Gotta say thanks to ZooBoy of course the "the little blonde" is KAT not SAM! I don't know what I was thinking. I must be going mad!
Thank you.
Chapter 7
The team are all crowded all around the van and Chloe straps herself into her bullet proof vest. She couldn't help but feel nauseous. Rachel looks at her with a worried look Chloe notices her concern and she smiles.
"I will be fine." She says quietly.
"Ok Rachel Can we get a count on the house please." Bill says pulling out his gun and checking the ammunition.
"There are Eleven all on the lower floor." Rachel says listening intently. "They are not happy they are talking about Highlands Mills."
"No one is happy about that. Can we please just get on with this?" Hicks says taking his gun out now and flexing his free hand.
"Are you ready Kid?" Bill asks this time sounding worried. Chloe swallows hard her mouth dry, her heart racing and honestly feeling like she could just turn tail and run.
"Yes." She says croakily.
"Ok Gary you stay here with Rosen and Rachel." Bill says as Gary starts to get out of the van. He looks at Bill then Chloe and looks like he is going to argue but sits back down and turns away flicking away.
"Let's go." Nina says pulling her hair back in a pony tail and then reaching for her gun. They head into the woods treading as lightly as they can and after about ten minutes Bill pulls them up and they freeze. He points forward and indicates for them to fan out Chloe Is in-between Bill and Hicks and crouches low and advances further until she can see the House they were looking for. It is an old but pretty wooden house which looks like it has been well lived in. Ivy crawling up the side of the wall and the chimney cracked and on the floor at the base of the house.
"Kid can you hear me?" Bill says in Chloe's ear making her jump.
"Yes old man I can here you, over." Chloe said looking at him.
"Just remember these people are considered highly dangerous."
"Yeah Bill I got it!" Chloe says back angrily turning to growl at him, her nerves already pulled to breaking point she didn't need his nagging in her ear to make her feel worse.
"No names over the Coms kid." Chloe rolls her eyes and focuses on what is going on around her She wiggles her fingers as she crouched low in the bushes facing the target home.
"Are you ready?" Bill says glancing over at Chloe whose eyes are closed and she is breathing deeply. She nods and sighs loudly and stretches her hands making the ground shake. "Easy Kid."
"Sorry old man." Chloe says. Hicks rolls his eyes and leads the way closer to the house Chloe notes the wind strength and smiles, I can use that, she thinks to herself. She crouches down again lower this time. She looks into the windows and could see shadows walking around the downstairs room. Bill locks eyes with her and she nods and shuts her eyes and she stops the wind from moving the trees.
"Someone has noticed that." Rachel says in their ears Chloe opens her eyes and sees someone peeking through the curtain. She sends the wind hurtling towards the windows and they burst open shatter glass flying everywhere. There is a scream and shouts of confusion, just as planned. Chloe lowers her hands to the ground and the earth rises up in giant mounds and blocks the two doors blocking the easy escape routes.
"Now Kid!" Bill says in Chloe's ear. Chloe stands up hiding partly behind a tree and clicks her fingers a ball of fire appears and she steps out from behind the tree and throws it into the bottom floor window and the room instantly catches fire. The screams and shouts get louder and people start clambering out of the windows and Bill, Nina and Hicks all stand up and start shooting at people as the climb free of the burning house. They are shot with tranquilliser darts and fall over after just a few steps. In all the confusion no one notices what is happening. There are still a few people in the house so Chloe intensifies the fire and the finally scramble out.
"Everyone is out of the house." Rachel confirms so Chloe extinguishes the fire.
"On the roof!" Nina yells pointing upwards Chloe's eye dart up to the roof and her eyes fall on Guy. He was as ugly in person as he was in the picture. He notices them all and shoots lightning like rays from his hands at them missing everyone but Chloe; she is thrown backwards and collides with a tree bashing her head. She blinks and grabs the back of her head, it is sticky and she looks at her hand which is bloody. Instantly she seems to shake and the earth around her rumbles furiously. She pulls herself up and moves back towards the house she sees Bill wrestling with another huge man and Hicks and Nina cuffing the other sleeping people. Chloe walks out from the tree line and stares up at Guy; he locks eyes with Chloe and tilts his head interestedly. Still shaking quiet violently Chloe makes the ground shake violently and a huge crack appears in the ground Chloe makes it widen and the house groans and starts to crack. Guy struggles to keep his balance and once he rights himself, he growls at her. He shoots another bolt at Chloe who is ready for it this time and rolls out of the way. A pipe that was supplying the house with water starts leaking and Chloe smiles up at him.
"You shouldn't have pissed me off!" Chloe says standing up. Guy looks at her with an ugly smile the pipe explodes as the water erupts from the pipe. Chloe sees a woman running towards her and she throws a rock at her and she falls to the ground. Guy's eyes widen and he turns bluish the electricity fizzling around him he glares at Chloe and Chloe just smiles. She shoots the water at him and he tries to jump to the side but too late, he is still fizzling blue when the water hits him. He electrocutes himself his jaw clamped tightly and his body rigid. Chloe smiles as he shakes violently and keeps the water on him until his head lolls and he passes out. She lets the water drop and Guy starts rolling down the roof and he falls to the floor with a crunch.
"Oops."Chloe says looking around Bill comes over to her.
"Did you not hear me saying back off?" Bill says looking cross.
"No." Chloe says fiddling with her earpiece.
"It must have shorted when he zapped me." Chloe said looking at him frowning, "Not my fault." Bill shook his head and walks over to Guy who is still lying on the floor.
"Is he dead?" Nina asks standing next to Chloe. Bill walks over to him and puts his finger on his neck. He quickly removes his hand.
"He is alive, just, he just shocked me."He says looking at Chloe.
"Hey look I was just defending myself!" Chloe said starting to get angry. Bill stands up and he walks towards her.
"It was not a criticism, Chloe." He says smiling. "Good job kid." Chloe smiles widely.
"Thanks old man."
"Well done Chloe." Nina says smiling Hicks punches her arm lightly.
"I think we can retire early eh Bill?" Hicks says smiling as he puts his gun back in its holster.
"I think you might be right." Bill says and him Nina and Hicks laugh.
"What's so funny?" Chloe asks frowning at them.
"Rosen says don't bet on it." Bill says "But hey we can all dream can't we. We are all ready to go Tactical are on their way they will be here in a minute."
They all start heading out of the woods and they are met by a group of around twenty men led by John who high fives Chloe on the way.
"Sergeant eyes front!" Clay shouts at John from the back of the group John rolls his eyes.
"Sorry sir." He says as he walks forward.
"Are you all done here?" he asks looking at Chloe but talking to Bill. Bill steps in front of her and Clay looks up at him.
"We are done, watch Monroe he is still emitting electricity." Bill walks up the hill and Chloe follows close behind she turns to look as Clay who is still looking at her through narrowed eyes.
"What is his problem?" Chloe asks in a whispered voice to Nina, she puts her arm around Chloe's shoulder.
"He doesn't quite like us; he thinks we are all freaks." She says.
"He doesn't like to feel useless I think he feels like him and his team have been rendered useless." Bill says.
"He also fought like a dog to have you locked away. He doesn't like how strong you are." Hicks says as they pass through the bushes and the car comes in to view.
"He has trust issues." Nina whispers.
"You can say that again." Hicks says pulling off his vest. Chloe notices the others staring to climb out of the van.
"What happened? We lost Chloe. I can smell burnt hair."
"She got hit." Bill says clapping Chloe on the back. Rosen's eyes widen looking concerned Gary rushes over to Chloe.
"Are you ok?" he asks her pushing Bill out of the way. Bill looks at him frowning.
"I am ok Gary..."
"I smell blood!" Rachel's says rushing towards Chloe. "Dr Rosen her head is bleeding." Chloe looks at her hand and the blood is still there dried in.
"I forgot about that." Chloe says touching her head gingerly, "ouch." She says her head throbbing.
"Dr Rosen you need to fix her head." Gary says pushing her towards the van and sitting her down. Rosen climbs into the back and grabs the first aid kit.
"Could you hold your hair up please so I can see the damage?" Chloe holds her hair out of the way and Rosen touches her head lightly. "Ah it is only a small cut I can clean that up here." He makes quick work of cleaning it up and gives her the all clear. "It is not bleeding any more we will get you back to the office and you can rest." Rosen helps Chloe stand.
"You are going to have bruises in your hair like I did that time Bill pushed me. Remember Bill you said a bruise is better than a bullet." Gary says climbing into the car van in front of Chloe.
"Yeah Gary I remember." Bill says as Chloe sits herself down and fastens her seatbelt. As they drove back to the office Chloe fell asleep and her head lolled onto Gary's shoulder. Gary flinched slightly but didn't move. Rachel and Nina look at each other and smile slightly.
"Dr Rosen Chloe is sleeping." Gary says tapping Rosen on the shoulder trying not to move too much. Rosen turns around to look at her and his eyes squint slightly but he smiles.
"She will be tired Gary just let her sleep. Just make sure she is still breathing." He adds turning back around.
"I am not a pillow." Gary says in a little voice.
"Well she obviously thinks you are very comfortable." Nina laughs.
As they pull into the office car park Chloe is shaken awake by Gary.
"We are back. You need to wake up." Chloe opens her eyes and lifts her throbbing head from Gary's shoulder. She looked up and him, and he was looking back at her.
"Sorry Gary, I didn't mean to sleep on you." She says unfastening her seatbelt and scooting out of the car and walking slowly towards the offices. Chloe heads towards her office and sits down holding her head. There is a buzz and her phone vibrates in her desk drawer. She gets it out and it is a message from Gary, Rosen wants them in the conference room right away. Groaning slightly she stands up and heads towards the conference room where she sits in the chair Gary has saved for her as usual.
"Thanks Gary."
"You look sick, Dr Rosen Chloe is sick." Gary says Rosen makes his way round to look at her.
"No I am fine." Chloe says unconvincingly as Rosen reaches her looking at her face.
"Gary is right you are clammy and hot." Rachel says. Chloe sighs there was no fooling this lot.
"I do have a bit of a headache." Chloe admits Rosen nods his head.
"I am not surprised," he says handing her a glass of water which seems to make her head feel a little better. "Do you want you go have a lie down?" he asks Chloe shakes her head regretting it immediately.
"No I am fine, the water is helping."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok well if you are sure." He says standing back up, bill sighs loudly.
"Can we just get on with it, she is fine." He said taking a drink of his tea.
"Sorry." Rosen says sitting back down on his chair at the front of the room. "Well first off I would liek to say well done to everyone everything went smoothly and we had no casualties. So that in my eyes is a perfect outcome. Even better is that each of the eleven Red Flag rebels were caught so we should have a report tomorrow on what Clay had done with them."
"What will Clay do with them?" Chloe asked sitting forward in her seat.
"He will be taking them to Binghamton to be questioned on what they were planning and what they know about Stanton Parish." Rosen says.
"So we still have nothing new on him, nothing at all?" Hicks asks. Rosen shakes his head.
"We do have our best man on the job." Rosen says looking at Gary.
"I will have to look through all of the people's files as they are checked into Binghamton. As soon as I know their name I can snoop." He says looking at Chloe smiling she smiles back and chuckles.
"So until Gary does his thing..." Nina starts.
"Snooping Nina, that is my thing." Gary corrects her.
"So until Gary does his snooping we just do what we have been doing then? Try to find as may Alphas as possible?"
"Do we have any others to try and find?" Bill asks.
"A few, um Gary could you please send me the link..."
"It is already on your computer."
"Ah yes thank you Gary." Rosen clicks on the computer and nods to Rachel who turns on the projector and a list is projected onto the screen. "We have a list of potential Alphas some that are considered dangerous and some non-threatening."
Everyone looks up at the screen and Chloe's eyes are instantly drawn to one name. Millie Clarke, age thirteen.
"There are children on this list." Chloe says still looking at the names.
"They are, some of these people are very young and we only know about them because they are being looked at by doctors. Now I have to make clear that not all of these people are Alphas." Rosen says.
"How do we sort them out?" Chloe asks sitting back again.
"We talk to them, see what they have to say and do if anything." Rosen says clicking off the computer.
"Ok but if you don't mind can we start tomorrow? My wife has insisted I am home early she wants to go look for a new bathroom suite." Bill says stretching as he stands up.
"Are you still putting that off?" Rachel asks smiling at him.
"Yes I don't want to part with my money."
"Sure Bill we will start tomorrow, I think you have all earned the end of the day off." Rosen says smiling at them all. Chloe stands up slowly feeling a little sore still.
"Are you sure you are ok?" Rosen asks looking at Chloe.
"I'm fine, just a little bit worn out I think I am a little out of practice with my abilities it's tired me out. I will practice over the weekend." Chloe says turning to walk out of the room.
"Well if you are sure I am only a phone call away." Rosen says Chloe walks towards her office she hears Rosen calling out. "Gary, can I talk to you before you go?"
Chloe tidies up her office before deciding to go to sleep; her head making her feel queasy. When she finally wakes she realises she must have been sleeping for a long time as she is stiff, she remembers falling asleep in the very same position. She stretches and her body creaks and clicks as she sits up and still notices it is dark outside. She glances at the clock and it is 5:43am and feeling well rested she decides to get up and as she heads to the bathroom she switches her computer on. She pads quietly past Gary's room making sure she doesn't wake him. Back in her office she starts on her field report from the day before and it doesn't take her long to finish. I it is still really early so she decides to check her e-mails and finds one from Gary. It was the list form the day before she opens it and scrolls down to Millie Clarke. She clicks on her name and a picture of a small brown haired girl pops up with a brief description.
Millie Clarke age 10.
Millie been placed in a secure home for children as a precaution. She has displayed disturbing behaviours and is under the belief she can communicate with animals, regularly taking up their habits.
Millie is not a danger to others in face she shows a reluctance to even communicate with others. We cannot seem to focus her attention long enough to get much information out of her.
Gary's scream startles Chloe who knocks over her coffee spilling it onto her lap.
"Damn it!" she says standing up the coffee burning her leg. She pulls down her pyjama trousers and Gary passes her door.
"Good morn..." He says stopping and string at her his eyes wide. He rushes off and Chloe groans.
"Morning Gary." She says quietly.
"You have a message." He shouts from the bathroom just as he finishes yelling and Chloe's phone buzzes.
"Thanks Gary." Chloe yelled back pulling her soggy trousers back up. Picking up the phone Chloe realises it is Ryan. Gary thought that it would be a great idea for him to send Ryan Chloe's new number. The first call she got from him was interesting.
The phone rang Chloe thinking it was Gary again who was the only one who ever called her.
"Hello Gary." Chloe said without even looking at the number.
"Chloe, is that you?" Another voice came through the phone, a voice that sounded very familiar.
"Ryan?" Chloe said breathlessly.
"Oh my god it is you, I have been looking for you for ages." Ryan said excitement in his voice. Chloe sighed loudly.
"What do you want?" Chloe asks.
"Baby,"
"Don't baby me" How did you get this number?"
"You sent me it babe."
"I didn't... Gary!" Chloe said angrily.
"Who is Gary?" Ryan asked sounding angry.
"Never mind, just lose this number do me a favour will you."
"But..." Chloe hung up the phone and threw the phone down on the desk and stood up pushing her chair hard against the wall.
"Gary Bell!" She yelled rushing out of her office and to his trying to open his door she finds it locked and him hiding behind it. "Why would you do that?"
"I...I thought you would want to talk to him."
"Well you were wrong!"
"Red eyes, your eyes are red!" Gary says backing away from his door. "That means you are angry."
"No shit Sherlock!" Chloe says grabbing her wrist and squeezing.
"What is going on here?" Rosen says from behind her, Chloe turns on her heel and storms past Rosen.
"Gary has been interfering in my personal stuff." She says slamming her door feeling instantly embarrassed as she acted like a child. It seemed to get the desired effect however as Gary promised not to snoop again and Chloe apologised for scaring him.
Chloe looks down at the phone and the message from Ryan and deletes it without reading it.
"That's rude." Gary shouts.
"Stop snooping." Chloe shouts back. Gary appears at her door with his eyes closed.
"Are you dressed?" He asks.
"Yes I am." He opens his eyes.
"Sorry." He says Chloe tries to keep a straight face but just laughs. "What are you looking at?" He asks coming into her office and standing next to her.
"I was just looking at the e-mail you sent me." Chloe said looking back down at her computer.
"Millie Clarke," Gary says looking at her screen. "I have read that one, it made me sad." He says moving round to sit on the sofa. "Her parents gave her up just because she is different."
"Some people just don't understand us." Chloe says looking back down at Millie's picture.
"I am sorry about your parents." Gary says making Chloe look up at him and he had moved back to the door. He looks sincere and Chloe nods.
"Thanks." Chloe says as turns to leave he stops and turns back around not looking at her now his eyes moving around the room.
"It is not your fault you know, accidents happen." He says before he walks out, Chloe smiles as he leaves.
As everyone arrives they are all called into the conference room and they all sit there waiting for Rosen to get off the phone.
"Come on Chloe you cannot be comfortable sleeping in your office." Nina says leaning back in her chair.
"You should start looking for an apartment." Rachel says sipping her coffee.
"I cannot afford an apartment, I am fine her for now." Chloe says.
"Yeah Nina she is fine here, don't push her." Gary says leaning forward.
"Gary I wasn't. I just..."
"She said she is fine here!" He says loudly.
"Gary! You shouldn't shout." Rachel says, Gary frowns and they all looks at each other.
"What was that all about?" Bill whispers to Hicks who shrugs.
"Sorry Nina I have a bad attitude."
"It's all right Gary." She says Gary looks around and flicks the air.
"Dr Rosen is off the phone." He says and not five seconds later Rosen comes into the room.
"Good morning everyone," Rosen says taking a seat at the head of the table. "That was Nathan on the phone. He says that all of the suspects were awake and they are being questioned as we speak. He will keep us up to date as the day goes on." Rosen says Bill nods but everyone else just stay still.
"So what now doc, we just sit on our asses?" Bill asks.
"No Bill we do our jobs and we try to help and find others. The list Gary gave us we will work through it."
"Where do we start?" Chloe asks Rosen clicks on the computer and the list pops on the wall again.
"Pick a name." He says looking up at the list.