Taken by Surprise

by Anna Argent

  Goodbyes sucked balls, and the last thing Radek wanted to witness was this young woman’s pain.

  He turned his back, giving them the privacy to be as clingy and sweet as they needed. Talan would comfort her, whispering words that held no real meaning. His job was to get her through the window as fast as he could. Whatever he needed to say to make that happen was fair game.

  Talan was a professional, and he’d do what needed to be done, even if it meant fucking a woman he barely knew.

  Radek only wished he could be so lucky.

  He drove them to the bank they needed to visit and waited outside while they got what they’d come for. He didn’t know what it was. Didn’t care. All he wanted was to get this damn shirt off so he wasn’t so vulnerable to attack. Anyone could sneak up on him now, and he might not even feel them coming.

  With the Raide hunting his kind, he needed every advantage he could get.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Zoe’s hands shook so hard she couldn’t even slide the key into the lock of the safe deposit box. Talan gently took the key from her fingers and did the job for her.

  Some small piece of her father was inside this box, and as much as her curiosity drove her forward, pushing to find out what it was, she feared the knowledge.

  What if inside lay proof of what Talan had said, that her father was a thief?

  She’d always believed him to be an honest man. He’d raised her to be honest as well. What if that had simply been a big lie, meant to fool her into compliance?

  Zoe didn’t think she could face such a foundational shift in her thinking. Her world was already swaying, changing so fast she could hardly make sense of it. If her basic beliefs about the man who’d raised her were torn down, she didn’t think she’d survive the blow.

  She had to believe in something, cling to something.

  Talan’s hand splayed across the small of her back, a warm, solid comfort. “Do you want me to open the box?”

  “No. I need to do this.”

  She lifted the metal lid, revealing a nest made out of bricks of cash. Inside the money was a cloth bag lying on top of a small notebook. She didn’t dare pick up the bag for fear she’d drop it from her shaking fingers. Instead, she left it where it lay and pulled open the drawstring top so she could reach inside.

  Hard metal met her fingers. The surface was cold, curved and textured. She closed her grip around it and pulled it out.

  One half of a metallic globe lay in her palm. It was covered in intricate script, inlaid with detailed, overlaid sections that fit together like pieces of a puzzle. The shapes of those separate parts tugged at her mind, whispering to her of their purpose. She could sense the object’s function in its structure, but was unable to determine more than that it had been designed to hold data—huge amounts of data. The flat side showed some kind of fitting and faint scratches in the metal that indicated that something had once been attached here.

  She looked in the bag. It contained only a folded sheet of paper. The other half of the sphere was missing.

  Talan uttered a low, furious sound that had to have been the Imonite equivalent to a four-letter word. He pulled the paper from her limp fingers and read it aloud. Only it wasn’t Talan’s deep, gravelly voice she heard, but her father’s soft, melodic tone.

  To my precious treasure, Zoe.

  If you are reading this, then I am gone and have left you alone, trapped on this alien world. For that I am truly sorry.

  There are things I never had the strength to tell you—things you must now know. I have written them down for you so that my failure as a father is not absolute. Please know that it was my love for you that led me to hide the truth. I didn’t want to burden you with my mistakes, but if you are still here on Earth, then guardianship of the treasure now falls to you.

  Your mother died to protect this information. I tore you from everything you’d ever known to keep it safe. It’s a sad legacy to pass onto one so loved, but we had no choice. Neither your mother nor I were ever able to complete the design for our weapon. But your mind burns far brighter than ours ever did. You will succeed where we failed.

  Find the other half of the sphere beneath the beacon to end all fun, and keep it safe until one of our own comes for you. The lives of our people hang from your skilled fingers. I know you will make your mother and me proud now, as you always have.

  Your loving father

  Hearing her father’s words, seeing his handwriting, sent a fresh wave of grief washing through her. Zoe grasped the edge of the metal table to hold herself upright as the pain slammed against her, stealing her breath.

  Talan pulled her up against his side, and the hot, solid strength of him seemed to seep into her, giving her the ability to stay upright.

  She sucked in her next breath, letting it out as a stifled sob. His hold on her tightened, and she was able to take another breath, and another. To her, even that small feat felt like a huge victory.

  Talan’s voice was low and gentle. “I’m right here, Zoe. I’ve got you, and I’m not letting go.”

  That was good. She didn’t have the air to thank him, but he wasn’t the kind of man who ran on thanks and praise. He did what needed to be done, and right now, it was obvious that she needed him. She was too shaken to even care how helpless she looked. Later, she’d be humiliated, but right now, she held on to him like he was the only anchor holding her onto this spinning planet.

  “We’ll look at the notebook later,” he said. “For now, we just need to get out of here. Can you walk?”

  She tested her legs. They held. She nodded.

  “Good.” He stuffed some of the cash into the bag with the sphere, locked the box, and put it back in its slot. “Do you know what he meant?”

  “What?” asked Zoe.

  “The clue he left about where to find the other half of the sphere. The beacon to end all fun.”

  She shook her head, completely stumped. “He really didn’t want anyone to accidentally find this sphere, did he?”

  “Apparently not. You don’t have any idea what he meant?”

  Her head was already too full. She was terrified of what her life would soon become. Anxiety rode around in her brain like a rabid elephant, crashing into even the simplest of thoughts before they could form. She’d been in this state before, and it wasn’t pretty. The last time had been right after Dad’s funeral, when all she’d wanted to do was close in on herself and let the world drift by unnoticed. She hadn’t wanted to think about what life was going to be like without him, or how she would manage on this world, completely alone. The huge, gaping hole his death had carved in her had been too much to bear. She’d simply let go, caved in, and gone to a soft, quiet place where nothing could touch her.

  If it hadn’t been for her body’s needs for food and water, she’d probably still be in that dark, safe place. And now that the world was looming large, threatening to crush her once again, all she wanted was to go back to that soft place and stay there.

  The only thing that kept her here now was Talan, and his insistent question.

  “No,” was all she could manage. “I have no idea what the beacon is he’s talking about.”

  He tilted her head up and stared into her eyes as if looking for something. “We’ll figure it out. Just like we did before.”

  She pretended she believed him, and that made her able to put one foot in front of the other and walk out of the bank without raising any suspicions.

  Not that it mattered. If she didn’t figure out what the beacon was and find the other half of the sphere, then not only would she fail her father and all his hopes for her, she would also fail an entire planet of people who needed her—people who were dying while she floundered around for answers.

  She felt herself retreating inward. Her vision became fuzzy around the edges. Colors faded into a gray swath of light and shadow. Her fingers and toes went cold, warning her that they would soon grow numb.

  She stumbled, and Talan’s arm tighte
ned around her waist.

  Zoe shook herself, trying to fight off the sucking void.

  “You will keep walking,” commanded Talan in a voice too quiet to be overheard by those in the lobby.

  She clung to the sound of his voice and did as he ordered.

  “Excuse me,” said a voice behind them. “Miss, are you okay?”

  Zoe turned her head just enough to see the concerned look on the face of the bank manager.

  Talan sped his pace, bodily hauling her along. “Don’t stop,” he said.

  Not that she had a choice. His hurried pace was sweeping her along for the ride.

  The worried voices behind her got louder as they hit the door and rushed out onto the sidewalk.

  *****

  Radek watched the couple come out of the bank. Zoe clutched a notebook to her chest as if it were precious. Her face was pale. Talan’s was red with anger, and his grip on the bag in his fist was hard enough to drive the blood from his fingers.

  Something had gone wrong in there.

  Instantly, Radek’s system went on high alert.

  He felt a swath of heat glide across his cheek and turned his head to see who had come within range of his thermal senses. He expected it to be another patron of the bank, but instead, he saw a Dregorg lurking between two buildings. The fleshy folds of his face where hidden under the brim of a large hat, but still visible. His skin flapped around as he sniffed the air, and his huge orange eyes met Radek’s.

  A spark of recognition flared in the creature’s gaze, and he shifted just enough for Radek to see a group of Cyturs slinking up behind the Dregorg, low to the ground. Their red goggles protected their sensitive eyes from the sun, indicating they were planning on crawling out of the darkness they preferred.

  No one on the street had seen the Raide war slaves yet, but it was only a matter of time. Once the morning shadows in the alleyway disappeared, or once those creatures stepped out onto the street, someone was going to drive by and notice the aliens creeping around.

  There was no way Radek could fight out in the open like this. Every cop in the state would come rushing in. News crews, cameras. The whole thing would turn into one huge cluster-fuck.

  And Radek would end up back in prison.

  Not a fucking chance.

  Behind Talan and Zoe, a security guard and a woman in a suit erupted from the bank in a rush, pointing in their direction. The woman held a cell phone to her ear.

  Not good.

  Radek grabbed Talan and Zoe as soon as they were within arm’s reach. “We have company. Time to run.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Our enemies have never come at us out in the open like this before, at least not on this planet,” said Talan.

  He still couldn’t believe what he’d seen. Dregorgs and Cyturs both, out in the brilliant light of day for everyone to see? Cyturs hated sunlight. They couldn’t tolerate it without dark red goggles to protect their eyes. If it hadn’t been for Radek standing guard, the approaching group would have taken Talan completely by surprise.

  Behind them, a large black van pulled onto the main street. It took the turn so fast its left side tires lifted from the pavement. Through the tinted windshield, Talan could just make out the spindly shape of a Raide with hair the color of bleached bone.

  Krotian.

  “We’re being followed,” he warned. “My guess is that van isn’t empty.”

  Radek took a hard corner, sloshing Zoe around in the seat. Talan braced her against his side to keep her from getting injured.

  “Krotian is getting desperate,” Radek said. “Otherwise he wouldn’t have sought us out in the light of day where a dozen humans could have seen.”

  “Or he doesn’t care if anyone knows they’re here,” Zoe said. “You said they keep invading new worlds. What if it’s Earth’s turn?”

  Talan caught Radek’s meaningful look over Zoe’s head. She was right. This could be really bad news for the human race.

  That was how it had happened on Loriah. A few Dregorgs and Cyturs showed up every few days and started killing, scaring people into a frenzy. The social fabric of Loriah ripped as people scrambled for basic necessities and places to hide. Within a few weeks, production had shut down because no one wanted to leave the safety of their homes and go to work. Food became scarce. People began fighting each other for what was left. Thousands died each day, and the bodies piling up caused a rash of sickness, killing even more.

  By the time the Raide showed up with their armies of war slaves, the whole planet was already in a state of chaos and despair. It hadn’t taken much to slaughter entire populations, leaving few to fight. If not for men like Talan being hidden when they were boys and trained in secret, the war would have been lost long ago.

  There were even fewer left to fight now, and it seemed like the Raide had a never-ending supply of war slaves to command. The new ones weren’t always skilled in combat, but they were desperate to save their families left behind on their home worlds, and that had been more than enough to outweigh any shows of force Loriahans offered.

  If that scenario were to play out on Earth, Talan had no doubt the outcome would be just as devastating.

  “Everything is going to be fine,” he said to Zoe, hoping it wasn’t a lie. “Radek drives well. We’ll deal with this threat, then go to a safe place and figure out our next move.” He forced confidence into the words to reassure her.

  “We can’t leave those monsters to hurt someone,” she said. She clung to his arm so hard he could feel the bite of her fingernails against his skin.

  “We won’t. Just hang on and this will all be over in a few minutes.”

  Radek gave him a look that said he was full of shit.

  Talan glared at him, a silent command to back off. “Our best bet is to find a place to confront them. Someplace defensible, isolated.”

  “You’re going to fight them?” asked Zoe, going a shade paler.

  “It’s the only way. We can’t leave them alive to follow us or to terrify humans.” He wanted to comfort her, but there wasn’t time. They needed a plan—one that allowed as few humans as possible to see the enemy.

  He looked behind them and saw that the van was still there, close enough to see but too far to risk using projectile weapons against it. There were civilians around. Children. He wouldn’t take chances with the lives of innocents like that, no matter how good his aim usually was.

  Zoe’s tone was one of resignation and defeat. “There’s a state park and campground just south of town. The weather’s been so cold, I doubt there are many people there. Maybe not any. If you’ve got to wage war, that’s the safest place I can think of to do it.”

  Radek followed her directions. As they neared the gate, they could see a sign strung on a thick wooden bar.

  “It’s closed,” said Zoe. “But I don’t see anywhere to turn around.”

  Radek grinned. “Doesn’t look all that closed to me.”

  Talan barely had enough time to pull Zoe’s head against his chest to shield her from the impact. The truck slammed into the barrier. Frozen wood splintered into shards painted with orange and white stripes. A heavy chain scraped over the hood, and the attached sign flattened against the windshield.

  Radek activated the wipers to shove the sign out of the way.

  The truck slowed as it hit the remnants of snow on the unplowed roadway.

  “You ready?” asked Radek.

  “Right behind you.” Talan cupped Zoe’s pale face, forcing her to look at him. “Stay in the truck. This will only take a minute.”

  She nodded, but the motion was so weak he could barely feel it against his hands. She was looking right through him, slipping away.

  He didn’t have time to stay and reassure her. Once the threat was gone, he’d do what he could to ease her. Until then, he had no choice but to leave her on her own. Her safety had to come before her comfort.

  By the time his feet hit the snow, Radek had already engaged the enemy.
<
br />   *****

  Alien creatures seemed to come out of nowhere, charging Talan and Radek within seconds of them leaving the truck.

  Zoe was still shaken from her father’s words, struggling with the weight that was now squarely on her shoulders. She’d managed to keep from totally freaking out until this moment, but she could feel the walls of her control shuddering under the strain.

  In the bright glow of daylight reflected by brilliant snowfall, it was easy to see every horrible monster that came after the men. The big, lumbering Dregorgs were unsettling with their fleshy bodies and bizarre orange eyes, but it was the other creatures—the ones she’d heard called Cyturs—that were truly terrifying.

  Their matte black bodies were more legs than anything. Each one of them had at least eight or ten—it was hard to tell without getting one of them to stand still. Those limbs were tipped with razor sharp points that slashed and stabbed at the men. What she guessed was a head was in the center of those limbs, protected from attack. That head was filled with pointed teeth and disturbingly feline eyes and topped with cat ears. A cross between some kind of deep sea fish, a cat and spiders, but way bigger, the Cyturs seemed incapable of speech beyond a strange clicking sound.

  Zoe wasn’t sure how many eyes they had under those red goggles, but they must have been on all sides of their body, because no matter where the men went to attack, the Cyturs saw it coming.

  She looked away from the battle, unable to face the horror of what was right in front of her. She was close to slipping into herself, away from the terror, but if she did that, she’d be of no use to anyone.

  The box of weapons her father had left her was still in her purse. She scrambled to find it now, hoping something in there would be of use. Perhaps some kind of monster repellant.

  As she searched the black depths of her bag, the fight developed a strange sort of music with the deep grunts of the Dregorgs, the sharp clicks of the Cyturs, and the occasional short burst of words from one of the men. A rhythmic crunch grew louder, giving the whole thing a strange beat.