Page 15 of Black Bay Defender
Once inside, Grady would quickly move to shut down the AI that controlled the soldiers, so Lark, Kong, and Leo could then begin the process of safely disconnecting the stasis pods to be moved while Grady kept watch in case the AI managed to call in reinforcements before it was shut down.
The General had called in another favor from a vet that ran a fleet of trucks. Those drivers were on stand-by waiting for their call and would come to pick up the pods and transport them back to Black Bay where a temporary holding facility had been prepped and readied for the soldier’s arrival.
It was a good, solid plan, and despite not having been able to get eyes inside to gain intel on the layout, Grady and his team were confident.
They were in position, waiting for word from the other team when Lark joined him, dropping down beside him in the concealment of the trees. “Everything okay?” he quietly asked.
She nodded. “Right on schedule.”
He returned his eyes to the patrolling guards. Thanks to his optical upgrades, he did not need the high-powered binoculars the others were using. The guards were going to be a piece of cake. Lack of activity had made them sloppy. One of them looked like he was sleeping.
“When we get back,” Lark murmured, drawing his focus. “You should take me out on a date.”
He blinked. “A date?” He’d like nothing better.
“Mmhm. Something nice and romantic.”
He could do romantic…
“I’m going to kiss you,” she told him, edging closer. “So tell that chip in your head to behave.”
His body reacted, but not with aggression. His heart pounded in his chest. This was desire, pure and unfettered. It didn’t matter that they were on an active mission. His surroundings fell away as he gazed longingly at her lips. He leaned in, their mouths a hairsbreadth apart, when the comms in his ear squawked.
He wanted to ignore it, stay immersed completely in Lark and her wonderfully intoxicating floral scent, but she was already leaning away, a frown on her face as she touched her earpiece and listened.
With a grimace, he forced himself to focus.
Jace and his team had grabbed the neurologist without issue and were returning to Black Bay with him. That was their cue, though he wished the other team hadn’t been quite so efficient. A few minutes to have been able to taste Lark’s kiss would have been… dammit, it would have been perfect. No such luck though.
He and Lark both gained their feet and she grabbed his hand. “To be continued,” she told him with a little smile.
“I’m going to hold you to that.” Because, right now, he wanted that kiss more than anything. But it was time to work.
The first order of business was to remotely disable the exterior cameras. As soon as that was done, their team moved in fast. He and Lark from one side, Kong and Leo from the other, their movements perfectly coordinated as if they’d been working together as a team for years instead of this being the first time he’d joined the Beasts. The guards were quickly disarmed, rendered unconscious, and restrained. While the others kept watch, Grady moved silently to the doors, on the alert for any surprises. Thanks to his mechanical hand and the access key concealed in the top joint of his middle finger, he was able to override the security protocols on the door quickly and easily.
They moved inside the dimly lit interior, checking corners. This was where it could get tricky since they were going in under the assumption that the setup of this facility was the same as the one he’d been housed in. There were no interior guards. Everything was where it was supposed to be, the soldiers tucked safely in their stasis pods. So far, so good. Grady jogged for the central system that housed the AI while the others flanked him, alert, weapons raised, and ready for any sort of attack – or so they thought.
“Good morning, Commander,” a sultry female voice purred, the sound filling and echoing through the space.
The AI.
The doors behind them audibly locked as Lark, Kong, and Leo raised their rifles higher, searching the room and the rafters above. The lights inside went red as an alarm blared, and Grady lunged for the huge bank of data storage towers. Metal vents around the warehouse clanked closed as gas was released from an overhead delivery system.
Gas. They hadn’t brought masks… Stupid. So stupid. But he hadn’t known. This hadn’t been part of their previous security measures.Focus. He needed to shut the AI down. It had probably already sent out an alert. Someone would be coming and they wouldn’t be able to fight if they were all unconscious. Shut down the AI, then shut down the gas.
He made the connection, his body jerking from the power that surged through him, and then, everything inside of him suddenly stilled.I’ve missed you, Commander, that voice purred in his head. He could swear he felt a hand sweep over him in a petting caress despite no one being near him. Realization was a horror that curdled his stomach and chilled his blood. Instead of him taking control of the AI, it had taken control of him. He couldn’t move. Lark was on her knees beside him, coughing as the gas billowed around her in thick, gray clouds being pushed down by overhead fans. She was trying to say something to him, her mouth moving, but he couldn’t hear anything. She reached out for him, but he couldn’t take her hand. His body was no longer his to command. His vision blurred at the edges as his processor went into shutdown mode.
Lark came to with a jerk, her shoulders screaming with pain at the sudden motion. She was restrained. Her arms clamped tightly behind her back and her ankles wrapped together. She couldn’t see. A bag, she realized. There was a bag over her head and her jaw was held tightly closed by a rough rope that abraded her cheeks, rubbing her scales raw, and squeezing her head so hard she could barely think around the throbbing pain that pulsed through her skull.
She couldn’t breathe… Nausea swirled in her stomach as panic set in. This was her nightmare. This was… The past collided with the present and a cold sweat bloomed all over her body. Her eyes watered and her gorge rose but she forced it down. No. She had to stay calm. If she threw up, she’d choke on it.Focus.Push past the pain and the terror.Think.
She flexed her hands behind her back and winced. They hadn’t secured her with rope but with chains. Heavy, thick links dug into her bones with bruising strength. Wiggling her fingers, she touched the wall behind her. Cool metal. A dip and then a rise. Corrugated metal. Was she still in the warehouse?
The others? Were they all right? Were they here?
Her abrupt movement when she woke had already given her away if someone was watching, so she risked letting out a noise to see if the others answered.
A familiar, guttural rumble – Kong – and a long rolling growl to let her know Leo was awake too. She listened, straining, but didn’t hear anything from Grady. Had they taken him? Were they already playing around in his head, stripping his newly returned memories and replacing them with layer upon layer of programming?
