Dangerous Pursuit

Heart racing, Garrus tried to pull himself together. What he wanted to do was run into the briefing room to threaten and demand that the Shadow Broker release Shepard. Which, of course, wasn't going to happen. Garrus quickly but carefully assessed the situation and formulated a plan.

"Start tracing the call. See if Daryn can help. I want this whole thing recorded, understand?"

Despite their earlier disagreement, Miranda obeyed his orders, making things happen as quickly as humanly possible. He would've felt impressed by her practiced proficiency, but the only emotion he was capable of feeling at the moment was a mixture of dread and anger. Though he did his best to keep his composure, there was no telling how he might react to whatever was waiting inside the comm room. He breathed deeply to steady himself.

Liara put a gentle hand on his forearm. "Garrus. Let me come in with you."

He'd never admit it, but the thought of speaking to the Shadow Broker by himself made him more than a bit nervous. "Okay. That's fine."

Already finished with task-delegation, Miranda spoke up. "I'd also like to join you," she said, making it sound like more of a request than a demand. Usually it was the other way around. She didn't always get her way on the Normandy, but a confrontation with the Shadow Broker was not an opportunity she was going to pass up. Cerberus's contact with the Broker was limited and often very violent, so the chance to exchange information in a more subdued capacity was invaluable. The Illusive Man wouldn't be too happy if she wasn't present during the communications. Not to mention that Miranda was also overcome with a significant degree of personal curiosity to discover the identity of the infamously mysterious Shadow Broker.

Once Garrus had said yes to Liara, he couldn't very well say no to Miranda. Besides, even though they were at odds for the moment, her presence could prove to be an advantage. "Alright. I'll do the talking." Liara and Miranda both knew that to mean don't say anything stupid.

Hesitating for a moment outside, he took another long breath to prepare himself as best he could. A hand, probably Liara's, gripped his shoulder. Behind him, Miranda said, "Ready when you are." Without wasting another second, the trio entered the comm room.

The scene before them was a projection of a dark room, the light focused on four figures. There was a krogan at the back, and in his hands, a shotgun. At the front were two people: the Ardat-Yakshi, and a turian with black X's painted on either side of his face. And, between them all, was a severely wounded woman, forced onto her knees and a cloth sack covering her face. Garrus was pretty sure he knew who she was.

Liara clenched her teeth. Of course the Shadow Broker wouldn't communicate directly with them. She'd been a fool to think he would. Miranda was likewise disappointed, but more disturbing was the sight of her commander, kneeled down at the mercy of her captors. Seeing her fearless leader submit to these terrorists... it scared her. Shepard was supposed to be invincible. Miranda had a hard time reconciling this unfamiliar, weakened image with the one she'd painstakingly recreated for two years. Surely this was not the Shepard that was recreated by the Lazarus project. That Shepard was fierce, unbreakable. The one before her was not.

Liara, however, was not shocked to see how they were treating Shepard. No doubt the Ardat-Yakshi had a hand in breaking Shepard's will, tearing down her mental barriers. The Shadow Broker was ruthless, his minions no different.

"Thanks for taking the time to speak to us," Kamala said, taking a step forward. Garrus noticed she was wearing a tight-fitting catsuit that accentuated every sensuous curve of her figure. Typical asari commando garb. But there was something lethal about the way she held herself. Garrus knew that if, no, when, they faced her, it would be a fight to the death: whether it was hers or theirs had yet to be determined. "I know you're pretty busy right now."

Garrus had decided to go with a more aggressive strategy, extending his own offer instead of merely responding to whatever the Shadow Broker's agents said. "We're willing to make a deal for the safe return of Commander Shepard. Cerberus will pay you -"

But the turian had no interest in his deal. "The only way you're getting her back is in a body bag. We suggest that, for both her and your sakes, you do not continue to pursue her. Things will end badly for all of you." As he said it, the krogan moved closer to Shepard, the muzzle of his shotgun drifting towards her back.

"You're bluffing," Garrus called him out. "You went through all the trouble to get her. You're not just going to kill her now."

The turian shrugged. "Let's put it this way: a dead Commander Shepard is better than one who is going to come looking for revenge once you get her back."

That was when Garrus realized that the turian was telling the truth. They really think that if they can't have her, no one will.

With a poisonous smile, Kamala circled around Shepard. "I think she has something she wants to say to you." She whipped the black sack off of her prisoner's head.

Garrus was filled with both abhorrence and hope at the sight of Shepard's face. It was true that she was badly beaten, but it was her, and she was right in front of him... "Garrus," she said. Her voice was cracked and raspy. He wanted to say something to comfort her, to let her know that she was going to be okay, but Shepard had always been able to tell when he was lying. "I... I'm fine, really." Now she was the one who was lying. "Everything's fine. I need you to -" Her voice broke. She started again. "I need you to promise that you won't come looking for me any more."

Garrus refused her flat out. "No."

"Please," she implored. "I don't need to be rescued." She hung her head for a moment, and though Garrus couldn't quite tell through the holographic projection, it looked as if there were tears on her cheeks. "Just say you won't."

Garrus would never stop looking for Shepard. Saying otherwise would only be lying, and Garrus feared that the consequences of lying to the agents of the Shadow Broker would be greater than plainly stating their intentions. He remained silent. We're too close to finding her. Garrus was willing to bet that even if he did continue to search for Shepard, the Shadow Broker wouldn't kill her right away. Her life was a lot more valuable than that. However, Garrus knew that if the Shadow Broker thought they were getting too close to rescuing Shepard, he'd pull the plug on her, then kill the rest of them when they tried to save her.

It was all a matter of timing, and discretion. If Garrus and the team could get close enough to Shepard without the Shadow Broker knowing, they'd be able to rescue her before she was killed. All they had to do was steal a pilot and a shuttle, and infiltrate the Shadow Broker's lair without alerting him to their prescence. Easier said than done. Garrus had no idea if his team was even capable of that kind of stealth, but there was only one way to find out.

"It's clear to me that you've made your decision, Vakarian," Kamala said.

"Don't waste your life!" Shepard said, raising her voice. "We'll get through this, just -"

The krogan moved forward, smacking Shepard in the head with his shotgun. She went limp, and Kamala pulled the cloth sack back over her face.

"Tell you what," Kamala said. "We'll play a game. Here are the rules: find Commander Shepard in under twenty minutes, and you can have her. I'll even send you the location." Kamala's omni-tool spun as she entered in a slew of commands. A projection of an Illium city map appeared, with around a dozen locations marked on it. "But there's a catch. As you can see, there are twelve locations on the map. Any one of them can be your precious commander. So, choose your targets wisely, because I doubt you'll be able to get to them all in twenty minutes. Let's just hope you save the right one."

Garrus could feel his heart hammering in his chest. Suddenly, he understood why Kamala had captured those Shepard look-alikes.

"Good luck," the Ardat-Yakshi sneered. Then, the comm link was cut.

"Goddess," Liara breathed. "How are we going to find which one is Shepard?"

But Miranda was on a different track then her. "We need to split up and get as many people as we can out there. We have to save the prisoners, or they'll all be killed."

"There's no time!" Liara argued. "We have twenty minutes to determine where Shepard is being held, and save her."

Miranda ignored the asari. She wasn't the one who made the decisions. Instead, she looked pleadingly at Garrus. "All those people are going to die. We must send people to all the locations before they're killed!"

Garrus knew that the only reason Miranda wanted to go to every location was because her sister was at one of them. But whatever her reasons were, she was right: if they didn't search every location, the prisoners would undoubtedly be executed. He thought of the Illusive Man's words. There's going to be collateral damage. Unfortunate, but necessary. But at what cost? Could he really just let twelve other innocent people die because of Shepard?

"Get the whole team up here, now. Have the AI make an announcement that we need everyone armed and ready to go in one minute," Garrus ordered Miranda. She left, barely taking the time to nod before she ran out the doors of the comm room.

Liara appraised him coolly. "You realize that we'll never reach all of them in time."

Garrus had considered that, yes. But in reality, they had no other option. They would have to guess at which location Shepard was being held, and they had absolutely nothing to go on. So really, spreading out was the best way to find her. Still, it was unlikely that they'd be unable to reach all of the locations before their time ran out. Garrus could maybe narrow the number of locations where they would most likely find Shepard to six, but he'd still have to send teams to the other places to be sure. "Yeah. I know."

No one wasted any time getting up to the briefing room. They'd all been on edge ever since they were told that Shepard was gone, and now that the time had come for them to play their parts, they were ready to go.

Garrus glanced down at his omni-tool timer. They had eighteen and a half minutes left. I better keep this short, then. He brought up the holographic image of the city map with the locations on it. "Here's the deal," Garrus said as the last person, Jack, filed into the room. "There are twelve people on Illium that will die in eighteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds if we don't reach them first. One of them is Shepard, but we don't know which."

He expected some kind of reaction from them, perhaps nervous murmurs or declarations that their task was impossible, but if anything, he only saw them grow more determined. Of course, Garrus realized. They're Shepard's team. They'd each been conditioned to expect impossible odds, to attack seemingly unsolvable problems with a tenacious hunger. They were the ones who did the unthinkable, who attained the unattainable.

And they were exactly the people Garrus needed for the mission. "We're going to split into six teams, one team for two locations. When you arrive at the location, neutralize all hostiles and secure the hostages before radioing back," he continued.

"Hold up," Jack said, raising her hand. "Wouldn't it be faster to send one of us to every location? Cover more ground?"

"It would," Garrus said. "But we're expecting hostiles at every location. Two of you will stand a better chance in a firefight."

"What are the teams?" Miranda demanded, putting Garrus on the spot. His thoughts started to race, trying to figure out which pairings would invariably end in disaster. Not Grunt and the salarian, not Jack and Miranda, definitely not Liara and Miranda, not Samara and Jack...

Going with his instincts, Garrus began firing off pairings and assigning locations. "Zaeed and Samara, take locations one and two. Go, now. Next two locations: Thane and Grunt. Watch the windows on those skyscrapers, there might be snipers." The four of them left, coordinates of the hostages' locations programmed into their omni-tools. "Jack and Mordin, next up. And Jack? Please just do what Mordin says." As a former STG member, Garrus had complete confidence in the salarian's capabilities. Jack was an asset in her own way, but on this mission, her unruliness would cost the life of an innocent. Or Shepard's life.

"You got it, Blue." That was one less thing Garrus had to worry about.

"Miranda and Jacob, take the next locations. There's a lot of back roads, but just take the most direct route you can without attracting too much attention."

Jacob gave a curt nod, but Miranda lingered just long enough to say, "Thank you, Garrus."

"Thank me after. Now go do your job." She disappeared through the doors.

Garrus surveyed the remaining members of the team. "Liara and Kasumi: I need you both to stay and monitor the mission's progress." And keep a death count. "Get Daryn to help with the tech."

"Of course, Garrus."

"You got it, boss."

Crap. Garrus realized that the last two members of the team were Tali and Legion. He should've thought ahead to avoid this, but at the moment there was no turning back. He hoped they could put aside their differences for the sake of the mission. "Tali, Legion: you're together." He waited to see their reaction.

Legion's optic nerve blinked twice in affirmation. Tali bobbed her head. "We're on it, Garrus."

Yay. I think they're not going to kill each other. "Alright, Kaidan. Let's go."

But Kaidan hesitated. "Garrus, our two locations are nearly four miles away. We'll never make it in time on foot."

He was right. Garrus had a sneaking suspicion that Shepard was at one of those two locations, since they were the furthest away from the Normandy and therefore the least likely that they would be able to reach them. "Okay. Kasumi, is there anyone onboard the Normandy that can fly a shuttle?" Garrus would've done it himself, or asked Kaidan, but the problem was that he didn't plan on landing the shuttle. For maximum speed, he was expecting they would do sort of a drop and run kind of thing. Landing the shuttle would waste precious seconds that could be the difference between life and death.

Kasumi nodded. "There's two engineers down on the garage deck. One of them should be able to pilot it."

"Radio down and tell them to be ready by the time we get there."

"I'm on it."

Garrus and Kaidan sprinted to the elevator and pounded the hangar deck button frantically, as if somehow pressing it repeatedly would make the thing go faster. As soon as the doors opened, they barrelled through the opening and went around to the garage entrance. One of the engineers was already waiting by the vehicle, a UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle. Aww. I kinda miss the Mako.

"Engineer Donnelly, reporting for duty."

"You fly this thing?" Garrus asked. Donnelly entered a command into his omni-tool and the passenger door opened.

"Yes, sir."

"We need to get to these locations as fast as possible," Garrus replied, transferring the coordinates so the engineer could navigate. "And, Donnelly? We're gonna have to break a few speed limits. And by a few, I mean all." Garrus and Kaidan seated themselves in the passenger cabin.

Donnelly gave them a thumbs-up from the pilot's chair, winking knowingly in the rearview mirror. "Understood."