“We can’t see each other anymore.” Erin walked to the front door, willing back surprising tears. “This has all gotten too tangled and I can’t do it anymore.”
Drakor followed her, his face paling. “You will not see me anymore?”
“I’ve had enough of the games we’re playing. I’m ending it between us. Please don’t come back.”
Erin left him standing in the open doorway and hurried back to her bedroom where she could shut him out and lock herself in. She knew that all Drakor had to do was pull her into an embrace and she would forget everything.
She heard him growl and pound his fist on the door, but then it slammed shut.
Thank God he’d gone. Idiot that she was, she left her notes, the light casing, and the PDA thing all within his easy reach.
Drakor turned the key and set the lock. Now only he would be able to make the space shuttle invisible. Brundor’s stunt petrified him and made him wonder if he would ever be ready to be a father. Of course, it didn’t matter now. No, once they returned home he would be an Unmhar and only his family and coworkers would come near him.
He turned at the sound of footsteps, anticipating his brother but Ankra stepped into the light. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure Brundor doesn’t make himself invisible again.”
“Are you the only one programmed to vanish the craft, then?”
He nodded and sank into the pilot’s chair. “He had me very concerned.”
She came over and sat in the seat next to him. He noticed she had pulled her hair away from her face. It was held with some type of band. Something else influenced by the human culture. She even smelled like the human females with flower scented lotions and shampoos.
“Are you still anxious to return home?” He could hear the disappointment in her voice and her eyes wouldn’t look at him directly.
If she had asked him that yesterday he wouldn’t be able to answer her. Before Erin told him it was over, he thought he might want to stay on Earth a while longer. In Erin’s arms he had found contentment. With her touch he felt desire. Perhaps the Fates had brought her to him as a final gift, a memory to serve him for the next forty years.
But now Erin didn’t want to see him again. With the threat of her story and the ever-present lure of her body, he couldn’t tolerate Earth much longer.
He tried to catch Ankra’s gaze but she stared at her hands in her lap. “I am ready to leave the moment the mission is complete.”
“But I…I cannot seem to complete my duty.”
Great Sun, not tears. Not from his sister. “Ankra, you are doing the best you can, yes?”
“He won’t—he won’t mate without the barrier.”
“You can’t convince him?”
She sniffled and shook her head. “He said that he once got a girlfriend with child many years ago and it nearly ruined him. He won’t take chances again.”
Archaic human anatomy again. If they were more like the Elliacians they would only be able to impregnate their Mharai and the females could control their fertility. Instead, as Erin had mentioned, many children were born as accidents.
“You could damage it. That’s what I tried.”
Ankra gave him a weak smile and a quick glance. “I tried that too. I found where he keeps them and poked needles through them.”
“And it still hasn’t worked?” Drakor’s stomach fluttered. Why the helta couldn’t she conceive?
“I–I don’t know what else to do.”
“When did you poke the holes?” Maybe it hadn’t been enough time.
She gave a shaky sigh. “This week. Every one of them have been damaged and nothing is happening.”
“You were examined by the Researchers before we left Elliac, weren’t you?”
“Yes. I am very healthy and fertile.” She wiped her eyes with her fingers. “But they said there was no guarantee. No one has tried to mate with a human before.”
“And he couldn’t be your Mharai.”
She lifted her chin and glared at him. “Why not?”
“He’s human. A Mharai must be from Elliac.”
“Says who?”
He felt his muscles tense. “Says history. Have you ever heard of anyone finding their Mharai anywhere but Elliac?”
“Has anyone tried before?”
He shrugged. “If you ask me, you aren’t with child because Greg is not your Mharai. It’s as simple as that.”
“I think you’re wrong. I think it has something to do with the different atmosphere on Earth. Maybe that’s the reason they can’t control their fertility.”
Drakor leaned forward and dropped his head into his hands. The memory of Erin’s rejection increased the pain thudding inside his skull. He’d failed at retrieving Alaziri. And now his sister could not complete her mission.
“Whatever the reason, we have to find another way to bring back the genetic code.” He lifted his gaze to hers. “I’ll give one more week to resolve this issue and then we return. Even if we have failed.”
Dishonor. Failure. Loneliness. They all awaited him on Elliac.
“Is this everyone’s files?”
Greg flipped through each manila tab. “Yep, that’s everyone.”
Erin sat on the floor across from him and picked up the first one. Cindy Anslo, the receptionist. “Do you think we need to look in hers?” She couldn’t imagine the curly haired sweetheart doing anything this horrible.
Her brother finished gulping his Coke and sighed. “Better check everyone.”
“We’re looking to see if anyone has worked for Securicon, right?”
He nodded.
The smell of greasy pizza oozed from the kitchen, making her both hungry and queasy. Between her headaches and stomachaches, she must have picked up a summer cold or flu. The only time she felt really well recently was a few days ago when Drakor was over. That brief time they touched soothed her aching. But now she was back to feeling lousy again.
Greg reached out and pulled an armful of files toward him. “I’m going to start with Jay. He’s my biggest suspect.”
“Wouldn’t you have known if he worked for Securicon? Wouldn’t he have mentioned it in the interview or something?”
He scanned the application in front of him and then looked over the resume. “Nope. Not on here.”
After draining his glass, he leaned back and propped himself up on one elbow. “If Jay was angry at his former company, he might set out to get revenge. He could have lied to me about where he was during that time.”
“So you think he worked for them, then lied about it to you so that he could use that technology for your company? What kind of sense is that?”
Greg lifted his shoulder. “Who knows? If they pissed him off enough, he’d look for a way to get them back. And by letting Invasion Shield have the technology and patent it, it would be a rub in their face.”
Erin shook her head. “But wouldn’t he have signed a non-disclosure form or something when he left?”
“Yeah, I’m sure he did. That’s probably why he seemed so nervous all the time. His revenge drove him to do it but he knew he could get in big trouble if he got caught.”
None of this made any sense to her. Why go through all that trouble just for revenge? Or was it control? Or some wacky god-like feeling of knowing he could alter companies, alter people’s lives? Hell, he was about to put Greg out of business.
She pushed a hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. “So he lied on his resume and application so that no one knew he worked for them? Didn’t he think someone at Securicon would eventually track him down? That one day he’d get discovered?”
Greg sat up and leveled his gaze at her. “Erin, we both know that you once wanted something so badly that you didn’t think everything through clearly.”
Her stomach burned. “Must we make this about me?”
“I’m only proving the point. That one day you start to want something too much and you’re not careful anymore. Your infatuation
for Evan made you blind.”
“Yeah and lead to my disaster.”
His mouth curled. “Hey, it also led to the discovery of who you really are and what’s important, right?”
Erin pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them.
Discovery. Why did that word have such a double meaning? On one hand, discovery had once meant Drakor’s tongue reaching into the intimate parts of her. It had meant her educating herself on what pleased him, on what made him pant with desire.
But what of discovering who Drakor really was, that he was an alien? What would it mean to her career? What would this discovery mean to the world?
“So,” Greg said, interrupting her thoughts. “Does this mean I’m home free with Rita’s article on the patent infringement?”
“I don’t know, you’ll have to call your lawyer on that one.” She stood and stretched. “But I am going to call Rita and tell her that if she’s trying to ruin you, it isn’t going to work.”
Nor would that bitch get the front page spread.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Drakor crossed his arms and stared at what remained of his family. His brother, who leaned against the doorway with a surly look and hot eyes, filled Drakor with dread. Like the vision of the rainbow, he knew that Brundor spelled trouble for them. When, not if, was his only question.
Sitora was quiet today, finally having realized that her days of crying and whining were not going to bring Erin to their door. She played with her doll, pretending to feed it cookies and ice cream—whatever that was.
And then there was Ankra. His sister spent much of her time these last several days with Greg. Each day the gloom and sadness in her eyes grew worse. Certainly it had to be more than her lack of completing her duty that brought such anguish to her.
Drakor knew that only Brundor would relish his announcement. And somehow that did not cheer him.
“I asked all of you to come in here,” he motioned to the parlor room, “because I have made a decision. We will begin to dismantle and pack for our journey home.”
“What?” Ankra’s face paled. “We can’t go yet…I haven’t…we aren’t…”
Drakor lifted his hand to halt her. “A decision must be made regarding our safety. To stay here indefinitely is unacceptable.”
“But you told me we had another week.”
He nodded. “And I will continue to grant that to you, but I want to begin the packing process. Now that Mother and Father are gone there is a lot more work for us to do.” He looked at Sitora to see if she was paying attention. “And that includes everyone.”
Ankra sniffled and came up close, near to his ear. “But I need to spend as much time as possible with Greg.”
“It’s okay.” He cocked his head toward Brundor. “He knows about it.”
His brother jammed his hands in his pockets. “I’m not going anywhere until you take me to that dance club like you promised.”
Drakor’s heart pounded, keeping rhythm with the pain in his head. “Brundor, you will be home shortly, you shouldn’t feel the need to go there.”
“Why not? You and Ankra got to experience humans, why should I? I’ve been stuck in this house,” his nose wrinkled, “and I deserve a last shot before we go.”
Drakor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Bringing Brundor there was bound to be a mistake, especially when there was so much else to do. “You should be able to wait.”
His brother rushed toward him, his nostrils flaring. “You’re only ready to leave now because Erin won’t see you again.”
Drakor stiffened. “Who told you that?”
“Greg told Ankra and she told me when I asked why you were stomping all over the house and never going anywhere.”
“You’re only concerned about me not going anywhere because then you can’t find a way to escape.”
“Hah!” Brundor threw his hands in the air. “Even you talk as if this house is a prison.”
Drakor felt the fury invigorate him even as the pain of Erin’s rejection drained him. “You have no idea what it has been—”
Ankra stepped between him and Brundor and pushed them apart. “That is enough from both of you.”
She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “As much as my feelings differ from Drakor’s, he is now the leader of the mission. It is his job to do what is best for us.”
“You mean what’s best for himself,” Brundor grumbled.
“Any day the media and government could be knocking on this door,” Drakor said, pointing to the front hallway.
“Enough!” his sister shouted. She turned to face him. “What do you want us to do first?”
Drakor unclenched his hands and sighed. “I want to take stock in our equipment. Bring me all of the Transmitters so I can make a count and calibrate them properly for the journey home.”
An hour later, Drakor sat out on the top front porch step counting Transmitters. There should be seven. One for each member of the family, plus an extra. But no matter how many times he counted them, he kept coming up one short. Six.
Ankra went upstairs to search her room again. Certainly it was Sitora who lost hers. After all, what did a little girl need with one of them anyway? She didn’t know any of the codes. She was too young to Transfer by herself. But policy stated there had to be one for each individual.
The door opened behind him. “I can’t find it,” Ankra said. “I even looked under the beds and the dresser.”
Drakor mumbled a thanks and jumped down the stairs. The suffocating heat closed in on him but he felt the urge to get away from the house. He had to think. He had to think without being interrupted.
He paced along the dirt driveway. Where could it have gone? What would his little sister do with it? Could Erin have found it and stolen it from them?
Again the haunting image of the rainbow sent shivers up his spine. A tragedy prophesied to the viewer. Was the tragedy the death of his parents? Was it the loss of Erin’s attention? Would it be their discovery and inevitable imprisonment?
Sweat trickled down the sides of his face, but Drakor couldn’t stand to sit still another day. He had to get that Transmitter back. He had to face Erin one more time. He knew it would be the last and so perhaps he would tell her truth. Tell her why they were really here. What would it matter to him or Elliac once they were gone?
He looked up and saw Ankra on the porch, testing each Transmitter. He needed to get a message to Erin without having her slam the door in his face.
“Are you seeing Greg today?”
She nodded. “Later, why?”
“It is urgent that you get a message to Erin for me.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Okay, what?”
“Tell her to meet me Saturday night at Mickey’s. We have things to discuss.”
She gave him one of those mysterious female grins and disappeared back inside the house.
Drakor gathered up the Transmitters and shoved them in his pockets. After tomorrow, he’d feel better. Once he saw Erin he’d have the last Transmitter in hand, and perhaps a few final moments of contentment before returning home in dishonor to face his life as an Unmhar.
Drakor swallowed against his tight throat and opened the front door but the sound of a vehicle stopped him short. It didn’t grow louder but sat still, idling. He turned to look out onto the dirt drive in front of the house but saw nothing.
Then his eyes traveled down the dusty road until they reached the bend. There it was. He squinted, barely able to see a corner of it as it sat just before the curve. But he saw enough to make his hair stand on end and his stomach churn. Earth’s sun glimmered off the sleek black paint of Rita’s vehicle.
Erin drained her glass of ginger ale. It was the only thing she could seem to drink these days. This icky feeling must have something to do with Drakor. She knew it had to. It must be related to the way he could turn her on with mere contact or empty her head of all thought while scorching hunger blazed through her. And
now, when he was away from her, her body seemed to fall apart.
She sighed and tied her hair up in an old rubber band. Not the smartest move to keep her hair from breaking, but right now she didn’t care about much but getting this story together.
Okay, she had all the stuff in front of her. Plastic light thingie. PDA looking thingie. Notes on everyone. How could she turn all of this into a story that would win her that spread, sell papers off the racks and rocket her career?
Erin tapped her pen on the table. There had to be more that Drakor and his family were after than just supplements. Couldn’t they have just bought them at the store and be gone by now? There must be something else involved, something that required time.
But what else could they need to replenish their lack of Vitamin D? Did any of this have to do with his parents’ deaths? Did they die from a lack of the vitamin? Could they have been saved if a remedy had been found on Earth?
Erin dropped her head into her hands. She needed answers. But how? She told Drakor she didn’t want to see him anymore.
Damn, now her headache was worse. The deadline for her story was only three days away and she had nothing but her own chicken scratch on the paper, plus two items that she didn’t know how to work.
Erin glanced up at the phone hanging on the wall. Maybe now would be a good time to call Rita. She promised Greg she’d do it yesterday and never got around to it. If Erin couldn’t get her own story together, the least she could do was ruin Rita’s.
She grabbed the receiver and called.
Rita answered on the first ring. “Rita here.”
“It’s Erin.”
Gum popped in her ear and Erin clenched her teeth. She hated that sound.
“Erin…well, this is a surprise. What? No hot date on a Friday night?”
“I would say the same about you.”
Rita gave a throaty laugh. “The night is young, my dear. Whatever are you bothering me for, anyway? Tired of your man and want to hand him over to someone who knows how to deal with him?”
The Price of Discovery Page 20