Chapter 20
A-Level seemed almost completely untouched by the destruction, and Mara could see why. It was certainly not offices, and her denied clearance now made sense.
It was a very extensive reinforced lockup hall, with iron cells lining the walls on either side. Mara hissed out a very agitated breath, never ceasing to be shocked by the level of secrecy and mystery that Rowen kept.
Khan was in the first cell, lying on a gurney, his arms and ankles bound down by what looked like iron shackles. The seizures had stopped, but he still did not look good.
A single guard stood in front of the cell, and two doctors were inside milling about. All of them looked up at her, and she didn't recognize any of their faces. She desperately hoped they didn't know her.
"No one inside, miss," the guard said as she approached, holding his gun across his chest. His lack of hostility told her he didn't know that she really wasn't supposed to be there. Obviously, with the riots occurring throughout the building, just this one clueless guard could be spared to guard Khan.
She held up Pierce's key card. "What am I going to do, steal him?" She held back a grin, as that was pretty much what she planned on doing. "I'm his physician. I simply need to see him."
The guard sighed, twitching as gunshots and muted cries could be heard from the level below.
"Fine," he said curtly, obviously in no mood. It was clear from his expression that he was considering abandoning his post and joining the more important fight.
She walked inside, approaching the gurney and peering warily at the other two doctors.
Khan's breathing was slow and labored, and he blinked slowly, as if he had been drugged… heavily.
Mara looked up to see an IV in his arm, with a drip of something. She squinted to read…
Thiopental.
"An induced coma?" she demanded of the other doctors.
"It's being used as a sedative," one of the doctors said monotonously. "It doesn't put him into comatose. With his rate of regeneration, sedatives do nothing. This works on him like sedatives do on us."
Mara looked back down at him, and he slowly turned his head to look at her. There was a wheeze in his breathing, and he was obviously miserable.
"Did you get a cyanokit?" she asked, wondering if the cyanide was still doing damage.
"Not necessary," the same doctor replied. "His body will expel it. Apparently, not even cyanide can kill him. It'll just take some time."
"So what's the thiopental for?" she asked.
"So the little bastard can't engineer any more destruction," the doctor said with a sneer.
Mara nodded, trying to keep her cool. If she leapt over Khan and tore the doctor's eyes out, she'd probably get thrown out again. For good.
She looked back down at him, listening to his labored breathing.
"Why, Khan?" she whispered, her hand resting on his wrist. Hopefully it wouldn't give her away too much. Any sane person stuck in that building during four explosions would want to know why.
He grinned slowly. "Because they are… my… family," he said between difficult inhales.
Her hand instinctively tightened on his wrist. "You could have been killed."
"Yes," he said calmly, closing his eyes in obvious exhaustion. "And I would do it again if it meant getting them out."
Both of the other doctors stared malevolently at him, and Mara turned to them.
"I'll take it from here," she said simply. "Pierce needs all nonessential personnel to evacuate."
The doctors looked skeptical, but grabbed their things and headed out. The guard, however, stayed.
"Khan, how could you do this?" she asked at a whisper. "Hundreds will die… maybe thousands."
"If I had seen a peaceful way out, I would have taken it. When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end," he said solemnly, and she smiled, knowing it was another of his quotes.
"What now?" she asked after a brief pause.
"They will get out," he said simply, taking in a pained breath.
She walked around the gurney to the IV drip, prepared to remove it.
"No," he said quickly, reaching for her but weakly missing. "Leave it. I'm more comfortable this way. If you remove it, the cyanide will be unbearable until my system has expelled it."
"What do you expect me to do, leave you?" she whispered, leaning toward him. She had never seen him so weak, and it scared her.
"I wasn't truthful with you, Mara," he said, obviously changing the subject. "When we spoke of the oath."
"What?"
"They all made the same oath—made it to me. I alone made another," he paused to take another weak and strained breath.
"I will get you out," he said simply after some time. "This was my promise. From nearly our very first day. We knew what we were, and what they intended to use us for. We saw a different path, one that found us free of subjugation and use. Do you know Friedrich Nietzsche believed that morality is a fiction used by the inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men?"
She let out a single frantic giggle at his constant use of cultural references that he wasn't even around for.
"I wouldn't really consider Nietzsche a role model," she said, her hand falling into his. He held it weakly.
He was quiet, listening to the sounds of revolt for a long time. There were muted gunshots, screams, crashes…
"I won't just leave you here, Khan," Mara said finally.
"And you won't have to," he replied. "Find Lorran. At this point, he should be on B-Level. He'll have it all planned out."
"He'll have what plan…"
"You'll see. Now kiss me, and get out of here," he said with as much energy and charm as he could muster.
She leaned in and planted a slow kiss on his lips, one that he returned tenfold. "Thanks for the key card," she whispered in his ear, just before turning to go.
In a move that was very slight-of hand, she released his restraints, silently thanking whoever thought of the button-release instead of the key.
The guard, thankfully, had had his back turned, and simply nodded to her as she left. She smiled, hoping everything went as Khan planned. Something told her it would. It always went Khan's way.