by Kelly Goode
Jonah smiled. He liked to read during his limited spare time and had selected the code name from Moby Dick; the elusive whale that was relentlessly pursued, but not captured. It was a tale of single-minded obsession that highlighted how far one person was willing to go in their quest for revenge.
‘Who’s calling?’ Jonah finally asked. ‘Where did you get this number from?’
The random voice distortion application on his phone masked his real tone and sometimes made him sound like a five-year-old girl, but this time, his words were clipped and gruff.
‘I was told you were the one to contact for information,’ the caller replied shakily. ‘No questions asked.’
‘If we’re going to do business, I’m going to need to ask questions. For starters, how are you going to pay me?’
‘Cash.’
Jonah could almost feel the caller’s desperation leaking through the phone. This one was primed and ready to reel in. It would be an easy pay-day.
‘Not cash. If I walk into a bank with a suitcase of notes, it’ll trigger an inquiry.’
‘So how do you want to be paid?’
‘Off-shore bank transfer.’
That way there was an electronic trail leading back to his caller and Jonah would be able to establish who he was doing business with. Dealing with someone without knowing their background was careless and he was no fool.
‘Ok. Ok. I can transfer the money.’
‘I want ten thousand up front.’
The caller spluttered. ‘You want me to pay you ten thousand pounds before I’ve even told you what I want. That’s ridiculous.’
‘I know what you want; what every desperate man that calls the whale wants. It’s ten thousand up front, and then I decide if I take you on as a client.’
‘Preposterous. No way. No way.’
‘You called me, remember. If you’re not serious, then I bid you good night.’
Jonah pretended to end the call, but he could hear a tinny voice shouting in protest.
‘No wait. I said wait.’
Jonah lifted the phone back to his ear.
‘I’m a busy man. Are you serious or not?’
‘I’m serious.’
‘Good, I’ll send you a message with my bank details on. I want the money deposited tonight. Call this number again in twenty four hours and we’ll talk.’
‘And that’s it?’
‘That’s it.’
‘But don’t you want me to tell you what information I need?’
‘I told you I already know.’
‘You couldn’t possibly-’
‘You want information on an ex-girlfriend,’ Jonah cut in and the caller inhaled sharply, which told him he’d guessed correctly. The man had spurned, jealous lover oozing from his voice.
‘How did you know? What game are you playing?’
‘No games. I’m deadly serious when it comes to business. Deposit the money and call me in twenty four hours. Goodbye.’
He ended the call and looked towards the house that Lydia had disappeared inside. Single-minded obsession was something he could relate to especially since the small human with dark hair and sharp eyes had aroused unexpected desires.
For the first time since crashing to Earth, Jonah was ready to pursue a mate at any cost.
7
Lydia rubbed her eyes and tried to contain the yawn that begged for release. She hadn’t slept well. Even though her bones had ached and her mind had begged for the freedom of sleep, she couldn’t ignore the strange sensation that someone was watching her. She’d looked out of the bedroom window a few times, but only caught sight of a dog lurking in the shadows.
‘Any idea when Doctor Malone will be returning?’ she asked Chief Melman as he finished reading the last of her reports. She studied his face for any subtle signs that he was anxious or worried by her question, but he just tugged on the ends of his dark moustache and shook his head.
‘He asked to extend his leave.’
That didn’t sound like the man Lydia worked for. Malone was even more zealous about spending time at the ISCU than she was. He didn’t even take weekends off, let alone a fortnight without explanation. Adam’s theory about the chief keeping them in the dark for some unknown reason was gathering momentum and she felt her unease increase.
‘Does he know about his house being broken into?’ she asked carefully.
‘No.’
‘Don’t you think you should tell him? I confirmed the blood sample taken from the jaktten you shot trespassing on Carson’s property matches a DNA sample found in his basement. He might be in danger.’
‘He’s not in danger.’
‘What about the rest of us? Are we in danger?’
The chief checked his phone, as it beeped to alert him to an incoming message. Whatever he saw on the screen caused him to frown.
‘Sorry, Lydia but we’ll have to finish this later. I need to speak to someone.’
‘What’s wrong?’
He stood up from his chair and she gathered her papers and files.
‘Nothing is wrong. I was waiting for Blake to return to HQ and his key code accessed the first floor a few minutes ago. I need to speak with him.’
‘Are you tracking all our key codes?’ she asked, recalling how her security had failed to open the restricted files.
‘Just the people I don’t trust.’
Lydia considered this. ‘Do you trust me?’
‘Until you give me reason not to.’
She was about to question him further when an alarm screeched above her head. She clamped her hands over her ears.
‘Since when do you have an alarm in your office?’
‘Since someone broke in and murdered Ted,’ he replied, and pressed the communicator located on wrist. ‘All agents on high alert; secure the lobby.’
‘What’s in the lobby?’ Lydia asked tentatively.
‘An alien.’
Her grip loosened, as she recalled the grotesque human-mutant she’d seen in his office after Sheridan’s grandfather’s death and her papers slipped from their files and fluttered to the floor like falling petals. She didn’t have time to retrieve them, as the chief strode out of his office.
‘You’re not an agent, Lydia. You don’t have to follow me,’ he said after she’d caught up to him at the lift.
‘I know that, but I might be able to help.’
There was some small part of her that knew she should go back to the laboratory and lock herself in, but curiosity had her running towards an alien this time, rather than away from it. She allowed the chief to exit the lift ahead of her. She was curious, not stupid.
She didn’t have a weapon, but quickly realised Blake and Carson already had the situation under control. They had their guns pointed at a small, slim woman with flaming red hair. Her companion was a giant of a man with long dark hair and striking blue eyes. He carried a bundle of bloody fur in his muscular arms, and his clothes looked as if he’d had a fight with a shredding machine. Ribbons of cotton danced when he moved and she could see he was badly injured too.
‘You’re late, doc,’ Carson said to the red-head, her voice sounding flat as usual. ‘You were supposed to surrender the microchip this morning.’
Lydia slowed to a stop, as she realised the woman was Doctor Helen Peters. What was she doing bringing an alien to HQ?
‘I don’t have time to explain,’ Helen said. ‘Tell the chief I’m here to trade the data for asylum.’
‘You can bloody well tell me yourself,’ Chief Melman replied, as he folded his arms over his chest.
‘I need your help,’ Helen said. ‘I’ll trade the microchip for access to your medical facilities.’
‘And what’s stopping me from just taking the chip from you?’
The injured man growled. It was an aggressive sound that Lydia had only heard a wild animal make when she’d visited the zoo.
‘This jaktten was injured tonight,’ he said, raising the bundle of fur. ‘Maybe fatall
y. Is there anyone in your unit that can treat her wounds?’
Lydia felt compelled to answer his plea.
‘I can help,’ she said, striding towards the group.
‘Who are you?’ Helen asked.
‘My name is Lydia Waters. I’ve been running the ISCU laboratories in Doctor Malone’s absence.’
‘Have you studied jaktten anatomy? Do know how to treat their injuries?’
Lydia shook her head, but tried to project the air of confidence. ‘Not exactly, but I am the number one consultant in the UK on alien anthropology.’
‘That’s because you’re the only consultant on alien anthropology,’ Carson muttered.
Lydia’s eyes narrowed, wishing the woman would keep her thoughts to herself. She didn’t want everyone knowing she was out of her league.
‘I’m keen to study all alien behaviour and societies,’ she replied evenly. ‘I promise to help the jaktten while you help your friend. He looks as if he is going to collapse at any moment.’
The man’s face was slick with sweat, as he wobbled on his feet.
‘Give me the microchip,’ Chief Melman said, holding out his hand to Helen. ‘You have twenty-four hours to do whatever needs to be done in the medical bay while Lydia examines the alien as best she can.’
Blake stepped forward and took the bloodied jaktten from the injured man.
‘Let me carry her down to the lab, while you get cleaned up,’ he said.
Lydia’s heart raced inside her chest, as the enormity of what she’d agreed to do suddenly hit her. She needed as much help as she could get.
‘Carson, I’ll need your help too,’ she said reluctantly. ‘Adam went home, so I don’t have an assistant.’
‘Never thought I’d say this, Lydia but I’m all yours.’
8
Lydia’s emotions fluctuated between excitement and dread, as she entered the laboratory. This was her domain, the place she controlled, but despite her speech earlier, it was far easier to dispose of the aliens than save them.
‘Where shall I put her?’ Blake asked, as he cradled the injured alien in his arm, and not just any alien – a jaktten. A species Lydia had only recently encountered in Doctor Malone’s secret laboratory when they’d been called in to process the crime scene.
‘How do you know it’s female?’ Carson asked, and her tone was more accusatory than Lydia had heard her use with Blake before.
‘I just do.’
‘We need to find something to lay her on,’ Lydia said, hoping to diffuse whatever atmosphere was building between the two agents. She had a living, breathing jaktten, and she wanted to keep it that way, but judging from the way Carson’s hand kept hovering over the gun on her belt, she didn’t feel the same way.
‘Carson, there should be a gurney in the back. Go get it.’
Carson muttered something as she walked towards the set of double doors that led through to the main operating theatre, but before she could reach them, the doors opened outwards and Adam appeared.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked.
‘I thought you went home for the evening,’ Lydia replied, trying to hide the fact she was actually relieved to see him for a change.
‘I did go home, but I got an update on those sealed files and...’
Adam was wearing a white lab coat and protective goggles, and his voice trailed off when he noticed Carson standing there.
‘Oh, hey, hi, I didn’t see you there,’ he said, as he quickly removed the googles and smoothed down his hair, as if embarrassed she’d caught him in full geek-mode.
‘Doctor Peters brought in an injured jaktten,’ Carson told him and his eyes widened, either with surprise or excitement, maybe both, it was hard to tell.
‘Fuck. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to curse at you. What happened? Where’s the alien?’
‘We don’t have time to explain,’ Blake growled and the gravelly timbre of his voice filled the entire room and made Lydia jolt. ‘Get the fucking gurney from out back. She’s lost a lot of blood and I can feel her heartbeat slowing.’
Adam’s chin lifted, as he broke out of his stupor.
‘Yes, right, fuck, ok.’
He disappeared through the double doors with Carson, and they came back wheeling a steel gurney that was usually used for alien autopsies. Blake winced as he laid her down.
‘Did the jaktten hurt you?’ Lydia asked, and Blake shook his head a little too quickly for her liking.
‘No, it’s an old injury. I’m ok,’ he said, although she noted he rubbed his chest when he spoke.
Carson made a strange noise in the back of her throat and threw a murderous look in Blake’s direction, which confirmed something was going on between the two of them.
‘The jaktten is female,’ Blake repeated, focusing on the furry form on the gurney rather than his partner. ‘She has several deep lacerations to her stomach and bite marks to her head and legs.’
‘Adam, prep whatever instruments we have,’ Lydia instructed. ‘We’re still not operating at one hundred percent after the break-in, but I need to inspect those wounds for signs of infection.’
Adam flew around the laboratory like a whirlwind, gathering what she needed and laying them out on the workspace beside the gurney. His eyes were still a little wild, but Lydia couldn’t blame him for his reaction. Neither of them had seen a live jaktten before. They resembled wolves, but on a much larger scale. Their heads and paws were huge, and if this was a female, she guessed the males were probably double the size.
Lydia put on rubber gloves and rubbed the alien’s glossy fur, which felt remarkably soft even beneath her latex-covered fingers. She examined the wounds across the head first, which were clean and thankfully not deep, but the stomach laceration was another matter.
‘The flesh has been sliced through to muscle,’ she said. ‘It’ll need stitching.’
She pressed gently on the jaktten’s stomach and it howled in response.
‘Shit, she’s regaining consciousness,’ Carson said and withdrew her gun. ‘Everyone step back.’
Lydia hesitated, as she didn’t want to stop applying pressure to the wound now she’d opened it up. Blake stepped forward and held the jaktten carefully by the shoulders, but firm enough to stop its teeth from making contact with Lydia’s arm as it thrashed on the gurney.
‘Carson, put your weapon down,’ he ordered. ‘We need to sedate the jaktten, not kill it.’
Carson didn’t comply at first and Blake’s eyes seemed to flash from green to golden, but Lydia put it down to a trick of the light. His biceps bulged as he continued to restrain the howling jaktten. Adam joined him and together they held her in place.
‘I’ll put my gun away once the danger is neutralised. Lydia, do you think you can hurry up and tranquilise this damn alien?’
‘Let me think for a second. I could kill her if I get the dose wrong.’
‘I don’t care. The jaktten in Doctor Malone’s basement nearly killed me so I’m not prepared to take any chances. Although if she breaks free and rampages through this laboratory, given the mood I’m in, I might let her eat a few of you before I actually pull the trigger.’
Lydia took Blake’s hand and pressed it against the wound so she could move. She took a standard syringe from the drawer and filled it with a healthy dose of ketamine.
‘Ketamine is widely used in veterinary medicine,’ Lydia said. ‘This should sedate her and help manage her pain while I work to close the wound.’
Lydia slid the needle into the underbelly of the alien and pressed the plunger to dispense the drug.
‘Are you sure this is going to work?’ Blake asked.
‘No.’
Blake looked as if he wanted to say something else, but in the end, he just held the alien until she stopped struggling and finally stilled. Adam wiped his brow and Carson holstered her gun, giving Lydia a few seconds to catch her breath and check that the alien was asleep and not dead. The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest was clearly a
relief to everyone except Carson.
Lydia removed her gloves and disposed of them. ‘Adam, hook the jaktten up to the monitors so we can check her heart rate and blood pressure. I also want fresh blood samples and saliva taken for future tests.’
She turned to Carson and Blake.
‘Thank you for your help, but I need you both to leave,’ she said.
Carson didn’t hesitate to storm out of the laboratory, but Blake shook his head.
‘I want to stay.’
‘There’s nothing more you can do and I need the space to work. As I said earlier, we’re still recovering from the place being vandalised and I don’t have things set up as I’d like. I’ll let you know if anything changes. I promise.’
Blake reluctantly conceded and left the same way as Carson had. Once the door slammed closed, Lydia turned to Adam. There was still an important question that needed answering before she could concentrate on the jaktten.
‘Who did the sealed file belong to?’ she asked and he exhaled loudly.
‘God, I nearly fucked up earlier. I wasn’t expecting a welcoming committee, so I nearly blurted out that it was Carson’s file that I managed to hack. Her DNA matched the sample we took from the warehouse. That’s why I came back. Should we tell her?’
Lydia shook her head, although the notion that the Invasive Species Control Unit’s best agent might share alien DNA wasn’t implausible. Carson appeared super-human in the way she fought and survived attack after attack.
‘Not yet,’ Lydia replied. ‘It could still be a mistake. You’ll need a fresh sample to test.’
‘I can’t just walk up to Carson and ask her for her blood.’
‘Sure you can. She’ll listen to you. Tell her we need to eliminate her DNA from the crime scene.’
Adam didn’t seem convinced, but he nodded his head. ‘I’ll speak to her after we’ve treated the jaktten.’
He ran his hand over the alien’s fur. ‘At least I can say I’ve seen my first alien now. She’s beautiful. I can’t believe this species has been living on the planet without us knowing. There’s so much they can tell us. So much we can share.’