The yard was dark. This section of the docks was mostly abandoned, so no light leaked from the neighboring buildings and the street was some distance away from the back of the warehouse. I could see the streetlights in the distance, but they did little to illuminate my current location. That was probably for the best, it gave us a better chance of slipping away unnoticed. Though, it would also hide any attacker just as well. I scanned the shadows from the doorway, searching for a sign that there were predators in the darkness, but everything was still. That did little to comfort me. But we couldn’t stay here, so we were going to have to risk it, regardless. I signalled for the others to follow me.

“Ok,” I kept my voice low. “We are going to move towards the back fence, cut a hole and slip out. Liz, I need you to keep him quiet.”

The succubus nodded and I could see she was already one step ahead of me, a gag made from a piece of cloth and a strip of duct tape had been wrapped around Jason Cain’s mouth. He glared at us in stony silence.

“Perfect. Remember, there may not be anyone here, yet, but we are going to proceed as if there are. Keep quiet, stay in cover, and if you see anyone, alert the rest of us immediately, understood?”

Everyone nodded silently. I crept forward and froze as I caught motion out of the corner of my eye. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that it was just the wind, flapping the edge of the tarp covering a stack of pallets. Perhaps I was being paranoid. There was no sign that any of our people had encountered any difficulty leaving. Maybe we had gotten lucky, and the Domini weren’t in position yet. Still, the others were leaving alone, and they could take care of themselves. I, on the other hand, had a several charges to keep safe, so perhaps a bit of paranoia wasn’t misplaced. So, I remained vigilant as we moved across the yard, but we reached the fence line without incident. As I pulled out my wire cutters to start making a hole, Oliver put a hand on my shoulder,

“I can handle that, you focus on keeping an eye out, huh?”

He made a good point; maybe he had a leadership role for a reason. I passed him the cutters and went back to scanning the yard. And that was when I caught a brief flare of light in the darkness. The light vanished for a moment, then a faint red glow appeared in the same location. Someone had lit a cigarette on the opposite side of the yard. I stopped Oliver, putting a finger to my lips, and led the group behind a stack of crates, waiting. The glow moved towards us, bobbing gently up and down. Whoever this was, they likely weren’t Domini. Ubarae rarely smoked, the nicotine affected them too intensely, they got headaches and nausea, among side effects, so whoever this was, they were probably human. The question was, were they from the Organization?

“… know I heard something over here,” the voice finally drifted close enough to hear. “Just, keep your eyes peeled, we aren’t supposed to let anyone sneak out the back.”

“Why would anyone sneak out the back? They don’t know we’re coming,” a second voice answered. “If they did, they would have left before we got here.”

“We are establishing a perimeter, Steve. It’s not rocket science. We are here so that when the main team bursts in the front, we are here to catch anyone who tries to escape this way. Is this your first day on the job?”

“It’s my first day on this job,” the smoker retorted. “I do office administrative work. I don’t have field experience. Why are we even here?”

“Because all our field agents are hiding in that building, in case you forgot. This is an emergency, and we all need to pitch in. Besides, haven’t you ever wanted to be out here, getting the excitement and glory?”

“No!” he took a long drag on his cigarette. “I don’t have any interest in being shot at, or attacked, or even just standing out here in the dark all night. What about this job appeals to you, exactly? Because I always thought the Partials were suckers. I mean, look at where they ended up.”

“Then why did you come?”

“They didn’t really suggest I had a choice. ‘All hands on deck’ they said. I assume they put me back here to keep me out of the way. No one even told me what to do if we saw anyone.”

“We stop them, obviously.”

“You have fun with that. Frankly, I’m not planning to spot anyone.”

“You’d let them get away?”

“Why not? This isn’t my job, Caleb. I’m not getting myself killed over some stupid office politics.”

“This isn’t office politics…” the voices faded as they passed us and moved further into the yard.

Well, it was nice of them to send the B team, at least. And it sounded like they were just setting up their perimeter, which meant most of us had already got out, by the time they arrived. Though I worried for Jim, Mark, and the rest of the injured, I wasn’t sure if they were still inside. Wallace I could take or leave. I waited until the two men were far enough away and signalled to Oliver to continue cutting. Looking back, I saw Liz lower her gun, which until that moment had been pressed to Cain’s temple. I had wondered why he didn’t try to alert them.

“If they have people setting up a perimeter here, they probably have people outside the fence, too,” Liz murmured.

“Probably. We’ll have to deal with that when we get there.”

“Perhaps we should leave him behind,” she nodded at Cain. “He is going to give us away, if he can.”

He nodded enthusiastically, clearly preferring to be abandoned.

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“We’ll consider it, if we have to. For now, let’s proceed as planned.”

Cain may be a problem, but leaving him with the Domini seemed… wrong.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Oliver peeled back a section of fence and motioned us through. “Before they circle around again.”

I pushed the sliced chain-link aside and slipped through into the dark, vacant lot behind the warehouse. There didn’t appear to be anyone watching this area. I waited for the rest of our little party to clear the fence, then motioned for them to follow me to the left, towards the road. We just needed to find a taxi or a bus and get some distance from this place, until then we would just have to walk. I moved slowly towards the street, watching for any signs of movement. As we grew closer, I spotted two shadows, lurking next to a car, beneath the building next door. They seemed to be watching the street. I raised a hand to stop the group, before they spotted us, but was startled to hear a sudden crash from behind me, it sounded impossibly loud in the tense silence. I spun to find that Cain had twisted from Liz’s grip and thrown himself against the fence. A flashlight beam cut through the darkness.

“Hey! Freeze!” a man’s voice shouted.

I turned back slowly, hands raised, to see both men training their guns on us from the end of the alley.

“What’s the problem, officer?” I tried to smile in a way that seemed disarming. “This wouldn’t be my first drunk and disorderly, but no one has ever drawn a gun on me before.”

I quietly hoped they hadn’t noticed the tape on Cain’s mouth or there was little chance this bluff would work.

“We are going to need to see some ID,” there was a slight hesitation. “There is a dangerous fugitive in the area, we are checking everyone.”

“No problem,” I grinned, stepping forward as I reached toward my pocket.

“Hands where we can see them!” the man with the gun barked. He was clearly nervous, jumpy. I was going to need to be careful here.

“Sure, sure,” I raised my hands again, hoping the others were doing the same.

I heard the crackle of a radio as the second man said,

“This is Hoskins. We have several people here in the alley, need some backup.”

The radio crackled,

“Who are they?”

“Not sure, I don’t recognize anyone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We’ll hold them here, just come down and help us.”

“That’s going to be a problem, they’ve breached the warehouse, so there aren’t many still out here. But we’ll send whoever is free.”

“Fine, just hurry up.”

The radio fell silent, and we all stood in awkward silence. The two silhouettes behind the flashlight beam shifted nervously.

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Hoskins asked after a moment.

“We’re crashing nearby, just on our way back from a little party,” I smiled, trying to sound casual, but not too casual, since having a gun in my face was supposed to be an unusual circumstance. I wished.

“You’re crashing in the docks?” the reply was skeptical.

“You know what rent is like in this city? Sue me for having… non-traditional accommodations.”

They seemed to consider this for a moment. Then a muffled series of grunts came from somewhere behind me and the flashlight danced away.

“What the hell?! Why is that guy’s mouth taped shut?” the man with the flashlight yelped, surprised.

I groaned internally. That would make things harder.

“I told you, we are coming back from a party,” if they would just come over to get a closer look, maybe I could try something.

“Right…” they did not sound convinced, but they didn’t move, either. It seemed they were smart enough to wait for their backup.

“What have we got here?” finally, a third man emerged from behind the warehouse fence, strolling over to Hoskins and his buddy. They visibly relaxed.

“I heard you might have someone, needed help checking them out?” the man continued.

“They only sent you?” Hoskins asked.

“Hey, Merritt told you, everyone else is inside. You’re lucky you got me. I stayed behind to… observe.”

“Fine, it’ll have to do. You recognize any of them?” the man with the flashlight spotlighted each of us for a moment.

There was a beat of silence before the newcomer replied,

“Nope, none of them look familiar to me. Maybe they aren’t involved in this at all. I mean, they are outside the fence, and our guys on the perimeter didn’t report anyone leaving.”

“Maybe, but we should still check who they are. Just to make sure.”

“Of course, of course,” I saw him draw his weapon. “Well then, since I’m the best shot here, how about I cover you, and you two go over and check their IDs. Then, if we have to bring them in, we can walk them back to command, together.”

“That does make sense… Alright, let’s do it,” Hoskins turned back to us. “All of you, put your hands on the fence and don’t move.”

He gestured with his gun, and we lined up against the chain link, leaning forward and gripping the fence with our hands. I watched our original captors holster their guns and walk closer, confident that the newcomer had their backs. Since I was the closest to the street, Hoskins approached me, while his partner walked further down, towards the end of the line, they would likely work towards each other and meet in the middle. I waited until Hoskins placed his hands on my hips, patting me down for weapons or a wallet, then I spun, driving an elbow into his temple and knocking him to the side. He went down on one knee and before he could rise, I brought my own knee up into his nose and he slumped to the ground.

“Hey!” his partner turned at the sound of the scuffle, fumbling to pull his weapon out.

Liz grabbed his wrist from behind, twisting it with one hand and taking his gun with the other. She forced him to the ground, then struck him over the head and he crumpled. That taken care of, she raised his gun, pointing it at the third man at the end of the alley. I quickly put my hand on the barrel and pushed the gun down.

“Relax, Liz, he’s on our side.”

“How did you know?” the man chuckled, approaching us.

“Well, you haven’t shot us yet, for one,” I rolled my eyes. “But I was already pretty certain when you said you didn’t recognize me.”

“That’s fair. I mean, you look like shit, but I could still pick you out of a line up,” he came to a stop a few feet away. “You going to introduce me to your new friends?”

“In fairness, it has been a long week,” I laughed. “Tom, this is Liz, Simon and Oliver. Jessica, and maybe Jason Cain, you probably know.”

“I’ve heard of him. How are you doing, Jess?”

“I’ve been better, Tom. But I’m making do.”

“Glad to have you back with us,” he smiled.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” I asked.

“Well, they called up every able agent to raid a warehouse full of rogue Partials, and I figured that was something I should be involved in. I would have warned you, but they have been monitoring me very closely since the fire; I couldn’t get a message out. So, I figured I would just… watch and wait for a chance to help, if I could.”

“This might have blown your cover, a bit,” I frowned.

“Yeah, well, I think we might be past that. I am not going back to the Organization. We can discuss that later, though, we should probably get out of here before anyone else turns up.”

“What about the rest of the people in the warehouse?”

“The agents that went in were much better prepared then those they left out here, and there were a lot of them, Ray,” he held my eyes for a moment. “Hopefully everyone had already slipped out. If not, there is nothing we can do for them, now.”

I nodded, mentally compartmentalizing my concerns. I would worry about that more once everyone here was safe.

“Alright, you have a car?”

“Yeah, but I am not sure everyone will fit.”

“Don’t worry. Jason here can go in the trunk. Lead the way.”