by Amy DuBoff
“What did I do while I was under Ava’s influence? We might have grounds for an emergency intervention,” Jared said.
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Andrea accessed the nearest computer terminal and brought up footage from Jared’s meeting with Ava.
She watched as Ava placed a device on the table, and then the two occupants just appeared to sit there for two minutes.
“What were you doing?” she questioned Jared.
“I don’t remember.”
Then, Ava’s arm suddenly withdrew from the center of the table—even though it had been at her side a moment earlier—and she and Jared rose from their seats and headed for the door.
“You weren’t watching them?” she hissed at her security officer.
“I had one of my men watching, but it didn’t seem out of the ordinary at the time,” he replied. “There wasn’t a physical altercation.”
Andrea swore under her breath. “And then where’d you go?” She searched through the other video feeds until she found the one for the hallway outside. “Well, that’s fucking great. You led her right here.”
The footage ended when Ava and Jared entered the observation room—one of the few areas in the facility not under surveillance. She’d have to extrapolate. “If it were me, I’d question you about what we were doing here, and then you’d point me to… the lab.”
She glided across the room and opened up the secure room, going straight for the most prized item. Sure enough, a vial of the latest nanocytes was missing. “God fucking damn it!”
Had she had any less control, she would have smashed everything in the room. Her hands balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She took a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm herself.
“Bring her here!” she demanded as she stormed back into the observation room.
“But the authorization—” Tucker started to object.
“We have all the grounds we need for emergency support. Proprietary tech has been stolen from this facility, and we’re within our rights to get it back.” She stared down the two men. “But we’re not stopping there. We have less than a day to complete this assignment, or all our years of research will have been for nothing. Round up everyone on the list you can find.”
Tucker swallowed. “That—”
“We haven’t received the results from the latest subject—” Jared objected.
“I don’t want to hear another fucking excuse! Submit the request to NTech HQ. We make a move tonight at 23:00. Get all the backup we can get.”
“But—” both men began.
“Do it!” she screamed.
Tucker nodded his understanding and departed to issue the orders.
“This will paint an even bigger target on us,” Jared said once they were alone. “The FDG will undoubtedly move in.”
“Then let them.”
“And if the nanocytes don’t take?” Jared questioned.
“All we need is one viable subject to bring to our benefactors. One of them is sure to be what we need. It’ll work. And if it doesn’t, we still have a backup.”
“Ava?”
Andrea’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. She’ll be sure to come, once she realizes we have her parents. We’ll grab her then.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ava’s heart rate had finally normalized by the time they pulled the car up outside her cottage.
The peaceful little community had been a refuge from the danger she faced each day inside the NTech lab, but now she wasn’t sure anywhere on Coraxa would be safe.
Luke seemed to be thinking the same thing. “They’ll come for me, won’t they?”
“NTech doesn’t have jurisdiction outside of their premises.”
“Like that’ll stop them.”
Ava couldn’t bring herself to lie. “We stick together. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“What can the two of us do against the entire NTech security force?”
“We’re not alone.” Ava climbed out of the car. “We call in the FDG and beat the shit out of anyone who tries to stand in the way of us rescuing those captives.”
“And until they get here?”
“We watch each other’s backs.”
Ava opened the front door to her cottage and beckoned Luke to follow her. She jogged into the bedroom and grabbed her travel bag from where she’d stashed it in the closet. Tucked away in an inside pocket was an encrypted comm system.
She set it on her bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress while Luke looked on from the doorway. After activating the device, Ava waited for its signal to sync with the FDG’s systems through the Etheric connection linked between the Annex Gates.
“This is FDG Command,” a woman answered. “Please confirm your field auth.”
Ava stated her alphanumeric field identifier for the op.
“Greetings, Lieutenant Landyn. What can we do for you?”
“I have the evidence in hand. Request immediate direct action mission for hostage liberation and extraction.”
The woman on the comm didn’t reply for several seconds. “Transferring you to Colonel Kurtz.”
“Ava, what’s your status?” Kurtz asked after a ten second pause.
“Physically unharmed, Colonel, but my identity has been compromised, and they are coming for me. NTech has definitely been up to no good. I have a sample of the nanocytes—about to send you an analysis.” She pulled out the cloaking module from her pants pocket and connected it to the dataport on the comm system. Navigating to the appropriate subdirectory, she attached the files to an encrypted datapacket and sent it on its way.
“What’s the situation?” Kurtz asked while he waited to receive the files.
“Their research is well into human trials. They have a number of people being held deep within the facility—around one hundred.”
“And the facility defenses?”
“Light on personnel, but they’ve got enough small arms and ammo for an army stored in the facility. There’s a choke point at the entrance, and artillery above the one and only door. My cover was blown and I don’t know how much time we have.”
“We can have a team there by 05:00. Ah, receiving the datapacket now,” Kurtz acknowledged
He was silent for a minute while he reviewed the analysis. Then, he let out a long breath. “I’m no geneticist, but even I know to be scared by this shit.”
“Yes, sir. It’s terrifying to think about what soldiers like that could do.”
“If the hostages have indeed been ‘turned’ into one of these Hochste, they may not be entirely themselves. This might not be a situation where the hostages greet us with open arms.”
“We’re FDG, sir. We can handle anything,” Ava replied. “But you better send the powered armor.”
“You’ll get all the warriors we can muster and the best tech we have to get those people out unharmed. I’m coming there myself to oversee the extraction.”
Ava glanced over at Luke with surprise. “Sir, you’re coming here?” She hadn’t known him to go into the field for years.
“After what I’ve been dealing with here, this one needs a personal touch,” Kurtz replied. “See you at 05:00. Check in at 23:00 to confirm our landing coordinates.”
“Acknowledged.”
“FDG Command out.”
The connection terminated.
Ava rose from the bed and took a deep breath. “I hate that we have to wait until morning.”
“What more can we do?” Luke said. “We’re two people and you’ve seen what they have in there. I’d be next to useless, aside from maybe hitting someone over the head with a chair, and we’d be going against a group of possibly unstable Were-vampire hybrids that may or may not have an insatiable lust to tear our faces off.”
“We need to make ourselves scarce until tonight, in case they come looking for us.”
“You did say something about the petting zoo,” Luke replied with a chuckle. “Though, I guess we should avoid the pl
ace you said we were going.”
“Like Andrea would believe that for one second. That actually sounds like the perfect cover.”
He smiled. “All right. Let’s get you some quality time with a baby cocobera.”
They made the drive into the countryside outside of Tribeca, to the nature preserve with the most tourist activity. Staying in a crowd was likely the best way to stay safe for the time being, so Ava had no qualms about losing herself in play with the fuzzy baby animals of her native world.
The animals of Coraxa had a natural affinity to her, being a telepath, and Ava soon found herself the envy of the tourist children when she got the most attention.
The park closed to visitors at 17:00, so they were forced to head back to civilization. In the interest of staying in a well-traveled place, they went to the town center and did some window shopping before getting dinner at one of Ava’s favorite restaurants from her youth. By 22:30, they were one of only two couples left in the restaurant. As it was approaching the designated check-in time, they decided to return to their cottages for a shower and rest. If anyone had wanted to come looking for them, they would have certainly done so already, although it was likely the place was being watched.
Ava instructed Luke to stay by the car while she checked out her cottage to make sure there were no unwelcome visitors. She scouted the perimeter and saw no sign of forced entry, then did a sweep inside. For good measure, she also examined Luke’s place. Both checked out.
“I can’t wait until this is over,” she groaned after meeting up with Luke. “If there’s anything I hate, it’s not feeling secure in the place that’s supposed to be my home base.”
“I don’t know how you deal with this on a regular basis. Two days, and I feel like I’ve had enough,” Luke admitted.
“You’ve been handling the situation really well.”
“I buckle down when I have to.”
“You do. I’ve always appreciated that about you.” Their gaze met for a moment, but she tore her eyes away. “Well, those cocobera are adorable, but that musk really lingers. I’m going to clean up and change.”
Luke looked down at a paw print on his pants. “Yeah, I should do the same. I’ll meet you back here in fifteen for the call.”
“I don’t think we should split up,” Ava said. “Safety in numbers and all that. I’ll go with you to get your stuff. We’ll get cleaned up in my room where there’s less clutter to hide cameras and those kinds of things.”
Together, they walked to Luke’s cottage. He picked out some items while Ava watched from the doorway, her gaze darting outside toward the darkness beyond the lights. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched.
Once packed, Luke brought a small bag to the doorway and motioned for Ava to lead the way. She scanned the darkness of the surrounding neighborhood while they walked to her cottage, but there was no sign of anyone lurking nearby.
They both searched for intrusive monitoring equipment inside Ava’s residence, but turned up nothing. As far as Ava could tell, the place was untouched.
Feeling more secure about their location, Ava speed-showered then dressed in casual pants and a fitted long-sleeve shirt. She waited by the comm system while Luke got cleaned up.
He finished quickly, looking refreshed after a shower and dressed in clean clothes.
“Nothing yet,” she reported. “Should come through any minute.”
Sure enough, forty seconds later, the comm lit up with an incoming communication. “This is FDG Command. Please confirm your field ID.” It was Kurtz’s voice.
Ava stated her identifier again.
“All right, Ava, we’re in transit. I have confirmation from local authorities for a landing site between Tribeca and the NTech lab. It should give us a good position to get into all the places we’ll need to be as quickly as possible. Sending the exact map now. Is there anything else you need?”
“Just my team and my suit,” she confirmed.
“You’ve got it. See you at the landing site at 05:00. FDG Command out.”
Ava opened the map and showed it to Luke.
“I know the place,” he said. “I guess now we wait.”
She nodded and tucked the comm equipment away.
They went out into the living room.
Thinking about the op, Ava found her anger from earlier returning. “I hate seeing people taken advantage of like this.”
“I do, too. But the best thing we can do for them right now is wait for your friends at the FDG to arrive so we can take care of this properly.”
I hate being so fucking helpless! These telepathic abilities don’t count for shit when it comes to a fight. Her heart pounded in her ears. “Those captives might not have all night. Andrea could—”
“Yes, they’re in danger, but we can’t single-handedly do anything to save them. We hunker down here for the night, just like you said. We stay together. I can’t in good conscience let you do anything else so reckless that you might get hurt,” Luke said. He placed his hands on her shoulders.
She tried to look away, but he bent his head to catch her gaze. “I’ve already spent too long with regrets about what I should and shouldn’t have done with you. I won’t add another.”
“Luke, this isn’t the time.”
“This is exactly the time. I won’t lose you again.”
Luke gently brushed his hand across her cheek. His violet eyes conveyed all his fear and worry for the danger they faced. And, deeper, the love he still felt for her, even after all this time.
Searching within herself, she realized she still felt it, too. But this wasn’t the time to give into lust. “I can’t. Not now.”
“Is there some regulation against you having a relationship?”
“No, but—”
Ava was interrupted by shouts of fear in the distance. “Did you hear…?” She ran to the window.
“Yeah. What—”
More shouts sounded, followed by a loud bang of metal on metal.
“Shit, what’s going on?” She peered into the darkness, searching for any sign of the disturbance.
“There, those lights.” Luke pointed through the gap between two houses to the left.
Sure enough, lights were bobbing between the houses one street over. Based on the height from the ground and the speed, Ava could hazard a guess for what they were up against. “I think that’s an assault mech!”
Luke’s face drained. “As in armor and guns and—”
“Stop gawking. We need to run!” Ava grabbed her bag containing the comm and dashed to the door.
“I’ll get the car,” Luke called to her.
“No, it’s too conspicuous. We go on foot.” They bolted through the door and took off at full speed away from the cottage.
Behind them, sounds of the mech’s rhythmic steps were accompanied by shouts from people, some barking orders and others crying with fear.
Ava wove between the cottages in the opposite direction from the commotion, trying to stay in the shadows. Luke stayed close while they ran, only slowing occasionally to check over his shoulder for any sign of pursuit.
When they reached the edge of the residential neighborhood, Ava deviated from the main road, into the brush. She had a vague recollection of the area from when they’d driven by in the car, and if she remembered correctly, the brush gave way to thick forest sixty meters from the road.
Her eyes began to adjust to the dim moonlight now that they were away from the inhabited area, and she could see the outline of the forest up ahead. Just need to get to somewhere we can regroup. We’ll figure it out, she assured herself.
The brush transitioned into ferns at the edge of the forest, and vines hung in their path. The thick tree canopy blocked most of the moonlight, so Ava had to rely on feel to move forward. What I wouldn’t give to have a Were with me right now…
She slowed, picking her footing carefully. After five minutes of gingerly moving deeper into the forest, she saw the faint silh
ouette of a felled tree that had all the makings of a good camp bench.
“This should be hidden enough,” she said to Luke, keeping her voice to a whisper.
“What’s your plan?” he whispered back.
“I… don’t have one yet. I figured they’d send their security people—total asshats, by the way—or maybe a Were after me, or us. But a midnight mech visit wasn’t something I’d anticipated.”
Luke’s frown was just barely visible in the dappled moonlight. “So why were they going after other residents?”
Ava ran her hand along the log to make sure there wasn’t anything squishy, and then crouched down behind it, using it for cover as she rested her arms on top of it. “That depends on who the ‘they’ are. I’d normally say that it would have to be military to have a mech like that, but I saw one at another NTech facility.”
“You think NTech might be going after civilians?” Luke’s voice was laced with fear and worry. “Our families…”
“They may have just been conducting a search, since there’d been a security breach. Why we weren’t the first stop, I don’t know.”
“Or they’re taking people.”
Ava hadn’t wanted to admit that possibility to herself, but deep down she knew it was the most likely. “As much as I want to go back and see what’s going on, getting ourselves caught won’t help.”
Luke crossed his arms and crouched down next to her. “That’s a reversal.”
“Well, you were right earlier. And that’s the one time you’re going to hear those words uttered in that order, so savor it.”
He chuckled and extended one arm around her.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “We have a little over five hours to make it to the rendezvous point. It’ll be a significant hike on foot, especially since we’ll need to move slowly in the dark.”
“I know some back roads with good brush cover that’ll get us there.”
“Having a local contact does come in handy.”
“I wish we were going to head away from the danger, rather than toward it.”
Ava patted his knee. “An FDG warrior is almost always running toward the conflict.”