No one said much as the plane reached cruising altitude and quickly went on its way. Aisling was closing her eyes for a nap when the alarms came.
Chapter Eighteen
At first Aisling couldn’t figure out where the alarms came from. Then she realized the plane’s nose was pointed down and there didn’t seem to be anyone in the pilot’s seat. There was a crashing sound followed by a massive rush of wind.
Jones and Reece both unbuckled their belts and got up.
“Stay here, all of you.”
“I can fly,” Caradoc said as he undid his belt.
Jones put his hand on Caradoc’s shoulder. “One of these?”
Caradoc sat back down and re-buckled his seatbelt.
Reece sat in the pilot’s chair, fighting to pull the nose back up. “The pilot and co-pilot are here on the floor, both are dead.” He had to yell to be heard over the wind.
“There was a third person hiding onboard?” Maeve twisted around but since the plane had no cargo beyond them it was fairly open. If anyone had been hiding, they should have seen them when they came in. There was no one around now.
Jones had taken the co-pilot’s seat. Wind still whipping through the plane.
“Can’t we close the door? I can get up and get it.” Caradoc again started to unbuckle his belt.
“The door is gone.” Jones was flipping switches and swearing. Considering he was usually unflappable, that was a bad sign. He picked up the radio. “This is cargo liner zero-zero-five-nine, we are possibly going down.” He repeated his message twice more, the response was only static. Then he started taking apart the control panel.
From what Aisling saw, the “possibly” was wishful thinking. They’d hit cruising speed before the attack, but they were still aiming more down than up.
Jones turned back toward them. “The mage-line is fried. When we used the path, there was no more magic to support it. Either of you two elves packing any spells that might keep us airborne long enough for me to fix it?”
Aisling turned to Caradoc. He wasn’t as strong as Harlie in the magic department and he didn’t like using it. But he had more than she did. Unless there was a healing spell for a crashing plane that she didn’t know about.
This time he was reluctant to undo his belt, but it was more that he looked like he was trying to figure out what to use than anything else. The wrong spell could bring the plane down faster.
He went to the front, the little bit of magic that the plane possessed was being used to keep all of them from being sucked out the open flight door. A lot of wind still went through, but nowhere near what would happen if that shield fell completely.
Caradoc and Jones were working trying to get the magic parts of the plane back up again. Reece was keeping them from crashing, but not much more than that.
A crackle of electricity shot out of the panel and slammed Caradoc and Jones all the way to the back of the plane. Aisling and Maeve ran to them. Both were breathing, but they were also out cold.
“Secure them to this netting.” Aisling yelled as the wind grew worse. Maeve nodded and Aisling fought her way to the front. The good news was that the nose was definitely pointing up. Bad news, the shield sealing the open door was weakening, and air from the outside was already leaking in
“Are they okay?” Reece didn’t look over as he yelled, the controls on the plane were fighting back.
“Alive, but knocked out. Where is the mage-line?” Aisling didn’t know what she could do, but she was going to have to do something.
Reece pointed with his elbow toward a singed box.
Damn it. Aisling’s magic wasn’t like her brothers’. But maybe there was something. She looked around the line, it looked cut, but that could be figured later. Harlie always said thinking about things made them workable. She took a deep breath and tried channeling him.
“Think of your mother!” Reece yelled. Even this close the wind force from the missing door making speaking a yelling match.
Aisling smiled. She still had no idea what she was going to do, but at least now she’d have more power. They’d discovered that counterintuitively to what healing magic should be, hers really liked anger. And no one pissed her off more than her mother. Especially since to one degree or another she was behind everything that had been going on lately.
She was certain there was far more involved in fixing it properly, but the shield around the plane was failing and while they weren’t going down right now, neither were they going up. Aisling went old school, grabbed both ends of the cut mage-line and thought of all the crappy things her mother had done during her life. The wind pressure eased and the plane felt like it was going up, but she couldn’t stop to check. She was literally healing the mage-line as if it had been a living thing and it was taking all of her focus. She felt a presence behind her and vaguely heard Maeve ask if she could help.
She couldn’t acknowledge her. Focusing on twisting a healing magic designed for biological beings into a mechanical system was pulling everything she had. Colors, energies, light, all flowed through her. But it seemed to be doing something—at least they hadn’t crashed yet.
Aisling had no idea how long she’d been running her magic through the system when she was pried free of the mage-line by a very concerned Reece.
“The plane!” She frantically looked around.
“We’ve landed in New York. Bart has a team from his office coming to get us.” He stood back. “Can you stand?”
Aisling felt like she’d run the entire way from Los Angeles to New York. Standing would take a while. “What time is it?”
“A bit after one pm, L.A. time. We got here in less than forty-five minutes.” His gray eyes were grave. “Do you need me to help you stand?”
Aisling held out her hand. The flight should have taken them three hours. “How did we get here so fast?” She leaned harder into him than she intended. That bugger better not be sending out siren mojo, she had the energy of a wet noodle and wouldn’t be able to avoid doing something stupid.
“That’s a good question.” Reece held up one of her hands. It was covered in electrical burns—ones she didn’t feel yet, but she knew she would soon. “I’m thinking your anger at your mother could be used as a major power source.”
Aisling let him lead her off the plane. Jones and Caradoc were both conscious, sitting on cots, and arguing with the medics. Maeve ran up to her as she and Reece came down the ramp.
“You gave me a serious scare.”
“I think I gave me a serious scare. I want someone to tell me what I just did, but at the same time, I’m thinking it might be better not to know.” A medic team with a gurney came up and Reece handed her over to them.
“Take care of her. She’s got serious burns on her hands and who knows what else.” His phone buzzed before he could add more, but he definitely had a mother hen look in his eyes before he walked off.
“How are you feeling?” Maeve dodged the medics who were settling Aisling on the gurney.
“Like someone just ran the power of this entire city through me.” She looked around the medics to her brother and Jones. “They’re okay, I take it?”
Maeve rolled her eyes. “Yes. Caradoc took the heavier hit, but your brother has a head made of stone according to the medics. They want the two of them to stay for observation for a few days, that’s what the current argument is about.”
“Reece doesn’t look happy either.” He’d walked off for his phone call, but was now arguing with a short human in a dark suit.
“That’s the Area 42 second in command for this base. He and Bart aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on us staying here or not.” Maeve looked down at her. “I might have to leave you all if they can’t work this out. My people were fine with my coming in with all of you given the circumstances of what happened at LAX, but they want me in London ASAP.”
“Any clue as to what is going on? Or how someone snuck on board a secret military flight, unseen by any of us, killed the pilot and co-p
ilot, fried a bunch of tech, then jumped out of the plane? How were they killed by the way?”
Maeve stepped back as the medic team continued their work up. “No clue on most of that. But they were shot at close range. Reece thinks that they used naru guns with silencers judging by the small entry and the massive damage they did, but won’t be certain until they check ballistics.”
“We have to take her in for testing.” The first medic said as they started to move the gurney away.
“Stay with Reece as long as you can, Caradoc too if they don’t lock him up in a hospital room.” Aisling wasn’t in the mood to go for medical exams, but she could also barely close her hands, and her legs were still shaking.
“Will do.” Then Maeve was out of sight, but they were going past Caradoc and Jones. Jones was sitting on the edge of a gurney, arms folded, and a sullen look on his face. Caradoc was arguing with anyone who would listen that he was fine.
Now that she had nothing to distract her, Aisling studied the airstrip they’d landed on. And it was a strip. Only a strip, not part of an actual airport. Didn’t look military, but also not general population either.
The building she was wheeled into looked suspiciously nondescript aside from a small, closet-sized doorway to the right side that the female medic in the back darted into. The unlocking panel for the entrance to the next hall must have been in there as the doors opened wide as soon as she returned. Aisling wished Reece had followed them in so she could ask questions. The New York branch of Area 42 was supposed to be the largest of them all. At least in theory. That they might have their own secret airstrip wouldn’t be shocking. But she still had a lot of questions about all of it.
The long hall they entered turned down into a shorter one. Everything was white and well lit. “How long will it take to fix my hands?” She was pretty sure that the weakness and shaking was due to an extreme over-use of her magic. But her hands didn’t look good.
“The doctor will know,” the first medic said and the second one nodded. The second one was following behind Aisling and since they had her facing backwards, she watched her as something odd caught her eye. A weapon on the woman medic. This was most likely part of the New York branch of Area 42. They had a lot of secrets and their agents were always armed.
But who armed a medic? Even in the paranoia of the world’s most secret agency, would medics be armed? She thought about the nurses and doctors who had been in Mott’s room in the L.A. branch a few months ago. Granted, they’d only been by in passing, but like most cops, Aisling’s instincts caught when weapons were involved. And no weapons came to her memory.
This woman not only had one, a small gun outline on her right hip, but what looked like the butt-end of a larger weapon protruding from her back. Her scrubs and a sweater covered them mostly, but Aisling knew what she saw. And even though she’d been out of it when they put her on the gurney, she was pretty sure that those weapons hadn’t been there before.
The small hallway the medic darted into prior to this corridor had more than the place to release access for this part of the facility. She’d had weapons stored there.
Aisling’s brain was screaming to get out, but she didn’t think her legs were ready yet. Her hands sure as hell weren’t. Even if she could get to her gun under her jacket without setting the medic off, there was no way she could hold it.
They went through a third set of doors, then down what looked like a service corridor. If she hadn’t been suspicious before, she was now. The white and bright of the other two corridors had been replaced by service gray and minimal lighting.
“The main route was flooded when a line broke this morning, we’re going the back way.” The first medic kept looking ahead as he spoke, so he didn’t notice when the second one grabbed the gun on her right hip.
“Gun!” Aisling yelled and threw herself off the gurney.
The second medic wasn’t aiming at Aisling but shot the first one in the back of his head. He dropped.
Aisling scrambled under the gurney, but there wasn’t anywhere to hide.
The second medic grabbed her arm and jerked her up. “They don’t want you dead, but they didn’t say I couldn’t injure you. Get back on that gurney and stay still or I will shoot you.” She also reached around and took Aisling’s gun. “Just in case those hands aren’t as bad as they look.”
With a wince, Aisling raised her hands and awkwardly climbed on the gurney. No idea who this woman was working for, but either it wasn’t Area 42 or she’d been turned. The gurney continued down the service hall and into what could only be a morgue.
Chapter Nineteen
The room didn’t have a sign, but was dark and cold and had a wall of small steel doors. They weren’t supposed to kill her but they were going to lock her in a tomb? This wasn’t getting better.
“Don’t worry, this is just a stopping point. But, as we can’t have you running around, in you go. This will help keep you calm.” The medic shot her in the arm with a small needle, then nudged the gurney close to the lower door. It slid open and the platform slid out.
Aisling waited until the medic moved forward to get her onto the platform. Whatever she’d been shot with was slow acting and while she felt a vague sluggishness starting to hit her, it wasn’t moving fast enough to stop her. Yet. Aisling had never been fond of enclosed places, but after Nix buried her in a pile of rocks, she really wasn’t. Fear and anger helped her to overcome the pain and fatigue as well as what she’d been shot with. She touched the medic’s arm and focused on pain. It was the other side of her healing powers and she’d only used it a few times in her life. The darkness that flooded her as she sent pain through the healing conduit almost made her throw up.
But she was not going into that box.
The medic screamed and dropped to her knees. Aisling hung on to her, following her to the ground. She kept sending the disruptive pain until the woman finally blacked out. Then Aisling crawled to the side of the room and threw up. The feeling that accompanied doing what she just did was horrific.
Once she’d calmed her stomach, she crawled back to the unconscious woman. Whatever she’d shot Aisling with might not have knocked her out, but it did help null the pain in her hands. They still hurt like hell, but she could move things now. It was hard, she was still shaking from the magic drain and what she’d just done, but Aisling managed to take the white jacket, including her badge, off the woman, and tumble her into the body box she’d planned on holding Aisling in. The medic would have a few more bruises than she’d started out with, but she was lucky Aisling hadn’t done more. The damage she’d done with her magic wouldn’t be permanent. While some healers could inflict death through the reversal of the healing conduit, Aisling wasn’t that powerful.
She took back her gun and added the two that had been on the medic. Her hands screamed in pain with each move, but there wasn’t a choice. She was glad she could use them at all.
If there were more turned agents on the other side of that door, she needed to be able to use her hands. Healing oneself was a tricky endeavor for most healers and Aisling had never been able to do it. There wasn’t an option at this point, she only hoped that if she failed, the attempt didn’t knock her out. She stood behind the door. If someone came in, she didn’t want to be the first thing they saw.
She took a deep breath, ignored the residual shaking in it, and forced healing on the burns on her right hand. The marks slowly vanished. She slid to the floor before she finished, but she could move that hand completely now.
Fast moving footsteps coming down the corridor on the other side of the door made her forget about trying to heal the left hand. She got to her feet and had her gun out and up as the door opened.
“Damn it, here’s the gurney, but I don’t see her.” Reece ran into the morgue with his gun up. Jones was right behind him.
“I’m here.” Aisling wasn’t sure how much she could move at this point, any slight recovery from the initial over-use of magic had been totall
y wiped out by the recent events.
She must have looked as bad as she felt. Reece ran to her and held her up. “What happened?” He looked at her white coat and badge. “You’re a doctor now?”
“The woman medic is inside on that shelf. She’s still alive. She killed the other one as they came down this corridor. I took her jacket in case this was widespread. But I don’t feel good.” Everything was catching up to her and things were getting woozy. She leaned into him to stay upright.
“Let me get you back on the gurney.” He started to walk her over but Aisling had enough strength to pull back.
“Yeah, not unless I’m unconscious, if you don’t mind.”
Jones opened the box and scanned the medic. “Work’s been done on her face. The woman on that badge is a real Area 42 medic, but she was replaced at some point. We need to scan the body we found in the corridor too.”
“If she killed him wouldn’t that mean he was on our side?” Aisling shook her head at her own comment. “But he did lead us down this side corridor.”
“Which only leads to the morgue and the dumpster. He was probably working with her until she decided he wasn’t.” Jones slid the woman back in. “She’ll be okay in here. It’s been modified to keep her alive but unconscious. Or rather, to keep you that way.”
Aisling started sagging more. Whatever had been in that shot didn’t knock her out but was making it hard to focus. “She shot me with something before I took her out. I might need some help, but seriously, no more gurney rides.”
Reece put his arm around her waist and got her moving. With Jones in the lead, they left the morgue.
“How did you know to come find me?”
“Your brother. Not Caradoc, he’s still fighting with the medics. Harlie called and said something was wrong and you were missing. The medical center didn’t have you, but vid footage showed those medics taking you this way.”
They stopped at the body of the first medic. Jones scanned the man’s face, frowned and scanned again. “It looks like this one had work too, but not on the level of the woman. He only vaguely looks like the man he replaced.”
An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2) Page 15