aHunter4Rescue (aHunter4Hire)

by Clement, Cynthia

  “I will not risk my men’s lives.” Ardal’s voice was firm. “There is less than a unit of Hunters left in the universe. It is my responsibility that they live.”

  Fiona frowned. “Are you saying that you and your men are all that’s left?”

  “Yes.”

  Fiona swallowed. Ardal’s expression had not changed, but a flicker of intensity flashed into his black eyes before he hid it. Despite his appearance of control and dispassion, this man felt deeply about his responsibility. She’d been wrong to think him a computer on steroids. He cared about his men. You just had to dig deep to find it.

  Before she could think of something to say, Marshall shouted at them. “It looks as if some of these trees have been cut down.”

  “I have a right to heat my house.” Fiona didn’t try to hide her exasperation. How dare these men come onto her land and interrogate her. For a second, she forgot that all she wanted was to lie low and avoid conflict. “Do I come onto your property and question what you do?

  “Whoa.” Clyde held up his hands. The men were walking back now. “We’re just asking.”

  “I’ll bet,” Fiona hissed under her breath. Louder she said, “Do you want to see my woodpile? I could use help stacking it.”

  “You have a fine strong man to do that.” Marshall glanced at Ardal and then cleared his throat. “I mean, we’ll be happy to help, but it looks like you have everything under control.”

  “I do.” Fiona straightened her shoulders. “I hope that you’re satisfied that nothing fell on my land.”

  “We’re just doing our civic duty.” Clyde smirked. “I wouldn’t want to have little green men roaming freely around these hills.”

  Fiona snorted. “You have a vivid imagination.”

  They walked back to the driveway. Once the men were on their way, Fiona turned to Ardal.

  “We have to talk.”

  “I am at your service.”

  At the house Firbin was still standing guard, but a nod from Ardal and he was gone. The living room was full of men. The only private space was Fiona’s bedroom. It wasn’t ideal for a discussion, but what other choice was there? Taking a deep breath, Fiona went to her room and waited for Ardal to follow her in before closing the door.

  She leaned her back against the door. It was time she knew exactly who her guests were. “Where are you and your men from?”

  “Our planet is Cygnus. It is in what we call the Zonar galaxy.”

  “How far is it from Earth?”

  “What is earth?”

  “That’s the planet that you’re on, Earth.” Fiona let out a sigh. “It seems that we’re talking different languages.”

  “We are.”

  Ardal put his hand on her arm and led her to the bed. Again the jolt of electricity ran through her body. Fiona looked into Ardal’s eyes, but he seemed unaware of the sensation. Instead he pressed her onto the bed and then stood in front of her, arms crossed and legs apart.

  “I do not know the distance we traveled before reaching your planet. We were on the spacecraft for several months.”

  “I can’t think with you looming over me.” Fiona motioned to the chair in the corner of the room. “Sit. I need to understand who you are.”

  Ardal made a grunting noise and took the seat. “What questions do you have?”

  “Are you a criminal?”

  “Do you mean did I break the Sacred Code?” Ardal lips tightened. “Yes.”

  Now she was harboring criminals. Judging by his behavior, they were probably murderers. She glanced at the closed door. Perhaps a private meeting wasn’t her most brilliant idea.

  “We did not harm anyone.” Ardal’s words forced Fiona to look at him. “We refused to obey the order that would have executed us.”

  Fiona bit her lip. “Usually you do something bad before you get executed. What did you and your men do?”

  “We followed our orders.”

  Fiona pursed her lips and bit back her exasperation. The man couldn’t answer a simple question. “You said you didn’t follow orders.”

  “We followed the orders of the Kaladin.”

  Fiona shut her eyes for a second. This was going nowhere. She glanced up at the peeling paint of her ceiling and decided to try a different direction. “The Captain called you traitors.”

  “The Captain is an instrument of the Holman. He believes Hunters should no longer exist.” Ardal leaned forward, his eyes intent on Fiona. “The Holman won the civil war on my planet. They defeated the Kaladin and now control all of Cygnus and its territories.

  “So you lost the war?”

  The muscles in Ardal’s jaw tightened. “A Hunter does not lose. We were forced to obey a dishonorable order.”

  Fiona sighed. It was like talking in circles. “What exactly does a Hunter do?”

  “We are a race of our own, the elite of the warriors.”

  “So you are soldiers.” She’d been right about their military look.

  “We are more than that.” Ardal’s voice held pride. “A Hunter lives and dies by honor. We search and we destroy. We obey only the orders of the Kaladin and we defend to the death.”

  Fiona frowned. It sounded like something out of the middle ages. It had to be a matter of the language barrier because their technology was way beyond the middle ages. Weren’t advance races supposed to be peaceful? At least that’s what all the science fiction shows portrayed.

  “So you lost the war and were ordered executed. That seems an extreme action. Why wouldn’t the new leaders just use you to help them?”

  “They knew we would never give them our loyalty. We have been bred to obey the Kaladin. We would die to keep them safe.”

  “But the Kaladin are gone now, so where does that leave you.”

  Ardal hesitated for a fraction of a second. “The Kaladin high council survives.”

  Fiona looked at Ardal’s closed face and instantly knew. “You and your men saved them.”

  “It was our last order.”

  “And that order led you to be executed.”

  Ardal shook his head. “No. All other Hunters were executed. I chose to fight.”

  “So that was what the Captain meant when he said you had caused the ship to crash.”

  “The Captain fired a weapon at the guidance computers and that caused our crash.”

  Fiona rolled her eyes. She had only met this guy last night, but she knew enough to believe he’d provoked it. “You had something to do with that, though.”

  “I asked him to drop his weapon.”

  “I’m sure you were polite about it.”

  “There was no need for politeness. It was a battle.”

  “I was being sarcastic. Don’t they have sarcasm on your planet?”

  “We speak only what we mean.”

  “Nice to know,” Fiona said under her breath. In a louder tone she asked. “What happens now?”

  “We cannot stay. The spacecraft was destroyed, so we will have to build another.”

  Fiona stood. “People would notice that. You don’t want to be hunted down by the authorities. I know what that feels like.”

  “You are hunted?”

  Fiona picked up the brush from her dresser and began to tap it against her palm. How much information was it safe to give this guy? What difference did it make, though? They would be gone soon and she’d be safe again.

  “A man is stalking me.” Fiona motioned to the window. “That’s why I’m hiding in the middle of nowhere.”

  Ardal gave her a steady look. “Is it not wrong for him to do this?”

  “If a man wants to kill you, he will. There’s nothing the law can do to stop it.” Fiona let out an exasperated breath. “I’d fallen completely off the grid and then this happens. We’ll be lucky if the military aren’t all over this thing.”

  “They are already searching.”

  Chapter 5

  “You can’t know that for certain.” She looked at Ardal to see if he’d been trying to scare her, bu
t his face was serious. That meant her cover was blown. Clyde and Marshall were just the start. She dropped onto the bed.

  “Your technology is advanced enough to know that we crashed.” Ardal shifted in the chair.

  “That’s doesn’t mean they’re looking for you.”

  “The scanners suggest otherwise.”

  Fiona frowned. “I don’t have the internet much less a radio scanner.”

  Ardal held up the device he had pushed into her face the night before. She’d thought it was a phone. Obviously it was much more, probably a mini-computer or something. It was definitely evidence of the advanced technology that Ardal and his men must have access to. What else were they hiding? Did it matter, though? Soon she’d be on the run again. First, she had to deal with the injured men.

  Fiona straightened her shoulders. “We have to get you and your men hidden. It’s been over twelve hours since you landed. Soon the military and police will have narrowed their search. If Clyde and Marshall saw something, you can believe others did.”

  “We hit something upon entry. Half of our craft was missing when we cleaned up.” Ardal’s voice was matter of fact. “There are two crash sites. They are wasting their time with the first site.”

  There was no point in speculating how he knew this. “How much time before they find you?”

  “Two hours, maybe less.”

  Fiona bit her lip. She knew how to hide one person, but there were over one hundred men here, some with serious injuries. She only had the one vehicle and it held four in the cab. You might be able to squeeze another ten in the box, but that would get noticed on the highway.

  “How do I hide so many?” Fiona whispered her thought aloud.

  “You do not do anything.” Ardal’s voice was severe. “The site is cleaned and the evidence of our crash is gone. I have made plans for my men.”

  That left only her to worry about. Fiona’s heart began to race. She had to make plans before the panic set in and made it impossible to think. She pushed her hair off her face. She had to hide. She had an emergency kit readied as she’d been trained. Now she needed to consider where to go.

  “We will protect you.” Ardal had left the chair and was now crouched in front of her. “You must not fear.”

  Fiona started to laugh, a hysterical, uncontrollable imitation of a laugh. “You can’t protect me. Don’t you understand?”

  “We are Hunters. We can do many things.”

  “I’m sure you can, but you don’t know David.”

  Flashes of memory flitted through her mind. He was one of the senior residents at the hospital where she had done her first internship. She had been flattered and naïve. Too many years of focusing on school had kept her isolated. She seldom dated and when David had first approached her, she had thought it was a fairy tale.

  He was good looking and charming, but that had changed after the first couple of dates. He had been way too serious, demanding that she only see him. She had refused and said that she was too young. She had years of schooling ahead of her before she could consider a serious relationship.

  That was the first time he had beat her.

  She had barely escaped alive.

  A gentle shake brought her out of her memories. Fiona shuddered, unable to focus on the man in front of her. “You can’t know the horror of it.”

  “Tell me.” His voice was a whisper.

  “I fought him, but he was stronger. I couldn’t escape. He took and took until there was nothing left of me. I’d rather die than go through that again.”

  “This monster still lives?”

  Ardal’s voice broke through her trance. “I’ll have to contact the Women’s Underground Network.” Fiona stood up and started for the door. “The sooner I leave, the better chance I’ll have of not being found.”

  Ardal’s hand shot out and pressed against the door before she could open it. “We have caused this. We will fix it.”

  Fiona opened her mouth to protest when Ardal put his finger against her lips. The world went silent. There was only the two of them. Fiona usually shrank away from a man’s touch, but instead of revulsion, she felt a strange comfort. A sense of belonging and safety seeped through every pore in her body.

  “You are my responsibility now.” Ardal’s voice held a reverence, his words a vow. “I will protect you until my death.”

  Fiona couldn’t tear her eyes away from his. There was a fire deep within, turning his obsidian eyes molten. Warmth filled her, releasing the tension of the last year of running. She believed him. He would protect her. She leaned into him.

  “What happens when he finds me?”

  “He will never touch you again.” Ardal put his arms around her, hugging her close to his pounding heart.

  No revulsion in this man’s arms, only peace. Fiona shivered and pushed away. What was she thinking? She’d almost been lulled by the fairy tale again. They didn’t exist. Ardal was a man, even if he was an alien. It was dangerous to let her defenses down around men.

  “You do not trust yet.” Ardal opened the door and let her pass through before him. “It must be earned.”

  The living room was a hive of activity. The men were up and moving, even the injured. “What’s going on?”

  “We are ready to leave.”

  Just like that. No goodbyes, no thanks you. Her world was turned upside down and they were leaving. Fiona bit her lip and forced her voice to remain calm. “Where are you going?”

  “We do not want the military to find us.” Ardal nodded at a couple of the men who were handing out revolver-like weapons. “My men will disperse and when it is safe we will meet up again.”

  “How will you keep in touch?” Fiona walked over to the sideboard in her kitchen. “What about food. You haven’t eaten anything since you arrived. Your men will need food to keep them healthy.”

  “We have eaten.” One of Ardal’s men gave him a small piece of meat and he handed it to her. “Here.”

  Fiona sniffed at it before putting it in her mouth. “Moose?”

  “It was a large black animal.” Ardal took another piece from his man and ate it before reaching into a bowl of berries and bringing some out to show Fiona. “Are these safe to eat.”

  Fiona took one from his hand and smiled. “These are blackberries. They are very safe and very good. You might have to fight off the bears for them, though.”

  “Describe bear.”

  “It’s a big furry creature. Sometimes walks on two legs and loves berries.” Fiona reached for more blackberries. “They’ll attack, though.”

  “We are Hunters. No animal is a problem for us.”

  Fiona shrugged her shoulders. Let them find out for themselves that bears and wolves were not meant to be tangled with. She’d done her best to warn them.

  “What are you planning?”

  “We will walk out of this area.”

  Fiona choked on a berry that got caught in her throat when she’d started to laugh. “Do you know where you are?”

  “No. Our guidance systems went down before the crash. Our individual instruments are unable to locate us.” Ardal held up the small device. “Do your people have mapping systems?”

  “We have maps. Do you want to see one?”

  “It would be most useful.”

  Fiona went to the bookshelf and pulled out a small atlas and then a map of Ontario. She spread them on the kitchen table and the men gathered around. Ardal aimed his small device at the map she opened up and then clicked something.

  She found Limer and pointed to it on the map. “This is us. We’re about seventeen miles away from Wawa. That’s the closest place for supplies.”

  “You drive there in your vehicle?”

  “Yes.” Fiona flipped the map and pointed to a more southerly area. “This is where most of the people live. You’re lucky you didn’t crash here. There would have been no hiding a UFO.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s an unidentified flying object.” Fiona gave hi
m a crooked smile. “As crazy as it sounds, tons of people think that UFO’s, or aliens are constantly visiting Earth.”

  “We have never been here before.”

  Fiona shrugged. “All I know is that a lot of people believe in these things and once there’s a hint that one’s crashed, they’re all over it.”

  Ardal frowned. “Explain.”

  “It’s not just the military you have to worry about. Ordinary people follow crashes of supposed spacecraft.” Fiona shivered at the thought of crazy people in RV’s roaming her fields, looking for evidence of extraterrestrial life forms. “It would be a nightmare.

  Ardal crossed his arms over his chest. “Where is it best to hide?”

  “I’d suggest someplace where you can blend in.” Fiona moved her finger on the map until she’d reached its southerly point. “A large city like Toronto.”

  “How do we get there?”

  “Driving is the only way.” Fiona folded the map and opened the atlas to a map of the world. “You crashed in Canada.” She pointed to the country and then her finger moved south. “This is the United States. Right now, they’re the most powerful nation in the world. You can bet that they know you’re here.”

  “What will they do?”

  “They’ll destroy you.” Fiona lowered her voice to a whisper. “They have a lot of advanced technology. If they think that you’re a threat, they won’t hesitate to cross the border.”

  “We are more advanced.” Ardal’s words were a statement. “We can evade them if we know what to anticipate.”

  “Expect mass hysteria if it ever comes out that you’re from another planet.” Fiona clasped her arms around her abdomen. “Most people don’t believe in aliens.”

  “Believing has nothing to do with reality.” Ardal looked at the map of the world. “Explain these areas.”

  Fiona gave him a quick version of world history. Ardal and his men were frowning when she’d finished. “What?”

  “You have a violent history.” There was no condemnation in Ardal’s words. “We understand this.”

  “You mean because you’re soldiers?”

  “We are Hunters. We are the elite warriors.” Pride shone through Ardal’s words. “We are the ones sent in to fix the messes of others, or to make sure that nothing begins. We hunt and we kill.”