Rogue Faction Part 1 Read online

  Cutting off what she was relaying on the radio, Darya looked up and saw for the first time that Anna was sitting behind the security terminal. “Don’t do that, Anna. Let my team deal with it. We should get you to the safe room until we know for sure what’s happening.”

  “No,” Anna insisted. “You don’t understand. That man’s hurt. He needs medical attention!”

  When Darya advanced and tried to guide her away from the terminal, Anna took advantage of the situation and stepped around her. She rushed for the front doors but ran face-first into the thick pane of glass when the automatic mechanism failed to operate.

  Staggering from the impact, Anna’s hands went instinctively to her face. At first, she didn’t understand why the doors had failed to open. But, then, the information hit…the building was on lockdown.

  “Anna, please calm down,” Darya tried to speak in a calming voice.

  Not missing a beat, Anna stepped to the security panel on the wall beside the door. She tapped a few buttons on the touch-screen and pulled up a virtual numeric keypad. Twelve digits later, there was a click followed by a hiss as the front doors parted, sliding open and allowing her freedom.

  Anna charged out into the courtyard even as she heard Darya stammering incoherently behind her. Anna knew her sister would be upset when she found out that the override code was no longer their personal secret, but there hadn’t been an alternative.

  “Wait!” Darya finally managed to yell, as she ran to keep up.

  It didn’t matter. She was too late to catch Anna before she reached the group of guards who had surrounded the gate’s service door. Half a dozen men stood in a semi-circle facing the door with their guns drawn, as Anna charged right into the middle of their ring.

  “God damn it, wait!” Darya bellowed, arriving on Anna’s heels.

  The security team was surprised by the intrusion, and every one of them quickly shifted their stance to direct their weapons away from her. She stood between them and the door, blocking it with her body.

  “What is wrong with you,” Anna scolded. “He’s hurt! Let him in, damn it—he needs our help!”

  Shouldering her way past them, Darya slid her gun into its holster. “Anna! You don’t understand,” she practically yelled at her charge. “Just because he looks hurt, doesn’t mean he is! He could have a bomb strapped to him for all we know.”

  Anna glared at the female agent, before sweeping her accusatory gaze at the group of armed men around her. “And if he’s for real? Are you going to let him bleed to death while you sort this out?”

  “Honey,” Darya pleaded. “We have to be careful. That means we can’t make any snap decisions.”

  Shaking her head, Anna turned to the security panel mounted in the wall beside the door. She began tapping on the touch-screen display. Just as she brought up the section she needed, she felt arms wrap around her from behind. One of the bodyguards had grabbed her and was pulling her away from the door.

  All concern for the man outside the gate being dangerous left her, as she was overcome by outrage. First, at the way they were treating the injured man, but then for the way they were treating her. She yelled and stomped down with her foot. She caught her capturer’s instep with the heel of her expensive boot. The man bellowed in pain, releasing his hold.

  As she spun away from the man, her elbow banged against something metal. In a flash, she realized it was a holstered sidearm. Without conscious thought, she snatched it from his waistband and backpedaled to safety.

  The entire security detail responded as one, reflexively stepping back from the young woman. One or two of them actually started to raise their weapons before remembering that wasn’t an option. They certainly couldn’t treat her like a normal threat.

  Anna, for her part, was waving the gun at the security team and moving back to the door before she even knew what she was doing.

  Oh, shit…

  The weight of her actions finally hit. Anna knew she’d have to deal with the consequences later. But in the meantime, there was still the man on the other side of the wall who needed medical attention.

  Holding the gun in her left hand, she kept the guards at bay. She tapped quickly at the display of the security terminal. Hearing the various voices behind her urging her to put the gun down, Anna tuned them out and focused on the task at hand.

  Completing the necessary sequence, Anna opened the intercom channel to the entire facility. “Gretchen, please report to the front gate immediately. We have an emergency medical situation.”

  Having sent the page, and knowing help was on the way, Anna tapped another key and changed the channel. She opened the channel with the intercom outside the gate.

  Looking back to the security detail, Anna once more brandished the gun, warning everyone to stay away. Putting her back to the wall beside the panel, she took a deep breath.

  “Hey,” she said over her shoulder into the intercom. “Can you hear me out there?”

  There was a long silence and Anna began to wonder if the man on the other side could hear her after all. She glanced at the screen and saw him finally raise his hunched form enough to look up and into the display.

  “Are you talking to me?” the man finally asked in a shaky voice.

  “Yeah,” Anna said. Despite how bad he looked, he still managed to grin into the camera when he saw her. “You’re not looking too good out there,” she continued. The man sputtered and coughed. She realized he’d managed a weak laugh.

  “I gotta be honest,” he admitted. “I’ve had better days.”

  “What can I do for you? Do you need medical attention?”

  “Ah,” the voice stammered as if confused. “Is this Doc Voss’s place?” he asked in an unsure tone.

  Doc Voss? She’d never heard her father called that before. Who is this guy?

  “Who’s asking?” she asked, her voice a little more coy and playful than she intended.

  She turned to see Darya scowling at her. It was as she suspected, the woman thought she was flirting with him.

  Oh well…

  “I have a package I was supposed to deliver to the Doc,” the man explained. Already she could tell that his voice was growing hoarse. He wheezed, then slouched even more, clearly having trouble remaining upright. “I ran into some trouble on the way here.”

  “Oh, crap!” Darya muttered, when she heard the man’s statement.

  This drew Anna’s attention but she didn’t understand what Darya was thinking. It didn’t matter at this point. She kept the gun raised, though suddenly the security team seemed less inclined to take it away from her.

  “What’s your name?” Anna asked.

  “Cyrus,” he said. The man’s voice cracked. There was something more, but he mumbled the rest. He sounded like he was having trouble concentrating and she suspected he might be close to losing consciousness.

  Looking back to Darya, Anna wanted to see if the name registered with her. She couldn’t believe that no one had bothered to ask him his name.

  Darya shook her head at Anna’s questioning glance. The name didn’t mean anything to her.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Cyrus. I’m Anna.”

  When Cyrus didn’t respond or move, Anna got worried. He’d slumped over; only the top of his head was visible on the screen. He might’ve blacked out.

  “Cyrus! Hey? Can you hear me?”

  “Anna? That’s a pretty name.” His response came after far too long of a silence. His words were slurred, as if he were intoxicated. She knew it was a bad sign.

  “Cyrus, we’re going to get you help. We have medical assistance on the way. There’s just one problem, and I need your help to deal with it. Can you help me?” Her voice was rising in octaves along with her stress level. She sensed he was slipping away, and she needed to keep him with her just a little longer. She knew that the security team had a legitimate concern when it came to someone coming through the gate with a bomb strapped to their chest. Unfortunately, it was all too real of a
concern these days.

  “Happy to help,” Cyrus slurred in a rather upbeat reply.

  “This is going to sound silly, but it’s important. And the sooner you do this for me, the sooner I can get you that help,” she urged.

  When he didn’t reply, she continued.

  “Cyrus, I need you to take your shirt off. Can you do that? I need you to take your shirt all the way off and drop it in the street. I know you’re hurting, but this is important!”

  When there was no reply and no movement, Anna felt her heart race. She wanted to release the locks and throw open the door. She’d heard Gretchen arrive a moment ago, and looked back to see that she had her emergency medical kit in hand.

  “Cyrus! Can you hear me?” Anna pleaded.

  “Take my shirt off?” His voice came back confused, but he acted as if no time had passed. He chuckled and pulled himself upright with great effort. He looked into the camera and made eye contact with her. “Hey? Are you hitting on me?” he mumbled, with a lopsided grin.

  “No!” She couldn’t help but smile. “Cyrus, come on! This is very important. I need you to take your shirt off for me!”

  The man squinted into the lens of the camera as if taking a closer look at her. His grin spread into a tired smile. “Are you sure you’re not hitting on me?”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Even though she couldn’t imagine feeling more on edge, somehow she found humor in the situation. “Okay,” she said. “Maybe a little.”

  He nodded. “Thought so,” he mumbled.

  She watched as he pulled himself upright using the doorframe for leverage. Then he stumbled, tugged, and pulled at his button-up shirt until it finally came free. With a sputtering cough, he dropped the bloody garment in the street, and struggled to stand straight before the camera.

  Anna felt Darya against her shoulder as they both looked into the computerized display. Together, they studied the man in the street clearly for the first time. His face was scraped, bloodied and bruised, but that was nothing compared to the damage that had been inflicted to his upper body. There was a large, blood-soaked bandage pulled taut across his lower abdomen, and there was massive purple bruising over most of his chest and arms.

  Somehow Cyrus managed to turn around, bring his back into view. A matching saturated patch of gauze was held crudely in place on his lower back. The rest of his upper torso looked to be a web of wounds that mirrored the front.

  Trying to complete his pirouette for the camera, Cyrus couldn’t pull it off. He stumbled and dropped to the pavement in a heap.

  Anna’s eyes jumped to Darya. She saw deep-seeded concern in the woman’s expression. Anna noticed that at some point everyone had lowered their guns. By then, she must have convinced the security crew that she was dealing with the situation better than they were, because no one tried to reprimand her.

  “I’ll get it,” Darya said, as she moved to the security panel. “Guys, get out there and grab the kid. Bring him in and we’ll seal the gate again. Better safe than sorry.” She looked back at Gretchen. “Ready?”

  Gretchen had her kit open and was already pulling out the first of the required supplies. “Ready when you are,” she confirmed.

  Chapter 31

  The Voss Compound

  5:44 pm

  Pushing through the heavy steel door, Natasha entered her bedroom on the third floor of the glass and steel compound. She quickly crossed the expansive six hundred square foot space and deposited her computer bag and purse on the large mahogany desk. Without pause, she turned and made a beeline to the king size bed on the far side of the room.

  Throwing herself onto the soft down comforter, she rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. It was a relief to be home. What was supposed to have been a weeklong trip to the Falkland Islands had turned into a grueling three-week stay. Thankfully, the extra time had been worth the effort. She’d been there to oversee the work that a small private lab was doing for her father. Synthesizing a stable version of the protein-based tagging enzyme had proven more difficult than either of them had originally expected. A great deal of trial and error had occurred before a stable base solution was devised.

  More than anything, she was curious what had transpired while she was away. Nearly a week ago, the size of her five-man security detail more than doubled when Dargo dispatched seven additional men to babysit her for the remainder of her visit. Dargo never spared any expense in regard to her safety, but that was extreme. He’d been looking out for her for as long as she could remember; still, such a hike in security was unprecedented.

  Out of concern, she’d contacted her father and asked what had happened back at home. Not surprisingly, he downplayed the increased security, saying that it was prudent given the general state of world affairs. He’d been frustratingly vague, and she knew better. There was something she wasn’t being told. But a follow-up call to her sister had proven equally fruitless, and she had quickly understood that she wouldn’t get a straight answer until she returned home.

  Now that she was here, Natasha was confident that she could get to the bottom of the matter. Oddly, she wasn’t concern about security or the safety of her family. Like her father, she had complete faith in Dargo and his people; she just wanted to know what the hell was going on. Dargo’s security team was large enough to constitute a small army. She’d had armed guards under foot her entire life, regardless of the fact that—as far as she knew—there had never been an event necessitating their presence.

  The knock chime sounded at her door. With a sigh, she pulled herself upright and called, “Come in!”

  The computerized system controlling the door responded to her voice, causing the door to slide open with a quiet, pneumatic hiss. Her younger sister, Anna, stepped across the threshold before the door automatically whisked shut.

  Anna smiled, obviously sharing Natasha’s gratitude for finally returning home. The two of them were close. Natasha’s extended trip had been an inconvenience for her as well.

  “Welcome home!” Anna trumpeted, as she bounded across the massive bedroom.

  She landed on the bed beside Natasha with a wistful laugh. “At least tell me the trip was worthwhile,” Anna urged.

  Natasha smiled and offered a weary nod. “It took some time, but they did it. Father is happy.”

  “Great! I’ve missed you at practice. Gretchen’s been filling in, but—ah…she’s not as young as she used to be.”

  “She’s only thirty-six!” Natasha countered.

  Anna rolled her eyes. “That’s practically a dinosaur when it comes to tennis. She’s having trouble keeping up.”

  Natasha laughed. Anna’d been competing on the professional tennis circuit for the past three years. Gretchen’s responsibilities as medical doctor for the facility were secondary. Primarily, she served as Anna’s professional trainer and coach. They practiced six days a week on a regulation size tennis court located on one of the basement levels of the building. Gretchen had been a professional tennis player herself, years earlier.

  “You could just say that you missed me,” Natasha muttered with a weary shake of her head.

  “You know I did,” Anna laughed.

  With her body giving in to exhaustion, Natasha grabbed one of the pillows from the head of the bed. She curled up in a ball with her head on the pillow, facing her sister who sat cross-legged at the edge.

  “You look wrecked,” Anna observed.

  Stifling a yawn, Natasha smiled. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay awake until dinner. I can barely keep my eyes open.”

  “Hey!” Natasha said, her eyes brightening. “Did you ever figure out what caused the red alert around here? Dargo had a dozen of his guys with me in the Falklands. That’s more than King Borden travels with, for God’s sake!”

  King August Casper Borden, II was the ruling monarch of the Isle of Kapros. He was also a close friend of the family, so Natasha and Anna had unique insight into the royal family’s security.

  “What
ever’s going on,” Anna explained, “everyone’s been tight lipped. But it’s safe to say that it has something to do with the guy in the infirmary.”

  Natasha’s eyes were falling past half-mast; she was only moments away from slipping into sleep while her sister spoke. After a few beats, Anna’s words reached her conscious mind, and Natasha’s eyes widened.

  “I’m sorry—what? What did you just say?” she sputtered.

  Rolling her eyes, Anna repeated herself. “Nobody’s talking. But I’m sure it has something to do with the guy in medical.”

  A mischievous smile spread across Anna’s face. “You haven’t seen him? He’s actually really cute!”

  Natasha propped herself on an elbow and squinted at her sister. “Wait a minute. Start over—and remember that I’ve been out of the country for the last three weeks!”

  Anna proceeded to tell the story of how the man in their infirmary had arrived at the front gate. She explained how security overreacted and how he was finally allowed access. She concluded the story by explaining that the guy had been unconscious for the better part of the last three days.

  The two of them were now sitting face-to-face on the bed, Anna having just concluded her story. “I don’t get it,” Natasha reasoned. “Nothing interesting ever happens around this place. Then I leave for a little while and holy hell breaks loose?”

  “Did I mention that he’s super cute?” Anna beamed. There was an unmistakable brightness in her eyes that spoke volumes.

  Natasha laughed. “Several times! I’m more concerned with the part of the story where you pulled a gun on Darya.”

  Anna shrugged. “You didn’t see him,” she offered. “All kidding aside, he was in really bad shape. He looked like he might drop dead right there in the street. And the way things were going, security was going to let him because they were afraid to bring him inside.”

  Natasha sighed. Weighing the choices in her mind, she gave in to her curiosity. Sleep could wait. She crawled to the edge of the bed and slipped back into her shoes.