- Text Size +
“What do you think? Should we split up? We can cover more ground that way,” Nick asked, as they stood at the top of the arena, looking out.

“Nah, I think we should stay together for this,” Julilly said briskly. “Two pairs of eyes are better than one. We can’t fuck around this time, Nick; we gotta be on the ball. C’mon,” she finished, starting down the aisle.

They started at one side of the arena, looking in various hidden and unused spots; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They carefully, but quickly made their way over to the other side of the arena, still coming up short.

“Shit, this is fuckin’ useless. There’s nothing here,” Nick growled in frustration.

“There’s gotta be something we’re missing. Something,” Julilly sighed.

“Hell, he’s not gonna stick around here. I mean, that’s a long shot.”

“I know that, Nick, but maybe he left something behind, something we can use to…”

Just then, Nick’s cell phone rang. Now what? Fumbling around inside the bulky suit, he flipped it open. “Carter.”

“Hey Nick, Jay here. Look, we just got reports of some suspicious activity taking place at Toronto City Centre Airport.”

Nick frowned, looking over at Julilly. “The airport? But it’s supposed to be closed.”

“Exactly. Something’s going on; we need you and Julilly to head over there and fast.”

“Shit, SHIT!” Nick moaned, flipping the phone closed. “C’mon, we’ve got to head over to the City Centre airport.”

“Huh? Airport? But why? It’s supposed to be…”

“I know, damn it, but there’s something going on over there; that was AJ. We need to check it out. It‘s him; it‘s gotta be.”

Turning, they made their way up and quickly out of the arena.


  


Julilly had barely brought the Hummer to a stop before Nick jumped out and ran up to the entrance of the Toronto City Centre Airport, a small compound located on one of the Toronto Islands on Lake Ontario. Quickly showing his badge, he plowed through the door and came to an abrupt stop. He was gently jostled when Julilly bumped into him.

“Let me know before you brake next time, Carter, jeez! What? What is it? What do you see?” she asked, trying to look around him.

“Nothing.”

She frowned. “Nothing?”

“Yeah, it’s quiet… a little too quiet.”

Julilly rolled her eyes. “It’s evacuated. What were you expecting, a marching band?”

Nick glared at her before slowly making his way deeper into the building.

“This place is huge. How are we supposed to find anything?” Julilly groaned in frustration.

“Well, he said there was some suspicious activity, so there has to be something that…” He stopped, as they made their way around the corner.

Several of the chairs in the waiting areas of the concourse were on their sides and thrown into the middle of the aisle. The large, plate glass windows were shattered on the floor.

“What in the hell happened here?” Julilly gasped.

Just then, they heard a door slam, and they both took off at a run.

“Hurry, he’s here, damn it!” Nick yelled.

They rounded another corner in time to see a door slowly swinging shut. They hurried through the door and up several flights of stairs.

“Through there,” Nick panted, jerking the door open.

There he was, and though his back was turned, there was something familiar about his styled, dark hair and his Napoleon-esque stature.

“Stop, stop, you asshole!” Nick screamed, running towards him, rushing ahead of Julilly, pulling his gun and firing several rounds.

“Nick, stop!”

Turning around on the spot, Dr. Rough smirked. “Aww. Looks like you found me.”

“You. I should have known you were behind this,” Nick replied coldly. “You’re going down,”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are,” growled Nick. “Right… NOW!”

“Nick, wait!” Julilly yelled, just as Nick made a flying leap, tackling Dr. Rough to the ground.

“Don’t move, you bastard!”

Dr. Rough laughed. “I‘m so scared…”

“Shut up! Shut the hell up!”

“How have things been at work, huh? Busy, busy, I hear, what with all the recent rash of people getting sick. It‘s so tragic. Your hands must be full with all those investigations. Probably have to have people from different branches of… oh, I don’t know, the government, maybe, to help you?”

Nick stilled.

Dr. Rough smiled suddenly. “How’s your friend there? That CIA agent? He dead yet?”

Nick blinked. How did he know?

It was just the opening Dr. Rough needed, and, before Nick knew it, his head whipped to the side from a weak, but effective blow. Nick hadn’t been expecting it, and he toppled back.

Dr. Rough scrambled away, standing up and brushing his suit off.

“It’s really a shame, isn’t it? He’s going to die, and for such a noble cause… Oh well, can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, right, my friend?” Dr. Rough sneered.

“Don’t move, you bastard. Hands up!” Julilly demanded coldly.

Howie threw her an unimpressed look, before turning and hurrying through a door that led out onto the roof, where there was a helicopter pad. There, waiting, its engine running, rotors already in motion, was the FANS helicopter, the very same one that had rescued them from the pirate ship.

“No!” Nick screamed, getting to his feet, running after him.

Dr. Rough hurried into the helicopter, and it started to take off.

“That was a fuckin’ cheap shot, you asshole!! Way to get me next time, huh? Why are you running?!” Nick lifted his gun, emptying it on the helicopter as it flew away.

Breathing hard, he slowly lowered the gun, staring at the now clear sky. He’d gotten away; he couldn’t believe he’d gotten away. Again.

“C’mon, Nick, we’ve gotta get back,” Julilly pressed, tugging on his arm.

Nick reluctantly turned and started off with her. This wasn’t over, not by a long shot.


  


Her feet sounded louder than they were, drums in her head as she walked down the halls towards Brian’s room. The Hazmat suit she wore was far from comfortable, but she couldn’t care less. After Nick’s phone call, Opal had called in every favor she could, all to get there, to the Canadian hospital her boyfriend was in, as soon as possible. Thanks to a mutual friend of both hers and Brian’s in the Air Force, she’d gotten there within mere hours so she could be there for the one she loved.

She didn’t care about the assignment she’d been given the other day, after Brian had left for Canada. She had left it all behind in an instant. Brian was more important to her, and the agency would just have to deal with it and understand. And if they didn’t, she’d handle that later. None of that was important right then, no matter how much she loved and valued her job and country.

“Excuse me, Miss, you can’t go down that hallway; it’s on complete quarantine and lockdown.”

“I know, I’m here to see someone who’d been brought in.”

“Ma’am, you can’t do that-” one of the doctors said, as he attempted to block her.

She flashed her badge. “YES, I can, as a matter of fact.” Pushing by him, she went to the room the help desk downstairs had sent her to. There, lying on the bed, was Brian.

He seemed smaller, and her heart ached at the sight. A small-framed man to begin with, he looked to have shrunk in his battle with the disease. He had a bag attached to the bed holding the violet urine; his skin was pale and pocked with pustules; his breathing sounded labored and staggered. There beside him, checking his vitals, was one Opal knew to be from HimTak. She hadn’t met her before, but there was something in the way she worked, just slightly outside of the norm, that signaled that.

The other woman glanced over, her face looking tired and worn, some of her vibrant red hair falling over her eyes underneath the suit. “Opal?”

Opal nodded. “Nick called, and-“

The young doctor nodded. “I’m Red Jewel. He told me you were coming. He and another agent went to try and find the man behind this.”

“How is he?”

“The truth?”

“Please.”

The other woman sighed as she put her clipboard aside. Opal could see the frustration in her eyes at the situation. A feeling that reflected Opal’s rested in her eyes: hopelessness. Brian had told her a lot about the agency his cousin ran. She was one of the best doctors around, and if she was getting frustrated…

“He’s not good. He got the direct strain, right in the bloodstream. We think it happened when he was handling evidence, and a pin poked through his gloves and infected him. That seems to be the source. Because he got it directly, rather than through the air, it’s striking faster and fiercer, giving us less time to give him a cure.”

“There is a cure, right?”

“There will be.”

Ashavari gritted her teeth. She felt so helpless, so weak, and so worthless. Able to do nothing, only watch, as her lover died slowly and painfully before her eyes. Brian lay there, his eyes shut tight, as he tossed in restless sleep. “So what have you been doing for him?” she questioned, fighting hard to keep the irritation free from her voice. It wasn’t Red’s fault; somewhere deep down, she knew that.

“As much as I can. His body can’t fight the disease, we’re fighting to find a cure, and we have agents trying to find the source. All I can do is slow it down, give him an extra day. Maybe two, if we’re lucky. That sets him at about three days, tops.” She sighed, seeing the look on Opal’s face. It was a look of pure torture, fueling the guilt that welled up within Red.

“You wanted honesty…” She paced, feeling like she was Nick at that moment: fidgety, anxious, with a need to move constantly right then.

The other woman merely nodded, fighting desperately to contain herself, as her lover withered and came closer and closer to succumbing to death, while she could do nothing but watch. Red took that as her cue to leave, and left the room, feeling even more desperate to find the cure Brian so needed.

Remaining within the room, Ashavari sat next to Brian’s bed, taking his hand in her own. When she thought of her future, as she often did, she could only see Brian. If she thought of marriage, he instantly came to mind. When she pictured children, she saw Brian at her side. He simply couldn’t die. Not yet. Not now. It was too soon, too sudden, and too unfair. Now that she was alone, she felt the tears burn against the jade eyes Brian loved. Despite her protests, one rebelled and slid down her cheek, trailing along her face in silent victory.

“Ashie…” A faint murmur, but her keen ears caught it instantly.

“Brian? Brian… I’m here.”

He tossed in his bed restlessly, beads of sweat gathering upon his brow and glittering against his skin like diamonds. His eyes shut tight as he fought something only he seemed to see within his mind. Delirium.

“Ashie… Ashavari… no… I need you…”

She stroked his face, bringing a damp washcloth to his forehead to try and cool him down. The touch of his skin was alarmingly warm against her own. “Bri, I’m here, baby. I’m not going to leave you. I’m here.”

“Don’t leave me…”

“I’ll never leave you.”

I’ll always be here for you, Bri.


  


“Hey, wait!” Julilly stopped suddenly, thrusting her arm out and catching him hard in the chest.

Nick coughed and sputtered exaggeratedly. “Jeez – what was that for?” he complained, rubbing his chest.

A smile was slowly twisting one corner of the Canadian agent’s mouth. “Do you see what I see?”

Nick followed her gaze to the ground, where a gray helicopter was grounded near a small hangar. Recognizing the symbol emblazoned on its cabin – a white star in a circle of navy blue, flanked by red and white stripes – he said, “Hey… that’s a U.S. Air Force chopper.”

“Yes. And we’re gonna chopper-jack it.”

Nick barely caught the expression of pure, wild glee on Julilly’s face, before she turned and ducked back through the door, leaving him alone on the rooftop. “Julilly – wait!” he cried exasperatedly, catching the door before it shut. He ran after her down the stairs, shouting, “You can’t be serious! We can’t steal an Air Force helicopter!”

“I thought you hated the US government!” she threw back at him over her shoulder.

“I do!” Nick panted, bursting into the main terminal behind her. “But who’s going to fly it?”

“I am,” Julilly replied matter-of-factly. “I used to be in the Air Force. Canadian, of course. But I don’t think the Yanks will mind me borrowing one of their choppers, not if it helps us catch a terrorist, do you?”

Nick could only offer a weak, “Uh…” He was already beginning to feel queasy at the idea of getting in that helicopter, a feeling that had nothing to do with guilt over the theft of military property.

Julilly rolled her eyes at his hesitance. “Oh, please. You guys are all about the war against terror. Well, now you’ve got yourself an ally – so let’s go fight the bad guy.”

Before he could protest, she grabbed his arm and was hauling him after her through the terminal, until they found an exit onto the tarmac. There was no one outside, no one to stop them; after all, air traffic was supposed to be suspended. What the Air Force helicopter was doing there was a mystery to Nick, but the pilot was nowhere in sight, so it was all too easy for Julilly to climb into the cockpit.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Nick grumbled as he followed her.

“What’s the point of working for an independent organization like HimTak if you’re afraid of breaking the law once in awhile to complete a mission?” scoffed Julilly, firing up the chopper’s ignition.

Nick’s heart began to race as he felt the engine rumble to life beneath his seat. “It’s not that!” he shouted above the roar. “I’m afraid of flying!”

“What??” Julilly shouted back, shaking her head and gesturing to her ears. She reached for a pair of headsets hanging in front of them and handed him one. The headset muffled the noise of the helicopter and allowed him to hear Julilly’s voice in his ears. “There, that’s better. Now let’s go take this bastard down before he gets too far out of range.”

There was no chance to repeat his reservations about flying. Julilly had already reached for the throttle, and Nick’s stomach bottomed out as the helicopter rose from the ground with an unsteady jerk.

“Sorry about that,” Julilly said, with an unapologetic laugh. “It’s been a few years.”

White-faced, Nick watched the grounded airplanes grow smaller and smaller out his window, as the chopper gained altitude. He tried shutting his eyes, but that made it worse; when Julilly shifted direction in midair, the sensation was dizzying without being able to see where they were going. When his eyes flashed open again, they took in only sky and clouds. He couldn’t see anything on the ground without leaning far over in his seat – a mistake, he discovered, as soon as he tried it. He’d never been a fan of airplanes, taking them only when necessary, but now he knew they didn’t even compare to the terror of helicopters.

He felt like he was on some hellish rollercoaster, as the chopper rose, dipped, and weaved abruptly under Julilly’s control. Coasters were fun, though, and mostly safe. This was neither. As much as he hated the idea of Dr. Rough escaping again, he prayed Julilly would give up and take them back to the ground soon.

No such luck – for Nick, anyway. It seemed luck was on Julilly’s side, this time, for after just a few minutes of pushing the helicopter to its maximum speed, she shouted a triumphant, “A-ha! You see that? At about… two o’clock?”

Nick followed her finger, out the windshield, straight ahead and slightly to the right. There was a black speck in the distance, too far ahead to be identifiable, but with air traffic banned, could it be anything but the FANS chopper? “I see it,” he said weakly, suppressing a groan.

“Ha! We’re on his tail now. He’s not getting away this time.” She leaned forward over the controls, her eyes glimmering dangerously. Nick wanted to be excited, but could only feel nauseated, as the helicopter lurched in the direction of the black speck.

They were over water now, the water of what Nick assumed to be Lake Ontario, though it could have been Lake Erie – for a man who traveled the globe for his career, geography had never really been his strong suit. In any case, as Julilly made up ground (air?) between them and Dr. Rough, all Nick could envision was the helicopter plummeting into whichever Great Lake it was, the cockpit filling with icy water before he could force his door open.

“Well, we’re in US airspace now,” said Julilly after a few minutes, when they were back over land. “I wonder if they’ve realized we’ve kidnapped their helicopter yet. I’d radio them if I knew the right frequency, but they might not be so helpful, given the circumstances…”

“Let’s just take him down and get back to the ground,” Nick pleaded.

“You got it.”

They seemed to be getting closer, at least. The speck took on the distinct shape of a helicopter, and before long, they were close enough to catch a glimpse of the infamous initials stenciled on the side, as the helicopter veered to the left.

“You think he knows we’re on his tail?” Nick wondered.

“Oh, he knows. Notice he’s staying over populated areas. That must be Buffalo below us,” said Julilly, pointing towards the ground. “He thinks we won’t attack over civilian zones.”

“And will we?”

Julilly shrugged. “Not if we don’t have to. I’ll try to force him west, toward Erie.” She urged the chopper forward, gaining on the enemy craft. As they started to come up on the FANS chopper’s left flank, the black helicopter swerved sharply to the right and dipped out of their range. Nick’s stomach flip-flopped again as Julilly forced their copter to plummet after it.

The waters of Lake Erie loomed ahead, sparkling blue in the sunlight. Even from the air, the lake looked vast. Nick didn’t want to fly over it, but Julilly was forcing Dr. Rough in that direction.

“Arming the guns,” said Julilly, once they were over the water. “Fire one!” She shot off a round from the helicopter’s weapons, but ahead of them, the FANS chopper swerved out of the way at the last minute. “Hang on… we’ll get him,” growled Julilly in determination. “Fire two!” Another round.

“Damn it,” Nick swore in dismay. The FANS chopper was still in the air.

“Come on, you bastard… fire three!”

The other helicopter had rotated suddenly in midair, as if to turn on them. But this time, it took a hit on the side and started to spin out of control, plummeting in a death spiral. Julilly began to descend after it, intent on capturing Dr. Rough from the water, but halfway down, the FANS chopper suddenly exploded.

“Pull up!” shouted Nick, as a ball of flames swelled upward. Julilly yanked on the stick, and Nick was thrown back against his seat, as the helicopter was forced to climb again sharply.

Once they were leveled out, safely above the inferno below, Nick gazed downward. Through the black smoke, he could make out the burning wreckage: the helicopter’s mangled fuselage half sunk in the lake, the rest floating in pieces all around it in the water, still on fire.

“What made it explode before it crashed?” wondered Nick.

“Must have hit the fuel tank,” Julilly guessed. “You think there’s any way he could have survived that?”

His eyes still on the wreckage, Nick slowly shook his head. “It’s blown apart. There’s no way... If he didn’t die in the blast, he would have been thrown out of the cockpit; the fall alone would have killed him.” He should have felt relieved, even delighted, over his realization, but he didn’t. He felt strangely let down. He’d wanted to catch Dr. Rough himself and make him pay for his crimes, not kill him instantly in a helicopter crash.

“Maybe we should go down anyway,” he added suddenly, “and check.” And then I can find someone to drive me back to Toronto, he thought, vowing he would never set foot in this helicopter – or any other – again.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Julilly agreed, but just as she started to descend again, the radio crackled to life.

“This is Lieutenant Gooding, U.S. Air Force. Identify yourself at once. Over.”

Julilly exchanged a look with Nick, but shrugged and responded, “Copy that. This is Agent Kirk of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, formerly of the Royal Canadian Air Force. My apologies for borrowing your helicopter without permission, but you’ll be glad to know that, with its help, I was able to bring down the man responsible for the act of bioterrorism on Toronto. Over.”

“Say again, Agent Kirk? Over.”

“I said, the terrorist is down, crashed over Lake Erie. We were about to go down and take a closer look, but if you want your chopper back now, you can radio the base closest to Buffalo, New York and have them send their own team in to investigate. Technically, we’ve over U.S. soil now – not my turf. Over.”

“Copy. Give me your coordinates, and I’ll radio for backup. Report back to the airport immediately. Over.”

“Roger that. On our way,” replied Julilly and gave him the coordinates for their location.

“So we’re leaving? Just like that?” asked Nick, as the helicopter rose higher into the air.

Julilly shrugged. “Like I said, it’s not really my turf.”

“Well, it’s mine!”

“You’re not U.S. government either.”

“No, but I’m at liberty to investigate there if I want to!” Nick protested.

“Nick – chill out,” said Julilly, smirking at him. “You said it yourself – there’s no way he could have survived that. Leave it someone else to worry about the clean-up. There’s nothing to find that would interest us, not now, anyway. Let’s get this baby back where it belongs and see how they’re doing with that cure. It’s just too bad we couldn’t interrogate the bastard.”

Nick wasn’t appeased, but he was eager to be back on the ground, so he didn’t argue when Julilly turned the chopper northward again. He did, however, frown in confusion when she bypassed the airport. “Uh, weren’t we supposed to land back there?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go back after I drop you off,” replied Julilly calmly.

“Drop me off? Where?”

“The hospital – where else? So you can check on the situation there,” said Julilly. “Plus, then no one has to know you were involved in the hijacking of United States military property. They can just blame Canada, as usual.”

Nick shot her a wicked grin, forgetting, for the first time, that he was in the air and terrified. “Blame Canada… blame Canada!” he sang triumphantly. “It seems that everything’s gone wrong, since Canada came along…”

Julilly rolled her eyes. “Please stop.”

“Blame Canada… blame Canada! They’re not even a real country anyway…”

Momentarily distracted, Nick didn’t realize they were descending upon the helipad on the roof of the hospital until the helicopter touched ground with a rather large – perhaps unnecessarily, on-purposely large – bump. Nick’s heart leapt into his throat, pulsing crazily, until he realized he was safe at last. He let out his breath in a rush and reached for the door handle.

Julilly said something, perhaps a goodbye, but her words were lost to the roar of the engine as Nick tore off his headset and opened his door. He jumped down, doubling over to avoid the rotors as he scrambled out of the helicopter’s shadow. He nearly collided with a short, balding man in blue scrubs, who was standing near a stretcher and looking confused.

“Where’s the life flight?” the squat doctor shouted above the noise.

“She’ll get out of your way!” Nick shouted back. Turning, he flashed Julilly the thumbs up. She gave the thumbs up back and reached for the controls within the cockpit.

As the helicopter started to rise from the ground, the doctor reached up to wave. Nick saw what was about to happen a split second before it did, but there was no time to push the other man out of the way. The rotor of the helicopter caught his raised arm and severed it swiftly in a shower of blood. Nick stared in horror as the mangled arm was thrown halfway across the roof, and the doctor collapsed in the pool of blood formed by his spurting stump.

“Oh shit! Sorry!” cried Nick, as the rest of the doctor’s team sprung to action around him. “Uh… blame the Canadian!”


  