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Chapter 15
Waiting for You

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles World

"Max," Mole said.

"What?" she didn't bother looking at him. She was too busy passing out weapons from the armory and assigning their people to defensive positions. The Familiars might be shelling them now, but there was bound to be a ground assault soon.

"I thought you said all the pregnant women were to go to the caves."

"That's right."

"You're pregnant."

"I don't count."

"That's not what Alec would say," Ryan told her, speaking up for the first time and taking hold of her arm with his very strong hand. Alec's sparring coach had been helping with the munitions and, like Mole, realized their leader should take cover. "Come on, Max. You need to stay with O.C. and Brac down in the caverns."

She yanked away from the big X5 male. "I need to lead my people," she said quietly. "Pregnancy isn't a handicap or a disease, it's a natural condition. I'll be fine."

"You could lose the baby," Ryan said quietly, forcing her to look into his deep brown eyes. "Think, Max. What would Alec want you to do?"

"He'd want me to keep our family safe," Max replied, her voice cracking with emotion. "He'd want me to keep all of our family safe. Which means me staying topside and seeing this bitch through to the end."

Outside there was another explosion, a little further away than the first. The gun ship didn't quite have the range yet.

Mole was looking at Ryan, obviously wondering if the combat trained X5 was going to take command.

"Max," Ryan said not unkindly. "Alec always said that I should take care of you in case anything happened. He also told me to take charge if you couldn't lead for some reason."

"I can lead!"

"You could die, and your baby with you!"

"We all could die! Hell, we probably all will die. Alec's going to come back and find nothing but bodies!"

"She's hysterical," Mole said out of the corner of his mouth, at the same time hefting a shotgun. "Get her outta here."

"I'm staying!" Max shrieked.

Ryan looked helplessly around the room at the others, seeking support. It was Gem, the X5 female who'd given birth during the Jam Pony siege (now the island's primary chef), who came forward.

"Max," the young woman said, putting her hand on Max's arm. "Please. For the baby's sake, for Brac's sake, come to the caves. It would kill Alec if he came back and found out something had happened to you. You can't do this to him."

"Alec can survive anything," Max said coldly, jerking away from Gem's caring hand. "He's designed that way. And besides, he's not here. Which means I'm in charge whether you people like it or not." She squared her shoulders. "Now, get the others to safety. The rest of you grab all the ordinance you can carry and we'll make a stand in the hills. We can defend all sides of the island from up there."

Gem looked helplessly at Ryan and shrugged. Mole made a rude gesture with one finger and stalked out of the Quonset hut. Joshua, who'd stood silently to one side during the exchange, was the only one fearless enough to approach Max.

She turned quickly at the dogman's approach, readying herself for another verbal battle. But instead her friend merely patted her gently on top of the head and smiled. "Joshua will take care of Max and baby," he said. "Familiar bitches going down."

*****

The chateau grounds quickly became a bloody battlefield, Lydecker's private army attacking full force, taking on Jarrell's X5 clones hand-to-hand. Rarely had Alec seen an attack less subtle. But he also now saw why Lydecker had wanted him for the mission. While the fighting was center stage, Jarrell herself would probably be at her most vulnerable, holed up in her refuge, guarded by few, waiting out the storm.

One man, an X5 assassin, would be the quickest, cleanest way to get to her.

Picturing the chateau's floor plan he'd memorized, Alec stealthily made his way through the bushes near the main house, ignoring that nagging pain in his left side, not worried about tripping alarms because every sensor device on the bloody grounds had already been activated by the invasion. Rounding a corner, hugging the wall, he was looking for a particular fourth floor window that he knew would give him access to the main north-south hallway on the bedroom level when the sound of a low snarl brought his eyes back to earth.

Two gigantic mastiffs had just come around the far end of the house and were now squared off in front of him, teeth bared, blocking his way. Automatically Alec reached for the gun tucked in his belt, but the hounds were keyed to watch for just such offensive moves. The second he touched the weapon the first one crouched to spring. He knew he'd be able to shoot one, but the second would surely get hold of him and then there'd be blood spilled -- his blood.

Slowly he moved his hand away from the gun, deciding to try something else.

The dogs were bristling, his cattish scent obviously antagonizing (if not downright tantalizing) to their sensitive noses. They didn't know quite what he was -- human or animal, prey or predator.

Alec smiled, baring his own teeth in a broad white smile, at the same time keeping close watch on the lead mastiff. Slowly he crouched down, placing his hands on the ground, going eye-to-eye with his adversary, his gaze locked with the dog's.

"You don't wanna tangle with a tomcat like me," he said in a soothing, singsong voice. "You know exactly what I am, and you know when it's time to turn tail and run." Narrowing his eyes, Alec curled his lip in a silent snarl of his own. The first dog held its ground for approximately two seconds, then dropped its head and whimpered.

"Go!" Alec roared, jumping forward toward the dogs. "Get outta here!"

With a loud yelp, the two canines turned and ran for their lives.

Regaining his feet, Alec dusted his hands off with a very self satisfied smile and looked once more toward that high window.

*****

There were storm clouds gathering in the east, huge rolling mountains of white cumulus with pitch black underbellies. If God had been on their side the rain and winds would have come in time to prevent the Familiars from landing dozens of boats on Chimera's shores.

But God wasn't on their side. The storm held off. The Familiars didn't.

"That's the edge of that big system that's been all over the news the past few days," Dix commented, nodding at the black clouds. "The one the global weather service said would miss our location by sixty miles."

"Looks a lot closer than that to me," Max said, eying the brewing cauldron in the sky. "Just not quite close enough to do us any good."

"It is a lot closer than that," Dix said, studying a weather map he'd pulled up on their satellite communications screen. "In another day, if it doesn't change course, it'll be right on top of us."

"A day?" Max lamented. "Too late to help us then. This battle will be long over." She rose up to peer over the top of their rock barricade at the crest of the hill. Below she could see half a dozen power boats running up onto the beach, each vessel carrying at least 20 Familiar soldiers. She knew a similar scene was probably happening on all sides of the island. A thousand Familiars against 300 mutants. Not good odds. But at least the home team advantage was theirs. If they could hold out for a day then Alec and Lydecker just might be back by noon tomorrow, if their mission went well ... if the storm didn't stop them ... if Lydecker brought his men with him.

Too many "if's."

But 24 hours was a long time to fend off an aggressive attacker like this, especially when they had a gun ship raining missiles down.

As if on cue, a large explosion sounded from the compound down below.

"There went the infirmary," Mole commented mildly, chewing enthusiastically on his cigar.

Joshua put an arm around Max. "Hope the doc wasn't still in there," the dogman said.

"I told him to go to the caves," Max said.

"He wanted to make one more equipment run," Mole replied. "Salvage what he could of the genetic research."

Max frowned. She knew she couldn't help the doctor now. He was on his own. She could only hope he'd made it to shelter.

*****

She looked so much like Madam Renfro it took Alec's breath away.

"I've been waiting for you," Madam Jarrell said, watching his reflection in the mirror where she sat at the vanity table in her sumptuous bedroom. Slowly, coyly, she turned around, apparently not concerned about the two unconscious guards lying in the hallway behind her X5 intruder. Clad in a skin tight black jumpsuit, her long dark hair the exact opposite of Renfro's short blonde mane, she regarded Alec with incredibly familiar glittering eyes.

"Being the second twin does have its disadvantages," she said. "But then you know all about that, don't you, 494."

"Yeah, I do," Alec replied. "Why? Wanna join my support group?"

A laugh. Renfro's laugh.

Alec shivered, but the Glock pistol in his hand never wavered from its target. She was his job. Taking her out meant getting the tryptophan plant for Chimera and freedom for himself and his family. But the pain in his side, aggravated by the catlike climb he'd made up the side of the house, was making his upper lip bead with sweat.

"What's wrong?" Jarrell said, her keen eyes noticing ... something. "You're one of the original X5's," she continued. "Which means there's a deal to be made here. I need fresh DNA for my men."

"You mean your monsters," Alec said. He swallowed, feeling just a little bit light headed. "No deal. You're not usin' me to make more Frankenstein horrors. It's bad enough you used Riley that way."

"Yes," Jarrell agreed. "It was a mistake, using just the one X5 for the genetic material, even though Riley did come to me so easily after Logan Cale lost track of his poor brain damaged blood bank. I should have started with a broader selection of DNA."

Alec was starting to feel sick on his stomach. Something was wrong with him. He had to get this over with and get out of the house. Raising the gun, he pointed it at his target.

"I'll pay you anything you want," she said quickly. "Give you anything ... anyone ... you want. Name it. Cash, jewelry, women. All I ask in return are a few samples. Some hair, skin cells, blood, bone marrow, semen ... My laboratory on Calvi is gone, but I'm going to start over again, finish my sister's work, finish Sandeman's work."

"I'm Sandeman's work," Alec growled. "And he gave up on me ... on my people ... broke his promises to us."

"How very Native American sounding of you," Jarrell joked. "But then I guess you're a persecuted race as well, aren't you?"

"Shut up!" Alec's finger tightened on the trigger. He was losing both his patience and his sense of balance, dizziness making his head spin.

"Elizabeth said you were snarky," Jarrell commented, seemingly not in the least worried that a bullet was about to lodge in her brain. "I have her notes you know. She also wrote that you were one of the best and brightest of the X5's, amazingly adept at learning, natural empathic abilities, able to charm your way into and out of just about any situation, her 'Lethal Romeo' she called you."

"I said shut up!" Alec yelled. His vision was getting blurry. He wasn't sure of his target any more. Knees quivering, he took a step backwards and put out a hand to brace himself against the wall. His side felt like something was gnawing in there, maybe an internal injury Makari had missed, a slow bleed. He coughed and the pain blossomed ten fold. Shit, not now!

His shoulder against the plaster, he slid down the wall, the gun dropping to the floor with a loud clatter.

The last thing he saw was Madam Jarrell smiling benevolently down at him, her eyes even more hungry than Renfro's had been.