Thick as Thieves 2: Under Your Command

Chapter 6

Chicago 2150

Taylor watched the child, now asleep in his crib. The baby was so placid. It looked like he had been taken good care of. His little chest rose and fell peacefully. He had no idea what was really going on. Then again, neither did Taylor, exactly.

"Lucas...I don't understand. Michael and Wash...they had a child?"

Lucas was watching from the other side of the room, arms crossed, eyes fixated on his tiny nephew. "Washington was at least a month or so along when I shot her back at Terra Nova. No one knew. Michael certainly didn't. If she did, she didn't bother telling him. It was a pretty big surprise to all of us. The doctors ran some tests and discovered it. We had to keep her asleep for the entirety of her pregnancy."

Taylor looked at his son in disbelief. "Why?"

"I shot her point blank in the head with a sonic pistol," explained Lucas. "There's no way someone can survive that without some form of damage. Keeping her under was the only way to make sure her body was strong enough to repair itself."

"Then where is she?" demanded Taylor. "Where is Wash?"

Lucas sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "It's a long story. But she's not here anymore."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Lucas pinched the skin between his eyes as if all this was giving him a headache. "Can we just focus on why you're really here?"

"Why am I really here? It's clearly not to negotiate with you, so...what despicable plan have your employers cooked up this time?"

"I'll let my employer explain everything. Come on, she'll want to meet you soon."

Lucas ushered his father out of the room, locking the baby inside. He led Taylor to another cell further down the corridor - a small, windowless room with a bed and a toilet.

"Does Michael at least know he has a son?" Taylor murmured, as Lucas typed in the code to open the door.

"It's been several months since we heard from Michael," Lucas answered, showing Taylor into the cell. "When he left, she was almost eight months, I suppose."

"It's only been a few days for him," Taylor realised. "He has no idea."

"And he won't until he checks in," said Lucas. "Until he completes his mission."

"His mission? What else have you put him up to? What's he planning on doing, Lucas? Tell me!"

Lucas scowled at him. "I don't have to tell you anything. You're my prisoner, remember?" Then he pushed a button to close the door. "I hope you rot in here, old man," Taylor heard his son's muffled voice through the door. "Just like the rest of us."

The Badlands

After some first aid and some cautious searching, Jim and Michael managed to find their vehicle and make a start back to Terra Nova.

"You know the colony's going to wonder what happened to the Commander," Jim said as he drove them towards home, looking over at Michael in the passenger seat.

"And I'm sure you'll tell them. I know what people will think. I show up after all this time and suddenly the Commander's missing."

"Whether it was a trap or not, you're still to blame," Jim told him, concentrating on the path ahead of them. "The colonists aren't gonna take it well. Hell, I'm not taking it well and I was there."

"I know you don't trust me. I don't entirely blame you. But everything I've done since the beginning has been for Alicia."

"That's the problem, Michael. You would cross your own people, your own father, if it meant saving Wash. I'm pretty sure that's why there are such strict rules in place about this kind of thing."