Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA

by Conway, Melissa

She carefully removed her finger from the trigger and nudged Curtis in the shoulder with the shotgun. “There’s a room on the other side of that wall, isn’t there?”

  “No,” he said, but his voice was weak and he looked like he was about to burst into tears. Bryn was pretty sure he was lying.

  Dillo had been keeping an eye on the situation outside the prefab, but he shut the door with a distinct click and turned his full attention to Fournier. “You’ve got three seconds to tell us how to get out of here, or I begin shooting off important body parts.”

  Fournier waited until Dillo began counting before saying, “Bryn’s right. The wall opens onto an escape route.” He looked at Curtis and jerked his head towards the wall.

  Curtis started to get up, but Bryn was suddenly not so sure. Fournier had to know Maddy would kill him as soon as she was free. He seemed almost eager for them to open the wall.

  “Hold on,” Bryn said. “I think it’s a trap. They’re waiting on the other side.”

  Maddy stared at her a moment and then nodded. “I agree. If it seems too good to be true, it generally is.”

  She turned to Curtis. “You are extraneous unless you can come up with a solution to get us out of here safely. No, don’t look at your boss; he can’t help you.”

  Bryn almost felt sorry for the man as he considered his options. He only had a few seconds to live if he didn’t cooperate with Maddy, but if he did and Maddy failed to escape, Fournier would certainly kill him for his betrayal. It all depended on whether Curtis knew of a surefire way for them to escape.

  From the look on his face, he didn’t.

  Maddy sighed, but before she gave Dillo the order to kill him, Bryn said, “Wait. I know what we can do.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Alton came up alongside Scott as he placed two fingers against the carotid artery in Lupus’ throat. Under the blood-stained orange coverall, the big man’s chest was still.

  “Who was that?” Scott asked.

  “Mad Eye soldier.”

  In the back of the truck, Shasta had finally given up on CPR efforts for Bob. She was still on her knees, looking exhausted and defeated. Scott met her eyes and shook his head.

  “Leave him,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Scott had no compunctions about leaving Lupus where he lay, but there was the matter of the fourth xeno, who stood by the truck with his hands in the air.

  Alton turned his rifle around and said, “I got this.” Scott watched impassively as Alton brought the barrel down alongside the xeno’s head. The man dropped like a stone. Scott wasn’t sure the blow was enough to knock him unconscious, but either way, he was smart enough to stay down.

  Scott and Alton jumped into the back of the truck. After slamming the doors, Scott stepped over Bob’s legs and made his way through the people crowded inside until he reached the driver’s seat. Water from the sprinklers still rained down over the windshield. It prevented him from seeing very far into the lobby, but also kept the xenos from seeing that he and the others were about to make a break for it.

  Shasta lifted the bird cage from the passenger seat and passed it to someone before sitting next to Scott. He shifted into gear, turned on the headlights, and pulled forward. He expected the xenos to open fire again, but they didn’t. When he flipped on the windshield wipers, he saw why they hadn’t bothered and slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded a little on the wet tile, but came to a stop about fifteen yards from the busted out front doors – and the human barrier there.

  The xenos had lined up bodies from one end of the lobby to the other. To get the truck out of the building, Scott would have to drive over them.

  “They’re dead,” Shasta said grimly. “Go!”

  It was a deep moral outrage and the xenos must have been counting on it to at least slow them down, but Shasta had given him a direct order, so he grit his teeth and shifted into gear. Then Alton leaned between the seats, wearing Bob’s discarded vest. He thrust a hand over her shoulder and pointed. “That one’s not dead. She’s tied up.”

  The woman in question lifted her head a little. She was gagged and her eye makeup was smeared, if not from the sprinklers then from her tears. It was the XIA receptionist. Scott found he couldn’t remember her name, but she’d always smiled and greeted him cheerfully.

  “That one’s not dead either,” Alton said, pointing farther down the line.

  “Damn it!” Shasta reached into the front of her suit jacket and removed her pistol from its holster. “We’ll to have to attempt a rescue. Harding, drive the truck up to the prisoners. Alton, you’re with me.”

  “No, you drive,” Scott said. “I have a vest and I’m stronger than you.”

  For a moment, it looked as if Shasta was going to rip into him for countermanding her order, but she said, “Go! Check all the bodies. I’ll pull forward slowly.”

  She took the driver’s seat as soon as he vacated it and waited until he and Alton were at the back doors. Then she drove close to the line of bodies and turned parallel to the first of them.

  Alton cracked one of the doors so Scott could reach around it and blindly lob the third of his four grenades towards the elevator alcove. Immediately after the blast, the fire sprinklers shut off. Scott didn’t stop to wonder why; he jumped out, and using the truck as cover, began to check the bodies for signs of life. After he and Alton verified the first two were dead, it occurred to him that the xenos hadn’t fired so much as a shot.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said. “They aren’t doing anything.”

  Alton squatted down next to the receptionist. The xenos hadn’t bothered to clear a space for her on the tile; she was soaking wet and lying on a thick layer of broken glass. She began making sounds like she wanted to say something. Scott tried to remove her gag, but it was too tight and the wet fabric was impossible to untie. He made eye contact with her, but when she immediately looked away and made an urgent, “Mm!” sound, he followed her gaze outside the building.

  When the truck had crashed through the doors, it ripped away the central section of framing, leaving a wide open space and shattering the floor-to-ceiling windows. The empty window frames along the ceiling were intact, as were the frames closer to the walls on either side. Scott’s view into the street was nearly unobstructed. It was getting dark and there were no cars on the road; nothing moved in the cold air.

  Just as it occurred to him that the receptionist was trying to tell him the xenos had repositioned themselves, Chief Joe appeared from around the exterior corner of the building to his right. Scott started to lift his weapon, but knew it was too late – Chief Joe had used the human barrier to get the drop on them. Scott stiffened in expectation of a bullet, but when the shot came, it was Chief Joe whose body jerked backwards as a bullet tore into his chest. His gun skittered across the top step and he slammed up against the wall and then slid into a sitting position. More xenos appeared and more shots followed in rapid succession. One of the xenos ran down the steps instead of attacking – Scott recognized her as Chief Joe’s girlfriend Liz. A few strides into her escape, she took a bullet in the leg that sent her rolling down the steps.

  He looked around for the shooter. It wasn’t Shasta; she was still in the driver’s seat. Was it the same guy who’d taken out Lupus?

  “There!” Alton pointed towards the street.

  Scott squinted in that direction, seeing nothing at first. Then he caught a glimpse of something fluttering in the wind, but on second glance realized it was a hand waving, seemingly out of thin air.

  He grinned. “It’s the UAAV!”

  Lo and Boardman had arrived in the Urban Amphibious Armored Vehicle, and its adaptive camouflage panels were activated. The vehicle was nearly invisible to the naked eye.

  With Lo and Boardman covering them, Scott and Alton rescued the three living prisoners and loaded them onto the crowded truck. By then it was obvious any remaining xenos had abandoned the cause and retreated. Lo left Boardman in the UAAV and cautiou
sly approached.

  Shasta leaned over and opened the passenger side door. “Where’s Unger?”

  “Didn’t you get my message?” Lo asked.

  Shasta made a face that clearly said, “Are you serious?”

  “He wasn’t on the flight.”

  “Awesome.” Shasta sounded anything but pleased. She climbed into the passenger seat and retrieved the 3D printer from the floor of the truck. Scott helped her out, but as soon as her delicate black pumps hit the glass-littered tile, she grimaced and lifted a foot. A shard was embedded in the sole. She scraped her shoe on the running board to dislodge it before gesturing irritably at the ground.

  Scott swept his foot through the worst of it, using his boots to clear a path for her to the back of the truck. Once there, she pointed to Nicola. “You. Out. The rest of you, who can drive?”

  The security guard who’d helped earlier raised a hand and Shasta told him, “I’ll need you to get these people to the hospital.”

  Nicola, gripping the handle at the top of the bird cage, stepped gingerly over Bob’s body. She climbed out of the truck and stood near Shasta in the spot Scott had cleared, staring into the dark stairwell at the vague orange lump that was Lupus’ body.

  Shasta nodded towards the xenos Lo and Boardman had taken out. “Get their firearms.”

  As the truck rumbled down the shallow concrete steps in front of the building, Lo and Alton went out to search the fallen xenos. Scott knelt next to Chief Joe, who was sitting propped against the lobby wall with a wet, black hole dead center of his chest. Each intake of breath rattled and each exhale caused blood to bubble forth on his lower lip.

  “The ringleader’s alive,” Scott called.

  Shasta’s shoes prevented her from coming any closer. “Is he conscious?”

  At a subtle fluttering of Chief Joe’s eyelashes, Scott replied, “I think so.”

  “Secure him.”

  Chief Joe opened his eyes as Scott pulled a zip tie from his utility belt. “Liz dead?”

  “Nope.” Last he’d seen, Liz had been shot in the leg and fallen down the steps, but when he’d looked for her a moment ago, she was gone.

  Chief Joe smiled. “Give her…message…”

  “Give it yourself.” Scott’s words sounded cold, but he wasn’t unmoved. He took both of Chief Joe’s limp wrists in one hand.

  “Not gonna make it. My heart…”

  Scott threaded the zip tie and tightened it. “You’ll get a new one at the hospital.”

  Chief Joe laughed and then choked as blood dribbled down his chin. “Won’t be any left…”

  Scott started to tell him to save his energy, but Chief Joe closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “Well?” Maddy said. “What’s your brilliant idea to get us out of here?”

  Technically, Bryn wasn’t sure her idea would work, but she didn’t want Maddy to shoot Curtis and it was the only thing she could think of that might stop her.

  “Use the soldiers’ nanoneurons against them,” she said. “If Padme could do it, I’ll bet Curtis can, too.”

  Maddy’s mouth formed an “O” of surprise. “That’s perfect! Send them a dose of fear! You,” she pointed to Curtis. “Do it.”

  “Believe me,” Curtis said fervently, “I would if I could, but I need the program.”

  Maddy’s head rolled back on her neck as she directed her gaze to the ceiling. “Which the XIA has.”

  As soon as the words left her lips, her head snapped upright and she jabbed a manicured finger at Bryn. “Call your boyfriend.”

  Bryn briefly debated whether it would be worth it to refuse. As the one holding the shotgun, she should be the one calling the shots, so to speak, but refusing to call Scott because she didn’t want to blow his cover would be stupid. Scott just might be her only hope of getting out of this alive, and at this point, she didn’t think it was possible to continue to keep his identity secret. In the end, it wouldn’t matter anyway if Maddy killed Fournier.

  She looked at Curtis. “Can whoever has the standalone machine activate the soldiers’ nanoneurons?”

  With warning in his tone, Fournier drawled, “Curtis.”

  Dillo jammed the barrel of his gun into Fournier’s cheek. “One more word.”

  Fournier wisely kept silent as Curtis said, “I can walk them through it.”

  Maddy waved a hand at Bryn. “Call him.”

  Bryn reluctantly nodded, but she wasn’t about to set the shotgun down. “Mia?”

  Peripherally, she saw Mia pull her cellphone from her purse and dial. After two rings, Scott’s anxious face appeared. Bryn glanced at Fournier, who didn’t show any surprise that the xeno he knew as Cougar was in fact an XIA agent.

  “About time!” Scott said. “Is Bryn with you?”

  “She’s here.” Mia held the holophone up. A small silence fell as Scott assessed the situation, followed by the deadly calm words, “What do you want, Maddy?”

  Bryn jumped in. “It’s not what you think. Long story short, Mia and I went to one of Fournier’s dens by accident and he brought us to his new bioengineering facility. Maddy showed up and now we’re all trapped inside the control room with his soldiers outside.”

  Before she could continue, Scott asked, “Where are you?”

  “Mia can send you the coordinates, but we’re at least half an hour outside the city. There’s no time for you to get here. Do you have the nanoneuron program?”

  Bryn wasn’t sure at first if Scott was even at XIA headquarters because his surroundings were dark. Then she heard Shasta’s stern voice. “We will not negotiate turning over that program.”

  “No one asked you to,” Maddy retorted.

  Bryn met Maddy’s eyes and thought, Yet, but said, “Shasta, we might be able to escape if you use the program to disable Fournier’s soldiers. The ones who have nanoneurons.”

  Shasta stayed in the shadows, but Bryn detected more than a spark of interest in her voice. “You have the password?”

  “Yeah, and we’re in kind of a hurry.”

  Shasta hadn’t admitted to having the program, but after a short pause, she said, “The printer’s interface is ready and waiting.”

  “Password is 8kl94mp002z*byf6,” Curtis said, slowly enunciating the string of letters, symbols and numbers.

  “Got it,” Shasta said. Then, “It’s asking for an authorized palm holoscan.”

  “What?” Curtis exclaimed.

  Everyone in the control room looked at Fournier. The gun against his cheek distorted his smile. “I believe the ball is back in my court.”

  Bryn couldn’t help but think she’d revealed Scott’s identity for nothing. “Whose palm does it want?”

  Fournier lifted his eyebrows. “Mine.”

  “Good to know,” Maddy said. “I’ll be sure to cut it from your cold, dead body once this is all over.”

  Another voice on Scott’s end joined the conversation. “One other person can access it.”

  “Nicola, don’t!” Fournier shouted angrily.

  A young woman’s face appeared in the bluish light of Scott’s holophone. Bryn stared in shock at a younger version of her mother.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy,” Nicola said, “but I can’t let them kill you.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Nicola turned to Scott. “Savvy can access the program. I know where he went. If Maddy Singh swears not to kill my father, I’ll take you to him.”

  Scott glanced away from her earnest face, thinking it would be easy to get Maddy to make that promise, but impossible to hold her to it.

  “Maddy?” he asked.

  “Cross my heart and hope to die,” Maddy replied. Her holoimage practically radiated insincerity, but the words alone seemed to appease Nicola.

  Scott looked at Bryn. She held the shotgun confidently, but her eyes were huge.

  “Hurry,” she said.

  “I’ll call you back.” Scott shut his holophone and pinned Nicola with a hard
stare. “Where is he?”

  “Third floor.”

  Alton, standing next to Shasta, asked, “What’s on the third floor?”

  “A branch office for the National Library of Medicine.” Shasta handed the printer to Scott. “Do not lose this. Alton, go with them.”

  Scott led the way to the stairwell on the other side of the building, keeping a cautious lookout for any lingering hostiles. Power to the building was out, so this stairwell, too, was dark. With Scott’s flashlight illuminating the way, they went up past the destroyed door on the second floor platform, and then stopped in front of the holoscanner near the door to the third floor. The backup generator ensured that essential systems were working, so Alton was able to gain them access to the floor.

  Scott had never been on the third floor, but from what little he could see, the office space was configured similarly to that of XIA headquarters. He didn’t know much about this branch of the National Library of Medicine except that it was obscure and its employees kept to themselves.

  He thought they’d have to hunt Savvy down, but Nicola called, “Felson! I need you,” and within seconds the savant appeared within the circle of Scott’s flashlight beam.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Daddy needs you to activate the program.”

  Savvy turned his head away and appeared to be studying the carpet. “He never said that.”

  “I know what he said, and you’ve done a great job, but things aren’t working out the way they were supposed to. Maddy Singh showed up at the farm and one of her soldiers has a gun to Daddy’s head.” Nicola’s voice broke.

  “How do you know?”

  “I just talked to him!”

  “But if I activate the program, it will only affect your father’s soldiers.” Savvy began to rock a little, as if arguing with Nicola upset him.

  “And Maddy is surrounded by them. If she can’t escape, she’ll kill him.”

  “Why doesn’t he call them off?”

  Nicola released a short, frustrated breath. “Because he doesn’t trust her! But at least this way, there’s a chance she won’t kill him. If his soldiers attack, Daddy’s dead for sure.”