“The clinic is the last place where he was. Do you suppose Crawford took it out for him?” Clayton, another man slated to be with us on the fated mission, asks.
Damien and I slip into a room to hide. At this point we need to get to Smithfield then the other men can have their implants removed. Getting to the Captain is the number one priority at this point.
We hear their footsteps go past the door and wait until we can no longer hear the clicking of their shoes as they go down the hallway. Moving to a window, I look out into the parking lot and see a news van. Waving Damien over, he sees it too. “I wonder what’s up.”
“How much would you like to bet that Gia’s behind that, somehow?” I ask him.
He nods. “She called me. That’s why I was called in, I think. I wasn’t on the phone with her but a few minutes when Smithfield called me and told me I had thirty minutes to get here. He knew I was on the phone with her. When I figured that out, I knew the implant was more than merely a tracking device.”
“I feel like an idiot for falling for all this shit in the first place and even allowing them to put that thing in me,” I say as I wonder what the hell I was thinking.
Why would I ever agree to leave Gia here, all alone? None of it makes any sense to me now. Not any of it!
GIA
Dust particles hang in the air as the news reporter, Dave Johnson, and his cameraman, stand in front of me and Brittney as we walk into the facility where Ryker has spent most of his time the last three months. “It’s dark in here,” the camera man, Gary, says.
“I’m sure they want it this way. It’s hard to get accurate pictures in this light,” I say as we find no one stopping us from coming in. We all expected a fight.
A fast set of heels, clicked down the hallway, coming toward us. Another set joins them and we stop as a couple of women, one blonde and one brunette, came to us. “You can stop there,” the blonde shouts.
“I’m Dave Johnson with Channel Seven News. I’m here to ask Captain Smithfield some questions.”
“No, you are not. He’s not taking any questions. There will be a news conference on Tuesday. Just before the shuttle takes off,” the brunette lets us know.
“We’re here because of Ryker Crawford. He’s been detained and his wife is worried about him. He hasn’t even been allowed to call her. Things don’t seem to be on the up and up here,” Dave tells the two who look like they’ve been sucking on pickles, their lips are so puckered.
“Ryker Crawford is fine. I’m sure, when the Captain sees fit, he’ll allow Ryker to call his wife,” the blonde says.
The brunette quickly adds, “If that’s a thing he wants to do. He may not be calling her of his own accord. The men will be leaving all their loved ones behind. Some are finding it difficult to be around them any longer with what’s about to happen. If she loves him, she’d know how he’s feeling.”
“Excuse me,” I say as I step around the men to face this crazy bitch. “I’m Gia Crawford. I do know my husband and I know he would never want to spend his last days on Earth anywhere but with me. So, where is he right now? I want to see him.”
“That’s impossible,” the blonde says.
The camera man turns on his camera and sheds some light on us all. I find the women are much older than I could tell when the light was so dim. They shield their eyes from the light as the brunette shouts, “Turn that off. No videotaping is allowed in this facility!”
“Well, it’s being done,” I say and hold out my hand to separate the two and walk through them.
“You can’t just go anywhere you want around here!” the blonde says as she grabs my shoulder. “This is a top-secret facility. Only people who are supposed to be here are allowed.”
“You have my husband,” I say as I shake her hand off me and move past them, with the other three people right behind me. “I see a light on under a closed door up here.”
The women’s laughter pisses me off as one of them shouts out at us, “You won’t be able to get into any room that has anything you’re seeking in it.”
“Wanna bet?” I ask as I get to the door with the light on in the room. “You want to take it from here, Dave?”
With a nod, he steps up to the door and knocks. “Dave Johnson with Channel Seven News. I’m here to speak with a Captain Smithfield.”
“No interviews until Tuesday,” comes a man’s voice.
“If you won’t talk to me, we’ll be back with armed forces,” he tells the Captain. “You see, I’ve done some investigating. It’s only a small sector of our government who’s behind this. Not any other countries know a thing about what you’re doing here. So, I’d like to know why you have six of the top men in the Space Industry leaving our planet to fight some very odd looking creatures that are supposedly inhabiting Mars.”
The door flies open and an old man in a non-distinct military uniform is looking at Dave with a red face. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
Dave holds up a copy of one of the pictures I found in the file in Ryker’s desk in his home office. “This is what I’m talking about. So, would you like to answer some questions now?”
“You need to leave here at once!” he snarls as he looks at us all. His eyes land on me. “Gia Crawford. I should’ve expected you’d be behind this.”
“I found the file in Ryker’s desk. I want my husband. Where is he?” I ask him and find him changing his snarling expression to an evil grin.
“Your husband is dead, Mrs. Crawford.”
My heart stops but Dave shakes his head. “I doubt that. I’ve seen many liars in my day and you, sir, are a terrible liar. I don’t know how you got so many intelligent men to believe you.”
Chaos breaks out down another hallway, echoes of shouts and then gunshots, have us ducking for cover and scattering away to find somewhere safe to hide.
Dave finds a door that’s not locked and we follow him inside, closing the door behind us. I shudder as I hear it lock and try to turn the handle, only to find that I can’t. “He’s trapped us in here.”
Dave looks around the room. One window is at the top of a wall. “This is not a great place for us to be.”
The little light there is out as the electricity has been shut off. “Great,” Brittney moans. “Now what?”
“I have my camera light,” Gary says. He points it up to the ceiling. “Air vents.”
“That lead to air ducts,” Dave says. “That can get us the hell out of here.”
Brittney bumps my shoulder with hers. “He was in the Marines. Dave’s a reporter with a few tricks up his sleeve and some military smarts that should help us, Gia. Not to worry.”
“My only worry is Ryker and where he is. He can’t be dead. I think I’d feel it if he was,” I say and find my stomach clenching and knotting. I cannot throw up right now!
Shouts from just outside the door have my heart pounding. “He’s heading toward the front exit, Damien!” It’s Ryker!
Running to the door, I bang on it. “Ryker! Ryker, it’s Gia! He’s locked us in here!”
“Gia?” I hear him ask. “Bang on the door again.”
I bang and bang until I hear him banging on the same door I am. “I’m in here.”
The sound of him trying the door knob has me stepping back to see if he can figure out how to open it. Damien’s voice is loud as he shouts. “I can’t let him get away. I’m going after him, Ryker.”
“Gia, you’re safe in there. Stay put, I’ll be back to get you. I promise you, I will!” I hear his footsteps leaving me here and find weakness enveloping me. “Wait up, Damien. You shouldn’t go alone.”
Brittney grabs me as I slowly fall to the floor. “He’s coming back for us.”
“What if something happens to him?” I ask as I hear more gunshots, more men’s voices, and their shoes hitting the tiled floor as they run around in a chaotic manner.
“Look what I found,” the cameraman says, drawing our attention as he points his camera light at a short f
ile cabinet. “Let’s get some footage of what’s in here.”
Dave hurries to open the cabinet but it’s locked, of course. I pull out a little screwdriver I found at home and hand it to him. “Will this help you?”
“It might,” he says then gets to work unlocking it. “Don’t record this part, Steve.”
With a nod, Steve stops taping but keeps the light on Dave and what he’s doing. In no time at all, he has the top cabinet open and pulls out files. Damien Markov’s name is across the tab of the first one. When he opens it, we see pictures of Damien. Some have been altered, making it appear he’s running from the same creatures that are in the pictures I found.
Each file he takes out has similar pictures. And behind them are reports of the fake mission on Mars. As if the world would really believe this shit!
Opening the next drawer, he pulls out one large file. Schematics are inside of it. “Okay, let’s get footage of all this, Steve.” He lays out the open files all over a table and the schematics too.
Brittney and I watch and listen as he makes his report about what we’ve found so far. Then shots ring out and our door is blown open. “Who the fuck put you in here?” Captain Smithfield shouts.
The gun in his hand is shaking as he points it at me. And I don’t know what the hell I should do!
RYKER
Flashes of light, meant to disorient us, pulse around me and Damien as the other four men in our team surround us. “Drop, men. We just need to get you to the clinic to get the implants put back in. You’ll be okay once they’ve been replaced,” one of them shouts at us.
I look at Damien over my shoulder as we stand back to back. “Do you think they’ll listen to anything we say?”
“We can give it a try,” he says. “Listen, men. We’ve all been duped into this thing. And they plan on killing us all.”
“No, they don’t!” another man shouts.
“They do,” I tell them as I hold my hands up over my head. “Listen to us. I do not want to shoot any of you.”
“Nor us. But you have to stand down and allow us to take you to the clinic,” one of them says. “It’s our orders. We can’t do anything different.”
“You can let us cut that shit out of your necks and you will be able to think for yourselves. Your mind will become clear, instantly,” Damien tells them.
“They told us you’d say that.” The flashes get quicker and I can see they’re moving in. “Drop the weapons and drop to the floor, now!”
“We won’t be captured. If you come at us, you will have a fight on your hands,” I let them know.
Sirens begin to leak into the corridor. “Shit!” Damien shouts. “We have to hurry!”
“They aren’t here for us,” I say and find the sound of gunfire coming from another area of the facility. “They aren’t even here for you guys either. Put the weapons down and come with us. We need to get to them, they’re here to protect us.”
“From you, I’d bet,” one of them says.
A loud screeching sound fills the air. Like a banshee. And I know that sound. “Gia! Stay where you are!” I shout out.
Something flies through the air and I hear the sounds of some of the men who are surrounding us grunting and groaning. “What the hell?” one of them asks.
Whack! Whack! Whack!
The flashing stops and one large light comes up behind Gia, who’s wielding a long pole with a red light on the end of it. The men she knocked down are staying down and perfectly still as if it has paralyzed them.
“Gia!” I shout and step over one of the men to get to her. She’s shaking as I take her in my arms. Damien takes the stick out of her hand and holds off the one man who managed to escape the bad end of that stick. “Where the hell did you find that thing?”
“In the room, we were in. Smithfield came in, waving a gun and I jumped into a closet and found this thing. I found a button on the side of it, clicked it and when the red tip lit up, I jumped out of the closet and poked him with it. He fell and I came out to find you.”
“I warned him about you. I told him you’d rip this place apart to find me.” I kiss the top of her head and hold her tight.
The lights come back on and some man on a bullhorn is calling out, “Everyone on the ground. This is the Orlando Police Department. Place your weapons on the ground and shove them away from you.”
“I guess we should all do what he says, so we can get done with this shit,” Damien says as he takes the position and pushes the stick away from himself.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the last man standing out of our group and he makes a dive to get the stick. Pushing Gia away from me, I lurch for the stick too and collide with the man who has been my teammate for three months. “No, Paul!”
When I fall onto the stick, I feel a jolt and go stiff. “Get him off it, Damien!” Gia screams.
I feel hands on me, turning me over and can’t move. Damien picks up the stick as Paul tries to run and throws it at him. He drops as soon as it hits him in the back. “That’ll stop the police from shooting your dumb ass, Paul. You can thank me later,” Damien shouts at him then looks at me. “Does it hurt?”
I’m frozen. I can’t even blink. Then Gia’s face looms above me too. “I think it’ll wear off, baby.” She kneels down and touches my face, which I can feel.
“On the floor!” comes another loud shout from the police.
She and Damien lay on the floor next to me as the police come into the area. “We need you all to stay perfectly still while we cuff you and take you in for questioning.”
“Most of them can’t move,” Gia tells them. “He and I are the only ones who can.”
“Stand up, slow and easy,” I hear one of the officers direct them.
They get up and Gia says, “This is my husband, Ryker Crawford. He and this man here, Damien Markov, aren’t a threat. The rest are. Except for the cameraman, the reporter, and the woman with them, who are lying in the hallway down there. They’re no threat, either. I’m the one who texted your office. I’m Gia Crawford.”
I watch Damien put his arm around her and pull her close to him. “Damn, I never thought I’d ever say this but I’m damn glad Ryker stole you away from me. Shit, you’re tough and smart as hell!”
“Thank you, Damien,” she says with a bit of surprise. Then looks down at me. “Maybe a paramedic should come look at you, Ryker.”
I’d like to nod but I can’t. An officer picks up the stick and looks it over. “What’s this?”
“Be careful with that,” Damien tells him. “It shocks people into what seems to be a state of paralysis.”
The cop looks around at the five men on the floor, myself included. “And who took all these men out?”
“He took himself out, on accident,” Gia tells him as she points at me. “And I got the rest of them.”
The cops all chuckle and one of them says, “Wow, are you a ninja?”
“No, just a wife who was determined to get her husband back. There’s another man in a room near the front that I touched with that magic stick too. You might want to make sure that he’s cuffed before he starts to move again. He’s a major flight risk.”
“Can you take me to him?” one of them ask her.
She nods then looks at me. “Damien will stay here with you. Don’t worry, baby. I’ll be back soon and I’ll bring someone who might be able to help you.”
Watching her walk away, I feel more pride than I can ever recall feeling. Then Damien takes a seat on the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. “How is it, being married to her?” He looks at me as if I could actually answer him.
In my head, though, I say, ‘It’s like Christmas every day, being married to that woman.’
Because it is!
GIA
The paramedics have managed to massage Ryker to help get his body moving again. He regained the ability to speak after thirty minutes, making him feel much better. His legs still need some work and they’re wheeling him out to one of the
ambulances to take him to the hospital to be checked out. Following behind him, I find Damien catching up to us. “Hey!”
I stop and wait for him. “Yes?”
“I’ve learned a lot from you, Gia. A hell of a lot. I just wanted you to know that I’m going to be marrying Svetlana. I’m coming out with the truth about my son and make my family get the hell over it.”
“Wow!” I’m stunned! “That’s awesome!”
“I’m glad you think it’s a good idea.” He opens his arms and I move in for a hug. “I really am happy I met you.”
“Me too.” I step back as he lets me go. “I think it’s so much better to stop hiding them. For both their sakes.”
“We need to head out, Mrs. Crawford,” one of the paramedics calls out to me.
With a wave, I give Damien a smile. “We’ll be seeing each other. Of that, I have no doubts. Give them my best, Damien. Make a wife out of her and treat her with respect.”
He nods and I turn and get into the back of the ambulance where they’ve placed Ryker in his wheelchair. “You look happy. What did he say?”
“He’s going to marry the mother of his son. He’s done hiding them. It seems I’ve inspired him to do that.” I take a seat on the long, padded area to the side of him as both paramedics take seats up front.
“You are quite inspirational, Gia.” He wiggles his finger at me, so I lean over. One soft kiss melts me as his fingers hold my chin. “I love you.”
Breathing out a long sigh, I find the words slipping off my tongue without even thinking, “You’re going to be a father.”
He blinks at me as if he’s not sure what I’ve said. “Huh?”
A smile breaks over my face. “A father. You’re going to be one. I took the test earlier today. I’m prego, baby!”
“How?” he says then stops and shakes his head. “I mean, I know how. But we only had sex once in the last three months.”
“We had it on our wedding night too, silly.”
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