3013: GENESIS (3013: The Series Book 11) (18 page)

“Take
her team,” Maddox snarled. “We’ll meet you down there.”

“
Mya,
Kahla and I will keep searching for Quilla,
” Tavius told them.

Maddox,
Mikal, Amir and the two other officers raced towards the closest elevator. When
the doors opened, he said, “Voice override, Adaro-alpha-one. Activate
horizontal shift. Priority level, red. Lobby entrance. Now!”

“Can’t
we just have it take us to the docking area?” Mikal asked

“The
elevators don’t go to the docking areas. They have to be to be accessed through
the central lobby area,” Maddox explained.

“
I
found her!
” Mya’s excited voice came over the link.

“Show
me,” Maddox ordered.

“
Sending
feed now
,” Tavius said.

Maddox
activated the video screen on the inside of his face shield and saw the
real-time video footage of the shopping pavilion pop up in the corner of his
shield screen so he could see it with his left eye.

At
first, he didn’t know what he was looking for. All he saw was a mass group of
people milling around the main floor, with others walking along each level of
the shopping pavilion. Then the image zoomed in on a woman walking with two
men. All three of them had masks on. Not the holo-mask they had been looking
for that would have allowed Quilla to change her face, but a smaller mask that
only covered their mouths and noses, leaving their eyes uncovered.

No
one would have picked them out of the crowd, as many of the other people
walking around the pavilion were wearing costumes. The masks were enough to
throw off the system scan for their faces, but a prickle on the back of
Maddox’s neck told him that Mya was right.

 “
It’s
the black jumpsuit she’s wearing. It’s the same one she had on in Sanctum when
I saw her earlier.
”

“Are
you sure it’s her?” Mikal asked.

Mya’s
laughter echoed through the link. “
I’m positive. Trust me, I know fashion.
”

Mikal’s
mood brightened with understanding. “Shit, that’s right. You would be able to
see that.”

“
Sighting
confirmed,
” Tavius told them. “
When we focused on her eyes we could see
it. She’s not bothering to hide her eyes.
”

The
Tarin
s were a
barbaric race that fed off the energy of others. They had pure black eyes like
demons, and Maddox could see by the zoomed in image of Quilla’s eyes on screen
that she was definitely a Tarin.

The
door to the elevator slid open and Maddox’s team stepped out into the lobby.
Quilla and the two men hadn’t gotten to the lobby yet, but they would be there
in a few minutes. It was the only way to access the docking bays, and he was
sure that’s where she was headed. Quilla had what she wanted, and now she was
ready to leave.

But
he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“
Four
men down in the docking bay,
” Daimon’s voice told them. “
We’re heading
out to meet you.
”

Maddox
focused on the image on his screen. “She has a bag.”

Quilla
was carrying a small black bag, with the strap over one shoulder. The bag wasn’t
big, but it had enough room to carry a small bio-container in it. Maddox
stalked over to the security checkpoint and told them to clear the people out
of the lobby.

“
I
have officers clearing out the sections behind her as well, just in case they
have weapons
,” Tavius told him.
“We don’t want anyone hit by accident.”

“Make
sure they do it quietly. We don’t want to tip our hand too soon.” Maddox didn’t
glance over when Daimon came to stand next to him. “Did you kill them?”

“One,”
Daimon said, his voice flat of emotion. “We stunned the other three. I had a
few security officers take them to the cells to hold them until we’re ready to
talk to them. I think she’s working with mercenaries. They got a few shots off,
but none of our team was injured. It was easier than we anticipated.”

“You
know you just jinxed us…dick.”

“Suck
me.”

Brotherly
banter was pushed aside as Maddox saw Quilla and her two men come into view. “There
she is.”

On
his orders, their team fanned out. Blocking the entire lobby so she couldn’t
get past them. As one, they all lifted their weapons and pointed it at the
trio. Seeing them, the two men with Quilla grabbed two elites that had been
strolling by, grabbed their blasters and held it up to their captives’ temples.

Quilla
slowly looked around. “Ah, so I’ve been found out. What gave me away?”

“You
reek of evil,” Reva snarled.

“Cute,”
Quilla said with a little laugh. “I thought I would have been long gone before
you discovered I was even here. Unfortunately, I had to deal with a few
unforeseen problems that pushed back my schedule. Then again, I always leave
room for the unexpected. What’s life without a few surprises?”

Maddox
raised his blaster until she was in his sights.

He
didn’t want to talk to the bitch…he just wanted to end her.

As
if she could sense what he was thinking, the first flicker of fear shone in her
black eyes, then she blinked as she let out a soft, seductive chuckle. “I
wouldn’t do that if I were you.” In her hand was a small silver canister with
something attached to the top. She pulled at a small pin and clenched the
lever, holding it up so they could see it. “If you shoot me, I might drop
this.”

“
You
can’t let her drop that,
”
Mya said over the link to the entire team.
“
The canister is filled with the Genesis Project drug, and she has an
aerosol trigger on it. I just spoke to Dr. Whitmer-Fields. She said it needs to
be destroyed and cannot—under any circumstances—be released.
”

“What
the hell is it?” Daimon asked softly.

“
It’s
an altered form of the Alliance enhancement drug that triggers an
uncontrollable rage in anyone who is tainted by it. A killing rage.
”

“That
sounds special,” Pia said softly.

“
If
people inhale the drug, the effects are temporary, but it will give them extra
speed, strength and agility. They won’t feel pain or listen to reason until the
drug wears off. They can’t. All they will feel is the rage inside them.”

“Well,
shit,” Ryland muttered. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

“We
could kill you now,” Maddox said conversationally, trying to sound like it
didn’t matter if she dropped the canister or not. “Or we could keep you alive
and give you back to your people. I’m sure the Tarins would love to have you
back where they could personally make you pay for all the pain and suffering
you’ve caused.”

“I’m
sure they would, but that’s not going to happen. Now, move out of my way.”

“Tell
your men to let their hostages go,” Maddox countered.

“We
can’t let her leave,” Daimon murmured.

“No,
we can’t,” Maddox replied.

“The
face shields will protect us,” Daimon said, mentioning the black helmets they
were wearing. “But all of these other people in here are fucked if she drops
that.”

Maddox
was trying to figure out a way to get the canister from her when Quilla let out
a loud sigh.

“I
guess it was too much to ask to do this the easy way, but I never was one for
easy.”

Before
anyone could react, she stepped behind her guards back, blocking her from view.
She released the canister in her hand, throwing it hard so it fell in the
center of the shopping pavilion.

For
a heartbeat there was nothing but silence.

A
few seconds later, the canister made a hissing sound and a stream of smoke
spilled out into the air.

Then
the world exploded into chaos.

***

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Mya
stared at the screen in horror.

From
the safety of the security center, she couldn’t do anything but watch the scene
play out before her. Taken over by a killing rage, the Krytos shifted into
their battle forms. Their fangs grew, their nails elongated into claws, and
their eyes shifted from black to a bright red. The Helios also shifted, but their
bodies changed into their cat forms—animals that resembled saber-tooth tigers,
with sharp claws and vicious fangs.

In
an instant, the shopping pavilion and lobby turned into a battle zone.

“Kill
them!” Quilla shouted.

Mya
thought that she was giving her guards the order, but after all the humans in
the lobby started attacking the first person they could get their hands on, she
quickly realized that the Genesis Project drug made them susceptible to any
order given.

“Holy
mother of…” one of the security officers whispered.

“May
the gods pity us,” another stated.

There
were hundreds of people on the screen, and all of them were doing their best to
kill one another. And they were succeeding. Maddox, Daimon and the rest of
their friends were unaffected by the drug, but they were still fighting for
their lives as the infected attacked in droves.

Maddox
and Daimon shot at Quilla and her guards. One of the men fell to the floor,
where he was instantly pounced on by a large Helios in cat form. Mya wanted to
look away from the carnage, but she forced herself to track her mates on screen
as she silently repeated a prayer for their safety.

She
saw Maddox shoot again, and the bag Quilla was carrying fell to the floor. The
Tarin woman held her arm to her chest protectively, but Mya lost sight of her
as a wave of people crowded into view. Daimon slid across the floor, retrieving
the bag while Maddox raced after Quilla until Mya could no longer see him on
the monitor.

“Adaro-alpha-three.
Computer, activate security lockdown and turn off air circulation system. Code
Black,” Tavius shouted. Dozens of thick metal doors slid into place, blocking
off access to all the corridors on screen. “This will block off all the exits,
and shut down access to the other levels, including all elevators and stairwells.
People in other sections will be locked in wherever they are…which should keep
them safe.”

“We’ll
only have an hour of air!” Kahla exclaimed.

“More
like a half an hour with all these people on board, but it won’t matter if this
drug spreads all over the ship,” Tavius growled. “Look at the monitors. The
people in the ballroom and on the other levels haven’t been infected. Yet. If
we keep the air on, they will be.”

“Speaking
of air, look at the D’Aire!” Mya pointed to the screen that showed the chaos in
the shopping pavilion. Most of the D’Aire had taken to the air, their large
wings flapping slowly as they watched the scene below. They were trying to help
some of the combatants by knocking them out to stop them from attacking, but
they were outnumbered by the crazed.

“When
Arik V’Dir was helping Serra…never mind. The D’Aire aren’t affected by the
xili
in the drug!”

“That’s
good,” Tavius said. “They can help us.”

All
of the people wearing face shields were safe from breathing in the Genesis
drug, but they were grossly outnumbered. She saw Pia, Reva and Mikal fighting
their way towards Daimon, who still held the bag. Ryland and Amir fought back
to back as they stunned as many people as they could. Where was Maddox, Mya
thought frantically as she scanned the footage. Panic surged through her when
she couldn’t find him. “We have to get them out of there!”

Tavius
hurried toward the weapons area, where more officers were already gearing up. They
were shoving all the stunners that were on the rack into bags, getting them ready
to take with them.

“What
are you doing?” Mya asked as Tavius put on tactical gear.

He
cupped her face in his large hands. “I have to go help.”

 “You
can’t go out there!” Trying to sound reasonable, she said, “Besides, all the
doors are locked.”

“My
brothers and I can get through with an override code,” Tavius explained. “If we
get these stunners to the D’Aire, they can knock more people out from the air before
everyone dies. It’s the only way to keep this contained.”

Contained?

Mya
wanted to yell at him that there was no way to contain what was happening. To
tell him that he would die if he went out there, but he already knew that.
Nothing would stop him from going to help his brothers…and there was no way he
was going to let her go with him. She loved him desperately, even more because
he would help his brothers and try to save as many people as he could.

When
Kahla started to reach for some of the gear, Tavius put a hand on her arm and
shook his head. “I need you to stay here to protect Mya.”

“She’ll
be safe in here without me,” his cousin protested.

Tavius
stared at her. “I need you to do this for me.”

“Fuck!”
Kahla hissed.

He
turned away from her and wrapped his arm around Mya’s waist. “You stay here,
where it’s safe. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, turn the air circulation
back on. You’re programmed in, so the system will respond to you.”

Instead
of agreeing, she whispered, “Come back to me.”

“I
love you, Mya. And I always will.”

That
sounded too much like a goodbye to her. He bent his head, kissing her so
tenderly tears filled her eyes. Before she could beg him to stay, Tavius left
the security center with a team of officers following in his wake.

“This
is fucking crazy,” Kahla growled. “They need to get out of there.”

“Madam
Alpha, we have another problem,” one of the only remaining security officers
said. She and Kahla hurried over to him, and he pointed to one of the monitors.
“That’s docking bay twelve. The exterior door was just blown out.”

“Quilla,”
Kahla snarled. “What ship was that?”

“The
Intrepid
. It’s an Alliance vessel.”

Mya
shared a look with Kahla. “That’s Commander Macy’s vessel. She must have gotten
the access codes from him. She got away, but Daimon has the rest of the Genesis
drug. At least she wasn’t able to take it with her.”

Kahla
began pacing. “We can’t just sit here! We need to do something! They can’t stun
everyone before we run out of air.”

Mya
watched as Tavius and his team joined in the fight. Several of the D’Aire came
down to collect the stunners. They flew back up, and began to stun people on
the top floors of the balconies.

She
felt helpless…hopeless.

Everyone
she loved was down there, and there was nothing she could do to help them but
sit and cry.

Or
was there?

“It’s
airborne.”

“We
know that,” Kahla snapped.

“No,
don’t you see? The drug is temporary because it’s airborne! We just need to
knock them out until the drug wears off. They can’t do it with the stunners,
but what if we released something else into the air? Something that will make
everyone sleep?” Mya asked excitedly.

Understanding
dawned, and Kahla’s eyes widened. “That’s brilliant! Med-center one is close
by. All we’d have to do is get there and release a sleeping agent into the vent
system.”

“There’s
a problem with that,” one of the security officers announced. They all looked
at the image of the med-center on one of the screens. Inside the med-center,
Dr. Deveaux and three others were huddled together while a patient lay in one
of the med-beds. But outside the entrance, a dozen Helios, Krytos and elites
fought to the death, while others pounded on the doors, trying to get in.

“Shit,”
Kahla breathed out. “Maybe I could make it in beast form—”

“They’d
kill you,” Mya said, then quickly turned to look at the map of New Vega that
was displayed on a transparent board in the middle of the security center. “The
vent system. Can we access the med-center using it?”

“Yes,”
the security officer said. “It’s just straight through the vent, then down into
the room.” He pulled up the schematics onto the board.

“I
can’t fit into that,” Kahla told them.

“But
I can,” Mya said softly. Before they could argue with her, she laid out her
plan. “Listen, the people inside the med-center aren’t going crazy. I just have
to wear a mask as I crawl through the vent, get the sleeping agent and release
it back into the air system.”

“It
could work,” Kahla said slowly. “You know my cousins will kill me if I let you
do this?”

“They
will die if we don’t.”

Kahla
blew out a breath, then said, “You’ll pass two fans before you get to the
med-center. You can drop the sleeping agent in the fan on your way back, then
reactivate the air circulation system when you get here. We’ll attach a cord to
you to help get you back up the vent.”

Mya
nodded. Her heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it was going to burst
right out of her chest. She tried not to let her nerves show as she put on the
lightweight armor that Kahla insisted she wear over her torso, then she put on
the face shield, activating it when Kahla showed her how.

They
attached the cord to her utility belt, and Mya wanted to laugh. She’d been
right when she’d said her warrior outfits were functional. She just wished she
hadn’t had to prove it this way. When Kahla strapped a stunner to her thigh,
Mya shot her a questioning glance.

“Just
in case. Good luck, Madam Alpha,” Kahla whispered as she grabbed her into a
hard hug.

Mya
was damn glad that the face shield she was wearing hid the tears streaming down
her cheeks. She had a bad feeling about this, but it was the only way. New Vega
was her home, and these were her people.

She
had to do everything she could to try to save them.

Setting
a timer on her wrist unit, she started the countdown for when the air would run
out. A beam of light shot out from the top of her face shield at her command,
and she squatted down in front of the air vent, looking into the dark abyss
before her. The officers had removed the vent panel for her already, so she
just had to climb inside.

It
was a good thing she wasn’t claustrophobic.

A
few minutes later, she was rethinking that. As she squirmed her way through the
metal tube, she felt short of breath and knew it had nothing to do with a lack
of oxygen…yet. The vent ran between the main level and the second floor. There
was no way anyone larger would have fit in there, and Mya wasn’t sure she fit
either as she bumped her head for the third time. She maneuvered her way over
two large circular fans, knowing that the drop off into the med-center was
coming up.

“
How
are you doing in there?
” Kahla asked over the comm link.

“I’m
at the med-center. I just need to go in now.”

“
I’ll
have you on the monitors once you do.
”

Mya
took a deep breath, then pushed her head over the drop to look down. It was
only a few feet to reach the vent cover, but then she would fall directly into
the med-center below.

Awesome.

She
tried to ease down on the vent cover, but lost her footing and slipped,
crashing down into the med-center with a scream. The rope attached to her waist
stopped her from slamming into the ground. Dr. Devin Deveaux rushed over with
two of her staff to help ease her down.

“Holy
nova! Mya, is that you?”

 Mya
unclipped the rope from her belt and pointed to her face shield. “Do you have
masks? Something that will filter the air?”

“Of
course we do. What—?”

“Put
them on. Now!”

Devin
and the others ran to get their masks on. They were haz-masks—used for medical
purposes—which meant they were perfect for the situation. When they were in
place, Devin said, “Mya, what is going on? And what the hell is going on out
there?”

“It’s
a long story. Devin, I need your help.”

“Anything
you need, Madam Alpha.”

Mya
winced at that. “Let’s stick with calling me Mya, please. Do you have anything
in here that can put a bunch of people to sleep?”

Devin
glanced toward the windows facing into the hallway where people were still
fighting. “You mean those people? We could try somnium. It’s a sleep mist that
we use a lot around here for people with space sickness. It puts them into a
deep, dreamless sleep that gets them over the worse part of the sickness.”

“That’s
perfect. I need as much as you have.” Mya cast a worried glance over at the
windows as a body slammed into it. “And we need to hurry.”

The
doctor snapped out orders to her staff, and they went running to gather up as
much somnium as they could find. They got a container large enough to put the
somnium in, filling it with the contents of all the smaller vials. As they
worked, Mya filled them in on what was happening out in the pavilion.