Sleeper Cells

by Sandra Y. Desjardins

  SLEEPER CELLS

  Sandra Y. Desjardins

  A Tale of Two Kitties Publishing

  Texas

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  SLEEPER CELLS. Copyright © 2011 by Sandra Y.

  Desjardins. All rights reserved.

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918332

  Printed in the United States of America.

  For information, address:

  A Tale of Two Kitties Publishing

  108 E. FM 2410, Suite F, PMB 115

  Harker Heights, TX 76548

  www.ataleoftwokittiespublishing.com

  Printed ISBN: 978-0-9839453-0-7

  ePUB ISBN: 978-0-9839453-1-4

  ePDF ISBN: 978-0-9839453-2-1

  First Edition: November 2011

  This novel is dedicated to my husband,

  Richard, for always believing in me

  and motivating me to follow my

  dreams.

  And to my three muses: Alyssa, Samar,

  and Brittney. Your love and devotion

  forever inspire my heart.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I have to begin by giving my daughter, Alyssa, the biggest and most heartfelt thanks. I loved every second of our weapons research, your enthusiasm was contagious! Most importantly, I loved creating a kickass female leading character for you.

  I would like to thank my editors Kelly Lynne and Rosanne Catalano. Without your guidance and phenomenal literary genius this would not have been possible, thank you so much! Also, I wanted to extend a special thank you to my copy editor, Lynn Forster. I am so glad we found each other and that you were a part of the process!

  Big hugs to Kippy Holland and Diana Lotti for tolerating me before, during, and especially after I completed this novel! Your insight, assistance, and patience were priceless. I could not have done this without your love and support.

  A special thanks to my big bro, Eddie, and his family. Thanks to my big brother, Jay, and his wife, Greta. A girl couldn’t have asked for a sister-in-law & beta reader!

  To my best friend, Kimberly, and her amazing family…you guys rock - aloha style! Much love to Mom, Dad, Kristin, Kayla and the rest of the Castle crew.

  I would like to give a many thanks to my lovely teen-critics, Jenna Santos & Shayla Holland. Your much needed perspective helped ensure that Sleeper Cells was written for my YA audience! I couldn’t have done it without you!

  I cannot thank my parents enough! And I wanted to send many thanks to my Lonewolf—your love and support will never be forgotten.

  And lastly, I would like to thank our veterans and troops. Without your dedication and sacrifice, I wouldn’t have the freedom to write this book. Your service is invaluable and will never be forgotten.

  SLEEPER CELLS

  Chapter One My Lips are Sealed

  Katarina Bloomfield looked at the clock on the dashboard of her Lexus. The party had started an hour ago and Roger was pissed that she wasn’t there yet. She tried not to worry about her boyfriend’s mood as she sped through downtown Washington D.C toward his house. Roger Davis’ parties were infamous, so there would be tons of people around to keep him entertained until she got there.

  It was his eighteenth birthday though. As his girlfriend for almost all of their senior year of high school, she really should have been the first person to get there. Katarina shrugged. She supposed that made them even, since he hadn’t been the first one at her eighteenth birthday party. Granted, a blizzard had blown in, but that was beside the point. He knew her birthday was in January, so he should have planned accordingly.

  Katarina had wanted to get to Roger’s party on time, but her life wasn’t under her control. So when her mission ran late because they took fire, any plans to be on time had gone out the window. Already planning on being late, she was now running extra late because she had to sit through a longer than usual debriefing. With no time to spare, she had gotten home, changed and headed toward his house.

  Katarina pulled her long, red hair out of the bun it was in and ran her fingers through it. She used her rearview mirror to apply lipstick then mascara as she waited at traffic lights. When she finally made it to Roger’s house, she had to park two blocks away because so many people had shown up. A cold wind blew and made her shiver when she stepped from the car. She was glad she always kept a sweater in her truck because the cool May evening made her regret wearing the off-the-shoulder dress.

  She let herself in and made her way through the living room, greeting classmates along the way. She spotted Vanessa, her very beautiful, younger stepsister, and headed in her direction. Katarina waved at Roger when she saw him talking to a group of football players and smiled when he stopped midsentence and made his way across the room. Kat looked up at him with her smile still in place when he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.

  “Hey, Big Red, you’re looking sexy as ever—” Roger started to say.

  “Seriously, Roger, that’s so lame,” Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Did you want to try a little bit of that amazing originality you’ve got going on and give me a nickname too?” She pouted then pressed her index finger against her lips for a moment. “Oh, hey, maybe you can call me Blondie since I’m a blonde!”

  “Honey,” Roger teased in response to her sarcasm, “Anyone just has to talk to you for more than five seconds and they’ll know you’re a natural blonde.”

  “You’re such a jerk.” Vanessa glared at him as she flipped him the bird.

  Katarina grabbed Vanessa’s hand and lowered it to her side. “Can we attempt to be civil tonight, guys?” She looked between them.

  “Yeah, babe, of course,” Roger said. “It’s just playful banter.”

  “Playful banter?” Vanessa asked. “Kit Kat, I so look forward to the day you get bored with this Neanderthal.”

  “You know what, Vanessa—” Roger started but Katarina slapped her hand over his mouth.

  “I’ll catch up with you in a bit,” she told Vanessa as she pulled Roger toward the balcony and out the door. “You really need to back off a little, Roger. She’s used to guys falling at her feet so you stonewalling her every chance you get throws her for a loop.” Katarina laughed at his innocent expression but knew they bickered constantly.

  “Come on, Kat,” he laughed. “I just like messing with her. She’s so jealous of you.”

  Katarina rolled her eyes at that last statement but smiled at the name. She loved that Roger and just about every human she knew shortened her name to Kat. It was so much more personal than the formality of her alien race. Nemeanians lacked emotions so never used pet names or terms of endearment. Nemeanian Hybrids, such as herself, also lacked the emotional proclivity to shorten it to something as cute as Kat.

  “She is not jealous of me,” she assured him. “She’s the all-American girl that all the boys love—”

  “Yeah, that’s jealous as hell of her big sister. She hates that you’re so smart and sexy—”

  “So is she—”

  “Yeah, smart about reality TV and all the stuff in life that doesn’t matter.” He stepped closer to her and tucked her hair behind her ear.

  “Well, she’s at least right about one thing.”

  “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”

  “You are a jerk,” she jabbed her index finger into his chest.

  “A jerk that you love—”

  “Who said I love you?” She countered despite feeling something toward him. She didn’t know exactly what she felt, but she knew that nothing could ever come of it. She and Roger could never be together. He was human. And she wasn’t supposed to be f
eeling anything, especially toward him.

  “You don’t have to say it for me to know.” He chuckled. “With prom just a couple of weeks away, I’ll finally get to see just how much you love me. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn’t let just anybody see if the rug matches the drapes, not unless—”

  “A jerk and a pig,” she punched his arm playfully. “You’re definitely not batting a hundred tonight—”

  “It’s a thousand.” He chuckled.

  “A thousand?”

  “It’s batting a thousand.” He leaned toward her for a kiss, his left hand sliding around her waist while the other slid into her hair. “Jesus, Kat,” he gasped when she flinched and pulled away from him. He looked at his bloodied fingertip then back at her. “You’re bleeding!”

  “What? No…” She stared at the dab of blood on the tip of his index finger. “It’s nothing, Roger.” She rubbed her hand along her neck and located the wound. “It must have been the alteration lady at the dress shop…I thought I felt her poke me earlier.”

  “Poke you?” He tried to lift her hair off of her shoulder. “More like stabbed you.”

  “It’s nothing,” she pulled away from him. “Really, it’s just a scratch.” She forced a smile.

  After almost two years, Kat had done a lot of things to keep Roger’s suspicions about her true identity under control. Most of which she hadn’t minded. Some, however, she dreaded, and this was one of those times. She took a deep breath, planted a smile on her lips then pulled his finger into her mouth and sucked on it. The metallic taste was disgusting but worth enduring because it had the desired effect. Kat leaned up to kiss him.

  “Wait a sec…” He pushed her away and stared at her for a moment. “I thought you were wearing that strapless gown that matches the vest of my tux...”

  “Right,” she forced another smile. Come on, Kat, think…“But I was with Mom and she wanted to see what it would look like if we made it into a halter-top.”

  “Well is that gonna mess with how it looks?”

  “And when you say how it looks you mean?” She teased, relieved that he believed her.

  “You know.” he said as he smiled mischievously, “All your cleavage? You look amazing with it the way it is.”

  “No worries, babe. I convinced Mom to leave it be.”

  He stared at her for another moment. It was almost as if he was putting something together in his mind, which infuriated her because he used to be so much easier to redirect. Still smiling, she kissed his neck then his cheek. Relieved that he finally took the bait and kissed her, she relaxed and enjoyed the moment.

  They made their way inside and Kat excused herself to the ladies room. She fished bandages out of her purse and handled her injury as best as she could. She hoped that it held up until she got home. She pulled her hair over her one shoulder so it could help conceal the shrapnel lodged there.

  Kat and Vanessa spent the rest of the evening with their classmates celebrating Roger’s birthday. When they arrived home, Vanessa fell asleep in Kat’s bed because, as usual, she drank too much. This, of course, meant that Kat wouldn’t be able to heal her injury anytime soon, so she put fresh bandages over it and fell asleep.

  The following morning, Ariel and Lauren showed up for breakfast. Ariel was their team leader and resident kill-joy. Her stoic appearance always made her look like she was in a perpetual bad mood. Lauren was Kat’s best friend. They had met four years ago and knew everything about each other, which meant they were both aware that the other embraced the human emotions they weren’t supposed to have.

  The three of them crept into Kat’s bathroom so they could examine her injury without rousing Vanessa. As Ariel prepared a needle and thread, Lauren extracted the metal fragment, then cleaned the wound. Kat flinched when Ariel went to work on her neck but bit her lip and sat silently. Showing signs of weakness in front of Ariel, even when it was called for, was never a good thing.

  After stitching up her neck, they made their way into Kat’s bedroom and dragged Vanessa out of bed. They joined her parents for breakfast and made idle chatter. Afterward, Kat stayed behind to help her mother, Julianne, and stepfather, Brian, clean up the dining room to ensure they were going out for the day.

  When she met the girls in Vanessa’s bedroom, they were helping her pick out an outfit. Kat got the shower going while they decided on shoes, then Lauren shoved Vanessa into the bathroom before they returned to Kat’s bedroom. They were relieved that Brian and Vanessa would be leaving shortly.

  The second the car pulled out of the garage, Kat headed entered her huge walk-in closet. She walked toward the back where a built-in shoe rack was located. She lifted a pair of Nikes and a door slid open to her left.

  There were several pieces of equipment in the small room but Kat headed toward her regenerator. The regenerator was a machine designed to heal her body that, oddly enough, resembled a tanning bed. She relaxed as the machine healed the annoying injury, then headed downstairs to meet the girls.

  Ariel and Lauren were in the office. Kat took a seat in one of the chairs around the conference table. Her stepfather was a lawyer and would often work from home, so he had a huge home office that was equipped with everything Ariel needed to present their new mission. Ariel turned on the projector.

  “I always forget how convenient our lives are compared to yours,” Ariel looked at Kat. “And I understand that having to wait all that time before you could get repaired was out of your hands,” she cleared her throat. “However, in the future, be sure to do something about it before our arrival; it throws off our schedule.”

  “My apologies. It’s thankfully something we won’t have to deal with for much longer. Once I move into the dorms in August life should get a little easier.” Kat took a drink of lemonade. “What kind of mission are we looking at?”

  “Elizabeth Moore,” Ariel hit a button on the remote and a picture came up on the screen. “There’s been a team in place for several months now—”

  “She looks like one of ours?” Kat studied the picture, Elizabeth’s red hair and green eyes a mirror image of the three of them.

  “She is,” Ariel nodded. “She’s a member of one of our New York sleeper cells.”

  “Why would we be going after one of our own?”

  “If you weren’t so busy making out with your boyfriend all night and pretending to be sister of the year you would have had time to read the material—”

  “It is part of my assignment, Ariel.” Kat reminded her.

  “Right,” Ariel said. “Which you look absolutely miserable participating in—”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kat matched her stare.

  “It is simply a mere observation. You don’t seem bothered by having to do it. Nor do you seem to mind having to take care of that pathetic excuse of a human—”

  “It wouldn’t be authentic if I just stood there or appeared uncaring toward Vanessa.” Kat pointed out. “You’ll have a better understanding of that once they schedule your human-relationship training. Have they set a date?”

  “Not yet,” Ariel pulled her long, pin-straight hair into a ponytail. “But if and when I am tasked to do so, I will carry out whatever duties are assigned to ensure that our mission is accomplished.”

  “Weren’t there talks about scheduling you for one-on-one human interaction?” Lauren asked.

  “Thankfully not,” Ariel pulled her booklet closer. “I have always been most fortunate in not having to deal with them unless it pertains to your humans.” She looked at Kat, “Which in and of itself can be taxing.”

  “Ladies,” Kat interjected after an awkward silence fell among them. “Can we get back to the topic at hand? It says here that this agent is defective and is being terminated.”

  “That is correct.” Ariel said. “There is a team in position for their portion of the mission, so we have to get going.”

  They looked toward the security monitor when a figure walked onto the screen. Kat’s m
other looked up at the camera and waved before she entered the house and disappeared from view. Julianne’s presence alarmed them, so they packed up their belongings.

  Not sure if that meant Brian and Vanessa were far behind, they hurried to Kat’s bedroom. Julianne was a Hybrid, so as long as she was alone they had nothing to fear, but Kat always played it safe when it came to Brian and Vanessa because their lives depended on it.

  “And where are you ladies headed to?” Julianne asked.

  “New York. What are you doing back here?” Kat asked slipping into her uniform.

  “We get so few chances to talk lately, so I feigned a sinus headache. I didn’t think you girls would be leaving so soon.”

  “The subject’s boyfriend changed plans, so we have to adjust our time frame. Is there going to be a problem with your humans coming back now?” Ariel asked. “That would further complicate matters seeing as how they’ve already thrown us off schedule.”

  “No. They were meeting Brian’s boss, Stephen, at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Vanessa didn’t protest because Stephen brought his son along. Since he hangs onto her every word she has every intention of sticking around, especially since she knows Brian will take her shopping afterward. What do you gals have going on today?”

  “I’m manning the communication center.” Lauren said. “I need to take off and set up while the guys move into position.”

  “And I’m running ahead to join another team.” Ariel said.

  “I see,” Julianne picked up Kat’s brief and skimmed through it.

  “Tell me again why we’re terminating this agent?” Kat asked after Lauren helped her into her vest. “What exactly makes an agent defective?”

  “It’s a new development the Elders have been following,” Lauren blew into her mic then tapped on it. When on missions they were required to wear earpieces that were linked together for open communication. “Testing...”

  Kat pulled her earpiece on and gave Lauren two thumbs up. They each tested their equipment and Ariel waved goodbye as she walked into Kat’s closet and disappeared. Teleporting was easier when they were outdoors and away from prying human eyes. However, the big-city locations of most sleeper cells made that impossible, so they had gotten inventive.