Well here it is guys. Sorry it took so long, way too long. I think things will move a little faster from now on. I appreciate all the feedback and comments guys, and based on a few peoples advice, this one is longer than the first, and I’ll try to keep them around this length or longer for the rest of the story.
Previously on A24
Terrorists have taken over the Biozyme building. At Biozyme on a field trip, Cassie, Rachel, Marco and Jake are now in the middle of it. Ax, Tobias and the Hork-Bajir have discovered the presence of a cloaked ship and a group of yeerks in their forest. Cassie and Rachel manage to morph fly before they are discovered, but Jake and Marco aren’t as lucky. With Jake and Marco held prisoner, the Animorphs must find a way to stop this surprising threat from the inside…
THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 2:00 P.M. AND 3:00 P.M.
Events Occur in Real Time
2:00:00 P.M. Forest<Are you certain the bindings will hold?> Ax asked, eyeing the blades mere inches from the thick bark strips tying the Hork-Bajir down.
Toby and her group had subdued the Hork-Bajir controllers, and quickly produced feet of makeshift rope to tie them up.
“Yes,” Toby said, in her oddly human tone, “unfortunately, we have been forced to tie up many of our kind.”
<Well you’ll be able to free them too,> Tobias said from his perch in a nearby tree.
<We must determine what to do with the Human-controllers as well,> Ax said, looking at the two humans lightly bound next to their much more dangerous Hork-Bajir companions, <I assume they would not be able to stay with the colony.>
“This has never been an issue before,” Toby said, “We will need some time to think about this.”
<We may have another issue,> Ax said, <we must discover why they were in the forest to begin with.>
<When they wake up, we can question them,> Tobias said, <I don’ know how much use it will be though.>
“We must bring them back to the colony,” Toby said, looking around the forest, “it’s not safe here.”
2:05:07 P.M. Biozyme Industries<There!> Cassie cried, zooming forward crazily, <that’s definitely Jake’s head.>
<How can you tell?> Rachel asked, but she followed the other fly downward anyway.
<I don’t know,> Cassie said, sounding embarrassed, <It just seems like him.>
<Okay well then lets get in there, I’m sick of just flying around waiting to get swatted,> Rachel said, sounding agitated.
The two flies landing on the shoulder were barely noticeable in the crowded room.
<Jake, we’re on your shoulder,> Rachel said, <try not to kill us.>
After waiting a moment, Cassie said, <Jake, can you hear us? Why would he be moving?>
<Maybe he’s around too many people to be talking to a couple of flies,> Rachel suggested.
“Tenril,” a voice called toward them.
“Has everything gone as planned?” another voice asked, coming from the mouth only inches away from where they sat.
“Yes sir,” the other voice reported, “the building is completely locked down.”
“Good, then let’s begin.”
<Cassie, I don’t think this is Jake,> Rachel said, <I think its Tom.>
2:10:03 P.M. Biozyme Industries“I don’t see Cassie or Rachel,” Jake whispered to Marco after carefully scanning the room again.
“Lucky them,” he responded, “So they’ll come save us right? I mean, you haven’t done anything to piss Cassie off lately have you?”
“I don’t think saving us should be the top priority,” Jake said, “There is definitely something going on here.”
Suddenly, they both registered a sob to their right. Cassie’s friend, Jen, was curled up in silent fits of hysteria while her friend consoled her.
“Is she okay?” Jake asked the friend, trying to look concerned.
“I don’t know,” the friend responded, she looked to be about to break out into tears too.
“We’ll be okay,” Marco reassured, “we’re the hostages, you can’t hurt the hostages, that’s bad guy rule number one.”
Jake hoped they would take comfort in Marco’s comment, but it didn’t help him at all. It only caused a dozen movies to flash through his head where the bad guys had killed the hostages.
“She’s not worried about us,” her friend explained, “her father, they took her father somewhere.”
“The head scientist guy?” Marco asked.
Jake looked down at Jen again, sobbing in the fetal position, with her hands and face obscured. If he was the head person around here, he would be the one they would start with to get whatever they came here for. Jake didn’t need any movie references to tell him that her dad was definitely in trouble.
“Someone will come,” Jake said emptily, “I’m sure the cops already know what’s going on.”
2:14:18 P.M. FBI Headquarters“Okay, I understand, yes sir, thank you,” Jonathan Davis finished, staring up at the flustered look of his second in command, Ted Richards. He was glad to finally put the phone down after just receiving an earful from his boss. He could be quite demanding, and quite threatening at times. “What’s up Ted?”
“We’ve just received word from local that there’s been an attack on Biozyme Industries,” he reported. Ted was a tall, lanky man in his early thirties, but he dressed like Davis’ father; a faded green sweater under a long blue sports jacket.
“Today? Jesus, this has to be about the announcement,” Davis said, pulling himself out of his seat. In contrast, Davis was shorter, and stockier, and still wore the military style hair cut from his years in the navy almost 10 years ago. He pulled a dark grey suit coat off his chair and swung it on as he exited the room. “What do we have?”
“Small group of armed men have apparently taken hostages,” Richards continued, stepping to the side and letting Davis exit the room, “we’ve got a few seconds of surveillance video but apparently at least one of them knows his way around a computer.”
“Any ID matches yet?”
“We’re still working it up but we should have it soon,” he continued as they approached the bullpen, a large collection of stations clustered evenly inside the large, main room.
“Do they know what’s going on?” Davis asked, looking across the room at the team.
“Only a few, I thought that you would want to make the announcement,” Richards said carefully.
“I’m sure they would have much rather heard it from you,” Davis said angrily, sensing the conflict between the two men. Davis had been promoted out of another branch to head this division only a few months ago. He had the feeling that most of the office felt he was under qualified for the job, and most felt that it should have gone to Ted. It sometimes seemed as though they were checking their assignments with him, giving him the unofficial authority.
Ted sighed, not wanted to address the issue. He knew that most of the office trusted him more than Davis, and he knew Davis resented him for it. But there was nothing he could do. He tried to show his support for the head, but that only infuriated him further.
As they came into the large open area of the office, separated into several smaller stations, some of the analysts looked up from their work expectantly. Davis cleared his throat, “Okay people, we’ve just received word of an attack on Biozyme Industries. A team is being sent there now; I need you to work up everything on our end by the time they get there. We need to know what organization we might be dealing with and specifically what they might be after. Most of you know the significance of that building, so let’s see your best work. Your unit directors will give you your individual assignments; I’ll meet with the heads in five minutes. Get to work.”
Turning back to Richards he muttered, “How real is the threat here? I mean could they actually get at this thing?”
“We’ve only brought up a rough outline of the buildings security measures, but it seems like it would be quite safe,” he responded, “Even we don’t know specifically where or how it’s being held, that information is working its way over to us now from Homeland Security.”
“But if they’ve got hostages, then they have the people with access to it, right?”
“Yes, the lead geneticist, a Dr. Kenneth Walters,” Richards said, checking his notes, “would be able to unlock most of the security measures around it.”
2:21:57 P.M. Biozyme IndustriesCRACK
Another swift blow to the side of Dr. Walters head sent him spinning to the ground once again. Once again, he was dragged back up to his knees.
“Please,” he mumbled, spit and blood trailing down from his mouth, “I can’t-“
“You can and you will,” a large man leered over him, “the key to your so called miracle cure is here somewhere, and we need you, to bring us to it.”
“But, but why?” Walters pled, “Without the original source we will lose the ability to save millions of lives!”
“That’s not your concern!” the man said, backhanding him across the face again, “let’s just say there are certain people who have a financial interest in it.”
Walters knew what they must mean by this. He had often thought, even marveled, that his cure would be so effective, that it would severely reduce the need for prescription medicine. His work would save people millions of dollars, and cost pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars. Was this why these men were sent?
“Hold out his hand,” the larger man instructed, “on the table.”
Obligingly, the smallest of the three men, gripped his left wrist with shaking hands, and held it firmly on the table. The largest man came back in front of him, now holding a hammer, “All we need are the codes, and if you don’t give them to us someone else will. Why lose a hand over it?”
Walters whimpered slightly, wishing he could look brave, but knowing he probably just looked pathetic, and shook his head. Every thundering boom of the hammer sent wave after wave of unexplainable pain through him. He could feel each one as painfully as the last; feel each of the numerous bones cracking under the pressure of the blows. As a scientific man, he knew just how many bones were in the human hand, and thought that must be why it was so painful. It felt as though every last one of them was breaking with mind splitting ferocity.
“Maybe he’s telling the truth,” the younger man muttered in a shaky voice as Walters collapsed in a heap on the floor, “if the building has locked down-“
“He isn’t,” the largest said harshly, “don’t question my information you little piss ant.”
He paced once in the room huffing, thinking what to do next, “go get one of the kids,” he commanded of the young guy, “we’ll see if he doesn’t mind their hands breaking.”
“Luis, reactivate the elevators, Jacobs coming up,” the man said into a walkie-talkie clipped to his shoulder.
“It will take a few minutes,” a scratchy voice replied.
“Get started then,” the man said, sounding irritated.
Walters gasped for air, his faced pressed against the cold floor, clutching his mangled hand. He had thought they were going to get one of the other scientists, make them crack. Isn’t that what he had claimed he would do? Where were the others?
2:27:19 P.M. Biozyme IndustriesTom’s eyes stared around at the crowd of scared looking scientists huddled in the main room of the locked wing. Tenril 662, the yeerk in Tom’s head, thought about what his success would mean. In twenty-four hours, he would be a sub-visser, on his way off this rock, if everything went right.
“How many do we have?” he asked a balding, yet heavyset man in a suit.
“All of them,” he smiled, “I asked all pertinent personnel to the labs before the lockdown occurred.”
“You are sure there is no way we can be disrupted?” Tom asked him.
“Positive, our security system locks down this entire wing in the event of a threat,” he relished, “and it is powered internally; even the cops won’t be able to shut it down for at least an hour. The so called terrorist raid did exactly what it was supposed to; the building is ours for the next several hours.”
“That will be plenty of time,” Tom smiled. If he was right then the first stage was all but accomplished.
“What about Walters?” the man asked, “he could be a problem if we can’t turn him immediately.”
“Our friends will take care of him,” Tom said, emphasizing the word friends with some contempt. They were the one wild card in the plan, the one thing that could upturn everything he was owed, “let’s begin.”
Tom nodded toward the other members of the sharing that had accompanied him on the “fieldtrip”, and they all began to pull something out of their pocket. The large group of scientists were paying little attention to a group of kids, they were instead talking amongst themselves, wondering what the threat might be, wondering when they would be allowed to leave. The first dracon blasts froze them all in place as half a dozen of the group collapsed onto the ground. Tom laughed to himself as he fired on another man, staring at him like a deer in the headlights. These were supposed to be the smart humans, such a pathetic race.
By the third round, with half of their numbers on the ground, the men began to scatter into adjoining rooms and some just ran for the nearest corner or desk, their most primitive instinct. With skillful precision, the remaining scientists were rounded up and blasted to the ground. None of them managed to put up any kind of defense against the attack.
<Oh my god, how could they? How could they?> Cassie cried.
<They’re yeerks,> Rachel said in disgust.
“Bring them to the portable pool, let’s get them infested as quickly as possible,” Tom said, kicking aside one of the stunned scientists to move through the room.
<They’re alive,> Cassie said, slightly relieved, but knowing that their situation was no better.
<We have to stop them, find a place to morph,> Rachel said.
<Yes, but how? We can’t just fight our way in,> Cassie said.
<The power,> Rachel realized, <Tom said the power is internal, and it’s keeping the cops out. We find a way to cut the power. Cops come in, stop the terrorists and the yeerks.>
2:34:44 P.M. Biozyme Industries“You,” Jacob said, grabbing one of the students under the arm and dragging her to her feet.
“Jen!” her friend screamed.
“No, please, please,” the girl named Jen pled hysterically. He wanted to let her go, let her just run away. This wasn’t what he could have ever expected. Terrorizing schoolchildren? But if he didn’t take someone back to Raul, then he would be the one tortured.
“Take me,” a tall, brown haired boy said, standing up and staring seriously at Jacob. There was no doubt in his eyes.
“Sit down!” Jacob shouted, tightening his grip on the girls arm and aiming his gun at the boy. He looked around at the group, trying to look authoritative.
“Come on, you don’t want to take her,” the boy said again, a determined calm in his voice, like a hostage negotiator.
“You can’t hurt a girl dude,” a short, Hispanic boy with dark hair said, standing up next to the other boy, “who taught you this terrorist stuff, seriously.”
They were right, he didn’t want to hurt a girl, and he didn’t want to see Raul hurt this one. A kid was bad enough. He didn’t even know why he had chosen this girl. He hadn’t wanted to look any of them in the face and instead just reached out for the closest body. If these two were willing to come, maybe it was better that way.
“Okay, okay!” Jacob shouted, glancing worriedly over at the remaining members of the group, who were watching him intently as they guarded the perimeter of the kids. Would they take this as a sign of weakness on his part? Would they tell Raul? Taking a step back, “you two over here.”
“Both of us? Ugh, fine,” the shorter boy said, moving forward, and turning to his friend, “I mean, with you all the way dude.”
The other boy followed him, keeping his steady gaze carefully on Jacob. When he had moved a few feet away from the huddled mass of kids, Jacob gave Jen a little shove towards the group, “Sit. You two, let’s go.”
He led them back out of the main room to a set of elevators, and instructed them to get inside. He could have sworn they exchanged a look as they moved past him. Almost as if the short one made a motion toward the elevator that the taller shook off with the slightest movement of his head. Jacob edged in a hit the right button with his elbow, keeping his eyes on the two. He and the taller boy stared at each other, sizing the other up as the lift descended. It finally came to a stop and Jacob edged them forward with his gun, into a room just right of the elevator.
“Why did you bring two?” Raul asked as, getting up from the chair he had been waiting in.
Jacob gaped up at him, unsure of what to say, but Ramon came to his aid, “In case we lose one of them, good thinking Jacob.”
Raul considered this for a second, and then nodded his approval toward Jacob, “Go up and help guard with the others.”
Jacob gave one last look at the two boys he had condemned, before turning his back on them.
“Start with this one,” he heard Raul say, as the door swung shut.
He moved once again to the elevator, pushing the button for the lobby. As the door began to shut Jacob could hear an ear-splitting scream of pain come from the room, followed by another booming threat from Raul.
2:40:51 P.M. Hork-Bajir Colony<Should we not wait for the others?> Ax asked Tobias nervously.
<They’re at some field trip, I don’t think they would be able to sneak off,> Tobias said, <besides, it would be better to find out what these guys are up to and then we can bring it to them when we meet at the barn.>
<Very well,> Ax said, looking apprehensively over at the small hut which held their new prisoners, <how should we proceed?>
<I’m not sure, threaten them I guess,> Tobias said uncomfortably, <I don’t suppose they trained you to do anything like this as an aristh?>
<No,> Ax responded. He was also very uncomfortable with the situation. He had been asked once before to question a yeerk by Jake, and it was a disgusting experience. He had not wished to go through it again, but it had been him who had said they had important information, and now it would have to be him who would get it.
Ax straightened up and marched toward the hut, as Tobias lifted off his perch and followed silently, gliding slowly overhead. When they reached the hut Tobias had to enter awkwardly through the door, cutting his speed and tucking his wings in. With practiced precision, he flared his wings immediately and zoomed upwards toward the roof. Ax followed through the door and gazed around the one, poorly lit room. In a far corner were two Hork-Bajir mumbling helplessly to themselves. They were tied very carefully to the wall. One of them had several vicious looking scars, which by Hork-Bajir’s healing standards, could have been only a few days old.
Lined up on the other side were the half dozen members of the guard, also tied tightly in place. To his relief, Ax found Toby standing over one of them talking in a calm but authoritative voice.
“Why were you in the forest?” Toby asked him.
“Hagrash scum!” the bound Hork-Bajir controller croaked.
“Your host will be able to tell us soon enough, yeerk,” Toby said, “if you tell us now we can end it quickly.”
“Never darkap, never fail visser,” he wheezed again.
“Like I said,” Toby continued, sounded so unlike herself, “one way or another, you will tell us.”
2:45:13 P.M. FBI Headquarters“Sir the field team is in position but we can’t set up an entry profile until the full security specs on the Biozyme building are cleared,” Henry Franklin, one of the lead strategists, reported as Davis leaned over his desk, examining the work.
“We put in a request to Homeland a half hour ago, call them and find out what the hell is going on,” Davis said, feeling the pressure of the clock, they needed to be in that building soon. Before it was too late. “Have them set up a preliminary entry package, be ready at a seconds command. We can work up something more in depth when we get it.”
“I’ll give HS a call,” Richards offered from two stations over.
Davis nodded to him and moved across the room to another unit of computers and spoke to the two women standing over one of the stations, “Do we have a profile on these guys yet?”
“It just came through,” one of them reported, showing a screen with several pictures, “this is the one we expect to be the leader. Raul Garza. He’s a merc, but he has ties to a domestic terror group known as High Dawn.”
“Send it over to me I can run known associates,” the other woman said, sliding back into the seat by her station.
“Good,” Davis said, although this new information did not give them any real help, “find out the connection between him and Biozyme, pharmaceuticals, anything related.”
“Boss,” Richards called, rushing over to him, “just got the specs on Biozyme, we have a problem.”
“Go ahead,” said Davis, following Richards over to an empty station as he spoke.
“There’s an entire internal security network that wasn’t in the schematics. The entire building is locked down if the panic button is hit, which it looks like it has been.”
“So they’re trapped in there?”
“Right but-“
“They’re in there with the formula,” Davis finished for him, “and their mission might just be to destroy the thing. How long will it take to shut down?”
“The entire system has an internal generator so cutting the power is out. It could take us upwards of an hour to get through the firewall.”
“Damnit, okay get started on that, but we can’t rely on it, we need another way in,” Davis said. He knew they were running out of time, unless a miracle occurred they would not be getting into that building.
2:49:38 P.M. Biozyme Industries<Are you sure this is the right way?> Cassie asked, scurrying along.
<Yea, um, pretty sure,> Rachel said doubtfully. She took another sniff with her rat nose, showing her the way, <come on Cassie, if a normal mouse can smell its way through a maze, shouldn’t we be able to?>
<Should I remind you that the only reason we have this morph is that my rat wasn’t able to get through that maze?> Cassie said, but she was beginning to sift through the scents before her now and could definitely smell something foul getting stronger.
They had morphed the rat and climbed up into the vents on the logic that the generator would be giving off some powerful smells. Like a rat following cheese through a maze, they were following the smell of oil and coolant to their prize.
As they reached another junction, the smell grew even stronger as a breeze of hot air blew towards them, <Oh yea, definitely this way.>
The smell began to become even more prominent to their tiny but powerful rat noses. There was no longer a need to sort through a dozen different odors; it was the only smell. Rachel was beginning to feel light headed in the back of the rat’s brain, which was telling her to turn around, sensing danger in the smell. Yet they continued to power forward, moving faster now that the smell had become nearly unbearable. Finally, they reached a large grate exploding with heat. They had undoubtedly located the generator, just on the other side of the grate.
<How do we get through?> Rachel asked, eyeing the tiny slits in the grate with blurry rat vision.
<Oh come on Rachel, you really need to watch animal planet more,> Cassie said, moving forward confidently, <rats can flatten their bodies to squeeze under nearly any crack.>
<You really need to stop watching animal planet,> Rachel said, watching Cassie’s rat body squeeze unnaturally through the hole, <that is gross.>
Trusting her best friend’s knowledge of animals could never be wrong, and hoping that the rats instincts would help guide her through, Rachel forced her way into the crack. She could not have been prepared for how painful it would be. Although she couldn’t think of how it shouldn’t be, but so used to her bones shifting using painless alien technology, she had allowed herself to forget just how painful it should be. As she managed to squeeze about half of her tiny body through the grate, she saw Cassie clear it and tumble to the floor.
MOTION SENSOR ACTIVATED. INTRUDER DETECTED. SECURITY MEASURES ACTIVATED.
A loud robotic voice boomed throughout the room seconds after Cassie had hit the floor.
<Oh no!> Cassie said, already beginning to demorph.
<Not good, we should wooooaaah,> Rachel began as she freed herself and tumbled to the ground, <that was fun, so what are these security meas->
<Rachel, demorph fast!> Cassie shouted, already almost half human, <its pumping gas into the room!>
Rachel began growing as fast as she could, the fur melting away to reveal smooth skin as blonde hair sprouted from the top of the rats head. But it wasn’t happening fast enough. The gas was designed to knock a human out within minutes; it would kill a rat in much less time. Rachel was beginning to lose focus, the blurry pictures in front of her becoming fragmented and distant.
“Rachel, come on! You can do it!” Cassie shouted, fully human now but still changing. She knew maybe the only way to save her friend was to do what they had come to do, and quickly. Quick destruction meant channeling some of Rachel’s power, which was why white fur spread across Cassie’s entire body. She too was beginning to feel the effects of the gas, but the morphing seemed to be temporarily washing away the effects. She was getting bigger, more powerful, less easily knocked out by a simple gas, but she was not becoming invulnerable to it.
She looked down as the muscles began to spread across her body, rippling over her old, puny muscles; doubling, tripling. On the ground was Rachel, sprawled out, immobile, but human. Wasting no time, Cassie reared up on her hind legs and began striking the large engine with all the might her polar bear morph possessed. It would not yield to a single hit, but a few dozen, maybe. BAM BAM BAM, she pounded away at the metal, causing large meaningless dents in it. BAM BAM BAM, she thought of Rachel, and knew she had only minutes left. BAM BAM BAM.
2:55:37 P.M. Biozyme Industries“That’s enough,” Raul raged, standing up straight again. His hands and face were covered in blood. Jake’s blood, Marco’s blood, Dr. Walters blood; it was impossible to tell. He had gone crazy with rage, pounding senselessly on the three of them, desperate for answers that they could not give.
“Please,” Walters said with difficulty, spitting up blood with every word, “I have nothing, I can tell you nothing.”
“You WILL tell us!” Raul screamed, “You will tell us! Or HE will die!”
Raul grabbed Marco by the collar and with one hand threw him a few feet across the room. He crumpled in a pile on the floor next to the other man.
“Ramon, be prepared to kill him in…five seconds,” Raul said, not taking his eyes off Walters, who was looking imploringly from Marco to Jake to Ramon, seemingly unable to look Raul in the eyes.
Jake knew it was time for drastic action. He could tell almost immediately after being brought into the room. He didn’t need what must have been a half hour of beating to tell him that Walters didn’t have the information that they needed. Maybe Raul knew it too, maybe he was just crazy, maybe desperation had made him snap. The only thing Jake knew was that unless he took action now, they would kill Marco.
“Four…”
From his position on the ground, Jake tested his weight in the crouched position. He would not be able to do much. He had a few cracked ribs for sure; some broken fingers and his eyes were nearly swollen shut.
“Three…”
Staring ahead at his target, he saw Marco propped up underneath him. He was in even worse shape. One leg was broken, as well as an arm, and his face looked like an abstract painting. That Jake was able to register the signal in Marco’s mangled face was a testament to the length of their friendship. The slight shake of his head and a motion over to Raul was unmistakable to Jake.
“Two…” Raul stretched out the number as long as he could, staring daggers at Walters.
Seizing the opportunity, Jake sprung to his feet, ignoring the pain as his body screamed its disapproval. He charged straight for Raul, cutting the distance in half before even catching his attention. But now he was ready, the surprise was over, the attack would not work. Raul grinned as he threw his hands out to throw Jake back to the ground.
Suddenly, the entire room went black. Unable to see, but driven by his momentum, Jake plowed into a suddenly surprised body, sending them both into the wall. He and Raul rolled around the ground, confused and frantic, landing and missing punches sporadically. From across the room Jake could hear another struggle as Marco seemed to be trying to throw his captors hold.
Just as suddenly as the darkness, was the shocking BAM BAM of gunfire. The muzzle blasts shot light across the room but only briefly. Not enough to see what was happened, not enough to see where the two shots had ended up.
2:59:27 P.M. FBI HeadquartersDavis walked down a deserted hallway, away from the hectic energy of the bullpen. It had been a busy hour for him, going non-stop to end this attack and to lead his team. He had not had a moment to himself, which for him in particular could become very problematic. It was highly important that he keep regular updates, especially today. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial, looking over his shoulder to be sure he had moved far enough away from anyone who might overhear him. The call was answered on the second ring.
“This is Gamad Four-Two-Seven,” he said into the phone, “I’m sorry I haven’t reported in sooner.”
3:00:00 P.M.Well there it is! I hope you liked it! To be honest I thought this chapter was a little boring. (just wait until we get a little later, ho ho) But I hope you guys liked it all the same, and I hope I’ve managed to keep it exciting.
