by Scott, Lona
“Fucking fix my security Vince!” The General roared. He slammed the phone down.
“That’s not going to happen General.” A voice in the shadows said.
“Who are you?” Alexander grabbed for the weapon in his desk drawer.
“I’ve removed the firing pin and bullets. It’s useless to you now.”
“Who are you?” Alexander stood. “I can have you put in the brig for this insubordination!”
“It doesn’t matter what my name is.” The voice said icily.
General Palmer sneered. “Don’t you know who I am? I can do whatever I want.”
“You are a man with a gun pointed at his head. Right now the only authority you have is whatever I give to you.”
“What do you want?” The General asked, his voice steady.
“I want you to stop trying to steal Isabelle’s babies.”
“I can’t do that.” Alexander said.
“I thought you just said you can do whatever you want.” The man hissed.
“This goes higher up the food chain than me.” The General said. “I have my orders the same as everyone else.”
“I won’t allow you to take her children.” The man said.
“Twins?” Alexander asked.
“I will go to each man under you and keep killing until you agree.”
“You wouldn’t.”
The man pulled the trigger, shooting the General in the outer thigh. He screamed and grabbed his leg, cursing and spitting in rage.
“Now you know I will.”
“What do you want with her?” The General said, ground out through his teeth. He was losing a lot of blood.
“She’s special. You don’t even understand how special. No one does.”
“How is she so special?” He asked.
“God, you really are an idiot aren’t you?” The voice snorted. “You just want her babies, but you have no clue what potential they have, to save us all. The purities in her blood, her genetic code, mixed with someone from our time with all our antibodies and inoculations against so many diseases, born with their own nanites technology, would be immune to everything. A child of such a union would not just be healthy, they would be unable to get sick. They would have perfected bodies, able to heal any injury or any disease or attack any cell mutation of cancer before it spread. A person born with that kind of healing ability would be unstoppable. They would be super human. Immortal. Think of the possibilities. Isabelle’s children could outlive all of us. They could be the perfect soldier, and be able to jump through time like their father. Think of what we could accomplish.”
“You’re insane Dr. Fitzer.” The General said, his voice shaking with the effort to stay calm.
“So, you recognize my voice after all.” The man chuckled.
“You won’t get away with this.” The General said.
“You get one chance. Don’t make me be mean, Alexander. I don’t want to have to kill every other soldier on the base. This is your last chance to save lives.”
“I moved her to Sublevel three.” The man said, slumping in his chair in defeat.
“Thank you, General. You’ve been most helpful.” Dr. Fitzer said.
The shot rang out through the house, but there was no one to hear it.
*********************
“Report.” Graham whispered.
“You’re clear, Top. Cameras and alarms are dark.” Will responded.
“We’re in too.” Mykel said. “Repelling down the elevator shaft now.”
“Bryant?” Graham whispered. “Report.”
“Ready, set, boom, Boss man.” He said with a chuckle. “This is going to be epic.”
Graham rolled his eyes. “Only if we need it, remember that Bry.”
“Yes, Sir.” He said, the disappointment evident in his voice.
“Hey Bryant, I promise to let you blow things up on my property if you get us out of this alive.” Mykel said.
“Promise?” He asked.
“Yeah, you know, when the car dies or we need to make a hole for something.”
“Wicked fun!” Bryant said, excitedly. “Do you really think Isabelle will let me blow stuff up?”
“Just not in the house.” Mykel chuckled. “I’m pretty sure she’d have my ass for that.”
“True.” Johnny piped up. “She’ll kill you if you blow something up in her bathtub. Women like their bubble baths.”
“Okay boys, let’s get back to business.” Graham chuckled. “I’m headed into the lab now. Will, where are the samples exactly?”
“The far east wall of refrigeration units. You have to cook the samples.”
“What does that mean?” He asked.
“Super heat them, toss them in an oven or microwave for a minute or two.”
The lab was closed for the night. All the techs had gone home long ago. It was a lot smaller than Graham expected. Two walls were crowded with large machines. He had no clue what they did, but they looked expensive. One whole wall was a giant refrigerator. He walked over and opened the first door that held vials. He was searching for their names, or security numbers. It wasn’t until the fourth door, that he found them. Each one had a red sticker on it. He frowned. All the others had blue or purple stickers on them. Red usually meant bad right? He carefully took the tray out and set it on a worktable. The opposite wall held filing cabinets. He broke open the one that had the red tag on it and pulled out all the files. Like the General’s office, there were dozens of pages on each of them. Test results, DNA profiles and a bunch of other things he didn’t understand.
He keyed his mike. “Johnny, if we took these vials through the portal, would the samples still be good?”
“If they were stored properly. Maybe.” The reply came back a few seconds later.
“What do I need to do that?” He asked, looking around.
“There should be SafePods. They are used for transport, probably stored in a drawer or cupboard near the samples. They typically each hold two vials.” Johnny said.
“Got it. I think we should keep this stuff. You never know if we will need it later.”
“Whatever you want. I wouldn’t mind looking at those files, myself.” Johnny said.
“I’ll get this stuff to Will and check on the women. Holler if you need me.” He said. He found the pods and began to gather the samples. He slipped the pods into his bag along with the files and snuck out of the lab. He suppressed the intense urge to light the whole room on fire and smirked to himself. Bryant had obviously rubbed off on him.
*********************
“What’s the matter, Isabelle?” One of the doctors asked, dumbfounded by her sobs. She was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner, crying into a book.
“I’m irritated. I miss the sunlight, and I want out of here. I want to go take a walk, and I want to see Mykel. I know he’s not sick. Why do you people keep lying to me?” She cried, standing up, the book still in her hand.
“Now, now. Don’t get all hysterical.” The doctor said soothingly.
“Buddy, you haven’t seen hysterical yet.” She snapped. Suddenly she wasn’t just sad, she was pissed. The patronizing tone in his voice irritated her beyond belief.
“Miss Carter, please calm down.” He said firmly.
“I will not calm down! You are keeping me locked up like an animal, and there is no reason for it. I have every reason to be upset, and I’m not letting you or anyone else touch me until I see Mykel!” She hissed.
“Do I have to sedate you?” The man asked sternly. “I’d really rather not. It’s not good for the babies, but I will if I have to.” He pulled a syringe out of his pocket.
“You can try.” She growled. “But if you take one step closer I swear to God, I’ll jam that needle into your eye. I’ve had enough of this shit and I won’t stand for it anymore.”
“No need to get violent, Miss Carter.” He said soothingly.
“Yes. There is a need. You people are trying to steal my babies away fro
m me. I’m not fucking stupid.” She yelled.
“I see you’ve become extremely paranoid, Isabelle.”
“It’s not paranoid, it’s the truth and you know it.” She hissed. “Get out of my room. NOW!” She screamed.
She began to throw books at him, screaming in rage as she flung volume after volume at his head. He ducked and tried to block them with his arm, but one of them beamed him in the head right in the temple. He went down. Before he could react she grabbed the syringe he had dropped and plunged it into the side of his neck. She stole the key card he had clipped to his jacket and ran for the door. It came unlocked for her, and the guard that was watching the monitor stood and tried to come for her. Enraged, she ran at him, screaming. He hesitated striking her just long enough for her to knock him out first. He hit the ground hard. Thinking fast, she stole his belt of weapons and slung them over her shoulder, since it wouldn’t fit around her belly. She held the gun in one hand and headed out the door with the doctors keycard, hoping it opened all the doors. “Okay babies, let’s go find your daddy.” She said softly.
Chapter 13
Mykel and Johnny decided to start on the very bottom sublevel and work their way up toward the top, searching for Isabelle. Apparently there were five sublevels. The very bottom level seemed to be some sort of deep underground bunker, hardly guarded and never used. It was obvious that she wasn’t there, so they quickly went to the next. It was living quarters for doctors and soldiers. They tried to blend in. A few people looked at them suspiciously but didn’t actively stop them from looking. Everyone was too busy trying to get the power back on to pay much attention to a couple of soldiers.
They took the stairs up to the third level and walked into chaos. They glanced at each other, knowingly. Johnny grinned. “She’s here.”
“Yup.” Mykel said.
A panicked man ran by them and Mykel grabbed the man’s elbow, spinning him around. “What’s going on? We just came on duty.”
“Someone knocked out a guard in B section, and stabbed a Doctor with some sort of sedative.”
“Who?” Johnny asked.
“I don’t know. We have to search for her.”
“Well, did anyone tell you what she looks like?” Mykel asked.
“Long hair, and pregnant.”
Mykel instinctively gripped the man’s arm harder. “Have they given a shoot to kill order on a pregnant woman?” He growled.
“We are supposed to detain her. Not hurt her.” The soldier said.
“Good to know.” Johnny said. “Let the man go, Mykel.”
Mykel released him and they kept walking.
“Where would she go?” Johnny asked.
“She would try to find me.” Mykel said. “I told her once, if she ran away from me that she would have to find her way to me. That I wouldn’t come after her again.”
“You didn’t.”
“It was right after she kicked me in the balls man. I tried to propose to her after that, you know, before she…almost died.” He choked out. “She knows I didn’t really mean that.”
“Hey, you two!” Someone yelled. “Get over here!”
They turned to see Major Vince Ruiz storming up to them. “What do you think you’re doing down here? You aren’t cleared to be down here!”
Mykel looked at Johnny, and nodded. “Just doing our job. The General asked us to help, since the security system went out.”
“You.” He pointed his finger at Mykel. “Can’t be here. The General would never authorize that.”
“Why not?” Mykel frowned, pretending to be confused.
“Because…because…you know why!” Major Ruiz sputtered. “Guards!”
Johnny moved up quickly behind the Major and snapped his neck. The crack sounded like a lightning bolt in the narrow corridor. The large man slumped to the ground. Mykel pulled his weapon and the two men began searching each room in the corridor. Suddenly alarms went off. Red lights flashed along the corridor and inside each room.
“Someone found the Major.” Mykel shouted above the noise.
“Knew it wouldn’t be long.”
“We can’t get caught.” Mykel said. “They will hang us for sure.”
“Yup. How are we gonna find you’re girl?”
“She’s around here somewhere. There’s only so many places a pregnant woman could hide.” Mykel said. “I hope she’s okay.”
“She’s killed two men and snuck out of a secured room on a military base.” Johnny laughed. “I’m sure she’s gonna be just fine man.”
“Yeah, but she’s pregnant, what if she goes into labor or something? What if I’m not there? What if…”
“Stop it!” Johnny said. “She’s got at least another month, maybe two. She won’t go into labor this early.”
“You don’t know that.” Mykel said quietly. They went into a room that looked like exam room of some kind. The next room was a storage room. The next was some kind of observation room, with surveillance equipment.
“What the hell is this?” Johnny asked, walking over to the wall of CD’s and DVD’s. He popped one into a player.
“Mykel, look at this.” He motioned for the man to come over.
“It’s her.” Mykel breathed. The video showed her sitting in a chair, reading a book and rubbing her stomach. “She looks about five months pregnant in this video.” Johnny said.
Mykel touched the screen, where her hand was rubbing their child. His eyes filled with tears. “I have to find her.” He said, choking up. It was the first real proof he had that she was really alive.
“We will.” Johnny said.
************************
The hallway had been surprisingly empty when she walked out into it, and that seemed odd to her. She tried to be quick, but there was no way to run as pregnant as she was. There were several doors in the corridor and she briefly wondered if they were all observation rooms with other women living in glass walls. Isabelle knew the second the power went off that someone had discovered what she had done. They shut down the elevators. She quickly ducked into the nearest room. It looked like a personal office, of a man from the looks of it. She looked in the closet and found an extra lab coat. She put it on and tried to close it up over her large stomach. It was extremely tight, so she left it open. She searched the rest of the dark room, and ended up stumbling into some kind of table. She covered her belly protectively and caught herself before she fell, but banged up her knee and shin fairly well. She gritted her teeth against the pain and stood, walking more carefully, wishing she had a flashlight of some kind. She found another door and opened it. It was a small bathroom.
“Oh thank God.” She said, surprised at how loud her voice was and how it carried in the small room. She’d had to pee since she left the glass box. She’d never been so happy to find a bathroom in her life. She decided that until she had a better plan, staying in the bathroom was probably a grand idea, since she had to pee every ten minutes lately.
She searched the bathroom for anything that could help her. There wasn’t much. She found a brush, a pair of scissors, a toothbrush and deodorant, and a shaving kit. Definitely a man’s office. She looked in the mirror and saw her long hair falling out of the braid. She took it out and brushed her hair out. She eyed the scissors and took a deep breath. “Just do it.” She picked them up and began to cut her hair, crying as the long locks began to fall into the sink and floor. She was half done when some kind of alarm went off, and red lights came on. She was thankful for the light. Cutting your own hair is never a good idea. Trying to do it in the dark is a disaster. She ended up cutting quite a bit shorter than she had planned, just to even out the cut. Her hair flowed just below her chin. While she was at it, she gave herself some bangs. In the end, her hair looked cute, and hopefully changed her looks enough to not be noticed. She briefly wondered if Mykel would like it, but she tried not to dwell on that. All that mattered was getting to him. She tucked the scissors into the deep pocket of the lab coat.
“Okay, you two. I really need you to not stomp on mommy’s bladder for a little while okay?” She said. She decided to pee again before she left the office, just in case.
*******************
“Hey Top, there’s some shit going down at the General’s house.” Bryant reported. “Looks like the MP’s are swarming the place.”
“You still on the roof?” Graham asked, making his way to the portal room.