by Josie Litton
It was getting on for midnight when he ended a conversation with several startled but eager educators in the Philippines and came over to me.
Quietly, he said, “You’ve done enough for now. You need to rest.”
I couldn’t help noticing that none of the Krinar looked in the least fatigued although many of them been there as long as I had. Added to that, every other human who appeared to be in the room with us was actually a telepresence from another time zone. They all looked enviably fresh and raring to go. I was the only one who was starting to get a bit blurry-eyed.
“I’m fine, really. There’s too much to do to--”
Leaning a little closer, he said, “Do not expect me to stand by and let you exhaust yourself, Charlotte. If I have to, I will carry you out of this room.”
Ignoring the pleasurable shiver that ran through me at the thought of him doing any such thing, I said, “I’m a grown woman, Jarek, fully capable of deciding for myself when I do--or do not--need to go to bed.”
A corner of his too-tempting mouth arched upward, as though pulled reluctantly in that direction. Softly, so that only I could hear him, he said, “Then I’ll just have to convince you that you want to go there.”
My face flamed, all the more so when I realized that he had no intention of allowing me to retire discreetly. On the contrary, he rested his hand on the small of my back as we left together.
“Do you have any concerns about what other people will think of us?” I asked as we stepped out of the tube on the top floor of the embassy where his quarters were located.
The question seemed to surprise him. “Not really. It’s hardly as though this is the first time a Krinar and a human have become involved with each other.”
I tried but couldn’t quite manage to hide my shock.
“Then the rumors are true?”
I’d heard whispers, all unsubstantiated, that there were places where humans and Krinar were…hooking up, basically. Derek even claimed to know someone who knew someone who had gone to one of them and swore it was really happening. But I had no idea whether to believe that or not.
“There have been…interactions,” Jarek said carefully. “We’d expected that although frankly it’s happening more quickly than anticipated. But that isn’t what I meant.”
He took a step closer to me, his fingers catching a strand of my hair and stroking it gently. The gesture was so unexpectedly tender that it made my throat tighten. I wanted…something I couldn’t even define but still yearned with all my being.
Holding my gaze, Jarek said, “Krinar have been coming to Earth for thousands of years. In that time, quite a few lasting relationships have been formed. For instance, Ambassador Arus’ own companion, his charl, is a human woman named Delia. You’ll meet her soon.”
My mind reeled as I tried to come to terms with what he had just revealed. Krinar/human relationships weren’t remotely a novelty. ‘Quite a few’ had occurred. Even the Ambassador…?
“What does that mean…charl?” I asked.
He paused. I had the sudden sense that he was on the verge of saying something important. But instead, after a moment, he replied, “We’ll talk about that another time. Right now--”
The look in his eyes silenced any further questions that I might have had. After a day of struggling against madness and mayhem, I went into his arms without hesitation and felt once again the deep, abiding sense that I was where I belonged.
Chapter Twelve
Jarek
“There is no doubt,” I said, speaking to the assembled group of Krinar and humans, “that the situation is improving. Planet-wide, episodes of violence and civil unrest are decreasing. Lives have been spared, financial markets are stabilizing somewhat, and distribution of essential materials--food, fuel, medicine, and so on--is beginning to return to normal. Each and every one of you is to be thanked for that. I know this week has been extraordinarily difficult. You’ve been pressed to your limits and beyond. But I think we can agree that the results are worth the effort.”
All those present, whether in person or through telepresence, nodded. Even the weariest among them was smiling. In the short time since the task force had been formed, human and Krinar alike had come together remarkably well and were truly functioning as a team.
Privately, I could admit that I wouldn’t have thought that possible. But Charlotte’s faith in the ability of ordinary people to step up and make a difference was proving to be more than justified. Even beyond that, they had won the respect of my own kind, many of whom were seeing the inhabitants of Earth in a new and far more positive light.
None of which explained the dark turn of my own thoughts. Something was wrong. I knew it in my gut in a way that I’d learned through the discipline of kusakhina not to question.
Objectively, the situation on Earth was improving. A week into the effort to rally local support to end the Panic, real progress had been made. There were still outbreaks of violence but they were becoming rarer and on the whole shorter lived. Partly, people were simply exhausted. But humans were also remarkably adaptable. What had seemed so literally alien six weeks before was now being referred to as the ‘new normal’. It was a beginning at least.
At the same time, I was more convinced than ever that the Panic had been fueled deliberately. Certainly, there were people who were honestly terrified and acting out in response to their fear. And there were others who were just in it for the inevitable looting. But something bigger was happening--levers were being moved behind the scenes. Much of what appeared to be spontaneous was anything but.
We needed to find out who was behind it and put a stop to their activities. That was where my focus had to be. But instead, all I could think of was that I should not have allowed Charlotte to leave the embassy.
“I have to go,” she’d insisted over breakfast a few hours before. “I’ve been putting Loomis off for the past week. It’s not enough anymore. His last message as good as said that if I want to still have a job at the State Department, I have to come in today to be debriefed.”
I was listening, really. But I was also thinking of how incredibly beautiful she was, how the sunlight played through her hair, how her mouth had felt on my cock just a short time before--
She drove me wild. Soon, I would have to take her blood; I wouldn’t be able to resist much longer. But before that, she needed to understand what she truly meant to me and how I wanted us to be together. Every instinct I had to possess and protect, to cherish and love surged to the fore. Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t have hesitated to take her back to bed and lose myself in her.
Even so, I managed to say, “You’re wasted there,” I said. “You should be working as a mediator on behalf of both Earth and Krina to forge tighter bounds between our worlds. You know that I’ve already broached the subject with Arus. He’s seen for himself how much you’ve accomplished as a member of the task force. He’s fully on board with the idea.”
The becoming flush that suffused her cheeks fascinated me. She could hide her emotions when she chose; I’d seen her do it in tense situations throughout the week. But she didn’t with me. I had her trust and I was determined to keep it…forever.
“I appreciate that more than I can say, Jarek. It’s more than I could ever have dreamed of. But Loomis is a petty, vindictive man. If he can make me out to be some sort of turncoat or collaborator, he’ll do it. That would make me worse than useless to both Earth and Krina.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I shot back. “He’s the one who has no loyalty to anything other than himself.”
She hadn’t disagreed but that also hadn’t mattered. She’d gone, promising to be back as quickly as possible.
Walking away from the others in the task force room that had now expanded to a full floor of the embassy, I tapped the com link on my wrist.
“Where is she now?”
“Still at State,” Altan answered patiently. Nothing in the tone of his voice indicated either annoyance or amuseme
nt at my fifth such inquiry in less than an hour. “The tracker puts her on the seventh floor of the building in Secretary Loomis’ office.”
“Do we have a drone nearby?”
“We do.”
“Good, please deploy it. ”
In the interest of discretion, I removed myself to my private office. Scarcely had I entered than the feed from the drone began coming through. The size of an insect, it had the capability of capturing three-dimensional images and clear sound through virtually any barrier. The blast-proof windows of the State Department covered in micro-thin electromagnetically blocking film were no challenge at all.
“I see,” Loomis was saying. “So apart from being very occupied with the task force, you’ve really had no time to learn much about the Krinar or their technology?”
“I thought the task force had priority,” Charlotte replied. She sounded calm and steady. “Considering the potential cost in lives if the Panic were to continue.”
Loomis nodded. They were alone in his office. For once, his usual sycophants were elsewhere. That struck me as odd and further heightened my concern. I listened even more intently.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “But it’s not continuing, is it? At least not at anywhere near the same level. I think it’s fair to say that the Krinars’ strategy--which let’s not forget, you suggested to them--is working.”
“I hope so. I have learned enough to be convinced that the Krinar really do want the best for this world. As for their technology, it’s simply stunning. They appear to have complete control of matter on the molecular level, giving them the ability to fabricate anything they need within seconds and then just as easily destroy it.”
I couldn’t restrain a smile. Trust Charlotte to have put all that together for herself. Loomis had no idea of the caliber of the woman he was dealing with.
The Secretary of State nodded his silver head thoughtfully.
“They’re a remarkable species, the Krinar,” he said. “We have so much to learn in association with them provided we go about it the right way and with the right people in charge.”
He heaved a patently phony sigh. “Unfortunately, for all the progress that’s been made, all it would take is one spark, something that caught the imagination of the masses and convinced them that our new alien overlords really are monsters, and we’d have chaos.”
She paused, studying him, before she said, “Surely, no one wants that to happen.”
“Indeed, no. Why, if it does, entire governments will fall. By the time the dust settles, who knows who will be running things.”
His chuckle sent a ripple of revulsion through me.
I had no time to contemplate it before his tone turned brisk. “Thank you for coming in, Charlotte. It’s obvious you’re doing an excellent job. The sooner you get back to it, the better.”
As he escorted her to the door, I could see her surprise. She hadn’t been in the building more than thirty minutes and in his office for scarcely ten of that. He’d been so insistent that she come in, why wasn’t he at least turning her over to his staff for a much more thorough debriefing?
My stomach suddenly tightened. In an instant, the nebulous fears for her safety crystalized into certainty. Obeying instincts that I knew better than to question, I hit the com link again.
“Altan, get into the security system in the State Department building. I want to make sure that nothing can interfere with Charlotte leaving there.”
“It’s done.”
“Good, where is the nearest Guardian unit to her?”
“There are none currently in the streets. That puts the closest here at the embassy.”
“Get them on the move. She may need an escort.”
“What are you anticipating--?” he asked after he’d given the order.
“Loomis wasn’t interested in anything she had to say. He only wanted to get her out of here.”
I didn’t have to explain further. Altan understood exactly what I’d realized. While inside the embassy, Charlotte was untouchable. But outside…she was far more vulnerable and if I was right, in very real, imminent danger.
That video of the two of us was still all over social media. I hadn’t mentioned it to her because I knew it would make her uncomfortable. But Loomis certainly knew and he wouldn’t hesitate to make use of it.
If anything happened to her and it was made to look as though the Krinar who had taken her was responsible…
As the slorpis himself had said, all that was needed was a spark.
“There’s movement,” Altan said suddenly. He listened for a moment. “Two teams, six men each, on route inside the building to intercept her. I’ve sent the elevator she’s in directly to the lobby but they’ll reach there only a minute or so behind her.”
“How close is the unit?”
“About to launch. They’ll land in one of the courtyards. It will take a few minutes to stun security personnel and achieve entry.”
Not good enough, not remotely.
My office was on the fifth floor of the embassy. I left it by the simple expediency of opening the window and leaping out. I took the wall as quickly.
The State Department was two miles away. With the restoration of relative peace, the streets were far more crowded than they had been. Traffic moved slowly along the congested roads. Ignoring the screams and shouts of passersby, I jumped onto the roof of the nearest car and raced on from there, over one vehicle after another until I came finally to the building on C Street.
Scarcely a minute had elapsed since I’d left the embassy but it felt like an eternity. There was no sign of Charlotte.
“Where is she?” I barked into the link.
“She didn’t make it out of the lobby,” Altan said. “One of the teams intercepted her. They’re taking her to the first sub-basement, two levels down from the street. There’s an entrance directly around the corner from where you’re standing. Go through it and you’ll see stairs--”
The door to the side entrance was locked. I wrenched it off its hinges, tossed it aside, and hurtled down the stairs. Exploding out the door at the bottom, I saw Charlotte in the grip of a pair of goons who were forcing her into a black Escalade. Several more waited nearby.
She was holding onto her courage but she still looked scared, understandably enough. When she saw me, her face lit up but only for an instant. The goons had their guns out, ready to fire.
“No!” she screamed. “Jarek, go back!”
Her worry moved me but it was also unnecessary. I acted so quickly that only a handful of the bullets that they managed to get off hit me. Most were grazes, a couple more serious but nowhere near enough to slow me down.
My only regret was what Charlotte was about to see. With that in mind, I did my utmost to restrain myself. Rather than rip out their throats as I would have liked, I just broke the goons’ necks and tossed them out of my way.
By the time I reached her, she was shaking all over. For that matter, so was I. When I thought of what could have happened to her--
“Jarek, you’re hurt! Oh, no, please no! You’ve got to lie down, we need help…!” Tears were pouring down her lovely face but she was doing her utmost to try to staunch the blood seeping from me.
Heedless of that, I dragged her into my arms and held her as tightly as I dared. “Shhh, it’s all right. I’ll be fine. Are you hurt? Did they harm you?”
Clinging to me, she looked up with those incredible blue eyes I would never get used to and shook her head dazedly. “Me? No, but you--”
“I’ll heal fast, don’t worry. And I’ll explain everything, I promise. But first--”
The Guardian unit had arrived. I instructed them to go upstairs and secure Loomis while I led Charlotte out to the pod in the courtyard. Altan could send another to pick up our men and their prisoner. I wasn’t waiting to get her out of there.
Once Loomis had spent some quality time with Altan and his team to wring out of him all the names of those who had helped fuel the Panic
, he’d be released to his own people. I didn’t care if they killed him outright or just stuck him in a hole somewhere so long as he was never heard from again.
Half-an-hour later, after medical had made quick work of extracting the few bullets inside me and after I’d convinced Charlotte that I wasn’t staying around for more care, we returned to my quarters, I coaxed her out of the clothes that my frantic embrace had left stained with my blood and led her into the cleansing chamber.
When all evidence of what had happened was washed from us both, I simply held her. We clung together, naked, without pretense, needing each other with raw honesty and passion. Her hand stroked lightly over my side where one of the bullets had penetrated. The wound had already healed. Nothing remained to show that it had even happened.
“How is this possible,” she murmured. “I saw what happened. I saw you hit. Over and over.” A choking sob broke from her. Her eyes clouded again with tears.
I kissed them away gently and said, “I have nanocytes in my blood that heal any injury very quickly. They also eliminate the effects of aging. All Krinar have them. If you agree to what I’m going to ask of you, you will, too.”
“Me? I don’t understand… How can that be? Heal… eliminate aging…?”
“For most humans it isn’t, at least not yet and I can’t promise that will ever change. But remember, I told you that humans and Krinar have been forming relationships together for thousands of years? That wouldn’t be possible if the lifespan of an individual human couldn’t be extended to match our own.”
It was a tremendous amount for her to take in and I wanted to be sure that she understood. Drawing her from the chamber, I wrapped her in a warm robe and led her into the bedroom.
Sitting with her on the edge of the bed, I said, “I realize we haven’t known each other very long. But especially after today, the thought of losing you--”
A long agonizing shudder ran through me. Before it subsided, Charlotte put her hand over mine and squeezed gently.
