Until Time Stands Still (21 page)

            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.

            “Yup”

            “Go check it out.” He said. “If we need to adjust the plan, let me know.” He tapped on the door in code and Chloe let him in. They were crowded around the computer watching everything while Will was doing some geek thing with the ‘puter.

            “How we doing in here?”

            “Better than I expected.” Will said honestly. “I’ve locked most of the power grid down to only essentials where our people are. The backup generator and alarms kicked on, but that’s on a separate system for a reason, and I can’t do much about it from here.”

            “Mykel, you guys need backup?” Graham asked.

            “It would be a big help if you can tell me where Isabelle is hiding out.” He said. “We’ve been searching room to room, trying not to get caught. Our luck won’t hold forever.”

            “We can’t track her with the nanites devices without using too much juice on the computers. If we can track her, so can anyone else.” Will explained to Mykel. “You’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.”

            “I’m beginning to think this was a bad plan.” Nadia piped up.

            Graham glared at her. “Shut it. We’re trying to save all our lives. Be thankful, woman.”

            “You’re just standing around.” She pointed out, sticking her tongue out at him.

            He narrowed his eyes at her. “Would you rather stay here and be a breeder for someone else who won’t treat you as well as I would? Cause your attitude stinks, and I’d rather leave you here than put up with your whining the rest of my life.”

            “Fine!” She snapped, glaring at him. “I should have killed you when I had the chance!” She hissed.

            “Baby, you never had a chance at that.” He said, laughing.

            “You’ll have that scar forever.” She said, pointing to the head wound she gave him.

            “So what else is new? A scar is just a scar…you didn’t even hit me hard enough to knock me out. My life was never in any danger from you.” He snorted.

            “I hate you.” She snarled.

            “Stay or go. The choice is yours.” He said, crossing his arms. “But you should know if you stay here, life will be very hard for you after we go. They will use whatever means necessary to extract information from you about today. It would be wise of you to check the attitude and just come with us. If you do come with me, you better start respecting me, Nadia, because I’ve never done anything to deserve your bitch fest.”

            She paled, and didn’t say a word. She just nodded.