so he had a view of both of him. Rachel moved her legs not wanting him to touch her even if her brain was telling her conflicting messages as the sheets of the bed felt amazing against her skin. It reminded her of hotel sheets even though she knew they were cheap bedding.

"I doubt that." Rachel said taking in the room as it looked like they were in an run down hospital, hence she knew the sheets were low thread count and cheap. The place had a musty smell to it, and from the state of the room it was easy to judge that it had laid months unused. She looked out the window momentarily distracted as the dust mites danced through the air in the sunlight.

"You know, part of me is tempted to completely wipe your memories give you a clean slate. Definitely throw the world into more chaos. Definitely distract the Captain from thinking he can take me on." Julian said, Rachel looked back to him wondering if he was being serious but then didn't care.

"He'll destroy you and dismantle your empire no matter what you do to me." Rachel told him which at this point was the only thing that made her smile as she knew no matter what happened to her. Julian wouldn't last the month as Tom and the Nathan James would take care of him and his people.

"My empire spans the continental US, and I always get what I want. My army is also bigger than the US Military. They think they are winning by picking up our scraps. 'Saving' people but they aren't, they're just buying them time. Just as you'll see when they give me Larrin. They will be buying themselves time nothing more because my men need their entertainment and the zones need us to survive. It's a symbiotic relationship." Julian told her.

"I thought she was special. Can't be the case if you want to share her with your mates." Rachel drawled.

"Oh I won't share Larrin. I made that mistake the first time round. This time I will have her all to myself and with ZIP, I can create my own narrative. If it doesn't sink in then I'll rinse and repeat until it does." Julian informed her.

"I thought you wanted to kill her." Rachel said to him, she didn't know why she was pushing him for information. But she was curious as to why he was so hung up on Larrin, what made her so special. But she felt if his focus was on her then it wasn't on Rachel.

"I like the chase, while yes there is some satisfaction in the kill. It's fleeting but with ZIP, I can turn back the clock and I guess in a metaphorical sense I'm killing her as the chase starts all over again." Julian said with a sick smile.

"The drug doesn't work like that." Dr Clarke informed him.

"The way I use it, it does. Though you are right, after a while they lose more than just their memories of me and what I've done to them. But what I love is that while you wipe the slate clean you can't change who they fundamentally are as a person. They still retain majority of their implicit memories and in some they partially retain of their semantic memory." Julian told them thoughtfully.


"Taylor's not going to go for this." Mike told Tom as he, Andrea, Cameron and Doc listened to Tom's plan on how to tackle the Scavenger situation. It was something they'd all developed over the past few hours but then Tom threw in the curve ball.

"It's not his decision to make." Tom said, it was Larrin's and he didn't like it but this was about the bigger picture and he wasn't going to leave her alone or in Julian's hands forever.

"Yes, but you're going to be handing Larrin over to her attacker." Andrea said hating the idea entirely as Tom was going to use Larrin to buy them time. She would be traded for Dr Scott and then St Louis would hand over their shipment of 'sport' but the people in that shipment would Nathan James crew. They were going to turn the game on the scavengers and capture them using Lt Commander Burk's operators to help track and take down as many scavengers as they could.

They take as many scavengers alive and interrogate them. Find out how the territories in the black zone operated as they knew Julian might be at the top but Tom highly doubted he controlled everyone. He felt there had to be smaller groups that made up the whole that not even Cameron knew about given they were all outsiders looking in.

They'd released the innocent people from the prison and gotten them into the hospital system as many of them were malnourished and in need of care. Those who were healthy were set up in hotel rooms until housing could be found for them. It wasn't enough to make up for what happened but it was a start. Mike had interrogated Holliday but the man didn't give them anything helpful, so they left him to sit in a prison cell along with Senator Pierce. They were going to have to clean up St Louis at some point but for now they needed to focus on the scavengers.

"We'll send an operator behind her. So she has back up." Tom said, he knew it was wrong. Larrin was a civilian but Michener made it clear that Rachel's recovery was paramount. The only way they could guarantee that was by doing the trade.

"We have no idea where they are taking her and a lot can happen in two days. She's traumatised enough." Andrea argued.

"I know but we can't sub her for a sailor and Michener's right; we need Dr Scott which is why we do the trade and not attack them. We need our numbers to stay intact." Tom argued.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Cameron asked.

"Sure." Tom said.

"You do attack at the trade. Assuming you're going to be meeting in a field. You could use a sniper to shoot Julian-"

"We can't kill him. It could throw the Scavengers into disarray." Mike argued. Cameron shook his head and continued on.

"No, give him a flesh wound. He won't be able to chase her down to his satisfaction if he's waylaid by an injury and we know he will keep Larrin safe as he wants her all to himself. We go in with a small group for the trade that way when the Scavengers retaliate we can use the snipers to lay down cover and give us time to retreat. It would mean very little collateral." He told them.

"We can implant a tracker in Larrin's broken arm under the cast and trackers into those who will be playing prey to the scavengers. It will make it easy for our operators to find your people and Larrin." Doc said

"Under her cast?" Tom asked for clarification.

"We- I'd have to surgically implant it under her skin in muscle tissue" Doc pointed to the middle of her forearm to indicate where the tracker would be. "It'd need to small, and you'd have to get her back here in under five days because it will get infected. " she told him.

"Why not above the skin?" Mike asked.

"If it's above, she's more likely to develop a rash that will spread up and out of the cast in a matter of hours and they will notice that. Casts are a real breeding ground for bacteria. There's also a chance it could fall out. If it's implanted in muscle tissue then it will less likely be detected. When it sets off any detectors she can say she has pins in her arm." Doc told him.

"I can't believe we are entertaining this." Andrea said exhausted as she could see the logic behind what they were doing but there were so many things that could go wrong.

"I can't see any other way of tackling this. We capture and gather intel and then liberate Larrin and take care of Julian. Right now we need to fine tune this." Tom said as he looked down at the map.

"We're also going to need volunteers." Mike said.