The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3)

by Courtney McPhail

  Subject File #742

  Subject: We should have fought. I thought it was the smart play to work with them. I didn’t think it would be that bad.

  Administrator: You can’t blame yourself. It was the smartest play. You couldn’t have known.

  This was one of the most uncomfortable places Malcolm had ever found himself, and he’d been stuck in some shitty places. Metal ridges bit into him with every bump on the road and, with his hands tied behind his back, he wasn’t able to stop himself from bouncing around the truck bed.

  At least he thought it was a truck bed, judging by the open air that flowed over them as they bounced down a road. The men who had attacked them had put hoods over their heads before they had led them out of the hospital, making it impossible to see anything. They’d been loaded up into the back of the truck and had left the hospital behind.

  Malcolm had tried to slip out of his bindings but the knots only tightened the more he struggled, biting into the skin of his wrists. The only relief came with feeling the others struggling beside him. They were all still alive. That was something at least.

  Malcolm had tried to keep track of the turns they made, judging it all based on the direction he would slide in the truck bed. He'd hoped he’d be able to retrace them back to the hospital once they broke out.

  The problem was that after several turns, he realized that they were going in a circle and then back tracking. The driver was smart enough to make sure they couldn’t track where they were going.

  So, instead of paying attention to the turns, he'd counted the minutes. They’d been driving for no more than half an hour, most of that in circles. They were still in town.

  Good, they’d be able to get back to the hospital for more meds after they got out of this. Now it was just a matter of figuring a way out of this.

  He wasn’t sure how they would manage that exactly. It was hard to plan when he didn’t know where they were taking them. The only thing he knew was that right now, the last thing they needed to do was fight. Obedience was the safest move in the situation. Once he got the lay of the land and who these people were, then he could figure out his next move.

  The truck turned again and began to slow down until it came to a stop.

  “Hey-o, what did you bring back?” The man’s voice sounded far off.

  “Resources,” came the voice from the front of the truck.

  Metal hinges rasped against each other and then the truck started forward again. The truck made a wide circle and then shifted into reverse, backing up to a stop. The truck bounced as their captors climbed out of the cab.

  “Take them down to the cell,” came the voice that Malcolm recognized. It was the man who had done the talking in the hospital. “I’ll tell Jacob what we found.”

  The tailgate shook the truck when it was dropped down and Malcolm had to force himself not to fight when a hand wrapped around his ankle and tugged. He was pulled out and then put on his feet, rough hands pushing him out of the way as they grabbed the others.

  He kept his feet as he stumbled, turning his focus to the world around him. He stood on solid ground, possibly concrete, possibly asphalt. He could hear muted voices around him, the bag thick enough and the people far enough away that he couldn’t pick out the words. Still, he knew that there were a lot of them. Wherever he was, they had people.

  Someone bumped into him and he leaned into them, helping them stay on their feet.

  “Steady,” he said.

  “Malcolm?” Veronica said and pressed up against his side, seeking the comfort of knowing he was still there with her.

  “It’s okay,” he told her.

  A hard hand punched his shoulder, sending him stumbling away from Veronica.

  “Shut it, both of you.”

  Someone grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and pushed him forward. “Walk!”

  Malcolm did as he was told, his steps hesitant as he struggled to walk without seeing. His foot hit something hard and he pitched forward but the hand on his shoulder caught him.

  “Three steps up, asshole,” the voice barked at him. “Keep moving.”

  Malcolm took the steps carefully, touching the front of each of them with the toe of his boot before climbing up. They kept walking and he heard a door being opened and the sounds from outside disappeared.

  They were led through whatever building they were in, taking two turns before the man told them to stop. The bag was pulled off his head and Malcolm’s eyes quickly adjusted from the dark bag to the dim interior of the hallway. It was narrow, bare white walls and a concrete floor, the opening of a set of stairs heading down in front of him. The man who had attacked them was standing beside him and nodded at the stairs.

  “Down you go,” he instructed.

  “Why are you doing this?” Malcolm asked. “We don’t want any fight with you. We just want to take the medicine and leave.”

  “It wasn’t yours to take,” the man replied, sneering at him. “Now get down there before we start having a problem.”

  Malcolm stared at the man for a moment, seeing the glint of danger in his eyes. This wasn’t a man who was all talk. He would have no problem with inflicting pain.

  Malcolm turned and led the way down the stairs. Fighting now would only end in their deaths. They were bound up, weaponless and in a strange place. He needed to know more about what was going on before he made a move.

  A dim hallway was at the bottom of the stairs, lit only by a battery-operated lantern that was mounted in the centre of the hallway. The man pushed Malcolm to head down it.

  There were doors on either side of him and Malcolm noticed the labels on them.

  Locker Room #1. Locker Room #2. Electrical Room. Parking Garage.

  An apartment building. They had to be inside an apartment building.

  They turned another corner into another hallway and the man called them to a halt at Locker #3.

  The man stepped ahead of him to unlock the door and Malcolm took a chance to look over his companions. Veronica, Travis and Nas were lined up behind him, all of them looking to him for an answer. Two men stood guard over them, armed with the weapons they had taken from them at the hospital.

  They looked threatening but Malcolm knew that if this had been about killing them, they would have dropped them at the hospital. They had brought them here for a reason and it wasn’t to be executed in a basement. Their best bet was to go along with what the men said for now, at least until they found out what they wanted with them.

  “Get inside,” the man told Malcolm and he obeyed, walking inside the pitch black room. The others were pushed in behind him and then the door closed, sealing them all in the darkness.

  “Everybody okay?” he asked, turning his head to try and seek out any of them in the darkness but he saw nothing.

  “I’m good,” Travis called out from his right.

  “Fine,” Nas said from his left.

  “Veronica?” Malcolm called out.

  He heard a sigh in front of him. “Yeah, I’m okay. Pissed off but okay.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Malcolm said. “Nas, you want to help me get these ropes off?”

  The two of them stood back to back, working on the knots around each other’s wrists. It took them some time and false starts but finally the ropes around his wrists loosened. It made untying Nas’ bindings much easier and soon they had Travis and Veronica free.

  “Let’s check this place out.”

  He had them feel their way around the room while he went back to the door. It was metal with no handle or knob on their side and the edges of it came flush with the concrete wall. There would be no prying it open. He kept his hand on the wall and traced his way around the room. There were no other doors or openings and the cinderblock walls were mortared tight to the concrete ceiling.

  “There’s nothing in here,” Nas said.

  “And no way out,” Malcolm added.

  “So what do we do?” Travis asked.

  “Wait and see what
they want from us,” Malcolm replied. “They have to want something. If this was about taking the meds or our weapons, they would have killed us at the hospital.”

  “They probably want to know if we have a camp somewhere, more supplies they can take,” Nas said.

  He was likely right. They were clean, armed and on foot with little supplies. It would be obvious that they had a camp somewhere. It was why he’d made sure to hide the satellite phone under a fallen cart at the hospital when the men had first got the drop on them. He didn’t want them to have even that small connection to the island.

  “We’re a group heading to Traverse City. We heard there was a refugee centre there. Stick to that story.”

  “What about the medicine?” Veronica asked and he could hear the tremor in her voice. “We’ve got to get it back home.”

  “We will. We’ll figure a way out of this,” Malcolm reached blindly for her, finding her back and then moving his hand to grip his shoulder, “And if we don’t, the others will. Remember, they’re out there too.”

  He wanted to be right about getting out but he wasn’t as confident as he tried to sound. They’d been in tight spots before but nothing like this. The odds were stacked against them. He just hoped that he would at least be right about the other group.

  Subject File #745

  Administrator: Why are you so afraid of your feelings for her?

  Subject: ‘Cause it means if I lose her, it’s gonna destroy me.

  “You know, things aren’t so bad around here.”

  Jackson started at Banks’ voice beside him and realized his cheek was pressed against the car window. He must have drifted off at some point during their drive. He glanced at his watch and realized he’d managed to sleep for over an hour.

  They were off of the highway now, passing by a gas station and attached convenience store. Jackson recognized the sign out front of the station advertising a 2 for 1 deal on windshield washing fluid. They’d been by here before on their way to the hospital. The marina was just on the other side of the town.

  “You thinking of getting yourself a summer place here?” Mendez asked from the driver’s seat.

  “I’m just saying this town had what, a couple thousand people.” Banks shrugged his shoulders. “You’d expect there to be at least some freaks wandering around here.”

  “They’ve likely moved on,” Claudia said. “There’s no food supply for them here. When a food source becomes scarce, animals move to a new territory.”

  “They should try being vegetarian,” Banks said, “Or at least giving up on their strictly cannibal diet. Bound to be a few boxes of crackers and cans of soup in those stores.”

  “They’re only interested in things that move,” Claudia said. “At least, that’s what Harold told Quinton. Sound and movement set off their aggression. Consuming what they kill is just a by-product.”

  “Yer brother tell ya anythin’ else ‘bout ‘em?” Jackson asked.

  “Just that he and Harold are trying to work out theories about why some of the freaks are smarter than the others. They think their brains might be changing but they can’t prove it.”

  “Well, let’s hope that if they are getting smarter, they figure out how to open a box of crackers before they figure out how to fire a gun,” Banks said.

  “Amen,” Mendez said. "You gotta wonder though, what the hell is going through their brains? Like, are there any thoughts in there or is it all just instinct and muscle memory?"

  "They've got to have some complex thought processes," Claudia said, "But so do a lot of animals. I mean, forest rangers have to keep designing new garbage cans because the bears figure out how to break into them."

  "Do you ever wonder if they have sex?" Banks said and the girls turned to stare at him. "What? Come on, you're telling me you didn't think of it, even in passing?"

  "No," both girls replied and Banks looked to Jackson for some help but he just shook his head. That particular thought had never crossed his mind.

  "Don't make me out to be the crazy one," Banks said, crossing his arms over his chest in defence. "The freaks eat and sleep just like us. Why wouldn't they put the freak in 'get your freak on'?"

  "What happened in your childhood to damage you this much?" Mendez asked.

  "That is just messed up," Claudia added. "Why would you ever think that?"

  "I know I'm not the only person left alive who thought about this," Banks said.

  Claudia laughed. "Well yeah, there's bound to be some weirdo perverts still alive out there."

  "I'm not a weirdo pervert!" Banks said and Mendez and Claudia took turns to point out just why he was a weirdo pervert.

  Jackson didn’t join in. Now that he knew they were close to the marina, he was too distracted by the clock and the odometer, watching the miles and minutes tick away.

  His fingers tightened around the straps of the pack that held Hannah’s meds. He’d kept it in his lap since they got in the SUV. If anything happened and they had to ditch their ride, he wanted to make sure the meds were in reach. He was going to make sure they made it back to the island, even if he had to run the rest of the way to the marina.

  And they damn well better work because he wasn’t sure he could go through all this bullshit much longer. He wanted everything to go back to normal. Or as normal as shit ever was for them. At least then, a bunch of kids weren’t laid up in the clinic, fighting for their lives.

  The last few miles seemed to take forever to cross. He mentally ticked off the familiar landmarks as they crossed over the marshland and reached the turn to the marina. As they pulled into the parking lot, Jackson craned his neck around to look out at the water.

  He spotted the boat waiting for them at the end of the dock, Javier at the helm. Jackson was glad for the fuel they’d found on the other island. He didn’t think he’d have the patience for the sailboat to bring them back home. Now that they had the meds he just wanted to get back over there ASAP.

  They got out of the SUV and disabled the battery, throwing on the leaves and dead branches to keep it looking like it had been parked there for a time. Their feet beat out a staccato rhythm on the wooden boards as they raced down the dock to the boat.

  “Have the others come back yet?” Claudia asked Javier.

  Javier shook his head. “They haven’t radioed in to check out.”

  “Didn’t Elaine radio them to tell them we got the meds?”

  “She tried,” Javier told them, “But she couldn’t raise them. They radioed when they arrived at the hospital but she hasn’t heard from them since. According to the GPS, the phone is still at the hospital.”

  “But we were supposed to radio in every hour to check in,” Mendez said. “When exactly did you last hear from them?”

  “Five hours ago,” Javier admitted.

  “They ain’t moved in five hours?” Jackson asked and Javier nodded, his gaze sympathetic. “Shit!”

  The radio rules were Malcolm’s. There was no way he’d break them. The only reason he wouldn’t call in was if he couldn’t reach the phone. It was the same for the others. He knew that Veronica would call in if only to check in on Hannah. Something bad had happened.

  He fought back the panic that tried to seize him, pushing away the reel of horrific images that flashed through his mind, each one showing a painful possibility of what happened to Veronica. He wasn’t going to believe any of it. There was no way in hell he was going to lose Veronica, not after he’d finally figured out exactly what they were to each other.

  Jackson tossed Javier the med pack. “Take these back to the island. I’m gonna go find ‘em.”

  “Jackson, wait,” Claudia said, reaching out for him but he shook her off.

  “Ya know that if they ain’t called in for five hours, somethin’ happened. They’re gonna need help. I ain’t leavin’ ‘em out there. Take the meds back, get Hannah and the others on the mend, I’ll get the others.”

  Claudia gave him a smile. “I was only going to say ‘Wait f
or me.’ I’m going with you.”

  Well, that would make the rescue mission a hell of a lot easier.

  “Alright, y’all get the meds back to the island,” Jackson said. “We’ll radio in when we get to their hospital.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Mendez said.

  He appreciated her offering but he didn’t want to put anyone in any unnecessary danger. They’d already put themselves at risk coming to get the meds, he didn’t want to ask for more. “Ya don’t hafta.”

  “Yes I do,” Mendez replied, shouldering her pack and stepping away from the boat. “We’re all family. I’m not leaving my family out there.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be the only one not going,” Banks said. “I’ve got serious FOMO issues. You okay with that, Javier?”

  “It’s better this way,” he replied. “Elaine hasn’t told anyone but me and Lorraine about the radio silence. When I take the medicine back, it’ll be better if I tell them you are already out there looking for them.”

  With that decided, they unloaded all the supplies they’d taken from the hospital into the boat and then headed back to the SUV. Jackson kept glancing back to watch Javier sail out of the marina. At least Craig and the kids would get the medicine. One mission accomplished. Now they had to find the others.

  They quickly cleared off the SUV and put the battery back in then loaded up. Mendez rode shotgun to Banks, the map spread out on the dashboard as she read out the directions for the hospital.

  “She’s alive.”

  Jackson glanced over at Claudia. “How do ya know?”

  “I just do,” she said. “The same way I knew she was alive the last time we were split up.”

  That had happened just before he met Veronica. It had been that split that had put Veronica on the path to meet him and the girls.

  “Even when ya were in that...” He wasn’t sure what to call the state Claudia had been. He’d never seen it himself. She had snapped out of it by the time he had met her but Veronica had told him about it.

  “Yeah, even then. I can’t tell you how I knew then or how I know now but I just do.”