“Not if they’re holding you captive in Area 51 or something,” Maggie pointed out. “The only way I’d get in there is to let myself get caught. And who knows if they’d even keep us alive or decide to dissect us. I may be human, but they know darn well what we’ve been doing together.”
Lobo tugged Maggie into his arms and kissed her, a sweet and lingering kiss meant to reassure her. “Well then, I suppose I’d better not get caught, right?”
“Right,” she agreed as he let her go and disappeared up the stairs.
Maggie bit at her bottom lip as she curled up on the couch, practically in a fetal position. She was surrounded by many different otherworldly gadgets, but with no knowledge of how any of them worked, they were completely useless to her without either Lobo or Xenon. But then she spotted a book sitting on one of the tables, and she was too curious not to go over for a look.
“It’s in English,” she said out loud. It almost felt wrong, breaking the utter stillness of the room, and she cringed at the sound as she began to flip through the pages. What she had found was a guide, telling her about each and every thing in the room. She flipped through the pages looking for a way to detect bugs, and then she found the proper tool to do it.
“I may be alone right now,” she grumbled under her breath, “but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”
She read and then re-read the instructions, then she activated the device, walking all through her truck. She found four bugs attached to that vehicle, and two others attached to the rover itself.
“That bastard,” she grumbled. “He bugged the rover too?”
Using the device for its secondary purpose, Maggie proceeded to disable every bug she had found with impunity. As she moved to disable the rover Lobo came in again and stopped her.
“Those aren’t bugs,” he told her with a worried frown. “You almost disabled my communications network with the ship. Give me that thing, will you?”
“Sorry,” she said, wincing. “I was just feeling so helpless, with nothing to do. I’m not used to taking a passive role, to tell you the truth.”
“That’s understandable, considering you’ve been in charge of your own company for years,” Lobo said with a nod. “Now behave yourself so I can get ahold of the ship, will you? The last thing we need is no way to let them know what’s happening.”
While he fiddled with some gadget on the rover console, Maggie asked, “So, was anyone up there?”
“Not that I could see,” Lobo answered distractedly. “I’ve sent out a few perimeter orbs and set them on immediate report mode, though. If anybody comes calling, we’ll know.”
“Lobo?” said a feminine voice. “Is that you, brother? What’s up?”
“Linnid, it’s me,” he confirmed. “We’ve had some trouble down here, and the first rendezvous point has been compromised. I need you to make an immediate redirect and head to site number two right now.”
“But we’re not supposed to leave for another two days,” she complained. “The passengers are not going to like this.”
“Well, let them know that if they’d rather become test subjects in some Earth lab, they’re welcome to defy my orders,” Lobo replied. “If they won’t get on board, you have my permission to leave them all behind.”
“Damn, Lobo, that’s kind of cold,” Maggie commented dryly.
“I think the situation warrants it, don’t you?” he pointed out.
With a grim chuckle, Maggie nodded her head in agreement.
“Who are you talking to?” asked Linnid. “And what did you mean by ‘we’?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later,” Lobo said. “You know the coordinates we’re discussing, right? I know it’s the first time you’ve been in charge, but for once in your life, Linnid, I hope you get things right.”
“Hey, you don’t have to be so mean,” she complained. “All I have to do is tell the ship to use alternative destination two, and it’ll take us right there.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said Lobo. “But I’ve told you a thousand times if I’ve told you once, always be ready for a contingency. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” she grumbled. “Don’t be so worried. I’m not going to leave you behind. Our dad would have my backside in a sling if I did that.”
“Then it’s lucky for you we didn’t decide to stay,” Lobo chuckled. “We’ll see you soon. Just keep an eye out for the rover, okay?”
“So we’re definitely not taking the truck?” asked Maggie.
“Do you really think we could escape that way?”
She frowned. “No, I suppose not. But it’ll be difficult to part ways.”
Lobo chuckled. “Mags, it’s just a machine. When we get outbound, I’ll teach you how to fly. All right?”
Maggie nodded, wiping at a tear in her eye. “I guess I’ll grab our things and load them into the rover’s trunk. Do you think it will all fit?”
“It’ll fit,” he told her. “I’m sure of it.”
When Maggie opened the lid to the trunk, she understand the confidence behind Lobo’s reply. The compartment was cloaked to look small, just as the rover itself looked like a mid-sized motorcycle, but in actuality it was somewhat bigger than she’d expected it to be. His clothes, and her box and photo albums, fit in it with room to spare.
“While I was upstairs, I took the liberty of finding us some food to bring along on our journey,” said Lobo, and he set another bag in along with the rest. “Nothing perishable, of course. But I thought it would be best not to make too many stops along the road if we can help it. You never know if they’ll begin a manhunt for us and tell people we’ve done something terrible so they’ll want to turn us in.”
“Some people would turn us in just for the money, whether they said we’d done anything wrong or not,” Maggie pointed out.
“And others wouldn’t turn us in even if we had,” Lobo countered. “Let’s just hope that if it comes to that, we find people who fit in the middle somewhere, eh?”
“I’ll say,” she agreed. “Well, maybe we should eat something now, before we head out. I’d like to get as far away from here as possible before we pull over for anything.”
“Yeah, Mags,” Lobo said. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
*****
The fact that the perimeter orbs still didn’t report any outdoor activity as the two of them ate was starting to worry Lobo greatly. It made no sense that those men had neither followed them, nor laid in wait for them in the place they were most likely headed. It didn’t bode well for using the secondary landing site, as far as he was concerned. Still, landing in the heart of the Mohave Desert made a lot of sense, since it was less likely that anyone would spot them out there.
Now that the rover was packed and they had eaten, Lobo was more than ready to hit the road. He sat behind the controls, while Maggie got in right behind him, wrapping her body around his back and nuzzling her nose into his neck.
“Good thing Xenon had a spare helmet laying around,” he told her with a smile as he handed it to her. “We don’t want to get pulled over just because we’re not following the laws. They won’t be able to recognize that the rover isn’t what it seems while we’re in motion, but I’m not quite as certain we would get away with it under closer scrutiny.”
“Well, at least we should get a head start, since they won’t realize it’s a motorcycle they should be looking for. They probably still think we’ll be driving in the truck.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Lobo. “Don’t forget, your boy Fred knows about the rover, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize we’d be much better off to use it to get where we are going.”
“That’s true,” Maggie had to agree. “But he also doesn’t know which direction we’ll be going. And I’d like to keep it that way, so don’t even give me a hint until we’re on the road.”
“Not a problem, Mags,” Lobo agreed. Then he gunned their ride, and headed out on the highway. He went north instead of west, int
ending to enter Colorado and then cut across through Nevada rather than trying to go west from there.
TEN
“So this is Las Vegas?” Lobo scoffed as they entered the famous city several hours later. They had taken every imaginable back road or short cut they could find, traveling at speeds well over a hundred miles per hour whenever they safely could, and he was now fairly certain that nobody had a clue about their current location.
“Yeah, this is the place,” Maggie replied with a grin he couldn’t see, though he could tell it was there by the tone of her voice. “Too bad we don’t have time to hit up a machine or two.”
“Don’t tempt me, woman,” he grumbled. “You must know they’ve probably plugged our faces into detectors everywhere, especially in a tourist trap like this one. It’s a good thing we don’t need to stop for gas using this rover, or they’d find us in a heartbeat.”
“Another good reason why we couldn’t take the truck,” Maggie said. She had been pointing out such reasons all along the way, and Lobo felt a wave of sympathy for her loss. But really, if she was coming with him into outer space, where did she think she would have put the thing anyway?
“I suppose that’s true,” he dutifully replied. “Now comes the difficult part. We need to stop off somewhere for food and a bathroom break, but we can’t go anywhere obvious. Do you have any ideas?”
“What about a private residence?” Maggie suggested. “Belonging to the manager of my Las Vegas warehouse. At least, I think Pete should be home at this hour.”
“It sounds risky, but I guess we don’t have much choice,” Lobo sighed. “I sure don’t want to head out into the desert without a proper water supply.”
“That’s for sure!” Maggie agreed. “Plus, his house is right on the edge of town, so when we do leave we could easily drive straight out into the desert without even bothering to go onto another road. Which I’m pretty sure you can do with this thing.”
“The rover can be configured to drive without engaging wheels if I want to do so,” Lobo said. “Perhaps going that way, and leaving no tracks, might be the best possible idea.”
“Great, then head west,” she said. “I’ll show you where to turn when we get to the road.”
*****
“Maggie, I’ve always known you to be a pretty sensible woman,” said Pete with a shake of his head. “But now you’re at my door, telling me you dumped Fred for some bad boy biker and you’re being chased after by the Feds? Something doesn’t wash here, girl.”
“Fine, that’s not the whole story,” she grumbled. “Could we maybe tell you the rest from inside the house, please? We need some supplies.”
“All right, fine,” he said, opening the door wider. “It’s your funeral, I guess.”
“Thanks, Pete,” she said.
The three of them went into his living room. Lobo and Maggie sat on the loveseat side by side, while Pete arranged himself sitting on the edge of his chair and leaning forward intently, obviously waiting to hear what was really going on.
Maggie’s face went a bit red under his scrutiny, but she didn’t back down even a little, but stormed right into the fray like a little trooper. “Okay, now before I explain the details, I want you to keep an open mind here. Do you think you could do that?”
“You know me, Maggie,” he replied.
“Yeah, I do. You’re a bit of a hothead, but I really need your help right now,” she said. “So, here’s the deal. Lobo isn’t just a stray biker I hooked up with. I actually hit him with my truck. And because of some very unique circumstances, he wouldn’t allow me to take him to the hospital, and then things—sort of progressed from there.”
“Is that why his leg is all messed up?” asked Pete. “My wife is a nurse, if you want her to look at that.”
“Oh no, I’m fine,” said Lobo. “My uncle already came by to patch me up. Before the unwanted company arrived.”
“And that’s the real question, isn’t it?” said Pete. “Why would the Feds be after you, and why would you refuse to go to a hospital?”
“This is the part where you need to remember that I’m a level-headed woman you’ve never doubted in all the years we’ve known each other, because short of making Lobo bleed again I think you’re just going to have to trust me on this.”
“Just tell me already.”
Lobo said, “I’m only here on vacation. Normally, I’m the captain of a starship that hauls freight and passengers throughout the known universe. I was only trying to do a little sight-seeing and look at a few cheesy tourist attractions until all this mess happened.”
“Okay, Maggie, I was ready to hear it from you, but coming from this guy, it doesn’t sound very believable.”
Before she could even respond, Lobo pulled out a pocket knife and used it to slice open his thumb. Green blood oozed out of the wound, and he held it up for Pete to see. “Do you believe this?”
Pete swallowed hard and stared.
“We need to get to the middle of the Mohave Desert within the day so I can rendezvous with my ship before those crazy government types manage to find out where we took off to. They believed we would be going to Roswell, so I made sure we were nowhere near the place. But if we’re going out there, we’re going to need food and water, and maybe even some sunscreen. So, are you going to help us out, or are we wasting precious time here?”
“I—uh—yeah, of course I’ll help,” he agreed. “Maggie, are you getting on that ship with him? Who’s going to run the company if you do?”
“I’ll give it to you, if you’d like,” she shrugged. “It’s not going to matter to me, where I’m headed. If I was foolish enough to stay here, I’d only become a test subject myself. They already know for a fact Lobo and I were intimate, so there’s no way I’d be able to lie about it. But even if they didn’t, there’s no way I’d ever let a catch like this one go. He may look like a rough and tumble kind of guy, but he’s actually really great.”
“Thanks, Mags,” Lobo said, squeezing her hand. “That’s so sweet. But back to the task at hand, do you have anything we could contain a whole lot of water in?”
“I have a water machine. The water already comes in very large containers,” Pete explained, pointing out the unit and the two spare bottles off to one side. “Take the unsealed ones. I’ll explain why they’re gone somehow when I make a replacement order.”
“What about food?” asked Maggie. “Maybe if we just eat something, we won’t have to bring anything else along.”
“Sure, I can have Jennifer bring home some steaks and we could fry them up,” Pete agreed. “You probably would be better off to wait for nightfall before you head into the desert anyway. Unless you’ve got a cloaking device on that bike while you’re at it.”
“Actually, I do,” Lobo snickered. “That motorcycle isn’t even a motorcycle at all. It’s cloaked to look like one.”
“That’s wild,” said Pete with a shake of his head. “This whole thing is insane.”
“I’ll write up a note saying the company is yours and send it to you in the mail once we’ve gotten away,” Maggie told him. “Sorry I won’t have time to get it notarized, but I could always include my thumb print or a sample of my DNA.”
“No DNA, Mags,” Lobo warned. “Yours is still changing right now, remember? It won’t be exactly the same, and might make it harder for him in the long run. The thumb print is a much better way to go.”
Pete stared. “Did he just say your DNA is changing?”
“Only a little bit,” Maggie shrugged. “It’s part of the mating process. But that’s just one more reason for me to hightail it on off this planet, right? Along with the very real fact that I am totally and completely in love.”
“How sweet,” Pete grinned. “But what happened to Fred anyway?”
“Fred is apparently one of the Feds,” she explained. “I’m not sure how or why, but for some reason this whole thing all came together that way.”
Lobo said, “I wonder if they’ve captu
red one of our psychics.”
“Psychics?” repeated both humans together.
“Future predictors. If one of them just happened to predict my arrival here and Maggie’s truck hitting me, they might have placed Fred to watch for it.”
“Okay, now we’re just getting too weird here, even for me,” Maggie complained. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear anything. If they could do something like that, then anybody in my life might have been placed the same way. Hell, they might even have gotten to Pete.”
He chuckled dryly. “Oh no, trust me, I’m no Federal agent. I’ve got too many irons in the fire to be on friendly terms with the law. That’s probably why you brought your alien friend here to me.”
“No, it wasn’t,” she grumbled. “It goes a lot deeper than that. You’re not just an employee, I’ve always considered you my friend.”
“Well great, I feel just the same about you,” he said. “Let me just give Jen a call about those steaks, and she should be back in just an hour or so. Lobo, why don’t you lay back and elevate that leg for a while? I saw that you were the one driving, so I’m sure it could use a break.”
“It already has a break,” Lobo teased. “But that’s not a bad idea. Thanks.”
“How about if we put Lobo on the couch, and I could take the loveseat?” Maggie asked hopefully. “I could use a little bit of a rest, too.”
“But we should put that water in the trunk first,” said Lobo. “You know how I am about those contingencies.”
“You rest,” Pete insisted. “Maggie and I will tend to them shortly.”
With a sigh, Lobo moved onto the couch and propped up his leg, using the couch pillow under his head to support his neck. He sure would be glad when he’d finally healed.
ELEVEN
When Maggie opened her eyes again, she found Jennifer standing over top of her, but with her faced turned as she was saying something to Lobo.
A New Reason To Fight: An Intergalactic Romance Page 24
