by S. E. Smith
“Stop!” Markham ordered, raising up the detonator he was gripping tightly in his hand.
Core’s eyes glittered with malicious triumph.
“Release me or she dies,” Markham threatened.
Core took a moment to scrutinize the man’s face. Disgust for such cruelty coursed through him.
In the reflection of the glass, he saw a shimmer of light.
“Core!” Merrick called, stepping through the Gateway.
“Release me,” Markham hoarsely repeated.
“You have the right to demand justice,” Teriff quietly stated. “Both of you do.”
A smile curved Core’s lips. He held Markham trapped against the glass display case with one hand while he reached into his pocket with his other. He pulled out the small capsule he’d removed from Avery’s body, and held it up so Markham could see it.
“How—?” Markham started to ask.
The man’s words ended in a choked gag when Core suddenly shoved the capsule into Markham’s mouth and released him. He wrapped his hand around Markham’s and stared down into the man’s eyes as he pressed Markham’s thumb down on the detonator.
Markham’s mouth opened in a scream that never sounded. The acid was already burning its way down his throat to his vocal cords. Core pushed Markham backwards, and the glass wall of the display case, already weakened, collapsed inward. Markham’s writhing body fell over one of the lions. Seconds later, he lay motionless, sightlessly staring up at the face of his dead mother.
“That was nasty,” Cosmos said.
Core slowly turned his head to look at the men who had come to help him and Avery. “He was going to use it on Avery,” he quietly said before his eyes moved to the monitors. A smile curved his lips when he saw the slumped figure of the soldier in the security room and Avery calmly walking up the stairs with the faint but very familiar figures of RITA and FRED by her side. He turned to look at the three men with a raised eyebrow.
“What took you so long?” he finally demanded.
Epilogue
Washington, D.C.
* * *
“The Vice-President and now this. It is hard to believe that Public Servants sworn to protect our nation have instead done so much to harm it,” President Askew Thomas said with a sigh.
“Do you have any other questions, Mr. President?” Avery asked.
Askew shook his head. A knock sounded on the door leading to the Oval Office, and Askew looked up from the report she had given him. A moment later, his secretary peeked inside.
“Mr. President, Secretary Albertson is here to see you,” she announced.
“Askew, how are you doing to… day?” Richmond Albertson’s voice faded when he saw Avery serenely sitting on the couch.
“Hello, Richmond,” Avery greeted with a slight bow of her head.
“Ms. Lennox… Avery. I thought… I had heard that you…,” Richmond stuttered before pursing his lips together.
“Disappeared?” she suggested.
“Askew…,” Richmond started to say in a sharp, aggressive tone.
“Don’t dig yourself any deeper than you already have, Richmond. I respected you and you let me down,” Askew warned, standing up.
Richmond looked at Avery with a flash of hatred he glanced behind her and felt pure terror. He backed up against the desk. How had he overlooked the four alien men standing near the wall behind Avery?
“Askew…,” Richmond choked.
“I don’t think you’d get much satisfaction seeking the Right of Justice with him, Core,” Cosmos observed.
Avery felt Core’s disgust for the overweight Secretary of State who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. She had to agree with Cosmos. The man was a total waste of space.
I could claim the Right of Justice, but there is no justice in watching a man cower and beg, Core silently conceded.
I told you, she teased.
Avery rose to her feet and stepped forward to shake the President’s hand. “I’m sure that Bill can take it from here,” she said with a smile directed toward the FBI Director who was sitting in one of the two chairs near the bookcase. Bill Evers nodded. Avery turned and looked at Richmond. Her lip curled with distaste.
“I want you to tell the President and the FBI Director everything—and I mean everything—that you know. If you don’t, I’ll have my mate drag your sorry ass to a world where no amount of begging or expensive lawyers will save your life,” she promised in a soft, menacing tone.
Richmond nodded his head in agreement.
Avery turned and walked around the couch. “Cosmos, I’m taking an extended vacation,” she calmly announced.
“I’ll let everyone know,” Cosmos promised, stepping to the side.
“Tilly is planning another Romantic Comedy weekend. Will you and Terra be there?” Teriff asked.
Cosmos laughed. “Yes, we’ll be there,” he said.
Avery looked over her shoulder at President Thomas before she bowed her head to the FBI Director. She turned and smiled up at Core when he wrapped his arm around her waist. Teriff opened the Gateway and they all stepped through to the control room on Baade. A final glance over her shoulder gave her a huge sense of satisfaction—Richmond Albertson lay in a terrified abject heap on the floor of the Oval Office, swearing that he would tell them everything they wanted to know.
Core’s Home: Eastern Forest of Baade
Two months later:
* * *
“Avery, love, are you awake?”
Avery groaned softly and cracked one eyelid. The blurry image of RITA2 was sitting on the side of her bed. She hadn’t been dreaming.
“What do you want? I thought I answered all your questions last night,” she moaned, reaching for Core’s pillow.
She sighed. It was still warm. She’d felt him get up a few minutes ago.
She pulled the pillow to her and rolled onto her side. Her eyes had just closed again when she heard a giggle from the other room. A frown creased her brow when it was followed by another one.
Avery, I need your help, Core said in a voice tinged with panic.
Her eyes popped open and she scrambled out of the bed. She was only vaguely aware that RITA2 was trying to talk to her. She grabbed her robe and pulled it on as she hurried out of the room.
Where are you? she demanded.
In the living room. Wear your robe, we have company, he warned.
I am, she replied.
She quickly tied the belt of her robe around her waist, and pulled her hair free as she hurried down the landing to the lower level. She was about to demand to know what was wrong again when she saw Angus, Core, and Cosmos standing with their backs to her. She slowed, worry gnawing at her stomach.
“I wasn’t sure who I should talk to,” RITA2 was saying. “Tilly and Tink are fantastic, but I thought you might be able to talk to Amelia about this. RITA thinks she might be able to figure out what we did. I mean… I’m not sure how this actually happened. DAR and I were only doing some experimental coding. We never expected….” RITA2 was almost babbling.
Avery’s lips parted in a gasp when the men moved aside and she could see what they were looking at. Seated on her couch was Tilly Bell, Terra, and….
“What have you done?” Avery choked out in alarm.
It looked like her vacation was over. Avery’s gaze moved from RITA2 to DAR. She shaded her eyes a bit as she rubbed her brow. The damn hologram was glowing so brightly that he hurt her eyes. She looked more closely at the little ones on the couch.
“Cosmos, Tilly, will one of you please tell me how in the hell a computer program can have babies?!” she growled.
To be continued: Saving Runt: Cosmos’ Gateway Book 7
From the shadows of the computer world, Amelia ‘Runt’ Thomas plays a cat and mouse game with the most ruthless criminals in the world, but her life takes an unexpected turn when she encounters Derik ‘Tag Krell Manok— an alien warrior from another world….
Experience The S
tories
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Science Fiction / Romance
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Dragon Lords of Valdier Series
It all started with a king who crashed on Earth, desperately hurt. He inadvertently discovered a species that would save his own.
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The Dragonlings’ Very Special Valentine
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