by Gail Koger
Uncle Saul stepped in front of me. “What are you looking at?”
“Your daughter is very beautiful. She will give me many strong sons,” a powerfully built warrior proclaimed.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you know how to swim?”
“Enough Siv,” Uncle Saul growled. “Casey has been claimed.”
“By who?”
Hothar appeared next me and bared his fangs in warning. “Casey is mine.”
I did a double take. Bey perched on Hothar’s head like some ridiculous hat.
Siv flexed his pecs. “Does the little female know I have thirty-seven confirmed kills and I have bedded two hundred females?”
“I had more kills than that when I was twelve and if you’ve bedded that many women, you’re a man whore. Just so you know, if you two start fighting, I’m throwing both of you overboard,” I warned.
Siv started laughing. “I believe she would.”
“Casey never makes an idle threat,” Hothar grinned. They clasped forearms and pounded each other on the back.
“The entire squadron is here and eager for battle.”
“Good. We have a traitor to find, Rodan soldiers to kill and Legionnaires to hunt,” Hothar said.
I sighed. Testosterone at its finest. “How about you round up those mercenaries in the water first? They might even have intel on Earth First and the Rodan.”
“An excellent idea,” Uncle Saul said dryly. “Once you have secured them in the brig, we need to chat about the rules Hothar.”
Hothar shot me a questioning look.
“Too much touchy, feely stuff,” I said on our private link.
“You showed him?” There was a touch of shock in Hothar’s voice.
“I’m not that crazy, just tired. When I gave Uncle Saul my mental briefing on the “fake” Coletti, it kinda slipped out.”
Hothar flashed me a picture of a large rodent leaving behind an enormous pile of dung. “Zarek’s punishment for too much touchy, feely stuff is cleaning rat droppings from Tanith’s tunnels.”
“Wazzock’s poop.”
A chorus of voices screamed, “Sharks! Sharks!”
Crap. I trotted over to the railing and looked down. Three great white sharks circled the swimmers.
“What are you waiting for? Go get them,” Uncle Saul directed.
Hothar and his fellow warriors teleported. They popped in, grabbed Bambi and the mercenaries. Poof! They vanished, leaving Bey behind.
The Tabor thrashed about in the water. “I can’t swim! I can’t swim!”
“How did he fall off Hothar’s head? Is he drunk?”
“A good question,” Uncle Saul grumbled and teleported.
I watched my uncle snag Bey and vanished seconds before a great white could start chowing down. Nothing like living dangerously. Maybe the eight-legged freak would rethink his decision to ride around on people’s heads.
A few prickles climbed up my back. I turned and watched Tad get to his feet. Should I toss him overboard? He was a thief, a traitor and a murderer. Death by shark seemed appropriate.
“Do nothing until I have interrogated him,” Zarek’s stern voice commanded.
“Yes, sir.”
Tad staggered around a bit and swiped at the blood running down his face. “Fuck! My nose is broken.”
“Yep, it sure is. My honey packs quite a wallop.”
He glowered at me. “What did you do with my armor?”
His armor? “The Askole High Commander took it from me,” I answered.
“I don’t fucking believe you.” Tad pulled a derringer. “You’re no longer bulletproof bitch. Give me the suit or I’ll kill you.”
I held out my arms and did a slow circle. “Does it look like I have it?”
“No, but you know where it is. Take me to it.” Tad cocked the pistol.
“You have heard of Zarek? You know, the Overlord of the Coletti clans? He’s on this boat and if you want to live, you’ll put the gun down.”
Tad laughed. “He doesn’t scare me. Take. Me. To. The armor. Now,” Tad enunciated slowly.
Immense power spilled across the deck as the Overlord teleported in.
Tad screamed like a little girl and fired.
The bullet bounced harmlessly off Zarek’s battle suit.
“Is that the best you can do?” The quiet gentleness of Zarek’s voice was beyond terrifying.
Using my telekinesis, I yanked the gun out of Tad’s hand and caught it. One look at the tiny pistol and I rolled my eyes in disgust. “A single shot derringer isn’t the weapon to use when taking on the deadliest predator in the galaxy. You need a laser cannon and even that’s a bit iffy. If you ask nicely, Zarek might let you live.”
“You want me to beg for my life? It’ll never happen! You don’t fucking scare me. Your days as the Overlord are numbered,” Tad shouted.
Hoo boy! That was the wrong thing to say. I might have bought Tad’s macho demeanor if his voice hadn’t cracked so badly.
The Overlord’s power encircled Tad. “What do you know about Earth First?”
“Let go of me. Noooo!” Tad’s eyeballs bugged out. “Stop!”
I stepped back as he lost bladder control. A shudder shook me as I felt Zarek digging through Tad’s mind. Ugh. Was I capable of destroying a person mentally?
The Overlord’s cold amber gaze met mine. “You are.”
Shock rolled over me as I realized he was right. If it was necessary to stop the Rodan and Earth First, I wouldn’t hesitate. I was my father’s daughter.
“You are becoming Coletti,” Zarek corrected and allowed me to see his interrogation technique. He followed Tad’s memories, forcing him to recall his meeting with Earth First. A kaleidoscope of images flashed across his mind. Tad getting out of his car. Walking toward a large abandoned warehouse with way too many security cameras and sensors. A heavy-set, older man in a military uniform approaching him.
I’ll be damned. It was none other than General Malford and who was the tall, blonde woman standing in the doorway behind him? Why did she look so familiar? Nausea rose in my throat. No, it couldn’t be her. Mary Beth was a part of our family. She would never betray us like this. Damn, but it would explain so much. “Can you get him to focus on the blonde, sir?”
“I can.”
“Please stop. Please. It hurts,” Tad sobbed.
“I don’t care.” The Overlord forced him to concentrate on the blonde woman, until we had a clear picture of her.
My God, it was Mary Beth and as Uncle Saul’s administrative assistant, she had access to all our secrets. Why hadn’t I sensed her traitorous thoughts? Was she using those silver discs? Or some other kind of mental shield? Her Debbie Sunshine persona hid the heart of a stone-cold killer.
“Do you know who the woman is?” The fury in Zarek’s voice threatened my bladder control.
“She’s Mary Beth Dunson, an Earth First commander and spy,” Tad responded.
I asked hastily, “Do you know what she was doing at the warehouse?”
“Commander Dunson discovered Malford had sold the Askole suit to the old fool. She. She gut shot the general and left him to bleed out on the concrete. She offered me eighty thousand credits to retrieve it from Gabaldon,” Tad whimpered.
Zarek increased the pressure on Tad’s mind. “What else?”
“She gave me a weird looking belt to wear. She said once I had the armor to hit the yellow button and it would bring me straight to her.” The picture of a quantum logic gate belt formed in Tad’s head.
Holy Mother of God, Earth First did have the technology.
“Where is the belt,” Zarek demanded.
“Helicopter.” Tad made a gurgling moan and fell to the floor.
I eyed the brain fluid leaking from his skull. Shit! Zarek had literally broken his mind. “He should have listened to me.”
“His greed overcame his good sense,” Zarek said.
“I’ll say. Tad was planning on keeping the armor.”
Sariel zoomed up. “The old one and the females have been transported back to the ship.”
“Earth First sent a quantum logic gate with the mercenaries.” Zarek toed Tad’s body. “This one was to use it to bring them your new armor.”
A burning sensation crawled along my shoulders. I pointed at the little sparks of lightning dancing over the helicopter. “Are those charged particles?”
“They are.” Zarek tapped an icon on his warrior’s bracelet. “The magnetic field is starting to break down.”
“I say we return the belt to Mary Beth and let nature take its course.”
Sariel gave a toothy smile. “An excellent idea.”
“You think like a Coletti warrior,” Zarek said.
I smiled happily. High praise from the Overlord. Now if I only had some beer, chips and salsa, all would be right with the world. A wave of exhaustion rolled over me. A bed would be nice too. I was in serious need of a nap.
Chapter Ten
It took ninety long seconds before the tracking device Zarek had planted on the quantum logic belt to show up on his scanners. “The Earth First base is outside Paraburdoo, Australia and is hidden beneath an open-pit iron mine.”
“My battle cruiser has moved into position over their base,” Sariel said, tapping away at the icons on his gauntlet. “I have routed your transmissions to my command center.”
“Link confirmed. The magnetic field is growing in strength.” Zarek advised. He touched his bracelet and a 3D hologram of the mine formed in mid-air.
I grabbed a beer and pulled up a chaise lounge to watch the show.
Sariel studied the lightning snaking across the reddish-orange soil. “The resulting detonation will register as a magnitude eight on the human’s Richter scale.”
Yikes! “It’s going to cause an earthquake?”
“It will,” Zarek confirmed and took the beer away from me.
I gave him the stink eye. Didn’t he realize how thirsty, tired and hungry I was? “How far away will people feel the effects?”
“All the way to Perth.” Zarek replied and handed me a bottle of water.
“Shit! Can we warn them?”
“General Jones is doing that now,” Zarek answered.
I drained the bottle of water. “Good to know.” As soon as Zarek’s attention was back on the growing crisis, I snuck another beer out of the fridge.
Sariel stated, “My transporter crew has been alerted. Anyone leaving the area will be tagged and transported.”
“That information has been relayed to General Jones and his warriors are on standby,” Zarek responded and magnified the image.
“My warriors will help roundup any surviving enemy soldiers.” Sariel bared his truly scary fangs. “If they resist, they will feel our wrath.”
I grimaced. It was about to get very bloody. Popping the top of the beer, I took a sip and focused my attention on the 3D image. Red electromagnetic pulses arced over the mine. It wouldn’t be long now before everything went boom.
The wide terraces lining the sides of the mine were suddenly swarming with Rodan, Legionnaire and Earth First soldiers running for their lives. “Like rats fleeing a sinking ship,” I murmured.
“Soon to be exterminated rats.” A pitiless smile pulled at Zarek’s lips as he snagged my beer and drained it.
Dang. Did he have eyes in the back of his head?
The floor of the mine suddenly slid back, and two shuttles shot out. Almost instantaneously glittering blue lights penetrated the ships. “The Rodan commanders and their crews have been taken. I have given permission to destroy the vessels,” Sariel said.
Two deadly laser beams flashed from the heavens and nailed the ships. Flames erupted from the crafts as they tumbled from the sky.
“The magnetic field has reached critical mass,” Zarek announced and crushed the beer can into a tiny ball of metal.
Kablooey! A torrent of power exploded from the mine, hurling huge chunks of earth in every direction. A sun bright holocaust raged overhead, and brilliant bolts of silver lightning crackled wildly.
The enemy’s stockpile of ammunition and weapons abruptly ignited. Kaboom! The unholy cataclysm belched blazing shrapnel, bodies and pieces of machinery. The cascading debris set the surrounding vegetation on fire. Thick black smoke billowed from the gaping crater.
“They must have had a shitload of thermite grenades. How deep is that hole?”
Zarek glanced at his bracelet. “Eight hundred feet.”
Violent tremors continued to shake the area. The ground buckled and collapsed into the pit.
“A fitting grave for Mary Beth, but now we’ll never know why she sold us out.”
“The belt was programmed to return to that location. We have no proof Mary Beth was ever there,” Zarek replied.
“Crap.”
“Have no doubt. We will find her.” Implacable resolve was stamped on Zarek’s face.
The hunt had begun and a Coletti warrior never, ever stopped his pursuit until his prey was captured or killed. Zarek was utterly relentless and Mary Beth was a dead woman walking.
My stomach rumbled loudly. God, was I starving. I searched the remains of the wet bar and found several bottles of Champagne in the mini-fridge. They were the good stuff and what better way to celebrate our victory? I pulled out two bottles and looked around for a corkscrew.
Zarek took the bottles away from me. “You are not old enough to drink or have sex. Which includes heavy petting, necking, mental sex or nooky of any kind. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir. Not even a smooch?”
“Smooching is allowed as long as there is no tongue involved.”
“Yes, sir.” Uncle Saul was such a snitch.
Zarek examined me from head to toe. “When was the last time you ate, and I don’t mean candy?”
“About eighteen hours ago.”
“We must take better care of you.” Zarek held out his hand.
“Food would be great.” I took his hand and flinched. With all the power thrumming through him, it was like touching a live electrical wire. I kept waiting to get zapped. I instinctively tried to break his hold.
“Relax, I seldom kill members of my family.”
A hysterical laugh broke from me. “Good to know.” Wow! He considered me family?
“Yes, I do.” There was a fleeting second of inky blackness, and we were standing on the bridge of Zarek’s warbird.
Holy cow! He was in my head. The utter silence caught my attention and I noticed every single warrior was staring at me. “What? You’ve never seen a girl in a swimsuit before?”
“Eyes forward. We’re at battle status,” Uncle Saul bellowed.
The warriors quickly averted their gazes.
Zarek towed me over to Hothar. “Get your mate some food and suitable clothing,”
“Yes, my lord.” Hothar scooped me up and teleported us to the mess hall.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m too tired to eat. You gotta bed?”
“I do.” Poof we were in his quarters. The walls were covered with an assortment of weapons and there were two large beds. “Who sleeps in the other bed?”
“Siv.”
“He’s not showing up any time soon, is he?”
“No, he has been assigned to clean-up duties at Paraburdoo.”
“Good. Oh yeah, Zarek laid down some rules.”
Hothar collapsed on his bunk. He was as exhausted as I was. “They are?”
“No heavy petting, necking, mental sex or nooky of any kind. Smooching is permitted, but no tongue.”
With a groan, Hothar fell back on the bed. “Not possible.”
“I know.” I snuggled against his chest and closed my eyes. “Just need to rest for a minute or two.”
Hothar wrapped his arms around me and sighed. “Me too. Then we will come up with a plan.”
Chapter Eleven
A bugle played reveille. Loudly.
Hothar bolted upright, dumping me on the floor and in one
smooth movement pulled his laser pistol.
“What the hell?” I looked around in alarm.
That wizard kid from the movies stood by the bed with a bugle in one hand. He smirked at us. “Does Zarek know you are sleeping together?”
Hothar holstered his pistol. “What are you doing here Adan?”
“Saving your lives.”
“Our lives? Seriously? When did that amazing event occur?” I got to my feet.
“Have you ever wondered how out of all the ships sailing across the Pacific Ocean, you ended up on the one with Sariel’s stolen armor onboard?”
“Gee, I thought the Good Fairy and her magic wand were responsible.” No sleep made me a very cranky girl.
Hothar’s hands curled into fists. “You sent me the coordinates not Zarek?”
“I simply pointed you in the right direction and put the belt where the female could find it.”
“My name is Casey. I don’t answer to female.”
“But you are a female,” Adan countered.
“Are you always this big of a dick?”
“Do not provoke him,” Hothar warned.
“What’s he gonna do? Blow his bugle again?”
“You must be a Jones.”
I frowned. Adan’s power levels and aura were funky. “I am. What are you?”
“I am a Katanic shapeshifter.” Adan transformed into a huge, heaving, silky black mass with creepy tentacles.
Holy Mother of God. I climbed Hothar. “Get us out of here.”
Hothar patted my leg. “He is Detja’s adoptive father. He won’t eat us.”
“You sure about that?”
“I am,” Hothar said.
If Adan tried anything, I was going to bounce him off the walls and then run like hell. “So, you raised Detja?”
“I did.”
“Well, that explains a lot.” I slid down Hothar’s body. “Do you know if Mary Beth Dunson was at Paraburdoo when it blew?”
“She caught me eating Governor-General Ian Dovers and fled the base an hour before it was destroyed,” Adan replied. A head suddenly bulged out from his hide.
“Is…” Nausea rose in my throat. “Is that Governor-General Dovers?”
“It is. I can regurgitate him, if you wish to question him.”