Gathering all of her courage Blue finally looked up at the aliens and up. Wow they were big. Her eyes locked with the one closest to her. The one who had spoken to her. She gasped, her hand reached for him without conscious thought. It was him. His was the face in her dreams. The face she always saw before she woke in tears.
"Who are you?" she asked letting her arm fall back to her side. He was staring at her with what looked like love and wonder in his eyes.
"I am your brother,” he said in a smooth silky voice.
”I don't have a brother."
"Yes you do. You also have a mother and father who are going to be as happy as I am that you are alive."
"Alive?" she questioned, confused.
"We thought you were dead. The ship you were on was destroyed."
"So if you thought I was dead. You're not here for me,” she said slowly. "Why are you here? Oh crap. Did your ship crash?" Her thoughts went frantic at the thought of anyone finding them and her. She would not let them get caught. “We have to get you out of sight. Do you know if anyone saw you?”
“No. We did not crash. No one from this planet knows we are here.” Idris tried to soothed her. “It is a long story. We are here for you. I promise everything will be alright. Once we knew you were here, we came to find you."
"Uh guys, I really hate to break up this tender moment and all, but we have company,” Riley said. Blue saw a car filled with teenagers pull in. The teen boys piled out of the car talking and laughing. They went straight to the strange motorcycles. One of the teens shouted over to them, "Are these your bikes? They are so cool. Where did you get them?"
The tallest alien walked over to them and explained that the bikes were prototypes that they were testing on the road. The boys had a lot of questions but he soon had them on their way. Jayden walked back and told Idris, "We need to get somewhere we can talk without interruptions. I do not like being out in the open like this."
Before Idris could respond Jake demanded, “You are not going anywhere until I get some answers. What is going on here? Where are you guys from? And what was all that bright light, floating in air stuff?” The last question was directed at Blue.
There was no way out of it. She was going to have to tell him something. He had already seen too much. Reaching for his hand Blue held it in hers. She let his thoughts run through her mind. He really was one of the good guys. He was concerned for her, confused about what was going on and he had a lot of questions. His first thoughts were about protecting her and Riley from the strange men. There was no way he was going to leave until he was satisfied that they were safe. She was going to take a big risk and trust him.
Blue glanced at her watch to check the time. She told all of the men, "Riley and I have some unfinished business to take care of so we have to go. You guys can stand around posturing at each other or you can follow us. We can talk while we wait for the LCA to show up at the house where he had Scotty."
"LCA?" Cole asked puzzled.
“That's what they call Nate,” Jake answered. "Short for Lying Cheating Ass."
Cole chuckled. "That fits him to a T. I may never call him Nate again. I'm going with you,” he stated looking first at Blue then Riley. From the stubborn look on his and Jake’s face Riley knew there was no budging them.
The man who claimed to be Blue’s brother said, "We are going with you also. Great, Blue thought, we have a freaking entourage. She took a deep breath and said, "The house where he was holding Scotty is up the road about fifteen minutes. Follow us." She turned and walked to the Jeep. She opened the back door for Leo and quickly got behind the wheel. As soon as Riley was in she took off.
She really didn't care if they followed her or not. She just needed a few minutes to think without them all staring at her. Riley knowing this was silent for several minutes before she said, "Wow."
Blue gave a strangled laugh and agreed, "Yeah, wow." She didn't say anything for a couple minutes then, "They thought I was dead. Whatever brought them this way it wasn't me. I don't know why that’s what’s bothering me the most right now."
Blue pulled off the main road onto the same dirt track she had earlier. She drove far enough in to hide the jeep from passing eyes. She turned the Jeep off and laid her head on the steering wheel. The motorcycles and car pulled up behind her. "Guess we didn’t get lucky enough to lose them,” she sighed.
"You know, you don't have to do this right now. We can turn around, go home and deal with all of this tomorrow,” Riley said laying her hand on Blue's shoulder.
Blue lifted her head, "No we can’t." She pulled her shirt down to show Riley her throat. What had been a small dime sized chrystal this morning was now the size of a fifty cent piece. "When it, well, fused with me.”
"Is that what happened when you went all glowey and started floating around?” Riley interrupted.
"Yes, smarty pants, anyway, it dumped all sorts of information in my head. That’s what caused me to pass out. Kind of like overloading a computer will cause it to crash."
"Trust you to put it in computer terms,” Riley laughed. Blue smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
"Computers are what I know best. It's not just a matter of going home and not having to hide anymore. It's bigger than that. I don't have any of it sorted out yet. It will take me a while to go through what this,” she touched the chrystal, "is trying to tell me. I have to go with them,” she told Riley.
"I know,” Riley said sadly, knowing that Blue really didn’t have a choice.
Leo popped his head over the seat to look at her. "What about me?” he was saying to her. "Don't you worry sweetie, where I go, you go." Satisfied he laid back down unconcerned with the change his life was about to undergo, only that he would be with his human. "That goes for you too if you want to come,” she said to her best friend, already knowing the answer would be no. "We can talk about it later, right now I think we better get out before they lose patience." Blue looked out the window. The three aliens were standing at attention with arms crossed glowering at the two earth men, who were glowering back.
"You have to admit Blue, they grow them good-looking in outer space,” Riley said with a grin before opening her door and getting out. Blue took her first good look at them. Riley was right, they were very good-looking. In fact they could pass for human better than she could with her freaky eyes.
"Here's how it's going to work,” Blue told the alien men. ”Riley and I have unfinished business today. We are going to a house we rescued a kidnapped boy from a couple of hours ago. While we are waiting for the kidnapper to come back we can talk. If there’s time, if not we can talk afterwards. Right now this is my priority. Deal with it."
She turned to Jake and Cole, "We have a plan to keep the LCA away from Scotty so don't interfere no matter what." Then she turned and walked into the trees, Leo at her side and Riley following, holding a melon of all things. Giving each other a wary look the men followed.
Jayden said to Idris, "I thought you said she was sweet.” "She was a kid the last time I saw her. The little we know of what happened to her here would change anyone.” He protested.
Vihan said darkly, "Yes it would." If anyone would know what being tortured was like it would be Vihan. He was a completely different man now than he had been before his capture by the Ragillians. He rarely smiled and never laughed. He used to be almost as big a joker as Sparks was. But those days were long gone.
Riley and Blue stopped when the house came into view. Once again they looked around carefully before continuing to the door. Riley picked the lock quickly and they slipped inside followed by Leo and five big men who made the small rundown house feel even smaller.
"This is where he kept Scotty? In this dump?” Cole asked incredulously, looking around at the shabby interior.
Jake looked at Riley disapprovingly, “You picked that lock in under thirty seconds. Something tells me it's not the first time you have done that."
”Must be the FBI training that gave you such good i
nstincts,” she smirked at him. "Get over it Jake. You've worked with us enough to know that what we do is not always completely legal."
"Do you really think he's going to come back here today?" Cole interrupted the lecture Jake was about to give Riley, to ask her.
“Yes, I do. For one thing he's neglectful, not abusive. He will want to check on Scotty and probably give him another dose of sleeping pills. He may not love him the way he should but he thinks Scotty is his ticket to maintaining the lifestyle he wants."
"Don't worry, if he doesn't show today I have a pretty good idea where he will be tonight,” Blue added.
Cole nodded then leaned against the wall and looked at Blue and Riley. "You girls want to start explaining now? Who are they?” meaning the aliens, "And what was that back at the side of the road?”
Riley took exception to the tone of his voice, "It really isn't any of your business. You are only here because of the LCA. When we deal with him you can go back to your cozy life and forget all of this."
"No I really don't think so. You are going to have to start explaining. Now, or Jake and I are going to start digging and you may not like what we find,” he threatened.
“Go ahead,” Riley shot back. "You won't find anything we don't want you too. Blue's just that good with a computer.”
"But there is something Blue doesn't want us to find,” Jake guessed.
When the aliens heard the implied threat to Blue they pulled weapons, that looked like strange guns, and pointed them at Cole and Jake. Blue leaped between them and Jake. “Stop!” she shouted. The aliens made no move to put their weapons away. The tallest one said in a deep gravelly voice that sounded like rocks rubbing together, "We will not let them hurt you." He was six foot seven inches tall and towered over her.
She craned her neck to look him in the eyes. His hair was shoulder length and jet black. He wore it tied back in a neat little ponytail. His face was square with sharp angles and he had the prettiest purple eyes. He wasn't handsome in the classic sense but he would have no trouble blending in with humans. Nothing about him screamed alien…
The way he looked at her and the confident aura surrounding him made her want to trust him. But she didn't have any trust to give. Not any more. "They can't hurt me and if they tried I could hurt them a lot worse,” she told him. "Put your weapons away." They reluctantly did as she asked after giving Cole and Jake a hard look that promised retribution should they say anything else offensive.
“Okay,” she said letting out the breath she held. "Okay, I can tell you some things. But what happened out there,” she waved her hand in the general direction of the clearing. "I'm not sure what that was."
"We aren't stupid Blue. They aren't from this planet any more than you are,” Jake said with conviction having gotten a good look at her eyes. Well crap, she thought sharing a look with Riley. She took another deep breath and let it out slowly. She was having to do that a lot today, if she wasn't careful she'd hyperventilate. "No, we are not from here. They are new but I landed here twenty two years ago." She let that sink in before she continued, "My spaceship.”
"It was not a ship. It was an escape pod,” the big alien said.
“Fine, escape pod." She stopped then asked, "What are your names? I can't keep thinking of you as the aliens." The big one grinned showing nice even teeth. “Jayden," he said.
"Vihan," said the next slightly smaller man in a raspy whisper. His hair was red. Not what passed for red hair here but a true blood red. He was bulkier than the other two and looked like he would be right at home in ancient times playing gladiator. He had a long wicked looking scar that ran from the corner of his right eye to his chin and another on his neck that disappeared under his shirt.
The one who claimed to be her brother just looked at her with out saying his name. She cocked one eyebrow in question. "You really don't remember?" he asked.
"If I did I wouldn't need to ask, now would I.”
“Idris. My name is Idris and yours is Aaliyah."
“No,” she denied. "My name is Blue."
She turned back to continue her explanation to Jake and Cole. "As I was saying, my escape pod landed on Earth twenty two years ago. Don't ask how I got here. I don't remember. All I know is I woke up in a government lab and someone was cutting me open. I spent the next two years being sliced and diced while the scientists experimented on me before I managed to escape with some help."
"You were a child,” Idris exclaimed angrily. "You were only nine years old when they tortured you."
"Is that how old I was? I didn't know,” Blue said in a deliberately indifferent tone.
"No, our government wouldn't do that, not to a child. We have the space program. They want to make contact. That’s why we have NASA,” Jake said.
"Your precious government could and did,” she burst out in sudden fury. "Trust me I remember every cut, every beating, every day I spent in that hell. You want to know how I got my name. The head scientist called me The Blue Alien. After awhile it was just plain Blue. None of them knew I could understand every word they spoke so they didn't bother to watch what they said around me. I wasn't a person to them just a fascinating specimen for them to experiment on. The day I escaped I heard them talking about how they had done all the tests they needed so my autopsy was scheduled for the next day. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you know you are going to die anyway. I have been hiding from your precious government ever since."
Jake had gone sheet white and was shaking his head from side to side, not in disbelief but in a desperate attempt to deny the truth he heard in her words. She softened her voice, "I wasn't the first alien they captured Jake. Area 51 really does hold proof of aliens and their technology. It is not all a joke.”
Jake slid down the wall to sit on the floor and hung his head between his knees. Riley went to him and putting a hand on his knee asked, "Is this really such a shock Jake?"
"I just can't imagine the government I work for doing that to her. For God’s sake, we spend billions looking for proof that we aren't alone in the universe."
“Yeah, they do. But you of all people should understand that most people fear what they don't understand. And some of those people are evil and like hurting others. You even work with a few of them."
His head jerked up at that, "What are you talking about now? I don't work with anyone that’s evil.”
“Yes, you do,” she repeated. "You know what Blue can find with a computer and an internet connection. Do you really think we didn't check you and everyone you work with out throughly."
“You are the one who sent me the information on Jenkins."
“Yep."
Jenkins was Jake's former partner who in his spare time liked to murder women. "Who else in my office? You said there were a few,” he demanded.
Cole knelt down next to them and said, "You can look into that later, right now we have enough to deal with." He stood back up and walked over to Blue. "I'm very sorry for what you have gone through. You have my word I will never mention this or you to anyone."
Blue took his outstretched hand and let his thoughts run through her as she had with Jake. He was telling the truth. He wouldn't tell anyone. He believed her and was disgusted at what she had been made to endure. The thought that she had been a child at the time sickened him. He felt that he owed her and Riley for finding Scotty and he was also worried that Riley would go with her when she left this world. He didn't want that and he wasn’t quite sure why, other than she intrigued him. His last thought amused her enough to bring a smile to her lips. The big cat sitting so still at her side made him more than a little nervous.
"Thank you,” she said. He was a good man and she thought he would be good for Riley, if she would take a chance and that was a big if. She was as untrusting as Blue was.
When Cole stepped away Jake was there. Before she could stop him he had her in a hug and was murmuring in her hair, "I'm so sorry. So, so sorry."
She awkwardly patted his back.
“It's okay. It was a long time ago,” she said trying to ease out of his hold. His thoughts were overwhelming. He was a gentle man who truly wanted to help people and he was feeling betrayed by the government he worked for. When he let go she took a step back needing the space. Riley stood next to her careful to not touch her. She was the only one who knew what Blue could do with touch and Blue planned to keep it that way.
"Your turn to explain,” she said to the three men who were standing quietly off to the side. Before they could start talking she heard a car pull in. “Later. All of you, don't make a sound,” she ordered as she moved to stand to the side of the door. She heard the key in the lock as the last one moved out of sight of the door.
She nodded at Riley and when the door opened they were ready. Blue kicked out hitting the man coming through in the back of the knees as he passed by her. When he started to fall Riley pistol whipped him at the base of his skull with the gun she had pulled from the small of her back when they heard the car pull in.
The man was down and unconscious in seconds. Riley rolled him over so Blue could use some zip ties to bind his hands and feet. When they were done they high fived each other. That went smooth as silk. Blue took a syringe from her jacket pocket and injected the contents into his neck.
"What did you give him,” Cole asked looking with satisfaction at his former brother-in-law lying unconscious on the dirty floor.
"You'll find out soon enough. I didn't hit him hard enough for him to be out that long,” Riley said. "I told you, you are going to like this part." It took a couple of minutes for him to regain conscious. He opened his eyes to see Blue's eerie blue eyes staring into his.
When he found his hand and legs tied he panicked and blurted, "Who are you? I told Spenilli I would have his money for him tomorrow night."
"I don't think so,” Blue said and moved aside so he could see Cole. The LCA’s face went red with rage erasing every bit of attractiveness he had.
Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) Page 8