Lab Work

Don had been in working his studio most of the day. He loved the room his brothers laughingly call "the lab."

A large space, it was at least 30' x 20' with plenty of room to have multiple projects going at once. Plus, it was the only spot in their underground home that had natural light.

Several years ago, Don had managed to fit some solar tube skylights up through the convoluted underground passageways to exit in a private section of a townhouse garden courtyard.

He had done the install of the small domes topside on a dark night. Everyone who lived there assumed it was part of the complex and no one thought twice about it. He had surveillance on it, but the only thing he had seen near the domes in 2 years was a couple of pigeons and a squirrel.

The studio was a tinker's paradise, a place to invent and a quiet place to think. When sharing a home with 3 siblings one definitely needs a space to think.

He'd been living with his brothers all his life and sharing a common living space, dining room and rec room with the guys was fine. Sharing a workspace was not. Especially when he knew some of them were "allergic" to work.

Besides, it really wasn't safe to let the others roam free in "the lab." There were a lot of sensitive experiments going on at once, and if disturbed some of those projects could go boom.

It was still light out, though it was fading fast, when Don got an SOS text from Leo. Someone must be getting too near the front door, since he was calling for an assist and saying go out the back.

He said intruder, but he also said "small one." That's what Leo usually called a kid. Could a child have wandered down this far? Maybe, but they must be outside the surveillance zone, because none of the code red alarms had been triggered.

Don sent Leo a quick GYB and slid his chair across the room. Flipping a couple of switches brought up the heads up display at the front door, and triggered the silent alarm.

Don loved the silent alarm. It sent some code to all their phones to silence them, then vibrated a signal to stand by for a text message. Without a coded password after the vibration, the message wouldn't appear. It was a system Don had invented to keep the important stuff out of others hands.

Don forwarded Leo's message verbatim to his brothers, who had chosen this inopportune time to go out. In fairness, everyone had been out and about, doing their own thing. Leo had his endless patrols, Don his studio. The others had their own interests to follow, but today it was damned inconvenient that they weren't nearby.

Don followed his message to them with a live feed from the surveillance system, so his brother's could see what was going on. He squinted at the monitors. Nothing. He panned through the hundreds of feet of tunnels leading up to the front door, but still couldn't find anything.

Maybe this was another of Leo's "test runs" to make sure we are still functioning as a team. They didn't really need to do as many of those now as they used too, Don thought. They were no longer the crazy teenagers going out into the world half cocked. These days a training run here and there was all that was necessary to keep the team running like a well oiled machine.

Even if it wasn't training though, he wasn't too worried about this situation. Leo was a pro at leading intruders around by the nose. They'd end up back where they started in no time with no clue that he'd led them in circles.

Don knew it was the plea for help that made Leo call for backup. Leo could never resist the cry of something he considered helpless.

"Our fearless leader isn't dumb though," Don thought. "He won't walk into a trap alone."

Then he found Leo, right outside the front door. Someone got THAT close without setting off the other alarms? That got his full attention. Don scanned the screen intently while reaching for his weapons. He didn't see anyone but Leo. He turned on the body heat scanners, but got nothing new.

Since Leo was the only one on screen, Don began analyzing his body language. Leo looked calm. He wasn't reaching for his weapons, and even though this threat was literally outside the front door he was smiling. Weird.

Then Leo spread his arms out to the sides in a welcoming gesture and said "Ok, Show me."

There was a brilliant flash of blue light, then Leo collapsed.

Don hit the door to the the sub-tunnel out the back at a dead run. Part of him was in shock. He just saw Leo shot down! Leo LET himself get hit with some sort of laser! Had there been a hostage off camera? Why didn't Leo defend himself?

Another part of Don's brain was calculating the time and distance around to the front door. He didn't dare go straight out the front, even though that would be the fastest way to help. Leo's sacrifice would be in vain if Don exposed their home that way. So far, the enemy only knew that Leo was alone in a supposedly isolated section of the underground.

The intruder must have been off camera, but Don couldn't understand how. Every inch of the area around the concealed door had been covered. It was simply not possible for someone to hide there.

He pushed the 2-way radio button that figured prominently on their special phones and barked "ETA?!" to his brothers.

"Fifteen minutes." said one clipped and angry voice.

"He's down, Dude! Leo's DOWN!" protested the other.

"E-T-A?!" Don snarled again, biting off each letter.

"8 minutes," came the sheepish reply. "I'm at the crossroads. "

"Not close enough." Don nearly moaned.

He redoubled his efforts, running so hard he could barely breath. Even at this pace, with all the twists and turns that they had added for safety, he wouldn't reach the front entrance for another 4.5 minutes.

"Did anyone see the enemy?" Don panted, "I didn't stay to watch, but you've got the video feed!"

"I only saw the shot, the night vision's not picking up much. No heat signature." came the strangled reply. They must be running full tilt. No time to really stop and check the feed for more information.

Don's hand shot out and grabbed a pipe. He used it to slide around a hairpin curve on the trash gathered there, cutting 30 seconds off his time. 3 minutes now to the scene.

At least I remembered the med kit, Don thought. He hoped the attacker had fled and he could jump right in to treatment. He would let his brothers dish out the punishment.

Leo might be down, but Don refused to count him out.