by Darrell Pitt
“Shut up!” A red haze of fury blurred my vision. “What must I do?”
“You have no doubt heard of Alexi Kozlov?”
I searched my memory. “The Russian Premier?”
“He is to be your target.”
“The leader of Russia?” I felt light-headed. “That’s insane.”
“You will shoot him with the Stonekiller and return with him to this place. You will do these things or your mate will die.”
I took an enraged step toward him.
“Do not be foolish, boy,” Graal said. “Your mate will be returned if you follow my instructions. You have my promise. I will also promise to throw her out of an airlock into space if you refuse my instructions.”
“How would I ever get close enough –”
“I have already uploaded a map to your compass,” the alien said. “He was tagged with a non-invasive tracking device several days ago. You will track him using the device.”
“But it’s the Russian Premier!” I blurted. “How will I –”
“You will do what is required,” Graal said.
I stood in the cold desert for several seconds, consumed by desperation and hatred and fear. My hands were clenched so tightly I could feel my fingernails cutting into the palms of my hands. Finally I crossed a barrier. A point of no-return. I would not let Brodie down. I could not let her die.
“And once I do this –”
“Your mate will be returned.”
“Why don’t you kill him yourself?” I asked. “If you were able to place a tracker –”
“That is not our way,” Graal said. “A countdown has been activated on your compass. You have two of your Earth days. We will meet here again when the countdown reaches zero.” He paused. “And we will bring your mate.”
“Her name is Brodie,” I said.
Graal responded by ignoring me and turning away. He disappeared up into the ship. The ramp slid away into nothingness and a moment later I heard the engines of the spaceship burst into life. Wind rushed against my face as the invisible vessel lifted off the ground. I saw a faint shimmer distort the sea of stars as it raced across the sky.
I stood in the silent desert, cold and alone. I could get Brodie back, but I would have to sentence a man to a fate worse than death to do it.
Chapter Sixteen
It was the longest journey of my life.
I left in darkness and I arrived in darkness. Judging by the device on my wrist, it appeared that Alexi Kozlov was located somewhere to the south of Moscow. As I neared my destination, the darkened landscape slowly morphed into hills, towns, roads and rivers. I descended slowly, eventually landing in a forested area outside a small village. A farmhouse with a dilapidated barn lay nearby; I could just make out a faint light in one of the windows.
A dog barked distantly. The faraway engine of a truck growled into life. A bird took flight in a nearby tree and disappeared to parts unknown.
I felt exhausted. I had flown for fifteen hours straight. My head ached. My back ached. A cramp painfully cinched my left thigh. Checking my watch, I realised it was about nine in the evening. I sat back against a tree. I needed rest. I would sleep for a minute, but no longer.
Just a minute…
When I awoke, most of the night had passed. Panicked, I examined the timer on the compass. Nine hours had passed. I tried to calm my breathing. I still had enough time to complete my mission.
My mission…
A deep well of misery opened up within me. I had betrayed my friends. I had destroyed my relationship with The Agency. I could never go back to the life I had led. To get Brodie back I would have to consign a stranger to a fate worse than death. And that stranger was the Premier of Russia! What would be the repercussions of carrying out such an attack?
My actions could start a war.
My stomach rolled over at the thought. I absently wiped tears from my face as I made out a faint glow on the distant horizon. Dawn. Soon it would be day and then I would deal with the next phase of this nightmare. I had to wait for daylight to arrive. It was bad enough bumbling about in a foreign country. Trying to consider assassinating – and it was a type of assassination – someone in the middle of the night was ridiculous.
“So,” a voice said from behind me. “Sleeping Beauty is finally awake.”
I scrambled to my feet and readied myself for an attack. At the same time, however, my weary brain recognised the voice.
A figure moved from behind a tree.
Chad.
“A bit of advice,” he said. “When you’re on the run, look behind you sometimes. You’ll live longer that way.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” I peered into the darkened forest behind him. “How did you keep up with me?”
“You remember that Flex that disappeared from The Agency a few months back?”
“Yeah.”
“That was me,” he said. “And Ferdy.”
“You and Ferdy stole a Flex Fighter?”
“I hid it in the desert,” he said. “Just in case.”
“Looks like it came in handy.”
He ignored me. “I heard the conversation you had with your alien buddies.”
“They’re not my friends.”
“I know.” Chad paused. “I’ve been following you for hours.”
“So you know they’ve got Brodie.”
He nodded. “And you’re supposed to take out the Russian leader with –”
“The Stonekiller weapon.” The words sounded foreign to my lips. “It doesn’t actually kill the person. It freezes them so they can’t move.”
“Sounds great.” He shook his head. “You can’t mean to –”
“I don’t have a choice! They’ll kill Brodie if I don’t do as they say!”
“But it’s the Premier of Russia,” Chad said. “You could start a war!”
“I know.” I felt miserable. “But I can’t let Brodie die!”
“Look, Axel,” he said. “I’m not suggesting you should. But you can’t just consign someone to a living death.”
I turned away. In my heart, I knew what he was saying was right. I looked up at the horizon. The sky was growing brighter by the moment. Three shapes moved across a distant row of roofs.
“You have to trust your friends,” Chad said. “We’re stronger as a team –”
“I just saw something,” I said. “I think someone’s – watch out!”
A bright plume of fire arced across the sky toward us. I threw a shield up as it slammed into the ground. The earth beneath us exploded, throwing us backward. Trees and dirt flew in all directions.
I struggled to my feet. I could see two figures in the gloomy field beyond the tree line.
“American spies!” one of them called out. “You will surrender yourselves for interrogation.”
I didn’t like the sound of any of that. I never like it when the words spies, surrender and interrogation are used at the same time.
“We’re not spies!” Chad yelled. “We’re lost. And I’m not American.”
“I don’t think that will make any difference to them,” I said.
It was growing lighter by the minute. Now the two figures were clearer. They were men. One wore red. The other wore blue. Something jangled at the back of my mind. The Russian flag was three horizontal stripes. Red, blue and –
The world turned upside down.
One second I was turning around to look behind us. The next I found the world spinning sideways and I could not tell up from down. I felt like I was falling, yet my feet were still planted firmly on the ground.
What the hell was going on?
“Vertigo,” I heard Chad’s voice come from somewhere behind me – or was he in front of me? “This guy has the powers of disorientation.”
I understood. Through a gap in the trees I saw a man in a white uniform. His hand was outstretched. Obviously he had some sort of power that disrupted the inner ear. I raised my hand to throw a cannonball of air at him
, but the world flipped over again.
Chad hurled a blast of fire and I heard a scream. Crashing face first into the ground, I felt a sharp pain in my nose. It might have been broken. At least now I knew up from down. As we climbed to our feet, we saw the man rolling about on the ground. He looked singed, but otherwise uninjured.
We turned. Red and Blue were charging toward us. Throwing out an arm, Blue hurled a bolt of electricity at us. I threw myself to one side, but heard a cry as Chad was hit. He fell to the ground.
“Chad!” I screamed.
He didn’t move as the three men closed in around me.
I would have to deal with them.
Alone.
Chapter Seventeen
“Faster!” the alien growled.
The alien hit Ferdy in the back of the head with the butt of his gun.
Ebony protested. “Hey! Leave him alone. He doesn’t understand.”
She took Ferdy’s hand and moved him away from the alien. Dan was behind them. Shepherded by the guards, they moved through the dimly lit corridors of the spaceship. Events had occurred rather rapidly since their Flex Fighter had been dragged into the alien ship’s landing bay. Dan had wanted to fight their way out of the vessel, but Ebony could immediately see a dozen holes in the plan.
Ferdy had super strength, but he was almost impossible to co-ordinate in a fight. She and Dan had powers, but they could not take on an alien ship with hundreds – or thousands – of soldiers on board. Besides, they were here to find Brodie. It seemed to make more sense to wait and see what would happen.
Unfortunately, not much had happened since then. They had been shoved into a cell before another alien had turned up to move them again. He had introduced himself as T’bar.
“I am second in command,” he said. “I know you have powers, but I would advise you to co-operate. It is impossible to escape this ship.”
“Where are we being taken?” Ebony asked.
“You are to fight,” T’bar said.
“Who are we fighting?”
“Our Tagaar warriors.”
Ebony didn’t like the sound of that. “What have you done with our friend?”
“The girl?” the alien said. “She has proven quite an adversary.”
Good, Ebony thought. So Brodie’s still alive.
“We’re an adversarial race,” she said.
“You will be overcome by the Tagaar,” T’bar said. “As are all races we encounter.”
Just what we needed, Ebony thought. Invaders from Mars!
They reached a closed door. The alien unlocked it and motioned them inside. Ebony was about to protest when she peered into the chamber.
“Brodie!” she screamed.
They rushed into the cell. Brodie threw her arms around them as the alien watched impassively from the doorway.
“I will return shortly,” T’bar said. “One of you will be chosen to fight.”
“Ferdy will fight you,” Ferdy said. “Ferdy is not afraid.”
T’bar levelled his gaze at him. “You will be, boy.”
“The first flight of the Wright Brothers was one hundred and twenty feet,” Ferdy told him.
“The fear has addled your mind,” the alien said and slammed the door shut.
“I’m so glad to see you guys,” Brodie said. “But how did you get here?”
They all spoke at once. Brodie held up her hands.
“One at a time,” she said. “Please.”
Ebony explained the rapid sequence of events that had led them to the alien craft. Brodie listened in silence until she finally nodded.
“That explains a few things,” she said. “Some sort of communications window opened up in here briefly. I could see and speak to Axel.”
“The Agency is treating him like a criminal,” Dan said.
“The Tagaar are blackmailing him,” Brodie said.
“Who are the Tagaar?”
Brodie explained what she knew of the alien race.
“What happened to your face?” Dan asked.
Brodie gingerly touched her bruised cheek. “The Tagaar love nothing more than to fight. I’ve fought three times so far.”
“And she has succeeded,” a voice came from the rear of the darkened cell. “She is more of a warrior than any of them.”
They turned to see two aliens step from the shadows.
“This is Zena and Bax,” Brodie introduced them. “They have been my companions here.”
“Your friend is strong,” Zena said. “You will need to be strong to defeat the Tagaar.”
They sat around in a circle in the middle of the cell as Zena related her tale of what had happened to her world. The more Ebony looked at Brodie, the more she realised how battered her friend looked. Finally she asked Brodie about the fights.
“The Tagaar are tough,” Brodie said. “And they know how to fight.”
“We’ll beat them,” Dan said.
“That is unlikely, friend Dan,” Ferdy said. “The Tagaar appear to have technology far more advanced than any developed on Earth.”
“We can’t give up, Ferdy,” Ebony said.
“We will not give up,” he said. “But the way ahead will be difficult and our goals will not be achieved without sacrifices.”
“You sound like you can see the future,” Dan said.
“Ferdy is very smart,” he said. “Ferdy can extrapolate many possible versions of the future. We must wait and see in what direction our path lies.”
“The first thing we need to do is get back to Earth,” Brodie said.
“There’s about a million Tagaar warriors between us and our ship,” Dan said.
“Plus they’ve got their tractor beam,” Ebony added.
Brodie turned to Ferdy. “Can you work out a way to deflect their tractor beam?”
“Ferdy has been thinking about this,” he replied. “Ferdy has also been thinking about the role of superstring theory when contemplating the –”
“Ferdy,” Ebony interrupted.
He nodded. “A modulating pulse can be transmitted through the hull that will deflect the Tagaar tractor beam. It has an eighty percent chance of success.”
“What about the other twenty percent?” Dan asked.
“There is a seventeen percent chance the pulse will fail and the ship will not escape,” Ferdy explained. “And a three percent chance the ship will explode, killing everyone on board.”
“Always with the good news…” Brodie murmured.
“I’ve got a plan,” Dan said.
“What is it?” Brodie asked.
“It always works in the movies,” Dan said excitedly. “We’ll pretend you’re sick and you need a doctor. When the guards come in we’ll overpower them and steal their guns.”
Ferdy crossed to the door. “Or we can just knock the door down.”
He hit the door and it exploded outward into the hall. The unfortunate guards who were standing on the other side of it were slammed to the ground and did not move. Everyone inside the cell peered into the hallway in amazement.
“Your friend is very strong,” Zena said.
“As well as intelligent,” Bax added.
“He doesn’t know his own talents,” Ebony explained. “Come on.”
As they all poured into the hallway, Brodie and Zena snatched up the weapons of the fallen warriors.
“Which way?” Ebony asked.
“The shuttle bay is in this direction.” Ferdy pointed.
They hurried down the corridor. Brodie wondered about their chances of escaping from the ship. Or even surviving this situation. So much had happened so quickly. Then there was the issue with Axel. If he had stolen a weapon from The Agency she doubted he would ever be welcomed back.
They turned a corner – and encountered a squad of Tagaar warriors heading in their direction.
“Damn,” Brodie said. “It’s showtime.”
Chapter Eighteen
Morgan Le Fay sat at the bow of the small cruiser as it bounced ac
ross the waves of the North Sea toward Cargall Island. Once or twice the two men in charge of the ship had left the safety of the wheel house to invite her back to the warm interior.
“Not right now.” She smiled. “I love the sea.”
They would then nod uncertainly and hurry back inside. Morgan could understand their confusion. It was freezing on the water and she was dressed in little more than a summer dress. Anyone else would have collapsed from frostbite.
Of course, she was not anyone else.
Morgan Le Fay let out a sigh. She was tired of her exile on this backwater planet. She needed to be free, and her alliance with the Tagaar would achieve that goal.
The Tagaar are stupid, she thought. But they are powerful.
If there was one thing Morgan had learnt over the centuries, it was that stupid people often gained power with surprising ease. She had met Oliver Cromwell once and he had said something that had stayed with her ever since.
“Power belongs to those who are prepared to take it,” he said.
The Tagaar were stupid, but they saw the Earth as an opportunity and they were prepared to take it. She needed them. So be it. She had known the Tagaar would come to Earth sooner or later. Now that time had arrived, and deep down inside she felt an emotion that was as foreign to her as the day of her birth.
Fear.
She knew when to abandon ship, and that time was now. The Earth was finished. Certainly she would still enjoy a few more years of murdering and torturing innocent people, but then the Tagaar would increase their stranglehold on the planet. Sooner or later the human race would be reduced to slaves, and for Morgan Le Fay, it was a fate to which she would not yield.
The south coast of Cargall Island was growing larger by the moment. They would reach it within the hour. She strode back along the deck to the wheelhouse where the two men were huddled inside. They looked at her in amazement as she stepped inside from the freezing cold.
“Are ye not frozen, madam?” the captain asked.
She gave both men a smile. What were their names again? She had gotten terribly forgetful of late. There had been so many people over the centuries; after a while they all blended together into one feast with so many different courses.