by K. L. Wallen
“Thanks Nayen,” she muttered in a soft voice as she helped pull the ungrateful kid up. She felt bad for spraying her rescuers but could certainly justify it because they took her by surprise. Gabriella hoped they didn’t get a full dose.
“For whatever reason, I was sent to you tonight. This is a one-time deal. Remember that. Next time you decide to tangle with gang members, I won’t be there. Got it?” Gabriella barked at the adolescent.
Unable to reason what he just witnessed, the adolescent boy’s attitude peaked. He artfully replied, “Yeah, whatever lady,” right before he took off running down the alley.
“At least he didn’t call me a bitch again. Sorry about spraying your friends, Nayen. Ha, that was a new one. Who’d you send me?” Gabriella jabbered on her way back to her car. She never received an answer and knew she wouldn’t.
*.*
“Bagallards,” Dorn coughed out. “Get Favian to the containment unit now!” he bellowed between coughs. He didn’t want to admit aloud that he had a good time taking down the gang members that threatened Kodiak’s daughter, but he did. Dorn hoped that more opportunities to exercise his fists on groups of human males would occur before his assignment is completed. Yes, he would make it his personal mission to protect the meddlesome Gabriella Mendez-Powers, for Kodiak of course, certainly not because he wanted to keep his skills sharp.
Blaize plopped down on one of the benches and resisted the overwhelming urge to rub his eyes, mouth, and throat. Teary-eyed, he looked at his commander and choked out, “I don’t think she could tell who we are.” Blaize wheezed and turned his head to spit. “Fried balls, it tastes just as bad coming out.”
He secretly adored Gabriella for placing herself in danger and giving him the opportunity to save her. Blaize vowed to monitor her diligently, since she so easily finds trouble. Yes, he would make it his personal mission to rescue her. Soon, Gabriella, you will fall into my arms and be mine, he thought with an inner smile and a cough.
The cargo hold door slid open and Favian rushed in. He stopped just short of the containment unit in order to note the condition of his commander and head of security. Favian was already apprised of the weapon she used and its affect before he reached the bay. He entered a few commands on the exterior panel before stepping inside. “Good news. The effects will wear off.”
“Bad news?”
“It will take a little while but you’ll be fine. At least half-an-hour. It would be much longer had she hit you full-force. According to the databank, you need to rinse your eyes immediately with water. Next, use soap and water to rid the oils off your skin. Change out of those clothes also. There’s not much more to do. Are either of you experiencing difficulty breathing enough to warrant sending in the medic bots?” Favian asked as he typed on his data pad.
Both shook their heads no. They accepted the squirt bottles of water Favian handed them and began rinsing their eyes. They then moved on to ridding themselves of their vests and washing down.
The Commander handed Blaize some more soap and remarked, “Make sure she does not bring that weapon onboard with her.”
“You didn’t need to say that,” Blaize sourly fired back.
“How does she know where to go?” the Commander wondered aloud.
Blaize tilted his head and studiously looked at his commander. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve no idea how she knows. Did Kodiak save younglings like Gabriella does?”
Dorn took a moment to mentally review what he knew about Kodiak before replying. “Not as far as I know. I recall that he was a skilled assassin for the government. They sent him into hostile territories to take out targets because he was more than capable of handling himself. Fleet Commander Scorpak did mention that Kodiak is protective of younglings but didn’t say that he went out of his way to secure them. Not like Gabriella does. This seems to be her sole focus.”
They listened as Varun came on the speaker and relayed Gabriella’s current locale.
“Sounds like she’s heading home,” Blaize wheezed.
Chapter 9
Carlie slipped out of bed and put on her robe. She walked over to the bedroom window and drew back the curtains. The apartment she rented wasn’t in the best part of town and that fact alone kept her from putting on her jeans and sweater, and going outside to enjoy the brilliance of the full moon. It’s not often that the sky is clear enough to enjoy the beauty that is the man on the moon.
She leaned up against the drawn curtains, tugged lightly on the right panel, and sent up a wish. Most people wish on a falling star or a birthday candle. Not Carlie. Ever since she was a child, she had this inexplicable urge to make her wishes to the night sky. There was just something magical about the twinkling stars. Then there is the man on the moon who watches over Earth and all the stars between Earth and the moon. He is always there. Always reliable.
“I wish to keep my brother with me.” Carlie shifted her eyes from the few stars that sparkled and smiled at the man on the moon. Her thoughts drifted to the psychic fair at the county fairgrounds, and the handsome alien who caught her attention. “Are you up there with the man on the moon?” she whispered. The wish to meet the sexy alien crept into her thoughts. “No, no,” she whispered. “Well, maybe. But, first my brother.” She stood there for several more minutes in silence before heading back to bed.
Carlie knew her dreams would be of the alien macho-man. She stifled a chuckle as the Village People popped into her head and she sang along, “Macho-macho man, I gotta be a macho man.” She climbed into bed wondering where she could inject the word ‘alien’ into the lyrics.
*.*
Her dreams had indeed been filled with the sexy alien. Carlie felt the wetness between her legs and knew that the intimate dream had brought on a mini-orgasm while she slept. She swept the palm of her hand over her face and sent up a silent prayer that she didn’t embarrass herself by moaning or screaming out while she slept. The last thing she wanted was to start the day off being teased by her brother. As she threw aside the covers, she thought again about the gorgeous alien. Her mind drifted to her dream. In her dream his eyes were different. They were a dark brown, shining, with barely a ring of white to be seen on the outer edges. Carlie didn’t think his eyes eerie, just uniquely beautiful. She found it odd that his natural eyes sparkled but didn’t reflect her silhouette.
Carlie tossed on her robe, opened her bedroom door, and headed to the restroom. “So who’s the most beautiful of all?” she whispered to the mirror over the sink. Her mind filled in the blank and unfortunately, like every other morning, it wasn’t her. “Yeah, didn’t think so,” she followed that up with a short huff.
“Justin, get up.” Carlie sat on the edge of the sofa sleeper and shook her brother’s shoulder. “Come on. Time to get ready for school. If you hurry, I’ll drop you off on my way into work.”
“But you don’t start work for another couple of hours,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, I know. I wish I had earlier hours but people don’t appreciate phone calls at seven in the morning,” Carlie grumbled. She shook her brother again. “Come on. Get up. Sally is bringing by the rest of the reward money this morning before I leave for work. Hopefully in time for me to stop at the bank. I need you up and dressed before she gets here.”
Justin scoffed, “People don’t appreciate calls at any time. Sally’s coming?” He rolled to his side and tried to shut his sister out.
“Yes, she’s coming.”
“Fine, I’m getting up.” He begrudgingly tossed aside the blanket.
“I don’t need to see you scratch yourself this early in the morning. Damn, just like dad. Get up.” Carlie mumbled a few disparaging words as she walked back to the bedroom.
Carlie circled back when Justin pulled the blanket over his head instead. She grabbed the blanket and sheet. The ritual tug of war began. This morning she had a good grip and managed to yank it out of his hand. “I win. Get up.”
*.*
Justin was closer to the door, so he
opened it. “Good morning Sally,” he politely greeted as he held the door open for her.
“Good morning Justin. I stopped off and bought some donuts for you and your sister. Is she up?” Sally handed Justin the large box of a baker’s dozen donuts.
Justin took the box to the counter, opened it, and dug in. Between mouthfuls, he pointed to the box and mumbled something incoherent, but Sally understood and replied that she was fine.
“Hi Sally. Does the detective have a solid case?” Carlie asked.
Sally walked over to Carlie and gave her an appreciative hug. “Yes. They made the arrest last night. They found the key hidden in his place. I can’t thank you enough. Here’s the rest of the money and I have another job for you if you’re interested.” She handed Carlie the envelope of money and waited for an answer.
“What’s the job?” Justin blurted.
Sally turned and looked at him. “One of my friends at the club, Eloise, had her designer dog stolen. She’s very upset and is willing to pay a reward of $2,500 for Mimi’s return.”
“I’ll do it,” Justin offered. He looked to Carlie and offered her a donut. “What kind of dog?”
“Mimi is a labradoodle,” Sally mused. “She’s a cross between a Labrador and a poodle. Very fashionable nowadays. Eloise bought the dog because it’s a hypoallergenic dog.”
“A what?” a confused Justin asked. He then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Carlie answered for Sally, “Justin, it means her friend’s not allergic to that particular breed. It’s one of those dogs that only wealthy people can afford.” She turned her attention to Sally and asked if her friend was contacted for ransom.
“No, no ransom. We’re thinking that they probably took Mimi to breed her. Eloise is very upset. She doesn’t want her baby soiled. Mimi hasn’t been bred yet and Eloise was about to get her spayed. She has no interest in having puppies running around.”
Carlie acknowledged her concern and informed her, “Sally, Justin is as good as I am. In fact, he has more experience with locating pets than I do. I’d recommend him for the job. If you can give me your friend’s address, I can take Justin by there tonight. Or if she would prefer to come here, that would be fine. Justin will need recent items the dog used, such as the dog’s bed, toy, leash, etc. The fresher the better.”
“I’ll call Eloise and send you a text,” Sally responded right before she bid them both a beautiful day and left.
*.*
Tyce smiled at the incoming message from Varun, ‘Got the monitoring feed from the psychic event. Sent it to the others as well.’ An attachment quickly followed. Varun hacked into the security system at the county fairgrounds and downloaded video from the psychic fair. This was in addition to the monitoring equipment Blaize set up. The warriors hoped to find more potential honored guests among the vendors or attendees.
Tyce set the video aside. He already located two candidates he is interested in pursuing and didn’t wish to research other potential guests at this time.
A second message from Blaize followed, ‘The pair of them just left. Transporting down. Coming?’
Tyce quickly responded, ‘On my way’. He desperately wanted to see the inside of Carlie’s home. Self-admittedly, Interspecies Relations Officer Tyce Owynn was becoming obsessed with the indefinable Carlie Longwood. He had dreamed of making love to her, slow and sweet, like in one of the scenes in the instructional manuals Honored Guest Laurel MacKenna left behind. Never had he dreamed of a female before. He woke up wondering if these dreams were part of her gift. Tyce decided he would ask her if she has the power to invade his dreams.
*.*
“Both of them live here? This place is tiny for two persons. I see only one bedroom,” Blaize remarked as he scanned the walls and ceiling for places to install the monitoring equipment. He settled on inserting the first monitoring device in a smoke detector above the brown plaid couch. The couch and a side table with a lamp were the only pieces of furniture in the living room.
The floor plan was open. There was nothing separating the front door from the kitchen and living area space. Just behind the small living room was a very short hallway, less than four feet long, and two doors. One was to the only bedroom in the place and the other door was to the restroom. As small as the space was, it was well kept and smelled of fresh rain. Blaize appreciated the cleanliness but pitied Carlie and her brother for living in such a tight space.
Tyce answered him from the bedroom, “Carlie sleeps in here. There’s nothing to indicate that they share the bed. There is a second chest in here, which contains young Justin’s clothing.” He closed the drawer and picked up a couple of pictures from the top of the chest. The first one was a close up picture of Carlie and Justin. Both were smiling. Justin was making some sort of gesture of a sideways V sign with his fingers. Tyce set it down and snapped a picture with his data pad. He would ask Stacy about the hand gesture later to see if it is important.
The next picture was a family picture, he assumed. It was taken outside in a garden. Tyce figured that the elders in the picture must be the parents. Carlie looks a lot like her mother. Justin resembles the father. This picture was taken at least five years prior, Tyce judged from Justin’s even younger age in the picture. Carlie didn’t look much different, but Justin has obviously aged since then. He set it down and took a picture of it.
“There’s a pillow and blanket on the side of the couch out here. The youngling must sleep here. It must be uncomfortable. I remember him being taller than this couch is wide,” Blaize spoke in his normal voice. Pzian hearing is excellent so there is no reason to shout at each other.
Blaize moved to the kitchen area, about eight steps, of his size 15 boot, from the couch. “I’ve got official looking documents out here on the kitchen counter. I’ll take a picture of them and send it over to you,” Blaize informed Tyce.
“I’ll translate them when we return to the ship. Take pictures of all documents and correspondence you find,” Tyce responded.
Blaize finished and sent the photographs off to Tyce. “I’m done with the monitors in here. I’ll step out and set up a monitor outside the building.”
Tyce opened one more drawer. This one contained intimate nylon items with lace. He ran his finger over a couple of the items. Although tempted to pick them up, he didn’t. He shut the drawer and stepped around the corner into the bathroom.
There were two bars of soap in the bathtub-shower combination. One was green and smelled of woods. The other was pink and smelled soft and delicious. He picked up the pink bar and scraped off just a little bit. I’ll have this replicated for her, he thought. He then opened the shampoo bottle and sniffed. This had a pleasing vanilla-mint scent. He took a drop and rubbed it on his vest. That would be enough to replicate the scent for Carlie. Before he left, he scraped a bit of soap off Justin’s soap bar so he would have his own preferred scent when he came with his sister to the ship. Of course, the soaps would do no good right now since they use beams to clean, but Tyce could still have the soaps and shampoos replicated for when they reach Pzianian. Tyce smiled at the thought of sharing his home with Carlie and Justin.
Blaize reentered the apartment and informed Tyce he was finished setting up the monitors. “Tonight, once they are asleep, I’ll come back and set up a monitor inside her transport.”
“Thanks. I’m ready,” Tyce replied and stayed a good eight feet away from Blaize.
Blaize walked closer and sniffed. “What are those smells?”
“I washed my hands. Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
“Really?” Carlie asked as her and Justin approached their apartment door. Waiting in front of the door was a woman in a suit. “Our court date is coming up,” Carlie commented. “You’re a new one. May I see your credentials?”
The plump woman, B.K. Carter, held out her badge from Family Court. “I’m glad to see you take precautions. You can never be too careful.” She ignored the snort and eye roll that came from Just
in.
The three of them stepped into the tidy apartment. Carlie was glad, given all of the morning’s excitement that she had cleaned up before they left. “Here we are. Justin sleeps on the pullout couch, before you ask. My bedroom is over there. The bathroom is there. Not much to see.” Carlie hoped the woman wouldn’t stay long as Eloise was coming by within the hour. This part of their lives was something she hadn’t shared with the court and preferred they not find out.
Ms. B.K. Carter walked to the kitchen and opened cabinets and then the refrigerator. She lifted the milk off the shelf and checked the expiration date, then jiggled the container to see how much was in there.
“Cans of vegetables are to the right of the fridge,” Carlie commented. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief when B.K. Carter opened the cabinet to count the number of cans of vegetables.
“This is so fucked up,” Justin declared.
“I have a job to do. I’m only being thorough,” the woman calmly informed him as if she heard his choice of words every day. “Let me do my job and I’ll be out of here in no time.”
Carlie and Justin sat down on the couch and waited while she went into the bathroom. They heard her toss aside the shower curtain, then open and close the medicine cabinet.
“Told ya we should have put a shit load of marbles in the medicine cabinet,” Justin irritably whispered.
When Ms. Carter reentered the living room, Carlie stood. “Anything else?” she asked. Carlie wanted her to hurry and get the hell out. She was tired and had hoped to take a shower before Eloise showed up. That wish was now dashed. The long hot shower would have to wait until much later.
She opened her file and scanned. “I just need to check and make sure Justin has clean sheets to sleep on.” She waited for Justin to get off the couch and open it up.
“Before you ask the routine questions, let me answer them. Everything is fine. I’m still employed. Justin is going to school every day. No tardies or absences. The car is working fine. My rent is paid to date. And, Justin hasn’t gotten into any trouble.” Carlie looked to Justin to see if she had missed anything.