by KD Jones
“Yes, but on both ends there is a cross section where an unused tunnel intercepts. We do not have enough security to check in possibly four to six different directions and keep the tribe area secure.”
Kyle ran a hand through his short hair. Damn it. Lieutenant Burk was right. They needed to send off for more help to search for her. But he didn’t want to wait either. He took a moment and used his communicator to relay the situation to the command ship. His father told him he would send twenty down to help.
Kyle ended communications and looked at Lieutenant Burk. “How many men can we spare to help me search the tunnels?”
We have six security detail, not counting the two of us.”
“I’ll take four men to help me search the tunnels now, and leave two with you to secure the tribe area. Then you can redirect the men that come down.”
“Shouldn’t you remain here, sir?”
Kyle shook his head. “No, I want to lead the search party. Call the men in so we can organize them.”
“Right away.”
Kyle saw Mrs. James approaching him with a worried look on her face. He wanted to reassure her they were going to find Rachel. “We’re pulling men in so that we can search the tunnels.”
“It’s not like Rachel to run off like this. Something’s not right. She wouldn’t worry me like this.”
Kyle put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. “I’ll find her. If anyone hurts her they will wish they never existed.”
“Go bring our girl back.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He walked away toward where his men had gathered. He felt something inside gripping his heart at the thought of something horrible happening to Rachel. She wasn’t as strong as Maggie and had never really had anything bad ever happen to her. How was she going to handle it? He had to save her.
Chapter 9
She had to get out of here. That was the repeating thought in her mind. Rachel had woken up with the most excruciating headache. She had been carried over some guy’s shoulder and her ribs hurt from the jostling. She wasn’t sure how long she was out for, but from the ache in her body, it had been a while. The only bright spot in all that was the grunting and complaining from the guy carrying her. He deserved to have his ass kicked. But she realized that her weakened condition would limit her to what she could do about it.
“Put her down over there. I think we have gone far enough to camp for a few hours.”
The guy holding her grabbed her ass. She hit his back as hard as she could. She was unceremoniously thrown down on the ground.
“Ouch, you asshole!” she yelled at him.
“Watch it, bitch.”
“Keep your hands to yourself.” She scooted away from the man.
“What? Am I not good enough for you. Do I have to be a stinking alien to get you to spread your white thighs for me?”
She spit at him, infuriated. “You’re a disgusting pig!”
“You’re a dirty alien-loving whore!”
“Enough Ennis! We need to be able to hear if anyone approaches and no one can hear anything over the two of you scrawling at each other.”
“Come on, Leonard, why can’t I have a little fun with her? I earned it after having hauled her all this way,” Ennis whined.
Rachel tore her eyes away from the man that carried her to the other shorter man. Clearly, he was the man in charge of her abduction. Fuck! She had been abducted not by aliens but by alien haters. This was the kind of thing she would see in a movie, rather than something that actually happened to her. How did she get into this situation? All that mattered was getting out of alive.
“What do you want with me?” Rachel clutched her ribs while sitting on the cold, hard cement. The one named Leonard seemed to be in charge, and he approached her.
“You’re going help us take a stand against the aliens trying to invade our world.”
“I’m not going to help you do jack shit.” This guy was off his rocker.
“Oh, but you will. Your death at the hands of the aliens will incite a much-needed rebellion against the Drastans. Our governments will finally open their eyes and use force to make the aliens leave. We will finally live free from tyranny.”
This guy was seriously off his rocker. “No one would believe the aliens would hurt me. They came here to help us. My father and the Earth governments have agreements with the aliens. They won’t break that.”
He snorted at her. “If the governments won’t take a stand, then its people have a moral obligation to do what’s right. These aliens are not a humanitarian group ― they are warriors. They conquer worlds, not save them. Have you noticed how they guard their technology and rarely share their knowledge? They are hiding their true intentions. As far as your good-for-nothing sister, once she and that creature she is carrying are dead, the people of Earth will finally see that a union between the aliens and us is unholy.”
Rachel’s fear was now not for herself, but for her sister and her sister’s baby. “My sister is safe on board the Drastan ship. How do you think you would even get to her?”
“Enough, Leonard. You’ve told her too much already,” a new voice called from the dark.
Rachel turned her head to look at the stranger approaching. Something about him seemed familiar. Then she recognized what he was wearing and she was shocked.
“You’re from one of the domes?”
The new guy came closer and was followed by two more men. He smiled at her. “Yes, I am. My name is Dusty Robins and I am from Dome 28.”
She was confused. Why would someone from a dome help these crazy fanatics? She must have asked that out loud, because he answered her.
“The aliens are messing up our world’s basic way of living,” Dusty stated.
“I don’t understand.”
He squatted so that they would be eye-level. “You see, our cultures on Earth have always been set up as a type of trade and exchange. I have traded with the tribes for years in return for information, labor, and any monetary finds they have. Did you know that there is a subway tunnel close to several government treasuries? All it took was providing the right digging and explosives and the tribe members were able to retrieve what I wanted. I used the money to climb my way up the political ladder in the domes. Soon I will be a dome leader myself. After that, I will take over other domes until I have complete control of all domes.”
“You’re crazy. The domes aren’t set up like that. You have to be in the military to be able to run one. You can’t buy your way into the position.”
He laughed as he stood up. “You are so naive. Did your father not explain how grown-ups run things?”
She remained silent as she watched him go over to Leonard and the man who had hit her. He reached out and shook hands with them. “Leonard, Ennis. Did you have any trouble getting in and out?”
Ennis rubbed his back where she had hit him. “Naw, it was easy. These assholes are so sure of themselves that they don’t believe anyone human can outsmart them.”
“We held our end of the deal by getting her here. Now where is our reward?” Leonard asked sharply.
Dusty motioned for his two goons to bring something forward. It was a medium-sized box about the size of a coffee table, and it was heavy. They placed it down in front of Leonard and Ennis. Leonard nodded for Ennis to open the box.
Ennis looked around for something, and then grinned as he picked up a stick. He used it to help prop open the top of the box. He moved the lid and reached inside. He pulled out a gun and handed it to Leonard. Leonard turned it side to side, smiling. He went to cock the gun and frowned.
“Where’s the ammunition?”
Dusty shrugged. “I promised you weapons, not the ammunition. You’ll have to earn that separately.”
“That’s bullshit!”
“That’s called business. I also threw in extra canned food and clothing that you can trade with.”
“What good are guns without ammunition?” Leonard growled angrily at him.
“You can earn the ammunition when you kill the girl and drop her body up top at the gate to her father’s dome.”
“I didn’t agree to kill her. And dropping her off on her father’s doorstep would be like signing my own death warrant.”
“I can’t make the moves that I need to make if I can’t provide a dead body to blame on the aliens. I need her dead and in the right place.”
“Why can’t you do it? You’ve got enough muscle.”
“I need to be elsewhere and seen publicly so that I have an alibi. My name was mentioned by traitors and the government has been interviewing those who know me. I need this done quickly and without it linking to me.”
“How are we going to blame it on the aliens then?”
“I have an alien that I captured a few days ago, I’ll give him to you so that you can place him with the girl’s body.”
Rachel slowly crawled backward, toward the dark tunnel behind her. Everyone was busy arguing and she had heard enough. She needed to get out of there now, while they were distracted. She got to a crouching stance and continued to move backward.
“Look, I’m not killing an alien too,” Leonard complained.
“I don’t want the alien dead. He needs to be left alive so that the dome leader will kill him. It will set up things nicely with the aliens against the government.”
“I’m going to need more than ammunition if you want me handling an alien.”
“How much more?”
“I want a dome for myself.”
“What? You’re a subway dweller. No one is going to give you a dome.” Dusty sounded outraged. His two muscle heads moved closer to Leonard and Ennis.
This was it. They were about to break out into a fight. She had to go now. She stood and spun around and dashed into the dark subway tunnel. She didn’t know where she was going; she just had to get as far away from these crazy assholes as possible.
“The bitch is getting away!” Ennis yelled out.
She moved as fast as she could. Please let the cavalry come soon.
Chapter 10
Kyle growled out in frustration as he hit his communicator. “I can’t wait for you to send me some more people down here. I need to find her now before she is hurt or worse...killed.”
His brother Liam sighed with frustration. “I want to find her too. She is my sister-in-law now and Maggie is extremely upset and wants to come help look. It’s too dangerous for the baby. So she begged me to send Corey Nash down to help.”
“What the hell, Liam? He’s a human.”
“I know, but he knows the subway tunnels better than anyone, according to Maggie. He’s been training under Lieutenant Nix Saber. You know she’s as tough as they come. She’ll be coming with him.”
“I can’t wait. I’m on my way to search with some of my guys. Have Nash and Saber report in to my lieutenant in charge when they get here.” Kyle heard his brother cussing at him, but he disconnected anyway. He had to find Rachel.
He motioned for his men to come forward. They had come to the fork in the subway tunnel and there were splinter tunnels that they needed to investigate.
“Okay, we’re going to have to split up. Each of us takes a tunnel. Our mission is to find and safely retrieve Miss James. Try to not engage the enemy unless Miss James’s life is in danger. We’re trying not to cause friction with the humans.” He waited until everyone had taken a tunnel and then he turned and took the last one to the right.
After a few minutes in, he started to second-guess himself and considered turning around and seeking out a different tunnel. But then a scent caught his attention. He knelt down and took a deep breath in his nose. It was Rachel’s blood. He would know it anywhere. He thought about pulling his men but what if this was somehow a ruse and the enemy was trying to lure him away from the right tunnel? No, he had to wait until he had more evidence to go by before pulling the others away from their tunnels.
He moved quickly down the tunnel and thought he heard movement and voices ahead. He sped up. He was right. Someone was down this way, but who was it?
Kyle kept one hand on his weapon as he began jogging. A shadow ahead of him moving quickly his way caught his attention. The person tripped but got back up and kept coming in his direction. Kyle stopped and was about to draw his weapon on the person when the voices, sounding closer now, distracted him.
“Get her before she gets back to the others!”
Fuck! It had to be Rachel. He lowered his weapon and hit his communicator. “I’ve found them—” He was suddenly hit head-on and knocked down to the hard cement. His communicator hit first and came apart in several pieces. Then the back of his head made a loud popping sound. He felt sharp pain and dizziness. “What the hell!”
“Kyle?” Rachel’s voice was directly in front and on top of him. She must have been the one to knock him down and she had landed right on him.
“Yep.” He groaned as he tried to lift her off of him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, helping him to his feet. He swayed a little and would have fallen if she hadn’t reached out and steadied him.
“I’m here to rescue you.”
“Well, you suck at it.” Rachel commented dryly. She looked behind her and then back at him worriedly. “We need to get out of here. These guys that kidnapped me are totally psycho and they have guns.”
He grabbed the pieces of his communicator and shoved them into his pocket. Then he reached for her hand and started hobbling toward the other direction of the tunnel. Every step he made was painful. But he wasn’t about to stop and take the chance of Rachel being abducted again. He felt a tug on his hand and stopped in frustration.
“We need to go.”
“I know, but you’re not going to be able to outrun them hurt like that.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“Hide.” Rachel pointed to a door that was partially hidden by debris and vines.
He didn’t like it but she was right. His injuries were slowing them down. He had an emergency medical patch that he could apply but it would work much faster if he were stationary. He pulled her over to the door and shoved it open. He turned, got inside and closed the heavy metal door. He was grateful it had a locking mechanism. As soon as the door closed, they were in complete darkness. He wasn’t sure if the men were close enough to hear all the noise the door made.
“I really hate the dark,” Rachel told him, shivering.
He pulled out a small pen like flashlight and turned it on. He couldn’t use it earlier because he didn’t want to give away his position. But now that they were in a completely enclosed area, he could. He reached for Rachel, pulling her close so that he could examine her.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” He gently touched the swollen and bruised side of her face. Her lip was cracked, which was probably where the blood came from.
“I’m fine, but you don’t look so well.”
“What do you…” He felt himself slowly falling. Slim arms reached out to hold him, but his weight was too much and began taking those arms down with him. His last thought was of Rachel and how he had to keep her safe.
*****
Rachel grunted as she moved her hands out from under Kyle. “Damn, you weigh a ton.” She checked his pulse and sighed with relief that he had a steady pulse. “Now what am I supposed to do?” She wasn’t medically inclined and only knew how to stick a Band-Aid on something. She wasn’t sure a Band-Aid would help in this situation.
Wait a minute. Didn’t she see Jared using patches on some of the warriors? She started to search Kyle’s uniform for pockets. She unzipped an inside coat pocket and pulled out a pouch. It had the same white coloring that the medikos used for their uniforms. She pulled at the pouch until it opened.
She found liquid bandages, unknown syringes, and a couple of patches. The patches looked like what she had seen Jared using. She took one, opened it, and applied it to the back of Kyle’s neck. Within a few minutes, the swelling of the bump went down
and Kyle’s breathing was steady and regular. She breathed a sigh of relief.
She stood up and stretched her arms and legs. “Ouch.” She pulled her arms back down and rubbed her ribs. She was really tender there. She had thought about using a patch on herself but decided it wasn’t severe enough and they might need it for something worse. Rachel walked over to the door and made sure it was locked. She pulled on it hard and frowned seeing how it shimmied some. If these assholes all went at the door at the same time, they could knock it down. They had to leave.
She glanced around the room and noticed another door on the other side. She went to it and pushed it open. She couldn’t see anything so she went back over to where Kyle had set his flashlight pen thing. She used it to look into the doorway and found that it led to stairs going down. It looked like it went down ten feet to another level. This could be their way out of here. The only problem was that Kyle was in no shape to be attempting stairs so soon. But did they have a choice?
She went over to kneel on the floor next to Kyle. She shook his arm to try to wake him. “Kyle? Kyle can you hear me?” she whispered to him.
He grumbled. “Don’t yell, I can hear you.” He opened his eyes and blinked. “Where are we?”
“Shit, do you have amnesia? I didn’t think you hit your head that hard.”
“What’s amnesia?” Kyle struggled to a sitting position.
“It’s where you forget who you are and who the people around you are. Do you know your name?”
He glared over at her. “Yes, Rachel, I know my name. I’m just a little dizzy, not this amnesia thing.”
“Amnesia is a condition and you would be called an amnesiac or something if you had it.”
“Well I don’t and...you put a medic patch on me?” He touched the patch on the back of his head with surprise.
She knew her cheeks were probably red. “I can do some things right. I’m not the ditzy blonde that a lot of people think I am.”
“Ditzy?”
“Dumb, stupid, can’t put two and two together.”
He growled at her. “You are not ditzy. Who says this to you? I want names.”
