Trevor realized that, yes, despite the frigid temperatures outside, the interior of the structure felt quite warm. That meant a heat source. That meant power.
Like Johnny, he removed his heavy jacket.
'Come with me,' the woman instructed. 'My boss will want to meet you.'
'Wait. What about my men? What about Nina?'
The woman smiled and told him, 'Yeah, her, too.'
They ascended a ramp that spiraled upwards. Their boots clicked on the hard floor and gear jingled sending echoes along the massive passage. Moving through the wide, tall corridor made Trevor think about Dorothy and crew walking the oppressively oversized palace on their way to face the great and all-powerful Oz.
Tiny lights-crystal like-embedded in the black walls provided illumination along the way. Not bright, just enough to see. The floor felt smooth and hard, as if made of rock.
Along the way, Trevor noticed scattered soldiers at guard positions. They-himself included-looked small and insignificant inside those massive corridors.
He felt the eyes of the guards follow his every step. They stared at him. He sensed a combination of fear and awe emanating from those watching eyes. What did they see when they saw Trevor? Something. Something strange. Reverence? Fear?
Something.
Trevor found it unnerving. He found everything about this weird place and the strange humans unnerving.
The ramp swerved around one last bend and opened into a wide room somewhere in the top of the twisted cone. That room had a similarly tall ceiling but was dominated by a bank of controls of a type- massive controls — along one wall. He had never seen anything of the kind before. He did not see electronics or computers but gears, levers, pulleys, and spinning spheres all of which seemed to grow out of the wall.
People-maybe technicians-sat at portable folding chairs in front of those controls.
One person caught Trevor’s eyes immediately.
She stood with the technicians watching their work. He recognized her even though she stood with her back to him. He noticed she wore her blonde hair not in the usual solitary ponytail, but in two short tails dangling to her shoulder blades.
Nina turned away from the technicians. Trevor locked eyes with the woman he once loved- still loved — so dearly. The woman he came to rescue only to end up a prisoner.
Yet she lived! He barely suppressed a smile of relief.
To his surprise, Nina failed to suppress her own delight. She grew a huge, mischievous grin and sauntered across the large room, approaching like a spider relishing its entangled dinner.
Nina Forest stopped in front of Trevor Stone, merely inches away.
So…so close.
'Nina…Captain Forest…are you okay?'
She examined him; traced every line on his face with her blue eyes. Her head tilted side to side as if studying a puzzle.
Then Nina Forest leaned in…
Trevor stood mesmerize, unsure how to react, unsure if he could trust his eyes.
She leaned in…stopped as if considering the best approach…then put her lips to his.
Nina kissed Trevor. He could not help but kiss her back. His heart pounded as her lips moved against his, as her tongue found his. After a moment…a long moment…she pulled away.
'Sir?'
The voice came from his right. He turned his head to see. There stood the Dark Wolves commando team, shuffled into the room by more armor-clad guards.
Trevor knew the members of the team by name: Bly, Caesar, Maddock…and Forest.
Nina Forest. Standing over there with her fellow commandos.
Trevor's mind spun, his balance wavered as he faced forward again to see Nina there, too. Then back to the right. There she also stood on the far side of the room dressed in dirty black BDUs and surrounded by the other members of the missing unit.
Forward again.
The one- the Nina- who had kissed him, licked her lips as if savoring the flavor.
Like the spider enjoying an appetizer.
7. Parallels
'Dear God, my eyes are not to be believed,' Reverend Johnny spoke inside the arcane control center of the twisted building. 'There are two Ms. Forests.'
One of those Ninas stood with the other Dark Wolves commandos. The second-the one who favored Trevor with a kiss-appeared amused at the predicament.
'No,' Trevor regained enough of his senses to speak. 'No, not two Nina Forests. One Nina, one imposter. What are you?'
The one standing in front of Stone feigned pain at the accusation. 'What am I? Why Trevor, I’m a who, just like you. Just like her.'
The Nina in command of the situation strolled over to the one herded with the Wolves. As she moved, Trevor took note of her clothing. She wore something looking one part rubber and one part leather; an outfit ribbed with protective bands along the mid section. Certainly some kind of battle armor and very different from the standard combat BDUs, worn by the other Nina.
Furthermore, the suspect one carried two pistols in dual shoulder harnesses as well as a scythe-like knife sheathed on her waistband.
The Nina in the strange battle suit approached her opposite. She gazed at her duplicate as if looking in a mirror. The new Nina brushed a curl off her brow as if expecting her reflection to do the same.
'So much…alike…' for a second the cocky confidence faded, replaced by a quietness revealing her own sense of awe for the enormity of the situation.
The suspect Nina changed directions. She walked toward Trevor, eyeing him suspiciously as she wagged a finger in the air.
'This is interesting, very interesting. I mean, I figured you’d come running after me, I mean, her. Then after I met her,' she nodded toward the other Nina. 'Then I figured, like, this whole thing was a bust. I was trying to find a way to salvage all this before we had to go but then here you are, just like my original plan. This just gets more interesting all the time.'
'Then that was it, was it?' Reverend Johnny spoke. 'It wasn’t about Ms. Forest. It was about Trevor Stone. And we walked right into it.'
'Let them go,' Stone tried to ignore the Rev. 'If it’s me you want, you don’t need them.'
This 'other' Nina said, 'That’s the idea. In fact, our time is kind of short so let’s get this show on the road. Take them out.'
Trevor warned, 'Whatever you are, you damned well better not hurt them.'
The battle suit-wearing Nina stepped close to Trevor. For a moment he was afraid — afraid? — she might kiss him again.
'You still don’t believe your eyes, do you?' Then she turned to the Wolves' guards and said, 'Take them, but watch; there’s still a couple of his men sneaking around out there.'
None of Trevor’s people budged.
The duplicate Nina looked at them with admiration, then she addressed Trevor, 'Now that’s just priceless. They don’t want to leave you. That’s loyalty. That’s just great. Hey, I’m not planning on hurting him. Trust me. But I don’t need anyone else. I mean, so either they walk out or we drag them out. Which is it?'
Stone stared across the room at his Nina. So many things he wished to say but to that woman with the lost memories she would not understand.
