Chapter 14

Lucas sat in the Stinger's cockpit, Alex wedged in behind him and tried to drive it like he wasn't sure where they were going. The fact was he knew exactly where they were going, they were skirting the facility's perimeter and would soon be within its sensor range. The guise was, they had stolen the Stinger and run away together.

Their communications with seaQuest had revealed they felt they had to do something important. They had deliberately left out what that something was. Sanborn would put two and two together as soon as he heard the transmissions and know Alex was not dead and they apparently thought they could take him on alone. The rest of the crew had enforced the ruse by moving further away from the facility and sending out easily monitored communications berating them both for stealing the Stinger and to come back immediately.

Bridger and Wendy had sounded very much the angry and worried parent figures, insisting they were making a foolish, childlike decision, begging them not to try and do anything rash without help. They had even deployed two launches to search for them, saying that he had done something to the navigational system to make it impossible to track them.

Sanborn was sure to overhear the communications, see the Stinger moving dangerously close and grab the chance while he had it. He and Alex had been injected with an isotope that could be tracked by the seaQuest, but no one else. Alex had modified one she often used to track certain genes in her work and Lucas had fed the specifications for tracking it into the boat's memory. Without the specifications the isotope was untraceable and would degrade in their systems within a few days. No matter where they were seaQuest would be able to find them.

Alex was so wound up she couldn't sit still. She kept drumming her fingers on the back of the pilot's seat. Lucas didn't exactly feel any better. He was the one who had to do the work. Somehow he had to disable the weapons systems in that facility once they got in. Alex was nothing more than a worm on a hook.

He couldn't deny he was scared. If he didn't find a way to get the seaQuest crew into the facility they would both end up right back where this whole thing started. Alex would most likely end up dead and he would spend rest of his life in a coma suffering the same torture she had. He could only hope Sanborn was as arrogant as Alex said he was and that if their plan failed Bridger could somehow save them and the others. This was their best chance to save those still in Sanborn's clutches, Lucas just prayed it worked.

He reached back and caught one of her hands in his own and squeezed it. "We'll make it. I swear to God we will," he reassured her. He hoped she couldn't tell he was lying through his teeth. She squeezed his hand in return and laughed nervously. "You're a bad liar but I hope you're right."

"We have to. I can't lose you again," Lucas confessed, his voice low, barely audible. He found running head on into what might be a suicide mission made his tongue looser. Alex didn't have time to respond as the Stinger's console beeped a warning, they had entered sensor range.

At first nothing happened, they drifted further into the facility's perimeter as if they had not been noticed. Lucas knew that wasn't possible they would have known they were there the moment they came into sensor range. They had to be reprogramming the drones or the gun turrets to disable them.

He was right, he only had time to hit the communication switch as they were hailed before drones descended on them, taking out the engines and sending them spiraling to the sea floor.

"Welcome back Ms. Northman and Mr. Wolenczak," cracked Sanborn's voice over the speakers.

#***#

The Stinger sank like a rock, crashing with a thud to the sea floor. It had been all Lucas could do to keep them from crashing with enough force to kill them on impact but he had done it. The landing had still left him feeling like some one had shoved him in a cement mixer and hit the on switch. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out all at once.

"You okay?" he asked Alex. She was clutching the pilot's seat so hard, her nails left half moons embedded there.

"Yeah. I'm alright. You?" she replied. Lucas nodded heavily.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he told her as something connected with the mini sub. A grapnel had them by the tail and was reeling them in. Lucas could see that the line ran back to a shuttle that was hauling them along behind it, heading straight for a docking bay.

They both waited anxiously as the shuttle docked and the bay drained and pressurized. As soon as it was safe, the inner bay doors cycled open, a contingent of armed guards pouring through them, leveling their plasma guns at the Stinger. Dr. Sanborn came forward through them looking smug, angry and self righteous as ever. Neither of them moved until Sanborn motioned for them to get out. Slowly they both crawled out of the mini sub's cockpit, watching the guards and Sanborn warily. They took each others hand and tried to look as if they weren't afraid they were about to meet an untimely end. Despite the facade Alex was trying to put on she was white with fear and had inched as close to Lucas as she dared.

Sanborn stepped closer to them, clasping his hands behind his back and looked them both over with scrutiny. "You, Mr. Wolenczak, have caused me no end of problems. Do you know that?" he said sternly. Lucas kept his head up and locked his eyes with Sanborn's.

"Apparently not enough," he shot back.

"You are a fool. Though I am impressed you managed to keep this one alive. That took real ingenuity. It's a shame it was all for nothing," Sanborn hissed. Alex was too terrified to even speak, she hung onto Lucas' hand like a life line. Sanborn jerked his chin in her direction and two guards broke off to take her into custody. Lucas pulled her behind him and stared Sanborn down.

"No. Leave her alone," he said sharply. Alex had slipped an arm around his waist, her head buried in his back. He could feel her trembling.

"You aren't exactly in a position to negotiate Mr. Wolenczak," Sanborn laughed at him. Lucas set his jaw and dared him to try.

"Lucas, I have to. You know it's the only way," she whispered in his ear, her voice shook with every word.

"Alex. No," he pleaded softly, desperately. She released her hold on his hand and stepped out from behind him hesitantly. The guards grabbed her roughly by the arms as she cast a hopeless glance back at him. Lucas' face contorted into a mask of loss. She had just signed her own death warrant in the hope it would buy him time. He had reached for her without thinking, the muzzle of a plasma gun to his throat stopped him and all he could do is watch as the guards dragged Alex through the docking bay doors. She didn't look back again, her head was down as she walked away from him with leaden steps. It took all of his will power not to try pummeling his way through them. Sanborn had a smirk of self satisfaction plastered on his face. He would have liked to wipe it off for him.

"Take her to the preparation room," he ordered the retreating guards. "Have no worry Mr. Wolenczak. You'll see your friend again shortly," he added turning away and striding after them. "Bring him along. I think he should see this."

Lucas had no choice but to follow along. He submitted to being herded along and man handled without a word, trying to come up with a plan.

Their journey took them through winding corridors, Lucas spent the entire way committing them to memory, so he would know the way back out if they could make an escape. This facility was in stark contrast to the first. It had been white walls and steal. It had looked like a research facility, this one was nothing but steal. It gave the place an ominous feel, the lighting was muted and things looked like they had been established for far longer than the other installation. This must be Dr. Sanborn's main base of operations. Lucas' foot falls echoed hollow on the grate floor panels. They passed numerous rooms as they went, all tightly locked and sealed just as before.

Lucas was ushered into a brightly lit room after a number of guards, Sanborn and Alex. He swallowed a cold knot in his throat as he took in his surroundings. The middle of the room held what was obviously a surgical table, and not the kind used in hospitals. It looked like a cold steel "T" with metal cuffs mounted at the ends. Unnamed equipment that looked more like it should be used for interrogation than delicate surgery filled the rest of the space.

They were leading Alex to the table and forcing him toward the opposite wall. Alex trudged along like she had accepted her fate, her hair hiding her face. Lucas grudgingly tolerated it as he was shoved against the wall opposite the table and flanked by two guards who looked more than willing to fire at his head if he so much as breathed wrong. Sanborn's arrogant face appeared in his line of vision. Over his shoulder Lucas could see guards placing Alex in the table's restraints. She didn't even protest. Lucas' throat tightened in anguish.

"Now then. I am going to place Ms. Northman back into the network and then we will get to you. However, since you have presented me with so many problems I think you should watch and find out what is in store for you. Perhaps a dose of reality will show you some reason," the man lectured. Lucas fixed him with an icy glare.

"You will be very useful in gaining access to weapons systems, accessing huge corporations and governments computer systems. Oh yes you will be a perfect addition to my plan. Your friend is a smart girl. She knows her place in the scheme of things. You should learn yours," he explained as coldly as a machine.

"Go to hell," Lucas growled.

Alex suddenly screamed from the table and Lucas wrenched his head as far around Sanborn as he could, Sanborn perversely obliged him by moving to the side so he could see what was going on. He motioned most of the guards out as he did so and they exited without a word. Leaving Sanborn, the two guards, Lucas, Alex and a man who was apparently an assistant alone in the room with a dull clang of the door.

The assistant had forced a jack into Alex's head via the ports left in her scalp. It was much larger than the originals, and she writhed on the table as much as the cuffs allowed. Her back arched up off its surface. Her eyes were open but she didn't seem to see anything around her. Lucas lurched forward as if to go to her but the guards kept a tight hold on him. His stomach turned over and threatened to force its contents back the way they had come.

"Alex!" he called involuntarily. His heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, breath wouldn't come. He clenched his eyes shut against what he saw. He couldn't bare to watch her thrashing around like that. By the time he could force himself to open them Alex laid motionless on the table, her head lolled to one side. He was going to have to stand here and watch her die. He knew it and there was nothing he could do about it. They had failed and now he could only hope Bridger could save who ever else was trapped in Sanborn's web of horror.

Sanborn ignored him, making his way to a sink and rolling his sleeves up so he could prepare. His assistant moved to help him leaving Lucas to watch Alex lying there. He couldn't help the tears that welled in his eyes and spilled over onto his cheeks. "I'm sorry," he whispered into the void between them.