Out of Time

Helsinki

When I wake up I am on the cots in the lab. As I look around I see Allison, Dariela and Jamie, but not Abe or Mitch. They must have gone after Jackson after I passed out. As I try to sit up Dariela stops me. "Hey, hey, relax. You're fine. You took a slip but you should be okay."

I shake my head, "Jackson... Where's Jackson...." My voice is hoarse and weak.

"Abe and Mitch are out looking for him, Mitch put a tracker in him."

I shake my head, "no, he did it himself. He was worried this would happen after the last episode." My vision goes blurry again and my head feels like it's splitting in half.

I look over and see Jamie in front of the computer, "Mitch, he just turned south."

I can hear Abe over the phone, "this is all my fault."

I try to get up, as I do Dariela supports me as I walk over to the desk, "no, it's not Abe. Jackson asked Dariela to keep us safe from him and she did."

Dariela looks at me surprised. "Jackson told you about that?"

"He didn't have to, I know Jackson well enough to know he will make sure his family is protected at any count, and I overheard the two of you."

"Mitch," Jamie calls out, "it's Jackson, he stopped."

Then my vision goes black again and I feel myself fall against Dariela. When I awake again I hear Mitch, "we found the car, but no Jackson. No sign. He's gone."

Jamie sighs, "I checked all the hospitals in Helsinki, no gunshot victims."

"Well, I don't think medical attention his priority right now."

As I sit up I see the group talking nearby, "I shot him in the shoulder, it tends to sting a little." Dariela shakes her head as she crosses her arms.

I sigh, getting their attention, "well, you speared Kovacs through the chest, he kept coming."

Mitch walks over to me and checks to make sure I am alright, or at least not going down the same path Jackson is, "look, the mutation causes an adrenaline rush. It blocks the transmission of pain. He's not feeling anything right now."

I shake my head, "Jackson is not Kovacs."

"No. Not yet. But the brain has three levels. One controls logic, one controls emotion. The other is reptilian. Right now his reptilian instincts are completely overriding the logic. Fight or flight."

"We need to find him, now."

Allison shakes her head, "the Noah Objective is days away and we still need a saber-tooth cat."

Dariela look to all of us, confused, "aren't those extinct?"

Mitch shakes his head, "not on an island called Pangea. But we can't do anything without Jackson."

"Because he's the incubator?"

"Yes. I've been working on an anti-rejection drug, just in case his body can't handle the cure. I mean, I'm going to be introducing seven genomic fossils into his DNA. If his body rejects it, no more cure."

Abe takes a deep breath and looks over to me, "I think I know where he is."

I nod and look down, "he'd want to find his father. Get answers as to why he gave Jackson the ghost gene in the first place."

"We need Davies. He knows where Robert Oz is."

Allison shakes her head, "General Davies is in Washington. He's preparing for the TX Gas Launch. I just got an update, but with commercial flights suspended, Jackson won't get his hands on him unless he swims the Atlantic."