by Mikayla Lane
It was the lieutenant colonel who knew a lot more about what was going on than what he was saying. Mikey wanted a half hour alone with the son of a bitch so he could get some answers, but he held himself in check, learning what he could so that he could escape this nightmare before they killed him.
Mikey had no doubts that he was a dead man walking.
*****
Grai paced the conference room in Dillon while they tried to finalize the plans to get Koda out of Fort Huachuca. A loud whistle brought him out of his own thoughts, and he turned to face everyone in the room.
“Grai, get your head in the game, man. We got one shot at this,” David said, his eyes narrowing at Grai.
Grai turned cold, hard eyes to David.
“I am more than ready. I will not fail,” Grai assured David and the rest of the team.
“Grai—” David began, before he was startled.
Traze slammed his palms down on the table and stood to glare at David.
“He said he was fine! We’re wasting time!” Traze roared as he leaned over the table at David.
David stood abruptly to his feet, knocking his chair out from under him.
“Boy, let me tell you something . . .” David began as Traze came around the table at him.
David turned to face the furious man-child and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him inches off the ground while the boy’s eyes blazed with fury.
David used his prime energy to flood the boy with control and calming energy until he felt Traze go limp in his hands. David set the boy on his feet, picked up his overturned chair, and sat Traze in it before he glared up at Grai.
“He stays!”
Grai nodded his head and spoke to David through the Shengari’.
“I will not lose him too. He will be forced to stay,” Grai agreed.
David checked to make sure the boy was OK before he turned back to Grai.
“I can handle cloaking only three of us. You, me, and Koda. I won’t have the energy there that I had at Fiorn’s Folly, so I will be limited in what I can do,” David said, making sure that Grai understood what he was saying.
Grai nodded his head; he understood the plan and what was at stake. He also knew it was the only way short of open war with the US government to get his brother back.
“I know what the dangers are. I will be fine,” Grai said in an attempt to alleviate some of David’s concern.
David didn’t believe him but nodded his head anyway.
“Fine. The problem we’re going to have is in the elevator systems. So you guys,” David said, pointing at Slate and Risk. “have to make sure you’ve hacked into the systems and overrode the weight sensors on it.”
David felt a little better about the mission when Slate and Risk nodded their heads at him. He just hoped they’d had enough time to run through all the information that his veteran friends had sent to them regarding the facility. If they missed even one security measure, they could be captured in moments.
David raised his hands to quiet the room.
“Backup is to drop into the RV park and my friends will take you where you need to be. Extraction of backup teams will be at the RV park. Grai, Koda, and I will extract on the roof of the intelligence center,” David said before looking at his watch. “We leave in two hours!”
A strangely calm Traze, Grai, and David remained in the room while the rest of the team filed out to prepare for the mission.
David sat next to Traze before looking up at a still pacing, Grai.
“Are you sure you can do this? One wrong move . . .” David said, trying to make Grai understand the mission’s danger.
Grai turned cold eyes to David.
“One wrong move, and we’re dead or captured. I will not falter,” Grai said through gritted teeth as he clenched his fists.
“The security protocols in this place are as bad as Dugway or Area 51. We may need to handle things on the fly. I need to know you’ll listen to me,” David almost pleaded with his friend.
David, like everyone else, was concerned about Grai and Traze’s personality changes since Koda was taken. Traze was no longer the loving man-child that David had mentored into a warrior during the last few years. In his place was a cold and calculating killer who grew stronger and more dangerous every day.
Grai was no better. The once patient, approachable, and kind man exuded an air of danger and recklessness that caused most of their people to give him a wide berth.
Grai turned to face David.
“Retina and fingerprint scanners. The weight of each individual is checked on entry and monitored throughout the building to ensure nothing is removed from the facility. Ten security personnel are on duty in the lower levels at all times, 57 throughout the facility. We’ll ghost inside, get Koda, then make it to the roof for extraction,” Grai repeated their plan back to David.
David nodded his head.
He may know the plan verbatim, but he doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on in there, David thought.
“Grai, you have to be ready for what we’re going to see in there. I can’t have you go in there and lose it,” David said, trying to get through the hardened wall Grai had built around himself.
Grai clenched his fists so tightly a few knuckles popped from the strain before he tapped on his comm that was lying on the table. Seconds later, an image was displayed on the wall behind him that had David flinching and looking away.
It was the image his Dranovian children took of one of Mikal’s people they had tried to rescue from a government lab. Her chest was cracked open, her beating heart clearly visible, but the worst was the awake and pleading eyes of the tortured female as she reached a hand out to Chris.
Grai leaned over the table at David, his cold dark eyes meeting David’s.
“This is what I’m expecting,” Grai growled. “Because this is the worst. I’m telling you now, I don’t give a damn if all we retrieve is this,” he said, gesturing to the image behind him. “But we will retrieve him. He will suffer no more at their hands!”
David looked up at Grai, watching his chest heave with barely restrained fury. He sighed heavily.
This is going to be a damn nightmare. I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t kill everything on the base, David thought. He decided to try a different tactic.
“Grai, I think it would be better if I just took Blade with me. Wait . . . hear me out,” David raised his hands to stop Grai from interrupting him. “Listen, Blade can use his compulsion on the guards instead of knocking them out!”
David stopped, seeing that he wasn’t going to get through to Grai. The man was determined to go in and get his brother. He couldn’t blame him. If that was his brother, he’d do the same thing.
Grai shook his head, his eyes hard and determined.
“I will get my brother back. I will not ask another of my people to take this kind of risk! If I could do this without you, I would!” Grai growled, wishing he didn’t have to put anyone else in danger.
Grai’s biggest fear wasn’t that Koda would be dead, it was getting another killed while doing what he should be doing himself. It was why he personally led the teams that were taking out the people who were targeting the aliens and hybrids that they’d learned of from the fallen mercenaries at Fiorn’s Folly. The people who had taken his brother and attacked his people in the forest. He clenched his fists as he recalled the image of their helicopters firing on a heavily pregnant Jax as Sam tried to shield her.
Grai turned hate filled eyes to David. His gaze sent a shiver down David’s spine.
“These people have no honor, and I will no longer hold back when dealing with them. But in this case, I will follow your lead. Only because I do not want your death or capture on my conscience. Make no mistake, David, if it comes to it, I will kill or destroy anything that stands in the way of getting all of my people out of there alive,” Grai promised before he walked out of the room.
David let out a heavy breath and looked over at a still calm and
dazed Traze. As much as David wanted to keep him that way, he knew he couldn’t. With a wave of his hand, David released the energy keeping Traze calm.
Traze jumped to his feet and clenched his fists as he looked down at David, his rage rolling off of him in violent waves.
“If you ever do that shit to me again, we will have more than words. Do not test me,” Traze ground out between clenched teeth before he stormed out of the room.
David put his head in his hands.
What the hell am I going to do when this all comes to a breaking point? David wondered.
Chapter Three
Mikey paced the small room, making sure to keep the bed between him and the door. Although everyone had treated him a lot better than they had before, he knew they were still going to kill him. He’d heard Lt. Colonel Ballard talking about it to one of the men with the clipboards who’d quizzed him earlier.
His sharp gaze looked up at a movement near the door, and he relaxed when he saw a male nurse walk by. Mikey had been inspecting the room for any possible way out, but he’d found nothing. There were three walls made of stainless steel; the other was a thick, clear plastic that enabled him to look out into the hallway and see the nurse’s station right outside his room.
Mikey had timed the guard patrols, the doctor, and the nurse’s schedules. He knew that he would be left alone for several hours before one of the nurses would come in and check him. He knew that the nurse would bring in one armed guard that would stand in the open doorway while they drew his blood and checked his vitals.
I just have to be fast enough to get past the nurse and get to the guard before he can alert anyone, he thought with a shake of his head. He knew it was impossible, but he had no choice but to try if he wanted to get out of here alive.
“If you bond with me, we will have the strength and speed to accomplish that,” the voice in Mikey’s head said.
Mikey shook his head to try and erase the voice. It was tempting. Too tempting to even consider. For Mikey it wasn’t a fear of the strange voice but a fear of what he’d become if he listened to it. If whatever had infected him was so dangerous that the government would go to these extreme measures, then he wouldn’t trust it any more than he trusted his government.
Mikey clenched his fists while he continued to pace the small area.
I’m already faster and stronger, he thought. I can probably do this without listening to the voice.
Mikey heard the laugh in his mind before the voice spoke.
“No, you can’t. The other guards would overtake you.”
He saw one of the guards that patrolled this area pop into view and nod at the guard sitting with the male nurse outside of his door. He knew the voice was right but refused to give up hope that he would find a way out of there.
*****
Grai allowed the man’s body to slide to the floor, and he nodded at David who motioned for him to grab his belt. Grai did and felt a cool wave of energy flow through him as David used his prime abilities to camouflage them the way he had at Fiorn’s Folly.
Grai stood to the side of David, his hand had to remain connected to the ex-SEAL in order for the camouflage to work. Neither man spoke as the elevator took them to the lowest level. They hit bottom, and the door swished open, each man holding their breath until they knew what they were facing.
With a quick nod to Grai, David moved out of the elevator and led them along the right side of the wall and down a hallway. They both knew from the stolen information they’d received that they had another two hallways to navigate before they’d see any personnel.
Staying alert, the two men made their way to the area where they assumed that Koda would be kept. It was known as the Hallway to Hell. Students from the training center above were allowed to go down and practice their torture techniques on whatever poor souls were available.
David and Grai looked at one another curiously when they saw that all of the rooms were empty. David motioned forward and Grai nodded, each man looking around them warily as they searched for Koda. They both stopped when they heard laughing coming from a hallway up ahead.
“The kid’s too stupid to realize that it doesn’t matter how much he cooperates, they’re gonna kill him anyway. If I was the idiot, I’d keep my mouth shut,” a guard said.
Grai narrowed his eyes. His brother would die before he talked, so he knew they weren’t speaking of Koda. Before he could think on it further, David waved his hand in front of his face to get his attention.
“We’re coming up on people. Hold it together,” David warned Grai through the Shengari’. At Grai’s sharp nod, David moved them along the new hallway towards a nurse or doctor station.
David flashed two fingers towards Grai, letting him know that there were two people up ahead. Grai nodded and looked into the empty holding cells they were passing as they got closer to the voices.
They now stood opposite the nurse’s station where one male nurse and one guard were laughing and joking about the future fate of an unnamed individual. Grai looked into the room they were standing in front of and stared into the surprised face of a young man on the other side of a bed.
Grai shook off the shiver of fear he felt slip down his spine as he looked at the young man. He wasn’t more than a kid; Grai guessed him to be in his early 20s. Grai scanned him quickly for injuries, saw none, dismissed the kid, and turned to face the two at the nurse’s station.
Mikey stared at the two men in shock and a little fear. The cold, almost dead eyes of the dark haired man had sent a shiver of fear down Mikey’s spine, and he tried to shrug off the overwhelming need to speak to them. His voice wasn’t helping.
“Them! You need to speak to them! I can help you! They can get us out of here!”
Mikey shrugged off the voice and moved towards the clear acrylic glass to get a better look at the two strangers. He watched in surprise as the man in front used hand signals to indicate that they were going down the right hallway first.
He stood mere inches away from the two men and wondered at why the guard and nurse hadn’t greeted them or acknowledged them in any way. Mikey reached his hand to the clear plastic wall and flinched as he stared into the hard eyes of the dark haired man. His irises swirled like storm clouds.
He sucked in a sharp breath and took a step back from the wall, pulling his hand away at the same time.
The strange man cocked his head to the side and motioned to the man in front of him. Mikey stared at another pair of strange eyes and he was stunned into silence as both men studied him closely.
“They’re our people. They can get us out of here,” the voice whispered tantalizingly in his mind.
Mikey didn’t know why he did it, but he stepped forward again and placed his hand back on the wall as he mouthed the words, “Help me.”
Both strange men looked at one another briefly before the dark haired man nodded his head at Mikey and held up a hand indicating they would be back.
Mikey stared at the men as they moved silently down the hallway and when he saw the nurse and guard staring at him, he took his hand off the wall and leaned his back against it so they couldn’t see him. There were so many questions running through his head he had no idea what to think.
Why didn’t the guard or nurse acknowledge the pair? Why were they sneaking down the hallway like that when they were clearly visible in the empty hall? Like a lightbulb going off in his mind, Mikey finally figured it out and he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Oh God,” he whispered as he turned back around to try and see where the two men had gone.
Men? They were aliens! He thought, trying hard to comprehend what was going on.
What the hell should I do? Should I alert the guard and nurse? He wondered for a moment before the voice whispered through his mind.
“They will get us out of here. Do not endanger them. It is our only chance to escape,” the voice said.
Escape, Mikey thought with a nod. That was what he wanted, and he didn’t give a da
mn who he had to side with to get it. Voice or no voice, he knew deep down those two men were his only chance out of there, and he paced near the door, hoping for another chance to talk to them.
He watched the men come back into the hallway, and the dark haired man held up two fingers before pointing down the other hallway they were heading down. Mikey knew they were letting him know they would be back in a few, after they checked the other hallway.
Mikey knew they were looking for something or someone, and he also knew that they were using some form of camouflage that kept them from being seen by the guards and staff.
Just like the aircraft I saw in the sky in the forest, he thought. Do they know they infected me? Is that how they found me? Mikey wondered, beginning to panic.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm himself and the fear skittering through him. If he were honest with himself, he’d admit he was a little excited to. If they were aliens and had come for him, he had so many questions.
A slight tap on the plastic in front of him made him jerk back a step when he saw two pairs of eyes staring at him.
“They are trying to speak in your mind. It is how they communicate. You have to let me allow it,” the voice whispered through his mind.
Mikey stared at the dark eyes as he whispered “OK” in his mind.
Seconds later, he was flooded with voices and questions, and he grabbed his head as he tried to stem the flow. Then there was blissful silence before only one voice came through clearly.
“I’m Lt. David Jacobs, former Navy SEAL. Who are you? Are you the only one here?”
Mikey looked at the man with silver swirls in his blue eyes, somehow knowing that was who was speaking to him.
“I’m Mik . . .” he started to say before the two men motioned him to silence.
It was then Mikey realized he’d been speaking out loud, and he wondered if he was supposed to speak to them in his mind as if he were talking to himself. Hoping that would work, he tried it.
“I’m PFC Mikey Davis. I was taken from the national forest in Colorado and brought here. They think I’m infected with an alien virus. They’ve been torturing me for information about them,” he said.