Rexx: Alien Adoption Agency #6

by Tasha Black

  The lights flickered before he could answer.

  “What was that?” Sanders asked the conductor. “What’s going on?”

  Suddenly the sides of the train flashed transparent.

  They appeared to be riding an underwater roller coaster through murky water, past the carcass of an enormous ancient sea creature. Curtains of its rotting skin floated ghostlike in the dark water.

  Someone screamed and the lights inside the car flickered again.

  Lanny stood, holding her holo-tablet in front of her and scrolling through it as she spoke.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m reviewing every component of the train,” she told them. “There is nothing to worry about. The electrical system that controls the screens and lights appears to be malfunctioning slightly, but the structural integrity of the Peregrine is at 100%.”

  As if on cue, the ceiling above her groaned and some kind of creature dropped out of it onto the floor, its claws skittering on the polished wood as it scrambled for purchase.

  19

  Abigail

  Abigail took a deep breath and desperately tried to convince herself not to scream.

  Her own scream was totally unnecessary, everyone else was definitely making plenty of noise.

  The animal that hit the floor was quickly followed by two more.

  They were small and furry, and actually quite cute once she caught her breath and got a good look at them. If they hadn’t arrived so unexpectedly, she might have been glad to see them.

  They looked almost like bunnies, but with webbed skin around their legs that allowed them to glide as they launched themselves from the floor to the tables, to the chairs.

  As she tried to figure out what they were, dozens more were pouring out of the ceiling and ductwork. One dropped directly into the bowl in front of Earl King, splashing soup all over his shirt and eliciting a loud guffaw from his brother.

  Harla stood and tried to run out of the car, but her way was blocked by other passengers and falling flying rabbits.

  Near the back, Tilden had one cornered on a dining chair and was trying to reasonably convince it to hop into her purse.

  The creature looked like it was giving it serious thought, but not ready to commit.

  It wasn’t a half-bad idea, gathering them up. Abigail was certain they could do no good scampering and gliding around the train like this.

  “Take him,” Rexx cried out of nowhere.

  She turned and grabbed for Rio, who grabbed her back, chuckling.

  Rexx launched himself immediately at Earl King, who had decided to make the creature in his soup pay for its insult by pulling a blaster on it.

  “Whoa,” Earl yelped as he hit the ground under three hundred pounds of muscular alien.

  “Give me that thing,” Rexx growled.

  “My blaster,” Earl said sadly, as Rexx took it away.

  “You really think it’s a good idea to blast a hole in the side of an underwater train?” Rexx asked him.

  Earl at least had the good grace to look embarrassed.

  Another little rabbit thing landed on his head, and he got a horrified look on his face and scrabbled to get it off. Beside him, Duke only laughed harder.

  But the bunny only blithely leapt onto one of the nearby tables, where he sniffed listlessly at the crackers and then scooped a hunk of chicken out of the soup, licking its chops.

  “Everyone, listen,” Abigail shouted in her most bell-clear teacher voice.

  Heads snapped up as if they were on strings.

  “We all had a bit of a scare,” she announced. “But these little critters are obviously not a danger to anyone. So, we’re going to gather these animals up, gently, and Lanny is going to find a space on this train where we can take them. Use your bags, your pockets, a tablecloth, whatever you have, and start scooping them up.”

  Everyone began looking around for ways to transport the bunny-things.

  “Nice,” Rexx told her, his smile admiring.

  As the little animals were rounded up from the dining car, Abigail moved into the next car toward the engine room.

  There were no creatures.

  She went back through the dining car chaos to the next car closer to the back.

  There were even more bunny creatures. At least they only had to worry about gathering in one direction.

  “Out here next, people,” she shouted.

  Bodies started moving toward her and got to work. She held back. With Rio in her arms, she was better off directing traffic than trying to wrangle the wildlife.

  “None in the other car?” Rexx asked, getting closer to her.

  She shook her head. “They’ve got to be coming from the back.”

  “I’ve got more than I can carry,” he muttered.

  “Put some in my pockets,” she said.

  “What pockets?” he asked.

  “This dress has tons of pockets,” she told him happily. “That’s why I picked it.”

  She held still while he filled her pockets with wiggly, furry bunny creatures.

  “What are they?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” he told her. “But they’re kind of damp. I think they’re newborns.”

  “Hatchlings,” Lanny said sadly from behind them.

  She held one of the creatures in one hand and a soup dish in the other. It was picking through for the meat chunks.

  “You knew about this?” Abigail breathed.

  “They’re zingels,” Lanny said, as if that explained everything. “They belong in the last car.”

  “This is what was in the last car,” Tilden said in wonder.

  “I was right,” Verat chirped happily. “I said it was an animal.”

  “Partial credit,” Tilden allowed. “This is more than one animal.”

  Everyone fell back as Lanny led the way, using her special badge to open each sealed door and allow the passengers through to deposit the baby rabbit creatures, zingels, in the last car.

  The space was chilly, and littered with broken eggshells.

  The little creatures instantly skittered into the corner, formed a big, furry heap, and went promptly to sleep.

  “Everyone back to the dining car,” Sanders called. “You’re not getting out of interviews that easily.”

  The passengers obligingly filed through the prisoner’s car and back toward the dining car.

  “Lanny, Rexx and Abigail with me,” he said more quietly.

  They followed after him in silence until they reached his table in the dining car.

  “Okay, talk to me,” Sanders said to the conductor. “What’s going on? Why are these things on the train?”

  The conductor only frowned.

  “They were needed for the Founders Day fair,” Lanny said in a small voice. “No one was supposed to know.”

  “What do you mean they’re for the Founders Day fair?” Sanders asked. “You wanted to sabotage it?”

  “Not us,” Lanny said. “And no, it’s not to sabotage the fair. It’s to save it. Or at least, to make it better.”

  “Why don’t you begin at the beginning?” Sanders suggested, leaning back in his chair.

  Lanny nodded and placed her hands on the table in front of her.

  “The Founders Day fair is so important,” she said. “People come from all over, some of them are not even Lachesians.”

  Sanders nodded patiently.

  “But the environment is a challenge,” Lanny said. “The area is cleared of more trees each year to accommodate the crowds. But there are rodents that live near the lake in dens under those trees. They eat the globe fruits that fall on the ground.”

  Abigail had no idea where this was going.

  “So anyway, between the missing globe fruit trees, and the food and treats for the crowds, there are usually more rodents at the Founders Day fair than there are humanoids,” Lanny said. “They’ve tried playing supersonic tones, but it doesn’t work. They’ve tried trapping and poisoning them in the weeks leading up, bu
t it’s no good. The mayor of Lakeview said last year the rodent problem was so bad people were kind of freaking out. And this year was set to be even worse.”

  “So where do the bunny-things, the zingels, come in?” Abigail asked. “Adding more rodents doesn’t seem like the solution.”

  “Oh, those aren’t bunnies,” Rexx said. “They have canine teeth.”

  Abigail turned to him, thinking he was kidding.

  His eyes were serious.

  “He’s right,” Lanny said. “Zingels are hungry little predators. The hope was that they would clean out the rodent population at the fair and then head into the woods.”

  “So, you were bringing them to the fair in order to release them and let them chase the rodents?” Abigail asked.

  Lanny nodded.

  “But I didn’t see any food or water back in that car,” Abigail pointed out.

  “It was refrigerated,” Lanny said, nodding. “They weren’t supposed to hatch until we arrived, and we let them warm up.”

  “So, what happened?” Sanders asked. “Why did they wake up? It was pretty cold back there.”

  “When the train uncoupled,” Abigail realized out loud. “I’ll bet that disturbed the refrigerant lines.”

  The walls of the train flashed transparent again and she saw they were still underwater, huge dark shapes lurking in the depths all around them.

  “Oh dear,” Lanny said. “This is a malatong-fish cluster. We normally keep the walls opaque during this part, passengers find it disturbing.”

  Abigail didn’t blame them.

  “Hopefully, they can keep it together,” Sanders said drily.

  Rio began to whimper and bang his head on Abigail’s chest.

  “Oh dear, he’s getting hungry,” Abigail said.

  “I’ll go ahead and interview the two of you and then you can go take care of that infant,” Sanders said. “Ready?”

  Abigail hadn’t thought about being interviewed herself. Everything that had happened so far with Sanders indicated he had the highest level of trust in them.

  Suddenly the long, stressful day threatened to get the best of her. She could feel the weight of the whole thing pressing in on all sides, just like the water all around them.

  For a moment, she just wanted to head back to her compartment and curl up until the trip was over.

  Rexx reached over and patted her thigh, sending shockwaves of awareness through her.

  Suddenly, she had a whole new reason to want to go back to her compartment…

  “Of course we’re ready,” Rexx said.

  And the feel of his strong body next to her made Abigail think that all the pressure wasn’t so bad, as long as she had someone to share it with.

  “Ready,” she echoed.

  20

  Rexx

  Rexx accompanied Abigail back to their compartment to get changed. They had both been handling the little creatures, so it seemed like a good idea.

  More so, he felt Abigail might just need a moment to breathe after the long day.

  As a soldier, Rexx was more accustomed to action, but even he was thrown for a loop by all that was happening on this train. He couldn’t imagine how his sweet mate was feeling.

  Back in the dining car, Tilden and Verat were feeding Rio his bottle and spoiling him like crazy, Rexx was certain. He wasn’t sure if the ladies were giving him some alone time with Abigail on purpose or not, but he was grateful either way.

  Abigail was uncharacteristically quiet on the way back to the compartment. She waited as he tapped in Tilden’s code to bypass the scanner.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked her carefully as they stepped inside.

  “Eager to get out of this dress,” she said.

  Gods, he was eager to get her out of it too.

  “I meant since I had so many zingels in it,” she said quickly, her cheeks turning pink.

  He wanted to turn every part of her pink. He wanted to possess her…

  “Understood,” he said, trying to pretend his blood wasn’t raging, that the dragon wasn’t desperate to claim her. “Can I help you with it?”

  She nodded and turned her back.

  He slid the zipper down so slowly, revealing inch after inch of beautiful Abigail.

  She let it fall to her feet, then bent to pick it up and place it in the wardrobe where the ladies had allowed them to stow their things.

  Rexx watched her pale curves extend and curl as she grabbed another dress and slid it over her head.

  Don’t let her cover herself again, the dragon roared. Take her while she wants to be taken.

  She turned to him, and her eyes widened.

  He realized belatedly that he had let the dragon a little too close to the surface.

  “Your eyes,” she said softly.

  “Were they blue?” he asked.

  “Like pools of liquid lightning,” she remarked.

  “It’s the dragon,” he told her. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she said.

  Her eyes were so intense.

  He groaned in surrender, pressing his mouth to hers.

  Her responding whimper sent fire through his veins as she arched her breasts against his chest.

  He clutched her closer to him still, pressing her against the wall of the wardrobe, letting her feel the heated steel that was so rigid. He was bursting for her, couldn’t decide whether to take her on the floor, the bed, or up against the wall.

  She ran one hand through his hair, the other grabbing his muscular biceps as if she were falling and he was the edge of the cliff.

  He tugged her dress up and slipped his hand under her panties, his fingers seeking her warmth.

  She whined when he found her wet and wanting.

  Gods…

  He knelt before her, replacing his hand with his mouth, lapping at her juices, drinking in her needy cries as he flicked his tongue faster and faster against her firm little pearl.

  He was so focused on her that he was caught completely off guard when a man’s rough voice suddenly interrupted them.

  21

  Abigail

  Abigail screamed, pulling away from Rexx’s greedy mouth.

  Her heart was pounding, her body still frantic for his touch.

  But there was someone in the room with them. She thought she might die of embarrassment. She was an adult, a professional teacher. And here she was grinding herself against a soldier’s face in someone else’s compartment.

  “About time you came,” the man said. She could hear the sarcasm in his rough voice.

  Rexx was already spinning around the room, but there was no one to be seen. The compartment wasn’t really that big.

  Another voice replied to the first, but it was harder to hear.

  “The baby monitor,” Rexx said suddenly, realization dawning on his handsome face. “I never took down the baby monitor when we left our old compartment.”

  Relief flooded her veins. There was no one in the room with them.

  “How is the plan going?” the man’s voice asked. Abigail recognized it this time as the slickly confident tone of Muncy Reeves.

  There was the murmur of that second voice.

  “That must be the prisoner and Sanders,” Abigail said.

  “Sanders is still in the dining car,” Rexx reminded her.

  Then there was someone else in there with Reeves.

  “Oh, dear God,” Abigail said. “We need to get the monitor to Sanders.”

  She flung open the wardrobe and began digging for the dress she had just removed.

  The bag with her purchases toppled out and the scarf spilled onto the floor.

  Rexx picked it up along with the bag, while Abigail dug around in the pockets of her abandoned dress.

  “Here,” she said at last, turning back to him triumphantly and holding it up.

  He had a strange expression on his face as he stuffed the scarf back into the bag and placed it in the wardrobe behind her. />
  “Everything is going to plan,” they could hear the softer voice say, now that the monitor was in Abigail’s hand. “Everything is arranged for the stop in Devil’s Canyon.”

  “Devil’s Canyon,” Abigail echoed softly. “What’s that?”

  “Come on,” Rexx said. “We have to go get Sanders.”

  He took her by the hand, and they headed out, running down the corridors until they reached the dining car.

  “What’s this?” Sanders asked as they burst in and clambered up to his table, completely ignoring the fact that he was obviously questioning Harla.

  “There’s someone in the prisoner’s compartment right now,” Rexx told him.

  Sanders was on his feet in an instant, following them back down the corridor.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “We had a baby monitor set up in there,” Rexx explained. “We forgot about it, but it activated just now.”

  Abigail handed the little monitor to Sanders as they jogged for the next door.

  He paused to examine it.

  “I don’t hear anything,” he said after a moment.

  He was right. There wasn’t any sound coming from the monitor.

  Sanders activated the door to their old car and slipped a blaster out of his vest. He used his badge to open the compartment and quickly ducked inside.

  Abigail peeked in the door after him.

  The compartment appeared to be empty, apart from the prisoner on a chair, cuffed to the wardrobe.

  “You were in a rush to see me?” Muncy Reeves sneered. “Aw, you’ve got yer blaster out and everything.”

  Sanders ignored him and opened the wardrobe, then checked the bed and even under it.

  There was no sign that anyone else had ever been in the room.

  22

  Rexx

  Rexx headed back into the corridor with Abigail.

  Sanders followed, looking shaken. “You’re sure you heard two voices?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Rexx assured him.

  Abigail nodded. “They said something about a plan being underway, something about a stop in Devil’s Canyon.”