Under Darkness (A Sci-Fi Thriller) (Scott Standalones Book 1)

by Jasper T. Scott

  Bill’s eyes followed that gesture, and he frowned. One second the moon was shining through those windows, sparkling on the water and the flight deck below, and the next it was gone.

  A moment after that, Chinese officers began exclaiming excitedly amongst each other and pointing out the windows.

  The admiral turned to look and strode quickly up to the windows.

  “Guess they got tired of hiding,” Don whispered.

  “Why now?” Bill asked. And then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the dark shadow in the sky was gone, and the moon came blazing through the windows once more. “Must have been a mistake...”

  Admiral Shengli began snapping orders to his crew. Then he snapped his fingers and pointed to Bill, Don, and Beth, giving an order to the marines holding them. They reacted by manhandling them toward the exit.

  “Hey,” Don complained. “Where are they taking us!”

  “You’re going to the med bay,” Admiral Shengli replied. “We will see if there are any alien cells in your blood.”

  “In his blood,” Don clarified, jerking his head to Bill. “The girl and I are immune.”

  “You will all be tested,” the admiral replied.

  “And what happens when you find that we were telling the truth?” Don replied.

  “Then we will discuss your call for a nuclear strike, but the decision is not mine to make, nor do we have such weapons aboard this fleet.”

  “You’re wasting time,” Don warned. “They know what we’re trying to do. If they can do something to counter us, they will.”

  “All the more reason for caution. If we fire the first shot, the result could be the same as it was for your fleet. Immediate destruction.”

  Bill’s brow furrowed. “We fired the first shot?”

  “You did. A torpedo sank one of our submarines. We were not as timid when we fired back.”

  “Hang on,” Don put in. “You’re telling me we surprise attacked you, and all we used was one little torpedo? Who the hell would be that stupid?”

  “My intelligence suggests that it was the captain of a ship that you called the Port Royal.”

  “The captain of the Port Royal?” Bill asked.

  “Shit,” Don added. “Now it all makes sense.”

  “What makes sense?” Admiral Shengli asked.

  Bill hurriedly explained: “After we came in contact with the aliens and US Marines rescued us from the island, we were taken to the Port Royal and quarantined there for an entire week. The captain and crew must have gotten infected during that time. They were part of the quarantine. Don’t you get it? We didn’t fire the first shot! The aliens controlling the Port Royal did!”

  “That is a convenient explanation.”

  “But it makes sense,” Don added. “Think about it. Would any Naval officer with the rank of Captain ever be stupid enough to start World War III without a direct order to do so?”

  A thoughtful frown crossed Shengli’s face.

  “Would any of your captains do that?” Don pressed.

  “No, they would not. We will determine the truth of the matter in the med bay. If we find the evidence you say we will, I will do what I can to convince our paramount leader to do as you suggest.” Admiral Shengli gestured to the marines once more and repeated his prior command. They went along more willingly this time, but the enemy shoved and dragged them along anyway. Bill glanced at his daughter as they rode the elevator down from the bridge. Her head was lolling, and her eyes barely open. At least now she could get proper treatment for her shoulder.

  Bill tried to sigh, but his lungs wouldn’t respond. That was when he noticed how numb he suddenly felt.

  No! Let me go! He screamed, but not even a whisper escaped his lips.

  Chapter 66

  Beth drifted in and out of consciousness. In one of her waking moments, she noticed Ashley lying on a steel table with a blood bag hanging beside her and a tube sticking out of her chest. Beth was glad to see her finally getting proper medical care.

  The enemy marines flanking Beth half carried and half dragged her to a matching metal table and forced her to lie down.

  A Chinese doctor came along soon afterward and loomed over her. A female assistant joined him, and then they set to work. Her consciousness fading again, Beth only dimly felt needles poking her—first in her wrist, then around her wounded shoulder. At some point her father ran into view with two marines in hot pursuit. He spat in the doctor’s face and screamed something about them not laying a hand on his daughter. Beth frowned. Her dad would never spit in anyone’s face, no matter how angry he might be. The doctor wiped spittle from his face with a sneer. Marines grabbed her father and pushed him to his knees, shouting at him in Mandarin. Beth wanted to intervene, but she was too sleepy. Maybe this is a dream...

  Beth’s eyelids began sliding down, driven inexorably shut by more than blood loss and fatigue. They must have given her something to put her to sleep. On the heels of that, a dark thought chased her into oblivion: her dad wouldn’t spit in anyone’s face, but the aliens who’d been controlling him would. They’re back! Beth thought urgently, fighting to wake up. Her eyelids inched open, and her heart began pounding feebly in her chest, but no amount of adrenaline could beat the drug-induced haze. Beth’s mind blanked.

  When she came to, she felt much better—rested, clear-headed, and warm. She noticed a blood bag hanging beside her. Scraps of memory trickled back, and Beth recalled the strangest dream. Her dad had spat in the doctor’s face. Looking the other way, Beth saw him and Don both lying on tables like hers, tied down with strips of bandage as improvised restraints. Beth frowned at that, wondering what she had missed.

  “Why are you tied up?”

  “Because your dad tried to infect the doc,” Don replied.

  “I’m not contagious,” her dad insisted.

  “See?” Don replied. “An outright lie.”

  “Dad... you know they infected you. Why would you intentionally spread it to someone else?”

  “Whatever they did to me, it’s over now,” he said. “I guess I thought that meant I’m cured,” he said. Lifting his head up as the doctor walked by, her dad said something in Mandarin.

  The doctor nodded and replied in English. “Apology accepted.”

  Beth watched him walk over to a microscope on the far side of the room. The doctor peered through the lenses for a moment, then withdrew and shook his head. “There is no sign of any alien cells. None of you are infected. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that none of you ever were. It is just as the admiral said. The quarantine was a lie designed to protect American interests.”

  “Bullshit!” Don roared, struggling to free his arms and legs from their bonds. “He’s infected! Someone else needs to look at those samples!”

  Beth felt a chill come over her. “How long have we been here?” she asked.

  “Do I look like a watch?” Don snapped. “I don’t know! Maybe an hour? Long enough for that alien shit to incubate, apparently.”

  The Chinese marines began murmuring amongst themselves, to which the doctor replied in the same language. He smiled and talked in soothing tones.

  “Where is the woman who was helping him?” Beth asked. “Dad didn’t get her.”

  “The doc dismissed her before she could get a look at our blood samples!” Don said. Craning his neck to glare at the nearest marine, he added, “That’s pretty fucking convenient don’t you think? Get rid of any educated witnesses and leave the jarheads behind. Please tell me one of you took biology.”

  The marines murmured some more, while the doctor went on talking in his reassuring voice. After a second, one of the marines stepped forward. “I know little bit. What I looking for?”

  “You’re looking for cells that are smaller than normal red and white blood cells,” Don said. “They have hazy edges and web-like structures inside of them at high zoom levels. Depending what stain you’re using, the alien cells might appear blue. You get all that?”
/>   The man nodded slowly. “Small cell. Look like web like from spider. Maybe blue.”

  “Good enough,” Don grunted.

  The marine started toward the microscope, but before he could reach it, the doctor stepped in front of him and shook his head, saying something in Mandarin. The marine argued with him, shook his head, and pushed the doctor aside to get to the microscope.

  Beth watched the doctor’s eyes dart around for a minute before he gave up with a sigh and went walking back through the room. He brushed by one of the other marines on his way, just as the one at the microscope began exclaiming excitedly about something he’d found.

  “Busted,” Don crowed.

  The doctor spun around, a silver object glinting in his hand. Then it was sticking out of the nearest marine’s throat with blood spurting out around it—a scalpel. The man collapsed. Before any of the others could react, the doctor grabbed his sidearm and began shooting.

  Beth’s heart hammered in her chest as bullets struck one man after another—perfect head shots, right between the eyes. Three men fell in as many seconds, leaving just the one standing by the microscope, but he had his weapon drawn now, too.

  Bang! Bang! He pulled the trigger before the doctor could, and a sudden ringing silence fell.

  “At least now you know we were telling the truth,” Don said with a sigh.

  Beth battled to rise, hurriedly pulling out her IV line while the surviving marine got on his radio to report what had just happened. Before Beth could completely sit up, she heard an inhuman screech and saw Ashley become a blur as she launched herself off the table.

  “Look out!” Beth cried.

  But Ashley was too fast and too close. Just as the marine turned to face her, she stuck the needle from her IV straight through his eye, and he crumpled to the deck, his radio hissing with static.

  “Fuck!” Don said, pounding his table in a desperate attempt to escape his bonds.

  Ashley rounded on them with a cold smile, and Beth dived off her table for the nearest gun.

  “I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” Ashley said as Beth’s hand closed around the weapon the doctor had used to shoot the other three marines. She hid under and behind Don’s table. “I’m a much better shot,” Ashley went on. “Four heads and eight eyes—we have spatial awareness that you can only dream of.”

  “Four heads?” Don echoed. “So Billy-Gibson was telling the truth?”

  “Of course,” her dad put in. “The previous operator’s mission was to buy time, and the truth is far more distracting than lies.”

  Beth gave no reply, irrationally hoping that Ashley didn’t know where she was hiding.

  “She’s coming,” Don warned.

  Beth heard approaching footsteps and tightened her grip on the gun. She braced herself, trying to decide which side of the table to dart out from, but her right arm was in a sling and weak from a combination of anesthesia and torn muscles. She didn’t stand a chance against Ashley with her offhand.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you—”

  More footsteps sounded in a stampeding rush, cutting Ashley off. Then came raised voices shouting in Mandarin.

  “I surrender,” Ashley said, and Beth heard her gun fall with a noisy clatter.

  Beth peered around Don’s examination table. Seeing that Ashley had her hands up, she stood up from behind Don’s examination table. Marines began shouting at her as she did so, gesturing violently with their weapons.

  “Beth! Drop the gun!” Don said.

  She dropped it at her feet, and then one of the marines came and grabbed her roughly by her arms. The jostling disturbed her wounded shoulder, and she cried out in pain. Her dad didn’t even comment. So much for his concern about them laying hands on her.

  Another pair of marines took hold of Ashley. She smiled smugly at Beth as if she’d somehow won the standoff. Don and Bill were cut free and hauled off their tables, while more marines crowded in. Beth watched the enemy checking their dead for signs of life and shaking their heads.

  “We have to tell them what happened,” Beth said, nodding to Don.

  “There are no witnesses besides the four of us,” Don said quietly. “Who do you think they’re going to believe?”

  Just then the enemy marines began hauling them out. “Hey!” Beth tried. “It’s the infection! They’re trying to hide it! Someone check the microscope! You’ll see!”

  But none of the marines replied.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Beth yelled, as the four of them were escorted from the med bay into the adjoining corridor. “They’re going to get away with it!”

  The man holding Beth snapped at her in Mandarin and jerked her injured arm roughly, bringing tears to her eyes.

  “I don’t think any of them speak English,” Don said.

  “Where are they taking us?” Beth asked, glancing around desperately.

  “If I had to guess, probably a firing squad,” Don replied. “Sorry kid. Looks like it’s game over for us.”

  Chapter 67

  The Chinese marines took them back up to the flight deck and marched them right up to the edge at the back of the ship. All four of them were made to stand with their backs to the water, with the wind buffeting them, and several dozen marines aiming their rifles at them from point-blank range. Long minutes passed like that. Beth fidgeted nervously and glanced over her shoulder at the spreading white wake far below. Dawn had lightened the sky and sea to a rosy hue, but that didn’t make the distant surface of the ocean look any more inviting. Beth had a bad feeling that if they jumped from here, they wouldn’t survive the fall.

  Raised voices shouted something in unison, and Beth turned back to the fore to see a procession of Chinese officers marching their way from the direction of the control tower. When they came near, a familiar-looking man stepped forward. He was wearing a white and black captain’s hat with gold braiding. She vaguely recalled that he was an admiral, but couldn’t remember his name.

  “It seems you betrayed us,” the admiral said. Beth noticed Ashley and her father trading faint smiles.

  “It wasn’t us!” Beth said, shouting into the wind. But even as she said that, guilt tore through her for trying to bargain for her life at the expense of her father’s.

  “Admiral Shengli,” Don began, “you need to send someone else to look at the samples in the med bay!”

  Shengli, Beth thought. That’s his name. “Please, Mr. Shengli,” she said. “You have to believe us.”

  “Silence!” he snapped. Then he pointed to her and Don and said something in Mandarin to the men who’d brought them this far. All eight marines marched her and Don over to him, then dragged them aside to watch her father and Ashley standing alone at the back of the flight deck. Beth had a bad feeling about it.

  “There’s no need to examine the samples,” the admiral explained. “We looked at the security footage from the med bay. Watching Doctor Chen murder my marines is convincing enough.”

  “What about the attack?” Don asked. “Their spaceship is still up there. Did you get to speak to your president?”

  “I am not at liberty to discuss that,” Admiral Shengli replied. He nodded to another officer standing beside him, and that man barked a command to the firing squad, who abruptly raised their rifles to eye level.

  “Wait!” Beth said.

  All eyes turned to her, and she hesitated, struggling to think of a way to save her dad’s life. Before she could, a blinding flash of light tore through her peripheral vision. It was there and gone in an instant, but left her eyes dazzled. Blinking green spots from her eyes, Beth turned to look for the source of that flash just in time to see another one. She slammed her eyes shut and clapped a hand over her aching retinae. All around her people were screaming in Mandarin, but no gunshots sounded.

  “I can’t see!” Beth cried.

  More flashing lights tore through her hands in quick succession, lighting them brightly from within and revealing the squiggly lines of her blo
od vessels.

  “Don’t look!” Don ordered as Beth sank to her knees, disoriented. “Just wait for it to be over.” Firm arms wrapped around her shoulders, forcing her into a fetal position.

  “For what to be over?” she cried, but she already knew the answer.

  “The Chinese are nuking the hell out of them.”

  “But... it hasn’t been that long since we were in the med bay. How is that even possible?”

  “ICBMs, baby. They’re hella fast,” Don replied through the on-going commotion on the flight deck. The Chinese voices sounded farther away now, retreating fast.

  Beth looked up between flashes of light to see that her dad and Ashley were gone. For a minute she feared that they’d fallen off the back of the carrier, or that she’d somehow missed the cracking reports of the rifles that had killed them, but then she spied her dad peeking out from behind a square white tank of fuel beside a nearby helicopter. He was waving her over.

  “There they—” Another flash of light stabbed her eyes from the sky over Kauai. The flashes were smaller and more sporadic now, but they still brought tears to her eyes. Don got up slowly, shielding his eyes against the glare to peer into the sky.

  “Shit,” he said slowly. “It didn’t work.”

  “What do you mean it didn’t work?” Beth demanded.

  “I mean it didn’t...” Don trailed off in a gasp. “Mother of—!” Suddenly a massive shadow appeared over the island and in the sky—but it was torn in a ragged line down the center. As Beth watched, the smaller, nearer half of the ship angled down and its leading edge began to glow bright orange.

  “They did it!” Don whooped. “Those damn Chinamen did it!”

  “Guess you’re going to have to call them something else now,” Beth suggested.

  Don arched an eyebrow at her. “Fuck it, I’d bow and kiss the admiral’s boots if he hadn’t already run away like a little sissy.”

  Her father was waving to them again. Beth pointed him out to Don. “I think my dad and Ashley are on our side now.”