Chapter Two
Control: Part II

"What!" Jo heard herself yelling into the air. The words echoed in the open space and she circled her immediate area quickly to assess where she was. She was definitely outside and she recognized her trusty blue car parked along the side of the road.

This was freaky. She hadn't known what to expect and she definitely had her doubts about how real this supposed program was going to be. What she saw in front of her, what she felt was well beyond anything she could have imagined. She touched the soft skin of her face, the smoothness of her hair, the roughness of her blazer before running her hand along the hood of her car. It was all so authentic. That it was the product of a computer program simulation running along the synapses in her brain made Jo extremely uncomfortable.

This technology was dangerous and it was in the wrong hands as far as she was concerned. When she got out, someone would have to deal with that. That is, if they got out. Or, put more bluntly, if she could get everyone out.

Remembering her mission, she did a more thorough visual check of the area. No one else was around but she had her phone in her hand as if she had just received a call or message. She looked down to see if anyone was on the line and, thankfully, the screen showed no open calls. However, the phone was defaulted to her text messages and she could see that she'd received one from Carter about five minutes ago.

Prob w Zane. Meet Stn 15 to trblsht.

Troubleshoot? And what the hell were they doing all the way out at Station 15? Her immediate reaction was amusement at how Zane was a magnet for trouble no matter what the circumstances. But she bit back the warm feeing of familiarity, realizing how dire the situation was. If the Carter NPC was on to him, it was only a matter of time before that smart mouth of his got him eliminated and permanently so. Subtlety and caution were not exactly his strongest skills. She had to find him and quickly. She proceeded along the trail heading farther into the foliage, creeping along silently but trying to follow the fresh footprints apparent in the dirt.

There was no telling what she'd discover when she finally found her way to Zane. According to Beverly, he would think that four years had passed and that she was with Carter and raising Allison's kids. Just rolling the thought around in her brain made her cringe in embarrassment and apprehension. She knew Zane. If he thought she'd moved on after his disappearance, he'd be hurt but he'd do his best to cover it up by reverting back to that snarky, thoughtless asshole he pretended to be when she'd first encountered him in this timeline.

But she didn't have time to dwell on that complication. It sounded like Zane was in over his head and there was no way she would let a bunch of computer simulated projections mess with her man.

Jo halted, responding to the rustling of leaves in the distance. After stopping she heard the extended scratching again and she knew it wasn't random. Someone was running. She cocked her head and continued listening, taking several steps in the direction of the sound. No, two people were running. It was a chase! She cursed violently.

Calculating that they couldn't be that much farther ahead of her, she took off in the direction of the rapid footfalls while trying to remain quiet. As she moved along, she could hear the rustling and footsteps even clearer. This was definitely one person running after the other. She couldn't tell how far apart they were but the person in front didn't have too much of a lead.

Suddenly, the sounds ceased and Jo stopped with it, assessing the changed circumstances so she could plan her next move. The person doing the chasing had stopped to either gather their bearings or launch a counterattack of some sort. The other person had stopped too. Their intentions were just as unclear. Perhaps they were hiding or regrouping. Or maybe they were planning a counterattack of their own. Ultimately, Jo didn't care; she just needed to catch up with them before Zane got hurt. So instead of waiting for the action to begin again, she softly crept forward giving their probable location a wide berth.

A few minutes later, the rustling resumed, this time much closer and not in the manner of the previous chase. One of the men, Carter or Zane, chaser or chase-ee, was heading towards the other. Ah, a counterattack. She doubled her pace and crept around the area where the two men would likely meet.

Before she could find a stealthy way to peek in on the situation, she heard a muffled thump and short exclamation of pain before there was an obvious crumpling to the ground. One of them had been hit and she didn't feel any shame for hoping it wasn't Zane.

When she finally arrived at the clearing, she saw a man in a familiar uniform lying on the ground, and a pissed off looking Zane standing over him with a stick.

Jo's first thought upon seeing him was to note how damned good he looked, especially from behind. To her credit, she did briefly acknowledge that this was not the most appropriate observation for the situation. She watched as Zane pulled the gun from Carter's holster and cast aside the stick he'd used to knock the sheriff unconscious. So now he was armed; this was going to get tricky.

There had been no time to strategize or brainstorm about the specific steps for blowing up the Aestraeus, only time enough to identify the outcome. The tactics were left up to her and she had assured those left behind in Eureka that she was the best person for the job. Her preferred method would be to have the least amount of people involved; she thought she'd find Fargo or maybe Grace—the former because he'd be the most likely to believe her and the latter because she was the most sensible person to help get a job done. Despite training with them for several months, she didn't feel as if she knew any of the other crew members enough to trust them with something this important, even Holly. As for Allison and Zane—well, they were the people she'd most like to rely on but if what Beverly said was true, any contact with them would just get complicated. Seeing the situation unfold in front of her, she knew complications were now unavoidable.

She unhooked the gun from her side holster just in case but didn't kick off the safety. It probably wasn't the best plan tactically but it was just too weird for her to truly contemplate pulling a gun on her quasi-boyfriend.

However, she wouldn't have an opportunity to dissect this at all if she didn't get them all the hell out of this freakshow. It was now or never. She had things to do.

"Zane," she called out. He turned at the sound of her voice and his gun was immediately pointed at her head. She'd have to ask him later why he seemed so comfortable handling a firearm like that. But at the moment, she only cared about the overwhelming relief she felt seeing him standing there looking undeniably sexy in his tight jeans and leather jacket. It was only a projection of some sort created by a computer program. However, it represented him, alive and in the flesh somewhere. She just had to find out where.

On instinct, she raised her gun to match his stance, fingering off the safety. She imagined what they looked like standing there with guns pointed at each other and had to push down the absurd dark humor of their circumstances. His eyes were so cold looking at her. It hurt to feel that tension coming from him.

"I'm on to you, Lupo. I have no problem blowing you away so I suggest you drop that gun and join you boyfriend over there."

Jo bristled at his tone as well as him referring to Carter as her boyfriend. So Beverly hadn't been lying. And just as she'd thought, Zane had not taken that development well. At all. Her heart sank thinking of her mission. Things were not looking good.

TBC