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Chapter Twelve, Transfer 2: Feeling the Heat

Meanwhile, Jess tiptoed into the ARC. She was not supposed to be in this late. Lester would have a cow. Yes, it was three in the morning, but she couldn't sleep. Thinking about a certain captain was keeping her awake.

She sighed with relief as she walked in. Cherry was on the ADD. She was a red-headed woman of about thirty whose real name was Cherilyn, but Cherry just kind of stuck.

Jess smiled. "Good morning."

Cherry turned. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me, I know." She smirked. "Couldn't sleep, huh?"

"No. My brain's on Yemen time."

Cherry laughed. "Might as well put it to use then."

"That's what I like about you Cherry. You understand and don't tease me."

"Why would I? If my opinion of men wasn't warped by two divorces, I'd lose sleep over the Captain too."

Jess blushed but laughed. "I should be grateful to your exes then."

"Yes you should," teased Cherry.

"So…how is Yemen? Is it quiet?"

"So far, yep." Cherry pulled up the data on the anomaly readings. "That's strange. These are the exact same readings of an hour ago."

Jess looked over her shoulder at the screens. "You're right."

Cherry hit some buttons and her face went pale. "Oh my God, Jess. We've been locked out."

"What? That's not possible!"

"I can't…the ADD is not registering in Yemen. It's frozen."

"Let me," she said, taking Cherry's seat. "I don't get it. It isn't transmitting a signal."

"Is the device broken?"

"No. It's only acting strange in Yemen. Cherry, you keep your eyes on it. Let me know if we get a reading back."

"What are you going to do?"

"Try to contact Becker and then the capital of Sana'a. In that order."

Becker reached the others just as the third scorpion popped up. It was about to grab one of the soldiers when Becker fired. The soldier was unharmed. Without hesitation, he helped his mate take down one of the other two scorpions.

Becker took down the third. They caught their breath. "Right, let's move down the street."

They stood, looking confused.

"Sorry, I forget I have to translate," said Abid. He spoke to the Yemen soldiers though comms. They nodded at Becker and followed him.

They moved down, hearing EMD fire. They turned the street in time to see a scorpion fall onto two of its comrades, already unconscious. They laid in a large heap.

"Nice," said Becker, smiling at the men. They smiled back. Then they heard a loud crash.

"Sounds like another building went," said Becker.

"We'll put a spin on the damage," said Abid. "Now they can rebuild using their ancestors' methods. The important thing is no one was inside. That part of town has been cleared by Kassim and Sabban. Cleared of people, not scorpions."

"Lead us to it."

"Straight ahead then turn left at the end of the street, Captain."

"On it," he said. They moved on, turning the corner. Dust was thick from the collapse, but they could hear the scorpion picking through debris.

He and the men crept slowly, taking the thing by surprise and bringing it down before it even noticed them.

"Soldier down!"

"Where?"

"Another one! And another! Captain, it's chaos!"

"Choose one, Abid and direct us."

"One? How do I choose who to help?"

A picture of Jess jumped in Becker's mind. He was getting a new appreciation of her job. "Sorry, Abid, but choose."

"Ok, Uh, down the street."

"Copy."

"Damn! The suckers pop up from nowhere! Hurry, Becker, they've got too many!"

"We're coming!" Becker yelled, running as fast as he could.

"They're over run. Oh, God!"

Becker ran. Abid's sudden silence made him uneasy. "Abid?"

The silence continued until finally, barely above a whisper, Abid replied. "We lost a man. He was…pulled apart…literally."

"Easy, Abid. Concentrate on who we can help," Becker said, reaching the area at that moment. The first thing he saw, was blood everywhere.

Then a scorpion snapped at him. He and his men took it down, but another replaced it. As they fired, Becker made out another three scorpions cornered against houses. The soldiers fired, unable to make the three monsters go down.

Becker and his men took down the second scorpion and joined in on the other three. One scorpion went down. Then the second. The third one was a fighter, snapping at the men. It lunged at them, causing them to miss.

Becker ran to his right, but the scorpion cut him off. He lost his footing and nearly went down. The scorpion lunged.

Across the miles in Britain, Jess bit her nails anxiously.

"I have ADD readings in Yemen," Cherry said.

"Good," said Jess, stubbornly crossing her arms. "I can't believe they locked us out."

"Why did they?"

"Stupidity. Paranoia. Who knows. Maybe they just got uppity, thinking they didn't need us anymore. It's interesting that they severed the tie to us after we completed the files transfer."

"Idiots."

"I know! Yes, they have nearly all our information now, and EMDs, but we have experience. If they put him in danger…"

The alarms blared.

"I knew it! I'll kill them!" screamed Jess, seeing the anomaly alert over Yemen.

"It's huge!"

"And it's been there a while. I seriously hate them…Oh, God!"

Cherry turned sickly white. "Where is Becker located?"

Jess fought back panic. "There, Cherry, where the anomaly is. He's in the middle of it," she said in an eerily calm voice.

"He'll be fine, Jess."

"Yes," she said. She then hit her fingers against the keyboard. "I need communications!"

"We're getting a signal, piggy-backing off a strong signal from Sanaa'a."

"Now they let us in," muttered Jess. "It has to be their footage from Zabid."

"I'm getting a video link."

The monitors filled with a clear but horrible scene. A huge scorpion-like thing was about to strike a human victim.

Becker.

End of Chapter Twelve