Time of Treason

by Susan M. MacDonald

  Riley dropped the blind with disgust and closed her eyes. She let her head fall forward to rest on the back of the sofa. Darius was going to kill her.

  9

  Alec’s heart literally stopped beating. It contracted and held position, while his brain did a double backflip in recognition. A hundred thoughts, all terrible, all gut-clenching, slammed through his mind in the instant before his heart painfully restarted.

  Emissaries. Rhozan. Rips. It was starting all over again. His knees nearly buckled and he barely managed to keep standing. His fingers clenched spasmodically around his orb.

  “If you try to teleport, I’ll find the girl and Finn and make them pay,” the cold, empty voice behind him whispered. “You know how I can make them suffer.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” Alec could barely get the words out past his numbed lips. It took a fair bit of strength to move through space and time, and the flood of weakness and pain he felt growing as the adrenaline ebbed away had him suspecting that any jump would be a disaster. And besides, even if he got away, what would happen to the others? Rhozan knew a lot about torture. He also knew Darius and Riley’s unique essence and would be able to track them in a heartbeat. Alec had been inside Rhozan. He knew what the alien was capable of.

  “What do you want?” he croaked.

  “What do I always want, Alec?” Alec could hear the smile in the voice behind him and a wave of despair washed through him. He’d beaten this guy only yesterday and it had cost him dearly. The struggle inside the rip had been horrific and even trying to remember what he’d done to overcome the invader made his mind scream in terror. He couldn’t do this again. He didn’t have it in him.

  “I don’t know,” he answered wearily. Rhozan wanted so many things. How to pick just one?

  The gun rapped against his skull for emphasis. “Think.”

  Alec shuddered as another wave of pain ran through his flank. He pushed it aside and concentrated. Was it the same as last time? World domination and the total destruction of everything Alec held dear? All his memories; all that he was; his very soul ? Inside he was screaming but he forced himself to voice a response.

  “You want me.”

  “Ah, clever. You do remember. Excellent.”

  A hand shoved his shoulder, spinning him around. He stumbled back and fell against the tree trunk as he got a look at the Emissary. His first suspicion was right. It was the cop he’d met outside the RV. But the intelligence and humanity he’d seen in her eyes a few minutes ago was missing. In its place was the blank, creepy nothingness of one of Rhozan’s lethal puppets. The gun barrel was only an arm’s length away. Alec could barely wrench his eyes from the darkness inside the gun.

  “You will come with me,” the Emissary said in a harsh parody of the cop’s natural voice.

  “Where?”

  “Where the Guardian can see you.” The Emissary waved her gun indicating Alec should head towards the road. “Move.”

  Sweat dripped into Alec’s eyes. He felt shivery and a bit unsteady on his feet, but his mind was now rapidly moving into overdrive. He had to keep his head. He had Riley and Darius to think of, not to mention the entire world. He swallowed the bile at the back of his throat and forced himself to push the overwhelming fear away.

  If Rhozan wanted Darius to see them, it could only be a trap. There was no way he was going to let that happen.

  “Now.” The Emissary struck Alec across the forehead for emphasis. The blow wasn’t hard enough to do serious damage but hurt anyway. Alec jerked backwards and nearly lost his balance. He ducked his head to miss a second strike and pushed himself away from the tree and the Emissary. He dragged his feet as he tried to give himself time to think of a plan. Running wasn’t an option. Police were trained to hit a moving target and even with Rhozan in charge of the cop’s body and what that might mean to a reduction of accuracy, Alec wasn’t going to take the chance. He’d hardly be able to run fast enough in this condition to put enough distance between him and the cop to improve his chances of escape anyway.

  Overcoming her physically wasn’t an option either. Normally his reflexes were great and his kickboxing skills were good enough for winning a few tournaments and, he remembered, fighting off Emissaries. But now, the world was spinning around him and he might pass out any minute. Besides, kicking a gun out of someone’s hand and not getting shot only happened in the movies. There had to be another option. Think.

  The gun poked him in the middle of his back and he stumbled forward. He had hardly traversed any distance when a familiar shout broke his concentration.

  “Hey, Alec, are you okay?”

  Oh no. Alec shook his head mutely and tried to will Peter to run in the other direction. His hand clenched tightly around his orb and he stopped walking as Peter ran towards them.

  Peter skidded to a halt the instant he noticed the gun aimed at Alec’s head. His eyes raked Alec, then the police officer, and settled back on Alec. A look of uncertainty warred with wariness. Peter slowly raised his own hands into the air. “Is he under arrest?” he called.

  The Emissary stepped to Alec’s side and cocked her head. Out of the corner of Alec’s eye he could see her, assessing the physical similarities between them. He sensed Rhozan’s perception of them both and internally groaned.

  “Ah, the other one,” the Emissary said quietly, as if speaking to herself. “Two for one.”

  “She only looks like a cop, Peter,” Alec said. “She’s just Rhozan’s puppet.”

  Peter frowned but before he could respond the cop spoke. “You will die too. The signature is weak but present. Finn was wise to collect you both.”

  Peter took a step back. “What do you mean die? You can’t kill me. I’m unarmed. And who’s Rhozan?”

  “I am Rhozan,” the Emissary said. “I will take your life and Alec’s suffering will feed me. Won’t it, Alec?”

  “He’s nothing to me, Rhozan,” Alec said. “I won’t suffer at all. I hate his guts.”

  Alec watched the flash of what might have been pain cross Peter’s face before the veil of antipathy fell into place. He might have bought Peter some time but he’d just widened the canyon-like gap between them.

  “You little—” Peter started.

  He never got to finish. Moving almost too fast to see, Darius rocketed out of the trees behind them. His flying leap and kick at the cop’s head was as close to poetry as Alec had ever seen. There was a sickening crunch as her neck snapped and a deafening bang as her finger tightened spasmodically on the trigger of the gun. The bullet went wide, missing Alec and slamming into a tree trunk across the roadway. Peter dove to the ground and Alec followed.

  Darius landed, rolled like a cat and was on his feet and wrenching the cop’s gun from her hand in one smooth motion. He straightened, raised his orb in Peter’s direction and said loudly, “Obey.” A flash of white light left the orb and almost instantly circled Peter.

  Alec watched the expression drain from Peter’s face and an uneasy blankness replace it. Uncomfortably, he glanced over at the police officer. Already her open eyes were glazing into death.

  “Jeez, Darius, I think you’ve killed her,” Alec’s voice broke.

  “Alec, get a move on. There’s another one.” Darius ordered as he flung the gun into the trees.

  Alec tried to reply but the pain in his back roared into life again as Darius spoke and a shivering chill drenched him. He started to get to his feet but the world around him slid into a sickening grey.

  Oh crap, he thought as he fell into nothingness.

  10

  Riley followed Darius’s lead and leapt out of the rowboat into knee-deep water. The instant her feet landed on the slippery riverbed she lost her balance and fell onto the oarlock with a nasty thud. She stifled the cry and ignored the pain in her arm. All they needed was to alert the local inhabitants that someone had illegally landed on their property.

  She grabbed hold of the boat and began to pull it up onto the miniature beach while
taking a wary look around. For as far as she could see there was nothing but trees and scrubby bushes jutting over the water and rocks. The tiny pebble-covered beach had been the only place to land for the last hour and Darius had finally agreed to pull ashore only when Riley threatened to jump overboard. She rubbed her nose. It was stinging and probably horribly burnt by now. She was going to look like Bozo the clown if she didn’t either get some sunscreen or get into the shade.

  “Peter, get out and pull the boat up onto the grass,” Darius ordered as he sloshed to the bow.

  Peter threw his oar to the bottom of the boat, barely missing Alec. Giving Darius a malicious look he carefully lowered himself into the water and grimaced as the cold penetrated his jeans.

  “We’ll be safe on this side of the river,” Darius grunted as he heaved the boat onto the narrow shore. “We’re in the United States now. Peter, push a bit harder.”

  “Don’t be naïve,” Riley shot back as she pulled her sleeve up to examine the rapidly forming bruise. “I told you, the cops think we’re murderers and every single one of them will have our description by now and be on the lookout for us. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out, hey, we’ve probably stolen a boat and, wow, we could be out of the country by now. Even the dimmest bulb on the OPP knows the States is on the other side of the St. Lawrence.”

  “Anna will take care of it.”

  “Anna is going to wipe the memories of the entire Ontario police force?” Riley raised an eyebrow as she stood up straight. Her hands went automatically to her hips. “Yeah, right.”

  Darius shrugged one shoulder. “She’s relentless. Now, pull.”

  “You mean ridiculous. There are thousands of cops in Ontario. Thousands. And just how is she going to accomplish this little venture? Skip alongside each and every one of them and tap them on the head with her orb?”

  “The Tyon Collective is extremely effective in erasing any knowledge of contact with us or our technology. We’d infiltrated Earth long before you people even had television,” Darius replied hotly. Then he amended. “Not that I was there, then.”

  “Sure you weren’t, Grandpa.”

  Darius pulled a face as he tugged the rowboat higher on the shingle. “That’s not the point. The point is, you, I mean the collective you, had no idea that aliens walked the streets, studied your culture, and infiltrated your gene pool. Go on, argue that. You didn’t know.”

  Riley turned her back on him and tugged. “Don’t get me started on the genetic manipulation,” she growled.

  “What genetic manipulation?” Peter let go of the rowboat and frowned.

  Riley jumped in before Darius could reply. “Ever wonder how you and I got picked by the Tyons, huh? What makes us special?”

  Peter’s face was easy to read. She could see the possibilities flit by inside his brain as easily as if they had been hers. His sudden understanding that he was somehow unusual, somehow different, somehow modified.

  “You mean someone fiddled with my genes?” Peter sounded as aghast as he looked.

  “’Fraid so. But years ago. Back before television,” Riley replied.

  “The Tyons infiltrated several locations and introduced the Tyon resistance gene into the population. We had hoped that by the time the Others came here to invade, it would have sufficiently spread through the population to confer adequate resistance.” Darius had grabbed the painter from the rowboat and was now looking around for something to tie it to.

  “But the Others arrived too soon,” Riley added. “Or our grandparents didn’t have enough kids. Either way.” She slashed her hand across her neck. “We’re toast.” She smiled to herself at Peter’s appalled expression.

  “Which one of my grandparents, er, consorted with you weirdos?” Peter took a step back, slipping slightly in the uneven riverbed, his gaze fixed on Darius with a new, enhanced loathing.

  “Your paternal grandmother, Peter, and man, she was hot,” Darius said with a straight face.

  “He’s kidding you,” Riley leaned over and smacked Peter’s upper arm. For a moment, he looked like he was going to cry. “Darius, that’s enough.” She never thought she would be taking Peter’s side in anything, but Darius’s teasing had a cruel edge especially with the mind control he had over Peter. “We need to get into town and borrow a vehicle as quickly as possible, and without attracting attention by arguing among ourselves. Or had you forgotten we’re fugitives from the law?”

  “How could I with you reminding us every thirty seconds?” Darius replied.

  Once the painter was securely tied to an overhanging branch and Alec was hoisted over Darius’s shoulder, they set out. Darius reasoned that waterfront was prime real estate and there was bound to be lots of homes within an easy distance, all with the plethora of vehicles rich people liked to own. But as the minutes passed and all they found were trees, trees and more trees, Riley decided they’d stumbled upon the only stretch of uninhabited prime real estate in the country.

  She swatted at yet another wretched mosquito with the back of her hand and thought dark thoughts. If Darius had any clue as to her opinions, he said nothing. He was cheerily bounding through the miserable little forest as if they were having the time of their lives instead of racing against time. Peter, on the other hand, was sharing her bad mood. He was slouching beside her, the invisible chain between him and Darius still clearly in operation, and muttering under his breath as he constantly waved his hand at the swarms of flies and bugs intent on a human feast. She noted he kept his eyes studiously off Alec and Darius, as if even acknowledging their presence would crack his ability to stay in control. She didn’t need any orb-enhanced ability to tune into his emotions. The fear and anger radiated off him in waves.

  Riley shoved another intruding bough away from her face and contemplated Alec. He was still very pale and she couldn’t help but be worried. And, if she was honest, not a little annoyed with him. Honestly, what had he been trying to prove, running off and getting into a fight with the cop? Didn’t he realize how badly hurt he’d been? The Intergalactic Council had him on their most wanted list; why kill himself and do their job for them? That reminded her.

  “Just where do you plan for us to go, to evade the Council, Dare?”

  Darius gave her a quick look over his shoulder. “We’ll start with Home Base. If I can arrange it, I’ll get us off planet. The sooner Alec’s Tyon signal is dissociated with Terra, the better.”

  A shiver that had nothing to do with the cool, shaded air rippled across Riley’s skin. She wasn’t totally surprised. Other than Alec not using his Tyon talents ever again, where else could he go? The Council would be searching Earth. Not to mention the police.

  “And the Tyons are going to send us on somewhere else?” Riley caught herself before she tripped over a root. “Won’t they want us to stay and fight the Others, if they show up again? I mean, that was the reason you were looking out for us in the first place.”

  She saw Darius’s shoulder rise and fall but didn’t hear the accompanying sigh. “If there are any signs of the Others, the operation will move into high gear. You remember what that means.”

  “I don’t.” Peter spoke up beside her but so quietly she barely heard him.

  “You don’t want to,” Riley answered.

  “Your training will begin, Peter,” Darius spoke over her. “You’ll learn to use an orb, like Riley and Alec. You’ll learn how to protect your planet from invasion.”

  “I don’t want to learn anything from you people,” Peter replied. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

  “You sound like a two-year-old,” Darius gave a short laugh. “In case you haven’t noticed, Peter, I can make you do anything I want. You’ve already been doing what I want. How much more evidence do you need?”

  “You think you’ve got me right where you want me, but you don’t,” Peter shot back. “I know all about you guys now. Just wait until the police catch up with you. I have a photographic memory. I can tell them everyt
hing.”

  “And they’ll believe you?” Darius threw an amused look over his shoulder. “I have two witnesses, including your own brother who will contradict everything you say. Forced to come with me? Lots of witnesses to the contrary. Mind control using a crystal? Fantasy novel mumbo jumbo. Alien invaders ready to take over the world? They’ll ask you what medications you take as they drive you to the hospital. Get real, Peter. You aren’t wearing handcuffs and are walking beside us under your own steam. No one will believe you.”

  “You’ll still go to jail,” Peter replied hotly. “You killed two gang members.”

  “That was a public service,” Darius said as he shifted Alec a bit. “And self-defense.”

  “What about the cop? They’ll nail you for that.”

  “There’s no evidence I did it. And neither you nor Alec would tell.”

  “I would,” Peter spat. “And when I do, you’ll go to jail.”

  “Nope.”

  “He won’t,” Riley butted in. “He’ll transport us out the minute the cops close in. You’ve forgotten how we moved from the bus to the RV.”

  Peter turned his head away. “I blacked out.”

  “You didn’t,” Riley smiled. “Darius teleported us with his orb. I helped. We can move in space using our orbs.”

  Peter blanched. He’d clearly forced that unbelievable event out of his brain but now had no option but to face it. “That’s impossible,” he said weakly.

  “I think you need to check the dictionary, Peter,” Darius said as he clambered over a rotting tree trunk. “You misunderstand the meaning of that word.”

  There was silence for a while as Peter retreated into a simmering rage and Riley focused on her own uncomfortable thoughts. Around them, the sunlight streamed in green banners through the thick summer foliage and birds called in constant chatter. The ground underfoot was thick with rocks and springy moss and rather treacherous if one didn’t pay attention. Riley was about to ask Darius to slow down when he came to a sudden halt. He raised a hand to indicate they were all to be quiet. He pointed straight forward.