“Pain is a part of life for a Hunter.”
Hester gave him a sharp glance. “A hunter as in killing animals?”
“A Hunter that is a warrior.”
“Like those urban legends on the internet?”
“I haven’t heard these myths.”
“A group called aHunter4Hire supposedly goes around saving people and exacting justice.” She leaned closer to him. “You can only contact them through the internet and it’s very secretive. I think it’s a bunch of lies. It’s probably a government scheme to gather personal information on us. Are you pretending to be one of them?”
“My breed is called Hunters. We are an ancient warrior race created and modified to be the best soldiers in the universe.”
“So it’s a coincidence that you have the same name as an internet hoax?”
There was doubt in Hester’s voice. Her skepticism had replaced her fear. He wasn’t certain if his brother Hunters had started this group or not, but Hester was distracted enough to forget her qualms about helping him.
“I don’t know.” Eogan released her fingers and picked up the razor blade. “If you direct my arm, I will hold the light so you can see.”
“This is insane.” Hester’s voice was a low whisper. “I wanted adventure, but nothing like this. I should have remembered what my mother used to say about being careful about what you wish for.”
“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.” Eogan placed the blade in her hand. “I can see where you get your strength from.”
“I’m weak.” Hester took the blade and twisted it in her fingers so that the cutting edge was outward. “I’m afraid of my own shadow. That’s why I decided to come here without telling anyone. I didn’t want to hear about all the things I should be frightened of.”
“You are sensible as well as strong.” He turned his back to her. “That is rare on this planet because women are not allowed to rule.”
“I suppose they are in control where you come from?” Hester’s tone was sarcastic.
“Women command and men obey.”
“That’s a switch.” Hester exhaled a heavy breath. “You need to show me where to cut.”
Eogan lifted the flashlight. “Guide my arm so that the light shines on my neck.
A jolt of sensation went through him when Hester touched him.
The sooner the implant came out, the better. There was no reason for his handlers to influence his body now, especially if they thought he was dead. It had been done all too often in the past. Perhaps they were testing to see if he was still alive. The Albireons had been relentless in their experiments with injections and brain impulses until they had him under their complete authority.
It had taken months of focus and discipline to free himself from a small amount of their manipulation. As soon as they realized they’d lost influence, the Albireons would alter the charges they were sending to his body. Eogan had become adept at pretending he was in their power. Once he’d met Partlan and knew that there were other Hunters alive on this planet, he’d concentrated all of his energy on overcoming the last of the controls that General Carter and the Albireons had over him in preparation for his escape.
He thought he’d succeeded.
It was obvious they had more sway than he realized.
With his other hand he felt for the bulge at the base of his skull. This was where she needed to cut if he was ever going to be free of the Albireons. It was a slight indentation beside his upper cervical vertebra.
“Can you see it?”
Hester leaned against his back. He felt her breath against his skin and a tingle of awareness raced over him. It was a novel sensation being so close to another being. He had been in confinement for the past six months, but even before that, he was isolated from other humans unless he was on assignment.
“It’s not very big.” Hester’s voice was hesitant. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”
“It is necessary.”
“What if it bleeds?”
“Wipe it away.” Eogan kept his voice steady. “It will stop and then you can continue.”
“Okay.” Hester’s finger brushed his neck and then she swabbed it with alcohol. “This will hurt.”
“Do what you must.”
His muscles tensed as the sting of the blade sliced his skin.
Hester inhaled. “There’s blood, but I can see a tiny metal thing.”
“It’s attached. Pick at it until you can see the ends,” Eogan explained in a firm voice. “You will need to tease the strands away before you can remove it.”
“It sounds easy enough.”
Hester was silent for a few seconds. Eogan felt a slight pull on his skin and then another slice of the blade. The implant must be deeper than he had thought. That was due to the length of time it had been in his body. Hester leaned closer to him.
“Hold the light a bit higher.”
Eogan adjusted his arm.
There was a sharp shock of pain down one side of his body. It was followed by another jolt down the opposite side. Adrenaline rushed through him seconds before his body started to shake. Eogan lost consciousness. He came to with a feeling of elation. Everything was brighter. It was as if he’d been wearing sunglasses his whole life. His hearing and sense of smell were hypersensitive and for the first time in thirty years he was free.
Free from control.
Free to be a Hunter.
He needed to contact the other Hunters that Partlan had told him about. They would be able to help in his escape. That was the only way that he would be truly free from the Albireons and the humans they were allied with.
“Are you okay?” Hester shook his shoulder. “I thought I’d killed you.”
“It is difficult to destroy a Hunter.” He was proud of being a Hunter for the first time in over thirty years. He was no longer a puppet forced to do the bidding of others. He did not have to work for people with abhorrent motives.
“That’s easy for you to say. You were unconscious.” She held a metal object in front of him. “Here is the implant.”
Eogan sat upright and reached for it. “This is an old model.”
“It might be old to you, but I’ve never seen anything like it.” Hester leaned close and pointed at the strands that stuck out at each side. “These were buried within your muscles.”
“It was to be expected.” He put the device on the ground and slammed it with a rock. It shattered into pieces. “It was inserted when I was twenty.”
“You’re not old enough for it to have worked its way into you that deep.”
“I have seen over forty years.”
She sat back on her feet. “That’s impossible. You don’t look older than twenty-five.”
“This planet is good for me.”
“I’ll say.” Hester reached for a steri-strip. “It’s a big incision so I have to close it. That’s the only way it’ll stop bleeding.”
He turned so she could reach him. “You are a very brave women. I thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re not out of the woods yet.”
Her fingers touch his neck. Another jolt of sensation rushed through him. Every nerve of his body was aware of her. His heart started to beat at a rapid pace when she leaned closer. This made no sense. The implant was removed and he was still feeling this strange reaction to Hester. It had never happened in all the years that he’d been on this planet.
She put another strip on and a tremor ran through him.
“There.” Hester moved away. “You’re all patched up. Now, I want some answers.”
Eogan rubbed the back of his neck. The wound was about an inch long. “I told you everything.”
“You barely scratched the surface of what I want to know.” Hester pointed to the ruined implant on the ground. “Where did that device come from?”
“It was inserted while I was in captivity.”
Hester nodded. “You tried to tell me before, but I didn’t believe it.”
�
��A Hunter does not lie.”
“I understand that now, but could we please go over the details once more. Why are you here and who is chasing you? This time, I promise to pay close attention.”
Eogan blinked at the transformed woman who sat in front of him. There was no fear or uncertainty in her voice. Her arms were crossed and an eyebrow was raised. It was as if he were seeing her for the first time. She was small compared to him, yet her thick, dark-framed glasses and posture gave her an aura of command. His respect and appreciation for Hester grew. She deserved the whole truth about him.
“I was sent to Earth on a mission when I was fifteen years old.” Eogan watched Hester’s face in the dim beam of the flashlight. “It was a training assignment and our teachers were present. I was the only one of Rioge clan. The rest of the Hunters were Saidir clan.”
“You have clans like the Celts?”
“I do not know these Celts. We are birthed into clans. Rioge clan is bred to lead.”
“Isn’t that earned?” Hester’s voice showed doubt.
“We are genetically modified to be the best warriors. Each clan has a specialty. Giath clan are fantastic shooters, Obair clan are experts in firearms and machines, and Leigh clan are healers. I am Rioge clan. We lead.”
She nodded. “What planet are you from?|
“Cygnus.”
“What was your mission on Earth?”
“I was not told. After we crashed, I was ordered to stay at the collision site so that the military would find me. The other survivors escaped.”
“Were you going to act as a spy?” She leaned forward, her voice full of excitement. “Infiltrate and then report back to your teachers.”
“I was bait. It was expected that the humans would take me away and forget about the others. Even under torture I would never disclose the location of my fellow warriors.”
“Oh.” Hester inhaled a sharp breath. “That wasn’t fair.”
Eogan started to pack up the first aid kit. “It’s an honor to sacrifice ourselves so that our brothers can live to fight another day.”
“What if you don’t want to?”
“I have been bred to follow orders.” He handed the medical gear to Hester. “There is no other option.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a life.” She put the kit into her backpack.
“A Hunter lives to obey and die with honor.”
“Now you’re scaring me.” She clutched her bag to her chest. “At first I thought you were just a bit paranoid or had escaped from a mental hospital.”
“The people chasing me are real.”
“And they have held you captive?”
“For over thirty years.” Eogan handed Hester the flashlight. “They have used me as a weapon. They have tracked me and controlled my actions so that I have had no other choice but to do their wishes.”
“So this is genuine.” A tremor ran through her. “I’ve always wanted to meet an alien, but you don’t look like anything I imagined. You look human.”
“Most of my genes are identical to yours.” Eogan reached over and switched the flashlight off. “It is important to leave this area. I will try to find my brothers and get help.”
“There are others like you on Earth.”
“Many of us.” Eogan pushed through the tent opening. “There are the survivors from when I crashed and since then, there have been new Hunters who are also stranded on this planet.”
“Why didn’t they rescue you?” Hester followed him out of the enclosure.
“They didn’t know I was alive.” Eogan walked over a wooden ramp. “My ability to communicate with them was blocked.”
“That makes sense.” Hester ran to keep up with him. “What about where you were locked up? There must have been some people who would have helped you escape.”
“The humans there were under the control of the Albireons.”
“What are Albireons?”
“They are beings from another galaxy who have been on this planet for over seventy years.”
“I knew it.” Hester’s voice rose in excitement. “The people I talk with say that there are many different aliens already on this planet. How many species are here?”
“I only know about the Albireons.”
“We should be able to communicate with them. Think of the information they could share with us.”
“The Albireons are not your friends. They want to destroy humans.”
Chapter 8
Hester’s heart skipped a beat at the seriousness of Eogan’s last words. All of her research pointed to the existence of aliens, and it had always been a possibility that any beings visiting Earth would be hostile. It didn’t seem likely that these Albireons would have stayed here for seventy years and not attacked.
Then again, Eogan had just admitted that he was from another planet, and he’d saved her life. Was he likely to lie to her about something so serious?
“You’ve been locked away so how do you know this?”
“This is not the first time Albireons have threatened a world. They have succeeded numerous times.” Eogan’s voice was harsh. “They have already taken command of most of Earth’s resources.”
“That’s no different than what various multi-national corporations have done.”
“They hold humans hostage and experiment on them to harvest their DNA.” His tone was scornful. “Are these the aliens you’re so anxious to meet?”
Hester’s research had come across numerous abduction stories. The victims had all suffered pain, torture, and memory loss. She’d considered each case individually and still didn’t know how many were real. There was no doubt in Eogan’s voice. If what he said was true, then there was a severe threat to humanity that was being kept secret.
“Why would our politicians hide something this serious?”
“I don’t know if your governments know of the existence of the Albireons. Many influential people have allied with them. They are not in the direct administration of any countries.”
“Why would these people do that?”
“They think that the Albireons will give them power.” Eogan kept walking toward the jeep.
“It’s about making a profit.” Hester didn’t bother to hide her contempt. She might be an untenured archaeology professor, but she knew how the world worked. Those with the financial clout were the ones in control.
“It is possible. On Cygnus there was no need for money.”
“It’s an exchange of information. That is where the real power is.” Hester shifted her backpack. “They’re making a fortune on new technology.”
“They believe that the Albireons will protect them when the planet is destroyed. They are wrong.”
Hester’s breath caught in her throat. “What do you mean by destroyed?”
“Albireons are the scourge of the universe. They have been driven out of most planetary systems where the inhabitants have the ability to travel in space.”
“Why?”
“Their real purpose is to make profit and they do that by gene collection and manipulation. They create designer species and store the genes of species that they have forced into extinction.”
“So they end up with a monopoly on the genetic code of those they have annihilated?” Hester was trying to understand what Eogan was telling her. It sounded like something from a science fiction novel and even though she had training in biology, none of that dealt with genetic manipulation.
“They collect and then profit because the genes are rare.” Eogan clasped her arm.
A tingle of sensation raced through her body. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart beat faster. There was no doubt about her reaction. She was standing in the middle of Gobekli Tepe with an honest to goodness alien, and she was attracted to him.
He was gorgeous, but she knew better than to expect him to notice her. Men always looked past her, whether it was at a club, a dance, or in the classroom. She had given up her fairy tale dreams of meeting her Prince Cha
rming in her teens. Instead, she’d buried herself in her studies. It was easier and less painful to avoid men. They never noticed her, so it took no effort to do. Now, for the first time in her life, she found herself attracted to a man.
Not just any man.
He was an alien.
“The collection of genetic material is not why they are held in contempt by most evolved planets.” Eogan continued to speak as he helped her down the hill. “It is how they collect their material that makes them contemptible.”
“They capture people and steal their genes.” She forced her voice to remain steady. “Isn’t that despicable enough?”
“That is part of it.” He released her and pointed in the direction of another mound. “The vehicle is there.”
Hester gave herself a mental shake. She’d become totally turned around in the dark. There was no way she would have been able to locate the jeep on her own. She’d made the right decision staying with Eogan. Now she needed to know more about this alien threat he was speaking about.
“What is the other part?”
“The Albireons destroy the planets that they steal genetic codes from.”
It took Hester a couple of seconds to assimilate the full implication of what Eogan had said. She took a deep breath and stopped walking. She must have heard wrong, because what he was suggesting wasn’t possible. He continued to move toward the jeep. When he noticed she wasn’t following, he waited.
“Are you saying that they will destroy Earth when they are finished with us?”
“Yes.” He motioned her forward. “We need to leave.”
“I’m still stuck on the part about my planet being destroyed.” Hester refused to move.
He walked back to her. “There is nothing we can do standing here. I have information that might help my fellow warriors try to defeat the Albireons. If we are caught, they will not get the material.”
“Fair enough.” She nodded and followed him to the jeep. “I’m coming with you. If there are aliens on this planet that plan to destroy the human race then I need to know about it. The rest of the world should be told.”
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