Mercy jumped up from the chair and took a side step, knocking against the wall.
Christ—
The alpha landed on the chair, its eyes glued to Mercy. Mercy’s torch died. She closed her eyes and dropped to the floor with her arms over her head, her heart pounding.
Christ, this is really it—
Movement. Pressure against Mercy’s elbows. A click. Light. Mercy waited, her whole body tense.
Nothing, what the—?
A barely perceptible humming. Mercy opened her eyes, she reached for the knife on her webbing.
Wait. It’s Annalise. What is she doing—?
Annalise was standing in front of Mercy, facing the alpha.
She’s… staring at it. It’s not moving, it’s just staring back at her—
Mercy’s eyes narrowed, she started to withdraw her knife from its sheath. The alpha snarled and glanced at her, flashing its yellowed teeth. Annalise touched Mercy’s arm and squeezed it. Mercy froze.
OK, OK girl, I get it. You’re doing some weird hypnotizing number on this fucker. Let’s go with it—
Annalise was holding her torch between her face and the alpha’s face. The bulb began to flicker.
Shit, hope her torch doesn’t die—
Annalise continued to stare at the alpha. Its dead eyes bored into hers. Her humming intensified and the alpha seemed to calm down even more. It leant back against the chair.
She’s… captivated it. It’s mesmerized… Jesus, this must be her biotech ability…
Mercy pulled a face.
Goddammit. Cramp… hell no, not now—
Mercy closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.
Don’t… move, goddammit—
Severe pain gripped her calf. Mercy breathed in through clenched teeth.
Got to move—
Mercy stood up, her back against the wall. She supressed a groan. The alpha’s eyes flicked to her, its agitation returning. Annalise brought up her other hand, regaining the alpha’s attention. She continued her humming and the alpha lost interest in Mercy.
Mercy swore to herself as the cramp in her leg threatened to consume her. She flexed her foot and counted, the knot in her calf relented and the cramp subsided. A drop of sweat trickled down her brow and into her eye. The sweat stung, making her blink.
We’ve got to break this stalemate. Get a weapon… no, trust Annalise. She’s got this, just be ready—
Mercy’s radio hissed and Tawny’s voice crackled out of the ether, “Got this generator working. I’m gonna flick some switches, tell me if you guys notice anything at your end, over—”
Tawny, not now—
The alpha’s eyes flicked to the radio on Mercy’s belt, then to her face. They locked eyes.
The spell’s broken—
The room’s ceiling lights and air conditioning burst to life. The alpha let out a high pitched shriek and took a swipe at Mercy’s face. Movement, a blur. A hooded figure silhouetted behind the alpha. A slick wet sound. The point of a combat knife appeared from the alpha’s right eye. It let out a soft groan and sank to the floor in a bloody heap.
Mercy looked up.
Rose—?
“Rose—” Mercy gasped.
“Aye, the one and only. I thought I’d come over and see what you guys were up to. Tawny was giving me grief for bugging her over the generator. Glad I came—” Rose pulled her knife from the dead alpha’s skull. She wiped the blade on the back of the chair.
“That works for me Rose. I’m glad you were bugging Tawny,” Mercy replied.
Annalise slumped back into Mercy. Mercy caught her, stopping her from falling. “Hey, hey Annalise, are you OK? That was some stunt you pulled there… what was that?”
Annalise brought a hand to her head, “Sorry, I feel a little dizzy. I need to sit down for a minute.”
Rose dragged over a chair and they helped Annalise into it.
“Yeah, I saw a bit of Annalise’s action from the door. Looked like some weirdy beardy shit you were pulling there, Annalise. It was like you were holding that torch under your chin telling it ghost stories or something—” Rose said.
Annalise rubbed her eyes, “Yeah… no, I mean I’ve done it once before, back when the NSA held me in Richmond… after they’d put the biotech into me. They forced me into a room of tropes with some other kids. I was the only one with the biotech and I just stared the tropes down… it worked for a minute or two, then my concentration went and the tropes got to the others—” Annalise stopped and put her head in her hands. “I couldn’t save them—”
Mercy caught Rose’s eye.
Rose put a hand on Annalise’s shoulder and shook her head. “It’s OK Annalise. We get it Annalise, we sure as hell get it.”
“You did good there sister, you saved our lives,” Mercy said.
Annalise sniffed and rubbed her eyes, she sat back in the chair and stared at the dead alpha on the floor. “What’s that?” Annalise pointed at the alpha.
“What?” Mercy asked.
“The pouch… on its belt, it looks like—”
“A sat phone,” Mercy said. She went to the fallen alpha and opened the pouch. She took out a satellite phone and pressed the power button, “Battery’s flat, but the charger’s in here too… and now we’ve got power courtesy of Tawny—”
“Barnes is going to be over the moon with that thing,” Rose said.
Mercy stared at the satellite phone.
Maybe he’ll go back to Constantine—
“Yeah, well, at least we’ve got comms again. And even if we can’t contact California—” Mercy broke off.
“We sure as hell should be able to contact Constantine,” Rose finished.
“Precisely,” Mercy replied.
Mercy’s radio crackled and Flynn’s voice filled the room, “Flynn to Mercy, over—”
Mercy took the radio and pressed the transmit button, “Mercy here, go on, over—”
Static then Barnes’s voice came through the tinny speaker, “We’ve found a plane, a good one… and fuel. Dimitri is checking it over. It looks promising. What about you guys? What’s your status? Over—”
Mercy gave Barnes an update.
“Copy that. I’ll be right there. Out—” Barnes replied.
Mercy looked up at Rose and Annalise.
“We have a plane,” Rose said.
“And a satellite phone,” Annalise added.
We have the keys to the fucking kingdom—
