by Smith, S. E.
“What is it? Do you have some kind of alien sixth sense about danger or something?” Bert asked with a baffled expression.
Derik realized he had stiffened and was standing with a scowl on his face. He impatiently shook his head and released the man’s wrist.
“Runt is communicating with me. She wants us to take our time and cause a distraction,” he replied.
“Runt…? How?“ Bert stuttered.
A tiny version of RITA appeared suddenly in a soft transparent glow emitted from the communicator on his wrist, and she caroled triumphantly, “She has tapped into DiMaggio’s computer system!” RITA’s dark red hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she was dressed all in black, which made her look like she was a floating head. “Thank goodness she connected to the Internet through the new computer Terra and Cosmos designed. Now I can locate her. Do you want me to go to her, Derik?” RITA asked.
“Holy Mother of Mary! What the hell is that?” Bert exclaimed, stumbling back several steps.
Derik could understand Bert’s alarm. If he had not known about RITA, he would have been shocked as well.
“Hi Bert, I’m RITA, the most advanced AI on Earth, besides my darling FRED. I work with Cosmos and Avery at CRI. I’m the one who has been chatting with you,” RITA introduced herself.
“CRI RITA? You mean you aren’t real? Bloody hell! Now, I’ve got aliens who can hear voices in their head and floating heads that talk. What will Cosmos think of next?” Bert muttered with a shake of his head.
“It is amazing, isn’t it? Derik, we should coordinate our approach. Do you want me to connect with Amelia? I can also scope out DiMaggio’s security system and might be able to deactivate it through the link Amelia has created,” RITA suggested.
“Gather what information you can get covertly and let me know where she is once we get there,” he instructed.
I don’t need RITA’s help.
Derik absently held up a hand to indicate his companions should wait as he focused on what his mate was telling him.
I can get out on my own. DiMaggio is using a system that is heavily encrypted. I needed to be online here to access it. Yeah, the big turd is still pissed about the last time he captured me—I hacked his system and escaped—but I’m fine. I can deactivate the security myself, just not yet. I don’t want to alert him to what I’m doing, Runt stated.
Forget about his system. You need to get out of there. I’m sending RITA to you. She can find what you need, he retorted.
No, she can’t. All I need is a distraction once I’ve got what I want, she snapped in response.
Silence stretched for several seconds while he counted to ten. He was trying to remember his training. Emotions caused mistakes, and he couldn’t afford to make any at the moment. The trouble was, none of his training had prepared him for dealing with a stubborn, opinionated, single-minded human woman who lived by her own rules.
How do you plan to get out? he finally asked.
I’ve got a plan, she replied.
Derik waited… and waited… and waited. He groaned and ran his hand down his face. He ignored RITA’s amused expression and Bert’s perplexed one.
Are you going to tell me what this plan is, or do you expect me to guess what it is? he demanded.
You cause the distraction I need, and I escape, she stated.
“That’s it? That is your plan?” he exclaimed in a low, disbelieving tone.
“Whose plan?” Bert asked in confusion.
“Oh, dear, this doesn’t sound good,” RITA replied.
“That is not a plan—that is…. I don’t know what it is called, but that is not a plan,” he growled.
Whatever, gotta go, she responded.
Just like that, she was gone again. He fought against the barrier she erected, but it didn’t give. He raised his fists in the air and took a deep breath. Aggravated, he turned his attention back to RITA and Bert.
“RITA, go to Amelia. Be ready to cause a distraction if I am not close enough when needed. Bert, show me where this Digs is located,” Derik instructed.
RITA murmured her assent before she disappeared back into Cyberspace. Bert looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.
“This has got to be the craziest assignment I’ve ever had,” he muttered.
Stay safe until we get there, he silently ordered, and Amelia… we are going to have a serious discussion about some of the decisions that you make.
My decisions…? Oh, wait! They are MY decisions, aren’t they? Why? Maybe because I’m the boss of me, she sarcastically replied.
Yes, they are…. You are…. You know what I mean! You should have asked for help. You are no longer alone, he countered.
Only because you are always in my head! Do you have any idea how distracting that is? she retorted.
I do now, he muttered.
Her low snort of amused laughter made him grin. His mate was turning out to be everything he had dreamed about over the last two years—and more. He shook his head when Bert raised an eyebrow and shot him a questioning look.
Whatever. Gotta concentrate now. Don’t get Bert killed, she instructed before she pulled away from him again.
Derik released a softly muttered curse before he gestured to Bert that they should move out. He silently followed Bert as they worked their way deeper into the city. Several blocks later, they turned down a long, dark alley littered with large dumpsters. Bert paused at the end and pointed at a building across the street.
“That’s The Digs,” Bert said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat. “So, what’s this plan you were talking about?”
Derik was silent for a moment. “I will go and introduce myself to the human called DiMaggio,” he replied.
“That’s your plan?” Bert hissed in disbelief.
Derik ignored Bert’s muttered comment that he should have retired to Florida when he had the chance. Instead, he stared at the entrance to the building in front of him. There were several men standing out front. He recognized two of them. They had been with the man who had grabbed his mate.
Runt, a soft voice corrected him in his mind.
How do you keep doing that? he silently demanded.
Doing what? Runt replied.
I should sense your presence in my mind, yet I don’t, he grudgingly admitted.
I dunno. You’re the alien. You should know more about this stuff than I do, Runt responded.
I am coming in, he replied.
That’s your plan? Just… coming in? she asked.
You said you needed a distraction, I am giving you a distraction, he growled in response to her skeptical tone.
Wow! Getting killed. Now that is a novel idea. Why didn’t I think of that? she sarcastically replied.
“I will not get myself killed,” he retorted under his breath.
Whatever, she replied with a snort.
Bert shook his heading, thinking that Derik was talking to him. “Well, you could’ve fooled me,” he muttered.
* * *
An hour earlier:
Runt woke with a start. She sat up and looked around, thinking that it was amazing how fast a body could recover once it had oxygen, then her mind turned to the fact that her mission had been a success—of sorts.
She was in an elaborately decorated room, sitting on a luxurious dark brown leather sofa. The floor was covered with rich oak hardwood while several cheap reproductions of Greco-Roman Renaissance paintings from various artists decorated the wall. It didn’t take her long to deduce that she had been deposited in DiMaggio’s private office.
What surprised her the most was that she was alone. She hadn’t expected DiMaggio to make that mistake after what had happened the last time they met. She grimaced when the thought struck her that DiMaggio had either set up a trap or he was getting sloppy in his criminal old age. Whichever was the case, there was something very weird going on.
Curious, she stood and walked over to the door. It had an electronic lock. She tested the
handle and sighed when it didn’t open.
Turning around, she scanned the room again. There was one window. She walked over and pulled back the curtains covering it. There were bars across the glass on the inside that were secured with another electronic lock. She would need the code to unlock it.
Obviously DiMaggio does not believe in being in accordance with fire regulations, she thought dispassionately as she studied the bars.
Releasing the curtains, she turned and began to search the room for hidden cameras, listening devices, and her missing backpack, but had no luck finding anything. DiMaggio had probably handed her stuff over to his tech guy. She would have to remember to get it before she left. Her favorite pair of headphones was inside the bag. The tech guy better not take them, or she would hunt him down and personally hand him his balls. First code of a hacker—okay, maybe not the first, but it should be, was never to mess with another person’s headphones.
She walked over to DiMaggio’s desk and sat down in the oversized chair. A few framed photos cluttered the right corner. They showed several beautiful women laughing up at the fat old man. She rolled her eyes in disgust.
“Really? I swear some women just need to be bitch-slapped for being so stupid,” she muttered under her breath.
She sat back in the plush chair and nodded in approval when it gently rocked. It was nice. Too bad she couldn’t take it with her when she decided to leave—not that she would have anywhere to put it, but it was really sweet.
Bending forward, she peered under the desk. There was a panic button to the left. She should try to avoid pressing that, she thought with amusement.
She slid her fingers down and tested each of the drawers. They were locked. Biting her lip, she looked at the door and then shrugged.
Honestly, if the man didn’t want me going through his stuff, he shouldn’t have locked me in his office, she thought.
She pushed back her sleeve until she saw her emergency kit wrapped around her forearm, then slid out a thin, straight piece of metal. One of the main things she’d learned on the streets was always to be prepared for any occasion. After all, you never knew when you might have to pick a lock to escape.
In seconds, the top drawer was open. It didn’t take long for her to unlock the rest of the desk drawers after that. She wiggled her nose when she saw the wide variety of gourmet chocolates and other boxed delicacies. There was nothing in any of the drawers except junk food.
“Wow! Somebody has a sweet tooth,” she chuckled. She muttered to herself as she slid out of the chair so that she could look under the drawers. “I bet his doctor and dentist love to see him—not! I should cut off his candy suppliers. I bet that would get his attention and he’d really be pissed at me then.”
She closed the drawers, climbed back into the office chair, and removed her wide, gothic-style leather bracelet from her wrist. In the center of the bracelet was a large onyx jewel with silver inlays. She smiled as she pressed her finger to the center and pulled her hand away.
A hologram of a screen and keyboard appeared above the center of the jewel. The technology for the micro-computer had come from Baade, the design had come from Cosmos and Terra, but the programming inside this particular model was uniquely hers and RITA’s.
She began typing, and a layout of DiMaggio’s security system soon appeared. She glanced swiftly through the three-dimensional diagram. Her mind absorbed the encrypted code that appeared on the screen beside the diagram. Soon, she had access through a backdoor in the program.
She was in the middle of her search when she felt the first tingling sensation that she wasn’t alone sweep through her. She looked at the door; then scanned the room again. The feeling grew stronger, and she realized it was coming from inside her head, not from her surroundings. The sensation was slightly different from the other times she had connected with the alien. During the past two years, whenever she felt the odd pressure, she usually pushed him into a metal file cabinet in her mind and kept him there.
This time she analyzed the sensation. It was as if she were there with him—seeing the same thing that he was seeing. His thoughts were clear and focused. He wanted to find her. She could feel his determination, but she could also sense something that he was trying to hide. It took her a few seconds to recognize the emotion. Fear—he was afraid—for her. He also wanted RITA to find her.
I don’t need RITA’s help. I can get out on my own. DiMaggio is using a system that is heavily encrypted. I needed to be online here to access it. The big turd is still pissed about the last time he captured me—I hacked his system and escaped—but I’m fine. I can deactivate the security, just not yet. I don’t want him to know what I’m doing, she informed him.
She groaned and shook her head. She hadn’t planned on reaching out to him, but she just couldn’t help herself.
Forget about his system. You need to get out of there. I’m sending RITA to you. She can find what you need, Derik ordered.
No, she can’t. All I need is a distraction once I’ve got what I came for, she snapped in response.
She absently realized that he hadn’t responded to her retort. She grinned when he suddenly ‘spoke’ to her. He sounded a little annoyed.
Their silent argument made her grin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever had this much fun. She also couldn’t remember the last time that she had talked so much, even if it was in her head!
Are you going to tell me what this plan is, or do you expect me to guess what it is? he pressed.
She bit her lip and thought for a moment. Yes, she had a plan. It involved a lock, a window, and hopefully a fire escape or sturdy pipe attached to the building next to said window, but he didn’t have to know that. It would help if DiMaggio and his thugs were a little preoccupied while she was doing all of that.
You cause the distraction I need and I escape, she suggested.
She absently listened to his outraged reply with one part of her brain while the other part of her mind focused on her search. She briefly pulled away from him when she found an interesting thread of code that needed her undivided attention.
Following it, she felt a sense of triumph when a file appeared with the name she had been searching for. It wasn’t a huge find, more of a nibble, but it was a lead. Her gut feeling had been correct. She had been right to come looking for DiMaggio.
She blinked when Derik’s suddenly fervent thoughts pushed through the fragile wall she had built. This had to be a first! What guy even thought about threats like this in real life and was actually serious about carrying them out? It was kind of sexy in a weird, primitive way.
Her expression twisted into wry amusement when he continued his silent rant, and she wondered if he even realized that his thoughts were being loudly broadcasted to her—in 16K UHD!
I’m coming for you, and when I get my hands on you this time, I’m going to tie you up, throw you over my shoulder, and carry you to my world where I know you will be safe!
Unable to resist, she sent an image to him of a hairy caveman standing in front of a cave, holding a wooden club. Biting her lip to keep from laughing too loud, she added the caveman picking his nose.
Runt could sense Derik’s confusion as he tried to understand the image. She sighed. Aliens! And they were supposed to be the smarter species.
You’re acting like a caveman. A man who’s all brawn and no brains, she explained.
I don’t pick my nose, he defensively retorted.
But you don’t deny the caveman part? she asked with amusement.
I only appear to act like this primitive creature where you are concerned. And I am not that hairy, he teased.
The thought of him without a shirt on brought an unexpected blush to her face. She wiggled in the chair as the warmth spread through her. This was getting a little too personal for her.
Whatever, she replied.
This time when she pulled away, she made sure that, instead of building a wall between them, her mental image of Derik was
shoved back into the file cabinet that she usually kept him in. The guy was beginning to get under her skin. She didn’t like that—not one bit!
She had no sooner locked Derik away than RITA’s face appeared in the center of the holographic screen in front of her. RITA’s disapproving gaze made her wince.
“Amelia, darling, what were you thinking when you disappeared like that—and now you’re trying to go after this awful man by yourself! Do you have any idea how worried everyone has been?” RITA chided.
Chapter Seven
Derik dropped the last man standing between himself and the front door of the building. Bert shook his head and slid his gun back into the pocket of his coat. He looked around before nodding to Derik.
“We can drag them around the corner to get them out of sight. I have some plastic restraints we can put on them,” Bert said.
A nearby SUV slowed and pulled up in front. They both turned to face it. Bert started to reach for his weapon again, but relaxed and grinned when Robert stepped out and walked around the front of the vehicle. He paused for a moment to study the pile of bodies.
“Are they dead?” Robert asked with a look of distaste.
“Naw, just knocked out. How’d you know to show up here?” Bert asked.
“RITA suggested that you might need some assistance. It seems she was correct, as usual,” Robert dryly replied as he took a pair of black leather gloves from his coat pocket and pulled them on.
“Help me pull the bodies around to the side. You got anything we can use to gag them?” Bert asked with a grin.
“I’ll have to look. I don’t normally carry such items with me. I guess I’ll have to remember to store some in the car for the next time,” Robert said.
Derik watched the two men struggle to carry one of DiMaggio’s men. At this rate, he would be in and out of the building before they moved even half the pile of unconscious criminals. The thought had no sooner formed in his mind than a car drove by and Robert and Bert suddenly dropped their man back to the ground.
Shaking his head, he bent down, threw one man over his shoulder, and grabbed the arm of another. He strode by Bert and Robert. Both men watched him a moment before looking at each other.
