by Jay Cannon
Betty moved away from the window and went for the door. She tried the door knob, but it was locked. She looked for a way to get the hinges loose to no avail. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching her door. She took a position behind the door poised to attack.
***
Uan arrived at the apartment building he was sharing with Calvin late that evening angry that he was unable to find that pesky alien or his earthling companion.
“Hey Uan,” Calvin greeted Uan as he walked into the huge condo where they lived. Calvin was Uan’s assistant since Uan killed Calvin’s previous boss and took over his apartment building. Uan was a crewmember from the Euclidian resource ship Andrea and came to Earth on a mission from the captain to kill an escaped alien. Uan came from the Ossuary System where he grew up and later joined the Andrea as an assassin. The alien he was chasing had special powers and could possibly use them to thwart his ship’s planned invasion of Earth. The alien befriended an earthling named Morgan that the ship’s security team was able to track down by tapping into a security camera. Uan decided not to kill Calvin because he needed his assistance getting around in DC and communicating with people.
Uan didn’t like Calvin much at first because he wasn’t very tough. Even after Uan spent a couple of hours teaching him some fighting techniques, Calvin was unable to defend himself. When faced with a couple local gang members who threatened Calvin’s life, he was too afraid to use the moves Uan taught him. Because of that, Uan was concerned that he couldn’t count on him if needed him during a fight. But when a fight did occur Calvin jumped in to save Uan.
“Hello Calvin,” Uan responded sourly.
“You won’t have to worry about that cop bothering you anymore.”
“What cop? What are you talking about?”
“The lady cop that saved you from the bar fight then tied you to her bed and beat the crap out of you.”
“She didn’t beat the crap out of me. She is just more physical in bed than most women. So what happened to her?”
“Little Randy turned her over to the Italians. They had some sort of beef with her. Anyway, she’s out of your hair now.”
“Why would he do that?” Uan said angrily.
“I guess for the money. I thought you didn’t like her.”
“I did not like her, but I do not want to see her harmed either. I am going to get some food. Find out where she is,” Uan stated harshly.
Uan grabbed some raw steak from the fridge while Calvin went to talk to Little Randy. Little Randy was a gang member that inherited the nearby neighborhood to carry out his illegal activities after Uan killed the previous gang leader Bo Sam and moved into his place.
“Hey Uan I got some information for you on Betty,” Calvin said entering the room. “According to Little Randy a couple of Luciano’s guys picked her up this morning and took her to his place. That’s all he knows.”
“Do you know how to get to Luciano’s place?”
“Yes, of course. He lives in Little Italy. It’s just a couple of miles from here.”
“Good, then go get the car. I want you to take me there. I plan to get her back from Luciano.”
“If you say so. However, it won’t be as easy as previous encounters you have had since you arrived. Luciano has lots of guys who carry big guns with lots of bullets,” said Calvin walking for the door.
“I am not a fan of easy. I want it to be hard. I want them to put up a good fight. It will make killing them all the more rewarding.”
Calvin walked out the door shaking his head and pulled the SUV out in front of the apartment building to wait for Uan. Uan jumped into the SUV and Calvin headed out to Luciano’s place. Luciano had a large three-story, ten-bedroom mansion in Little Italy. It was nestled in a cul-de-sac surrounded by houses of other family members. Calvin parked just down the street from the mansion to stay hidden from its cameras.
“Calvin, just stay her. I’ll go in and get Betty and be right back.”
“What about Luciano’s men?”
“I’ll get inside using my stealth ability. I’ll take out whoever I need to and bring her back. Of course, if she’s dead I’ll make sure every one of them is too before I return,” said Uan with a snarl.
Uan cloaked himself and stepped out of the SUV. He jogged up to the large brick fence surrounding the mansion, past the gate with the guards and then hopped over the seven-foot fence in a single stride.
What I wouldn’t give to have those powers, Calvin thought to himself. The honeys I could sneak up on!
Calvin was bitten by Uan soon after they met so Uan’s enzymes would permit Calvin to see him while he was cloaked. As an Ossie, Uan could make himself invisible to non-Ossies. He also had incredible strength for someone only five-foot six inches tall.
Uan walked around the side of the house to look for a good entry point to enter it. He spied a large third-floor balcony overlooking a pool and surmised that it must lead to Luciano’s part of the house.
One of Luciano’s guard dogs trotted towards Uan after noticing his scent. The dog was perplexed that it couldn’t see what was giving off the strong odor.
Uan looked down at the Rottweiler unperturbed and then thought of a way to introduce himself to Luciano. Uan attacked the dog and then leapt onto the third-floor balcony. There was Luciano sitting in the corner of the balcony in a comfy lounge chair having a cigar and chatting with one of his lieutenants. The two men looked up in utter terror as they saw one of their massive guard dogs hanging in midair bleeding from an open wound in its chest.
Uan uncloaked and hurled the huge dead beast from his spear towards the two men. Luciano’s lieutenant went for his gun and Uan sprung forward and jabbed his sword into his chest and twisted it causing him to momentarily writhe in pain and then just fall forward dead. Luciano gasped at what unfolded before him, dropping the cigar from his mouth as Uan turned towards him.
“Take me to Betty and I will let you live,” demanded Uan pointing his spear at Luciano.
At that moment noticed movement behind him. He cloaked and shifted to the right avoiding bullets from two men that stepped onto the balcony firing automatic weapons.
“Where did he go?!” Shouted Luciano.
Uan leapt from the side cutting off the hand of one of the men and driving his spear into the chest of the other one, pushing him into the room against two other men with their guns drawn. Luciano watched in horror as he viewed his men getting chopped up by an invisible assailant. As soon as Uan finished with those four, four more men showed up firing around the room trying to hit him.
Uan ducked and rolled toward a wall. He darted behind the men and stabbed two of them as the other two turned their guns towards him. He jumped over their heads and stood behind them watching them shoot into an empty room. Luciano stayed on the balcony calling for backup.
“This is Luciano. Send everybody up here now! There’s some invisible guy making mincemeat of my people. I don’t give a damn what it sounds like. You call as many people as you can and get them over here.”
Once the shooting died down Uan shoved his spear into the smaller man and yanked the gun from the taller man’s hands. This guy was six foot seven and weighed well over three hundred pounds. This was just the challenge Uan was looking for. Uan uncloaked and threw his spear to the ground.
“How about you show me how tough you are big guy?” Uan snarled.
The man was frightened, but took a swing at Uan just the same. “I don’t know what you are, but I am going to crush your tiny body.”
His swing missed, but his follow-up kick caught Uan in the gut and hurled him across the room. Uan sprang to his feet and ran at the large man ducking another blow and landing one his own into the man’s midsection, knocking him to the floor. The man took it in stride rolling to his feet and landing a blow to Uan’s chest knocking him down. He grabbed Uan by the foot and belt and flung him against the far wall crushing a picture and the wall behind it.
“Finally a worthy adversary,” ye
lled Uan jumping to his feet and lunging at the man. They stood in front of each other and traded blows until Uan got a clear shot at his face and stunned him with a blow to his cheek. As he staggered Uan lifted him over his head and threw him at the men coming up the stairs taking them out. Luciano stood in the doorway with a gun trying to aim at Uan who had cloaked and grabbed his spear.
Uan knocked the gun from Luciano’s hand and dragged him back onto the balcony putting the spear to his throat.
“Now you quickly tell me where Betty is or I am going to cut your head from your body,” Uan threated.
“What the hell are you and who is this Betty person?” Luciano stammered.
“Who I am is not up for discussion. Betty is the policewomen you kidnapped yesterday. Take me to her now or I will start chopping off your body parts until your memory improves. If you are not the right person to talk to I will kill you quickly and find someone who can help me.”
“Oh that woman. What would you want with her? She’s just a policewoman and she’s trouble.”
“Do not worry about why I want her. You should worry about where she is and that she is still alive.”
“She’s not here. I sent her to Louisiana. I had my people hand her off to an associate of mine who lives in Nagadish, Louisiana.”
“What is his name?”
“Pierre. Pierre Thibodeaux.”
“You don’t have his address.”
“No, we only connect by phone.”
“I think it’s best if you didn’t call him. I am going to go to this Nagadish place to find Pierre and then I am going to take Betty back from him,” said Uan bearing his sharp teeth and leaning into Luciano so his stale breathe hit Luciano in the face, while blood from his spear dripped down Luciano’s clothes. “If your associate has killed her I am going to come back here and cut up the rest of your crew before slowly peeling the skin from your body and watching you bleed to death. If you are smart you will forget you ever saw me. I do not want you warning Pierre or anyone else of my plans.”
“I promise I won’t say a word,” said Luciano visibly afraid for his life.
Uan noticed several more of Luciano’s men coming towards him from the room off the balcony. He shoved Luciano to the floor then turned and jumped from the balcony, cloaking on the way over. Luciano and his men leaned over the balcony and saw nothing. It was as if Uan was never there. However, there were too many dead bodies lying around for Luciano to believe that he was just having a bad dream. He stood there looking at the pile of dead bodies and began to piss his pants.
***
Uan climbed into the SUV next to Calvin.
“They took Betty to some city in Louisiana. Take me home and then show me where Nagadish is on the map. I will have our reconnaissance ship take me there”
“You mean take US there don’t you? I want to join you on this trip. It could be like our trip together to Tajikistan.”
“No, that is not a good idea. This trip is likely to include a lot more violence. In Tajikistan we were just dealing with an arms dealer. I suspect Boudreau is a violent killer much like Luciano. In addition, I am sure that Luciano will warn his friends that I am coming. That will make things too dangerous for you. I just want to get in and out with as little death and destruction as possible. I am still supposed to keep a low profile here on your planet, even though I do slip up from time to time.
“Okay, you’re the boss,” replied Calvin putting the SUV into gear and driving off.
***
Calvin parked the SUV in front of their apartment building. Upon entering their apartment Calvin attempted to lookup Nagadish using Bing Maps with no luck.
“Uan, I’m not having much luck finding this place using Bing. Let me call my Cajun friend Keith to see if he can help us out.”
“Fine, I am going to grab a steak from the refrigerator.
“Keith, my man, I’m so glad you picked up. I’m trying to find Nagadish on the map,” Calvin stated.
“You mean the one in Louisiana?” Keith replied.
“Yea, that’s the one.”
“It’s just south of Shreveport on Highway 6.”
“How come I don’t see it?”
“Probably because you don’t know how to spell it,” said Keith laughing.
“How hard can it be? Something like, N a g a d i s h right?”
“No, it’s N a t c h i t o c h e s.”
“You have got to be kidding me? Why would someone pronounce that word like that? Hold on, let me take another look. Oh okay. I found it on the map. I understand why I couldn’t find it now. You people don’t know how to pronounce shit. You can’t even pronounce a simple name like New Orleans.”
“Whatever Calvin. I got your, you people, hangin. And it’s pronounced Norlins.”
“That’s exactly what I mean. It’s like you guys live in another country.”
“Did you get what you need, I got a woman waiting on me,” Keith stated impatiently.
“Sure, I got it Keith. Thanks for the help.”
“Yea, anytime,” replied Keith hanging up.
“Uan, I found it,” shouted Calvin.
Uan came back to the room finishing off the last bite of his steak from the fridge. “Let me see where it is,” requested Uan looking at Calvin’s computer. “I see it. I will add the coordinates to my UCD and send them to my ship to setup a pickup and drop off. I should see you in a few hours if everything goes well.”
No sooner had Uan finished speaking than he started to beam away. Calvin just shook his head in amazement. This is almost like Star Trek. And just think I get to be part of the show.
Chapter 7
Turning the XO
Commander Filo and Yoyo sat in the Bordelle Bar still hoping for the XO of the Andrea to show up. Commander Filo was told to expect him there today by one of his staff members, but so far nothing. If they were lucky the captain of the other two Euclidian resource vessels that assisted with the destruction of the Alpha home planet would appear. However, chances were slim that would happen. Still Commander Filo did not have any better leads.
“This person must be awfully special if you are waiting for him for so long in this place,” stated Yoyo to the commander.
“Meeting with him is important for our ability to connect with the Euclidians. He is the executive officer of the Andrea, a very prominent Euclidian resource ship. He has a direct line to its captain. His captain was very influential in the Euclidian military. The captain’s father also had great connections in political and social circles.
After another hour or so, two of the bar’s dancers walked into the bar on the arms of the XO from the Andrea. Commander Filo tipped the server to ask the XO over for a drink of Tammarian grog.
The XO asked his escorts to wait for him in a booth and walked over to see who made the generous offer to him.
“Hello commander. Please let me speak before you voice any objections.”
“Sure, go ahead and speak your peace,” replied the XO of the Andrea taking a seat.
Commander Filo motioned for the server to get the drinks of Tammarian grog for the table.
“I am Commander Filo from the Alpha ship Adele. This is Ambassador Yoyo representing the Magi people from the planet Tammaria. She makes a mean grog by the way.” The XO only grunted.
“We sincerely would like to improve relations between the Alpha and Euclidian people. Yoyo is acting as a liaison to help facilitate negotiations. I would like her to say a few words if you don’t mind. Hold on, here’s our drinks.” Commander Filo let the server place the three steins of Tammarian grog in front of them. “To the Euclidian Empire and better relations,” stated Commander Filo raising his stein. The XO shrugged and took a big swig of his grog. Yoyo slurped down some of hers.
“Yoyo if you please,” urged Commander Filo.
Yoyo removed her goggles revealing her glowing eyes being careful to keep her hood up to prevent onlookers from noticing. The XO looked at her in shock.
&n
bsp; “Don’t look away,” commanded Yoyo. “Look into my eyes and relax. I want you to throw away your inhibitions and submit yourself to my gaze.”
The XO leaned forward in the booth across from Yoyo while she continued her gaze into his eyes.
“I want you to forget any animosities that you may have against the Alpha people. Think of me as your best friend. You trust me and would do anything for me,” stated Yoyo. “I’m not a threat to you. Being around me makes you feel comfortable. Do you like my smile?”
“Yes I do,” responded the XO.
“Commander Filo is your new best friend. He just bought you a Tammarian grog. You feel completely at ease with him and are happy to do whatever he wants. It will even please you to obey him, correct?”
“Yes, it will,” replied the XO.
“Thanks Yoyo. Now why don’t you go off and enjoy yourself. I’m sure there are still parts of the city that you haven’t seen yet.”
“I’d be glad to. There’s a club I would like to visit. Let me know if you are successful setting up meetings with him.”
“Oh I will Yoyo. I will.”
Yoyo walked out and Commander Filo turned to the XO.
“XO, you’re on the ship commanded by Captain Shisal, are you not?”
“Yes I am.”
“Did you know that he plans to cut you out of your portion of the revenues from your next mission?”
“He’s mean, but he tends to be a fair person. I can’t believe he would do that.”
“Not only would he, but he has already told me that he will. He plans to frame you for stealing goods destined for the government and have you arrested. Doesn’t that make you angry?”
“Of course it does.”
“This is what I want you to do to protect your share of the bounty. When he is ashore during your next mission, away from the protection of the ship’s systems, I want you to have him killed. That is the only way to protect what’s yours. Don’t you agree?”
The XO rubbed his chin in deep thought. “That’s not an easy thing to do. I can certainly discuss it with him.”