Chapter 32

We had a week and a half before we had to go rescue Cindi's new body. I spent much of that time working with Paul to get things ready. This would be by far the most difficult thing we had ever done. Not only would these be trained agents we would be going against, but they knew this time we were coming. There was only one way that I could see to make the odds a little better. To keep the transport from becoming too obvious, they would put the body in a stasis condition, and then transport it to an out of the way cave, which had an underground entrance to the facility where they were moving her to. If we were to hit them in the cave, just as they took the body out of stasis, we stood a good chance of taking them by surprise. I was certain they didn't know we knew about the cave. Katie and Cindi had gleaned that information from a careless mind when they were with them.

All of us were nervous. I know I was. I didn't know the details of the cycles we went through; you know, the ones that no one admitted existed. Yeah, those cycles. I was afraid another one of these non-existent cycles might be coming. I don't think the girls knew a lot more, or at least they were not talking. The problem was, I didn't have any idea what it meant. I thought it was obvious that the cycles occurred because of a desire or necessity to change some final event that was not to our benefit. But what did it cycle to? Did it always go back to the original place and situation? It seemed that things were different this time, at least the girls thought so. How did they know that if they didn't know more about this than they let on? Unproductive questions; they were not going to tell me. So, if we got the desired final event this time, would we just stay here, or would we cycle back to the original place and situation? You know, through those non-existent cycles that I imagined. I didn't know. It scared me. I knew I had been married in a previous cycle to someone other than Victoria at least once. Was that the only time? I liked being married to Victoria; I didn't want that to change.

I found myself spending as much time with Victoria and Julie as I could. I knew the girls would survive any cycle. Would Julie? Would Victoria? Had I originally been married to my twin sister, or was that new for this cycle? Did Julie survive each time, or was her living this time one of the changes? I was driving myself nuts. I knew I really shouldn't worry; I obviously wouldn't remember any of it anyway. And sure as hell no one was going to tell me. Pissed? You betcha! My life was being screwed with and no one would tell me anything. They wouldn't even admit it existed.

I did get to spend the reunion night with Katie and Cindi. It was nice. I don't believe there is anything in this world more wonderful than making love with two wonderful girls you dearly love, at the same time, in the same body, with the three minds linked. Too bad I didn't do that. I knew I was probably being an ass, but I was pretty irritated at the girls and the man in white. I was so scared for Victoria and me and no one would say a thing. When I was being rational, I admitted to myself that this was probably exactly why they didn't want to tell me. But I was in no mood to confuse the issue with facts and logic. I also couldn't deny the fact that I had missed Cindi so much for so long, and Katie had been away for a while too. They were having fun in the same body, working out things. They had developed a way to merge their thoughts and ways of talking to a combination of the two. It often had me practically rolling on the floor laughing, despite my nasty mood, as they looked on with an amused smile on their face(s). The funniest one was when they shared eyes, so that one eye was deep blue and the other one was gold. I just couldn't stay mad at my girls for very long.

The relationship between Julie and I was on hold for the moment. We spent a lot of time together, and slept (yes, slept) together often, but we both agreed we wanted to wait for awhile until we had a better idea of what was going to happen. I assumed we would know more after the rescue. We just didn't see the need to form more relationships if they would not last through a cycle and we would not remember them anyway. I already caused Megan grief from memories; I didn't want to do that in whatever time we had left with Julie. I left it up to her; if she wanted to pursue our relationship, before we knew any details, I would be glad to do so, but I did not want to cause her unnecessary grief.

The ones I felt the most sorry for were Julie, Victoria, Megan and I. We were pawns in an... occurrence that no matter what, would change our lives. No one ever said you had to like something that was for the best for you.

Needless to say, I was in a foul mood. That is impossible to hide in a whole family setting of empaths and mind readers. I would have to admit that the girls handled it well. They handled me with kid gloves, avoiding me when I was in a particularly nasty mood, but generally trying to be sweet to me. I appreciated it, I really did. I just needed someone to take my worry, frustration, and anger on and, unfortunately, they were the closest. And the ones that would love me anyway.

My idiocy went on for a couple of days, with everyone trying to work around me. Finally, Victoria took me into our room for a talk. She kissed me thoroughly, and then sat down next to me, holding my hand.

"Patrick," she started. Uh-oh, talks with Victoria that started with Patrick were seldom good. "You know I love you more than anyone else in the world, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know," I grumbled. "That has never been an issue."

"Keeping that love in mind, and the nice kiss I just gave you, why are you being so mean to the girls? These are the nicest girls in the whole world and you are treating them like... I don't know what. But it is not good. Talk to me." She was being nice, but I knew I was not walking out of that door until we talked. I hung my head.

"I just don't like being manipulated. I don't like having my life played with by someone who is doing it just because he wants a certain outcome. It's not fair. Look what has happened to Megan, as far as we know. She is so sweet, and she is hurting so badly some days she can hardly stand it. I don't like it." I was getting mad again, even talking about it. Victoria looked at me, sadness in her eyes.

"Is that what you think is going on here? That someone is just playing around with us for his own gain? That we are just pawns in a chess game where no one cares about the pieces?"

"That's just the point, Victoria. I don't know what is going on here. It could be the most important thing in the world. It could be some idiot trying to drive up the price of Cumquats. I just don't know, and I don't like it." I was trying not to yell; she didn't deserve that.

"Would it make you feel better if you knew some of what was going on?" She whispered quietly. "Even if that knowledge was dangerous to all of us? Even if knowing it had brought about disaster before? Is it really that important to you?" Poor Victoria. I was catching her between a rock and a hard place. She didn't deserve that either.

"I'm trying not to be an ass here, Victoria. I know I am not succeeding very well at all, but I am trying." She smiled faintly at me. "I understand that I have to make decisions without being influenced by things I should not know. But I just need some assurance that what we are doing is important. That it means something to me, to us, not just some person we have never met." I was trying to calm down. Victoria chewed on her lower lip for a minute, and then made a decision.

"I really don't know much about what is going on here. The girls know more than me. I can solve your problem of wondering how important this is. That much I know, and it probably won't affect the outcome any. I learned this from overhearing the girls talking." Victoria's took a deep breath, and then her eyes filled with tears.

"Patrick, the cycles started because every single member of our family was killed." She sobbed. "Every single one. Amy, Katie, Cindi, Becky, Megan. All of them died, killed, because of the actions of someone, or something. They won't tell me, but from the way they stop talking when I am around, and won't answer the question, I'm sure I died too. The cycles are a continuing attempt to find a pattern, a combination, something, that will prevent that from happening. Maybe something that we can do to change it. So far, nothing has worked. But this time is different. Many different things have happened this time. They are hopeful that this will be the time, the combination that will work. We have apparently never gotten this far before." She buried her face in my chest and sobbed. "My babies. They killed my babies. All of them. Over and over." Then, Victoria made the only mean remark I can ever remember her making. She looked at me, eyes filled with pain. "Is that important enough for you?"

I felt like dirt. I was making a big deal about not being kept informed, and my girls and Victoria were walking around carrying the knowledge that they might die at any moment. I held her, trying to comfort her as she cried.

Well, that cured my acting like a baby for the rest of the week. If there was a chance that I was never going to see my girls again, I certainly wasn't going to have the last memory, for them, or for me, be a bad one. I saw them giving me looks the next day, wondering why all of a sudden I was in a good mood again. I saw the looks of gratitude they gave Victoria.

I made up for it with Cindi and Katie. The next night after Victoria talked to me, they didn't sleep all night long. I finally succeeded in wearing them out. It was wonderful. The girls also made good on their promise to give Megan and I two days a week. I didn't know if Victoria knew the reason for that or not; that Megan had been married to me in a previous cycle. I had no plans to tell her.

As we got closer to the targeted Saturday, we all got more affectionate and desperate in our relationships with each other. We all cried a lot. We just loved each other so much; we just couldn't imagine anything different. I could feel the anger coming out too. I didn't know whom we would find when we went to save Cindi Saturday, but whoever it was, they were going to wish they had never been born.

Friday night, we went to bed early, planning on starting out at 2:00 AM. The girls all agreed that Victoria and I would spend the night together. I knew, from what Megan had told, me that it was possible that I would not be married to Victoria if we cycled again. I wanted every last bit of time I could get from her. We spent the night alternating between making love and just cuddling, often with tears. We just had to believe that our love would survive this, somehow.

We all met in the living room at 1:45 AM. The girls were all dressed in their normal getup for this type of thing. This time all the girls were going. We all hugged and kissed passionately, knowing this might be the last time we were ever together in this way again. Tears flowed freely, confessions of never ending love repeatedly given. Cindi cried most of all, believing that she was to blame for all of this. She offered to just let her mind die to save us all from what might happen. She begged us to let her go; that she could not stand to live if it cost us that dearly. We shushed her up, telling her not to be silly, and gave her extra hugs and kisses.

The drive to the cave was uneventful. Although we didn't talk about it, I knew that all of us felt something was not quite right. None of us were expecting a smooth operation this time. I had a sinking feeling we were being set up. We were right in that assessment.

Things went wrong from the beginning. When we got to the cave, we found that the body, which I dubbed 'Sandi', had already been awakened and moved. There was a token force there to oppose us. We easily took them out. Too easily, I thought. Plus, the door to the compound was mysteriously left open. I knew it was a trap, but we had no choice. We walk into the trap, or Cindi dies. We walk into the trap, and we all die. Fool's gambit. Checkmate.

We walked into the trap. Once again, maybe for the last time, I watched my girls with admiration as they smoothly moved throughout the complex. Not a shot was fired. No one was there in the first several rooms we checked. I was really getting nervous. We knew from Cindi and Katie where 'Sandi' would be for the final programming. All of the rooms up to that point were empty. Finally, we entered into the last room. Well, at least this one was not empty.

I saw 'Sandi' standing quietly next to a whole bank of machines. There were two men in the room. One was obviously a techie type, standing next to 'Sandi", making adjustments to the machines. The other was obviously expecting us, as he had a machine gun pointed at us as we walked in. He started talking to us as soon as we entered.

"I can't believe it was this easy. I have you all here together. You walked into my trap blindly, all for an empty body? And you are supposed to be the elite of our race? No wonder you all were so easy to kill every time! Stupid!" He was laughing at us. I felt Victoria's eyes go flat, and I put my hand on her arm, to keep her from reacting.

"Just give us the body, and we will let you live." I knew I sounded like a bad action movie, but I had to try anyway.

"I got a better idea. Put down all you weapons and I might let you live, and I won't kill the body. Maybe you can cycle again and try it again." He was really enjoying this. I was trying to figure out what he was up to. He had to know we would not agree to any of those conditions.

"Sorry. Not going to happen. You know what we can do. You don't stand a chance." I was still trying to figure his angle.

"But I hold all the cards. Put down the weapons now, or I kill her." He swung the gun over to cover 'Sandi'. We just watched him. "Well, you were warned," he stated, and pulled the trigger, firing a bullet at 'Sandi's' head.

Shit! Now I knew what he was doing. I could see in her eyes that Victoria got it too. There was no time to warn the others, and it didn't matter anyway. He did hold all the cards. Either way we went, we lost somebody we could not lose.

The girls reacted just as I knew they would, just as he knew they would. Green, blue, orange, purple and yellow curtains of light instantaneously went up around 'Sandi', stopping the bullet before it hit her. The man laughed, whipped his gun around, and fired the whole clip straight at Megan. Just as I knew he was going to do. I just didn't know who he was going to choose.

Victoria and I made a mistake. Our reasoning was sound, derived from our years of experience, but we just weren't used to working with the girls yet. Victoria had never dealt with their shields before, and their use was not second nature to me yet either. Thus, when the action began, when your reactions are due to instinct and training, too fast to allow time for thought, we both reacted, based on years of experience. Someone had just fired at our baby. We both dived in front of her, trying to save her.

Had we had time to think, we would have realized that he couldn't hurt her. Megan was probably the fastest human on the planet. Even so, as she saw him turn and fire, she barely had time to pull her shield back to protect herself. She never even thought that she needed to protect us also.

Victoria and I did our job well. We crossed in front of Megan just in time to catch all the bullets. I had deliberately crossed in front of Victoria, to take as many as I could, to protect her and Megan. I got most of them. Neither of us were as crazy as it sounds. After the last action, we had both put on bullet proof vests. The bulletproof vest we had on absorbed much of the impact, but it did not stop all the bullets. He was using the Teflon coated armor piercing rounds. As I finished falling to the ground, I knew instinctively that I had been mortally wounded. I heard Victoria gasp, felt her hand reach over and grab mine, holding it tight, and I knew she was dying also. I felt sad, but I looked up and saw Megan uninjured, and I was glad that we had saved her.