"I did my ten," she said.
"Do you have nightmares?"
"What do you mean nightmares?"
"When I'm trying to fall asleep, I'll be plagued by visions of the dead and dying. Blood."
She turned to face me and held me tight. "After one mission?"
"They started after I killed Henry."
"You need to see a therapist. A therapist can help you more than I can."
I held her for the longest time. I didn't want to see a shrink, didn't want it on my record.
Ussilla climbed out of bed and stood there in all her scaly-green nakedness. "After your third mission, you'll be seeing a therapist regularly anyhow, Bear. Seeing one now wouldn't alter your record or status."
"I can wait. Where are you going?"
"I'm going back to my room. You didn't call or write. You can sleep alone tonight. Punishment."
Better than a spanking I guess. She left. I lay awake.
I wandered the halls until I came to RedCat's door. Needing to see if he was having problems with his dreams, I pressed the buzzer. The computer was smart enough to not buzz the room if he was asleep.
Zen answered his door wearing a black leather bikini. "Bear?"
"I was hoping to talk to RedCat," I said.
RedCat shouted, "Come in!"
I stepped inside, and my jaw dropped. RedCat was tied down to his bed, stark naked, sporting a sizeable erection. What I think were clothes pins attached to his nutsack. Better clothes pins than safety pins.
"I'm interrupting something," I said.
Zen pushed past me and sat on the bed. I started backing out of the room.
"What is it?" RedCat asked.
I ran back to my room and slammed the door closed. At least, I had something new to have nightmares about. I checked my fridge and didn't think I'd find anything, but inside, in the freezer compartment, was a single quarter liter bottle of Chor'Tan Ale. Where it came from, I'd never know, but I was glad to see it. I drank the ice cold goodness down. Well, maybe half of it. The rest I dumped down the drain. I dreamed of Ussilla more than anything.
Over the next few weeks and months of training, my dreams improved. Spring Break was quickly approaching, and I was looking forward to it, although Nancy swore we'd only get Earth-Alcohol, no Chor'Tan Ale.
Chapter Twelve
When I was a kid, I policed the yard for sticks before my dad would mow, and later I'd do both the stick clearing and the mowing. Every so often there would be a snake in our yard. Harmless little brown garden snakes that were no more than a half meter long. The problem is sticks are brown, too, and as a kid, I often daydreamed. The first time I picked up a snake, thinking it was a stick, I was six. Luckily, I peed before beginning work that day, or surely I would have let go my bladder. This happened to me on four separate occasions growing up.
That is what the dreams reminded me of, picking up a live snake while daydreaming. Two days until Spring Break, and I hoped a near toxic infusion of alcohol would cure me of the dreams. It did, and I slept good. It took a week before I felt right again after spring break. The whole thing was just a blurry, fuzzy mess. I kind of remember Ussilla bringing other Chor'Tans into our bed, but I had no concrete proof. After sobering up, I worried that I would become an alcoholic. Especially if booze could cure me of my nightmares.
I was having breakfast with the whole crew: RedCat, Archangel, Zen, and even Mathew, when Nancy approached our table. She sat down and started nibbling on a muffin.
RedCat looked me in the eyes. "You know it's not just her tying me up, right? I tie her up sometimes, too."
"Yeah, but you've actually had to use your safe word," Zen said. "I never have."
"Because I'm naturally very gentle, babe."
My stomach turned. It was all just too much information, and it reminded me of that night.
"Rules of conduct," Nancy said.
"Agreed," Archangel said.
Mathew speared an entire pancake and shoved it in his mouth, somehow still able to speak. "Kiss, but don't tell." Then he kind of choked and swallowed the whole thing.
Nancy took a multivitamin with a drink of coffee. "Must be taken with food."
My tray was empty, and I still hadn't finished the book, Battlefield Earth, that Henry had given me. So I stood up. Nancy said, "Wait."
I sat back down.
She said, "My office."
All of us got up and followed her. She sat behind her desk and pushed a button. "The recorders are on, and from now on, if you're in my office, you can assume the recorders are on."
We nodded. In perfect unison in fact, like we'd practiced.
"I have another mission for you," Nancy said. "In two weeks, a Chor'Tan dignitary will be visiting Earth. She needs almost 24/7 protection, for an indeterminate amount of time."
RedCat said, "Boring."
"If an assassin or assassins try and kill or kidnap her, you're required to capture them alive. You'll be issued both stunners and your usual 9mm. The sidearms are to remain holstered at all times."
"What?" Archangel asked with eyes as big as hen's eggs.
"No grenades," she said.
"Piss on this!" I shouted.
Nancy's stern, rock-like glare quieted us.
"You're 15 months from graduating," Nancy said. "You should consider yourself lucky you're getting a mission at all. Protection duties are very important. Shall I assign a different team?"
Mathew stepped out of line and turned to look at us. "We're the best. Likely if they're assigning us, we'll see some action. If not, think of it as a vacation."
I looked at the others. We began to grin. I said, "I accept." The others soon followed.
We spent the next two weeks studying and training. We'd be stationed almost entirely at a palace surrounded by woods, and the layout of the place was plugged into our danger room. We trained an hour a day running sims in that palace. I felt good.
Ussilla whispered in my ear one evening after sex, "If she wants to, you should."
"What?" I said.
"She may want to."
"What?"
"Chor'Tan females share males, and she's an old friend."
I let out a low growl. "I'm not sleeping with anybody but you."
"I appreciate your loyalty, but it's misplaced. If she invites you to her bed, you will perform like a good soldier, like you do with me."
"I'm not an animal, to be used and abused like a piece of plastic."
She kissed me on the forehead. "Chor'Tan tradition."
I turned away from her. Got up and got dressed. I returned to my room.
The day of the mission was upon us. The palace sat off the main road and was surrounded by a twelve foot tall chain link fence with razor wire at the top. It was made out of granite blocks, with three structures behind it. One was a barn, the other two were servants' quarters. I stowed a few changes of clothes and toiletries in a spare room in one of the quarters. There was a small pool in the back for servants, and a large pool with adjoining whirlpool behind the main structure.
Archangel was at the airport picking the dignitary up. I still didn't know her name. A limo pulled up, and Archangel stepped out. A Chor'Tan female stepped out of the other side of the car.
Archangel lined up with the rest of us, all in a row. The Chor'Tan female looked like Ussilla in an odd kind of way. She wore tan slacks and a white shirt. She looked us up and down.
"You can call me Ussilla," she said. "State your names."
"Archangel."
"Bear."
"Zen."
"RedCat."
"Mathew."
Ussilla? Really? Could it be a family name?
Ussilla pointed at Archangel. "You will be responsible for getting me to and from my meetings, during the day."
She pointed at Zen and RedCat. "You will be responsible for evenings."
Finally she approached Mathew and myself. "You will be responsible for late evenings and early mornings."
I didn
't show any emotion. Late evenings and early mornings was ok with me.
Chapter Thirteen
When it wasn't my shift, I exercised. Swam in the pool. Relaxed in the whirlpool. Ussilla swam naked. She slipped into the whirlpool next to me. Purring, she reached her hand to my groin and started massaging. I said, "Excuse me!"
She swam to the other side of the whirlpool. She had a nice butt. "You're sleeping with my sister?"
"Yes."
"You should be sleeping with me, too," she said. "Chor'Tan tradition."
"We're not on Chor'Tan."
"Bastard!"
I'd done worse than turn down an alien for sex. Honestly, I wasn't sure why I was turning her down. A big part of it was she was essentially my boss. Sleeping with your boss is never good, even if she is a hot alien. I thought back to how uncomfortable it was being in Ussilla's class after we'd done it so many times. The here and now Ussilla got out of the pool and stretched out on a chair in the sun. All her nakedness was right there in my vision, and I got a boner.
My eyes closed as I leaned back in the water. It was almost time for dinner. I tried to quiet my thoughts and calm my rod. Thinking about it just made it worse. Screw it all. Stepping out of the whirlpool, I dried off and walked to the kitchen. Ussilla raised an eyebrow, but neither RedCat nor Zen said a word. Both were on duty at the pool.
After dinner, Ussilla watched cheesy Hollywood movies. She told me she wanted me stationed by the windows in her room when she slept. Her bedroom was big enough though that I could make a little noise and not wake her. Mathew would be stationed in the hallway watching security monitors. Hiding in the dark for a six to eight hour shift with nobody to talk to would be enough to drive a man insane. And a dark, sinister part of my mind figured that was Ussilla's whole plan. The choice, pacing back and forth all night or spending it in her bed. It wasn't going to work. My ass could stay awake for a long time.
A loud siren went off, and Mathew shouted across the loud speakers. "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"
Ussilla sat up and screamed. I said, "To the safe room."
"Screw that," she said.
I grabbed my damn stun gun and opened the hallway door. Ussilla climbed out of bed and attached herself to my waist. Mathew said, "Four vehicles crashed through the perimeter fence. The vehicles and barriers are now a tangled mess, but at least twelve people made it out."
"Hold me," Ussilla said.
"Into the safe room!" I shouted. "I'm too busy to hold you."
She said, "Fine."
Mathew barked, "RedCat, Archangel, Zen, report!"
Ussilla went back in her room. She returned sporting a Chor'Tan fully automatic blast rifle with enough punch to knock out a modern Earth-tank. The rifle didn't so much have a barrel as it had a pineapple shaped end on one side and a stock on the other.
"Where did you get that?" I asked.
"I brought it from Chor'Tan. I'm a good shot."
I laughed.
"One does not laugh at a female Chor'Tan with a loaded blast rifle," she said with a huge smirk.
Mathew pointed. "Get in the safe room. Bear, we've got to capture them alive."
Ussilla turned and walked back into her bedroom.
I still had my stunner in my hand. I remembered the windows in the bedroom. "Mathew, the windows."
"Go," he said.
I ran to the windows. Figures below climbed the wall. A hand planted an explosive on the glass. "Cover your ears," I said. I tried following my own order, but with the stunner in my hand, it wasn't too easy. The explosive went boom, and the sound wasn't that bad. The first hand reached over the balcony. Ussilla shot off a round from her blaster, and a brilliant flash of white energy arced between her rifle and the balcony.
"We need them alive," I shouted.
"Do you know what they'll do to me?" She asked.
Another hand climbed over the balcony. I waited until the intruder was all the way over, and then I shot with my stunner. The stunner sent out this web-mesh that flickered with electricity. It was kind of neat looking. It sparkled in flight, then flashed as it reached a target. He went down. A grenade sounded from the hallway, then another and another. Two more men climbed over the wrecked balcony. I shot the stunner at both of them. I sprinted and got their hands behind their backs. Zip ties secured their wrists. Then for good measure, I stunned them again. I leaned over the wall, and there were no more climbers.
The door opened, and I pointed the stunner that way. A man stood there in dirty clothes holding a pistol. I stunned him and secured his wrists. I looked at Mathew. He was down. I held my hand out to Ussilla. "Come on!"
She hefted the rifle and joined me in the hallway. I checked on Mathew. He still had a pulse, but he was bleeding in five places. I hit the intercom button. "RedCat! Zen! Archangel!"
RedCat answered after a moment, "Got three tagged."
Archangel said, "Got two."
I said, "Zen!"
"She's with me," RedCat said.
That meant at least two more intruders.
"You need to go in the safe room," I said looking Ussilla right in the eyes.
"I'm a better shot than you, you little bitch," she said.
I wanted to pull her in close and kiss her. She looked so much like my Ussilla.
I tried to think. Intruders in the house, Mathew down for the count. Regroup. It was the only thing that made sense. No.
I punched the intercom button. "Zen or RedCat, one of you needs to go patrolling. I don't care which one. Mathew is injured. Ussilla won't go in the safe room. There are at least two intruders left."
"I'll go," Zen said. I could see all of them on the security monitors. I called an ambulance for Mathew, and a truck for the people we'd captured, but not from a local hospital. We were forty miles from a military base, and I called them for support. We waited. I was trying to watch both the tied up men in the bedroom, plus down both hallways, plus watch the security displays. Ussilla was good: she was keeping an eye out everywhere my eyes weren't.
She fired first, killing one on our left. I instinctively looked right, and my stunner fired before the intruder could fire. The zip ties went on that guy.
"Now can we have sex?" Ussilla said.
I'd think about it. "No."
Chapter Fourteen
Mathew regained consciousness before the army men arrived. "Grenades." Is all he said. We found a new room in the palace for Ussilla to sleep in, and she curled up under the blankets with the blast rifle in her grasp. I set up a portable terminal outside Ussilla's room and tied in all the security systems.
The lot of us, minus Mathew, were having breakfast on the back patio by the pool, when Nancy approached. Ussilla nodded at her, and she sat down. Nancy tried to steal a sausage link off my plate, but I was too quick for her. She sighed.
Archangel asked, "How's Mathew?"
"Professor Mathew is fine. Just a little blood loss, no permanent damage," Nancy said.
Ussilla wiped a bit of blood from her lip. She'd been eating something raw. Not sure what it was, but it still had fur on it in places. Maybe a small dog? "Are they moving me to a more secure location?"
Nancy rubbed at her eyes.
"I'm the bait," Ussilla said.
I turned to look at her.
"High command is hopeful we can draw in more of Centurian's men and capture them, yes," Nancy said with a terribly straight face.
"And we're the meat grinder," RedCat said.
"Fuck it, we're good at it," Zen said.
I asked, "No more stunners?"
Nancy shook her head. "You've got to keep using the stunners, and no blast rifle."
"That blast rifle was a gift from my mother," Ussilla said. "Under interstellar law, it's my right to have it."
"Use a stunner."
Ussilla shot out her forked tongue like she was smelling for prey, and I knew the argument was over.
"Twelve hour shifts for everybody," Nancy said. "Two Agency men on duty at all times, e
xcept for going to the can. Meals you eat with Ussilla."
"Agency men?" Zen asked.
"Oh shut-up," RedCat said.
"You're going to pay for that little comment."
"All I do is pay!"
Ussilla shouted, "Enough! I want more soldiers assigned."
Nancy looked away. "High command feels, if we concentrate a large force, Centurian will resort to a truck full of explosives, and take out this entire complex."
"I'll be filing a complaint with my superiors."
"They've been notified."
Ussilla did the thing with her tongue again, including an ssssssssss noise.
"Beautiful day," I said. "It's a Saturday."
Ussilla turned a glare on me.
I continued, "There's a nature preserve not far from here. It doesn't get very crowded."
Nancy slammed her fist down on the table. "It would be a huge security risk!"
"No riskier than spending another night in this damn place," Ussilla said. "I've got thick makeup and a hooded sweatshirt I can wear. It's hot together, but the hooded shirt I have is thin, and it breathes."
"Crazy," RedCat said.
"Maybe I could catch a squirrel or a field mouse. I haven't had live prey in ages."
"Ewwwww," Zen said.
Archangel peeled a banana and started eating it. "This nature preserve, it's wooded."
"There are three observation decks overlooking the whole area," I said. "The park is currently closed for 'repairs', but we could get in. I checked with the park rangers already. You could set up on one of the platforms."
Ussilla reached over and petted my hand. "You've been doing research."
"I've been up all night guarding your bedroom door."
"It'll be fun!" Zen said.
Nancy cleared her throat. "Something you should know. We lost a team in France yesterday. Five agents went after a drug distribution center and haven't reported in."
"That's not right," Archangel said.
"Happens."
"Forest retreat?" I asked.
Ussilla caressed my hand. "Let's."
So it was set. Ussilla put on a thick layer of makeup, and a hooded shirt. She packed her blast rifle in our truck, and we drove thirty kilometers or so to the nature preserve. Archangel set up on the highest platform with a huge grin in his face, and his eyes darted around from place to place. I think he liked the vantage point.
Codename: Bear: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 1) Page 5