We emerged from the bathroom to find the room considerably emptier than it had been when we passed through a short time earlier. Those that remained were staring at us as we walked out and the bartender reached his hand under the counter, before he spoke. Either he had a gun under there, or he just wanted me to think that he did.

“Look, I don’t know if you two are the victims or the perpetrators, but either way you should know that I’ve called the police. They are on their way.”

Fair enough. That was probably the smart call when two people wander in off the street, covered in blood, and commandeer your bathroom.

“So,” he continued. “How about you both take a seat, relax, have a drink on the house and we can wait for them together, nice and calm.”

“Tempting,” I replied casually. “But unfortunately, we have other places to be today, and the cops are probably going to be awhile. There is something happening a couple of blocks over that is going to keep them busy for the foreseeable future. In fact, you should probably all just stay inside for a bit.”

The bartender tensed,

“Are you planning to keep us here, then?” he glanced down at the gun tucked into my waistband. I should probably have hidden that better.

“Don’t worry, we’re not here to cause you any problems,” I raised my hands, keeping them carefully away from my weapon. “In fact, we are going to be leaving, right after I return something.”

I placed my ‘borrowed’ cell phone down on the closest table and looked to its owner. He was one of the few people who had stayed, and he was even still half-watching the game. I was kind of impressed by his dedication.

“Thanks for lending me your phone.”

Confused, he glanced at the spot next to him, noticing it missing for the first time.

“Since you seem to be a sports fan,” I continued. “Any chance you know if tonight’s junior hockey game has started yet?”

He stared at me, wide-eyed for a moment, before deciding that answering was probably the safest option. He glanced at the clock on the wall.

“Umm… not for another 30 minutes or so,” he stammered.

“Thanks,” I turned to Luke. “We’d better hurry if we are going to make the puck drop. Have a good night.”

I waved for Luke to follow, and we headed back out into the dusky twilight that was gathering outside. No one tried to stop us.

“So, are the cops really busy, or was that a bluff?” Luke asked once we were alone on the street.

“Oh, they are going to be plenty busy, I imagine. Gail has called in pretty much everyone available to both contain the facility we just left, and deal with the situation at the arena,” he had only heard my side of our phone conversation, so it made sense he was unclear on some of the details. “She’s sending a car to pick us up, and we are going to meet them there.”

“We are? Surely there are others more equipped to handle this. You should probably go to a hospital.”

He looked me up and down, critically. I had cleaned myself up a bit, but there was only so much you could do in a bathroom sink with paper towels.

“It looks worse than it is,” I waved away his concern. “Besides, they will need both of us there. I am the one who knows where all the devices are, and we are the only ones who will recognize most of the people involved.”

It was obvious that we were needed; so much so that even Gail had barely bothered to argue the point. Of course, I also hadn’t exactly gone into much detail about my injuries. I was sure she assumed.

“I am not sure…”

“Relax, Gail’s much more… cautious than I am. She won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Maybe I’m not the one I’m worried about,” he retorted.

“Oh, well in that case, she can’t help you. Gail is good, but even she can’t protect someone from themself,” I winked, at least half kidding. “Now, we are looking for a large black van or SUV, no windows in the back. See it?”

Luke leaned out, then pointed it out a street away. I picked up my pace to intercept it,

“Good, we probably shouldn’t be out in the open for too long. Especially in this part of town.”

The van pulled up, facing against traffic and the passenger’s side window rolled down.

“Hurry up and get in the back, we have a lot to go over before we get there,” Gail gestured to the back sliding doors, and I heard the locks pop.

“I didn’t expect you to come in person,” I noted, grabbing the handle.

“I figured it would give us all more time to chat. There are a few others in the back who also need to hear this.”

I pulled the door open and smiled. Of course. I jumped inside and gestured for Luke to follow, then slammed the door shut behind him, before he had a chance really register who we were joining. I buckled myself into an empty seat as the driver, presumably one of Gail’s people, hit the gas and eased the van out onto the road.

“Damn it’s good to see you,” I shook my head. “All of you. But I should probably make the introductions quick. Luke, this is Gail Tremblay, head of the… what are they calling your agency now?”

Gail rolled her eyes,

“We can discuss that later.”

“Right. Anyway, Gail’s the boss over here. Mark Vasquez,” I pointed to the man in the seat across from us, “is currently her European counterpart. And I am frankly surprised he is still here.”

“Not ‘still’,” Mark corrected. “You’ve been under a long time. I have been back and forth on several occasions since we last spoke, because for some reason, there is a lot of drama on this side of the pond.”

“So, you just don’t want to miss out on all the excitement, eh? I completely understand,” I smirked and turned to next man. “This is my friend Simon. I mentioned him to you a few times, I think. And while I am very glad to see him, I am honestly not sure why he’s here.”

“He insisted,” Gail replied. “Besides, he had this crazy suspicion that you might need medical attention.”

I could see her disapproving glare in the rearview mirror. Ok, perhaps my injuries looked worse than I thought.

“And obviously I was correct,” Simon prodded at the cut along my hairline. “That is going to need stiches, by the way.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I shrugged. “Just dab some glue on it for now and I will get it taken care of properly when things are resolved, alright?”

Simon clucked disapprovingly, but opened his bag and began searching for the appropriate first aid supplies,

“Yeah, yeah. I am still going to have to do a full examination.”

“Alright, well can you do it while we talk, Simon?” he nodded, so I continued, ignoring him dabbing at my head injury with gauze and antiseptic. “And our final passenger you already know, right Luke?”

Of course he did. Luke had been staring wide-eyed at the woman since we first entered the van. I wasn’t entirely sure he had even paid attention to the other names. I probably should have done this in the opposite order. Oh well, he’d catch up.

“It’s really good to see you safe, Liz,” I smiled, clapping a hand on the succubus’ shoulder. “I was… concerned about you.”

“If anything, that should be my line,” Liz observed, smiling wryly. “You were in a much riskier situation than I was. Clearly.”

She watched pointedly as Simon applied some sort of ointment to the burns on my arms. Gail had evidently already briefed everyone here on the particulars of my escape.

“You’re alive?!” Luke blurted, brain finally catching up.

“The last time I checked,” Liz chuckled. “You didn’t explain?”

I shrugged,

“I didn’t really get the opportunity. It’s not like I could tell him back at the facility.”

“True, I suppose that…”

“No, wait!” Luke interrupted. “Don’t just move on like that. I saw you die!”

“No, you absolutely did not,” I corrected. “You saw her overdose, but that isn’t really the same thing, is it?”

I paused as Simon palpated my ribcage, trying to avoid noticeably wincing as he prodded a sensitive spot. I clearly failed, because I saw him scowl at me.

“Come on, Ray, don’t be cruel,” Liz turned to Luke. “To explain properly, we planned it all in advance. I broke the vial and exposed myself intentionally. Then, Ray treated me with Naloxone before you all left.”

“But that is impossible. We would have seen if she injected you, and she never went near the kits.”

“She didn’t, but I did. I took a few of the needles out during the car chase. When I changed clothes, I inserted one of the needles in my arm, under my sweatshirt. When Ray moved my ‘body’ she simply depressed the syringe, then left. I gave myself another dose once you were gone, then went for help. And here we all are.”

“It was a ridiculously dangerous plan,” Simon scoffed. “You could have easily died. One dose might not have been enough, you could have…”

“I knew the risks, Simon. I decided it was worth it,” Liz broke in.

“Why?” Luke asked.

“Tom was certainly planning to kill me when the job ended, anyway. If I’d somehow gotten away, they surely would have sent people after me and it would have looked suspicious for Ray. This was the only way for her to earn Wallace’s trust, convince him she was fully on board. And that was the only way for her to learn about his plan and stop a lot more deaths down the line. It was worth it.”

Luke was silent for a moment, digesting the information.

“Well, I am glad to learn that you are alright. Truly,” he smiled. “And even though it would have messed up your plans a bit, I am sorry I didn’t do anything to help you that day. I want you to know that I have regretted it ever since, and I promise I will do better from now on.”

“I’ve heard you are off to a decent start,” Liz offered me a quick, knowing smile. “If my ‘death’ inspired you to do the right thing, in the end, then I am glad for it. Truthfully, I wasn’t so sure I agreed with Ray’s judgement about you the first time we met, but you saved her life, and you turned against your own people to do it. So, I am willing to give you a shot. People can change, after all.”

Her eyes darted to Simon as she spoke, then back to Luke.

“I am hoping you will continue to prove you are better than the company you were keeping,” she concluded.

Luke nodded solemnly,

“I will. But I want you to know, not everyone there is…” he struggled for the right words. “Some of them are good people, who have been misled. I’ve been talking with them. There are many who would switch sides, given the opportunity. I am sure of it.”

“And I intend to give them that opportunity,” Gail replied. “But that is a conversation for later. We have more pressing concerns right now. So, if you have cleared up all the critical misunderstandings, we should probably discuss our plan. We’ll be at the arena, soon.”

“Good idea,” I was happy to move on. “This part is actually pretty simple. There are several devices planted throughout the ventilation system of the building. We go in, split up, find and remove each one before they can be triggered, and disarm them. If you have paper, I can mark the rough position of each one out for you.”

Mark searched for a moment before he pulled some out of the seat pocket, and I began sketching a rough map. It was a bit tricky to focus, with Simon applying glue to my deeper cuts, but we made it work. I passed my crude drawing to Mark, who leaned forward to share it with Gail.

“You seem to be very familiar with the locations of these devices,” the driver noted warily, eyes flicking to meet mine in the mirror.

“I should be, I chose them,” I replied.

“What do you mean you chose them?” he blurted.

“A conversation for another time, Jeffries. Focus on driving,” Gail silenced him. “Alright, this looks doable.”

“You have enough people to cover all of those locations simultaneously?” I asked.

“Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. These are just humans, so no one needs to be Immune. Actually, the police anti-terrorism people are going to be doing most of the heavy lifting, I am really only coordinating the response because of you, and because we might need to liaise with the ubarae Council.”

“Might?” Liz raised an eyebrow.

“Ok that was wishful thinking on my part. Oliver is probably already at the scene, honestly. You know how he is,” Gail sighed.

“I do indeed,” Liz smirked.

“Well, it sounds like everything is in hand, then. They weren’t supposed to start the release until halfway through the second period, but if they have gotten word about Wallace, which I imagine they have, then they might bump things up. And if we start trying to evacuate, they will set them off immediately. So, the safest thing is to just get in as fast as possible and remove them. And, of course, be prepared to deal with any exposures.”

“Paramedics and medical teams have already been dispatched. They have been briefed on what to expect,” Gail said.

“Good,” I nodded. “I suggest you send a team to each site and have them report in once they get the device. Send one team with Luke here to sweep the building, looking for any of Wallace’s people who are milling about inside. I will go in with another group and head to the control centre, which also houses the final device, and make sure that everything is shut down from that end.”

“Wait, you are going in?” Simon glared, stripping off his adhesive splotched gloves. “You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I am. I know the remote works, I can pick out anyone who might be lurking around, waiting for an opportunity to trigger the release, and I can help identify other persons of interest.”

“You have at least three broken ribs. Part of your scalp is glued on. You are not going into that building,” he crossed his arms stubbornly.

“Honestly, Simon?” I sighed. “This is the least dangerous thing I have done all week. Let’s not waste the little time we have to prepare arguing about it.”

“Those ribs and the burns must be agonizing. You really think you are going to be effective out there?” he argued.

“I’ll make do. Unless of course, you want to help me out.”

“And how do you propose I do that?”

“What do they give pro athletes so they can play on a broken ankle?”

“You want me to shoot you up with painkillers?”

“See, you get it!” I grinned.

“Gail,” he turned, trying to appeal to the boss.

“What, you think she listens to me?” Gail shrugged. “This is a bad situation and if she thinks she can help, we aren’t going to be able to stop her, anyway. Just… fix her up as best you can. It’s probably safest that way.”

Simon threw up his hands in exasperation,

“You people are all insane.”

I caught Luke nodding quietly, out of the corner of my eye.

“You aren’t wrong,” I smiled. “But neither is she, you know.”

“Fine!” he snapped. “I will give you something for the pain. But don’t come crying to me when you exacerbate one of these injuries because of it.”

“I promise.”

As he fished through his bag, I turned to look out the window. We were close enough that I could see the parking lot of the arena in the distance. It was, of course, packed with cars. A helpful reminder that there were a lot of people in there that were going to be hurt or killed if we couldn’t pull this off. But then again, I also should have died today. At least now we had a chance. It put a few things into perspective. I had survived once before when I shouldn’t have, and frankly, I had been wasting the opportunity. I had even let something this big develop right under my nose. If I survived the night, it might be time to rethink a few things. But, as it stood, that was a pretty big ‘if’, so for now I needed to focus on the moment. Everything else could wait. I turned back to the others.

“Alright, shall we go over the details and decide how we are dividing our teams up, before we arrive?” I asked.