The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3)

by Courtney McPhail

  “Okay, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Mendez said, reading the tension in the room. “There are a lot of possibilities and not all of them are bad. Maybe things didn’t go well here when this guy showed up and they lost the phone but they made it out and have gone to the other hospital.”

  “They got a CB in the SUV,” Jackson countered. “They woulda radioed in to the other channels Elaine listens to. She woulda heard from them.”

  Claudia moved back over to the body, staring down at it. “They wouldn’t have killed just one guy. They could have disarmed him without shooting. There had to be more people. There’s dozens of footprints in the blood stains and they aren’t from him. They lead to the emergency stairs over there.”

  “Those prints could be from our people,” Mendez offered. “If he surprised them or didn’t give them any other choice, they would have had to kill him and then they got out of here fast in case he had others with him.”

  Clearly she didn’t want to face reality. The evidence was everywhere but she wasn’t willing to see it.

  “No, they were taken,” Claudia declared, pointing down at the blood covered floor. Jackson moved over to see what she was pointing at. In the rapidly drying blood stain, he spotted the writing.

  VA-K.

  “It’s a system our father taught us,” Claudia said. “VA is Veronica Alpert. K is kidnapped.”

  Jackson hissed in a breath, that chill from before turning his insides into ice. He thought his rage always ran hot but what he felt now was frigid. Normally he’d want to do physical damage, beat out the fiery anger, but now he was dead still, an icy calm settling over him.

  They would find who took Veronica and he would kill every last one of those bastards with his bare hands. It was as simple as that.

  “They went out those stairs?” he asked Claudia and she nodded, her eyes questioning him but he didn’t reply, just slammed the door open and ran.

  “Check the body for anything we can use then follow us,” Claudia called out and followed behind him but he didn’t slow to let her catch up.

  He flew down the stairs and slammed open the exit door, forgetting that it was still daytime outside. The sun blinded him after the dark stairwell and he had to cover his eyes and wait for them to adjust. He heard Claudia swear when she came out and it blinded her too.

  He blinked a few times as the world turned from white and purple to something resembling normal colours. They were in a loading dock area behind the hospital, the stretch of pavement empty except for a military truck parked in the loading dock.

  Jackson looked around the place, trying to find any signs but he didn’t even know what the hell he was looking for. He turned to Claudia, who had pulled off her own respirator and was squinting at the pavement.

  “Footprints in blood,” she said, pointing down at the brown marks on the pavement. She followed them to the laneway that ran from the loading dock out to the street. “They disappear here. They must have had a vehicle waiting for them.”

  “Who did? Where did they go? Can ya follow ‘em?" He peppered Claudia with the rapid fire questions, not pausing for an answer.

  “I’m not a fucking psychic,” she snapped at him. “I don’t know where they took them. I can’t track a fucking car.”

  He should want to curse, beat his fists against something, but he couldn’t do it. Instead of rage burning inside him, he couldn’t feel anything. He was completely numb now. Veronica was gone.

  He felt detached as he watched Claudia stalk around the loading dock, her chest heaving as she began to curse herself and the world. Her voice grew louder and louder as she read off a list of grievances to the world.

  “You take my parents! You make me watch my own fucking mother get ripped to pieces! Now you let my sister get taken! Why? Why are you doing this to me? When will it ever be enough?”

  The stairwell door opened and Mendez and Banks appeared, weapons drawn, obviously hearing Claudia’s screaming even inside.

  “Claudia, you’ve got to be quiet,” Mendez said. “You’re gonna draw attention.”

  “Good!” Claudia cried out and then cupped her hands around her mouth. “Come on, you assholes, come get me! Come tell me where my sister is!”

  Claudia’s voice echoed between the brick walls and then faded away, the only sound remaining the songs of the birds off in the nearby trees. No one came forward to answer Claudia’s challenge, though Jackson didn’t expect it. He knew that Veronica and her kidnappers were long gone.

  “Well, we might have an idea,” Banks said, holding up a leather wallet. “Turns out our dead guy is a local. He still had his driver’s license on him. We should take a ride over to his place, check it out.”

  Jackson stalked over and snatched up the wallet. The grim face of the dead man stared back at him from behind the plastic sleeve. Jamie Geller. 163 Burnby Lane, Midland, MI.

  “Ya know where it is on the map?”

  “Let’s go back to the SUV and check,” Mendez said. “It’s a lead, let’s just be happy with that for now.”

  She was right. It was the only lead they had. If that man was a local, Veronica might still be somewhere in town.

  Claudia huffed out a breath and then spun on her heel, heading towards the laneway that would take them back to the SUV. He and the others followed her and Jackson let his determination build with each step he took. He was going to make sure this lead panned out. He didn’t care if he had to burn every building in this hellhole of a town down, he was going to find Veronica.

  Subject File #756

  Subject: Did she tell you how long she’s going to punish me?

  Administrator: Even if she told me, you know I can’t tell you.

  Subject: Well, I’m giving you permission to tell her that I’m over it and I’m not going to let her make me feel bad anymore.

  Quinton noted the latest patient vitals in the chart, unable to stop grinning as he wrote down their temperatures. Everyone’s fevers were a thing of the past. They were all sleeping soundly, no more fever dreams or body aches plaguing them. The antibiotics were already working and he hoped that come morning, all of them would be awake and ready to eat.

  The twins had even been feeling well enough a few hours earlier to get down some soup. They had been weak and Janet had spooned the soup for them but it had stayed down.

  All good signs that they were over the hump of the illness. It was all downhill from here.

  Lorraine had even been able to convince Janet to take a break and go see Ruthie. Quinton had seen the little girl occasionally through the clinic windows, sticking close to Kim’s side while Janet had been sitting vigil. It would be good for her to have her mother back.

  Lorraine had also tried to convince Audrey that she didn’t have to spend another night in the clinic but Audrey had refused to leave. She didn’t want to leave Hannah and no one wanted to force her out. She had been through hell waiting on her little sister to get better. Quinton knew if he was in her place, he wouldn’t leave until his sister was back on her feet and able to leave with him.

  Now Audrey sat on her cot, knees pulled up to her chin as she stared at her sleeping sister. It had been her vigil position for the last two days except for when she went out to eat with Janet in the main room. He put away the last chart and smiled over at Audrey.

  “Everything is looking great,” he told her. “The medicine did the trick. I expect come the morning, all our patients are going to be complaining about being stuck in bed. I’m still going to have them take it easy here for a few more days, just to be sure, but then things will go back to normal.”

  Audrey nodded to acknowledge him but her eyes never strayed from Hannah.

  “She’s going to be okay, I swear. I don’t expect there will be any lasting complications. We got the medicine in time.”

  Audrey hugged her legs harder, rubbing her chin on her knees as she nodded. “I believe you.”

  “Then no more worrying, okay? You look like you’re carrying
the weight of the world on your shoulders. You’re too young for that kind of burden.”

  “I’m not worried about her,” she said, finally turning away from Hannah to look up at him. “I know she’ll be okay, but when she wakes up, what do I tell her about Jackson and Veronica?”

  “They’ll be back by then,” Quinton said.

  “I heard you guys talking,” Audrey said. “I know that no one knows where Veronica’s group is and Jackson’s group can’t find them.”

  Well, so much for keeping her in the dark to protect her.

  It was a stupid idea anyway. She was a smart girl and just because the rest of them were cowards who didn’t want to deliver bad news didn’t mean she should live in the dark. It was time to be honest with her.

  “They’re still looking,” Quinton said. “Jackson’s group is in the town where Veronica last was and they’ve got some leads on where to find them. They’re all going to be fine.”

  “You don’t know that, not for sure. People die all the time. Why not Veronica and Jackson? There’s nothing special about them.”

  “Well I don’t think that’s true. If there wasn’t anything special about them, they wouldn’t have made it this far. Same thing for all of us. We’re all fighters, that’s why we’re still here. They’re gonna fight tooth and nail to get back here.”

  “But what if they aren’t strong enough? What if they aren’t lucky enough? I know about the bad things that happen out there, even though you guys think I don’t.” Her face twisted up in annoyance. “I hear you guys talking when you don’t think I’m listening. I know that you were almost shot in the head by the men who wanted to rape Lorraine. The same men who shot Craig and you thought killed Travis. I know there are bad people out there who want to hurt us.”

  Quinton knew that Veronica had hoped to keep the girls sheltered but he had always suspected it would fail. He had been right but it was up to him to deal with the fallout.

  “No one was trying to keep secrets from you,” Quinton told her. “It’s just that the stuff going on out there, it’s heavy and you’re still young. Everyone just wants to protect you and the rest of the kids from what’s out there.”

  “But I can’t expect to always have someone protecting me. For all anybody knows, Veronica could be dead and the same people who killed her could kill Jackson. Then I’m alone with no one to protect me and if I don’t know anything, how can I protect Hannah?”

  She was doing her best to appear brave but he saw the way her bottom lip trembled and he could hear her shaky breathing. She was terrified, and not just at the thought of losing Veronica and Jackson. She was terrified of being the one to look after her little sister.

  He didn’t blame her. After all, if the likes of Veronica and Jackson couldn’t do it, how could Audrey believe she could?

  God, he’d barely believed he could do it for his sisters and he was a grown ass man.

  “Look, I know you and I, we’re not close, haven’t really hung out a lot, and that’s my fault. I should have put in more effort.” He leaned down to meet her eyes. “No matter what happens, you girls won’t be alone. I will look after you.”

  She sniffled and looked away from him. “I know you didn’t want Veronica to stay with us. I heard you guys talking when we first met.”

  “Well, shit. You really are good at eavesdropping, huh? We should put that talent to use.” Quinton ran a hand up over his face, fingers threading through his hair. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said. Best excuse I have is that I was being a dick. I do that sometimes. I can be a bit self-interested, which I know sounds bad for a doctor, but that’s a flaw I’m trying to work on. Not so well though, since part of me telling you I will look after you is self-interest.”

  He dropped down onto the cot beside her, stretching his legs out as he leaned back against the wall.

  “See, Veronica and Claudia are all I’ve got left of my family. I’ll need you and Hannah so I’m not alone. I don’t do well alone. Hell, maybe I shouldn’t even be offering to look after you. I should probably be asking you girls to look after me.”

  A hint of a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth as she stared at him. “We can do that.”

  “Good,” he replied, “But you won’t need to because they’re going to be back. I just have this feeling that it’ll happen. It’s all going to be okay."

  Audrey nodded along with him but he could see in her eyes she didn’t believe him.

  He didn’t exactly blame her for not listening to him. He’d never been much for optimism himself and she’d seen enough bad shit that she had a right to be cynical. He wasn’t offering her much more than hope and there was only so far hope could get you.

  “You mind staying with her?” Audrey asked. “I want to go change my clothes and grab a snack.”

  “No problem. Take your time.”

  Audrey headed out of the room and he heard voices out in the hallway before the door swung closed behind her. It only took a moment before Janet opened the door and came inside.

  “Everything alright?” he asked, nodding outside.

  “Fine, I just told Audrey that Kim had just served up dinner at the lodge if she wanted to go eat there.”

  He nodded, mostly because he didn’t know what else to say.

  Things were still tense between them. With the twins sick, she hadn’t been able to keep up her avoiding him but that didn’t mean she was happy to be around him. He didn’t like the awkwardness. It always made him nervous, so he looked for something to put his attention towards. He’d already checked everyone’s vitals but it wouldn’t hurt to check them again.

  “You did good with her,” Janet said before he could stand up. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was coming back and I overheard you and Audrey talking and I didn’t want to interrupt. She needed to hear it. It was good of you to do that for her.”

  “I just told her the truth,” Quinton replied with a shrug. “If Veronica and Claudia don’t make it back, those girls will be the only family I have left.”

  “You won’t be alone here.”

  “Didn’t you tell me that you weren’t my family?” he said, unable to stop the bitterness in his tone.

  “I didn’t--” she started, her voice sad but he didn’t want to hear it right now.

  “Just don’t, Janet.” He felt raw after his confession to Audrey and even more vulnerable that Janet had overheard it. “Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it. I’m tired and I’m worried about my sisters. I don’t need to hear about how awful I am.”

  “Quinton, I wasn’t--”

  He launched himself to his feet and stalked past her to the door. “I checked their vitals. They’re fine. I’ll be out in the front room, call me if you notice any changes.”

  He didn’t let her get a chance to say anything else as he firmly closed the door behind him, not so much as looking back at her.

  Subject File #745

  Subject: What do you feel has been the greatest change in you since this all started?

  Administrator: Finally learned patience. I think things through now ‘stead of actin’. It’s saved my ass more than once.

  “Looks empty.”

  Banks put down his binoculars and turned back to them as they crouched behind him. “All the windows and doors in place. No signs of any forced entry.”

  Jackson wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  The trip from the hospital had been short and they hadn’t spotted any signs of people in town. They had driven by houses that looked as if the owners had tried to make a last stand. Some with plywood over the windows, others with makeshift barricades on the lawns, but the one thing they had in common was their doors had been broken open. Whatever attempt those people had made to stand their ground had failed and they had been rooted out.

  They had been careful after spotting those houses, ditching the SUV and heading towards the house on Burnby Lane on foot. Mendez had planned a roundabout path, taking them thro
ugh the backyard of one house and hopping the fence over to the yard of the house directly across the street from the one they wanted.

  No sign of an attack was good but an empty house was bad. If the house was empty, their only lead was dead.

  “I say we take the chance and go over there,” Banks told them. “The house is likely empty but there might be something in there that will let us know what that guy was up to. Maybe info about family or friends in town.”

  Jackson knew they were grasping at straws now but he was willing to go along with it. He sure as hell wasn’t heading back to the island without Veronica. Whatever flimsy leads they could find in the house were worth following.

  “Alright, I’m on point,” Mendez said. “Banks, take the rear. Guns in hand but shoot to injure if you can. If any of these guys are here, we want them alive to tell us where our people are.”

  Jackson held open the gate for Mendez and Claudia and then he followed them, Banks behind him.

  The non-descript split level was done in red brick and white vinyl, the two windows in the second storey dark eyes staring down at them. He didn’t see anything moving inside and the curtains that hung in the picture window on the main floor didn’t even ruffle as they crossed the street.

  When they reached the lawn and there was still no movement inside, Mendez picked up the pace, bounding up to the front door. The knob turned easily and the door swing inward, revealing a dim foyer.

  The foyer opened into the living room, a couch under the big picture window and facing the flat screen on the opposite wall. One wall of the living room had an arched entryway into a dining room, three windows facing out to the backyard. The kitchen took up the rest of the main floor, a breakfast bar in the centre.

  After they had circled the main floor, Mendez and Claudia headed upstairs to check out the bedrooms while Jackson followed Banks into the basement. A rec room took up most of the basement, a small set of stairs leading down to the sub-basement where they found a washer, dryer and the furnace, but no sign of people.