Lauren stood nervously looking over the tech’s shoulder trying not to disturb her as she worked. The tech’s job was to monitor the six screens on her side of the tactical van. The screens were showing real-time, green-tinted, night vision video of the impending raid. There was another tech behind her watching another six screens on the other side of the van, but those were of no interest to Lauren.
Though she was only in the van watching, Lauren was nervous for two reasons: reason one was ENL was only able to secure their team a five hour window during which the authorities would ignore all calls for assistance in their area, and reason zero, Vince was the wearer of one of the cameras whose video she was now watching.
As the members of the raid team got into position, she heard a lone voice speak over their radios. “In position. Mark.”
She wasn’t a member of any of the raid teams, nor did she want to be. But this was the fifth raid she’d seen over her almost seven months with ENL. So she knew the ‘Mark’ statement was beginning the short countdown until the twelve member raid team would breach the warehouse.
As expected, about ten seconds after giving the command the dark, silent street surrounding the warehouse was intermittently lit with muzzle flash and enlivened by the sounds of fighting. She hoped this battle would not go on long, for the sake of ENL’s team. On the screens, she took turns watching each man’s progress, not sure which was Vince’s camera. As a result, she was privy to a front row seat to the battle. She saw people walking through hallways and other paths. She saw people being shot. She saw ENL raid team members diving for cover. She saw it all.
After about forty-five minutes the fighting was coming to an end as the two six-men teams converged on one another. In less than ten minutes after meeting together, the battle was over. Lauren waited in the van for the all clear. Once she received it, she rushed out to find out how her partner, Vince, was doing. He was one of the only two friends she’d made since joining ENL.
She hurriedly walked around all of the people now in the warehouse. There were only about four hours remaining before the authorities for the Japanese city of Tsukuba would be coming by, and they needed to be finished by then. Finally arriving at the triage area, she saw raid team members as they waited to be examined.
While searching for Vince, she, unfortunately, happened upon Cain first. Cain Nabal was the partner she’d been assigned to initially when she joined ENL. However, their first and only mission had ended disastrously. They managed to accomplish their goal. Actually, she had managed to accomplish the goal. And the mission had ended with him calling her names and her slapping him.
As a result of their fiasco, Graham had pulled her out of the field and stuck her in the lab. It took months, but she had finally been allowed to go into the field again. This time, Vince was assigned to her. Their collaboration had been working ever since. Still, because Vince and Cain were on the same raid team, she occasionally had to see him.
Lauren and Cain made eye contact, but neither acknowledged the other’s presence. As she walked by him still searching for Vince, she heard Cain as he said, “Guess she’s looking for her boyfriend. Wait, can you call Vince her boyfriend? She clearly wants him, but he doesn’t give her the time of day.”
The four other guys sitting around him burst into fits of laughter. Lauren walked by them, as if she hadn’t heard a word he’d said. Though she’d be willing to bet he intentionally said it loud enough for her to hear him.
Finally, she found Vince, sitting on a chair as a field medic worked on his left arm.
Lauren walked up to him, “I thought you were trained to avoid getting hurt,” she asked with a concerned smile on her face.
“I am. But the men we were fighting didn’t really care about our training,” he replied smiling back.
“All done. You should limit the use of that arm for the next two or three days. And see a doctor if the wound begins to feel feverish or look like it’s infected.” The medic handed him a pill bottle as he gave Vince his follow-up care instructions.
“Thanks, Doc. I know the drill,” Vince replied and held the pill bottle out to Lauren.
She took it, opened it, and handed it back to him. She then found a bottle of water for him to swallow the pills down with. After he’d taken his medication, he stood.
“Did the techs find anything of use in here yet?” He asked.
“Don’t know. I wanted to make sure you were okay first. It looked like you guys were taking heavy fire so I just wanted to check on you.”
“Thanks. I—” The rest of his statement was cut off with a wince. Holding the pill bottle and bottle of water in his right hand, he had unconsciously reached out to pick up his gear with his left.
Lauren picked up his TAC bag, took the water bottle and the pills from him, and then handed the bag to him.
“You should go back to the hotel. I’ll get one of the other guys to drop me off when I’m finished,” she offered.
He looked at her and tilted his head to the side. “You know I can’t do that. If something happened to you here, Graham would never let me hear the end of it.”
She shook her head from side to side. Lauren still couldn’t believe they didn’t trust her to be alone. Or rather, Graham couldn’t trust her. You would think that by turning her back on everything in her life, her family, her fiancé, her job, etc. she would have proven how committed she was to ENL.
“Fine. Stay here in pain if you want. I’ll start searching with everyone else,” she said before walking off.
She shoved the pills and the bottled water into his right hand and walked away. Though she knew he was just following orders, it still hurt. She walked to a section of the warehouse were only a few team members were working and began breaking crates open.
This warehouse was one of the main contraband movers in Japan, or so Graham’s informant had told him. They were searching the warehouse in hopes of finding a power supply created by their enemies, who called themselves Power Legatee or PL. PL was the group her former boss, Lucas, was a member of. They worked in support of the aliens, known as The Keepers, who were trying to conquer the Earth.
This power supply, according to the information ENL had received, could somehow be used to open a bridge between Earth and Trebor so that The Keepers could come and conquer them. That is what she and the rest of the team were there working to prevent.
Lauren mumbled to herself as she opened crates. “I can’t believe they’re still treating me like a child. When do the training wheels come off? Am I ever going to be allowed to live a normal life? Ooo”
Her rant was cut off when she opened a crate and found knock-off designer bags inside. She knew they were fakes, but they were good quality fakes. She grabbed two of the larger bags and moved to the next crate.
She opened her next three crates in silence. In the first, she found knock off dresses. In the second, she found shoes. And in the third, she found phone batteries. She opened the fourth crate and was shocked. It didn’t contain knockoff designer item, it contained computer microprocessor chips.
She picked one up to examine it closely. As she tried to read the marking on it, she found what she was looking for. Whenever Lauren designed something, she would come up with a way to put her mark on the prototypes. It could involve a particular wiring configuration, or, it could involve creating a dummy part number made of letters or numbers that would mean something to her.
In the case of her microprocessor, she had come up with a dummy serial number that contained the letter O, U, T, T, E, L. It was a joke meant to reference one of the leading microprocessor companies in the world. As she looked at the chip in her hand, she saw the same letters arranged in the same order. She would have to check her design notebook to see if the numbers were the same, but they didn’t matter. It looked like someone had copied her microprocessor design and was attempting to complete that part of The Keepers’ invasion plan.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to start by thank
ing the people who read the very first stories I ever wrote. They were terrible, but that didn’t stop any of you from reading them and giving constructive criticism. So to Humble Fiction Cafe, I say thank you. Thank you, Chrissa Sandlin, Dorlana Vann, Gary Denton, Joy Vyoral, Kelli Meyer, Linda Lindsey, Sheryl Tuttle, Susan Miller, Theresa Laws, and Victor DiGiovanni. Without you, I don’t know if this book would ever have been written.
Next, I want to thank my Core Crew, who also read the not so good early drafts of this novel. Your continued support means more than I have the ability to put into words. I hope I’ve made you all proud with the final version of this novel. Thank you, Demetria McDonald, Jessica Thompson, Shawanda Holmes, Tomecia Weaver, and Yawanna McDonald.
In addition to the Core Crew, I want to thank my other core supporters, who asked about the book and listened to me talk about this dream and never questioned the sanity of it or me. Thank you, Evelyne Payne, Sharonda Gales, and Robert and Stella Gales.
And last but not least I want to thank my husband, Edward. From the day we met, I told you I wanted to write a sci-fi novel. And your response was something along the lines of, “Cool. What’s it about?” I thank you for supporting me emotionally during this process. And, for being okay with the amount of time I had to take away from being with you to write. I love you, and I thank you for the love you’ve given me.
I hope I haven’t left anyone out. There are so many people that have supported me in this journey that I may not be able to recall you all. But know that I do appreciate all that you have done, and I will do my best to thank you in the next novel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sharolyn G. Brown is a lifelong science fiction and fantasy fan who decided the best way to deal with all of the characters in her head was to give them stories and put them in books. She lives with her husband in Houston, Texas, where she divides her time between working, writing, and spending time with him.
For more information about Sharolyn, check out her website www.SharolynGBrown.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Thank you for reading!
Acknowledgements
About the Author
The Heaviness of Knowing Page 30