by Marie Dry
“Does this Morgan know where the secret labs and the scientists are?”
“I think he might. He was one of Parnell’s most trusted men.” He didn’t have to nearly kill himself to prove himself worthy of being in the inner circle.
Those piercing eyes seemed to look into her soul. “We will fly to New York and do a search.”
“Fly?” She couldn’t help the excited bounce that wobbled the camp chair beneath her. She’d get to fly. Even the worry for her family couldn’t dampen her excitement over that prospect.
“Yes.” He reached out and took her hands in his and brought her clenched fists to his lips. Rose thought his lips would be slimy and wet or dry and scurvy or something. The one time he’d pressed his lips to her, he’d pinched them tightly together. His lips touched her knuckles and they were warm and soft. And they belonged to one of the aliens that captured Parnell. So why was her heart melting at his gesture? “We will prevent the bomb in Portland from detonating.”
She pulled her hand back and glared at him. So much for tender gestures. “You knew all along my family lives there?”
“Yes.”
What else did he know? “And you said nothing about it until it suited you?”
“I found you entertaining. Your family does not interest me. Why would I say anything about them?”
Entertaining? She’d show him entertaining once they found that bomb. “All right then. How do we find this bomb? Maybe we should go to Portland first.” Would her father be willing to see her? Maybe her brother would be willing to get to know her now. It had been years since she’d trashed his room. She’d been so angry then; at her mother’s death; her father blaming her and pretending she didn’t exist, lavishing all his love and attention on her little brother who’d never known their mother.
“No, we will start in New York with the human who wrote that symbol for your attention.”
“Don’t you have some superior alien gadgets that can help us find the missing scientists? How else can we find a bomb or the scientists in such a large city?” Fear skittered over her flesh, it seemed so impossible. Where would they even start?
“Normally we would send out probes to find the bombs, but the signal is blocked. We are also blocked when we do DNA searches.”
She frowned. She’d been facetious when she’d asked about their gadgets. “You have machines sophisticated enough to track DNA?” The news about the alien occupation just kept getting better and better.
“Yes.”
“Then how come we lowly humans can block you tracking us? After all, your equipment is superior. What aren’t you telling me?”
“I told you everything you need to know,” he said with such arrogance, Rose clenched her fists, but then forced herself to relax. She needed to stay focused, for the sake of her family. For humanity. “If we’re going to work together, we have to trust each other and share information.”
His sharp teeth flashed bright in the light of the fire. “You can trust me and I will tell you what you need to know.”
His sheer stubborn arrogance made her want to thump him on the head. But she was getting nowhere with this argument, and they had to work together to save her family from that bomb. For now. “I need to warn my family.”
He pinned her with a sharp stare. “They said if anyone leaves Portland, they will detonate the bomb.”
Rose doubted she could get through to talk to her father or Benjamin anyway. And if she did manage it, chances were good they wouldn’t believe her. “What are we going to do?” No matter what, she wouldn’t allow her family to be harmed.
“No need to make that facial expression; we have some swords hidden in our shields.”
She very much doubted that. They wouldn’t have let her escape to get her help if they had any other options. What exactly were they dealing with here?
“What facial expression?”
He demonstrated, pulling his face in an exaggerated grimace. His skin wasn’t as pliable as hers and he ended up looking odd with his lips curling and his eyes wide.
She had to laugh and had the impression he was pleased. She had to stop ascribing emotions to him that he probably didn’t even feel. “I don’t look like that. So I suppose we are going to New York.”
“It would be the logical place to start. The scientists know where the weapons are.”
Rose stared at him and it suddenly all made sense. “It’s one of you that’s doing this. That’s why you can’t track the weapons with your ‘superior technology.’”
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“No, first tell me about the alien that wants to detonate the bomb.” It was the only explanation. One of the aliens who’d come to Earth with Zanr and the others wanted a bigger slice of the pie.
“That is information you do not need to know.”
“If we are going to work together, I need to know everything.”
“You only need to know what I tell you,” he said again. He stood and looked down at her.
She jumped up, as well. “Are you being serious?”
“Yes.”
She glared at him. “That was sarcasm, you ass. You sound like a broken record.”
“What is a broken record?”
“It’s an old saying. If you tell someone they sound like a broken record, it means they are repeating themselves. I have no idea what a broken record is exactly.” She waved her hand. “Never mind. You have to agree that we are partners or I’m not helping you.” She was proud of herself for sounding so assertive. As if she actually knew something that would help them in their search.
He cocked his head. “We will be partners in the search for the laboratories and the scientists. I am the warrior partner and will tell you what you need to know.”
Rose sighed; this was going in circles. But before this was over, she’d make him see her as an equal. Time to move onto a subject that made her skin crawl. “New York has had several epidemics these last few decades, and on top of that, most of the city is flooded. I don’t want to come down with some horrific illness while I’m looking for weapons.”
“I will keep you safe from any illness.” He put out the fire by holding his hand above it. Rose shook her head. She didn’t even want to know.
She walked toward the truck. “I won’t stop asking, you know. Sooner or later you will tell me about that alien who wants to bomb us.”
Could this mysterious alien be a potential ally? ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and all that. Or maybe the enemy of my enemy is a worse enemy and even harder to defeat. She was only a trainee—how was she supposed to handle something this momentous? Where were the people that were supposed to step into Parnell’s shoes?
“We are looking for human scientists and weapons, not a Zyrgin,” he said.
She snorted her disbelief. Somehow she’d get to the true story. A wonderful thought occurred to her. “You said we will fly? In your spaceship? Can a spaceship fly inside Earth’s atmosphere?”
He flashed very sharp, very white teeth at her and grunted. The truck shimmered and changed until in its place stood a rectangular silver shuttle. Rose stumbled back, then had to suppress the urge to squeal. She’d never seen anything like it. She’d never admit it to him, but this was superior technology.
“How did you do that? How do I go inside?” The Zyrgin technology was wonderful, but the thought of battling such an advanced race with access to such technology scared her. If they’d only been a few aliens, maybe humanity stood a chance. But the clip he’d played had shown thousands upon thousands of aliens marching through the streets.
He grunted again, and a door slid open and a ramp appeared. “So, all the time I thought I was riding in a truck it was a spaceship?”
“Shuttle and yes.”
She didn’t know what intimidated her more: the fact that he had a small spaceship to fly around in, or that he’d been able to make her think it was a truck. “Can I go inside?”
“Yes.”
/> She ran to the ramp and then cautiously walked up and into the shuttle. Somehow, she was going to steal this shuttle. Maybe after this, she might get the superman crack case. Her heat sank. Except Parnell wasn’t around anymore to give her the case. And she was beginning to wonder if he ever meant to give it to her.
But if she managed to bring home some alien technology? If there was an afterwards? Maybe someone would award her the case, give her recognition for her efforts to fight the aliens. And from stopping the bombs from detonating.
It wasn’t very big inside and rather spartan. The seats were hard-looking metal benches. Remembering how soft his uniform was, she carefully sat down. The seat remained hard. At the front, there were two chairs that looked as if they could swivel. She went to sit down on the right, but he moved her over to the left, with gentle, warm hands, and sat down in the seat on the right.
“So where did the truck go? It was much bigger than this shuttle.”
He sighed. Overly dramatically if you asked her. “Your puny brain cannot comprehend superior Zyrgin technology.”
She stabbed one of the buttons flashing on the screen in front of them, to punish him for that bit of arrogance. “Don’t bet on it.”
He flashed a mouthful of sharp teeth and took her hand off the panel. “I always bet on it.”
There was something seriously wrong with her because his smile wasn’t as ugly as she thought it in the beginning and she enjoyed sparring with this alien who was the enemy. “Before you start patting yourself on the back, just remember that your so-called superior technology can’t track those scientists.”
“Why would I want to pat my own back.” He grunted and the shuttle vibrated.
She briefly looked up at the roof and shook her head. “Never mind.”
Rose watched closely while he barely touched the console and grunted at the same time. She figured the grunting might be his language, which meant he flew the shuttle with a combination of spoken commands and touching buttons. She couldn’t see any logic or sequence to the way he touched the buttons. And unless she learned to grunt like an alien, she was going to need him to do the flying—for now, because if it was the last thing she did, she’d steal this spaceship. Even if she had to tow it with a donkey.
“You may pat my back anytime,” he said once they were in the air.
The landscape sped past beneath them at incredible speed; she was awed at the experience. Flying was for the rich and powerful, and even her family only had one very old plane. She’d never flown on it. “Are we flying faster than a plane?”
“Of course, your planes are unwieldy and dangerous.”
“They are not.” Actually she’d never volunteer to fly in the family plane, but she wasn’t about to admit it to him.
“Humans haven’t built any new planes for at least fifty years. The existing planes are dangerous to be in.”
She didn’t know that. But now that she thought about it, she hadn’t heard of any of the powerful families having new planes.
“Parnell is not the human you think him,” he said suddenly, New York’s distinctive skyline appearing in the distance.
“Don’t you dare insult the Director again. Nothing will convince me he had anything to do with the raider camps.” He’d been quite loud in his displeasure at the way they managed to multiply. At least she had no doubts on that score. “You’re not fit to lick his boots.”
“I do not wish to lick his boots.” Pure disdain. “He did create the raider camps and was involved with the murder of your previous president.”
White-hot rage jerked her around to glare at him. “How dare you say that? Take that back. Mr. Parnell was, is like a father to me.” She had to believe he was still alive and that she’d manage to free him eventually.
“A father does not bury his daughter alive,” he said with no discernable emotion.
“Yeah, right, like parents don’t abandon their babies in the desert.” She bit her lip. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” No matter if he was the enemy, she knew the pain he must’ve felt when his family abandoned him.
Chapter Eleven
He was silent for a long time, and she was desperately thinking of a way to get past her unthoughtful words when he said, “It is the truth.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have said that.” He might have been trying to sound matter-of-fact, but she heard the underlying pain.
She would find a way to free the Director. He’d promised her when she’d proved herself, that he would help her with her family. Again, she had that unsettling doubt creeping into her mind. Proving herself had seemed so logical. Seeing it through Zanr’s eyes changed the picture. But if he was right, she’d been a monumental fool. No, he was just trying to turn her against her own people. This last year had honed her, focused her, and made her stronger.
“Stop saying that. It’s all lies, and it doesn’t matter how many times you say it, it will never be true.” The Director laughed with Morgan when he put you in the hole. She firmly quashed that little voice. The distinctive skyline of New York City appeared in the distance.
But a niggle of doubt remained and she blamed the blasted alien for putting ideas into her head. It was just a tactic to turn her against Parnell, she had to remember that. Faster than she thought possible, they reached the city. She leaned forward, eager to see more. When she joined the department, she’d thought she would travel and see the country. Instead she’d spent more time in a shallow grave, proving herself. Now she was eager to see as much of New York as she could.
She flinched when they narrowly missed a building. “Is it wise to fly this low?”
He flashed her that mouth full of teeth again. “No, but it is more fun.” He was right, it was scary and exhilarating. New York had gone through several disastrous epidemics and riots, about a century ago, and an earthquake had flattened a large area of the city and caused a massive flood. Somehow the people of New York always managed to rise again—to save their city. Even now, with disease rife, many of the inhabitants refused to leave. Most of the areas close to the water line had to be abandoned. Some iconic buildings had been moved piece by piece in the Golden Age and were erected again away from the rising waters. Some had been duplicated by people determined to keep their distinctive skyline. The image Morgan had left on the concrete slab had been of one of the iconic buildings built many centuries ago.
“Aren’t you afraid someone will see us and shoot at us?” A big part of the city was overrun with well-armed criminals. The original city was permanently flooded, but desperate sections of humanity and some very dangerous people lived in the buildings where the water was ankle deep in areas and hip deep in others.
“We are camouflaged.” He glanced at her and then back at the controls.
“You mean no one can see us? Can they hear us?” She’d heard some of the other agents talk about similar technology they’d had in the Golden Age. Among those were rumored to be weapons that rendered you invisible. But Rose had her doubts about that one. It had become fashionable among her colleagues to pretend knowledge of fantastical weapons that existed in the Golden Age, and that some lucky agent would find them and get promoted for it.
“The humans cannot see or hear us,” he said as if talking to a small child who wasn’t very bright.
Something about the camouflage tugged at her mind, but she couldn’t quite grasp what.
“If you are to remain safe, you have to follow my command exactly,” he said.
She pressed her nose against the shuttle wall to see more of the city beneath them. “If you say so,” Rose said, not really listening as she stared down at the city. He was taking them to one of the tallest buildings whose pavements were under water. It was difficult to judge from up here, but it looked as if she’d have water up to her ankles if she walked down there.
The aliens fixed the roads and buildings in Washington, and as Zanr had said, when he still pretended to be human, they were going to fix the other cities. But non
e of the highways she driven on had been repaired.
She turned away from staring at the view and glared at him. “I know what you’re doing. You’re repairing the cities, but not the roads leading to them. You’re going to isolate us in the cities.”
It was diabolically clever—make the cities a good place to live in and traveling difficult, and they had humans nicely cooped up. If they’d made a decree that no one was allowed to leave the cities, most people would’ve rebelled. This way they got to contain humans without putting up with rebellion. What else did they plan for humanity?
He set them down on top of a tall building and then turned to face her. “We cannot allow humans to move around freely.”
“Who do you think you are to allow us anything?” she screeched. She really wanted to punch him. Who the hell did they think they were, moving in and trying to take over? And trying was all it would be in the end. She wouldn’t rest until she stopped them.
He touched his ear, a brief movement, and then stood and helped her up out of the seat. “Do not make that noise. And why would I not admit to isolating humans in the cities? We are doing it.”
“Unbelievable.” His arrogance was going to be his downfall. She’d make sure of it. “Are all Zyrgins this arrogant?”
“We are not arrogant. Warriors are superior, hardworking, humble people.”
Rose gaped at him, open-mouthed. Did he hear himself? She shrugged and went to the door, or tried to. The alien held her in place with that gentle hand on her upper arm. It really galled her that he could do it without hurting her, while she would have to hurt him to detain him, and she doubted she could even do that.
He pinned her with that evil red gaze. “You will wear a uniform while we are here. I brought one for you. I will make it fit you in a loose way, to hide your extreme beauty from other males. We cannot lose time if I have to fight them for you. Even weak humans.”
For a moment she forgot her desperate need to be out in the open. Extreme beauty? Her? The woman they’d called a scrawny runt in school? She knew her hair was her best feature, and enough men wanted to date her, so she didn’t have any problems with her own appearance. But extreme beauty?