Chapter 11
Gabe checked his ACD one final time. The compound wasn't too much further now, and he hadn't run into any sign that Aramov knew these tunnels existed. She had definitely made a critical mistake, and Gabe truly wished it would be the one that finally killed her.
Since the cavern had been leveled and bridges added, Gabe was able to get to the compound wall fairly quickly. He hoped that it still had some sort of a door; using explosives would give away his position.
There was, in fact, a door. Unfortunately, it was covered by boxes. Swearing, he decided to try pushing them first. Surprisingly, they gave way with minimal effort. Apparently they were meant to look heavy but be easy to move in case of emergency. Judging by the negligent lack of guards, Aramov's people must've passed right over them without a second thought.
Unless it's another trap, Gabe thought uneasily as he sat in a concealed corner to wait for his eyes to get used to the bright indoor lights. He traded his flashlight for his silenced 9 mm. Trap or not, he had to help Teresa.
Blinking a few more time to get the last of the dancing sparkling things out of his eyes, Gabe silently crept out of his corner among the boxes and headed cautiously for the door that led to the rest of the building.
Teresa was feeling much better. The vaccine was working to kill off the virus while the adrenaline shot kept her on her feet in the meantime. Leaving the poor dead doctor, she grabbed the guard's PK-102 and the Asian girl's silenced Berretta and some ammo and headed back to the cell area.
Obstacle number one was the two guards outside the door to the lab. The idiots hadn't bothered to come in and see what all the fuss was inside; Teresa supposed they were too drunk to hear anything. Still, she didn't want to press her luck. She bypassed them by climbing through the vents.
Fortunately, she found a grate that was relatively close to the cells without getting too disoriented. She looked down the hallway as much as she could without sticking her head out. Great. One guard. Facing her. Out of her line of fire. Shit.
She came up with a plan. She took a bullet out of the Berretta's clip and dropped it down to the floor below her. Naturally, the guard came up to figure out what it was. He never got that far. Teresa shot him neatly in the head with the pistol and then dropped herself down into the hallway. She grabbed the bullet before she continued towards the cells. She might need it later.
Of course, there were more guards outside Eva's cell. Three, to be exact. Teresa wasn't exactly sure why they needed three 250-pound grunts to guard one six-year-old girl, but that seemed to be the way Teresa's life went these days.
She couldn't hope to take all three of them out before they put the complex on alert. Her year in the floral business hadn't done much for her aim. Just when she was about to say "screw it" open up a can of automatic whoop-ass, she heard the quiet hiss of a gas grenade, and the less quiet sound of three 250-pound grunts falling to the floor.
The hell? She risked a peek around the corner. Sure enough, the guards were down for the count. A familiar figure appeared from around another corner down the hall, making his way towards the bodies.
"Gabe!" she half-yelled, half-whispered.
"Teresa, what are you doin' out here? Are you alright? Where's Aramov?"
"Nice to see you, too." Gabe looked down at the floor at her rebuke. "Oh, I'm just kidding, ya big oaf! I thought you were dead!" The gas had dissipated, so she was able to go down the hallway and greet him with a hug.
"Nope, Lian got me out. We'll play catch-up later, now we've gotta get out of here."
"First let me get Eva."
"Who's E—oh, right Weissinger's daughter. Where is she?"
"Eva's cell is right here, but Elsa's already dead. I don't know where Aramov is, but Weissinger did take out some chick that I think is her lieutenant."
"Good. Let's go." Teresa unbolted the cell door and found a little blonde girl curled up in a ball asleep on the floor.
"Eva," she called, "Wake up. It's me, Teresa."
"Teresa?" the girl asked, looking up at her, then Gabe, then her again with big blue eyes.
"C'mon, Eva, it's time to go home."
"Home?" the girl smiled. "Does that mean I can sleep in a bed?"
"Of course, but now we have to leave."
"Okay. Who's he?" Eva asked, pointing to Gabe.
"This is my friend Gabe; you remember me telling you about him?" Eva nodded. "Well, we're going to follow him and he's gonna lead us out." Teresa handed the PK-102 to Gabe and flicked the Berretta's safety on before tucking it into the back of he waistband before picked Eva up. Teresa was still a little weak, but the girl was small for her age, and not very heavy.
Gabe smiled at them both before taking his weapon out and surveying the hallway. He gave Teresa the "move out" hand signal and she followed him.
Just when Gabe thought things were going well, he heard a familiar, taunting voice call out from the junction in front of them. "You're not getting out that easy, Logan," Aramov called, emerging from the shadows, gun in hand. Gabe trained his weapon on the assassin, Aramov took aim at him, and Teresa put Eva down, stepping in front of the girl to shield her.
"Elsa cured the virus, Aramov. It's over," Teresa retorted.
"No! It's not over until all of you die!" Gabe saw Aramov's trigger finger tense, then heard the shot ring out. In that split second Gabe wondered where he would be hit, whether the flak jacket would be able to save him, what would happen to Lian if they were killed.
After a second, Gabe realized that he should've felt the pain by now. Worried for Teresa's safety, he turned around to see her still standing. Then he looked back at Aramov, not at her gun hand, which was what he had been looking at earlier, but at the blood covering her already ugly faux fur jacket. She crumpled to the floor in pain.
"Is everyone alright?" a familiar, but this time warm and friendly voice called out from around the corner.
"Lian!" Gabe shouted in surprise. His partner was limping noticeably, but she gave him a reassuring smile.
"Everyone okay?" she repeated her question.
"Yeah, we're fine. Good timing," Teresa replied as she took a moment to look Lian over. "What the hell happened to you?" she added.
"Long story. Look, we'd better get moving, this place is gonna be crawling with Aramov's men."
"Right, what's our exit strategy?"
"Out the way we came in," Gabe replied. "A series of caverns cut through the mountain to a secret exit in the back of the facility. It won't be the funnest way out, but it is the safest." Lian made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort, and Gabe winked at her. She laughed fully at that, and headed down the corridor to the hidden exit. Teresa, with a traumatized-looking Eva in tow, followed, making sure to shoot Gabe a "Just what the hell was that all about?" look when she passed him. Gabe brought up the rear.
They flew down the corridors into the back storage area where Gabe and Lian had come in. Some terrorists found them, but Gabe was able to dispose of them easily. The goons weren't very well armed or trained.
Gabe closed the hidden door behind them, but Lian kept everyone running until they ran out of flat ground. Then she let everyone stop. Teresa, still not at her best, was breathing heavily. Eva clutched her hand in terror. "So how do we keep them from following us?"
On cue, the whole mountain shook and rocks started falling from the cave ceiling. Lian and Teresa immediately dove to cover Eva. The violent tremors lasted for a few more seconds, then stopped. Eva hid her face in Teresa's shirt, crying. Gabe didn't blame her, the kid had a rough day.
"I called in an airstrike," Lian answered Teresa's earlier question.
"Good thinking," Gabe said, wrapping his arm around Lian's waist and pulling her close, enjoying the look on Teresa's face. Lian apparently was too; she kissed him before pulling away and heading off down the tunnel. Gabe followed her.
"Hey guys, what the hell?" Teresa called after them, still carrying Eva, who'd cried herself to sleep. Gabe and Lian exchanged glances and laughed.
Epilogue
Gabe, Lian, Teresa, and Eva were sitting on the couch in Gabe's apartment watching Mulan. Well, the adults were anyway; Eva had long since fallen asleep. Lian got up and went into the kitchen, carrying various cups, plates, and popcorn bowls with her. Gabe grabbed what she couldn't carry and followed her. She jumped when he slipped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
"Sorry," she said nervously, "I'm not quite used to that yet."
"I know," he replied, his voice low and soothing. "I'm sorry I startled you." He began helping her clean up.
Lian was still trying to figure out the new direction her life had taken. It had been a month since their mission in Ethiopia, a month since she'd kissed him when he left her in the tunnels. She had no idea what had possessed her to do it, but she decided she was glad she had.
Still, she was a little scared, too. She had never been in a meaningful relationship before. Love was still an alien concept to her. The way Gabe made her feel, as warm and wonderful as it was, terrified her sometimes.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked when she had been silent for some time.
"Everything," she sighed. "Aramov, Eva and Teresa…you."
"Not having second thoughts, are you?" His tone was playful, but she knew there was a hint of seriousness there, too. She probably seemed a little withdrawn to him sometimes.
"Not a chance," she replied with a kiss. "It's weird thinking that it's all over, isn't it?"
"You mean with Aramov dead and everything?" Lian nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. We've been hunting her for so long… Congratulations, babe, you managed to succeed where I had failed for five years: you finally killed her." They both laughed.
Lian quickly looked out into the dining room, then said, "It's weird thinking of Teresa as a mom, too. I can't believe she actually adopted Eva. I almost fainted on the spot when she told me."
"Teresa can do anything when she puts her mind to it. I think she'll be a great mom. Eva already adores her, and the poor kid's been through so much."
"I know. It's just the concept. If you told me a month ago that Teresa would be raising a child, I probably would've asked you what you had been drinking."
"And then you would've told me to take a nap."
"Damn straight," Lian replied with a laugh. Gabe kissed her again, this time passionately. Neither one of them noticed Teresa enter the kitchen with her hands on her hips.
"Get a room, you guys. I won't have you corrupting my daughter," she said, trying to sound serious.
Gabe and Lian stopped kissing and turned to her. "Don't worry, Teresa," Lian said, "You still have a good twelve years to corrupt her yourself." All three friends laughed.
"Point. I guess seeing the two of you kiss won't damage her too much," Teresa replied, "But keep it clean, for my sake, if anything."
"Yes, ma'am," Gabe said with a mock-salute.
"Well, I'm gonna take her back to your place," Teresa told Lian. Teresa and Eva had taken over Lian's apartment while Teresa was staying in town to take care of all the legal stuff to become Eva's guardian. Lian loved her best friend dearly, but sharing the small apartment with Teresa and Eva was just too much, so she stayed with Gabe. Sure, there were moments where she wanted to kill him, but what else was new?
"Our flight leaves pretty early tomorrow," Teresa continued. "'night, guys, and thanks for everything." She hugged both of them.
"Any time, Teresa."
"Take care."
At that, Teresa returned to pick up the still sleeping form of Eva from the couch, and went out to her car. Gabe waved to her from the doorstep as she drove away.
When she was gone, Gabe turned to Lian and looked into her eyes. A thousand emotions ran through her in a fraction of a second, making her feel dizzy, but safe. He kissed her, and it felt like forever before either of them pulled away, ignoring the chilly, rainy Washington weather.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too."
A/N: Yea, it's over! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. It's 2 a.m. on a Monday morning, and I have an 8 a.m. class, but I just had to finish this. I know this story is far from perfect, and there are a lot of parts that have problems, but I'm pleased with the overall result. Like I said earlier, I am planning to write a sequel, so look for it at a fanfiction website near you.