Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Claws

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 20:

“How in the hell could you just let her go without telling us?!” Connolly yelled.

The Cullens, Bella’s support team and Charlie had been summoned to the Cullen mansion by Vivian so she could inform them all at once rather than dealing with each one separately.

The reaction was what she expected from all involved, especially Connolly. He, Jasper and Edward Cullen had just returned from an unsuccessful investigation into a junior Congressman at a bar in New York. The men knew he was involved with the Organization but even with Connolly plying him with alcohol and telling him a story about seeing a UFO once while Jasper and Edward sat in the back of the bar, manipulating the man’s emotions and reading his mind, it was obvious he was so low level he had no real information. The man had been placed into his position of authority, financed by the Organization but had not been called on for any favors.

Then they arrived back in Forks to find Bella gone without a word to anyone except Vivian.

“One reason is she is part jungle cat with superhuman strength and that makes it hard to turn her down. Another is she suspected you might have this reaction and do something stupid. She was right. You said you wanted to take down the Organization. If she were to run now everything would be in jeopardy.” Vivian told him calmly, used to his outbursts over the years.

“You reactivated her kill switch? You had to do that?” Ty asked, as upset as the others. The girl was beginning to make headway, learning about who she was and suddenly she was thrust back into the clutches of the woman who had brainwashed her in the first place.

“They would have noticed if it didn’t work. It would be the first thing they did to her. I saw it was activated less than two hours after arrival, no doubt to check its condition. She is still alive. I’ve been watching her GPS coordinates and she has been moving around. I can’t tell what she is doing obviously but I know she is alive.”

Rose stood up and began pacing. “We have to find where she is going and get there. She is being sent on a suicide mission. Even if she makes it there is no way they will let her go after testing her blood. Do whatever it is you do with that damn computer and tell us where she is going!”

“I don’t know!” Vivian yelled, losing her cool composure. The woman was used to dealing with the boys but having to explain herself to very strange looking vampires was something she had no patience for.

“The chatter has gone quiet. No information is on the main server, only that a mission is scheduled for 95 girls plus Bella. Operative 10877 is listed as the field commander. That’s Bella’s designation. No information on the targets, the location, the time of the mission, nothing. Every other op they have had in the last twenty years is well documented. Its like they are trying to keep this off the books as much as possible. None of you could help. Showing up in a battle surrounded by nearly one hundred Jaguars would defintely tip them off that something isn’t right.”

“We could watch till the battle is over.” Connolly decided. “Wait until the enemy is down, use the codes to stun the girls, take them away and storm the base.”

Jack shook his head. “How are we going to get there in time? How are we going to keep that many girls contained? Where are we going to take them? What about the ones that need medical help? What about the children left in the base, the newborns, toddlers, children between the ages of four and fifteen? Bella was right. She had to go. We aren’t even close to being able to deal with that. Even if we take down the Jaguar base, what about the others around the world? You think the Organization is just going to roll over and let us have that base and their very expensive genetic experiments? We would be fighting to keep a base against hundreds, possibly thousands of shifters. We going to kill as many as we can before they overrun us. They are kids too.”

Connolly thought for a moment, his head going over possible plans, scenarios, and finding no answers.

“What if I go to the President now? What if we can talk him into launching a strike? The Organization wouldn’t try to take on the US. It would be too high profile. If we can take one base, maybe we can finally get the intel to take out the top dogs.” he tried.

“Assuming there isn’t a plan in place to take out the President if he tries anything. The Vice President could be involved for all we know. Plus he would need Congressional approval before launching an attack on a black site on foreign soil.” Jack told him. “We already know there is one junior Congressman in place. How many other Congressmen, Senators, Pentagon big wigs are in their pocket? What if it was kept a secret and we succeeded, then had to fight Russians, Chinese, maybe even British special forces soldiers in an attempt to retake the base? We can’t risk it.”

Connolly turned on his longtime friend. “All you ever do is tell me why my plans won’t work. Have you ever had any ideas of your own?”

“My job is to go over your plans and find the holes.” Jack reminded him. “It’s what you need me for. If you were thinking about this objectively you would see the bigger picture. If our goal is to get Bella out, we can infiltrate the base and pull her, if she wants to go. If our goal is to take down the Organization, we can’t do that. You told us to find the main players and cut off the heads in coordinated assassinations. We go to the President, and after the main targets are taken out, the Organization is reeling from a lack of leadership, then we strike. Its your idea. Its the best we have right now.”

“That was before I knew our team member would be called back to lead something called a massacre protocol. These many girls going off at once? If they are all killed the Jaguar program would be crippled. Why would they do that unless the enemy is more dangerous than anything the Organization has faced?” he asked.

Instead of an answer he was met with silence. No one said a word, not wanting to throw out theories with no real evidence to back it up.

Carlisle spoke up. “Vivian, can you tell if they have conducted a medical exam on Bella yet?”

“Yep. Funny thing is there is no mention of an increase in vampire venom in her blood. Everything checked out normal.”

Carlisle shook his head and cringed. “That means they know and someone in the base wants it kept quiet. I am beginning to suspect that the increase in vampire venom is her body’s way of strengthening itself for what is to come. She might well be preparing to change. Her DNA hasn’t mutated but it could be a matter of time.”

Charlie threw the glass he had been drinking from into the wall.

“So she is changing. They are using her to lead this mission and then they will kill her. I’m going to Peru. If I die, I die but I am not sitting on my ass while they prepare to execute her!” the man shouted. Esme moved to him quickly, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“She won’t die. We will all go.” Esme assured him.

“To Alaska.” Edward spoke up. “I, Jasper and Emmett will go to Peru, get her out. The rest of you need to follow the plan. If Bella dies, they are coming for you Charlie. Go to the Denali’s. Their house is off the grid. We have a better chance of getting her out than your team, Jason. Coordinated assassinations around the world seems more in your wheelhouse.”

“Alice and I are going.” Rose spoke up.

The room quieted for a moment, considering Edward’s plan.

“We should all go.” Carlie finally decided quietly.

“We can’t all go.” Edward countered. “We need the Alaska compound for the girls. We need more research into the medical challenges not only these girls will face but what challenges Bella might face. If Vivian is able to remote the control chips to all the girls, it will give us the advantage to at least get Bella out. At that point, Carlisle, you will need to perform surgery on her as soon as possible to remove the device from her brain. Charlie, I promise, we will get her out. She is family, just as you are. We won’t leave family behind.”

“Dante and I going to. They don’t need us.” Hawk told the man. “I know how to operate in the Rainforest and we are going to need a fast getaway when we grab her. We can get a Blackhawk, off the books, right Viv?”

Jack shook his head. “Big picture! I want her back too but she is risking her life on the hope that the Organization can be taken down and we are the only ones that can do that. If we go in, they are tipped off and will be more alert than ever.”

“Fuck your big picture!” Charlie shouted. “I just got my daughter back and I will be damned if I let her die on the hope that maybe one day you can take down some giant conspiracy! I want her back! If I have to walk inside…”

“Enough!” Jasper told the room loudly. “We will get her back. The support team stays out of this. If the five of us raid the base we can take a couple girls along with Bella so the focus isn’t on her. The Organization will think vampires found their secret and wanted to take some girls to study or play with. We need to activate all the chips, even Bella’s. There is a possibility that she will resist being pulled out.”

“Why would she not want to come home? She has to expect they will execute her if she survives this mission.” Edward told him.

Jasper turned to his brother but addressed the entire room.

“Bella has changed quite a bit since she has been in Forks. Now she is under the thrall of the woman who brainwashed her, controlled every thought she has had in her life. How difficult do you think it will be for Hildebrand to pull her back under her sway? Bella felt conflicted about her feelings toward the woman already, despite the torture she has endured at the woman’s hands. She is frightened of her but also loves her, or at least thinks she does. You know how out of place she feels here at times. In her core she still desires the fight more than anything else. We all know what bloodlust can do to a person, even you and your men Connolly. Bella is most likely being given free reign by a woman she has called Mother her entire life. I’ll call Jenks. We can get a flight to Rio from Seattle, find the base and wait for their return. Its too late to stop her from going on this mission or for us to join her. There is nothing we can do but pray she survives. Pray all those girls survive. No one should have to go to war that young. Many of us in this room know that.”

“I’ll listen into everything I can.” Vivian promised. “There is always the chance they will send her back here. They will no doubt watch her more closely but she has grown stronger since coming to Forks. They may want to encourage this. We are jumping to the worst case scenarios but we have to consider that her increased strength may make her too valuable to terminate. An opportunity to study her would be too good to pass up in my opinion. Hildebrand may well want to see what she becomes.”

Charlie was about to argue until his phone rang. He declined the call without looking but it rang again. Seeing Billy’s number on caller ID he answered.

“Not a good time, Billy.”

“Because of Bella, right?” the man asked.

“What do you know about Bella? Did she talk to you before she left?” he asked carefully. Instead of an answer he heard a sigh.

“So she has left. I don’t suppose Bella told you about imprinting and… Leah, did she?”

“Of course she did. I know they had an argument the last time they saw each other but I don’t know what it was about nor do I care. Bella is… what do you want Billy?”

The man cleared his throat, but Charlie already knew his voice had a nervous edge to it.

“I’m in front of your house with Harry, Sue and Leah. Leah isn’t doing well. She is having difficulty breathing due to the pain in her chest. It’s gotten worse over the last two days. The girl can barely talk, can’t eat… I don’t have a whole lot of information on past imprint relationships. The former pack was way before my time. I have no idea what imprinting is like for a shifter of Bella’s… nature. I do know they have felt an ache when apart, both of them have and I am guessing Bella is a very long distance from her now. I need some help Charlie.”

Charlie rubbed his forehead, not needing this headache at a time like this. He did recognize that it was true, at this time there was nothing he could do for Bella. She would want him to help Leah despite their last argument.

“What can I do, Billy?”

“Uh… we were wondering if we could take Leah to Bella’s bedroom. Perhaps being surrounded by her scent may allow her to relax a bit. She has passed out twice due to hyperventilating. I’m honestly not sure what else to do.”

Charlie looked towards Carlisle who had been hanging on every word.

“Sounds like she needs more than Bella’s clothes. Tell Harry I am on my way. I’m bringing a doctor with me.”

“Charlie…”

“You want help or not? Take her to a hospital and tell Gerandy that she is having severe chest pains because of some magic imprint thing. I’m bringing Carlisle with me. If Harry wants Leah to feel better, he is going to suck up his pride and deal with it.”

A moment of silence passed, then Charlie heard muffled conversation in the background.

“We will do whatever it takes. Is Bella… is she coming back?”

Charlie fought back tears at that question. In such a short amount of time she had become so intertwined in his life he couldn’t imagine not having her back but knew he couldn’t give an answer.

“Carlisle and I are on our way.” he answered an hung up the phone.

Edward rubbed his forehead and sat back on the couch. “If Leah is in that much pain, what is it doing to Bella?”

“Bella is used to living with pain.” Jasper told him. “Leah isn’t. Bella will be okay. We have to believe that. What other choice do we have?”

Twenty minutes later Charlie pulled up in his cruiser with Carlisle. They found Harry, Billy and Sue on his front porch. Harry had Leah cradled in his arms.

The group walked into Charlie’s house and placed Leah on the couch. Charlie went straight to Bella’s bedroom and brought her pillows to the girl. Leah immediately grabbed Bella’s pillow and buried her face in it.

“I’ll do anything, tell her I’m sorry. Just ask her to come back.” Leah said in a strained voice, muffled by the pillow.

Carlisle bent next to Leah.

“Watch yourself, vampire.” Harry said coldly, not happy at all that Carlisle was here. The revelations of the past 48 hours, his daughter being gay and imprinted to a shifter who he had thought was Charlie’s very human daughter, had his life in a tailspin.

Sue shushed him.

“I trust Carlisle.” Leah told her father, turning from the pillow. “Leave him alone or just leave.”

Carlisle did not take offense, not surprised by Harry’s reaction. He was surprised by Billy’s seeming trust in him.

“Charlie,” Carlisle asked, “what was the last thing Bella wore before she left?”

The man rushed upstairs and brought up her white t shirt and faded blue jeans from the laundry.

“Place them over her. Leah, I am going to place an oxygen mask on you and give you a mild sedative. I’m not sure a painkiller will help this but the sedative will allow you to slow your breathing, okay?”

Leah nodded but Harry was not pleased.

“You are not drugging my daughter…”

“Harry, shut up!” Sue yelled. The man looked at her for a moment, lowered his eyes and stepped back.

Ten minutes later, Leah was much more relaxed and her breathing had evened out.

“How are you feeling now?” Carlisle asked her. “More relaxed?”

Leah nodded. “I think she is coming closer.”

Closer, Charlie thought. Peru was a long way from Forks. Could she be heading to Canada?

Carlisle saw the expression on Charlie’s face and dialed Esme.

“How is she?” the woman answered. “Can I come over? I can make her something, perhaps she could take liquids, maybe soup or a broth?”

“Not right now dear. Ask Vivian if she has any update on Bella’s GPS chip.”

“She has a GPS chip?” Harry asked but no one answered.

“Yes, I was about to call you. Bella is in the air. Vivian hacked into the airport in Rio. Two Airbuses registered to the British military just left Rio followed by a smaller Russian troop transport. I thought perhaps they were coming to the area, Canada or Alaska, but she believes the flight plan has them going into Western Siberia.”

So she was closer to Forks than Peru, but not close enough. If the ache Bella described only disappeared ten miles from La Push, they would have a long few days ahead of them.

“Thank you. I’ll stay in touch.”

He looked at Charlie. “It appears she is in the air with her team, headed to Siberia.”

“Fucking great.” the man whispered, then knelt next to Leah’s head.

“Siberia?” Harry asked. “What the hell is she doing in Siberia?”

“Shut up, Harry!” three voices told him at once.

“Leah, I need you to listen to me. Bella did not leave because she was angry. She was called in. She had no choice but to go. She will be back.” Charlie told her, feeling guilty because he had no true idea of what would actually happen or when Bella would be back.

“No!” Leah said quickly despite the sedative. “She can’t go back to those monsters. They can’t have her. They won’t let her go. Please, bring her back. Rose… Rose will get her back, right?”

The man nodded his head. “No matter what they will get her back. Edward, Jasper, Rose, Emmett and Alice, they are all going to Peru and if she isn’t let go when she returns, they will get her. I promise you.”

Leah seemed to calm at those words and pulled Bella’s shirt tightly around her. After a moment she seemed to fall into a relaxed state, possibly asleep.

“Can I speak to you alone, Charlie?” Harry asked.

Charlie nodded and walked to the up to his bedroom, Harry following. Harry closed the door behind him.

“Billy has told me a bit what he knows about your daughter and what she really is but not everything. We have been friends nearly our whole life and you kept this from me? From Billy? You brought her here after all these years, knowing what she was and let my daughter hang around her, be around vampires. What the hell were you thinking? Bella decides she wants Leah and forms some imprint that she should not be able to do! How do I know your daughter didn’t do something to her, do this on purpose? What happens if Bella dies? If Leah dies because of Bella I swear I will…”

Harry never got to finish his threat. Charlie’s fist connected with the man’s jaw and he hit the floor unconscious.

Charlie walked back to Bella’s bedroom where three sets of eyes were focused on him.

“Harry decided the stress was too much. He needed some sleep so he is resting in my bedroom.” the man explained.

Carlisle chanced a glance at Charlie’s fist.

“Need some ice for that hand?”

“Nope. It feels just fine.”

Western Siberia

Bella took the radio addressing the 45 girls with her and the 50 girls in the plane flying beside them. She had briefed the girls before takeoff, given them everything she knew about the creatures, but left out their origins. At this point where they came from didn’t matter. They were monsters who hunted everything with no direction. The fact that they had been victims of the Organization did not matter at the moment. All that mattered was these poor souls needed to be put out of their misery and kept from killing more humans.

“Listen up, Ladies. Jump point in ten minutes. We will be landing a half mile from the cavern these monsters call home. Remember, guns first. They can’t see well but go for the eyes. It’s their most vulnerable entrance to their brains. We aren’t sure how thick their skulls are. They shouldn’t be able to distinguish between our heartbeats and the emitters but they will defintely lock onto voices. I will be the only one to speak. If they come after anyone, they will come after me and we can all converge on my location. When we land, go to your designated spots and remain silent. We should have an hour of darkness remaining to set up. Once your wrist transmitter goes green, pick a target and open fire.

In the event we run out of ammunition or have to fight hand to hand, we fight in groups of four. I want four of us descending on one of them, tear the head off and go to the next. They are as fast as we are, maybe faster. Their claws are long and sharp and their teeth are sharper than ours. We cannot take them one on one. Let’s do our best to avoid that. Do not hesitate to shoot but hit what you are aiming at. Once the sun is up, they may make a break for their cavern. We slaughter them and blow the cavern before we leave.”

Bella took a deep breath and looked at her girls whose eyes never left her. She saw a bit of anxiety, no doubt to the change in strategy of using weapons first. What she did not see was fear.

“This is going to be a brutal fight. Some of us will die today. As difficult as this is to hear, if I order a retreat, you do your best to retreat. Cover each other, converge on our drop zone and if they follow, we run or fight, depending on the numbers. I doubt it will come to that. We were born for this; we were made for this. These will be the most dangerous creatures we will ever face in our lives. They have killed twenty of our sisters already. That cannot and will not go unanswered. This isn’t just a mission, its personal. Mother has prepared us for situations like this for our entire lives. If we die, so does our program, so do the lives of every living creature, animal and human, that these creatures find. I promise you; I will not leave one of you on that field. The area is dense forest and in sunlight we will have a definite advantage. We are prepared and we will win. No fear, sisters. Once we hit five hundred feet in altitude unclip from your chutes and land in the trees, converge quickly to our designated spots and wait. This is a battle that will be talked about for years to come. This is what we were born for. Team leaders, prepare your crews for insertion.”

The girls in the plane roared, shaking the walls of the plane. Bella could smell their adrenalin spiking; feel the excitement they could not contain.

Yes, they were born for this. Live or die, this fight was worth it to them all. She detected no fear from any of them.

“Are you okay?” a girl asked her while the other Jaguars began loading weapons to their suits and preparing their packs. The girl was slightly taller than Bella but her face betrayed her youth.

“Of course. Why would you ask that?”

The young short haired red head shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve seen you rub your chest a lot. Are you injured? Is it an old injury? Which fight was it?”

“I think I ate some nasty meat for breakfast this morning. What is your name?”

“I’m Tracy.”

“15?” Bella suspected.

“Top of my class. Only five us were allowed to come. I heard you ripped the leg off the first Lycan you faced and made his femur into a knife. Do you have it with you?”

Bella smiled slightly. Many of the girls had asked her questions like this before takeoff.

“I left it at home.”

“Home? The Base?”

Bella closed her eyes, wishing she could pull back that slip of the tongue. Thoughts of Charlie came to mind, thoughts she could not deal with right now.

“No, I meant my field headquarters in Washington. Tracy, you are going to stay by my side, understand? Do not leave my side unless I tell you to. If I tell you to run, you run.”

The girl actually growled a bit before realizing who she was speaking to.

“I am a fighter. I am as good as anyone here. Mother said so.”

Bella gritted her teeth. The idea of any fifteen year old on this mission bothered her greatly.

“I don’t disagree. But this is your first field assignment, correct?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“In the field we generally hunt in groups but we take out prey by ourselves. This is different. You have to obey my orders. Mother sent you on this mission because you are the best in class. She put me in charge of this mission because I know what I am doing. You stay by my side and follow directions, understand?

“I understand.”

“You are going to be my partner. If I get into a hand to hand situation, I want you backing me up with a rifle. Are you a good enough shot to not hit me when I am fighting?”

“I’m the best.”

“Then I am going to count on you. Get your chute ready. Four minutes till jump.”

“Is it true that you killed two of the oldest vampires in existence?”

“Yes…”

“Did you really fight three vampires at once in Turkey?”

“Yes…”

“Do you really have thirty two bite marks?”

“30.”

“Cool. I thought you would be bigger.” the girl told her with a wicked grin that Bella found cute despite the situation. She defintely had spunk.

“I get that a lot. Chute, now.”

Two minutes later, Bella jumped out of the plane into the darkness of Siberia, 95 Jaguar shifters following her.