“We know. We need to speak to them.”
Prescott gaped at them, his blue hybrid eyes nearly as vibrant in the smoky dimness as the full Ylians’. “What are you talking about? After all we risked to get you free, you’re walking back into their cage?”
Theyn spoke softly. “I am sorry for your losses. This was not a foreseen circumstance, but please believe me when I say it’s necessary.”
“I lost my ship!” Prescott spat. “I lost my friends. And for what?”
Joely spoke up. “For the survival of Earth. There are bad things coming, and we can only stop it by getting Theyn and Beno here in touch with the US government.”
Prescott looked unconvinced, but he softened marginally when he looked at Joely. “Bad things.”
She nodded. “Horrible things.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded. “Fine. I can’t stop you anyway, and I’m in no position to defend you when the destroyer gets here.”
Beno came forward and looked at the bridge instrumentation. “There are people in those planes, and in the areas below. How many of your crew survived?”
“32 out of 58,” he answered bitterly. “Most of them were killed when the engine blew. My engineers are all gone, and many of my deck officers.” A warning signal began to wail, and Prescott turned his attention to the readout. “US destroyer off the port side, approaching at 40 knots.”
Theyn turned to his human companions. “Joely and Asa, this needn’t concern you. I would like you to stay with Captain Prescott.”
“What are you going to do? What about Sera? She’s knocked up.”
Beno smirked. “Elegantly put, and yes, we know. We’re just going to ask to be taken to someone we can talk to about the Taluan threat.”
Asa snorted. “Just.”
“Yes, just. It’s not like we’re asking to speak to the American President.”
“But you’re an alien. Aren’t you supposed to say, ‘Take me to your leader’?” Joely teased, trying to lighten the moment as awkwardly as ever.
“We don’t want to talk to politicians,” Theyn said. “They won’t help.”
Prescott turned away in disgust, putting his weapon on the radar station. “I’ll hide you in the crew cabins. Follow me.”
Joely gave Sera a tight hug before she followed the captain out of the room. “You’re going to be a great mom. Don’t be afraid,” she whispered.
Sera hugged her back. “I’ll see you again, I promise.”
She hugged Asa, too, and then the captain led her friends away. Theyn put a supportive hand on her back, and she leaned into him.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“So am I.”
***
Prescott returned to them, and they waited and watched as the destroyer hove into view. The ship dispatched a series of Zodiac inflatable boats loaded with armed men who boarded the Cyclops and swarmed onto the bridge. They held their rifles on the four people who were waiting for them, and Theyn and Beno made no effort to conceal their alien traits.
To his credit, the man in charge of the boarding party showed no reaction. “Drop your weapons.”
Prescott shoved his pistol aside. Beno held up his hands in a show of harmlessness, but Sera knew he had tucked his Ylian weapon into his pocket, and he was still wearing his electronics-disrupting glove.
Sera spoke first. “I am an American citizen and I demand to speak to a representative of the CIA or the Pentagon.”
The officer’s game face slipped a trifle as he smirked. “Oh, really? You think I’ve got the CIA on speed dial?”
“These two men are aliens, and that man is an alien hybrid, and I’m carrying an alien child. Your officers on that ship knew who was going to be here. You might not have their numbers, but your C.O. definitely does.” She raised her chin and crossed her arms. “Now, put those guns down. We’re not going to fight you.”
“No, ma’am, you are not.” He ordered his men, “Zip tie ‘em.”
None of them resisted as their hands were bound behind their backs. The African-American sailor who was binding Beno shook his head. “Man, you look like a brother, but these scales are off the chain. And those eyes…”
“I’m not your brother.”
“Obviously not.”
Outside the windows of the bridge, they could see the Navy mounting a rescue effort for the pilots of the downed planes, and more men were coming on board the Cyclops. The officer of the unit in front of them said, “Where’s the captain?”
Prescott raised his head. “I’m the captain.”
“You’re going to make an announcement telling your people to stand down.”
He looked resigned and went to the intercom. “Attention,” he said. “Attention. This is Captain Prescott. Do not – repeat – do not resist. We have surrendered. Put down your weapons and go peacefully.” He clicked off the comm. “Happy?”
“Overjoyed.” The officer nodded to his sailor, who finished zip tying the captain’s wrists. “Now, all of you… move.”
***
They were taken onto the destroyer and marched down to the brig, where they were placed in separate cells, still bound. Sera could hear and feel the ship moving at speed, and she wondered if they might have made a serious miscalculation.
Beno, she called. Theyn?
Here, her mates replied in unison. She relaxed marginally, despite the aching in her shoulders.
Are you all right? Did they hurt you?
Beno sounded annoyed. I’m unhurt.
Theyn?
Fine. You?
She sighed. Fine, just scared. She tried to make one more contact. Captain Prescott?
There was no response, and after a moment, Beno, who was the only natural telepath of the three of them, made the same attempt. Captain Prescott?
The hybrid’s mental voice sounded startled. What the hell?
She could feel Beno smiling. Just checking in, he said. This is Commander Beno. Are you unhurt?
Prescott nodded. The motion felt like water moving over the mind-to-mind link. Yes, I’m fine, apart from my shoulder.
The door to Sera’s cell opened, and an officer stood there, a friendly smile on his face. “Dr. Cooper? I’m Lieutenant Commander Percy Morris. I’m the X.O. on the Lincoln.”
“X.O.?” she echoed.
“Executive Officer. You have a visitor who just arrived by helicopter who’s keen to talk to you.”
She rose. “Well… fine. Who is it?”
He took her elbow in his hand. “Come this way.”
She didn’t have much of a choice, so she went where he guided her. He took her out of the brig and to an office down four corridors and three turns away. She had no sense of direction inside big boats.
Inside the office, a man in a black suit was sitting at the desk, and behind him was Domingo Rodriguez. The Mexican official nodded to her when she came in.
“Dr. Cooper. Long time, no see.”
She was guided to sit in a chair across from the man in the suit. Morris left her alone with them, closing the door behind him as he left.
“Nothing to say to your old colleague?” the man in the suit asked, gesturing toward Rodriguez. He had an American accent.
“Hi,” she said grudgingly.
“I’m Robert Waner,” the seated man said. “CIA. I’m told you wanted to speak to me.”
“Yes. This is important.” She leaned forward. “The Earth is about to come under attack, but the men I was captured with have a way to save us all. It will take time and money, but they can build a machine that can keep the bad aliens from ever finding us.”
Waner lit a cigarette. “Is that a fact.”
She scowled at his cancer stick. “Listen, you know that Beno and Theyn are aliens. There’s no hiding that. So you should know that they know a thing or two that the CIA doesn’t.”
“Like the thing that was dismembered on Asa Brunner’s ranch?”
“Yes!” She nearly jumped up in excitement. This might hav
e been easier than she thought. “That thing was a Taluan. It’s one of a race of aliens that attacked and destroyed Ylia, Theyn and Beno’s home world. They’re coming for us.” He blew smoke into her face, and she leaned back in annoyance. “Do you mind?”
He smirked. “Looks like these Taluans, as you call them, are already here.”
“That was just a probe.” She looked from Waner to Rodriguez. “This is deadly serious. There are other Ylians on Earth. Some have even intermarried with us and had children with us. There’s a whole island full of them, with Ylian technology and everything, that you and your satellites have never found, because they’re hiding. They can use the same sort of technology to hide from the Taluans.”
She imagined the thick cloud layer covering the Earth and briefly faltered, wondering what that would do to the planet, but she remembered that there had been bright sunshine on Itzela. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal. She shook her head. She was out of her depth here.
“How can they do that?”
She sighed, and Waner flicked ashes onto the deck plate. Rodriguez had a strange look on his face as he contemplated what was being said.
“I don’t know how they can do it. I just know they can.” She took a deep breath. “I am just an archaeologist. I know about dead societies and how to dig up artifacts and tease history out of things that other people have left behind. I don’t know about technology like this, or space travel, or anything else. I’m a one-trick pony. But Theyn and Beno and their people can help, and they’re our only hope. Otherwise we’re all going to end up ripped apart and served up as some Taluan’s dinner.”
Waner quirked an eyebrow and took another drag on his cigarette. “Really? They’re going to eat us?”
“They ate the Ylians.”
Rodriguez’s face puckered. “That’s horrible.”
“Yes, it is. And they’ve got a captive colony on a world called Bruthes where they’re raising Ylians for meat. It’s disgusting. I don’t want that fate for humanity. I don’t want them to come and strip our planet of all of its natural resources.” She leaned forward again, ignoring the cigarette smoke as much as she could. “Please. Call your superiors. We need a government to bankroll this project, but it’ll be so worth it.”
Waner sat back and stared at her for a long while, studying her face as if he could read her mind. She stared back and tried to look confident while her hands were going to sleep and her anxiety was ratcheting up. Finally, he said, “I’ll talk to your friends and see what else they can tell me.”
“Fine. Good.”
He called out, “Mr. Morris, please return Dr. Cooper to her cell.”
The door opened, and the navy officer came back into the room. He helped her to her feet and guided her back out the door.
She stopped halfway. “Rodriguez, why are you here?”
“I’m representing the interests of the Mexican government. Your alien friends still belong to us.”
Waner smirked. “On a timeshare.”
“Of course.”
Sera scowled. “They’re intelligent beings, not rental cabins. You don’t time share people.”
“We don’t time share humans,” the CIA agent said. “Usually.”
“Is that meant to be a threat?”
He shrugged. “Take is as you will. Mr. Morris, please…take her away.”
This time, she left without protesting.
***
Morris cut the zip ties on her wrists when he returned her to her cell. While the door was open, she briefly saw Theyn being led down the hallway. He had been stripped to his underwear and his hands were still bound behind his back. A black bag was over his head.
“Theyn!” she called.
His head lifted and turned toward her, but the officers who had him by the arms bore him away.
Don’t worry, Sera, he told her. All will be well.
It was the last time she heard or saw either of them.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Weeks passed, and the ship sailed around and around. She was kept in solitary confinement for three months, with no word from Theyn or Beno and no more conversations with Rodriguez or Waner. Meals were brought, and she was taken under guard to the toilet and to the shower, then deposited back into her room. None of the sailors who attended her said a word, as if they had been ordered to say nothing. She called out telepathically for both of her lovers, but she received nothing in response, not even the echo of a feeling.
Inside her, the baby grew. She talked to her - she was convinced that she was carrying a daughter - and sang to her, and when she paced her cell, she rubbed her hand over her swelling belly. The day the baby kicked for the first time was the day the ship stopped sailing.
The door to her cell opened, and three men in black suits came in. Their reflective glasses hid their eyes, so she couldn’t tell if they were human or hybrids; she knew from the skin of their hands that they weren’t Ylian. Their leader said only, “Turn around. Hands behind your back.”
Overwhelmed, she obeyed. Metal handcuffs locked onto her wrists, and then they force marched her out of the cell and up onto the top deck of the ship.
A helicopter waited there like a giant wasp, its foils spinning slowly as the pilot idled. Waner was sitting inside with a headset over his slicked-back hair. Sera was deposited into the seat beside him, and he put a matching headset on her head. It was a wireless unit, not connected to the communications system of the helicopter. The man who had handcuffed her handed the key to Waner, and then her trio of escorts stepped back. The helicopter whined into life, and Waner crossed his legs, the very vision of casual ease.
She shifted in her seat, trying to find a comfortable way to sit with her hands behind her back. She finally resorted to spreading her legs and leaning forward, making space for the baby between her thighs. The helicopter lifted off and bore them away from the ship. After a very short time, she saw land, and then green trees and lush jungle slid away beneath her.
She stared out the window as they flew, taking in the beauty of the planet. She hoped that Theyn and Beno had more luck getting through to Waner and the CIA, because she certainly hadn’t. It pained her to think that the beauty she saw beneath them was going to be destroyed, turned to ashes and devastation by the Taluans when they came. It brought tears to her eyes to think that everything she loved was about to be destroyed, and her baby was going to be born into a world with nothing left to live for.
Abruptly, she saw a stone peak rising above the tree line, and she recognized it. They were heading back toward Theyn’s pyramid. She looked at Waner in surprise, and he grinned like a shark.
“What…?”
The helicopter landed in the cleared space of the plaza in front of the pyramid. Her dig looked the same as it had the last time she’d seen it months ago, before the Mexican government had appropriated all of the artifacts and torn down their tents and Quonset huts. Joely and Asa were standing outside the conservation tent, guarding their faces from the grit being blown around by the downdraft from the spinning foils.
Waner reached over and unlocked her handcuffs, freeing her. She straightened and rubbed her wrists.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“The National Autonomous University of Mexico has asked for your assistance in continuing the excavation. The University of Austin has been happy to accept the invitation.”
A Mexican soldier came forward to help her out of the cabin. She stepped out, feeling off balance and confused.
“Welcome back to your life, Dr. Cooper,” Waner said. “We’ll be in touch.” He closed the door and grinned at her through the window as the helicopter once more lifted off and flew away.
Joely and Asa rushed to her side, wrapping her in enthusiastic embraces that she was more than happy to receive. They held one another for a long moment, then Joely pulled away and put her hand on Sera’s pregnant belly.
“Oh my God, look at you! You’re so big!”
Asa grinned. �
�That’s just ‘cause you’re used to her being so skinny. My sister was way bigger than that before she had my first nephew, so there’s still a long way to go.”
Sera smiled and put her hand over her baby, who pushed against her palm in response. “I’m in no hurry. This little one’s still cooking. How are you guys? What the hell happened to you?”
“After you and the boys got taken away, another ship came and got Prescott and his crew, and us,” Joely said. “They kept us in separate cells for a few weeks, and then they just came and confirmed who we were. Next thing we knew, we were on a flight to Austin.”
A man in khaki shorts and a white T-shirt strolled up, his eyes hidden behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Asa and Joely hesitated at his approach, clearly uncomfortable with him. He extended his hand.
“My name is Harry Lewis,” he said. “I’m here on behalf of Mr. Waner to make sure that if you find anything particularly interesting, we find out about it right away. Just pretend I’m not here.”
Sera glanced at Asa, who rolled his eyes. “Yeah. That’s going to be super easy.”
Rodriguez emerged from the artifact tent, stripping latex gloves from his hands. “Dr. Cooper,” he said warmly. “So good to see you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s mutual.”
He sighed. “I understand that you may think I’m the enemy here, but I was only -”
“Following orders,” she finished for him. “And this dig, who has the publication rights? Who is the managing supervisor of the dig and the workers?”
“This is still your excavation and you hold the rights to publish the findings,” Rodriguez assured her quickly. “The project is still under your supervision, just like it was before. I’m just here as an adjunct and an assistant, since this is now a cooperative venture between your university and mine.”
She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Fine. Show me what’s going on and let me get back up to speed.”
He smiled. “Certainly. Right this way.”
***
She spent the day reacquainting herself with the site. Virtually everything was the same as before, which made her feel like she was in some sort of alternate reality. Only her baby’s occasional kicks and flutters reminded her of what was real.
Claimed by Love (A Rizer Pack Shifter Series Book 3) Page 39
