Armageddon (7 page)

“Good girl!”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Lena glanced up and down the corridor worriedly. “Which way?”

“Up,” he responded without hesitation, heading toward the group piled around the lift tube.

There were only a half a dozen or so men waiting now, Lena saw as Dax led her a little further along the corridor. The men in the cell on the opposite side of the corridor hadn’t managed to get out. Either they’d broken the control fighting over it, or they hadn’t figured out the release code yet. One group waiting near the lift had already piled on and disappeared. The men who’d charged off in the opposite direction had also vanished from sight.

“Quiet!” Dax bellowed, his voice so commanding that all of the men within the sound of his voice instantly fell silent.

Faintly, far in the distance, Lena heard a popping sound.

“What’s that?” she whispered.

“Gunfire! Those idiots must have headed for the ground floor. Either they’ll lock down the lifts or the car will be full of guards when it comes back and they’ll be crawling all over us,” he muttered, glancing around at the ceiling as if he could see through the panels above them.

A wave of nausea went through Lena. She should’ve known it was stupid to think they could get out!

After a moment, Dax turned away from the lift and trotted down the corridor a short piece, staring up at the ventilation shaft. Without a word, he climbed the bars and began yanking and tugging at the cover. Dust and debris began to rain down in the corridor. Finally, he managed to break the cover free on one end. He turned then and held out a hand for Lena. “In here.”

Ignoring the hand he offered, Lena handed him the taser she still held, scrambled up the bars, and leaned out to grip the edge of the shaft. He ‘helped’ her as she began hoisting herself into the shaft by planting one hand in the middle of her ass and giving her

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a shove. As scared as she was, that hand did more than give her a boost by lifting some of the weight off her arms. It sent a jolt of adrenaline through her that gave her the strength to pull herself up.

She heard the scramble of feet as the prisoners waiting near the lift charged back to jockey for position to go next. The sizzle of the taser sent the smell of burning hair into the shaft behind her. A moment later, Dax appeared in the opening and clambered in behind her. “Move!” he commanded. “They’ll be on us any minute.”

The prisoners? The guards? Both? “Which way?”

“Up!”

She didn’t argue, but going up sounded as insane as going down to meet the guards waiting for them below. Without another word, she crawled down the shaft as fast as she could, pausing only when she reached the first intersection opening above her head. She stood up, then, wondering how the hell she was supposed to climb the thing.

“Use the seams to get a finger grip and brace yourself across the opening,” Dax said, almost as if he’d read her mind.

The seams? Good god!

Do or die, she reminded herself, digging her fingers into the seam just above her head and lifting one foot to brace it against the side of the vent shaft. She was sweating so profusely with effort by the time she reached the next intersection her hands and feet kept slipping. Shaking like a leaf, she parked her rump on the ledge of another intersecting shaft and struggled to catch her breath. “How far are we from the top?” she gasped out in a breathless whisper.

Dax didn’t even look up. “Three levels.”

“More?” Lena asked in dismay.

“You want to go back?”

Gritting her teeth, Lena wiped her hands on what was left of her tunic and felt around for another seam. Her heart leapt into her throat as her foot slipped along the slick inside of the shaft the moment she tried her weight against it. Dax caught her foot before she slammed it into his face, forcing her leg upward until she could plant it firmly against the shaft wall again.

Fear rode her all the way up, as she slipped over and over, clawing at the seams that were little more than bumps until her fingers began to bleed, adding to her difficulties. When she’d made it to the next intersection, she tore a strip off the bottom of the tunic and wrapped it around her fingertips, tying it. The little spots of blood seeping through the thin fabric seemed to give her a little more traction. When she paused at the next intersection, she tore off two more and wrapped the strips around her toes.

She wasn’t going to make it, she thought glumly, even while she continued to go through the motions. She was going to make a misstep somewhere and slam into Dax and take them both down.

It became a litany pounding in her skull as she struggled on and on, ignoring the shaking in her muscles at the fear and strain. She was ready to admit defeat by the time she’d finally reached another intersection. “I don’t think I can do much more of this.” In fact none.

“We’re there.”

Lena blinked, her head popping up automatically as she glanced toward the top of the shaft. She couldn’t see anything but more shaft and then a blockage of some kind.

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“We are?” she asked doubtfully.

“Wait here.”

Lena moved further back into the horizontal shaft as Dax climbed past her. She watched him until he reached the end. Bracing himself carefully, he began kicking at the piece blocking the top of the shaft. She’d just begun to think he couldn’t get the leverage he needed to knock the thing loose when it fell to one side and a gust of air whipped past her, freezing the sweat on her skin. Before she could blink, Dax was over the side and out of her sight.

“Dax?” she called in a quaky, frightened voice.

He leaned over the opening, holding a hand down. “Come on, baby girl.”

Lena’s chin wobbled. Abruptly, all she could think of was that she wanted Morris. He’d always made everything alright. She needed Morris and he was gone. He was never going to be there for her again.

“Just a little further. Come on.”

Swallowing with an effort, Lena scrubbed a hand across her eyes to dry the tears that had puddled in them and moved shakily to enter the shaft again. Her heart seemed to stand still in her chest as she looked down.

“Don’t look down! Look at me!”

Too late! She didn’t think she could’ve made it this far if Dax hadn’t been behind her all the way, blocking her view of the miles of shaft below her, giving her the reassurance that he was there to catch her.

Never mind that she hadn’t actually believed he would, that she’d been afraid the whole time that if she fell she was going to take both of them down.

She needed the illusion of safety he’d given her.

“Lena! Get your ass up here!” Dax bellowed abruptly.

Stiffening her spine, still quaking like a leaf, Lena moved into the shaft and began struggling upward again. A jolt went through her when she felt a hand brush one shoulder. He caught her arm as she slipped, heaving upward. She managed to grip one side of the top edge. Her feet sought traction, slipped and she pedaled upward. Relief so potent it made her absolutely limp went through her when she tumbled to the roof in Dax’s arms.

She didn’t really have a chance to enjoy the sense of security, though. He pushed her off almost at once and got to his feet. More slowly, wondering what they were going to do now, Lena gathered herself into a ball and looked around to see what he was doing.

Without hesitation, he loped across the roof to what looked like a water tower, or perhaps some sort of electrical maintenance box. After feeling around the thing for a handful of moments, he pulled a small object from it. Glancing upward, he went still, as if waiting.

Lena looked up too. She could see nothing but blackness, the slightly paler black of clouds against the night sky and winking stars.

As she watched, however, one star seemed to detach itself from the others and shoot downward.

“Make it quick!” Dax muttered, drawing her attention.

It took more of an effort to push herself to her feet than she’d thought it would, Lena discovered as she gathered herself and tried to stand. She managed to get to her knees, wobbled for a moment and then, dragging in a deep breath, stood. Even with her

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legs braced apart, she almost fell down again when she looked up at the bright spec of light shooting toward them.

Staggering, catching her balance with an effort, she glanced at Dax questioningly.

“We’ve got company,” he growled warningly. “Quit fucking around and get down here!”

Lena felt her jaw go slack. Who was he talking to, she wondered blankly? The warning ‘company’ hit her right between the eyes just then, however, and she whirled to look around the roof for the threat as Dax charged across the roof toward a boxy looking protrusion.

He’d barely reached it when a door opened in one side, disgorging guards. Four men carrying automatics charged past him without seeing him, heading straight for her.

She didn’t wait to see anything else. Letting out a shriek, she whirled and ran.

“Get down!”

Lena reacted instantly to Dax’s bellowed command, slamming into the roof top and plastering herself against it even as the scream of laser blasts filled the air above her head. Cringing, without any place to run to even if she was near enough to reach any kind of shelter, she covered her head with her hands. Around her, she heard yells, the sizzle of the taser, laser blasts, and then above that, drowning out all of the other noises, the shrill whine of an engine. Heat seared her, blown away from her almost before it touched her by a hard blast of air.

Pulling her hands from her head when the sounds of battle diminished, Lena turned her head first one way and then the other to see what was happening. Hovering just above the roof ledge was an enormous deep space craft. A dozen men had spilled from the gang way extending from it and were running across the roof. The four guards she’d seen, like her, were plastered face down on the roof, their arms above their heads.

Dax knelt beside her and hauled her to her feet. “That’s our ride.”

Stunned, Lena got up with an effort and allowed him to lead her across the roof toward the waiting craft.

“Bring them,” Dax yelled above the roar of the ship’s engines. At once the soldiers prodded the guards to get on their feet, herding them toward the gangplank with the tips of their guns.

“Hustle it!” Dax barked as everyone began pouring on board again, his hand tightening around Lena’s arm as he pulled her to one side to allow them to pass.

Still stunned and bewildered by the turn of events, Lena stood docilely beside him, trying to figure out how it was that a ship had been waiting for them. The troops filed in, disappearing down a narrow gang way and through an air lock. The whir of the gang plank being retracted caught Lena’s attention, and she turned, watching as it disappeared into a crevice, like a tongue into a mouth, and the outer door closed.

“The prisoners have been secured, Captain Morris,” said a male voice.

Lena’s head snapped around so quickly a bone in her neck cracked. A shockwave washed over her as she stared at Dax in wide eyed disbelief. “Morris?”

He turned to look down at her. His blue eyes were as cold as ice. “Good. Take this … abomination down to Mel. When she’s patched it up, secure it in the brig. We’ll see what information we can get out of it.”

Abomination? It?

One shock after another rolled over Lena, making it impossible to do anything but

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gape at Dax. She didn’t even try to resist when someone seized her arm and led her away.

* * * *

An unaccustomed sense of doubt plagued Dax as he watched the guards escort Lena below. The problem was that reason and instinct were in conflict where she was concerned. Statistically speaking, they’d discovered that the gov had a 1-0 batting average when it came to replacing people with their cloned copies, which made it highly unlikely that Lena had escaped the fate planned for her.

On a gut level, everything in him was telling him she was
the
Lena, the one and only.

Tamping the vague sense of uneasiness plaguing him, he strode briskly along the gangway and climbed the tube to the bridge.

“Captain on deck!” an enthusiastic recruit announced the moment he appeared through the opening, clicking his heels smartly and saluting.

Discipline was necessary to form an army that was worth it’s salt, but Dax wasn’t particularly enthused about the rigid ceremony of the traditional army, partly because it made him uncomfortable since he wasn’t regular army, and partly because it reminded him too much of the people he’d come to despise.

Nevertheless, he returned the salute.

“Captain! It’s good to have you back in one piece--sir!” Rodriguez said as he spied Dax.

“It’s good to be back in one piece,” Dax responded somewhat dryly.

Rodriguez grinned, relaxing when he saw that Dax didn’t mean to stand on ceremony, but shook his head. “We’d begun to worry you wouldn’t be able to pull it off.”

Dax glanced at his pilot speculatively a moment before he turned his attention to the map the navigator had pulled up. “How much did you lose?” he asked, his voice tinged with amusement.

Rodriguez chuckled. “Naw, man! I won! I told them you’d have her out by the end of the week.”

Dax nodded, but his amusement vanished as he focused on the screen. “Plot an evasive course to this point.”

The navigator glanced at him sharply. “She’s carrying?”

“We have to assume she is. Either that was the most incompetent sons-of-bitches ever brought together in one place, or we’ve been set up.”

* * * *

Lena was scarcely aware of the sights and sounds of moving along a narrow corridor and through one air lock after another, climbing down a tube, traversing yet another corridor. Throughout most of it, her mind was pure chaos.

It wasn’t until she’d been shoved down on a gurney and strapped to it that she even began to emerge from the shock and by then it was too late. A woman approached her, stabbed a needle into her arm and almost at once she began to drift away.

Light was flicked into her eyes. Someone grabbed her eyelid, turned it inside out.

“This isn’t the clone,” a woman’s voice said sharply.

‘Abomination’ suddenly made sense, but Lena didn’t have the chance to muddle through why it made sense or what difference it might make to her. Her sight dimmed

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and the sounds around her dulled and finally flickered out.

“She’s out,” Mel muttered. “Let’s get her cleaned up. She’s such a mess, poor thing, I can’t tell where she’s hurt. Wait! The Captain said to scan her first for a locator.”

A tech moved a scanner into position and keyed in the command. Slowly, so slowly it was hard to detect the movement of the thing, the machine began its trek down her body. Mel moved to the screen, frowning. “Her vitals look a little shaky. I’m seeing borderline malnutrition and dehydration. Tom! Get a needle in her and start a drip. Let’s see if we can’t get her plumped up a bit.”

When she saw him swipe her arm and insert the needle, she returned her attention to the scan read out. “Somebody beat the hell out of her, and more than once from the looks of it. Looks like she’s got fractures everywhere. We’d better take care of those first--assuming we don’t find anything internal that takes priority--bath next and then we’ll have a look at the cuts and see if any of them need sealing.”

They would’ve missed the locator if it had been left to the human eye to catch.

The scanner paused, however, when it reached her chest, setting off an alarm as it pinpointed what looked like little more than a black speck near her spine. Drawing the scanner back, they released the restraints and rolled her over. Using a micro-viewer, Mel removed the tiny sensor carefully and used a laser to close the wound.

Dropping the locator into a metal receptacle, she left her assistants to turn Lena over again and moved to the com. “We got one, Captain.”

“Make sure it’s only one, and not just a decoy.”

“Sneaky bastards. We’ll start another scan.”

The scanner had located five more by the time it reached her feet. Mel was already starting to feel fatigued and she hadn’t even gotten to patching yet. Dropping the last locator in with the others, she glanced up and saw Dax on the other side of the viewing window. “I think that’s got it. Tom, get the laser out and start on those fractures--not her face, though. I’ll take care of that when I get back.”

Scooping the locators into one hand, she headed out of the surgery. “Six all together. They knew we’d come after her,” Mel said grimly, opening her palm.

Dax barely glanced at her. “I thought it was too easy.”

A faint smile curled her lips. “You thought that was easy?” she murmured, but then frowned. “She isn’t the clone.”

That comment caught his full attention. He glanced at her sharply. “You’re sure?”

Mel sighed. “Almost a hundred percent. All the others had a code in the eyelid.

Unless they decided it was too risky.... My money’s on her being the real deal, though.

She’s got fractures from head to toe. They beat the hell out of her, repeatedly, and I just can’t imagine they’d risk that much ‘realism’ if they wanted to make a plant. I don’t know how she even managed to climb out of that fucking hell hole.”

A speculative frown drew Dax’s brows together. “You don’t think that points to the likelihood that she’s a clone? You think she bested the one they sent for her, managed to live through their interrogation tactics,
and
climbed that shaft and she’s human?”

Mel shrugged. “People can do amazing things given the right incentive.”

Dax’s lips tightened. “And yet all my father, or her brother, could talk about was

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how fragile she was,” he pointed out.

Mel turned to study the young woman through the viewing window. “Morris loved her. Her brother loves her. Men are inclined to think women are weak anyway.

Maybe she’s got a lot more strength than they give her credit for.”

“And maybe she’s a fucking clone.”

Anger surged through Mel. “Suit yourself, but I don’t buy it.” Catching his hand, she slapped the locators into his palm. “You didn’t say what you wanted me to do with these.”

He closed his hand around the tiny bits of electronics.

“I need to check you out, too. Looks to me like your face stopped a few fists.”

“Later. Right now I’m going to get rid of the stench of prison.”

Irritation washed over Mel as she watched him go, but after a moment she dismissed it. Maybe he was right. She didn’t think he was, but she supposed she was inclined to hope for the best. It was hard to accept that
they--
whoever they were--could simply replace people at will and nothing could be done to stop the bastards.

“Is there a point to this?” Tom muttered without sparing more than a glance in Mel’s direction as she returned.

Anger washed over her. “Give me the damn laser!” she snapped. When he’d handed it to her, she glared at him. “Yes, there’s a point. Until and unless we find out otherwise, this is a human being and she needs care.”

Tom stepped back. “She was riddled with the things. You think they planted them on her without her knowledge? Even if she’s human, and not a clone, she’s on the wrong side if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you!” Mel snapped, uncertain of why she felt so protective of Lena but unwilling to examine it. “Look at the drug readouts and if you still haven’t figured out how they managed to get the implants into her without her knowledge, go take a fucking refresher course on medicine, ok?”

Tom glared back at her, but after a moment he merely moved out of her way, studying the read outs while Mel finished mending the multitude of tiny fractures she located.

The bastards had been using her for a punching bag, Mel thought angrily.

Whatever Dax thought about it, and she knew the clones were stronger and healed better than ‘real’ humans, she still didn’t think they would’ve gone so far to convince them Lena was authentic. The clones cost money, big money, and regardless of how miraculous their research was, it would have to take a lot of time to generate that much tissue--right down to every little hair follicle.

When she’d finished, every muscle in her body was aching, but she felt euphoric.

Lena’s face was going to look as good as new once the minor cuts healed. After running another scan to make certain she hadn’t missed anything, she moved away from the gurney, watching critically as Tom and her other assistant, Risa, cleaned the young woman up. When they’d finished, she moved up once more and examined each cut carefully, using the laser to seal the worst of them.

She wasn’t nearly as happy once she was done, though, and she remembered Dax had ordered that Lena be taken and secured in the brig. They were holding four guardsmen in the cell already. She wouldn’t have bet her next meal that they’d leave Lena in peace to heal.

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Shrugging, she stalked to the com unit and summoned a couple of troopers. “Take her to the captain’s quarters.”

The two men exchanged a glance. “We were told we were supposed to take her to the brig,” one finally responded.

Mel waved that away. “I just talked to Captain Morris.”

Shrugging, the men moved to each end of the gurney and guided it out of the surgery.

Mel had mixed feelings as she watched them leave. She dismissed her qualms. If Dax wanted to send her down to the brig, he could tell them. She wasn’t about to, not when she’d just spent the last two hours patching her up.

Dax hadn’t returned. She wasn’t surprised. She’d known even when she suggested he let her check him out that nothing short of a gun to his back was going to get him into her infirmary.

Dismissing Tom and Risa, she removed her steriles as she moved to the com unit.

“Captain Morris?”

She leaned against the wall while she waited for a response. She was just wondering if he meant to ignore her when his voice broke the silence. “Yes?”

“I’m done. You want a report now? Or can it wait?”

“I’ll be right down.”

Shrugging, Mel found a stool and plopped down on it, her thoughts veering off abruptly to Lena’s brother. Nigel wasn’t going to take it well if he found out they’d rescued Lena’s clone instead of his sister, Lena.

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