Chapter Twenty
Sabine
It’s hard to imagine days of relaxation, good food, and incredible sex could make me so restless and sap my patience. Spending time with Tamrys free of any immediate agenda should be pure paradise, but I don’t want to wait around when there’s work to be done.
Still, for five days, we have no choice but to wait. As expected, Captain Reynolds refuses to turn himself in; Dominar praetors find him, though, when the USS Derby surfaces off the Alaskan coast. The wreckage of our decoy shuttle is not aboard the submarine, and the crew refuses to answer any questions asked. They won’t even confirm or deny being members of the Anti-Alien Brigade.
“I know it’s common practice in this country to give criminals lighter sentences in exchange for information,” Tamrys says to me when we get the news.
“Is that what you’d like to do?” I ask, acid churning in my stomach at the thought of my would-be killers getting off easy.
“No. I’m sure we can find the other AAB cells without their help.”
“Good,” I mutter, feeling better already.
Every evening, Consul Forta gives reporters an in-person update on regional affairs. “The whereabouts of Ms. Marchessault and Executive Consul Tamrys are still unknown,” he says, night after night. “We hope they’re somehow still alive. Anybody with information is urged to contact their local praetors or liaison.”
“You don’t think it’s a problem to lie to the public like this?” I ask on one of our afternoon walks. A plug in my ass shifts as we head up Castro Street, and my cheeks tingle from a spanking, but I savor the sensations.
“It’s an undercover operation. Once it’s concluded, we’ll apologize and explain that it was for the sake of keeping us safe and uncovering a threat to public safety,” notes Tamrys. “I don’t want to make the mistake of selling humanity short or insulting human intelligence by assuming they won’t understand. That’s not the way to foster cross-species relations.”
“What?” I scoff. “You’re always going on about how Dominars are superior to all, how you control the galaxy, and so on.”
Tamrys shrugs. “True, but we don’t think you’re stupid—just young.”
I guess that’s better than being stupid.
* * *
The next day we finally make it to the north end of the city and see the tourist attractions: we tour the Ghirardelli chocolate factory and buy lots to take with us on a boat trip around Alcatraz. I make Tamrys’s day when I suggest eating at In & Out Burger; though to my chagrin he refuses to divulge whether he likes it more or less than Shake Shack.
That night, Tamrys gets a call from Forta, who appears before us via hologram.
“We’ve located the crew members of the USS Derby. They managed to travel all the way south to Arizona,” he reports. “One of their phones contained directions to an abandoned mall south of Tucson. Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer I send a squad to subdue the cell? It would be easy.”
“No,” Tamrys replies. “If we want to uncover more cells and potentially identify those responsible for linking them together, we need to infiltrate their ranks. Sabine and I will head for Arizona tomorrow.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Tamrys grins. “Leave that to me.”
* * *
After one last, blissful night in San Francisco, we check out of the hotel and drive out of town. Once we’re clear of the city, we lift off in our modified car and fly most of the way to Tucson.
The Alvernon Mall looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie: half-covered in graffiti, baking under the desert heat, the building is an island in a sea of empty parking spaces. Though a chain link fence surrounds the property, entire sections have been removed and left in the dirt not far away.
“There’s a bunch of cars over there, in the parking garage,” I say, pointing at the structure.
Tamrys nods. “Hidden from satellites visually and by heat—that might fool human surveillance systems, but not ours.”
Before we get too close, however, he stops the car and sets his hand on my thigh. “You’re sure about this, pet? Things could get tense in there. You’ve never been on a mission like this before, and I don’t want you getting in over your head. If you have any doubts at all, I can get someone else to do this.”
“I appreciate that, but no. I want to do my part for peace. This may be the best chance I’ll get to make an impact. Plus, I know you’ll keep me safe.”
Growling as he strokes my bare leg, he nods. “I will, no matter what. Just be prepared to stay cool and follow my lead.”
“Yes, sir.”
We park in the lot and walk around, making loud, obvious conversation.
“Kristopher said they’d be here!” Tamrys pretends to snap.
“Maybe they got raided,” I reply, resisting the urge to put on an accent. My blood rushes through my veins—I’m an undercover spy! I never imagined I’d be doing something so exciting.
“No, they’re here,” he continues. “They have to be.”
Making our way through the abandoned mall means shining our phone flashlights in the darkness, stepping over garbage left behind by indigents. Rodents scamper away as we disturb their refuge, and I start to wonder if maybe we really do have the wrong place.
Then they show themselves: store shutters rise all around, revealing men and women pointing guns at us.
“Easy, Tina,” Tamrys says to me, using the alter ego we agreed to. We had some laughs picking out his human name. I think he was teasing me when he said he wanted to be Cornelius, but with an alien sense of humor, it’s hard to tell.
Seeing him raise his hands, I do too.
“Who are you?” asks a heavy-set, middle-aged man. A fuzz of gray hair covers most of his scalp and upper lip; his thick glasses, shaking hands, and the shotgun in his grip worry me, but Tamrys gave me a shielding device that should stop any bullet. Still, the way he grits his teeth immediately puts me on edge.
“I’m Ed,” Tamrys says. “This is Tina. We’re here to help the AAB.”
“How did you find us?” the man asks, keeping his weapon trained on Tamrys. All around, the others start walking toward us, closing in.
“My brother Chris told me to meet him. He’s supposed to be here with the rest of our people.”
“What people?”
Tamrys’s face slumps in grief; his hands drop to his sides and he crouches down. “From the USS Derby. They’re not here?”
The man shakes his head, lowering his gun a little. “Sorry, son. Crew of the Derby got caught. They’ve all been rounded up.”
Tamrys shakes his head. “Oh, God. But how…”
I set my hand on his shoulder, hoping I can act just as convincingly. For now, I’m working under the principle of less is more. “I’m so sorry,” I say.
“Come on,” the man says, lowering his gun all the way. “I’m Jack Swaghler, commander of the AAB Tucson unit.”
“Thanks,” Tamrys replies, rising to his feet and shaking Jack’s hand.
He leads everyone through a former Sur La Table, through the hallways behind the stores and into the food court. Hanging around a defunct carousel are about twenty men and a few women. Most are sitting in small groups, drinking beers and playing board games, though through the dusty windows we hear the pops of gunfire.
“Training drills?” Tamrys asks, head pointed toward the sound.
“That’s right,” says Jack. “We’ve been stockpiling and practicing every day since the aliens showed up.”
I’m thankful Tamrys is doing most of the talking; all I can think about is how crazy it is for us to be here. Throughout my career I’ve dealt with conflict and violence—I’ve spoken to countless individuals who have built places like this, or bombed them. Yet, I’ve never actually been to one while it was being used to plot revolutions or plan battles. It’s a strange feeling, and I wonder if it’s just me. Tamrys is a leader, not a spy; has he ever done anything like this? Sup
posedly the skills and expertise of other Dominars has been downloaded into his mind through the nanites, but is that the same thing as actually having done this before?
However, I have to wonder if I missed my calling, because I’ve never felt so alive. I feel like a hunter stalking unaware prey. As soon as Tamrys gets what he needs, we’re going to call in the cavalry and arrest every last person here. I can’t wait to see their faces as dozens of Dominars swoop in through the ceiling and windows, firing stun bolts right and left… Just like they tried to kill Tamrys and me with a sneak attack, we’ll hit them back the same way.
“Why don’t you two get comfortable?” says Jack. “Introduce yourselves to everyone. We’ve got lots of supplies if you’re hungry. Our standing orders are to recruit soldiers, gather materiel, and maintain our preparedness. When we get a mission, I’ll let everyone know.”
“Thanks, Jack. Sounds good.” Tamrys claps the man on his back, then leads me along.
We spend the next couple of hours doing as the man suggests, greeting each of the insurgents and listening to their stories. When we’ve met them all and had some sandwiches for lunch, we head out to the parking lot and practice our marksmanship.
Tamrys gets nice and close to me as he teaches me the proper bodily stance for firing a weapon. Every touch of his makes me want to groan or giggle, and I find myself ‘forgetting’ the position I should be in, forcing him to make more ‘adjustments.’ When no one’s watching, Tamrys squeezes my backside hard enough for me to yelp.
I know what you’re doing, pet, he says through the nanites. Don’t get too excited. Unlike these idiots, we’re not here to play soldier.
Sir, yes, sir! I send back, smirking at the irony.
Tamrys sighs. You just earned yourself a spanking, pet. He adds, “Now form up and shoot straight!”
Squeezing the trigger repeatedly, I empty the clip of my pistol, breaking two of the six Snapple bottles lined across the bed of a rusted-out pickup truck. Even with the protective headgear on, my ears ring for a minute.
“Not bad, Tina,” he says, kissing my cheek.
When we get tired of roasting out in the Arizona sun, we head back inside. Most of the brigade is still just relaxing around the food court. Stacks of empty beer cans can be seen everywhere, and every few minutes we hear an eruption of raucous laughter echoing through the cavernous building.
Okay, pet, this is it, says Tamrys. Time to get what we came here for.
“Hey, Jack!” he calls out. “We need to talk!”
I follow Tamrys closely as he marches slowly toward the AAB leader; conversations die out as people notice our approach.
“What is it?” Jack asks, tossing aside an empty can of Coors. “Is there a problem?”
“Yeah, there is. We’ve been here for hours and all we’ve seen you people do is drink and run your mouths. No planning meetings, no strategy sessions, no physical training—your hideout is completely unequipped to fend off an incursion. Your brigade is a joke, Jack.”
Oh, fuck. My core starts to ache at seeing Tamrys get so fired up.
“Hey, fuck you,” Jack huffs. “We haven’t gotten a new set of orders in a while. Until we do, there’s no sense in taking unnecessary risks.”
“Orders?” says Tamrys. “You’re not the one in charge?”
Jack’s eyes narrow to slits. “Not exactly. I’m in charge of receiving and relaying our orders.”
“From who?”
Folding his arms in front of his chest, Jack lifts a leg onto a food court chair and leans into it. “For his protection, we don’t know his name. He’s off the grid. I get dead drops with status reports once a week, and I’ve got a burner phone in case of emergencies.”
“So what?” I cut in, feeling a surge of frustration. “We’re just supposed to wait around while the aliens take over everything?”
Jack turns to me with a look like I just said something adorable, like I’m a lapdog yapping at a bullmastiff. “Honey, you don’t get how this works, do you? If a call comes in,” he says, taking an old flip phone out of his pants pocket, “we need to be ready. We can’t be running around on our own, utilizing resources that may be needed for something else.”
Hiding my revulsion for this man, I reply calmly. “How often does that happen? Do you get many of these calls?”
Jack rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Maybe you’ve been out of touch, Tina, but the rebellion has only just begun. The aliens are out there rounding up people like Captain Reynolds and anyone else who tries to fight back. Unless we have a real target, we need to lay low and be ready for the right moment to strike.”
“So you haven’t gotten any calls,” Tamrys says. “Not yet.”
“No.”
“No, you haven’t. But instead of spending time preparing for the day that phone rings, you’re just sitting around, getting shitfaced.” Tamrys points at the other rebels, who have approached us to listen in. “All of you are going to die if you try to fight the Dominars. You’re in no shape to fight other humans, let alone the aliens.”
Jack hops up to Tamrys, looking around desperately. “Hey,” he whispers. “I have to keep troop morale high. They know we’ve got a difficult fight ahead.”
“I’ll say it’ll be difficult. Morale isn’t your problem—you need discipline. All of you do.” Tamrys points to an older man with a long gray beard and a spare tire around his gut. “You, clean up this fucking mess. Throw out all the beer.”
“You mean the empties?” he says, swallowing a burp.
“I mean all of it. Pour it all down the drain.” He turns to a young couple who have barely looked up from their phones this whole time. “You two head down to the armory and take a complete inventory. When you’re done, practice loading bullets into clips.”
“But we’re not—” the man starts to protest.
“Now!” Tamrys shouts. “And the rest of you, form rows and start doing jumping jacks. I want to see pit stains bigger than fucking Texas, do you hear me?”
By the time Tamrys finishes his tirade, I can’t help grinning.
He turns to me without a trace of humor in his expression. “And what are you smiling about, Tina? You think you’re any different? If you fired a real gun you’d break an arm! Get in that fucking line!”
Stunned, I scoff at him, unable to move.
“Earth to fucking Tina! Did you not hear me? If you’re just going to stand there, you may as well surrender to the aliens now!”
“Yes, sir,” I mumble, traipsing over to the other rebels. Tamrys doesn’t take his eyes off me until I start doing jumping jacks with the others.
I swallow a curse as sweat starts to collect on my brow, but when I survey the area, pride swells in my chest. These rebels, who only just met Tamrys hours ago, fell in line easily. Even though he had to treat me like one of them, it was fun watching him take charge. Thinking about the spanking he promised me, I push myself harder, making my every move crisp and precise.
Considering how easily Tamrys took control of me, it shouldn’t come as any surprise he can do it with everyone here, except for maybe Jack, who watches us with a mixture of disgust and jealousy. Tamrys knows how to bend people to his will.
But now that he’s taken over, the only question is, what’s he going to do next?
Chapter Twenty-One
Tamrys
I work the ‘recruits,’ including Sabine, for hours. Under my supervision, they do jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, lunges, squats, and more. I only let them stop when they’re too exhausted to continue. “The last one to drop gets to take the day off tomorrow. The rest of you are back at it bright and early,” I say, eliciting a round of groans. Sadly, Sabine is not the last to drop, but I’ll discipline her properly later.
Hopefully, most of them are thinking they’ve made a mistake, that the party is over and fighting aliens isn’t all Coors and Connect Four. With some luck, only a handful will even be back tomorrow.
“I hope you’re happy, Ed,”
Jack says to me as I cut apple slices with a short combat knife.
“It was a good start. But tomorrow I expect you to join them.”
“Excuse me?” he sputters. “Who the fuck do you think you are? I’m not going to be bossed around in my own base—”
“You call this a base? It’s a fucking mall, and it’s falling apart, Jack.”
Seething, fist clenched, he growls, “We’re here to be free. Humans do not take orders. Not from aliens, not from anyone.”
“Yeah, and how is that working out for us?” I retort. “How many Dominars have been killed since the invasion started? One.”
I hide my smirk, considering the one is me.
“More arrive here every day,” I continue. “Their military is unstoppable and most of humanity is on their side. Do you really think you’re going to win by sitting around all day? If we want to be free, we have to get out there and fight! The aliens aren’t gonna leave because we ask nicely.”
Jack’s lip arches in a sneer. “You may be right, but the fact is, I don’t take orders from you. We already have a leader, so you need to take a step back.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sabine stir; smiling, she strides over and sits down next to me.
“Fine,” I say, stroking my pet’s hair. “So where is this guy?”
Jack shrugs, throwing his arms out excessively wide. “Hiding out in the desert, from what I’ve been told. He’s been prepping for doomsday his whole life. He’s got an underground bunker, a series of them—if anyone finds one, he can move into another.”
“Just like that?” I say.
“Yeah, just like that.”
He’s telling me a lot of detail for someone he doesn’t know much about, and showing a lot of faith in somebody he’s probably never met.
“Whoever he is, he’s not here,” I argue. “Maybe he’s not ready to bring the fight to the Dominars, but I am. So from now on, we’re doing what I say. If your leader wants to show up and take charge, I’ll be happy to hear out his plan. But we’re not waiting for him, unless you’d rather drink and play cards while the aliens carve up this world for themselves.”
His Human Mate (Captives of the Dominars Book 3) Page 14
