Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10)

by Mikayla Lane

  “No, I get it,” BJ admitted. “Trust me, I do. He’s one of my people, yet he’s hunting us. It makes him pretty damn dangerous in my book.”

  “BJ, maybe we need to think about a strategic strike tonight,” Nik suggested, wanting the threat to his mate gone.

  “You left last night and don’t understand that there’s reasons why we can’t do that,” BJ replied, unwilling to try and explain everything to him now.

  Nik punched the air in anger and stomped further away from Grai.

  “I know there’s no souls due for keeping. I was just hoping that had changed between last night and this morning,” Nik replied more calmly than he felt.

  BJ was stunned that he’d attempted to learn anything that occurred after he’d left and wondered how much he knew about the conversation between Rolantro and Grai.

  “No, I’m sure if it had changed we would have been told,” BJ said, trying to stay on topic. “Dennis and Mom will tell me their thoughts after we go back to the station. I’ll let you know what I find out from them. We should probably wait until then before we figure out how we’re going to proceed.”

  “Have they been able to do a full scan on him? Do they know his abilities?” Nik asked. He wanted to learn everything he could about the man.

  To break the enemy, you must know the enemy, he thought, remembering something his grandfather had taught him.

  “Nik, I don’t know much right now, and they aren’t talking. Mostly because they’re trying to prevent him from wondering why I’ve been ignoring the conversation and speaking to you instead,” BJ chastised softly before turning her focus back to the major and the conversation going on around her.

  She toyed with the food on her plate until she caught enough of the conversation to join in.

  “The moon will be full tonight so at least we’ll have a lot more light outside to see in a wide area around the station. We still might want to consider setting up a warning system perimeter as well,” BJ suggested.

  She could tell by the slight rise of the major’s eyebrows that he was impressed with the suggestion.

  “What do you have in mind?” Kyle asked, sitting back so the waitress could clear his empty plates.

  “It wouldn’t take anything elaborate. Some fishing line and tin cans worked just fine when we were kids,” BJ said with a grin before clearing her throat. “What I mean is, unless you have some seriously sophisticated equipment with you, we need something basic that won’t be noticed easily and can be set up in a few hours.”

  “If it’s supernatural, then nothing will stop it,” Greg said.

  Kyle turned to glare at him, and Greg hastily brought his coffee to his lips.

  “Whatever it is,” Kyle said, turning back to BJ, “something is better than nothing. We’ll run it by the men when we get back to the station. They know what we have with us, and maybe you guys will have anything we don’t.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” BJ agreed, knowing nothing would stop what was going to unfold.

  The waitress returned with a coffee pot, and when everyone declined another cup, she set three checks on the table. Kyle picked up the one in front of him, and his eyes widened in shock.

  “Are you serious? This is it? We don’t need a discount,” Kyle argued, not wanting to underpay since the food and service was so good.

  “That’s the fair value around here. We aren’t like the big cities where money decides your fate; we make our own,” Dennis said with a laugh as he pulled out his wallet.

  “Hell, I’ll pay for them all,” Greg said with a grin and plopped a 20-dollar bill on the table.

  “I’ll grab the tip,” Kyle added, placing a five on top of the 20 and standing. “Let’s get the perimeter set up and go over the plan.”

  “You guys be careful,” the cook called from the grill and waved as they left.

  “Wonderful breakfast!” Greg waved back with a grin.

  “So, we’ll see you all back here around five for dinner?” Bess asked Kyle once they were outside of the diner.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kyle agreed as he patted his stomach.

  “See you later, honey,” Bess said, kissing BJ’s cheek before she and Dennis headed across the street to the mercantile.

  BJ followed Kyle and Greg when they headed back to the station.

  “Sir, I really think we need to let the men go in shifts to eat. That potted meat and packaged crap . . .” Greg let the sentence hang when Kyle glared at him again.

  Kyle thought about it and nodded his head.

  “Set them up in shifts so they don’t overrun the place. They can eat the garbage they bought in the city for snacks until we start dinner shifts for everyone at the diner,” Kyle ordered.

  BJ couldn’t help the smile that came over her face when she realized her mother got her way, and she’d be eating dinner with her tonight.

  Greg ran ahead to assemble the men and give them the good news about the diner and being able to eat real food while Kyle studied the town more closely.

  “When do you think the . . . activity or whatever will start?” Kyle asked, hoping it would be early.

  He didn’t want to waste another sleepless night on the supernatural garbage they were trying to convince him of. Although the photos, the video, and even the way in which they talked about it was very convincing, he just wasn’t buying it.

  When Greg came running back to them, Kyle gestured back to the diner.

  “Go talk to the old guy, Jacob, and report back to me at the station,” Kyle ordered.

  “Yes, sir!” Greg said with a huge grin before he headed back to the diner.

  “If your mom is having dinner at the diner with you tonight, then how is Traze coming for dinner?” Nik whispered through her mind.

  “Oh, he’ll go to the mercantile for dessert. Mom won’t let him out of it,” BJ replied with a smile.

  “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to know that,” Nik teased.

  BJ burst out laughing and quickly tried to think of a way to explain it to the major.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking about how cramped we’re all going to be in the station tonight and was thinking about claiming a spot early. No offense intended, but I’m not looking to wake up being cuddled by anyone,” BJ said and grinned up at the major.

  “You can sleep in one of the cells for your own peace of mind. My men won’t bother you,” Kyle assured her.

  “I think sleeping in the cell is a good idea,” Nik whispered through her mind before he could stop himself.

  BJ grinned broadly at the major.

  “I was just joking. I think we’re all going to be a little too high strung to sleep,” BJ told Kyle before turning her thoughts to Nik.

  “Trust me, none of us will be sleeping,” she assured Nik, shocked at the intensity of the jealously she could feel in his words.

  Kyle stopped in the middle of the road and turned to her with a serious expression.

  “If this is another one of your tricks, I will be filing charges against you for obstructing a federal official. So this is your one and only chance to come clean,” Kyle warned her. “Tell me the truth about what happened and where my prisoners are, or face the possibility of arrest in the morning.”

  BJ’s eyes flashed dangerously, and through his connection with her, Nik could feel the anger that suddenly engulfed her. He moved closer to the screen streaming the video from outside of the station.

  If the bastard touches her, I’ll kill him, Nik thought.

  “Let me tell you something, major. I made an oath just like you did, and I may not be able to explain the things going on around here, but I’m damn sure not going to endanger my job, or my town over some idiots who probably went AWOL!” BJ snapped at him as she moved to stand toe to toe with him.

  BJ pointed her finger and poked him in the chest as she stared into his eyes without blinking.

  “If you aren’t convinced of what’s going on by morning, I’ll put myself under arrest,” she said bet
ween gritted teeth before she stormed off to the station and slammed the door behind her so hard the wall shook.

  Kyle stood staring after her with narrowed eyes when he heard feet pounding down the street behind him, and he turned to see Greg running towards him.

  “What did you find out?” Kyle asked, putting the puzzling cop out of his mind for a moment.

  “Sir,” Greg said, catching his breath. “The old man was a mountain of information. He was a marine sergeant in Korea, so he was one of our own and pretty damn reliable. I already checked out his service record, and he’s legit.”

  “What did he say?” Kyle urged, not sure he’d believe anyone from Baker’s Creek, no matter who they were.

  “He said he was a real bastard when he came back. He raged at everyone and everything around him, and even his family and friends weren’t immune to his abuse,” Greg read from his notes, even though he’d memorized every word the man had told him.

  “Sounds like PTSD. Go on,” Kyle urged, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “He said that he started hearing the shrieks and growls outside his house. Said it went on for three days, and on the third night he was awakened from a deep sleep by a noise; when he tried to get up, he was paralyzed,” Greg said, his excitement level rising as he continued the story.

  “He looked up into the face of what he believed was a demon. The creature waved its hand, and he was standing in the middle of a desolate, burning landscape. He could hear the screams and cries of others and feel the intense heat begin to burn his feet. The demon was behind him and said, ‘this is your future if you continue as you are.’ Then he was back in his bed and could move again,” Greg finished, his eyes gleaming with interest.

  “That’s it?” Kyle scoffed. “Then what? He suddenly became a decent human? Give me a break. It sounds like the guy had a really bad nightmare. If it made him a better person, then awesome, but it wasn’t a vision or supernatural.”

  “How do you explain this?” Greg countered as he pulled out his cell phone and held it up to Kyle.

  Kyle peered at the phone, unsure what the hell he was supposed to be looking at. There was nothing but angry looking, raised red tracks.

  “What is this?” Kyle asked in frustration.

  “It’s the burn scars on the bottom of his feet. When he woke up, they were there,” Greg replied, sure the major would believe now.

  “He probably got injured in the war!” Kyle argued, annoyed that Greg had fallen for the supernatural garbage.

  Greg messed with his phone for a minute and pulled up something else before showing it to Kyle.

  “He got a purple heart for being shot in the chest. There was no note of any injury to his feet in his service record,” Greg replied, having already checked it out. “There’s no way he could have gotten through the military entrance physical with those feet, and you know it.”

  Greg flipped back to the picture of the old man’s feet, and Kyle stared at the photo again, now seeing that it was indeed a pair of old feet crisscrossed in burns. Kyle shook his head.

  “That still could be anything. Hell, he probably fell into his own campfire drunk one night! Come on, captain, you can’t honestly tell me you believe this shit.”

  “Then why are we staying here tonight?” Greg countered, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. “The aliens are gone; we know that. Odds are they’re never coming back here. So why are we still here?”

  Kyle grew angry at the question, mostly because he didn’t know why the hell he was staying either. Something inside him wouldn’t let them leave yet.

  There’s something here, and I’m too close to finding it, Kyle thought as he looked around in frustration.

  He wasn’t about to admit to his captain that he wasn’t sure why he felt compelled to remain one more night.

  “I think they know something, and they’re hiding it. I think all this supernatural shit is another ploy, and I want to catch them in it. I don’t think they willingly helped the aliens, but they might have helped what they believed were AWOL soldiers,” Kyle argued, and understanding dawned in Greg’s eyes.

  “OK, I see where you need to exhaust all options before you consider this one. But I don’t understand why the supernatural would be hard for you. For god’s sake, we hunt aliens! How the hell can a demon or any other creatures surprise you?” Greg asked, seriously curious.

  Kyle shook his head, not wanting to have that conversation.

  Not here, not ever, and definitely not with the captain, he thought.

  “Get the men assembled outside the station. I want to go over perimeter ideas,” Kyle ordered before he walked away and into the station.

  *****

  “You played that really well,” Nik told BJ in her mind. He was grinning from ear to ear at the way she’d handled the major.

  “He’s a hybrid!” Grai roared behind Nik.

  Nik winced knowing that someone, most likely Bess, had informed Grai that the major was indeed one of their own. He turned to look at Grai and saw him glaring back at him, confirming that he should have told Grai before he heard it from someone else.

  He mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to Grai and was relieved when Grai just shook his head and sat down.

  “I think your mom just told Grai about Kyle. He’s just as shocked,” Nik told BJ, not wanting them to stop talking.

  “I can imagine,” BJ replied as she watched Kyle come inside the station. “For the life of me, I can’t see anything about him that even gives a hint of it. I don’t know how he’s hidden from the military all this time.”

  “Do you think he knows?” Nik asked.

  BJ mentally shrugged.

  “I can’t tell. Momma and Dennis might know, but they haven’t said anything to me yet. I’ve stared into his eyes a dozen times though, and there’s nothing in them. I’ve never seen a hybrid without the discolored dots of an unbound beast or the swirls of the beast bound. He has nothing,” BJ said, staring at the major’s eyes again while he was distracted at the coffee pot.

  “Regular contacts hide it. We use them on missions in order to blend in with the humans,” Nik admitted.

  BJ sighed and closed her eyes as she mentally kicked herself.

  “That’s why I didn’t recognize you right away. I’ve always looked at the eyes. I didn’t know contacts hid the beast signs,” BJ muttered, feeling stupid.

  The hybrids who lived in their town had never had a reason to shield themselves from one another, and she’d never encountered one in all the years she’d been in St. Louis.

  “You have a natural ability to shield your beast, and your eyes come from your mother’s side of the family. You can’t blame yourself for not knowing what we do to conceal ourselves,” Nik assured her.

  “I’m going to try and get close enough to see if he has any contacts in,” BJ said as she stood, determined to find out if the major knew he was one of them.

  “Do not! The major knows what he is,” Bess boomed through the shengari’, her voice echoing through those in the transport above as well. “The council has decided to deal with the major personally this evening. No one is to interfere in any way.”

  Grai, Disc, and Nik all looked at one another.

  “I don’t think that is going to be good news for the major,” Disc said with a grin.

  “We don’t even know how many of our people he’s responsible for capturing, torturing, and killing. I think whatever they do to him won’t be nearly enough,” Grai growled with a shake of his head.

  “I’m sure we could do the same thing to you, Grai T’Alq, and afterwards you could tell us if you think it fair enough,” Rolantro whispered through his mind.

  Grai turned pale and shook his head.

  “On second thought, maybe we should wait and see what happens in the night before we judge fairness,” Grai amended, wanting no part of what the demigods had planned for the military unit below.

  “I think if anyone could make the punishment fit the crime
, it’d be the demigods,” Disc added.

  “Since you’ll be a part of it, you and Blade can fill us in,” Grai suggested, curious about the plans for the evening.

  “I would like to invite you, Traze, and Nik to the mercantile tonight to watch the events with us,” Bess whispered through their minds.

  Nik nodded his head vigorously at Grai, wanting to be on the ground near BJ. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he wanted to be close in case anything went wrong.

  “We would be honored,” Grai replied, not quite sure if he wanted to go or not.

  “Looks like your mom is letting us come down to watch from the mercantile,” Nik told BJ.

  BJ grinned at the excitement in his voice and quickly masked it.

  “Hmm, it sounds like the elders have a real show planned,” BJ replied, wondering what they had in mind. “I still don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  “Is that even safe?” Nik asked. “You’re the one that’s going to be so close to them when this plan unfolds. These are heavily armed men who won’t hesitate to shoot. I’m not sure it’s a good idea that you remain with them.”

  Nik had to admit that he felt immensely better having voiced his concerns, but he expected a backlash of some kind from BJ or her eavesdropping mother.

  BJ was suffused with warmth at his concern and had to stop the smile from spreading across her face.

  “I doubt the elders-much less my mother-would let me be here if they thought I was in danger. But thanks,” BJ replied, then wanted to kick herself for adding the last.

  There was an awkward pause between them when Greg came into the room.

  “The men are ready outside,” Greg told Kyle.

  “Let’s get this party started,” Kyle said as he stood and gestured BJ towards the door. “After you.”

  “Show time,” BJ whispered to Nik as she smiled at the major and headed back outside.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nik had been pacing the transport for an hour as he waited for BJ and the others to finish their dinner at the diner in town. BJ had allowed him to remain in the back of her mind, listening to the conversations going around the table between Dennis, Irwin, Bess, Mojo, BJ, Kyle, and Greg.