Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “And I love you more than anything. Nothing is going to happen. Your lady is going to be just fine.”
“I hope so, but that won’t stop me from worrying.” He kept pacing around the small living room.
“I really could use some support right now. Maybe you could help me to relax before this mission.” Whitney sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to her.
Trent sauntered over and sat down. He faced Whitney, placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a soft kiss. He massaged her tense neck and torso. Whitney felt right at home under his touch.
His fingernails scraped her stomach as he slowly removed her robe top. All the worry about the upcoming mission melted away. She grabbed the waistline of his shirt and pried the spandex-like material from his chiseled body.
She rubbed his left biceps with both hands as he leaned in and planted a sweet kiss on her nose. Trent removed his pants and flung them over his right shoulder. He pushed Whitney onto her back and got on top of her.
“I can’t believe we are going to have sex on three different planets. Wonder how many humans can make that claim?” she whispered.
Trent used his index and middle finger to stimulate Whitney’s rock-hard nipple as he breathed heavily into her ear. She thrust her pelvis in the air and dug her heels into the soft cushion. Trent teased his fingers up her thigh. Whitney felt a buzzing sensation coming from her left forearm.
“Oh shit, I’m getting a call from someone.”
Trent backed away as Whitney opened the flap of skin to see her Screen. “It’s Oswell. He must be early.”
Whitney accepted the call. “Hello.”
He said, “Be there in about, how can I say this so you will understand? I’ll be there in about five minutes.”
“I understand. I’ll be ready.”
Whitney frantically got changed and slid her shoes on just as Oswell honked the horn for her. Trent was waiting by the door and Whitney didn’t know what to say to him.
She uttered the phrase, “Be right back.”
He wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her in. “Be careful. Don’t take any more risks than you already are. Why don’t you let me do this?”
“Too late now. Oswell is waiting for me.” She stood on tiptoes and smooched her man. “Don’t worry too much.” She smiled and Trent forced a grin with effort.
Trent did not respond. She had never seen him this worried about anything other than the birth of their son. She walked up to Oswell’s orange hoverCar and the passenger door opened automatically. She sat down on the white leather and waited for the door to seal itself shut.
“How are we?” Oswell asked, smiling.
“Alright. A little nervous I guess.”
“Good. Take this.” Oswell tossed a ski mask to her and pressed a few buttons as the car began to rise.
Whitney checked out the black ski mask. “Why is that good that I’m nervous?”
“Means you aren’t stupid. I’m not going to lie this is a big deal that can result in some serious consequences. I’m not going to let that happen though. I sent you a message. It has the directions once you get inside the building.” Oswell drove much faster than the hoverCabs Whitney had taken.
“Alright.”
He passed her a tiny, clear plastic rectangle. “This is the key to get in. You will see the insert right next to the door. It’ll look like a call box. Just open it and wave this in front of it. A green light should pop on and you can open the door after that.”
“Sounds good.” She wrung her hands.
Oswell took a turn fast and the car tilted, forcing Whitney into the passenger door. He acted like nothing had happened, and said, “After you are in, just look at those directions. They will take you to the room that has the machine. The machine is a huge rectangle that looks like a filing cabinet on its side. There will be seven plugs hanging out of the blinking machine. Find the shortest cord and insert it into your plug in.”
“What do I do after that?”
Oswell beeped the horn as a red hoverCar cut him off. “Asshole. People really need to learn how to drive on this planet. Wait. It should only take about ten minutes to get close to one hundred percent. You could probably stop at about eighty and still have enough knowledge to carry out the mission.”
“Alright, this all sounds easy enough.”
They came to a stop. Oswell used the rear-view mirror to pick something out of his yellow teeth. “I will be right outside. If anything happens, just run out and we’ll haul ass outta here. If it gets worse than that and you have to explain things to the authorities, you stole the key from me. I hate to do it, but I will tell them you stole that key.”
“Then let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Quick little in and out.” Whitney tried to steel her nerves but nervous energy persisted. She took a few deep breaths and that didn’t work either.
They entered the dark city in silence. Oswell stayed about twenty meters above the road as he zipped in between buildings and skyscrapers. He turned down a dark alley and then back onto a main road with streetlights.
The hoverCar came to a stop and lowered to the ground.
Oswell turned to her. “I’d say good luck, but you’ve got this. This is going to be easy.”
“So that’s the building.” Whitney pointed to a pale green skyscraper.
He shook his finger in front of her face. “No, it’s a much smaller building just behind that. It’ll have a dull orange tint to it.”
This didn’t sit right with Whitney. “I thought you said you would be waiting right outside in case anything happens. Now you’re two blocks away. What gives here?”
Oswell smiled and tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry. There’s cameras on the building. They can’t see me drop you off, but they can see me pick you up. I’ll circle around for a few minutes and find a spot just about the time you should be coming out.”
“I don’t know. I’m having second thoughts now. I don’t know.”
Oswell spoke in a softer tone. “You can back out. Or you can be the hero. I know what I would do.”
The phrase sounded so stupid in her head, but for some reason it calmed her down a bit.
“Open the door. Alright, the dull orange building.” Whitney punched her thigh a couple times to get amped up and slid the ski mask over her face. She stretched the eyeholes to get the best view.
Oswell hit the button and the door slowly rose upward. “It’ll say, Oktone Information Systems above the clear door. Make us proud.”
The automatic doored opened fully and Whitney stepped into a muggy city night. Nobody appeared to be in the area as she tried to get stealthily to the building. She walked at a brisk pace as she crossed the street. She panned to her left and right and didn’t notice anyone.
She approached the door and lifted the flap over the black security opening next to the door. She held up the key with a shaky hand and waited for the flash. She had to steady her arm to hold it flat. A soft beep and a beam of green light came from the box.
She pushed against the glass door and it slowly moved. She squeezed her slender body through the opening and pulled up her sleeve. She opened her armScreen and brought up the directions. Whitney began to navigate her way through the narrow hallways.
The halls were dark with dim red lights hanging from the ceiling. She bumped into a few walls from staring at the directions but continued on her path. Whitney kept expecting a guard to jump out and bust her.
A buzzing came from ahead as she neared her destination. The directions led her to the end of a hall. Only a wooden door stood in her way. She wondered why Oswell hadn’t mentioned the door and she grabbed the flat knob with concern.
She pushed down and sure enough the handle cooperated. Only one machine sat in the middle of the small room. The dim red lights exposed a huge rectangular tower with blinking lights of every color. She found the cords and measured them to find the smallest one.
She had to untangle two and found a red cord to be the shortest. It took three shaky attempts to plug the cord in but she finally secured the connection.
Pain equivalent to a frying pan across her face caused Whitney to fall down. The cord remained plugged in and Whitney’s arm extended above her floored body. An intense force centered behind her eyes. Immense pressure built in her head.
“GAAAAHHHH,” she gasped for breath.
Her eyes shot open. Visions of code danced in front of her. A swirling vortex of multi-colored words, numbers and characters pulled her in. Whitney instinctually stood up, following the vortex. She made it to her feet and only green coding on a black backdrop remained. Thousands of lines flashed in and out by the second.
A steady siren like a fire whistle broke her concentration and the vortex disappeared. Her head throbbed as she ripped the plug out. She could barely read the ‘97%’ on her Screen because of the migraine headache. The loud sirens and blinking red lights only made things worse as she brought up the directions to get out.
Despite the raging pain in her head, Whitney quickly navigated the maze-like hallway and pushed the door open. Oswell’s car was nowhere to be seen. She tried to cross the street to get to the place where he had originally parked.
A different group of sirens with a ‘woo, woo, woo’ sound seemed to be getting louder by the second as Whitney broke out into a sprint. She didn’t want to turn around and pulled the mask down over her chin.
She raced around the corner of the drab green building and her heart sank. Oswell and his car were gone.
A call came over a police loudspeaker. “Stop or we will be forced to shoot.”
Whitney disregarded the command and kept running into the city. Several shots broke through the sirens and she dropped.
Two ivory-skinned aliens wearing police uniforms approached her with guns drawn.
11
Roxelle
The nervous gang sat around the table in the meeting room at the Buzzed Being.
Trent said, “What do you mean you aren’t going to bail her out? You promised.”
Roxelle shook her head. “Oh dumdum. I promise a lot of things and the only one I keep them with is myself.”
Trent argued, “You can’t just let her die. She did this for you. Barely even knowing you I might add. Oswell even said that if she spit in the connection, that she would retain the code.”
Harrins said, “Well how do we know if she did that? Huh bigboy, is she a spitter?”
Trent snapped back. “This isn’t fucking funny. My wife is about to be executed. It’s not the time for casual jokes.” He turned to Roxelle. “You need her. I know you want to get out of this shithole of a city and go to paradise.”
“You don’t know anything, earthling.” Roxelle swung some of her braids over her right shoulder.
Trent slammed his fist on the table. “I know that if she dies so do I and let’s just say, I’m not going alone.”
She jumped up from her seat. “Are you threatening me?”
“Maybe I fucking am. What are you going to do about it?” He got up and went after her.
Harrins and Marlowe jumped in between the two hotheads.
Roxelle pointed at Trent and yelled, “Don’t act up. I could kill you and nobody would be the wiser. They don’t even investigate a being that doesn’t have a sponsor. Watch your tongue and you just might see tomorrow.”
The door swung open and Glint entered with a short female with bright orange skin. The owner of the bar had a slimy smile on his face. “I’d like everyone to meet Gerelle. She’s going to be our new BREAKER.”
Gerelle walked right up to Trent, reached out, and cupped his manhood. He jumped back, and said, “What the hell is that? You all need to learn a proper handshake.”
“Sorry I’m not shy. If I like something, I grab it,” Gerelle responded, and shrugged her shoulders.
“What do you mean, another BREAKER?” Trent screamed, attention focused on Glint.
“Where did you find this being?” Harrins asked.
Glint answered, “I went to Humbellio to get this fine creature to ensure our plan can move forward. Why is everyone so glum?”
Mimick said, “We didn’t know what you were doing and Whitney tried to steal coding knowledge.”
“So what? Where is she?” Glint searched around the room.
Mimick said, “That’s just it. She got caught. The alarms went off after she passed ninety percent.”
Glint said, “That’s too bad. Why did she go past ninety?” The smile never faded from his crusty lips.
Trent made a fist and wondered why Glint hadn’t warned Whitney about going over ninety. The sponsor had been surprisingly silent on that matter. Trent objected. “Too bad. Too bad. You need to get my girl out if this deadbeat isn’t going to.” He pointed at Roxelle.
Glint laughed. “Why would I do that? I don’t even have a million and a half in liquid right now.”
Trent sat back down. “You need her in case anything happens too. Her shooting can keep you alive if it gets hairy during the heist. You have to do this. Come on.”
Glint looked like he was shooing away a fly with the back of his hand. “Pass.”
“Pass. I’ll give you pass.” Trent kicked the chair out like a mule and lunged at Glint. Oswell jumped in front to stop Trent.
Trent grabbed Oswell by the throat. “And you. Leaving her there to die. Don’t try to call yourself a man. I’m starting to think you set her up. Intimidated by a small girl, huh?”
Oswell knocked Trent’s hand off his neck.
“Get him out of here,” Roxelle said.
“Forget it. I’m leaving. You haven’t seen the last of me either. Watch your backs. Every single one of you.” Trent slammed the door on his way out of the meeting room.
He knocked a row of drinks off the bar and shoved the bouncer before exiting. Roxelle went out to the bar and made sure he had left before going back into the meeting room. After the shooting the other night, she didn’t want to take any chances with people threatening her.
She sat back down at the circular table. “I don’t owe those two shit.”
Mimick said in a soft tone, “You did promise to bail her out. I can understand why her husband is so distraught.”
The innocuous words from her lover cut through her like a machete. She had tried to reject her feelings for so long until Mimick had brought them to the surface during her bubble bath. Something tugged at her heartstrings, trying to soften the concrete cords.
She took a deep breath and suppressed the tidal wave of emotions. She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Her head swirled with thoughts of Jazemore’s death, her feelings for Mimick, the promise to Whitney and how the hell to pull off this diamond heist.
Marlowe slammed his fists on the table. “I guess it’s all over now. We have a BREAKER but we lost two great shots on lookout. Now we need to find two more people. It’s looking like this isn’t going to happen. We’re all going to work until we die. Except for you.” He referred to Glint.
Roxelle spoke in a serious tone. “It’s not over. Just give me some time to really think about this and figure it out. It’s much easier to replace two watchdogs than it is to find a BREAKER. Glint, why don’t you take another trip to find a couple of look outs?”
Glint said, “I can try. We might have to push this back a few days so I can travel to other planets. If we use someone from this planet and their sponsor tracks them during the heist, we’re all in trouble.”
Mimick leaned back in his chair. “Glint, why don’t you just secure the release of the human? You won’t be able to use that money on Soro Exxo anyway. The diamonds are enough to buy us anything we want in the universe. Why don’t you just bail her out?”
Glint stared at the floor as he spoke. “Because I have to think along the lines that this plan won’t work. That it will never happen. If I lay down a million-five and this plan dissolves, I just lost out on a shitload o
f money.”
Roxelle barely had enough money to bail out Whitney, but Glint had plenty. His cheapness pissed off Roxelle, but it was his greed that had brought the two together. She had no doubt Glint would cross his co-sponsors to steal the diamonds. Her only worry was that Glint would try to screw over the crew after the heist.
Boggle said, “It appears we are at a great impasse. Maybe this whole thing is cursed and this is a sign we shouldn’t be doing it. If we get caught, we’re all going to die, even you Roxelle.”
Roxelle had hoped nobody would point that out. She was really saving her money in case they did get caught. She wanted to have something to appeal to the greed of the other sponsors. She had mentally suppressed the fact that the other sponsors would probably push for her death because she was stealing directly from them.
When she and Mimick had originally talked about the plan, everything had seemed so simple. All they had to do was convince Glint to go along with it. They had assumed finding desperate beings to pull off the heist would be the easiest part.
Roxelle suggested, “Maybe we should get her out. It would make everything so much simpler. Glint, I’ll split it with you.”
The tall man used his fingers and thumb to curl his long mustachio. “I still think we are better off finding new people.”
Roxelle replied, “You cheap son of a bitch. Let’s make this happen.”
He shook his head. “I just think it’s an unnecessary and expensive move. And you may want to curtail your insults toward me. Don’t forget who’s the only indispensable person for this mission. No shuttle of mine means you are all stranded here. And I am not cheap. When’s the last time any of you have paid for a drink in this place?”
Roxelle said, “You can have your watered-down piss liquid if you want. If we get her out we can move within a couple of days. We can be in paradise before we even know it.”
Glint didn’t seem convinced. “I just don’t know if it’s worth it. That’s all.”
Cosmic Diamonds (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures Book 4) Page 8