“I don’t know,” ET looked wouldn't meet their eyes. “I’m just saying, be careful.”
“For fuck’s sake…” Xander grumbled. He wanted to accuse ET of just being disappointed he didn't help find Sydney. Maybe he was afraid he they didn't see him as helping they would get rid of him.
“We really don’t have any idea what is going on. Not really,” Shay offered, reasonably. Xander could tell she was struggling to not look at him. They didn't discuss leaving out details beforehand, but they were all on the same page. “It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get Syd.”
Xander nodded. After the abduction, Zak had wanted to go to the cops then, but it would have been pointless. They didn’t have any proof that Sydney had been abducted. Hell, they had barely had proof that Sydney even existed. “We'll call the police, the Feds, whoever we need to. We just need to make sure Syd is safe first.”
“Who do you think attacked Moreno’s compound?” ET asked them.
Everyone was silent for a moment. “Fuck,” Zak grunted, closing his eyes for patience.
"I think it is a good thing you haven't gone to the police yet."
“Do you really think it was U.S. authorities?” Shay asked.
“Yes.”
Xander rested his elbows on the counter and his face in his hands. “You know,” his voice was muffled. “I don’t really care at this point. I just want to get Sydney and make sure she is OK.”
“Agreed,” Shay nodded. “Give me a piece of paper.”
Xander raised his head and found a piece of junk mail and a pen. “Here.”
Shay listened to the voicemail again. She jotted the number down that the call came from. She tapped the number into the phone and Xander held his breath. Each time the phone rang his back stiffened a little more. When he heard the automated voicemail pick up on the other end his heart fell into his stomach. Shay left her cell number and a brief message. “Call me back. We’re on our way to get you.”
“What the fuck?” he asked when Shay hung up the phone.
“Don’t freak out. She left the message hours ago. It’s almost four in the morning. She could be hiding out somewhere, asleep.”
“Well, let’s go,” Xander grabbed his boots and pulled them on without sitting down. He didn't even bother tying them before he hurried out the door without glancing back at the others. When they caught up with him he was heading for his truck.
“Hey, hero-boy,” Zak called to him.
“What?” Xander snapped.
“I would recommend taking my SUV if you want to fit everyone inside.”
“Fine,” Xander changed directions. “I’ll drive.”
“The fuck you will. The last time I let you drive, my truck was totaled and we almost died,” Zak teased, trying to bring Xander down. "And I'm running out of sugar-daddies to replace them."
Xander didn’t even bother arguing, it didn't matter who was driving as long as they got to Sydney. “OK, but hurry.”
They all piled in the truck, Shay was in the front with Zak and ET and Xander took the back seat. He glanced at the kid but he didn't meet Xander's eye. He was tagging along with the hopes that they didn't boot him out. He had nowhere else to go. At this point, Xander couldn't care less. The more on their side the better. There was no telling when he would be useful.
Zak hit the gas hard enough to kick up rocks and gravel and Xander relaxed a little realizing he wasn’t the only one who appreciated the urgency to get to Sydney. The SUV had no sooner bumped into the road than Zak hit the brakes again hard enough to throw Xander and ET forward.
Shay gasped and Xander narrowed his eyes, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. “Who the hell is that?” A black sedan had pulled crosswise into the street blocking their path. ET made a whining sound but Xander didn’t even bother to look in his direction. “Back up!”
Zak ignored him. “But…”
Sound and movement behind them caught Xander’s attention. He turned in his seat and saw another car, this one blue, roar out of the alley and skid to a stop behind them. They were blocked in. “Shit!” Shay breathed, the alarm leaking the strength from her voice.
They all turned back to the car in front of them when they heard a door open. The man seemed normal at first. He was white and wearing a dark blue suit. But what wasn’t normal was the very large gun he lifted and pointed at them.
Xander
“Go!” Shay yelled. “Go!”
Zak snapped out of his shock and stomped on the gas pedal with less than twenty-five feet between their SUV and the car in front of them. Xander didn’t know for sure if Zak really thought his actions through or not, but it was ballsy. And it worked. Between going left and going right, Zak chose the left.
Thanks to Zak’s quick thinking, the man holding the gun had to leap out of the way as they shot forward. When the driver’s side tires lurched over the curb, Xander’s head cracked into the ceiling hard enough to make him see stars. He braced himself as the SUV bounced onto the sidewalk, veered sharply, and then bounced back into the road. Once he regained control of the bucking vehicle, Zak floored it again. At the same time, Xander heard a loud crack, crack, crack accompanied by the waspish pings of bullets striking the back of their truck.
Xander and ET threw themselves into the floor space behind the front seats. Crouched in the tiny space, Xander looked at ET. He was pale, wide-eyed, and his lips were moving in what Xander assumed was a prayer. Shay was yelling, shouting directions at Zak. Zak was screaming nonsense but apparently still in control of the vehicle. Another crack and a crunching sound. Zak took a hard right and it was all Xander could do to not roll into ET’s space. He tucked his bad arm against his side and held on with his right. Another sharp turn and he could feel the bedlam subside as Shay and Zak both stopped yelling.
“Are we clear?” Xander gasped.
“For now,” Shay looked back, trying to stay out of the line of fire. ET stayed on the floor and Xander didn’t really blame the kid. A part of him wanted to curl up in a ball with him.
Xander checked behind them and found the view obstructed by a spider-webbed back window. “Who the fuck was that?”
“I don’t know. But, I don’t think they were aliens,” Shay offered.
“Way too methodical for that. Besides, none of the attacks that we’ve seen or heard about involved guns,” Xander agreed.
“Could it be people working with Robards?” Shay wondered.
“Maybe. But we haven’t seen any indication he has been working with anyone here.”
“Moreno,” came a small voice from the floor.
“Huh?” Xander dragged him from the floor. “What are you talking about?”
“They are working for Moreno.”
“How do you know?”
“…I don’t know. That’s his style.” The kid’s voice was cracked and hoarse.
“That guy was white,” Shay leaned around the seat.
“He works with guys here. They are white.”
Xander’s stomach knotted more. “Who?”
ET shrugged. “I don’t know. Some gringos who run the show up here. Moreno supplies. They sell. I’ve only ever heard them referred to as The Gringos.”
“How original,” Xander grumbled. “I thought Moreno was dead?”
“Yeah, the explosions,” Shay was surveying the damage to the SUV. Besides the shattered back window, there appeared to be two bullet holes in the frame of the truck. One underneath the back window, and Xander had no idea how it missed him and ET. And the other was in the roof having entered through one of the holes in frame and lodged in the ceiling. It didn’t go all the way through, but left a disturbingly deep dent. “Are you OK, Zak?”
Zak only nodded. He didn’t seem to be able to talk yet. He was focused on the road and except when he, pointlessly, checked the rearview before turning the side mirrors instead.
“I never saw his body,” ET admitted. “He could have gotten out of the compound before it went up.”
/> “Shit!” Xander punched the roof of the truck. “This is exactly what we don’t need. More complications.”
“I could be worse,” Zak finally spoke.
“What?” Shay asked, clearly dreading the answer.
“What if it was the same people who blew up the compound?”
“Fuck,” Shay uttered, low and prolonged.
“You’re suggesting that whatever authority figures these were from the States that went and in stole a bunch alien specimens, then blew up an entire estate, just tried to kill us?” Xander didn’t want to believe it, but he knew it was a possibility.
“Maybe,” Zak grumbled. He seemed to be slowly recovering from the shock. He was still driving fast, but he was at least obeying traffic signals again.
Xander checked through the side windows the best he could. There was very little traffic out this late (early?), but that would change soon. “What do you think?” he asked ET.
“Could be,” he nodded.
“Fuck,” Xander echoed Shay’s feelings on the matter.
“Where are we going?” ET asked.
The other three glanced at each other. “To get Sydney. That’s still the plan,” Shay said firmly.
“We need to hide!” ET leaned forward.
“We need to get Sydney!” Xander told him sternly.
“They’re going to find us,” ET muttered, realizing he would lose this fight.
“How did they find us at all?” Shay asked the truck.
“Good question,” Xander shrugged with his good shoulder.
“I found you,” ET looked up again. “You were tromping around all over the place online asking questions. It was easy for me. It wouldn’t be hard if Moreno paid the right people who knew how to search. And if it was the government it would be even easier."
“Goddammit!” Xander punched the roof again.
“Calm down,” Shay told him. “What’s done is done. No sense in breaking your hand over it.”
“Is anyone following us?” Xander asked Zak.
“Not that I can tell.”
“We need to be careful we don’t lead them to Sydney.”
“Or how about not getting shot at again.’
“Don’t be an ass!” Xander wanted to slap Zak in the back of the head.
“We need to figure out who was trying to kill us,” Shay looked at them all. “If it was a US agency, can we really just go to the police now? We’re right where Syd was when she woke up—with absolutely no idea of who to trust.”
Chapter Eight
Sydney opened her eyes, confused as to where she was at first. She squinted at the bright light glaring into her face tried to stretch her legs but ended up kicking something solid. When her eyes focused she realized she had kicked a car door and she was curled up in the backseat. She wiggled until she was sitting up and rubbed her face, trying to work the cobwebs out. Her throat was sore, her head hurt, her fingers ached, and her stomach rumbled so loud she nearly jumped in surprise.
She was confused and concerned as to why Xander and Shay hadn’t called her yet. But after checking the phone she realized why she hadn’t heard from them. The phone was dead. She had left the phone box, and everything that came with it, when she fled from the scene of the attack. She had no charger. If they had gotten her message, Xander and Shay were probably freaking out as to why they couldn’t get her on the phone now.
Syd climbed from the car and shivered in the cold, early morning breeze blowing off the lake. Yawning and stretching, she took a moment to appreciate the scenery. She was in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, watching the sun rise over the calm water. Everything was quiet and peaceful and she took a deep breath. Isn’t there some kind of saying about still waters? she wondered, then shuddered.
After washing her face in the rest stop bathroom, Sydney examined her reflection. She still felt gross and contaminated where the attacker had touched her. Around her neck were purple bruises, but if she turned up the collar of her jacket they were hidden enough to not draw attention. Her eyes were still bloodshot, a combination of a restless night in a cramped car and nearly being choked to death less than twenty-four hours ago. She wished she had toothpaste, or mouthwash, but spearmint gum from the vending machine was the best she could do for now.
Sydney sat in the car for a few minutes, considering her choices. She needed to get rid of this car as soon as possible. By now, the police were surely searching for it. She also needed to get a phone charger. Finally, she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Driving south, she eventually connected with I94 and merged in the sparse traffic. A few miles later she found a mega-convenience store that catered to truckers and other road-warriors. Syd parked at the far edge of the lot and backed into the space hoping to hide the license plate on her stolen car.
Syd blended in with the early morning travelers who were all bleary eyed and cranky. The lure of the showers was too great and she bought a travel-size soap, deodorant, toothpaste and a toothbrush and paid her fee to use the shower. The haggard man at the counter barely even looked at her until she thanked him. It was only then that he seemed to realize she was a woman and not the usual trucker clientele.
“Showers are capped at fifteen minutes. One person at a time,” he glared at her.
Sydney raised a brow. She looked at her clothes and back at the cashier. “Do I look like a prostitute?”
“Eh, no,” the man was suddenly abashed, his face coloring. “Force of habit.”
“Yeah…”
“Sorry. Road trip?” he tried to make up for his rudeness.
“Yeah,” Sydney let the man off the hook.
“Well, if you need anything, just let me know.”
“Will do,” she gave him a small smile before gathering her things and heading for the showers.
The women’s shower area was clean but there were only two stalls. Syd figured they didn’t have a lot of female truckers coming through. And the number of wives and girlfriends who traveled the road with the drivers must have been small. Before undressing, she counted her money. Fifteen dollars was all she had left. Her stomach sank. That would be enough to get her through a day, maybe two as long as she ate light and cheap. And, as long as she didn’t need gas.
She plugged the phone in and undressed. In the shower, the water was blessedly hot and she scrubbed at her skin with the cheap paper towels from the dispenser. She could still feel the man’s hands on her as he choked her. His breath and spittle had dried on her skin and no amount of washing seemed to get rid of it. Her elbow was scrapped and she carefully washed the wound, wincing as the soap stung.
She used paper towels to dry off and once she was dressed again, she checked the phone, it finally had enough juice to power up and the wait was excruciating. She pulled on her boots and packed up her toiletries while the phone started up. When the phone pinged four times, she nearly collapsed with relief. Voicemails. With shaking hands, she called her mailbox.
“Call me back. We’re on our way to get you."
Sydney grinned at the sound of Shay’s voice. The stone in her stomach chipped away and became a little lighter. The next voicemail was even better.
“Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone, woman?”
She groaned under her breath. Xander’s voice sent chills over her body and she felt fifty pounds lighter. They are both still alive! And apparently doing well enough to get her message and call her back. In the next voicemail, Xander abandoned his attempt to sound flippant.
“We are on our way. You better be OK…”
Syd felt terrible for worrying them, but there wasn’t much she could do about that now. Xander’s deep voice sounded thin and edgy. She could picture him, unable to sit still and cracking his knuckles. The last voicemail caused her heart to beat harder.
“We will be at the shopping center you hung out in by 9am. We’ll wait there until we hear from you. Something happened…it’s probably better if we don’t use the phones unless we have to. W
e’ll see you there. Call us if you can’t get there for some reason. But you better be there.” There was a pause long enough that Sydney would have hung up if she hadn’t been able to hear Xander’s breathing and the sounds of the road in the background. Finally, he spoke again, so softly she could barely make it out. His words were an amen at the end of a prayer. “I’ve got you back.” She should have known none of them would have given up on finding her—letting that paranoia get in her head had been a mistake.
Despite the warm, tingly feelings that were making her hands and feet go numb, her heart continued to pound. And not from the butterflies of hearing Xander’s voice. Her friends were heading right back to the scene of yesterday’s attack. She gathered her stuff and hurried from the rest stop. It was 8:30, she had thirty minutes to stop them. Sydney threw her bag into her backseat and slid behind the wheel. The charger she bought was adaptable and able to plug into either a wall or a car’s accessory port. She dialed the number Xander and Shay had called from. When the phone went immediately to voicemail she groaned and punched the steering wheel.
After the beep, she spoke quickly. “Do not go to the shopping center! I was attacked there yesterday. I’m OK, but it’s not safe. I’m going to head back that way until I hear from you. But find another place to meet me. I should be there in thirty to forty-minutes.” She hit the steering wheel again. "Shit!" Just in case, she also sent a text message of the same warning. She wanted to check the news for reports on the attack, but there wasn’t any free Wi-Fi here and she needed to be aware that she had limited minutes on the disposable phone. Not knowing what else to do, Syd put the car into gear and headed back to Millville.
Chapter Nine
Sydney drove as fast as she dared. The last thing she needed was to get pulled over for speeding. She kept checking the phone in case Xander or Shay had tried to call her back and she didn’t hear it. Every time the phone was without a missed call, voicemail, or text message her heart sank a little more. What could be stopping them from calling? Millville had service, so she didn’t think that was the problem. If their phone was dead they would have done the same thing she had—find a charger. What the hell happened? Sydney tried to not let herself get worked up. There could be a perfectly good explanation as to why she couldn’t get through to them.
Show No Fear (The Dyian Series Book 2) Page 6
