#billyburke

~There's Something Happening Here~

"Dad? Where are you? Are you okay?"

The real world came crashing back down around them, hybrids and babies and insanity. Jamie rose from the cool white breakfast nook chair and wandered to the cockpit window to see what was happening in the compound as Mitch cleared his throat again and answered. "We're fine, Clem. We're on the plane. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad. We're all fine. But everyone evacuated, we're the only ones left." Her voice took on a new urgency. "Abe is here with me and we have some news. Sam woke up and we explained what happened. He says he may know where Abigail is, some lab she has here in the southwest. He says its the only place he knows of that is close."

Jamie spoke up before Mitch could answer. "I thought Jackson made a deal with Abigail," she said, "to let the hybrids through in exchange for Baby Sam."

Clem's voice was tight with tears. "Abigail isn't responding to us. Jackson has tried her but she's not answering, she's not...I know she's not going to give him back. We have to find him, Dad!" Fury flared up inside Jamie again but she quashed it down. Now was not the time for darkness.

Mitch was on his feet, pacing as much as he could in the small cockpit area. "So, where is this lab?"

Abe's deep voice answered him. "In the mountains outside of Phoenix. Unfortunately, without the plane, we will never make it in time to administer the sterility cure."

Mitch threw his free hand in the air. "Well, unfortunately Roger Ramjet rammed our jet through a giant wall, so that's out-"

Jamie, still watching out the cockpit window at the deserted compound, interjected. "We still have the plane."

Mitch took the phone from his ear and squinted at her through his glasses. "What are you talking about? This thing was just used as a battering ram through a concrete wall. It's going to have some damage to the body or the wings."

"Actually, it's not," Jamie retorted, pushing herself away from the control panel and getting closer to Mitch. "A few years ago I had an incident with a wall some idiot built on the Mexico/US border that nearly killed me and the Shepherd I had just captured in Mexico City. I decided to have the plane sheathed in super strong carbon fiber coating. Lighter than aluminum, stronger than steel." She nodded out the window at the remains of the barrier. "Or concrete. I'll have to run some quick diagnostics to be sure, but if we can get the engines cleaned out and find a stretch of land long enough to use as a runway, we can get back in the air."

Mitch was staring at her with something between amusement, annoyance, and admiration. "Carbon fiber sheathing. Of course you did." He caught her eyes and held her gaze as he said into the phone, "Okay, Abe, according to Super Jamie, the plane is still an option. So let's come up with a plan."

***

Jamie had disappeared into the belly of the plane to start working on cleaning debris from the engines. Mitch left her to it; knowing her, she had some fancy gadget installed to take care of just such a situation.

He ran the plan over in his head again. When the engines were taken care of, he and Jamie would move the plane back out of the compound, turn it around and back it up so that the vehicle bay was as close to the interior of the compound as they could get it. Jackson and Tessa were charged with finding a vehicle of some sort suitable for moving Sam - he was still in very bad shape and couldn't walk. There was a vacancy in the vehicle bay where Jamie's Mustang used to be, so after they were all loaded up with Sam they would just drive right up into the plane while Mitch and Jamie covered them and then hope that they could find an open stretch of sand to take off on.

Mitch was not too sure about being able to take off, and he said as much to Jamie as she was leaving the cockpit. "Mitch," she reassured him, "this thing landed with no runway, it can take off without one. I have been in worse places than this and made it out okay." She smiled and kissed him softly. "And this time I have you with me. It's going to be fine."

He cupped her face with both hands and kissed her back soundly. "I hope so. I have faith in you, Jamie Campbell."

Abe and Dariela he had tasked with a far more dangerous job. "I need the zombie dog, Abe. The one that died and came back as a hybrid. I need to figure out if the hybrids are turning the animals or of it's something else. And if they ARE turning the animals, how?"

"That would be good information to have, Mitch," Abe agreed. "Should I get anything else?"

"Yeah. The soldier the dog killed, bring him too. Whatever is left of him, anyway."

***

Two hours and fifty five minutes left.

Mitch had been right, Jamie did have a gadget to clean the engines for her. A small robot on a tether, basically a combination fan/mop, ran into the engine compartments, blew out the dirt, rocks, any other debris that could be detrimental to them, then ran the 'mop' over the metal inside, cleaning the remaining dust out and greasing the interior so that the turbine blades would run smoothly. She tapped at the spare tablet she had activated to replace the one Jackson broke, her mind wandering as the robot did its job and she found herself thinking about Logan. He had been so many things to her - companion, conspirator, friend, lover, enemy - but he had never been who she really wanted. Had he known from the beginning no matter what he did she would never love him, never really belong to him? He had spent years of his life sharing her with a dead man, yet never complained, never even brought it up. How many nights had Mitch's ghost lay between them, keeping her forever apart, keeping Logan forever alone? Guilt began to eat at her and she squeezed her eyes shut tight to stem the tears that were threatening to overflow. "You don't have time for this now, Campbell," she muttered to herself, taking a deep shaky breath. "Save it for later."

"Save what for later?" Dear God, Mitch was the last person she wanted to see just at this moment, and she hastily wiped her eyes and turned her back to him, pretending to be busy.

"Uh," she grasped for an answer as the cleaning gadget beeped at her, and she took the opportunity to cover up her emotions, pulling on its tether as she finished, "Putting this little guy away. I may need him again."

"Uh huh," Mitch replied flatly. He wasn't fooled but to his credit he didn't push her, instead peering curiously at the mop/fan as she wound the tether up. "So I guess we're good here? I just got off the phone with Abe, they have Sam loaded up in one of the IADG golf carts, I guess it was all they could find."

"Well that doesn't sound very safe."

He shrugged at her. "Since when have we ever been very safe?"

Jamie chuckled. "Fair point."

An uneasy silence fell over them. Mitch wasn't a stranger to the emotional workings of women, but since dealing with them -women or emotions- had never been his forte he had never mastered the art of tactful handling. His footing with Jamie was still a little uneven after the Duncan fiasco and he didn't want to upset the peace they had made, he didn't want to be the darkness that swooped in and blotted out their moment of light, but he found his tongue moving before his brain could stop him and he blurted out, "I'm sorry about Logan."

It was the right thing to say. She rewarded him with a sad smile and a squeeze of the hand. "Me too."

***

Moving the plane was easily accomplished, and Mitch was fairly impressed when Jamie whipped it around and backed it into the open, deserted compound yard. He gave her a low whistle as they left the cockpit and headed to the vehicle bay and said, "I bet you aced your parallel parking test in high school."

"I knocked over three cones and spilled my instructor's coffee in his lap," she said as they reached the top of the central staircase. She paused before taking a step down giving Mitch a teasing smile that nearly made his heart stop. "Super Jamie didn't come along until later."

He caught up to her halfway down the stairs. "Bruce Wayne didn't become Batman until he was in his mid-20's. Tony Stark didn't become Iron Man until his mid-30's and they are bona fide super heroes. Hey, now that I think about it, they were both millionaires who used their vast fortunes to fight crime and injustice. Sounds kinda familiar."

They reached the lab, footsteps clattering on the gleaming floor. Jamie moved to one of the portholes, peering out into the compound. She had managed to maneuver the plane so that the vehicle bay was only about thirty yards from the barrier doors that led to the interior and the infirmary, and she had angled it so that from this side of the fuselage she had a pretty good view of what was happening around them. "Oh my God." she murmured.

Mitch didn't like the sound of that. "What is it?" he asked, as he joined her at the window.

About a dozen razorbacks were milling around the compound, and when she looked up Jamie could see the shadows of several giant vulture hybrids circling, dark against the clear blue sky. "Oh look," Jamie said, her voice strained, "It's one of our dinosaur friends." A familiar, scaly green-brown head bobbed above the razorbacks and she added, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

Mitch grabbed his phone and hurriedly dialed Abe as he and Jamie both started racing toward the vehicle bay. "Hey, we've got company out here. You need to stay where you are until we can figure something out."

Abe's voice was worried on the other end of the line. "What kind of company?"

"Oh, just a few razorbacks and some dive-bombing vultures. And a dinosaur. Velociraptor I think. I don't know for sure, I'm not a paleontologist. Nothing we can't handle, though, just stay there until I call you." They had reached the bay, Jamie was already at the armory, unloading automatic weapons and ammo, and then she reached into the bottom of the armory and pulled out a big, heavy black case.

"Did you say dinosaur?" Abe's deep voice was incredulous but he recovered quickly. "We are running out of time. Dariela and I will come and help you clear out the hybrids. We must find the baby before it is too late."

"Copy that." Mitch didn't like it, it wasn't part of the plan, but Abe was right, they were running out of time and there were a lot of hybrids out there. He took the assault rifle Jamie handed him and the extra ammunition, stuffing it into his jacket. "Five minutes, have everyone ready." He hung up the phone slipping it into his rear pocket, nodding at the case Jamie was opening and asked, "What's that?"

Jamie lifted out a long, gray object that looked like something halfway between a rifle and a water gun. It had a heavy black hose attached to the rear that connected to the backpack made of gas canisters that Jamie hefted onto her back, slipping her arms into the straps and settling the weight on her shoulders. "Flamethrower," she said with more than a little pride. "Israeli military. I won it from a Russian government official in a bet a few years ago. I've never had the opportunity to use it, but now seems like a pretty good time to try it out."

Jesus, she was glowing with excitement - and a little fear - and even though there wasn't time for it, wasn't room for the distraction, he couldn't stop himself from pulling her close, feeling the crush of her against him, smelling the grease from the engines still in her clothes and tasting the saltiness of her skin as he kissed her, free hand wound tightly in her hair, he didn't need to breathe, he just needed to drink her in as long as-

His phone rang shrilly, breaking the moment and he let go of her reluctantly, pulling his phone out. It was Abe, and he turned it on just as Abe was yelling, '-if you can hear us, we are being attacked! Mitch, Jamie, we are being attacked!" There were gunshots and screams and the phone went dead.