Quaranteam - AU Ch. 08

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Victoria Barracks, Victoria, Australia - October 28, 2020 - 11:35 AM AEDT

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Rayne sat in a conference room with both Colonel Anderson and Brigadier Davis, discussing everything they'd learned.

"It would have been a complete bloodbath if Trish and Simone's training hadn't kicked in. Both dove into action and very much saved our lives."

The Sergeant and his squad had later told them that all four of the 'guards' Morgan had brought with him had submachine guns hidden in their jackets and drew them after their captors were distracted by the shouts from inside. As one, three of the 'guards' had fired into the house, while the fourth turned to engage the Australian soldiers outside. That one had died before he could fire, but the rest got off the bursts that cut down the unlucky Americans.

Rayne relayed this quietly, but Barry and Bill could see his hand balling into a fist as he ground his teeth. They took a good look at the younger man and could see the bandages on both arms and his face. Ray followed their gazes and shrugged.

"Glass and some splinters. They shot the window in and smashed everything fragile and then we went rolling around in the shards. I'm fine; It's all superficial damage."

Barry had to ask. "How're your girls?"

"Simone and Trish are both injured. Simone's mostly ok. A bullet grazed her back on the way down. She'll have a scar, but she'll live. As for Trish...the doctor said the bullet went straight through her upper arm. She'll be in a sling for a while, and she's worried about her job. Victoria's rattled, but unhurt, and Stel and Sumi were in another room, so they weren't in the same danger. They're pretty shaken, though."

"And the Doctor? And his partner?"

"Whatever they were mixed up in, they didn't deserve that. Dr. Morgan...they basically cut him in half, Barry. He was gone before his body hit the floor. I...don't know how bad Theresa is. There was a lot of blood."

Baz nodded, looking sombre. "Regarding Ms. Miller...I'm told she's critical. They pulled two bullets out of her spine, and more ruptured her stomach, kidneys, and spleen. She's a complete fucking mess. At this point, they don't know if she'll even live out the night."

Rayne shuddered, knowing that could just as easily have been one of his girls. "He shouldn't have even known where I lived, but he brought those bastards to my door, Barry. They were going to storm the house and either kill or capture us for information. If your people hadn't been there..."

Bill Anderson picked up the thought. "And with what he said...it's all but certain the same individuals behind Connors are at work here. Even more so, we still don't know how he got Dr. Valiant's address. It's not exactly public knowledge. They're making bold moves, Barry."

Baz nodded, not liking what it was telling him. "Openly, too. Bill, look into it, but give Ty a heads up that he might be in immediate danger. We need to double down on security."

There was a knocking at the door and Baz acknowledged it, standing up in alarm as a clearly flustered Grace barrelled through, carrying a manilla envelope.

"Brigadier, I've just got word from home. I need you to detain my partner, Dr. Morgan, immediately! He's compromised, and possibly involved in threat activity."

All three men stared at her as though she'd just grown antlers. Eventually, Baz just sighed and gestured to a chair. "Sit down, Captain. I must regretfully inform you that you're too late."

Grace ignored the offered seat and just burst into a string of expletives. "Damn it all! Is he still alive? You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No, Captain. We did not. Our people brought him to the hospital after the goons with him tried to gun down everyone in Dr. Valiant's home. It would appear they didn't know or didn't care that he got caught in the crossfire."

"How bad?"

"Very. He's gone. I...must also inform you that Ms. Theresa Miller is in critical condition. At this time, we do not know if she's going to make it. I'm sorry."

Grace just sank to the floor and put her face in her hands. "Ben, you son of a bitch...why did you drag Tess into it...why didn't you come to me...we could have helped..."

Rayne got up from his chair and came to the woman's side, kneeling and placing an arm around her shoulders as she wept. Rayne didn't know how long it was before she got control of herself, but he could feel the strength within this woman as she shook off the tears and stood, unassisted. "How long ago?"

"Under two hours. The last hour of which has been spent patching up our people and attempting to save Ms. Miller's life."

"Is she going to be ok?"

"I couldn't tell you for certain right now. She's critical, and they're doing what they can, but..."

"They made her holier than swiss cheese. That's what did for Ben too, wasn't it?"

Baz just nodded, his expression cracking just a little. "As I said, the goons he brought with him opened fire on the house. They only had a few seconds before they were killed, but it was enough. If it means anything, Dr. Valiant says that it was only because Dr. Morgan was standing in front of Ms. Miller that her life was spared."

Grace pulled herself into the chair, her shoulders slumped for only a moment before she shook herself and sat up straight. "Brigadier, I need to contact the hospital immediately. They need to hold Ben's body. Do not let them dispose of it."

"If it's for an autopsy, we can sort that out and return the body to you with all due care."

"No, it's not that. There's a medical procedure we must do within a certain timeframe. I'll explain later, but it's imperative for our, that is, his partners', survival. It has to be done within a day or so of his passing, or all four of us are dead right along with him."

Rayne read between the lines immediately. "There's a method to unpair women, isn't there?"

Grace nodded. "Not exactly 'unpair', so much as 'reset' the woman into an unpaired state, allowing her to pair with another man. The problem is that it requires the man to be dead, so we're slow balling letting people know. We were supposed to let you know soon, but obviously events have superseded our plans. I'll make a note to have one of the other doctors speak to you about it. But I can put that aside for a few minutes, just please let the hospital know immediately. If they dispose of his body, we genuinely are dead. Just keep him on ice until we get there."

Baz nodded and grabbed his phone, making a quick call and passing the instructions on.

The American officer took a deep breath and turned towards Rayne. "Dr. Valiant, how about your family? Did your people suffer casualties?"

Rayne sat down again as well and faced the woman. Now that they were in the thick of it, he could see why Ty had nothing but praise for her. Despite everything, she had pushed the grief aside to get the job done. It was a valuable trait in a soldier. "Two injuries. Nothing critical or fatal. I took some superficial damage. That's really it."

"I'm sorry. That's on us. Our government didn't do as thorough a background check on Ben as they should have. We knew Ben was divorced and that he had a daughter, but he never spoke of her. We, that is, his partners, assumed that they were truly estranged or that he didn't have custody." She gestured to the envelope, which had been forgotten until then. "It was apparently early this morning that he received this. One of Ben's other partners, Antonia, found it while cleaning and when she went to check the contents..." Baz picked it up and dumped the contents onto the table. The first thing they saw was a photo of a young girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, playing in a park. But as Bill slid the top photo aside, the men all stiffened, eyes wide.

The second photo made their blood run cold. Instead of in a park, now the girl was in a stone walled room...in what they could only describe as a cage, and clearly worse for the wear. Huddled in a corner of the already tiny enclosure, she'd clearly been beaten if the bruises were any indication. To one side they could just see the prone figure of an adult woman, presumably the girl's mother, laying in a puddle of some sort that had formed on the stone floor. The photo was grainy, but every person sitting at that table knew blood when they saw it. The woman was clearly beyond help.

Rayne's voice was soft as the words crawled their way out of his throat. "Holy shit. No fucking wonder he was so insistent...have they been threatening him since you came here?"

She shook her head. "Possibly since before we even left. Probably from the moment they realised that he'd be coming here since he was paired with me."

"You're not responsible for that, Captain." Bill muttered as he grabbed the USB drive that had also been in the envelope. Plugging it into a spare laptop, he navigated the menus for a moment before loading one of the videos and turning the screen to face us. "Let's see what's on this."

The face that appeared could technically be considered handsome; golden brown skin, chiselled jaw, strong features, if you could ignore the asshole's expression and attitude. The man was going on about 'opportunity' and 'choice' but you could see the woman chained up in the background. It was the woman from the photo. She'd been beaten, abused and probably worse; her head was hanging limply, twitching only when she heard the whimpers from the cage nearby. Bill scanned through the rest quickly, but as he reached the end, he let it play. The man's nasal baritone was like nails on a chalkboard, and every man in the room wanted to punch him.

"I will not repeat my request again, Dr. Morgan. You will get me that variant, or the research. Cross me, and you will never see your wife or this precious darling of yours again. You have been warned. Do not fail me."

There was a moment of silence as the words hung in the air, broken only as Grace's phone began to ring. She looked at it and then the Brigadier, who nodded.

"Toni? What -" Her eyes widened as the person on the other end seemed to be in hysterics, and her voice quavered as she spoke. "Oh God. Okay, Toni. Take a deep breath. You need to forward that to me immediately and then go to Mary and stay beside her. Don't let her see it. I'm with the Australian brass; we'll...we'll do something about this from here. I'll be back as soon as I can. We have choices to make."

Hanging up, she pulled out her tablet and stared at it for a moment until the telltale ping signalled the incoming email. Just looking at the header caused her to hesitate, but she tapped the screen.

She regretted the action immediately, launching up out of her chair and throwing her body towards the wastebasket in the corner. The sound of her heaving was muffled only by the roar of fury as Rayne pulled the tablet to him and saw what had set Grace off.

The email contained a single image. A bloody message written on a familiar stone wall, - 'She paid the price for your incompetence.'

Below the words was the cage, now empty, save for a large pool of blood.

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The guilt came crashing down on Rayne like the sky on the shoulders of Atlas, followed by the white-hot anger as what they'd done hit home. Monsters didn't begin to describe them. Both Bill and Barry stared at the image in abject horror, unable to speak. Rayne couldn't help the thoughts that permeated his head. Had he just given Morgan the research...maybe this could have been avoided.

The heavy breathing of four people were the only sounds for several minutes after. Eventually, Grace spoke, her voice breaking on her words. "I caused this. They took her because he was connected to me. And now that child, that poor, innocent child..."

Bill slapped a hand onto the table, startling everyone. "No! They would have found another avenue if it wasn't him, Captain. Those fucking shitkickers took the option they thought would get results. It's even possible that he was paired with you on purpose. I mean, who's to say Oracle can't be spoofed?"

Grace looked startled, but if anyone noticed it, they didn't call it out. Rayne lowered his head onto the table in front of him. More loss. More death. The very existence of this damned virus is more of a plague than the virus itself. "If I had just given him the research...she."

"Again, no! Their actions are not a result of yours! You are not to blame! Brigadier, I'm going to get everyone on this. Those fucking animals need to be rooted out and put down." He turned his eyes towards Grace, his military bearing back in full force. "Captain Lawry. You need to call home and get people watching your families. You all need to be open and upfront if someone threatens you. After that, get to the hospital and do what you need to do to protect your people. We'll get them for this. Something like this cannot happen again. We cannot let them get away with it again! Dr. Valiant. Go with her to the hospital and rejoin your family. I'll send you with a double strength escort. One squad will stay with the Captain, the other with you and yours. Captain, your people will be safe here on base, but speak to them first before you go." He stood; his eyes filled with cold determination. "I'm going to get started. I have monsters to hunt."

Barry had watched the exchange with sad eyes but waited until Bill had left the room to speak. "The two of you, Captain Lawry, Dr. Valiant. I am recommending you seek therapy after this calms down today. For your whole Team, both of you. Captain, by the sounds of it, this 'Toni', Antonia I presume, saw that image, and if her reaction is anything to go by, she saw the contents of that envelope too. She will need help soonest. I can have the base psych clear time immediately to see her. I'll expect you to avail yourself of her services in the near future as well. You're not in my chain of command, but we both know someone who will be very upset if you're not looked after.

Grace nodded, looking worn out. She fished out her phone and began making a phone call, just as the doors burst open again and a pair of crimson whirlwinds came storming through. Lettie threw her arms around Rayne and just hugged him, but Lottie fretted, seeing the bandages.

"Ray! Colonel Anderson just told us. Are you ok? Is your family ok?"

"I'm ok, you two. Just some cuts. Simone and Trish took a bit of damage, but it's not serious. The others are unharmed, just shaken. Don't worry. If anything, Captain Lawry here is the one who needs comfort. She lost her partner and may still lose another fellow partner."

The twins both turned towards the other woman and she took an involuntary step back. Rayne suppressed a sigh, knowing how intense his sisters could be, but both of them just stepped up and enveloped the shaking woman in a hug.

Lettie had her hands around the other woman's shoulders and had pulled her down into her chest. "Grace? Can we call you Grace? I admit we don't know you nearly as well as the big guy does, but he very obviously cares about you a great deal. We're so sorry for your loss. If there's anything we can do. Let us know. I'm sure the big guy will also pitch in wherever he can."

The woman was flustered, clearly not knowing how to deal with the situation. "Um, you're Leticia, right? Thank you." She shuddered, suppressing a sob, then gathered herself and continued. "I...I'll probably need to talk to him, and for that matter, you and his other partners, very soon."

Lettie nodded but didn't quite seem to understand. "That's no problem, when did you want to do that?"

"Within the next week." Grace nodded to herself, seemingly thinking out loud now. "I'm probably the closest to my limit, I think, so that should give Mary and Toni enough time to choose...and Tess...if..." Looking up again, she met Lettie's gaze. "Of course, it depends on all of your approvals, but if you ladies and Tiberius are willing, would you be open to me joining your Team?"

The twins froze. Neither had heard the conversation from earlier, so the Brigadier spoke up to clarify. "Captain Lawry tells us that they know of a method to 'reset', I believe was the term she used, a woman into an unpaired state. So, women can change partners."

Grace frowned, but the Brigadier wasn't technically wrong. "I did also say that it requires the original male partner to be dead. Had...had Ben lived, we wouldn't even be having this conversation yet, since it's not something we want to spread too rapidly, but we were going to let you know soon. From what I know, it's something that we only very recently learned. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. It might sound callous of me, but I've been thinking about my relationship with him a lot over the last few days and I've come to the realisation that it was shallow. Admittedly, I thought it was deep, but I think a lot of that was just the 'honeymoon phase' of the relationship. When I went back and actually looked at our interactions, there was no substance to them. It's something I spoke to Tiberius about only yesterday."

Rayne gave her a sympathetic look. "Maybe it was because of the pressure he was under? I can't imagine he'd be able to give his all to a new relationship when he was worried about his daughter."

Grace looked pained at the thought. "Maybe. I wanted to work on the relationship, but that would be meaningless if he wasn't willing or able. I guess now, I'll never be able to ask which it was. But there are also things that have come to light that make me suspect that I was actually paired with him deliberately. Whether it was something he engineered or if someone else had a hand in it, I don't know. I'll always regret that I'll never be able to ask him."

Lettie looked at the woman in her arms. "And yet here you are, asking to be paired to Ty only hours after your partner died. Isn't that a bit cold?"

Lettie regretted her words instantly as Grace broke into sobs. "What choice do I have? I've got the Quaranteam serum in my body, so I can't afford to wait. It's already been four days since my last dose. Within a week, I'll start to lose control of myself and need to be dosed. You don't know because you've never seen it. The woman becomes feral, almost quite literally. They need to be dosed, because as much as the man in the relationship is dependent on the women around him for the protection from DuoHalo, the women are dependent on the man's semen to live and maintain their humanity. And now, Ben is gone."

"Won't your government step in?"

"The US Government will either assign someone new here and pair me to them, or I'll get to make a 'choice' from an Oracle list. Given what I suspect, I'd rather choose to tether myself to someone I know already than have a list of names thrown at me again. At least if Tiberius takes me in, I know I'll be ok. Then and only then will I have time to grieve. But asking now means you have time to think about it, and I'll have time to find an alternative if you decide that I don't fit with your dynamic."

Lottie gave her sister a look. "We know our guy. He adores you, Grace, even if he would never say it while you had a partner, so I can guarantee that as far as he's concerned, you're in. Just between us, I'm ok with it, because he trusts you, and has only ever sung your praises. But we'll let the others have their say too."

Grace smiled through her tears. "Thank you, Charlotte. It means a lot to know he thinks well of me."

Lottie pulled her close again, and Grace just let her tears fall. Ben had been an unlucky man in a bad position. He didn't deserve his fate.