Tied up in Customs (The Department of Homeworld Security Book 4)

by Cassandra Chandler

  “There is nothing to apologize for. You’ve assimilated a great deal of information quite well in an extremely short period of time.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way, because I think I need a little time to let my brain process this all.”

  “Understandable. If it would assist you…” She leaned even closer, until her breasts brushed against his chest. “I’d be happy to engage in a distracting activity.”

  His smile softened as he lowered his lips to hers, and murmured, “Bondmates with benefits.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Outside of the ship, the view was amazing. Eric gave himself a few moments alone to watch the sunset and try to get his thoughts in order while Sorca prepped the ship for departure. He was about to leave the planet. The planet.

  Part of him still wondered if this was part of some elaborate hoax that Brendan had put together. He had the money—and motive—to build the ship. He could have created replicas of trees rigged to look like Sorca was knocking them down during the fight. But Sorca herself…

  She’s what had convinced Eric that it was all true. She was just too real.

  There was a rawness to her that he had originally mistaken for instability. Now that he knew more about her history and her culture, he understood better.

  If he had died repeatedly and been recreated as the product of cloning and memory implants—and had more of the same to look forward to… He wasn’t sure he’d be handling that as well as she was. She was even stronger than he’d realized.

  Earth was in danger. It was a huge responsibility to be one of the few people who knew about that. But Sorca was in danger, too. And the threat to her felt much closer. The need to protect her was a hell of a lot more immediate and tangible than invading aliens he had yet to see.

  He heard rustling behind him. Sorca was in the ship—on the other side of the clearing. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he slowly turned, his thoughts of aliens making his imagination run wild.

  A deer was standing at the edge of the treeline. Just a deer.

  He was about to laugh, but he still had that feeling of misgiving. The deer took a step closer. Its hide was pale. Was it the same gray deer from earlier?

  Eric had asked Sorca about the Tau Ceti’s appearance. Apparently, they had engineered themselves to look like Sadirians, which meant they also looked like a regular human. Well, right up until they snapped down the fangs embedded in the roof of their mouths before feeding.

  She hadn’t mentioned anything about aliens that looked like deer. This was probably just a wild animal, which was dangerous enough on its own. He took a step back, then remembered that the cliff’s edge was a few feet behind him, along with a sixty-foot drop that ended in jagged rocks.

  “Easy,” he said.

  The deer stepped into the clearing, its head low to the ground. It seemed docile enough. Far more docile than it had any reason to be. It glanced over at the ship. Maybe there was something about the skimmer that was making it behave strangely?

  It sped up as it approached Eric with more purpose. What the purpose was, he had no idea. He stayed still, arms out to his sides in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture.

  The deer stopped right in front of him. It was bigger than he’d expected. Hunting animals wasn’t something he’d ever had an interest in, so his experience was limited. He had enough of tracking things down in his work.

  “Easy,” he said again.

  He held his breath as the deer cocked its head to the side, staring at him. Its pupils were dilated, entirely obscuring its irises. Now that he thought about it, its eyes seemed bigger than they should.

  “This is just too weird.”

  The deer’s lips quirked up, almost like it was amused. Eric must be worse off than he thought.

  It lurched up on its hind legs. Eric lifted his arms to defend himself. He’d seen videos of deer attacking hunters before, and expected it to start lashing out at him with its forelegs. Instead, the deer started to glow.

  “What the hell?”

  Through the silver light emanating from it, he saw its eyes grow bigger—still entirely black. Its head shortened and rounded, its ears retreating into its scalp. Its limbs and torso lengthened to slender, sinuous reeds.

  Holy shit.

  The transformation happened so fast. It looked like a Gray—the alien most commonly described by humans Eric used to think were crackpots. He would never discount a report of a UFO sighting again.

  Partially blinded, he didn’t see when the thing lashed out with one of its oddly moving arms, wrapping its long fingers around Eric’s neck and squeezing. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t call for help. He grabbed the Gray’s wrists, trying to break free, but the thing wouldn’t budge.

  Still glowing dimly, the Gray lifted Eric off of the ground, pulling him closer. Its mouth was a thin slit in a vaguely featureless face, but he swore the corners of the lipless gash twitched up in a smile. With its free arm, it pointed at Eric’s face, its sharply pointed finger getting closer and closer.

  Please don’t probe me…

  It grabbed the edge of Eric’s mouth, sliding its finger along his cheek and teeth, like it was doing a DNA swab test. If he could have moved his neck in the thing’s iron grip, he would have bitten it, but he was too busy holding himself up, trying to suck in any amount of air so he didn’t black out.

  The Gray pulled his finger from Eric’s mouth, then…licked it. It cocked its head to the side, like the deer had done.

  What the fuck?

  The light grew brighter again, and Eric could feel the thing’s hand changing shape around his neck. It shrank down to a more average human size. The moment Eric’s feet touched the ground, he dug his thumb into its forearm in a spot that would cause a human to reflexively open their hand.

  The Gray dropped him and he rolled as he hit the ground. Eric wasn’t sure if he’d escaped or the thing had released him. All he cared about was the fresh air burning its way across his bruised windpipe and into his lungs.

  Gasping, he looked up to see the woman from the diner that Sorca had tried to talk to about copulation protocols. The woman’s eyes were completely black and her features half-way between the Gray’s and a human’s.

  As he watched, its features shifted again, losing the definition they had just gained. Then, it swelled larger as it coalesced into a familiar shape and face—his. The light dimmed, and Eric was left staring at an exact duplicate of himself.

  With all the classified projects he’d worked on, he could think of dozens of reasons that someone would want to copy and replace him. But he had a feeling this alien was after something less Earth-based.

  The Gray grinned at him, then reached down and started dragging Eric to his feet with inhuman strength. He doubted it was a compassionate gesture. This close to the cliff’s edge, it was almost certainly just trying to push him over before he regained his voice.

  Eric pretended to wobble on his feet, coiling his strength and “stumbling” closer to the Gray. As soon as he was in a good enough position, he launched his shoulder into the thing’s chin with all his strength.

  The Gray was taken by surprise and staggered back from the blow. Eric was about to press his advantage when he heard Sorca call out from the ship.

  “Don’t move,” she said. “Either of you.”

  He turned to see her standing at the end of the ramp with what was obviously some kind of high-tech rifle braced against her shoulder—and aimed in his direction. In unison, he and the Gray raised their hands.

  “Sorca, it’s me,” the Gray said. Its voice perfectly matched Eric’s.

  “No, I’m me,” Eric said.

  “I don’t know what that thing is. It attacked me and somehow turned into me.”

  “It’s a Gray,” Eric said. “I don’t know what you call them, but that’s their name on Earth.”

  “Sorca, you told me the only aliens on Earth are the Sadirians and the Tau Ceti,” it said. “What is this thing
?”

  Shit, how did it know that those were the only aliens Sorca had told Eric about? Unless it had been following them and listening in on everything.

  He’d noticed the weird deer while Sorca was carrying him to the ship—when she’d started telling him about the dangers Earth faced. And if it had been the lady from the diner, it could have been following them the whole time. It could have seen the results of their fight, and heard them talking afterwards.

  “Sorca, please trust me,” it said. “I’m your bondmate.”

  And there it was. This thing was after Sorca.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Describe what you saw.” Sorca kept the phase rifle pointed at the two Erics in front of her. Not many sentients could alter their appearance. The situation was bad. She just wasn’t sure how bad.

  “It was tall, thin, and gray-skinned,” the Eric on her left said.

  Right-Eric chimed in as well. “And had dark black eyes. Huge eyes. And slender limbs.”

  Cygnus X. The situation was dire indeed.

  “You’re describing a Scorpiian. They’re bounty hunters and deadly assassins.” She watched both Erics’ reactions. Neither flinched at being identified. Both looked equally surprised.

  But what was a Scorpiian doing on Earth?

  Though she hadn’t sent her transmission yet, her ship was receiving data from the Arbiter. Apparently, Khel had already returned to the ship with Brendan’s sister, Paige.

  They’d sent an emergency transmission to her ship to let her know that the Tau Ceti had been setting up spawning pools on Earth—a scenario Sorca would never have imagined.

  The Tau Ceti were facing extreme sanctions for these acts, but the information she received hinted at some kind of new technology they’d developed that must have made that prospect less upsetting for them. It also made them a much greater threat to the Coalition—and Earth.

  She hadn’t told Eric yet, but there were supposedly Centaurans on Earth as well. Who knew how many other sentients had invaded the planet or what their plans for it might be. She needed to determine which of these Erics was her Eric and dispatch the Scorpiian so they could get to the Arbiter as quickly as possible.

  “I’m guessing you mean someone from one of the Scorpii systems,” left-Eric said.

  Someone, not something. The probability that left-Eric was the true Eric increased.

  “She sure as hell isn’t talking about the bug,” right-Eric said.

  Hmm. The humor on that one…

  “Sorca, if that weapon can stun us, shoot us both. It’s the only way we can assure your safety,” left-Eric said.

  “Unless it wants you to do so,” right-Eric said. “What if there’s more than one and it’s trying to get you alone?”

  Right-Eric was both displaying his concern for her and his ignorance. Scorpiians always worked by themselves. That way, they didn’t have to share their bounties when they captured their targets.

  But what bounties could it be seeking on Earth? If it tried to collect on a bounty, it would have to admit to trespassing on a preservation planet. Unless it was a covert bounty or…

  Or sanctioned at an extremely high level. Perhaps even by the High Council itself. Which would mean that they were already aware that Earth was being invaded.

  She set aside that truly disturbing thought. It was essential that she navigate this situation successfully. She had to warn General Serath. And she had to save Eric. Whichever one of these versions was truly him.

  “Scorpiians are immune to the stun function of this phase rifle,” she said. “As one of you well knows. Stunning you both would make an ambush that much easier, and remove my only support personnel.”

  “Support personnel?” right-Eric said. “I thought I was more than that to you.”

  Her heart gave a little lurch. Before she could respond, left-Eric spoke out.

  “It knows everything that’s passed between us. Everything. Including the fact that we’re pair-bonded. It’s after you. It wants to use you, through our bond.”

  That was a terrifying thought. If she ended up with the Scorpiian without knowing it, it could use her position and status to its own ends. Scorpiians were masters at manipulation.

  “Lock us both up in the sleeping chamber of the skimmer,” left-Eric said. “Surely the people on the Arbiter can tell us apart when we get there.”

  “How do you know so much about her ship?” right-Eric said.

  “Because she told me, dumbass.”

  Sorca grinned. Both had humor. Both looked exactly like her Eric. But which one was he?

  “It would be much too dangerous to bring a Scorpiian aboard the Arbiter,” she said. “We’ll have to resolve this between the three of us.”

  “Great.” Right-Eric rolled his eyes.

  “How does the Scorpiian know so much about us?” she said.

  Right-Eric replied first. “It’s been following us in the form of a deer—a common woodland animal in this area. I saw it while you were carrying me up the hillside, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think it was important.”

  “And it saw me see it,” left-Eric said. “But it did a piss-poor job of imitating a deer, because its hide was way too gray.”

  Left-Eric was trying to goad right-Eric. The tactic seemed to be in line with what she knew of her new bondmate. Right-Eric didn’t show any reaction to the insult.

  From what left-Eric said, there weren’t many questions she could ask to establish his identity. She didn’t know much about him yet. She was determined to get through this and have the opportunity to learn more.

  “This will get us nowhere,” she said. “If the Scorpiian has truly overheard everything, there’s no way that talking can determine who is the imposter and who is truly Eric.”

  “Do you have something else in mind?” left-Eric said.

  “Only one person has ever bested me in combat. If we fight, I’ll know who the real Eric is.”

  “No, no, no,” right-Eric said. “That’s way too dangerous.”

  Left-Eric shook his head. “I agree. There has to be another way.”

  Sorca locked the rifle and set it down on the ramp. “There is no other way. And be advised, I will only be able to identify you correctly by not holding back. I expect you both to do the same.”

  “Sorca,” left-Eric said.

  There was no time to waste, with the sun setting and stars knew how many hostiles planetside. She looked from one of them to the other and grinned.

  This was going to be fun.

  With a battle cry, she ran toward the pair of them, attempting to backhand the one on the left while spinning into a kick aimed at the right. Both men leapt out of range, as she expected. They mirrored each other’s stances perfectly.

  Scorpiians were feared for good reason. They were masters of infiltration, getting close to their bounties before springing their attacks. She couldn’t let her guard down. At the same time, she didn’t want to hurt the real Eric.

  She followed up her attack first with the Eric who had started out on her right. Kicks and punches that he parried easily enough. Despite what she’d said, she was holding back, which probably wasn’t the best course of action to determine who was the imposter.

  She increased the force of her blows. Right-Eric was still able to block them. He even managed to land a few hits that she’d be feeling when the adrenaline rush of the battle was over.

  During her attack, she had left her back open. Left-Eric hadn’t taken advantage of that. Then again, the Scorpiian could easily have predicted that Eric wouldn’t be eager to fight her.

  She sprinted toward left-Eric, but instead of engaging with her, he…ran away. Not far, but all he did was try to stay out of her reach.

  He hadn’t seemed the type to run before. Perhaps this was the imposter.

  “I won’t fight you, Sorca,” left-Eric said. “I’m not the Scorpiian.”

  “That’s exactly what it would say.” She closed the distance between th
em and swung at him—still holding back her strength and speed. Which one was he? “Engage me. It’s the only way I can know for certain.”

  His lips pressed together in a thin line.

  She swung at him again, but this time, he stood his ground, deflecting her blow with that curious fighting technique he’d used before. Yes, this could very well be her Eric. A few more tests would be necessary.

  Before she could attack again, the other Eric came up behind him and struck him in the back of the head with the rifle. Left-Eric crumpled to the ground.

  “What are you doing?” she yelled.

  “I was trying to help you,” right-Eric said.

  She grabbed the rifle, easily jerking it from his grasp. Her vision clouded with red. What if that was the real Eric bleeding at her feet? But what if this was the real Eric?

  She dropped the weapon and leapt at him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him forward so that she could strike him with her forehead. He staggered back from the impact, and she let him, releasing her hold.

  Another punch—that she successfully landed. A kick that sent him sprawling to the ground. As soon as he regained his feet, she was on him, no longer holding back.

  There were no graceful dodges, no redirecting the energy of her attack. Just the brutal force of her strength and speed pummeling him into a bloody…

  No blood. There was no blood.

  She looked back at left-Eric, who was struggling to get to his feet, using the rifle to prop himself up. Blood ran down his temple and into the collar of his shirt. Red, human blood, not the quicksilver that ran in a Scorpiian’s veins.

  How injured was he?

  Her skin prickled with fear. She needed to get him to the regen bed.

  “Look out!” he yelled.

  She turned back to the Scorpiian, just as it morphed its hand into a sharp spike. Dodging it with nanoseconds to spare, she grabbed its arm and pulled it off balance in a clumsy approximation of one of the real Eric’s techniques. She caught the Scorpiian before it could fall to the ground, hefting it into the air. The inertia of its attack actually made the process much easier. There was definitely something to this Earth combat.