Lingering discord, p.20
Lingering Discord, page 20
Amir followed him out on to the hall. “What do you need?” Did Alexander have some secret plan to save Lucas?
“You remember the ships?” Alexander asked. “Well, we had made a condition that the ships are to be returned to Nishati before Lucas is handed over. Thaxter has agreed to it as well.”
Amir frowned. “You want me to destroy them once they’re in Nishati?”
“Destroy them, dismantle them, whatever, just make sure he can’t use them. I heard it took him seven years to build them the first time. I want to make sure it will take just as long to rebuild them.”
“Why?” Amir asked.
“Because we don’t know if the tech he uses to stabilise Aitheras can be reversed,” Alexander explained. “I’d just like to ensure that he won’t be able to go back on the terms once he has Lucas.”
Amir nodded. It made sense. “I’ll do that,” He paused. “I remember you saying once that you’d rather let everyone die than let Thaxter have Lucas,” He kept his eyes somewhere over Alexander’s shoulder. “What changed?”
“I realised there were a few people I cared for,” Alexander said, almost a sigh. “I’m sorry, Amir.”
He walked away and Amir went back to the room, where Lucas and Zain still were. He looked at them both. “I don’t like this,” he said.
“I know,” Zain said. “Honestly, I don’t like it either. But it’s not like we have a choice, Amir. We’re out of time.”
Amir moved and hugged Zain. His heart sped up, but he ignored it, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, the pain keeping him grounded. “Come back, safely,” he said.
Zain hugged him back. “I plan to,” he said.
Amir turned to Lucas. “I wish you weren’t going, but I understand.” He paused. “I’ll keep an eye on Niek.”
Not that he needed to with Alexander there. Even Amir couldn’t deny just how much the man cared for Niek. Yet, there was nothing else he could tell Lucas, no other comfort he could offer.
Lucas nodded. “Just take care of yourself as well,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
Amir wished he could believe that.
“H
ow long must we wait?” Lucas muttered, moving about restlessly.
“An hour at the most,” Alexander said, and Lucas was grateful he didn’t make any smartass remarks.
They were in one of the many underground bunkers is Aeras which Thaxter had chosen for the exchange to take place. Alexander could guess why. There was no way Thaxter wouldn’t have guessed he would be here. Alexander examined the spike gun in his hand. He had told Thaxter that if he saw even the shadow of a law enforcement officer, he would spike Lucas and throw him in a cryo chamber. The threat seemed to have worked. Of course, Thaxter didn’t know they didn’t have any more cryo chambers. Lucky them.
“Kanye is certain it has worked?” Lucas asked again.
Alexander rolled his eyes. “How many times will you ask the same thing? He is certain. You heard him yourself. You talked to him yourself.”
“And Thaxter cannot undo this or cause any more damage to Aitheras?”
“He cannot undo it,” Alexander said. “We have nine years. And why the hell should he want to damage Aitheras?”
“Spite,”
“He won’t,” Alexander said. “Because his ships are permanently out of commission. It takes years to build new ones, so there’s no chance of him trying anything.”
“But how? I thought you said it was not possible.”
“He stores the ships in Nishati,” Alexander said. “You remember that we insisted that the ships had to be put away. Well, you know what Amir can do in Nishati. Those ships are scattered all over in so many pieces he can never use them again.”
“Why did you do that?” Lucas asked.
“We had to make certain that he has as much at stake in keeping Aitheras stable as we do,” Alexander shrugged. Was that so difficult to understand?
“And Zain is unhurt?” Lucas asked, after a moment’s thought.
“Let us hope so.”
They had evacuated the facility in Prith as soon as Zain was handed over and Alexander had transported them to another of his safe houses. Alexander could understand Lucas’ worry. Zain had sounded fine when they had talked to him earlier, but there was no telling if he was pumped full of drugs.
“So, once they are here, they will release Zain and I will go to them.”
“That’s the plan,” Alexander said.
It wasn’t his plan, but Lucas didn’t need to know that. Alexander wasn’t in favour of this plan in any case, so they had no call to blame him for taking steps of his own. It was fortunate that Amir was only too eager to fall in with his plans of destroying the ships. That meant that his plan would not put anyone in danger. Well, they were already in danger, and his plan wouldn’t add to that.
“A vehicle is approaching,” Quinn informed them.
“Visuals please, Quinn.” Alexander said.
The holographic image of a hover car approaching appeared inside the bunker. It stopped near a tree, and Zain got down from it, accompanied by Toshi and Rishabh Verma. Thaxter wasn’t there.
“We’re here,” Toshi spoke, looking around.
“That’s our cue,” Alexander said as the image disappeared. Lucas nodded, looking pale and haggard all of a sudden.
Alexander climbed the ladder set on the wall, followed by Lucas. Once they were above ground, they could see the three men standing there.
“All right,” Alexander said softly. “You have to walk towards them, and Zain will come towards me.”
“I know what to do,” Lucas said.
“Here,” Alexander slipped his spike gun into Lucas’ pocket. “Take them down if you get the chance.”
“And then what? Escape?”
Alexander slipped a communicator into his pocket. “If you do, call me.”
“You do know they’ll search me,” Lucas said.
“Check your pockets,” Alexander said softly.
Lucas sucked in a breath. “They’re gone.”
“Quinn will put them back once they’ve searched you. Take them out and escape. Quinn has set up a teleportation blocker near their vehicle, so they won’t be able to get away, or get reinforcements. Unlike what they usually use, mine prevents people from teleporting in.”
“Thaxter will be watching,” Lucas said, looking like someone had hit him on the head.
“We’ll worry about that once those two are down.”
Alexander hoped Toshi would understand. It had to look real. If Thaxter was watching, which he probably was, it had to seem realistic.
Lucas started walking, his steps slow, and Zain started coming towards them.
“There’s an erupter inside Mr. Baako,” Quinn said in his ear. “It has a tracker.”
The bastards.
“When is it supposed to go off?”
“It can be detonated remotely,” Quinn said.
The smart bastards. All they needed to do was wait till Zain was with the others. They would have kept their end of the bargain, but the Resistance would be gone.
“Can you jam the signals?”
“Perhaps for fifteen minutes,” Quinn said.
“Do it when Lucas makes his move.”
Fifteen minutes wasn’t probably enough time to remove the erupter from Zain, but he was going to try. Zain reached them before Lucas had got to the other side.
“Take us to the bunker, Quinn,” Alexander murmured as he took Zain’s arm. “Make sure that signal is jammed and give me a message.”
The bunker walls were a welcome sight and he pushed Zain on to a chair.
“What signal?” Zain asked. He looked groggy. “What are you talking about?”
“There’s an erupter in you,” Alexander said. “Quinn, scan and locate.”
“Chest, near to the heart,”
Zain went deathly pale. Alexander swore. It was beyond his skill and Quinn’s.
“Do we have an advanced medical bot, Quinn?”
“The one you had Dr. Rodd build for you when you quit the company,” Quinn said. “Just in case of emergencies.”
“Get it,” Alexander said. “We have to get that erupter out.”
“How did they get it inside me without me knowing?” Zain asked, still pale.
“I would assume they injected it into you after drugging you.”
A small robot appeared.
“The signal is jammed,” Quinn said.
“You know what to do, Quinn,” Alexander said, as he swiped his fingers across the medical bot’s programming.
“Lie down, Zain,” he said, pointing to the medical table that had appeared. Zain did. The medical bot injected a sedative into him and Alexander turned around, not wanting to watch. Lucas appeared in front of him.
“Quinn got me out. I did manage to take them down, but Verma took down your blocker, and Defenders started appearing. We’re going to be overrun soon.”
Alexander frowned, trying to come up with something to get them out of the situation. If Zain wasn’t incapacitated, it would have been an easy task, but as it was, they couldn’t leave till the erupter was out.
“What’s wrong with Zain?” Lucas asked, fear lacing his tone.
“There’s an erupter with a tracker inside his chest. We have around seven minutes to get it out. After that, they could detonate it remotely.”
Lucas licked his lips. “What do I do?”
Alexander handed him a disintegrator and a spike gun, and took a tranq gun and an erupter. “Hold them at bay,”
“There are too many of them,” Lucas said. “We can’t hold them off.” He paused. “Why aren’t they teleporting in?”
“Because Quinn has activated a stasis field around as soon as you were inside. It prevents teleportation in or out.”
“So, we’re stuck too,”
“We’re stuck anyway,” Alexander said, gesturing towards Zain.
“You know they only want me,” Lucas said.
“They’re not going to have you,” Alexander said calmly. “If I’ve to choose between sacrificing you or Zain, I’ll sacrifice him in a heartbeat. You’re a weapon, Lucas, and I’ll be damned if I let Thaxter have you!”
Lucas punched him. It was unexpected, not giving him time to move. It would probably have knocked out a normal person.
“What the fuck, Lucas!” Alexander could feel his split lip healing, and he used the back of his hand to wipe the blood away.
Lucas’ spike gun was trained on him. “I’m going, Alexander,” he said. “And you won’t stop me. I won’t put Zain in danger.”
Alexander sighed. He had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but he had no choice.
“I’m sorry, Lucas,” he said. “I cannot let them have you, no matter what. But if you want to sacrifice yourself for Zain, I will give you the chance. Now, Quinn!”
A tiny bot the size of a mosquito appeared at Lucas’ side, and it thrust something into his neck before disappearing.
“What?” Lucas felt his neck. “What was that?”
“It’s a prototype developed by Selwood Corp,” Alexander said quietly. “It acts slowly, so you have time to walk out and surrender yourself, thereby buying us time. What it does is to replicate the conditions of a cryo chamber on your body.”
“So, I’ll be frozen,” Lucas said. “For ever.”
“I’m afraid so,” Alexander said.
“What about when Niek finds out?”
“He won’t,” Alexander said. “No one will. As I said, I’m sorry.”
“Were you going to use this on me if my escape attempt had failed?”
“Naturally,” Alexander said. “You didn’t think I was going to let Thaxter have you and your formula, did you?”
“That’s why you had Amir destroy the ships,” Lucas said softly.
“I had to make sure Thaxter won’t undo what he did once he lost his prize.”
Lucas looked at the still unconscious Zain. “Tell him goodbye from me,” He hesitated. “And take care of Niek.”
“I will,” Alexander said.
Lucas thrust out his hand. “Goodbye,”
Alexander took it. “Goodbye, Lucas.”
“Funny thing is, I can’t even blame you,” Lucas said, before letting go of Alexander’s hand and walking out.
“Quinn, remove the stasis field and once he’s outside, put it back. Tell me when they have taken him.”
He wasn’t taking any chances. He looked at Zain, still out from the sedative and the medical bot which had now inserted a small tube-like thing into his chest, and sighed. He had been hoping to surprise Niek, but it was not to be.
T
he babies were asleep and Isabel wanted so desperately to go to sleep herself. She hadn’t been sleeping well, but try as she might, sleep refused to come.
At least, the world’s not ending anymore.
She shouldn’t feel relieved about that, considering that Lucas had to sacrifice himself for it, but she couldn’t help it. The world wasn’t ending, and her babies were safe. Reasons enough to be happy, except on most days she felt as if she could never smile again.
“Call me if they wake, Quinn,” she whispered as she stepped out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. Perhaps a walk would help. It couldn’t hurt anyway, could it?
“Isabel,” George was coming towards her. As he neared her, she noticed that he looked haggard and worried.
“What happened?” she asked.
“He left,” George said. “Alexander. The bastard just left. He left me a message . . . something about wanting to keep Niek and Paige safe, and about not wanting them to be involved in the Resistance . . .”
Isabel swallowed, feeling as if she was rooted to where she stood. It felt as if the world was rushing past and she was not able to catch up with it.
“I see,” was what came out of her mouth.
It shouldn’t have affected her so much, but it did. She was angry, angry not because he left but because he gave so little thought to his sons.
His sons whom she had named after her dead husband’s family members.
But they are still his sons!
He wanted to protect Niek and Paige from life as part of the Resistance. What about Diego and Julen? Didn’t they deserve the same?
“I’m sorry,” she said, because, she was, for George.
“No, don’t be,” George muttered. “It’s not as if I could have gone with him even had he asked. He knew I wouldn’t have gone with him.”
“He still could have asked,” she said.
George smiled, but it was a bitter smile. “He said he loved me.”
“Oh, George,” Isabel whispered, her heart wrenched at the despair she heard in his voice.
“I . . . I wanted to tell you first,” George said softly. “About his leaving, and Isabel . . . if you or the kids need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, okay?”
“You don’t have to take his place,” she said quietly.
“Oh, I know,” he said. “And it’s not for him, it’s just . . . your sons deserve better than to be abandoned by their father . . .”
This time, it was her smile that was bitter. “It wasn’t like he ever wanted them . . . it wasn’t even his choice . . . they were always more mine than his anyway.”
George patted her on the shoulder. “Take care of them, and of yourself. I’ve to tell Zain about how our host just left us.”
“But Quinn is here,” she said.
“He said he was leaving Quinn as well,” George said. “A gift for Amir.”
“Oh,” Isabel said, understanding why George sounded so devastated. If he left Quinn, it meant that Alexander wasn’t planning to come back.
She stood there, outside her door for a full fifteen minutes after George had left, her thoughts chasing each other in her head. She didn’t blame him for wanting to protect Niek and Paige, but why didn’t he care enough for Diego and Julen? They were his sons and Niek and Paige were not his blood. How could he care more for them than for his own sons? Even if it was not his choice, it wasn’t their fault. He had never behaved as though he hated her either.
What about her? And George? Didn’t she merit even a good bye? She had thought they were friends. She felt a sob rise in her throat and she stifled it. Hadn’t she lost enough people already? Alexander might not be her lover or her husband, but he was still the father of her children and her friend. How could he just have left without a word?
He left George, and he loves him.
At least he’d left George a message. His own sons didn’t even merit that. She was aware of tears just waiting to overwhelm her. She wanted nothing more than to give in. She straightened her spine. She wouldn’t go to pieces. She’d survived losing Raul and Kaylee, and this was nothing compared to that. She wiped her cheeks and went back in her room where she crawled on to her bed. She lay on her side, curling up into a foetal position, drawing a pillow close. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to stop them or wipe them off. She needed the relief they brought, no matter how illusory. She would cry, but this wouldn’t break her. She couldn’t let it. This was nothing.
“Fuck you, Alexander!” she whispered before the tears completely overcame her.
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G
eorge sat down wearily on his bed. He had attempted, as had Zain and Amir, to find Alexander, but to no avail. The bastard was just too good at hiding. They had even tried to track him using Quinn, but somehow every blood and DNA detail that Quinn had were erased from his memories. Lucas had had a sample of his blood, but Lucas was in Thaxter’s custody. He must have proved more resilient that they had thought, because there were no more new Elite yet.
