Alien Escape

by Dena Christy

  “Roland. What are you doing?” Her words came stuttering out, and for the first time since she’d walked into her bedroom this morning, Evie saw an emotion other than cold satisfaction on her face. Hurt, mingled with the disbelief in her eyes as just how little she meant to the man she loved, finally hit her.

  “I’m tying up loose ends.” Roland pulled the trigger, and the beam from his pistol went straight through Serena’s heart, and her body collapsed on the floor with a heavy thump. A small, black hole had burned into her blouse, and it didn’t look significant enough to have done any damage. Serena’s sightless eyes stared at the ceiling, telling another story.

  Evie trembled in Roland's grasp. “Are you going to kill me now too?”

  “You are more valuable alive at the moment. I need you as leverage to get the aliens to do what I want. My commander wants them taken alive. If that were not the case, you’d be just as dead as her. Do nothing to make me regret it.”

  His grip tightened as he turned and opened the door. He marched out of the bedroom and Evie resisted the urge to look at Serena one last time. She needed to obey him, she needed to keep herself alive. Roland had said that his commander wanted the aliens left alive, which meant that Cynric still lived. She closed her eyes for a moment, conjuring up a picture of him in her mind as Roland led her down the hall. She needed to do whatever Roland told her. She needed to stay alive for Cynric.

  Uneasiness prickled at the edges of Cynric’s skin as he left the room to allow Evie to get ready for her confrontation with Serena. The older woman didn’t look particularly threatening, but there was a smugness about her that suggested that she was here for more than to discuss Evie’s presence in this house. He went back to the room he’d been assigned, where he stowed his gear but didn’t sleep. He quickly dressed and his eyes strayed to the rifle that rested against the corner of the wall. An instinct he couldn't name told him to grab it, and for the first time in his long military career he ignored it. What could an older woman possibly do that necessitated him carrying a weapon?

  He went down the stairs, and the others were in the room they’d turned into a communication station. Rebecca’s face looked pale, pinched and tense. He didn’t need to guess what had put that look there. A quick glance around the room showed that everyone was here and wore a similar look to Rebecca.

  “I’m assuming that you’ve seen Serena?” Cynric walked over to her and she looked up at him from where she was seated. He studied her face as suspicion curled at the edges of his brain. How much did they truly know about Rebecca? “How did she find us?”

  “I don’t know. I thought I covered our tracks. She has another hacker on staff, and perhaps they discovered our signal when I was searching for Hylda. I’m so sorry that I wasn't more careful.” There was genuine remorse on her face, and Cynric could hear the sincerity in her voice. Whatever had happened when Serena discovered them here, it was not because Rebecca had betrayed them.

  “What will happen?” Synn had his arm around Miranda, and there was a serious, tense expression on his face.

  “I don’t know, but we need to be prepared for anything.” Damn, he should have brought the rifle. “Go up to your rooms and get your weapons.”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  Cynric spun around to see Commander Clancy standing in the door, a smug smile on his face. His body tensed, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw both Ryce and Synn draw their mates behind them, blocking them from whatever was going to come at them.

  Before they could react further, the sound of rushing, booted footfalls thumped through the hall, and it was a sound that Cynric would know anywhere. Soldiers. They crowded in behind Commander Clancy, with their weapons raised and trained on them.

  “You have your orders. Seize them.” Commander Clancy stepped out of the way as the soldiers poured into the room. There were far too many for the three of them to overcome, but Cynric knew they had to try. He had to get to Evie and the only way to do that was to get through the soldiers blocking his way.

  With a roar he charged them, with Ryce and Synn at his side. They were severely outnumbered, but they couldn’t let that stop them. Their future and the future of the women under their protection was at stake.

  The soldier’s didn’t appear to be interested in using their weapons, and the one closest to Cynric rushed him, his head bent as if intent on slamming himself into Cynric’s stomach. Cynric saw the move coming and sidestepped him and the soldier barreled past him and toppled over the end table in his way. There was no time to feel triumphant as there was another soldier there to replace him, and this time he caught Cynric off guard and his fist slammed into Cynric’s jaw, jolting his head back.

  He stayed on his feet, it would take a lot more than one hit to take him out. He swept his leg out in a wide arch, catching the soldier in the thigh, sending him toppling to the floor. He brought his leg back and kicked him in the ribs in the event that he was considering getting up again. A heavy weight slammed onto his back and a soldier wrapped his meaty arm around Cynric’s neck. The pressure on his windpipe was intense, and he tried to rasp his breath in as he clawed at the arm. The pressure grew stronger until he was forced down onto the floor onto his knees. His vision wavered for a moment, and he heard a distant whistling. This was it, he was going to choke to death. There would be no going home, there would be no saving his men and protecting their women. He would never see Evie again.

  The pressure around his neck loosened, and the weight came off his back. He sucked his breath in as he brought his hand up to his aching throat. The soldier had finally made a mistake since he hadn’t made sure that he was dead before he’d gotten off him. Cynric brought his head up and his blood ran cold. Commander Clancy stood in the doorway, with a hand firmly clamped around Evie’s arm and his pistol at the ready.

  “There are two ways we can do this. You can come quietly and accept the fate you’ve brought on yourselves, or my men can slaughter you here and now. I have no preference, and I’m tempted not to offer you an option at all. If you choose slaughter out of some notion that you would rather die than go into custody, please be assured that your women will be slaughtered with you. Fewer loose ends that way.” Clancy drew Evie in front of him and pressed his pistol underneath her chin. A quick glance around and Cynric saw that both Ryce and Synn were in a similar vulnerable position as him.

  Stillness descended upon the room and the other three women were brought forward and held at gunpoint. A look into Clancy’s eyes told Cynric that he was not bluffing. While he thought there could be nothing worse than going back into the custody of this planet’s military, there was something that trumped that. The vision of Evie and the other women’s slaughtered remains crowded in his head, and a sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Clancy had won since he wielded the one weapon that would defeat him and his men. He looked over at Synn and Ryce, and both men bowed their heads in defeat, and they’d reached the same conclusion that he had. He turned his head back to Clancy, he wanted a guarantee that their sacrifice would not be for nothing.

  “I want your word as a commander of men, that the women will remain unharmed and unmolested. If we go with you, quietly, that they will remained alive and untouched.” Cynric didn’t know what the word of this man was worth, he didn’t know if there was any honor in him, but he had to get some guarantee that the women would remain unharmed, at least for the short term.

  Clancy stood a little straighter and lowered his weapon from below Evie’s chin. She sagged for a moment, and Cynric longed to go to her, and offer her comfort. It was an impossibility considering he was on his knees with a weapon held on him. Any move he made would be considered a threat, and there would be retaliation, not only against him, but against his men and their women.

  “I cannot guarantee what will happen to them once my commander arrives, but I give you my word that they will not be harmed while in my custody.”

  He’d hopefully bought them a little time,
and from what little he knew from Clancy’s mind, the man had his own twisted sense of honor. There was nothing in his eyes to indicate that he was lying, and he nodded. He was hauled to his feet, and the soldier who held him had his weapon pressed firmly in his back as he was marched forward. He and the others were led from the house and marched down the steps toward a military vehicle. The women were herded over to another one, and one of the soldiers conducted them inside apparently didn’t like how slowly Miranda was moving, and he grasped her by the arm and shoved her inside. A cry was wrung from her, and Synn exploded with a growl of fury. He shoved off the soldier that held him, but before he could make it two steps toward his woman, he was pounced on by three soldiers. Two restrained him while the third slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of Synn’s head. Cynric clenched his jaw and fought to keep still as his friend crumpled onto the pavement.

  The soldiers dragged Synn’s limp body forward and threw him into the van like garbage. Ryce was marched forward, and he climbed into the van of his own accord. Cynric followed behind and risked one last look over at where Evie was climbing into the back of the other vehicle. She must have felt his eyes on her because she turned her head. Profound fear and sadness were in her eyes, and he caressed her face with his eyes, as if he was trying to memorize her. He watched her for as long as he could until he was nudged none too gently into the back of the van. He climbed inside with the others, and strained to see inside the dark shadows hanging inside the vehicle.

  Ryce was at the back, sitting next to a prone Synn, who was sprawled on the floor. The door shut with a slam of finality, and what he’d feared had happened. They were back in military custody, and the women were now in the same situation.

  “Is he alive?” There was no light in the back of the vehicle now, and he turned his head in the direction he remembered Ryce had been. He hoped that Synn was alive, but the blow he’d taken to his head had been delivered with a ruthlessness that might very well have killed him.

  “He’s alive, for now. I don’t know if that can be said about any of us for much longer. What the hell are we going to do? We need to come up with a plan.”

  Cynric shook his head, even though he knew Ryce couldn’t see it. What his friend didn’t realize was that barring a miracle, they were well and truly caught. There was no plan they could come up with that would save them. Anyone who could have offered help to them was in custody. They were at the end of the line, and once Clancy turned them over to his commander, Cynric was sure that they would be studied until they died a painful death. He was surprised that Ryce had not yet reached that conclusion, but perhaps he already had and he was looking to him to allay his fears. He was a commander, and he was supposed to inspire his men, but there was no way to spin this situation into anything other than what it was, so he said nothing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Evie hugged her arms to herself as her teeth chattered. It had happened, the man who had haunted her nightmares for years had finally caught up with her. She shivered when the thought came to her that Serena probably thrown Clancy at Adam to get rid of him. God how she could have been so naïve to trust that woman on such short acquaintance. That trust had betrayed her. It had led her directly to the situation she found herself in, locked in a military cell, with the three women who didn’t deserve the fate her trust had thrown them into.

  Goosebumps raised up on her arms, and she didn’t think it was all down to fear. The cell they were in was dank, the air smelt musty and it didn’t seem like it had been used to house anyone for a long time. The floor she was sitting on was gritty, and she didn’t want to think about what sort of vermin could potentially crawl on it. Vermin were the least of their worries. They were all in the custody of their planet’s military, which meant the government would be apprised of their situation. The kindest thing that could happen to them would be if they were left here to starve, alone and forgotten. She didn’t think they would be that lucky.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault that we’re here. If I hadn’t trusted Serena, Clancy would never have found us and you’d be with your men right now.” And she’d be with Cynric. The anguish ripping through her when she’d seen him loaded into the military vehicle still lingered inside her. She would never see him again, and he could very well be dead for all she knew. Despite giving his word to the contrary, Clancy was not a man to be trusted. The only thing that would save their men in the interim was if they were more valuable to the military alive than they were dead.

  “It’s not your fault.” Rebecca scooted over to her, her boots scuffling on the dirty concrete floor. She lowered herself down to sit beside Evie and put her arm around her shoulder. Evie rested her head on her shoulder, wishing she could believe her. “We were both foolish to put our trust in Serena. Neither of us knew that she knew Clancy. We can’t dwell on that now. We have to come up with a way to get out of here.”

  Evie shook her head. Didn’t she get it? There was no getting out of here. They were stuck in this cell until the government decided on a fitting punishment for what it would see as the ultimate betrayal of a citizen against its authority. She was certain that a treason charge awaited all of them, and they would all be convicted. The only thing that awaited them was death.

  “What do you suggest we do? We are locked in a cell, we have no idea where the men are, and even if we did, how would be get to them.” Evie looked over to where Miranda and Collette clung to each other on the other side of the room. Both their eyes were red and swollen from crying. She hated that she couldn’t give them hope that they would be delivered from this fate, and that their men would be saved. It was a false hope because there was no getting either them or their men out of here. They had to face the facts that the military and the government had won.

  “We can’t give up. There has to be a way.” Miranda sat up straighter and swiped her palms across her cheeks. “We have to get out of here, and we have to get to them. We’ve gone through too much already for it to all end here.”

  “She’s right. Ryce and the others need us. We can’t give up.” Collette straightened her spine, and the look of despair on her face was replaced with one of determination.

  “Don’t you get it?” Evie couldn’t keep the anger that had been bubbling inside her from spilling forth. “We have nothing. We have no friends on the outside, there is no one who will help us. We only have ourselves and the resources that we have in this room, which is nothing.”

  Collette flinched at the harshness of her voice, and a stab of regret went through Evie. She didn’t want to hurt her friend, but they needed to be realistic. There was no getting out of here.

  “Well you may have given up, but I’m not. I can’t give up.” Miranda smoothed her hand down her flat belly and a dread settled in the pit of Evie’s stomach as she anticipated what Miranda would say next. “I’m pregnant, and I will not die here. I will not let my baby’s father die. There has to be a way out of here, we need to think of it.”

  Evie closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall. So now there was an innocent life to be lost in addition to their own. “Have you told him?”

  “No. I suspected that I might be before we left the compound, but didn’t confirm it. I found a test at the safe house and took it first thing this morning. I haven’t told him. Please Evie, don’t give up.”

  Evie stayed where she was. She didn’t know what they thought she could do. She had just as much skill as they did, and yet they weren’t offering up any ideas of what they should do. If she had a way out of here, she would take it. She didn’t want Cynric dying anymore than her friends wanted their men to die. She wanted him to have the chance to get home, but that seemed like a doomed hope now.

  Rebecca moved away from her, and Evie heard her scuffling over toward the door. Perhaps she could do something about the locks, although without tools she doubted Rebecca would be much use against them. Still, she was a genius when it came to electronics, so perhaps she could do something.
Evie wasn’t even sure what locks were in place since she’d had other things to worry about.

  “Evie, you will not believe this?” Rebecca’s voice held a note of disbelief and hope.

  “What is it?” Evie kept her eyes closed. She couldn’t drum up the same excitement that had edged in Rebecca’s voice. There was nothing in here to get excited about.

  “The lock is old. It looks just like the ones that were at the compound.” The excitement in Rebecca’s voice grew, and Evie couldn’t understand what she was getting so worked up about. So the locks were old. It was hardly surprising since the cell appeared to not have been cleaned since the planet was colonized. It was only further proof that they would be left here to rot. “Would you snap out of the funk your in and get over here?”

  Evie’s eyes snapped open. She’d never heard a tone like that come out of Rebecca, and she turned her head to look at her friend. Frustration was written all over her face, and a wave of shame swept over her. Her friends didn’t deserve to be given up on, and while she may be ready to curl up and die, the others weren’t. She owed it to them to at least try to get them out of here.

  “I’m sorry Rebecca, what were you saying.” She needed to stop feeling sorry for herself. So Serena had betrayed her, and Clancy had finally caught up with her. That was no excuse to give up.

  “The locks are old.” Rebecca gave the hair sticks holding her hair up a pointed look and Evie reached up to touch them. She’d forgotten that she’d put them in her hair to look professional when she’d met with Serena. A lot had happened since then so she could be forgiven for forgetting about them. Hope shot through her as she lowered her hand and went over to where Rebecca crouched by the door.

  The locks were as old as she’d said, they were the old fashioned kind that she had at the compound. They needed a key to be opened, instead of the more modern ones that required a palm print. By the state of the inside of the cell it was apparent that they hadn’t been used to hold prisoners for a long time, so perhaps the military hadn’t wanted to justify the expense of upgrading the locks for rooms that were never in use. It didn’t matter since they now had a way out.