Justice Ascending

by Rebecca Zanetti

  Jax gave the high signs for them to continue down to the other two levels. The current level spread out in two different directions, and they had to walk over bodies each way. “Greyson, Damon, and Raze, go north and then down to where Sami thought the command center was on level B. Sami, Tace, and I will go south to the computer labs and then down to the command center. Whoever gets there first, take it with no mercy.” He glanced up at the lights. “Generators seem to be going strong, but let’s hope most personnel have bunked down for the night.”

  With the order, everyone launched into motion. The center personnel weren’t ready for an attack, but they were well armed, and now the alarms blared. The element of surprise had gotten the soldiers in; now fighting skills would come into play. They had to fight hard and fast. Otherwise they were dead.

  Jax took the lead. Tace waited until Sami followed so he could cover her back. His energy, his focus, was on the woman and her safety. The need to protect her rose inside him so quickly his breath heated.

  Emotions had returned in full force, perhaps with the adrenaline of the mission.

  They passed a glass half wall, and a soldier barreled out from behind a closed door, already firing.

  Jax took him down with a punch to the throat. Footsteps echoed behind them. The hallway extended about fifty yards. Jax pivoted. “Go find the labs and medical supplies. I’ll cover here.”

  Tace nodded. Then his leg went numb. He dropped to the hard marble. Shit. No. Not now.

  With a whoosh of sound, the world went black. He pitched forward, and he was pretty sure Sami screamed his name. Then his heart slowed, his chest compressed, and nothingness claimed him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Hell has white walls and a concrete floor.

  —Sami Steel

  “Tace!” Sami rushed to him and flipped him over, her hands shaking and her body going into overdrive. “He’s out cold.”

  “Fuck.” Jax reached down and hauled Tace over a shoulder with a loud grunt. “Get out of the main corridor,” he yelled over the blaring alarm.

  Sami burst down the hall toward the main lab, reaching it to yank open the door. Her heart beat frantically. God. He had to be all right. “This way.”

  Jax followed, grimacing under Tace’s weight, his gun out and steady.

  Two female lab techs scrambled out of the way, and Sami motioned them toward a closet she thought held cleaning supplies. “If you want out of here with us, hold tight,” she said, easily locking them in. There were two massive doors, shut and locked, taking up the western wall. “The jail cells for experiments are through there.”

  Jax dropped Tace to the ground. “Cover the door,” he ordered.

  She did so, still looking around the medical lab. Machinery whirred on the counter, and seven refrigerators were lined up against the far wall, all humming softly. “They’re still intact.” Lynne Harmony would love to relocate to this lab. Then Sami dropped to one knee and leaned her ear over Tace’s mouth. “Oh God. He’s not breathing.” She reached for his neck, her voice rising in pure panic. “No pulse.”

  “Damn it.” Jax slid across the room on his knees. “I’ll do CPR. Find the fuckin’ enzyme.”

  She nodded and scrambled for the glass refrigerator doors, ripping one open. Vial after vial were lined up, some with blood, some with other liquids. She fumbled for one and read it. “IX208756.” A quick glance at other vials confirmed the same thing. “They’re labeled with numbers.” She shoved the vials back and went for the next fridge—same thing. Almost in slow motion, she turned to see Jax furiously performing CPR and then breathing into Tace’s lifeless body. “I don’t know which one to use.” They could accidentally inject him with smallpox or Ebola or even bleach. Who knew?

  The door flew open, and Jax reacted, pulling his gun out.

  “Wait!” Sami yelled.

  Jax paused.

  “Penelope?” Sami asked, her heart thundering as she took in the newcomer, a petite woman she’d once barely known.

  The doctor nodded, her black hair flying, her dark eyes wide. She wore striped pajama bottoms with a pink cami, and her feet were bare. The doctor had been in bed. “Sami. What the hell?”

  Sami coughed as Jax started CPR again. “I thought you got free.” Penelope had been the doctor who’d planned the escape with Sami, having only arrived a week before Sami had come up with the escape plan. She’d had no idea what was going on at the Bunker and had just wanted to get home to her family.

  Penelope shook her head. “They caught me three blocks out.” She ran for the computer system. “We have to open the jail cells. I promised.”

  Jax grabbed her arm and yanked her down easily. “You know CPR?”

  “She’s a doctor,” Sami confirmed, her heart aching. “Well, she had just finished medical school when Scorpius hit, so she’s as good as a doctor these days.” The woman hadn’t had any practical experience when they’d met, but she probably did now.

  “Good. Keep him alive, or I shoot you in the head.” Jax shoved Penelope down toward Tace and rose for the door, his gun out. “Which one of those vials holds the vitamin B enzyme thing?”

  Penelope shook her head. “I don’t work in the research department. No clue.” She started compressions on Tace’s chest.

  Jax cocked his gun and held it to her temple. “Get a clue.”

  She looked up, her black eyes clear. “I’m a medical doctor, kind of, and I patch soldiers up. The only time I’m on this floor is when I’m escorted into the labs to fix whatever damage these bastards have done.” She turned back and blew into Tace’s mouth, counting out compressions. “There’s a computer bank right there, and Sami is the best at what she does.” Penelope looked up. “There has to be a master code, right?”

  “I don’t know.” Sami skidded toward the computers and flipped one on. It whirred to action, and something inside her eased. “It works.” A real computer. The generators in the Bunker were phenomenal. For now, anyway.

  Penelope stopped.

  Jax turned and pointed his gun.

  “I’ll keep working on him, but you have to let me open the cells,” Penelope said, her mouth pinched.

  Sami winced and waited for the computer to boot up. “If I remember right, the experiments all wanted death.”

  “Not this time,” Penelope said, focusing on Jax. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” Jax turned for the outside door, partially opened it, and fired.

  A man screamed in pain from outside the lab.

  “Get a move on, Sami,” Jax ordered. “There are more soldiers coming.”

  A cursor blinked. Sami started typing in code. God, it was like coming home. Her fingers flew as she accessed private data, coming up against a firewall almost immediately. Lowering her chin, she started to tear it apart.

  “He’s breathing on his own,” Penelope said from behind her. “But his vitals aren’t good. No eye movements. He’s slipping, Sami. If he drops into a coma, it’s over.”

  “You know about the vitamin B rejections?” Jax asked tersely, his focus on the hallway outside.

  “Yes. I read the data early in my time here, but I haven’t treated a patient with it. In fact, I don’t think we’ve had a patient with it since months ago,” she said. “The lab techs would know more than I do about that side of the business.”

  “Fuck.” Jax stomped over to the closet and ripped it open to face the women Sami had secured. “Either of you know what the numbers of the refrigerated vials mean?”

  “No,” a woman said, crying. “We just do the data collection and don’t work with any of the samples.”

  “Great.” Jax slammed the door.

  A Bunker soldier shoved inside, shooting.

  Sami half turned in time to see Jax shoot the guy between the eyes.

  Penelope jumped up and rushed for the man. “You didn’t have to kill him.”

  “He shot at us,” Jax returned. “Get back to Tace.”

  Penelope glared and hurried back
to the downed Vanguard soldier. “I take it you’re Tace,” she murmured, feeling his wrist. “Weak but there.”

  Sami turned back to hacking the system. “I’m sorry you didn’t make it home, Penelope.” The woman came from a huge Korean family north of Los Angeles and had been desperate to return to see if anybody had survived.

  “Me too,” the young woman said. “Guess you found family?”

  “Yeah,” Sami said, typing quickly. “Well, not my family, but I guess we created our own.” Her voice clogged. She desperately needed Tace to survive, but she knew the odds. Were they about to lose another Vanguard soldier? She still missed Wyatt, but this would tear her apart. Tace, the former good old boy and the new dangerous soldier—both held her heart. “How did you get up to this floor?”

  “Somebody blew the doors wide open,” Penelope said. “I ran up the second I figured out what was going on.”

  “How many soldiers are stationed here?” Jax asked, peering outside to the hallway.

  “I don’t know. Maybe fifty?” Penelope answered.

  Tace muttered something.

  “Hold on, Tace,” Sami called.

  He fell silent again.

  She added another code, and lists unfolded on the screen. “Eureka.” She typed furiously, searching for anything to do with the vitamin B deficiency. Her breath caught, and explosions pummeled her abdomen. “Found it along with dosage. Third fridge—a yellow liquid labeled RTY78400.” Jumping up so quickly her chair shot across the room, she ran for the third refrigerator.

  Blue vials, red vials, even purple vials were inside. She scrambled through them, shoving aside a bunch of clear vials.

  “Go easy,” Penelope barked. “You have no idea what’s in some of those.”

  “Do you?” Sami shot back.

  “Yes. I’ve treated lab techs who’ve been infected by some of that stuff. They usually die,” Penelope said.

  Sami slowed down. “Okay.” She gently moved aside a bunch of green beakers. “I’m not seeing yellow.”

  “They might have stopped producing it,” Jax said. “We’re hoping for leftovers at this point.”

  Leftovers. What if they found some but the contents were spoiled or past their effectiveness date? Sami dropped to her knees and reached to the very back of the bottom shelf. Yellow. Three yellow vials. Her hand shook, but she reached for them. “RTY78400,” she murmured, reading one. No date was on the vial. What if it had gone bad and what was left would kill Tace?

  She turned to see him unconscious again. Did she really have a choice? She fumbled through drawers until she found a packaged syringe and drew out the correct cc’s from the vial. “Flip him over.”

  Penelope rapidly turned Tace and yanked down the right side of his jeans. “Here.”

  Sami handed over the syringe, and Penelope quickly injected Tace before turning him over.

  The guy didn’t move.

  Sami patted his face. “Tace? Wake up.” Her throat clogged.

  Nothing.

  The alarm suddenly shut off.

  Jax breathed out. “Either Raze has taken command of the control room, or we’ve lost enough men that the Bunker leaders no longer wanted the alarm.”

  A speaker crackled in the far right corner. “Attention, Bunker personnel. Stand down, and you’ll be escorted to the cafeteria on level B. If you resist, or if you are armed when found by Vanguard soldiers, you will be killed immediately,” Raze said over the loudspeaker.

  Jax turned and nodded at Sami. “Looks like we’re in control.”

  She shook Tace’s shoulders. “Wake up, damn it.” Tears pricked the backs of her eyes.

  Penelope jumped up and typed quickly into Sami’s screen. An image of a long corridor with metal doors came up on the screen. A man of about forty with salt-and-pepper hair ran in from a door at the far end, a gun in his hands and two Bunker soldiers behind him. “We have to open the cells,” she screamed. “They’ll kill everyone.” She pointed to a keypad next to the overlarge doors. “I don’t know the code.” Panic rippled through her voice.

  Jax turned, pointed, and fired at the keypad. Metal and keys rocketed out. The doors snicked. “Stay behind me.”

  Penelope yanked a gun from Tace’s hip and jumped up. “Hurry. They’ll kill Marcus.”

  Jax stopped cold. “Marcus?”

  Penelope shoved by him and ran for the door, ripping it open. “There are only two men in the cells. We have to save them.”

  Sami felt Tace’s pulse. Steady but not exactly strong. Yet she took her gun and followed Jax. Tace would be okay. He had to be.

  “Marcus?” Jax launched himself into motion and shoved Penelope behind him, entering the long corridor, already firing. “Sami—hack the cell doors.”

  She nodded and turned back for the computers, going to town on the nearest one. A quick schematic brought up the cell door configuration, and she hurriedly found the codes. “Are you sure?” she yelled at Jax’s retreating back.

  “Yes,” he bellowed in return.

  She typed in the code to open the doors. Then, with a quick glance at Tace, she hustled after Jax and stopped short.

  Three men faced them with guns—two soldiers in blue and the doctor.

  “We seem to be at a standstill,” Dr. Ramirez said. “Sami. How good to see you again.”

  “Leave and you live, Dr. Ramirez,” Penelope said, her voice shaking. God, he was still such a monster. Sami’s legs went weak.

  “Not a chance,” Ramirez said. “There are more soldiers behind me.”

  A metal cell door was shoved open, and then all hell broke loose. A prisoner barreled out, and Ramirez turned to fire at him.

  “No!” Penelope yelled, jumping in front of the guy. A bullet hit her bare shoulder, and blood sprayed.

  The roar that came from the man filled the hallway and sent chills down Sami’s back. She fired at Ramirez, who jumped behind the already-firing soldiers. Blood burst from Ramirez’s white coat, and he stumbled behind the soldiers, fumbling for the door behind him.

  The guy from the cell reached Penelope as she fell but didn’t touch her.

  “Marcus?” Jax’s voice shook, and his gun lowered.

  Sami fired at one of the soldiers, and he went down, his eyes wide in death. The other soldier turned and disappeared behind the doors with Ramirez.

  Sami scanned the corridor. “We have to hurry. They’re just getting backup.” She looked at Marcus. Was it really Jax’s brother?

  The guy was the same size as Jax, with brownish green eyes, similar jaw structure, and the same nose. His chest was bare with raw cuts everywhere bleeding freely. A shadow covered his jaw, and anguish his face. “Penny?” he croaked, looking at the fallen doctor, not seeming to have heard Jax.

  “Marcus.” Jax seemed frozen or in shock. His mouth dropped open, and his gun hand lowered.

  “Jax!” Penelope shoved to her feet, her shoulder aching. “We have to run.”

  Running footsteps echoed from the other side of the doors.

  A metal cell door opened, and another prisoner, this one with bandages across his shoulders, ran out and straight into Sami. Pain lanced down her arm, and she fell hard.

  He grabbed her gun and backed up. Blood matted his blond hair, and scratches covered his blistered face. He appeared to be about forty, and the expression in his eyes was haunted to the point of madness.

  “Wait. George. Stop,” Penelope whispered, reaching out to him.

  Marcus tried to step in front of her and fell to his knees. Blood poured off him to coat the cement floor.

  George looked around with wild brown eyes. Scars marred his body where it was not bandaged. He lifted the gun to his chin.

  “No!” Penelope yelled.

  George looked at her, and peace settled over his face. He smiled. “Finally.” He pulled the trigger. His brains splattered across the wall, and he fell in death, still smiling.

  Penny jerked back.

  The doors burst open.

  “Retreat
,” Jax yelled, dragging Sami up with one arm while already shooting toward the doors, his gaze remaining on Marcus.

  Penelope shoved her bleeding shoulder beneath Marcus’s arm and tried to lift him.

  “No!” he yelled, shaking to dislodge her. “You’re not infected.” His blood flowed all over her chest and the new bullet wound.

  “Run, Marcus,” she yelled, trying to drag the muscled man.

  He took a look at the soldiers opening the door, half lifted her, and ran after Jax.

  They reached the lab room and kept going.

  Jax released Sami to lean down and haul Tace over his shoulder, while Sami ran over and unlocked the closet to let out the lab techs. They all ran into the corridor just as Raze, Damon, and three other soldiers hustled up.

  “Soldiers coming—keep the computer room secure and take them out,” Jax ordered, not pausing in his stride. “Where’s the infirmary, and is it secured?”

  “One floor down to the south, and affirmative,” Raze said, yanking open the door to the computer lab. “Greyson has the control room secured in the center of floor B.”

  “Everyone move,” Jax ordered, cutting a quick glance at his bleeding brother. “We need bandages.”

  Sami kept her gun out, scanning for threats while also trying to see any improvement in Tace, who hung raggedly over Jax’s shoulder. What if she’d been too late?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  It’s not death I fear . . . I’m just not ready to leave those who need me.

  —Tace Justice

  Tace blinked and sat up with a gasp. Sami sat next to him, his hand between her two smaller ones. “Tace?”

  His body vibrated with the need to leap up and fight. “Status?” he tried to bark, but his voice came out hoarse.

  “We’re in the Bunker infirmary,” Sami said, her eyes glistening. “The command center and all of floor B is secured, while we’re still fighting on A and C.”

  Tace swallowed and shook his head, looking around. The infirmary had clean linens, antibacterial wipes, and actual rubber gloves. Compared to the infirmaries at Vanguard, the place was luxurious. “Jax?” The Vanguard leader covered the door, his back to the wall, and his focus on the bed next to Tace.