A Dramatic Turn: Chapter Twelve

[nvgvup]

Title: A Dramatic Turn: Chapter Twelve
Author: (this chapter) nvgvup
            Series Co-Authors:marzipanilla andnewnumbertwoo
Rating: T
Word Count: 750
Summary: At the start of something more, Laura and Bill’s relationship gets complicated when they are dragged into a dangerous game of life and death
Notes: This is a ‘round robin’ fic. Each chapter is written by one of three different authors. Series begun as part of the Battleship for Team!Laura.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Ronald D. Moore. He is a very lucky man.

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Eleven



Chapter 12: In which Cain’s alliances unravel

After watching the eclectic group enter the lobby of the STEM building, Zarek hopped down from his hiding place in a tree on the opposite side of the entrance. He didn’t know how that brassy blonde had managed to get past Baltar’s security so fast. It had taken him weeks of planning even with the inside information from Cain. But Zarek didn’t have time to get competitive now. His plan was back on track again.

Laura was still on the chase, just as Zarek had expected she would be. That she’d acquired a few friends didn’t bother Zarek. The gruff looking man had brawns but likely no brain. The blonde’s computer skills may have gotten Laura a little closer than Zarek would have liked but he could adapt. It was the cop that threw him. Who was this young Sergeant, clearly not in Cain’s deep pockets? And how far would he go to protect and serve? The cop would have to be the first to die. That’s all there was to it.

Zarek took a moment, watching the group in the lobby as they stared at a floor directory. They clearly didn’t know their way around which could work in his favor. They may know the target but they still didn’t know exactly where Baltar’s lab was. Zarek, on the other hand, knew this building inside and out. He’d placed explosives in strategic places throughout it, after all.

Taking out his disposable mobile phone, Zarek considered whether to alert Cain to the new development. He knew she was back playing the good little Director at Laura’s office building. She had been pissed when she’d discovered Zarek had made amendments to their carefully laid plans. Well, pissed didn’t even begin to cover it.

Helena Cain was not someone you went over the head of. She’d gotten Zarek out of prison for one thing and one thing only: to destroy Baltar’s lab and any evidence of her own complicity in his tampering of the defense mainframe. Of course, Cain had never told Zarek all the details of why she wanted the lab destroyed, but Zarek still had some connections and he could put two and two together.

He wasn’t so sure that Baltar could. From what he’d learned over the past few weeks, Baltar was clueless as to Cain’s real plans. She’d played the security-conscious CSCTA Director and he’d fallen for it, given her everything she wanted from start to finish without stopping to question. Zarek wondered if sex had been involved. He knew it could be a powerful motivator for the slimy scientist but was it something Cain would stoop to? Or would she have sent someone else in her stead?

At the moment it didn’t matter much to Zarek. He’d agreed to help Cain because it got him out of prison and gave him a chance to get to Laura. Cain wanted her dead but Zarek had no intention of doing anything Helena Cain told him. Cain had made some unholy alliances and for that she would pay. First Baltar had gone astray - using Cain’s access to do his own side projects and now she had to contend with Zarek, who’d also used what Cain offered to play his own game.

Now, if Zarek played his cards right, he could send a real Frak You to the Colonial government by blowing up a major government funded research lab and having one of their very own take the fall.

Cain thought Zarek would be back behind bars this time tomorrow, well she had another thing coming and it wasn’t a prison cell Zarek had planned for her. No loose ends this time. Cain, her pretty young goon, and Laura’s posse would all meet their end inside this building today.

Then Zarek would really have a chance to take Laura away from all of this and convince her to see the world as he did.  He was trying to make things better. Get rid of the secrets and lies that were the foundation of the Colonial system. Cain wanted control of the defense mainframe for her own purposes but Zarek was going to use Baltar’s work for something entirely different. Instead of shutting people out, it was time the people were let in.

Zarek put away his phone. He had a few final touches to attend to before inviting Cain to join his little party. And it would definitely be a party that ended with fireworks.