Dangerous by Default

43. The aftermath

Fucking hell. Where am I?

Caine's head pounded with blood, and it took him longer than normal to comprehend what had happened. With a guttural grunt, he composed himself as best he could. He was grateful to have so many years of rough play under his belt, as it made him much more resilient than most would expect of a man in his age group. Normally, anyways.

Ignoring the throbbing pain that plagued his body from head to toe, he studied the wreckage of the lab as calmly as he could muster. A small amount of relief told him that the cloaked vigilante had vanished, but this relief seemed premature when he noticed the smattering of blood that trailed from the wreckage of a heavy looking shelf and its contents out into the hallway.

A twitch from behind the wreckage brought his attention to the flash of raven hair. A motionless body. Mina.

He stumbled forward with a clumsy urgency, pushing aside the nearest edge of the fallen industrial shelf to get to her.

That bitch tried to drop the whole damn lab on her! She was still breathing. There was no denying she had been roughed up, but a brief scan of her body showed no sign of a knife wound. So where had all the blood come from? Lifting her body gently from the floor, Caine placed her onto the nearest medical table beside the stirrups.

"Mina, can you hear me?" he said as he pressed a cold cloth against her forehead. She was breathing, he was certain of that much, but the knot in his stomach told him something was horribly wrong. "C'mon baby, I can't do this alone."

Caine's heart skipped a beat as he watched her begin to stir. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. She had heard him. It was as if the unrelenting love in his voice had called her out from the depths of her subconscious. At least, that's what his grandma would have told him. He had soon found his breath steadying as he saw what was recognizably a look of amusement on her face.

"What the hell happened, Mina? Who's blood is this?"

"Sure as hell isn't mine, Bubba." She croaked with a small grin as he gripped her hand. "That loser didn't know what hit 'em."

"They clearly underestimated the baddest bitch I know." He said with a serious face as he tried to hold back tears of relief. Shaker softness. "That still doesn't answer my question."

"Artemis taught me the perfect use for this grappling hook." She poked her control watch, "Our unexpected guest had me cornered, but I pulled that nasty shelf out, just like Artemis the other morning. Needless to say, those helpful sharp corners sent 'em packing."

He looked back at the scene, "I'll say. Looks like half of your surgical instruments lent you a hand as well."

Pride took over fear as Caine took a better look at the wreckage, gently using his foot to shuffle through the clutter of surgical tools and medical gear.

"Well, well. Would you look at that? They even left us a present" Caine reached down to pull a bloody black piece of fabric from the floor. It was a mask. "Now we know why they retreated so quickly."

"Money shot!" Mina said with venom in her voice, "Someone's very protective of their identity. Otherwise I'm sure they would have stuck around for the goo. Or worse."

"They know what they're doing, so time is of the essence. Who says they won't be back to finish the job... "

"Then we can't just sit here by ourselves. What we really need is strength. In numbers." Caine watched Mina hop up from the table in one energetic motion. "We've got to call Janus."

As much as Caine loathed the idea of seeing the woman who had so harshly interrogated him that same morning, he knew Mina was right. This was a matter for the police. He nodded back at her, "We need to tell her about Ami."

Before he could change his mind on the matter, Mina was already pacing impatiently to the beat of the ringback tone. In what seemed like only a handful of minutes, Mina had gone from fully incapacitated to badass CEO.

"Oh thank goodness you picked up," Mina said. "I know this sounds crazy, but we need you at Dimensions. ASAP."

Caine bit the edge of his already scraggly thumb nail, unsure what to do with himself. Is now the time to tell her that Janus is on to us? What if she just blames us for Ami's disappearance?

Mina's exasperated exhale told him that the call had ended.

"So what's the plan, Bub?" He said with a half-hearted grin.

"Either the universe is totally taking the piss, or we're the luckiest bitches I know."

"What?"

Mina stared up at him with a deep sadness in her eyes, "Janus is already here... in the lobby. Ami was supposed to meet up with her an hour ago."