“Oh, I know,” Rachel said bitterly.
“You got any money?”
“No, I’m sorry. I wish I could give you some gas money.”
“Lord, don’t worry about that. It’s not like I wasn’t coming this way anyhow.” She shot a shrewd glance at Rachel. “You got any place to stay tonight?”
“I’m sure I can find something.” That something was likely to be wedged beneath a bush. It wasn’t a particularly appealing prospect, but she was tired enough that she didn’t think she’d have any trouble sleeping.
“Come home with me,” Judy suggested. “Now, I can see you’re kind of skittish and I don’t rightly blame you, but I’m not going to harm you. I got a spare bedroom with a big bed, clean sheets, and a lock on the door.”
The thought of a decent bed after the last twenty-four hours tempted her but… “I don’t want to put you out.”
Judy waved a hand. “No trouble. Besides, it’s nice to have some company.”
“Isn’t Beau waiting for you?”
“Nah.” She laughed. “I didn’t tell him I was coming home tonight. Tomorrow’s the town picnic and I wanted to know if he was gonna wait for me or if he was gonna go with Sue Ann Mayfield.”
Rachel had heard all about Sue Ann and her attempts to steal Beau away from Judy. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I am.”
They pulled into Judy’s driveway just as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“I always forget that sunset comes so early this time of year. I know I should’a left earlier. This damn curfew is the worst thing those aliens have done.” Judy stopped and bit her lip. “I shouldn’t say that. Bill Johnson down the street lost his son in the first attacks. It’s just… well, everything is pretty peaceful now. Pam had a difficult pregnancy and those new diagnostic tools in the hospitals helped them figure out what was wrong. And that device they made us put on our cars? I can get to her house and back on less than a tank of gas.”
With a start, Rachel realized that she had stopped thinking of Yehrin as invaders for several weeks ago—once she met T’chok. Was she betraying the human race by… caring for him? Putting the uncomfortable thought aside, she turned her attention to her surroundings.
Like the Cadillac, Judy’s two-story farmhouse was old but impeccably kept. Neat flower beds full of pansies led the way to a wide front porch and a door painted bright purple. Judy drove around to the back of the house and parked in front of a small barn. She shivered as she climbed out of the car.
“Brr. Really starts to get chilly when the sun goes down. Winter will be here before we know it. I heard a storm was coming down from Canada.”
“A storm?” Rachel asked, a chill going up her spine. What if they couldn’t find Benji before it hit? A vision of his small body covered with snow flashed before her eyes.
“What’s the matter, hon?” Judy said. “You’re pale as a ghost.”
“My little brother. He ran away, that’s why I’m going home. If the search isn’t successful and there’s a storm coming…”
“Do you want to call home? Maybe they already found him.” Judy led the way across a screened in back porch and into a vintage style kitchen, complete with a black and white checked floor and cherry red appliances. She pointed to a matching red wall phone with a circular dial and laughed at the look on Rachel’s face. “Don’t worry, it works just fine. I like things that look old, but I expect them to work like they’re new.”
Rachel stared at the phone. She desperately wanted to call but what if it could be traced? From what she’s seen on television, it should be all right as long as she was fast enough.
“Go ahead, hon,” Judy urged. “It’s just a phone call, no skin off my nose.”
Unwilling to explain her reluctance, Rachel picked up the phone. Her mother answered almost immediately.
“Mom? Have they found Benji?”
“How could you do that, Rachel? How could you tell the whole town he was missing? I’m sure he’d have come back sooner or—”
“Mom. I don’t have time for this. Is there any news?”
“No, but I’m sure—”
Rachel hung up. Her hand clenched on the phone as she fought back tears of anger and frustration.
“No news?” Judy asked gently.
She shook her head, not trusting her voice.
“Listen, there’s nothing you can do about it now. We’ll have a nice dinner, you can get some rest, and first thing in the morning, you take my truck and head north.”
“Your truck? I can’t possibly—”
“Don’t be silly. I only use it a few times a year. It may be old—”
“But it’s in good shape?”
“Exactly.” Judy grinned at her. “I’ll show you where to put your things and then we’ll start on supper. How does chicken and dumplings sound?”
Chapter Nineteen
T’chok swore as he threw the body of the human male aside. One of the surveillance videos had caught R’chel entering the man’s car not long before T’chok had arrived at the hotel. To know that he had been so close but unaware until the video was retrieved had infuriated him. Then when he tracked the sniveling coward who had taken his woman away, he had found traces of her blood in his vehicle. The story he wrung from the man left him no choice but to avenge his little human. The borag would not have another chance to prey on an innocent female.
Unfortunately, his search had reached a dead end. The man knew that another car had arrived at the rest station, but he hadn’t noticed any details. He thought it had been a silver color but that was the best he could do. T’chok would have to resume scanning the videos but at least he had a time and a location. He made his way back to his flyer, giving the evening sky a worried look. Full dark had fallen while he was interrogating the human. His stomach clenched at the thought of his R’chel alone in the darkness, unprotected. Or at the mercy of animals like the one he’d just eliminated. Once he retrieved her, she was never leaving his sight again.
Resuming his seat at the controls of his flyer, he pulled up the videos and started refining the search. He had just identified a silver vehicle from the appropriate time frame and was trying to determine the license number, when his communicator vibrated.
“T’chok, it is T’lan. We have just traced a call to R’chel’s mother from a number in Wyoming.”
His hearts sped up. “Do you have the location?”
“Yes. I am sending it to your interface.”
“Thank you. I am on my way.”
“Good luck.” T’lan laughed. “Remember what I said, consider a leash for your female.”
T’chok had transferred the directions to his ship and was beginning the ascent but he didn’t end the communication. The least he could do was inform his friend of the decision he had made over the past frantic hours.
“T’lan, if—no, once I find her, I will not leave her side.”
There was a moment of silence and then the other warrior sighed. “I understand how you feel but you know that this violates all of our laws.” As I did went unsaid, but it was there in the silence between the two males.
T’chok was the first to break the silence. “I do. I know that I will be without honor, but I can not allow her to leave me again.”
T’lan sighed again. “I will talk to the Supreme Commander. Perhaps there is some other arrangement that can be made. You could accept a permanent assignment at the Earth facility.”
“You know that will not work. Word would spread and my behavior would encourage others to believe that the rules could be abandoned. We can not have another Day of Sorrow.”
“I do not believe it would come to that, but it is true that the agitation that T’ngorzul created has not been entirely quelled. I still plan on speaking with T’rarchar. Let me know when you find your female and do not do anything in haste.”
T’chok signed off without responding.
The flyer sped through the
darkness. Several times he saw patrol ships in the distance, scanning for curfew violators but they noted the registration of his craft and ignored him. The car was registered to a Judy Miller and matched the location T’lan had sent him. When he arrived, he circled the domicile once and used his craft’s night vision to identify the vehicle in the driveway. Lights shone from the back of the house, indicating that someone was present. That someone had better have answers about his little female, he thought grimly. He brought his flyer in for a quiet landing behind the large outbuilding to the rear of the house.
As he approached the house, he heard laughter and through the window he saw R’chel sitting at a table with an older woman. She had her hands wrapped around a white mug and she was smiling. The wave of relief that swept through him almost brought him to his knees. Anger followed swiftly on the heels of his relief as he took in the bruise across her face. How dare she endanger herself this way?
He strode onto the porch and opened the door without knocking. The fact that it was unlocked only added fuel to his rage. Both females jumped up as he slammed the door open. The older female took a step back, eyes wide and uncertain. R’chel stared at him in shock before her eyes filled with tears and she threw herself at him.
“T’chok. You’re here,” she sobbed into his chest. “I thought I was never going to see you again.”
A mysterious lump appeared in his throat as he picked her up. Her legs went around his waist, clinging to him as her tears dripped down his neck. “You are mine, my zuzu. I’m never letting you go.”
“I assume that means this isn’t called for?” the older woman asked, slowly lowering the rifle she had somehow acquired while he had been occupied with R’chel. T’chok scowled at her and swung R’chel’s body away from the weapon.
“Put that down before you hurt her.”
“Don’t you worry about that, alien. I know how to handle a gun.” She gave him a considering look. “I was going to say I’ve been handling guns since before you were born but you’re no spring chicken, are you?”
“The Yehrin are not animals.”
R’chel giggled against his neck and raised a tear-stained face. “She means that you’re not young anymore.”
The bruise across her cheekbone made him recall his anger, but it was tempered by tenderness as he gently cupped her uninjured cheek. “I need the advantage of years to have the patience to handle you, my zuzu. What were you thinking?”
“About Benji, of course. I couldn’t just sit there and wait. I had to do something.”
He frowned down at her, but he understood her position. These last few hours while she was missing had been the longest of his life; he would have gone insane if he hadn’t been able to search for her.
“I have news of your brother.”
“Not… not...” Her voice shook and he cursed himself as he tucked her head into his neck again.
“Nothing bad, little girl. It may even be good news if you can tell me where he is headed.”
“Where he’s headed? I don’t understand.”
“Are you going to put the poor girl down?” the female interrupted. “I’m getting a crick in my neck watching you.” He glared at her, but she just shrugged. “You’re not getting rid of me until you tell us what’s going on with that poor boy, and you convince me you don’t mean no harm to Rachel.”
“I would never harm R’chel,” he roared.
The female sniffed. “Maybe not. It’s early days yet. Are you going to put her down?”
“No. But we will be seated.” He turned to the table, but the female shook her head.
“Not there. Not sure one of those chairs will hold you. Come on in the den.” She led the way into a spacious room with a fireplace and a large couch. T’chok seated himself, turning R’chel across his lap. She was practically bouncing with impatience.
“What did you find out?”
He explained Charlie’s theory about the all-terrain vehicle and her eyes lit up. “Of course. Why didn’t I think about that? He’s been working on it off and on since we moved out there. But I don’t understand. Where is he going?”
“I was hoping you would know. The human seemed certain that he had been at the line shack on the far northwestern side of the ranch. Is there anything in that direction?”
She shook her head, looking troubled. “Not that I can think of. It’s mainly just range land until you get to the mountains.”
“Could he have gone to the reservation?”
“We don’t have any relatives there and he’s never been—” She stopped abruptly. “He’s never been there but I did take him to the cabin a few times. I bet that’s where he’s headed.”
“The cabin?”
“It belonged to my dad and he passed it on to me. It’s on government land so we don’t technically own the land, but the cabin has been in our family for years. We’d go camping up there when I was little, even though Mom never really liked it because it’s so rustic. I took Benji a couple of times after I got my license but it’s a long way and it was hard to find the time.” The tears reappeared as she looked up at him. “It’s such a long way and those ATVs don’t go that fast. What if something happened to him before he got there? And if he did make it, it’s so primitive up there. We have to go after him.”
She tried to jump up, but he pulled her back down onto his lap as he considered the possibilities.
“You said it’s very rustic? No technology?”
“No. My cell phone never worked up there and there’s no electricity. That’s why we need to go.”
“If I take you in my flyer, command will be able to track the flight. The search for you continues. I did not inform anyone that I had found you, although T’lan will suspect. I propose that we procure alternate transportation and depart at first light.”
The older female had been sitting quietly, listening avidly to his report. Now she spoke. “That’s what I told Rachel. In fact, I told her to take my old truck. Don’t see why it can’t take both of you.”
“Can it be traced back here?”
“It’s still in my husband’s name. He passed away five years ago, and I never bothered to get the title changed. Someone might put it together, but it could take a while.”
“My flyer will have been tracked to this location,” he warned her.
“No, we can’t get Judy in trouble,” R’chel protested, but the female just shrugged.
“All I did was give someone a ride. No idea where they went after I let them out.”
T’chok stared at her and she met his gaze with a twinkle in her eyes. A reluctant grin tugged at his mouth. He suspected that this female would be a match for whoever they sent after him.
“In fact, I think I’m going to run down the street and see what Beau is doing.”
“You can’t,” R’chel protested. “It’s after dark.”
“It’s not much more than a block. I do it all the time. That way I can honestly say I wasn’t here.” She grinned. “I won’t be back before morning.”
“Judy, are you sure you want to do this?”
“Of course I am. He’s already sent me two texts begging me to come over. I’d better get going before he decides to wander up here.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. You could get in trouble with the Yehrin. I’m really a fugitive.”
“Nonsense, hon. We’re put here on this earth to help our fellow women and that’s exactly what I’m doing.” Judy stood up and brushed off her pants. “Keys to the house and truck are on a peg by the back door. You go find that brother of yours.”
“I will.” R’chel attempted to rise and he reluctantly let her up. She gave the other female a long hug and when she pulled back, both pairs of eyes were bright. “Thank you so much for everything.”
“None of that, now. Make yourself at home—and be gone when I get back in the morning.” She winked and whisked out the room. T’chok stood also.
“I will follow her to make sure that she encounter
s no difficulty. I will also move the flyer away from this house and set it to self-destruct.”
“You’re leaving me?”
“Do not worry, little girl. I will not be gone long. Do you have a sleeping space here?”
R’chel blushed. “Yes.”
“You will lock the doors behind me and go to the sleeping space. When I return, you will be naked and standing in the corner of the room with your nose to the wall. Do you understand me?”
He saw the shock cross her face, followed by confusion and then guilt. He waited patiently until she bowed her head.
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter Twenty
Rachel locked the door behind T’chok with a shaking hand. Her emotions were a confused mix of fear, relief, and arousal. Seeing T’chok walk through the door, his big body blocking out the night, she had been filled with delight. He should have looked out of place—a huge grey-skinned, black-horned alien in Judy’s retro kitchen—but she wasn’t conscious of that, simply a comforting assurance that now that he was here, everything was right with the world. When she flew into his arms, she felt like she was coming home.
Now the knowledge that he was going to punish her sent shivers of dread up her spine, but she couldn’t deny that arousal already bloomed low in her belly. She remembered the spanks he had given her in the past and squirmed uncomfortably, her panties dampening at the memory. Her steps lagged as she climbed the stairs to the bedroom Judy had given her. She supposed she could wait downstairs, argue with him, try to talk her way out of it—but she suspected that her punishment would still be forthcoming, and that knowledge was curiously reassuring.
Not only that, she felt a nagging certainty that he was quite justified in punishing her. She had taken reckless chances with her life. The memory of the awful climb from her room, the freezing lake swim, but perhaps most shockingly, the memory of the man assaulting her, they didn’t add up to the picture of a responsible adult. She felt like a naughty child who needed punishment. More than that, if she had waited, if she had put her trust in T’chok, he would have been able to give her the news about her brother earlier today. She wouldn’t be on the run and Benji might even be safe now.
Alien Prisoner Page 14