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Chapter 17
To the Rescue

Photo courtesy of Jensen Ackles World

Someone was rudely shaking him. "Hey, baby," Alec muttered groggily, snuggling down under the blankets and trying to bat the offending hand away. "I left fifty bucks on the nightstand."

"494!" a voice roared in his ear.

Alec's eyes snapped open. "Max?" he called out guiltily. "I didn't mean it. I was just--" He sat up on the cot and pain lanced through his left side.

"Ow!" he mouthed silently. Then he remembered -- France. Jarrell. The mission. He'd been--

"Oh shit," he said. His eyes slid to Lydecker who was hovering above him looking like he wanted to murder someone. "Look, I'm sorry--"

"Shut up," Lydecker snapped. "I cleaned up your mess. But next time, please inform me beforehand that you've sustained a mission threatening injury."

"Yes, sir," Alec responded automatically before remembering he didn't call Lydecker "sir" any more.

Lydecker grinned at the slip. "We're about to land in Wellington," the colonel said. "You've been out for over twelve hours, but our medic says, given time and rest, you'll heal. Care to tell me how you managed to lacerate your spleen?"

Alec remembered all too well his own carelessness and Joshua's excellent kick. "Sparring," he replied levelly, keeping the details to himself.

Lydecker just shook his head. "Well, you're going to have to take care of yourself from here on out. We've got a situation on Chimera and I don't have time to mollycoddle you."

"What situation?" Alec asked sharply, shifting from subordinate to commander in an instant. "Are my people all right?"

"Your people are under attack," Lydecker said grimly, his hand catching hold of a paratrooper strap hanging from the wall for balance as the plane's wheels bounced down on the tarmac. Alec merely set his bare feet a bit wider on the floor. "The United States government has dispatched a destroyer, the USS McKinley, to take out your island. They've been shelling it for almost a day."

Alec's eyes automatically went to the window -- the ocean and the dark clouds on the horizon -- although of course he couldn't see the island from here. "Any word on their status?" he asked quietly, focusing on the distant waves.

"Nothing direct," Lydecker replied. "Just satellite intel." The colonel was looking out the window with him. "There's a massive storm front moving in even as we speak. It'll be touch and go whether we can make the island ahead of the winds."

"We?" Alec said. "You mean you'll help us?"

"If I can," Lydecker said. "Although I don't know how I'll get my troops out there in those choppy seas. Chances are all the mainland boats have already been dry docked to weather the storm."

Alec was searching the floor for his boots. "Just do the best you can," he said quietly. He reached down for a shoe and grimaced with pain.

"I've got a speedboat docked in Slip 19," Lydecker said. "Keep it there for emergencies. We can take that."

"Again with the 'we'?" Alec said, coughing as he straightened up, his hand holding his side.

"You're in no condition to tackle this thing alone, son."

"I don't need your help."

"You sound like Max. Of course you need my help. You weren't designed to be stupid, soldier."

Alec did a doubletake at that. Lydecker was right. Why was he arguing? He could certainly use all the help he could get.

"My men will follow as soon as they can get transportation, but it might not be until after the storm passes," the colonel said, gathering his gear as he talked. "In the meantime, you and I will have to play Cavalry and ride to the rescue."

"Two against a thousand," Alec said softly, his eyes once more going to the choppy sea. "A broken transgenic and a fuckin' old man."

Lydecker's offended look almost made Alec smile.

*****

Max knew the code to activate the weapon. Alec hadn't been able to see the numbers the Familiar punched in on the beach, but the ever-vigilant Luke had been watching from the cliff above and had picked up the sequence through his infrared binoculars. He'd told Alec, and Alec had shared with her. They'd both always suspected a time like this might come, when they might need to use the threat of nuclear destruction to save their mutant family.

With a deep breath and a silent prayer, Max swiped her long hair back from her face and activated the bomb. Then she walked to the entrance of the cave and flicked her walkie-talkie to the Familiar's frequency.

The cult knew the Chimereans had the weapon. They probably had equipment on board the destroyer that could detect the activation. It wouldn't take much to convince them she meant business -- that she was willing to sacrifice herself and everyone else rather than see the enemy triumph.

She spoke to the commanding officer on the McKinley. "This is 452," she said. "I've activated your little nuclear bomb. You've got ..." She glanced down at the timer. "Fifty-six minutes to get your men off the island. This is not a negotiation.. It's an ultimatum." She flicked off the transceiver before the major could do more than sputter.

Once the message had been delivered, Max calmly returned to the inside of the cave and sat down beside her doomsday device. She'd check back in with Dix in 15 minutes or so, see if there was any sign of the Familiars withdrawing. Another cramp seared her uterus, and Max smiled sadly. She was losing the baby. There was warm wet fluid trickling down her legs, soaking her panties and black jeans ... her socks. Dr. Makari might have been able to help, but no one had seen or heard from him since the big blast that had taken out the infirmary. There was no time to reach him now anyway.

Alec would just have to forgive her somehow ... understand why she'd done this, killed his daughter, maybe killed herself.

Resolutely, refusing to break down in tears at her personal loss, Max watched the countdown. Ten minutes passed ... twelve ... It would soon be time to check in. She closed her eyes, resting a moment before the next contraction.

Fifteen minutes went by ... 20...

And Max continued to lie on the cave floor, eyes closed, her head cradled on an outstretched arm.

*****

"Dix isn't answering!" Alec shouted to Lydecker as the speedboat raced through high seas toward the island.

Lydecker listened to his own radio a moment, then looked up. "My people say yours had taken a stand on the mountaintop! Some may be holed up in the caves on the east side out of communications range!"

Alec started to answer but the colonel held up a hand for silence as he listened to more. Then he looked at Alec, an expression of disbelief on his angular face. "The Familiars are pulling out, their boats leaving the island. The McKinley has fired up her engines. Looks like they're going to flee the storm."

Alec had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. There could only be one reason for the enemy to retreat at this point, and it wasn't because they were afraid of the weather. They had no reason to stay any longer. Which meant everyone on Chimera was most likely dead.

"I'm sorry," Lydecker said, knowing what the young transgenic was thinking. He hesitated a moment, then dared to touch Alec's shoulder with his calloused hand.

But Alec was staring at the horizon ahead, a far-away look in his hazel-green eyes. "She's still alive," he said softly. He turned to Lydecker, expecting to see scorn, disbelief even.

Instead he found pity.