I hesitate. “He said something about…”
“What? That we were dating? We never did. We happened to be at a bar once. My friends were late, and I claimed a table for us. He sat down next to me, tried to be all touchy-feely, and I wouldn’t have it. I almost broke his finger. If he kept it up, I was thinking about stabbing him with a fork. I wanted nothing to do with him.”
“I’m sorry, Nina.”
She waves the hand of her good arm. “Don’t worry about it, but, ah, do you think you can pop my shoulder back into the joint? I hate doing it myself.”
“I’ll do it,” Strol says.
I flinch and look away. I’m not much of a wuss, but the noise always gets to me. It does this time, too, and my stomach churns.
“Come on,” I say after she’s ready. “Let’s get you home. Strol and I will handle Frankie. I promise.”
“Thank you,” she says warmly.
“Don’t mention it,” Strol says grimly, and I know he’s furious about the goons evading our grasp.
But not for long.
17
Strol
It’s maddening how things went down. Yes, I’m grateful we could rescue Nina. There’s no issue there, but that Frankie and his goons are still at large irks me to no end.
We have to find them.
Nina leads the way back to her place. She actually hitchhikes and gets us a ride back along the way. She talks easily to Isabella and me, about her ordeal, about her hopes for the future, all of it.
“I kicked Frankie in the nuts so hard I thought they were going to come out of his mouth. He coughed so hard and was rolling on the floor.” She laughs. “I really hope he can’t have kids, that he’s infertile because assholes like him shouldn’t get pregnant.”
The driver, an older gentleman, keeps looking at us as if we’re crazy, and maybe we are, but he doesn’t say anything.
“You’re amazing,” Isabella says.
“No, you two are. I’m sure my parents must’ve contacted the authorities, but they didn’t find me. You two did. And you rescued me! I owe you two my life.”
“We had help,” Isabella says. “One of your friends, her neighbor, gave us a huge hint as to how to find you.”
“Ah, let me guess, Kiara Jacobson? She’s awesome. I want to be like her when I grow up.”
Finally, we arrive close enough, and the gentleman speeds away as if we have some kind of disease he doesn't want to contract.
We walk the rest of the way, but as soon as we reach her block, we're bombarded with people, friends and family of Nina, news reporters from their TV shows and radio stations, and even the government and police.
It takes forever for things to calm down. It’s a madhouse, really, and even when the government and military try to spearhead things, to get the mob to go back and leave them to do their job, the people don’t listen.
A good hour and a half later, Isabella and I are inside Nina’s home. Nina has recounted the story so many times now that I think I could tell it for her and not leave out any details.
Finally, General Janius Jackson turns to Isabella and me. For the most part, we’ve been ignored up until now.
“Isabella Rivera,” the general says in a tone that suggests she knows Isabella already.
“General,” Isabella says evenly.
Donnell Wallace, a representative from the Global Countries of Earth, leans forward from his perch on a chair. “I would like to personally congratulate you both and express my sincere appreciation and gratitude in your efforts of recovering Nina Tristin to her family.”
"You're welcome," I say. I'm sitting next to Isabella on a love seat, and my leg is bouncing up and down. I can't sit still for much longer. We need to nail that fucker Frankie and sooner rather than later.
“What is your name again?” Donnell asks me.
I grit my teeth. So far, I haven’t mentioned my name, and Nina is as astute as they come. Despite everything that happened to her, she noticed when I decline to give my name earlier, when I had first been asked, and when she recounted how I helped to rescue her, she just refers to me as her alien hero, which suits me just fine.
Donnell lifts his eyebrows, and I grit my teeth.
The general turns her hawkish gaze on me, and I wince. Now they know something's up.
“You’re the elusive Strol, aren’t you?” the general asks.
“I might be,” I murmur.
“You were supposed to check in with us once you arrived,” Donnell says. “We have been looking for you.”
“Not very hard,” I claim. “I wasn’t exactly hiding.”
“No, you were running around with a known daredevil,” the general says.
“That daredevil saved my life,” Nina says loudly. She’s sitting on a couch with her parents. They keep trying to whisper to her, trying to convince her to lie down, but she won’t have it. She also refused to go to the hospital, although she did allow a doctor to come to the house and check her over here.
“As Donnell said, thank you for your efforts in retrieving Nina, but we will handle the capture of those responsible,” the general says firmly.
I laugh. It’s precisely the response needed to get the general to gape at me, and Donnell is a bit peeved.
“Do you think we’re incapable of apprehending this Frankie character?” the general asks.
“You didn’t even know Frankie was responsible, did you?” Isabella asks hotly. “We figured that out and where he was.”
“You used a complete disregard for public safety—”
“Why? Because we used a plane that I pieced together from a scrapyard?” I ask. “That shows ingenuity. That shows gumption.”
“Gumption?” Isabella stares at me as if I have three heads. “Look. We can be an asset—”
“I think we both know that’s not the case,” the general says dryly. “You don’t follow the rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” I say.
Nina’s mom gasps, but Nina herself just winks and laughs.
“I think you should let them have another crack at Frankie,” Nina says.
“The choice isn’t yours,” the general says.
“You have to do what’s necessary to keep your people safe,” I say. “I understand and respect that, but I refuse to turn this case over. It’s important to the Earthlings, yes, of course, but it’s also important to the Kurians and Novans. We have to show a strong, united front against prejudice. For the most part, I haven’t experienced any myself, but I’ve also kept a low profile.”
“Because you wanted to remain under our radar,” Donnell cuts in. “Your father told us about you.”
“And just what did he say?” I snap. Knowing my father, he wouldn’t have had anything nice to say about me, which is why I avoided this whole trap in the beginning.
The general and the representative glance at each other.
“Look.” I lean forward. “If you don’t think that having a Kurian on this case is a good idea, I don’t know how to say this, but you’re wrong. You need to have a unified front on this. Frankie targeted Nina because she wants to go to Kuria. If that continues to happen, women won’t want to go there. The Kurians will go the way of the Novans, and we’ll die out. Did you forget how the Novans came in and saved your sorry asses? Because, yes, you were fighting back, but from what I understand, you weren’t winning the war.”
A hand touches my knee, and I close my eyes. Isabella. Her mom. She fought in the war, and I’m a complete and total ovian bastard.
"My mom fought in that war, and she used to tell me all the time that if the Novans hadn't shown up when they had, she would've died. As it was, she became seriously injured in her efforts to save us," Isabella says firmly. She stands. "Strol and I will see this through. If we have to play by the rules, so be it."
I stand too. "No. We play by my rules. I'm taking point on this. Frankie made this personal when he went after Nina because of her wanting to go to my planet."
Isabel
la stiffens slightly. I glance at her, and then I realize she’s not upset that I called Kuria my planet. She’s trying to hide a smile.
I lift my eyebrows, and she mouths, “Overlord.”
I roll my eyes and refocus on General Janius and Donnell. “This is unprecedented, this attack, or has there been incidents of prejudice against Novans and Kurians on Earth before?”
The general clears her throat and eyes the representative.
Donnell coughs. “There was one incident, yes.”
“Just one?” I press firmly, lifting my eyebrows.
“Well, one town. The issue has been dealt with, let me assure you. The mayor of that town is actually in a relationship with a Kurian.”
“Which one?” I ask, curious now.
“Dax I do believe is his name.”
“Ah, I will have to talk to him and the mayor,” I say firmly. “Does my father know about this?
“I, ah, I do not know,” Donnell admits.
"Well, that is unfortunate because I do believe it would be in the best interests of the Novans and Kurians to know how exactly the Earthlings see us." I glower at them. "Don't you agree?"
“Yes,” the general admits.
Donnell nods. “Perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement.” He eyes the general.
The general wearily rubs her forehead. “I’ll admit that this is a, ah, sensitive situation. We cannot allow anyone to think that cruelty toward Novans or Kurians or their sympathizers will be tolerated. A united front will go a long way to showing that none of us will stand for such actions.”
“Then we’re agreed?” Isabella asks. “Strol will take the lead on this. I will go with him.”
“How many men does this Frankie have under his thrall?” the general asks.
Nina clears her throat. “Thirteen, but I don’t know if Kyle could’ve survived.”
“You saw?” Isabella asks her.
“That he climbed into that plane? Yes. There’s a window in the captain’s quarters. I was watching. I didn’t know why you came, but I’m grateful you did.” Nina sits on the edge of her seat. “Is there any chance—”
“No,” the general, representative, and I all say at the same time.
“I think you’ve done enough,” Isabella says softly. “We’ll take it from here.”
“How many soldiers will you need?” the general asks.
I grin and make a short list of demands that the general readily agrees to, and I rub my hands. Frankie might have gotten away on his boat, but he won’t be free for much longer.
18
Isabella
The combat gear I’m wearing fits like a second skin, and for whatever reason, it feels good, right even. Like I was made to wear this. A sense of comradery hits me as the other soldiers joke around with each other. We’re all gearing up and getting ready to ship out, and the others all know each other. I don’t know any of them, and I wonder whatever happened to Greg and Derek.
I get a few nods, and I nod back and then ease my way to the front of the line where Strol is talking to the general.
“Do we know where Frankie is going?” I ask Strol.
The general eyes me and nods. “We do. Once we learned who it was that took Nina, we did a background check on him. He has some property along a shore, accessible by the water he’s currently on.”
“You mean you assume he’s on.”
“No. We have aerial coverage above him, and we have eyes on him now. As much as I would like to just blow his boat sky-high, it would be better to have him locked up and put away to deter future attempts.”
I lift my eyebrows. “You sure about that? Because being executed for—”
“Our aim is peace,” the general says coolly. “Unless you have no choice, you do not kill them.”
“Roger that. I can’t promise I won’t knee him in the nuts again.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I never said you couldn’t do that.”
I gape at her and then I grin as she winks at me.
Strol clears his throat. "We know where our target is headed. We can be there in half an hour. With the speed of his ship, that gives us roughly ten minutes ahead of his arrival time. We're going to need to hustle, move out, and cover the house without making it noticeable that we're there."
“And if he thinks something’s up, and he just continues to stay on his boat?” someone asks.
“We have a boat waiting for you,” the general says. “You can race to it and follow him on that. There’s already a crew on it who can handle directing it where you’ll need to go, but I’m hoping that’s a precaution we won’t need to utilize.”
“Don’t worry, General. We won’t need it. Will we?” Strol asks.
“No!”
Shouting that response with the others warms my heart. It feels good to be one on the team, and even though Strol is the lead on this, I still feel like we’re one, that we’re fighting Frankie together, not that I’m his underling. That can’t change if we’re to ever move forward in our relationship, and I don’t think I have to worry about that. Strol cares about me. Who knows? He might even love me, and I just know that deep down, we can both have what we want, and if that’s each other, well, then, it’ll happen.
It doesn’t take us long to move out, and I jog with the others to the centuriclimos. This one has been outfitted to be faster than most. It’s sleep, built like a bullet, and it cuts through the air seamlessly.
Frankie’s place looks like a heavy wind would knock it over. It’s thin but long, and a few of us head inside to wait there. Strol and I and plenty of others take refuge in the surrounding foliage, hiding and waiting.
It takes precisely two minutes for Frankie’s boat to come into view. I wish I could have binoculars to be able to see him, but we were told not to bring them. The angle of the sun and the glinting of the light reflecting would have alerted Frankie to our presence, so that’s a no-go.
A spot on my upper back itches, but I ignore it. My thigh muscles are already growing tight from crouching, but I stay low, using a tall bush to hide me. My rifle is raised, but I can’t line up a shot, not from this angle. Even if I stood, I wouldn’t be able to aim. The boat is a tall one.
The water laps lazily, and the boat isn’t moving all that swiftly. If he’s going to dock, he’s about two minutes out yet, and I glance over at Strol. He’s staring straight at the point, and then he shouts, “Get down!”
A volley of gunfire sweeps out from the boat. Frankie’s shooting up his own house. Did he know that we’re here? Is he just guessing we’re here? Or has he gone entirely mad?
It’s when he has his boat start to turn sideways to line up his cannons with the house that Strol shouts out a curse.
“Should we fall back to the ship?” I ask him.
“No. Concentrate all of your fire on the ship. Aim for beneath the cannons. Let’s sink him,” Strol says.
The orders quickly make their way through down the line, and I nod to him and head to the back of the house to tell those inside and also to check on them. No one appears injured, and the ones I first find start to fire on the boat. The firing sounds impressive, but I also know we have only a few minutes before we’re going to have to evacuate the building if we can’t sink those cannons and the boat.
But then I smell blood. One of the soldiers did get hit.
“Just a flesh wound,” she says when I see her.
She’s right. It’s a graze but right on her neck, and I quickly yank out a First Aid kit and bandage her up.
“How are we looking?” I shout as I grab my rifle.
Before anyone can answer, there’s a tremendous roar. I brace myself, waiting for a cannonball to sear through the wall, but nothing happens.
Then, a raucous cheer goes up.
I race to the nearest window.
The boat. It’s heavily leaning on one side, the cannons all submerged. Several of Frankie’s goons are jumping into the water, abandoning ship, trying to swim away.
; Two other soldiers help the wounded one out even though she protests that she’s fine. I’m already racing way ahead of them and glance around as soon as I hit the shore.
Strol is nowhere in sight.
There he is. I see his blue head bobbing in the water. He’s swimming to the boat.
All around me, other soldiers are capturing Frankie’s goons, arresting them. They aren’t putting up much of a fuss, but Frankie… Where is he? I didn’t think he would be the kind to go down with his ship. I’m betting he has something up his sleeve.
I dive into the water. Strol has a far lead on me, but he also hasn’t been swimming his entire life. In fact, he’s more or else trying to drag himself through the water rather than swimming.
It’s not an easy feat, but I swim as fast as I can, and I’m almost there beside him when I hear footsteps on the boat. No, not on the boat. In it.
Strol ducks down, and he doesn't submerge. I have a feeling he's entering the ship through the cannon holes, and I duck down to see. Yes. We did knock some of the cannons down, so there is a gaping hole.
I swim up to the surface, inhale deeply, and submerge myself, heading for that opening. It takes me a bit to find where I have to go to get my head above water, and my lungs burn, my chest heaving by the time I reach the surface.
Strol is there, gasping and heaving away. He’s barely able to roll over onto his stomach, but I’m already on my feet, trying to find a way to walk despite the tilted surface of the boat.
“Don’t come any closer,” Frankie says darkly.
I stare at him. He has a wild look in his eye, and he’s holding a match near barrels.
He grins as he follows my gaze. "I'll blow this ship up sky-high. I don't give a rat's ass if I die too, but you two fuckers have cost me everything. I love—"
“You don’t love Nina. You just wanted to fuck her, and she told you to go fuck yourself. Then she decided she wanted to go to Kuria to help them technology, and you—”
Dazzled by the Alien Daredevil: An Alien Abduction Romance (The Kurians Book 5) Page 11