Chapter 7: - Tracking Trouble or Trouble Tracking
A.N: - Thank you kai0707 for your regular reviews I really appreciate them as I have hit a slight road block in how to end this story and your enthusiasm is keeping me going. Also thanks to anyone else who has reviewed or will review in the future it makes me keep going when the real world keeps trying to drag me away to do awful things like work!
Brennan and Shalimar joined Jamie in the garage; they'd taken the lift up and where met with an impressive sight. The garage was filled with every vehicle imaginable and yet Jamie was revving the engine of a very mundane looking black SUV. Brennan and Shalimar got into the car sensing Jamie's impatience to be off.
Jamie noted the disappointed look on Brennan's face as he looked longingly at the more exotic cars. "We need to remain inconspicuous if we have to track Baby down, those cars are way too obvious" he said returning his view to the front windscreen and not seeing there nods in response as he pulled out of the garage. It seemed to Shalimar and Brennan that Jamie was continuously talking in order to keep his mind off the problems they faced, they didn't have a problem with this but they were worried about the incoherent mumbling he kept doing. Suddenly he raised his voice "Were heading to the city, Baby parked the Lark on top of this roof top" he pointed to a monitor on the dashboard. "She's on foot now" he pointed to a second smaller but moving signal. "It's going to take us a while to get there as you can see the roads around here aren't great" he said worriedly as he drove through a huge pothole on the dirt track making them all lurch violently.
"She'll be O.K, if she's anything like her sister; she's tough enough to survive anything" Brennan said causing slight smiles on both their faces. Shalimar's smile stayed in place as she considered how weird it was to be talking about her sister, she then focused on the back of Jamie's head considering how like Jesse he really was, they even had similar hair cuts although Jamie's was slightly more unkempt.
Back in Saveria Jesse was working frantically ti reproduce the possible cure that Baby had destroyed. The first thing he had done upon the others departure was to inject Lexa with the cure he had been working on, giving her at least sixty percent chance of survival. He kept one eye on Lexa's vitals at all times and just twenty minutes after the others had left her vitals changed dramatically. She was no longer emitting irregular blasts of light and according to her steadier heart rate she had shifted into a coma. This worried Jesse greatly as she no longer made any physical reaction to stimulation. However he needed to keep working at the cure that still hadn't been applied yet.Jesse took down the force field realizing that it was no longer having any effect on containing the spread of her splitting tissue and that without presence of her unstable powers it was pointless. He was totally bemused though because whilst the force field was having no positive effect the spread of decay was slowing down and he had no idea if this meant that one of the possible cures had worked or not.
The silence in the lab grew too great for Jesse and he began to talk to Lexa, knowing that when people were in comas their hearing was one of the last things to go. "You know this is a really drastic way to stop my advances Lexa. I know you don't want to hear what I have to say but this! Hell!" He paused from his work to look over at here "I promise to paint your toenails for you everyday if you really want, all you have to do is pull through this! Heck you can paint mine if that'll help!"
Unsurprisingly Lexa made no response to this and Jesse turned back to creating the last potential cure they could provide. "You've got to get through this Lex, if not for yourself or me then for Baby. She cares so much about you, you're the one constant in her life, and you're her family. I know she's got Shal now but you understand her, really understand her and she understands you, far more than I ever will. We all need someone like that" he glanced over again "I mean Shalimar and me have known each other forever, we have the same sort of thing going on, it's different now she has Brennan but its still there. Brennan didn't get it in the beginning, the whole platonic friendship thing escaped him completely but I guess he's O.K with it now. Anyway I'm nearly done here so just hang on would you" He turned away in order to prepare the syringe for injecting Lexa. "You gotta pull through this!" his voice turned hoarse as he held back the tears. "I hate this, you're full of holes" he said as he punctured her skin again and injected the final solution into her. "Well I've done everything I can to give you a future"
Jesse moved the various wires attached to the monitors so he could pull her unmoving body into his arms. He slipped into the med chair under her and hugged her to him. "If you were awake you'd probably slug me one for this, so you'll have to wake up if you want to stop me" he leant in and softly kissed her lips. "I've got to tell you this, you wouldn't let me before but now you have no choice. I don't know if you can hear me but still I have to tell you" he heard a sudden noise as her vitals spiked before returning to their previous steady rhythm. "Even unconscious you just have to interrupt!" he smiled slightly before double checking her statistics. "The spreading stopped!" he said in surprise "maybe it really will be O.K. Anyway whatever happens I've got to say this, I love you Lexa whether you want it or not, my loves yours." A tear dripped off the end of his nose he kissed her cheek. Then from emotional exhaustion he drifted into a restless sleep.
Across town the guys had just found the Lark it was noticeably devoid of life and not shielded at all. Jamie rushed up and hit the shield button so that no one else could notice its presence. Shalimar entered the plane her eyes glowing. "Why are we here? By the scent she hasn't been here for at least an hour?"
"I know, but we need to find some clue as to where she was going!" he said abruptly.
"Can't we just follow her com ring signal?" Brennan asked sensibly.
"That's just it; her frequency disappeared about half an hour ago!" Jamie said in a very frustrated voice.
"So whoever has control of her knows enough to take her co ring off her" Brennan said.
"Or…." Shalimar faltered.
"She's dead" Jamie said bleakly.
"She's not dead" Brennan said emphatically. "Why would anyone go to so much trouble to get her under their control just to kill her?"
"Your right, besides I think I'd know if she was dead. I know it sounds stupid but I think I would" Jamie said.
"Well lets go check out the place her signal was at last£" Shalimar said.
"Yeah, we'll take the Lark it's faster" Jamie said sitting down in the pilot's chair.
"Are you really as bad at flying this thing as Baby said?" Brennan asked in concern.
"No I'm pretty good now, just not as good as her" he said proudly.
"You need a co-pilot?" Brennan asked with interest.
"Sure. I might as well teach you the basics you got to learn some when." Jamie said guessing the reason for his question accurately.
After a brief flight Shalimar questioned "We just flew quite a way why didn't Baby fly closer for this meet before walking?"
"Good question" Jamie responded quizzically, as he landed the plane.
"Maybe subconsciously she didn't want them having your plane?" Brennan said.
"Maybe" Jamie said "It doesn't really matter, we just need to find her" They broke into a suite in the building they had parked upon. "Do you sense anything? The signal was here last" Jamie questioned rapidly.
"She was definitely here a while ago, she met someone" Shalimar sniffed the air "a man by the smell of it. He was alone she left with him without a struggle. By the looks of things whoever was living here decided to rapidly relocate when she arrived." She looked around the messy room.
"Maybe we can find out who lived here from his stuff?" Brennan said.
"Unlikely" Shalimar said "look around there's no personal stuff in this room; it's a motel so he probably didn't have a lot of his stuff here in the first place. There are loads of different scents in here but the strongest are Baby's and this man. It's really annoying me I swear I know that scent but with all the others around I can't work out who it is"
"Think Shalimar think! Who is it?" Jamie demanded.
"I don't know!" Shalimar yelled in distress "I can't picture him!"
Jamie looked forlorn.
"The chances are if Shal recognizes his scent and he knew enough to make Baby take off her ring that he's on Adams database somewhere. Maybe you'd recognize him if you saw his face" Brennan said to Shalimar.
Jamie cheered up slightly "That's a good idea, we should head back and then we can check on Lexa as well"
Shalimar nodded her approval and they left the abandoned motel room and returned to the Lark. Jamie set a course for Saveria and they headed home unsure of who would be there to greet them.
In another part of town, a black sedan had come to a standstill and two figured exited the vehicle. One kept to the shadows trying to avoid detection but the brazen woman walked in plain sight into the abandoned theatre.