by R. D. Brady
Time to check in. Guardian’s fingers flew over the keyboard almost of their own accord. It was short work to get into the security system. Guardian had been there many times before. The image from the lab under the Archuleta Mesa came into view. First Guardian checked the holding cells in the lab, but he wasn’t there. A creature was being tested, but that wasn’t him either.
Guardian shifted to the cameras in the holding cell. Guardian panned down the long line of cells, stopping at the sixth on the right-hand side. Guardian panned in. The Gray alien lay with its eyes closed on the concrete cot at the back of the cell. Guardian zoomed in more, and the alien’s eyelids opened.
It offered a small smile. Guardian smiled in return.
Hello, friend.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
OUTSIDE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
The meeting with Leander had been fascinating. But it had not eased any of the doubts about Norah’s own work. When she’d gotten back, she’d written a briefing on what had been discussed, although she left one little tidbit of information out. She’d overheard the senators speaking and knew Leander had four alien hybrids in her custody, one of whom she’d known since she was a small child. Obviously Leander was speaking from experience when she’d said not all aliens were dangerous.
Norah had been shocked when she’d learned the information, but it also explained why the doctor was so sure some of the creatures could be non-violent. After writing up her report, she’d finished up some old reports. But then all work came to a screeching halt around noon.
The new trainee she’d met the same day as her meeting with Leander had been killed on his first case. Norah couldn’t get the kid’s face out of his head. It put the whole department on edge. Sanders looked particularly stressed. But then it was back to business as usual, which for Norah and Bob meant a new case.
The latest target was in a suburb outside Salt Lake City. They were heading to Centerville, Utah, population 15,335. Norah watched the snow-topped mountain range in the distance as she and Bob sped along Highway 215. She’d always loved mountain ranges. She’d take a cabin in the mountains over one on the beach any day of the week.
Watching the scenery fly by the window, she remembered when as a kid she’d wished she had the chance to travel the country. As an agent, she’d had the chance to do just that. And while she’d seen some amazing sights, the developed parts across the country always seemed the same—Wal-Mart or Target, Home Depot, big supermarket chain, and of course McDonald’s.
Twenty-eight and already too cynical for my own good, she thought as Bob put on his indicator and steered the sedan toward the exit. Norah updated her browser. “Police last saw the subject ten minutes ago at the corner of Brower and Franklin. Make the second left up here.”
Bob didn’t say anything, just followed her directions.
Norah scanned the file to see if it had been added to by the home office since she’d last checked, but it all looked the same.
She stopped on the one picture included in the file and enlarged it. Someone had managed to snap a fuzzy picture of the target in a residential neighborhood this morning. All she could make out was the thing was small, green, and seemed to be walking upright. Her imagination filled in the rest as she pictured a Gremlin from the movie. She quickly submitted the picture to their database. Seconds later, they had intel on their subject. He was classified as a Level Four.
“You got it?” Bob asked.
“It’s a Hunter species.”
“Classification?”
She rolled her eyes. “What do you think?”
Bob grinned, pumping his fist in the air. “Level Four, baby.”
There were four levels of risk associated with each target. Levels One through Three were all considered less threatening and efforts were to be made to capture the creatures rather than kill them. But at Level Four, attempts at capture were not recommended. It was a kill-on-sight order.
And so far, every single case she and Bob had been sent on had been a kill-on-sight order. She had thought at first that maybe because of their backgrounds, she and Bob were being handed the most difficult cases, which accounted for the identical classifications. But in chatting with other agents, it seemed all of them had received only Level Four cases as well.
Norah knew it was possible they were all extremely dangerous. But what Leander said had really resonated with her. And what was the chance they were all too dangerous to live?
And the truth was, no two cases had been alike. Then there was the Gillibrand case. Something had saved Sandra’s son and tore up that Blue Boy. And she didn’t care what anyone else said. She had seen the condition of that Blue. No human, no machine, had done that. One of the escapees had helped a child.
She had dug a little deeper into the database. Okay, if she was being honest, she had hacked her way a little deeper into the database. And she’d found the creature. Carefully, so no one would know what she was looking at.
The creature that helped the boy had actually been classified Level Five. She had never seen a Level Five before. Instead of engaging, agents were to back away and contact a specific phone number. She hadn’t called it yet, afraid of what kind of Pandora’s box she would be opening. But something felt wrong, especially after she realized the creature had been added to the database after the Gillibrand incident. Exactly how many creatures were out there? And why would they be kept out of the database?
“Here we go.” Bob nudged his chin toward the squad cars blocking the road ahead.
Norah focused back on the case at hand. Apparently the creature they were looking for had been hiding in a home with a child—a seven-year-old girl. The parents had uncovered the thing and locked it inside their home before escaping with their child last night. But it had broken out and was now loose in the neighborhood.
Bob pulled up at the side of the road, putting the car in park. “I’ll go speak with the officer in charge.” He was out of the car before Norah could reply.
Norah glared at his back as he walked away. Bob was tolerable most days, but sometimes he took the macho-man thing a bit too seriously. He always insisted on driving and speaking with whoever was in charge. Through the windshield, she saw an officer approach Bob and then point beyond the barricade. A second officer approached Bob as he headed for the guy in charge, but Bob brushed her off. The officer stared after him, annoyance clear on her face.
Great. Norah quickly got out of the car and, palming her badge, approached the cop. She read the name off her uniform. “Officer Shanks? Can I help you with something?”
The officer was young, probably not long out of the academy. “You with him?”
Norah smiled. “Sadly, yes.”
Some of the annoyance slid from Shanks’s face and she held up a recorder. “I got this from the family. I thought you might want to see it.”
Norah held out her hand. “What is it?”
“It’s tape from a nanny cam. They had one of those teddy-bear things. They hadn’t used it in years, but the daughter somehow turned it on. I haven’t been through it, but I thought it might have something on it.”
“Where was the bear?”
“In the girl’s bedroom—where the thing was hiding.”
Norah looked at her in surprise. That hadn’t been in the report. “The girl’s bedroom?”
The officer nodded. “The mother heard the girl talking to her friend in the room, having tea parties and stuff. She thought the girl had made someone up.”
Another imaginary friend, she thought, thinking of Luke Gillibrand and Sammy. “Okay. Thanks for this, Officer—”
“Jessie. Just call me Jessie.”
“Okay, Jessie. I’m Norah Tidwell.” Norah extended her hand. “Thanks for this. I’ll be sure to mention to your supervisor how helpful you’ve been.”
Jessie stood up straighter and shook her hand. “Thanks. Appreciate that.”
Norah headed back to the car, cuing up the video as she walked. She attached it to her
laptop and pressed play. Leaning against the door, she fast-forwarded through the black-and-white scenes of nothing but the girl’s bedroom. She continued past scenes of the girl twirling in her room alone, her parents coming in and tucking her into bed. They were just normal scenes.
Damn. There’s nothing on here. Her hopes dwindled. She wasn’t sure what she had hoped to see. Then she paused the recording with a frown. On screen, the girl sat at her table near the closet, having a tea party. Norah backed the tape up and started when the girl walked in with the tray. She’d brought some biscuits and milk in from the kitchen. The girl put everything on the table and then went over to the closet door and opened it a crack.
The girl chatted away as she spread out two settings on the table—one near the open closet door. Chills danced along Norah’s skin. The girl sat down and took a drink, still chatting away. The closet door moved just slightly. Long, thin fingers reached up and pulled the cookies off the plate.
Norah sat back, her hand to her mouth. Holy crap.
Norah continued to watch the tape. She could see nothing of the creature even though she had zoomed in. Instead she focused on the hands. The fingers looked long and strong, with prominent joints. The video was black and white but she could tell the skin tone on the hands was different from the girl’s.
At least we got the green right. But the creature that the database had identified did not have hands like that. So what are we dealing with?
She stared at the hand, imagining the damage it could do to a small child. But it didn’t hurt her, did it? her subconscious reminded her.
She fast-forwarded some more. The parents came in again at night and tucked the girl in. They never looked in the closet. And then the girl fell off to sleep. Norah thought that was it, one sighting of a hand. But then the girl started to squirm in bed. It looked like she was having a nightmare. The closet door crept open.
Oh my God. Norah gripped the laptop tightly, her breathing ticking up a notch as she watched the small being come into frame. It wasn’t even two feet tall. Its hands were disproportionately large for its body. It had long, pointed ears that stuck out from the sides of its head. Its eyes were large, and she could make out some lighter areas, which meant that unlike the Grays, there was sclera there. There was small white hair curled on the top of the creature’s head and more on its chest. And it wore shorts.
Where the hell did it find pants?
It was not the creature the database had identified. This was something else. It approached the girl’s bed and Norah held her breath.
The creature stopped suddenly as the girl kicked out, her hand flopping out from the covers. A small stuffed animal fell from the bed. The creature moved closer and laid its hand on the girl’s. The girl’s frown disappeared and her movements stilled. The creature stayed there for a few moments, patting the girl’s hand.
It’s comforting her, she realized with shock.
The creature bent down and picked up the girl’s toy. It sniffed it and then shook it, looking surprised. Then it carefully reached over and tucked the bear underneath the covers with the girl. Equally carefully, it placed the girl’s arm back under the covers and pulled the covers up to the girl’s chin.
Norah’s mouth was practically in her lap, she was so shocked. And Dr. Leander’s words came back to her. But we should be open to the possibility that some of them may not mean to harm us. Was it possible?
A knock at her window caused her to jerk her head away from the computer. Bob stood outside the driver’s door. “You planning on helping or what?”
“Uh.” Norah slammed the laptop shut. What the hell did I just see?
Bob stared at her impatiently.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” She placed the laptop on the floor of the car and stepped out. Bob had the trunk open and was pulling out gear. He slipped a bulletproof vest over his dress shirt. Norah reached in and grabbed hers, doing the same. All the while she struggled to find any other interpretation for what she had seen on that video.
Could it have put her in a trance? Or drugged her or— She shook her head. She was looking for it to have harmed the girl. But it had been hiding in her closet. The girl had been feeding it. And it had not harmed her. It had tried to help her.
Bob pulled out the shotgun, loading the large cartridges in. What are we doing?
“Maybe we should consider tranqing this one?” Norah suggested.
Bob looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Tranqing it? Why the hell would we do that? It’s a Level Four.”
“Yeah, I know, but maybe we should see about capturing some of these guys so we can study them.”
“You know what these things can do. It was in a kid’s bedroom for at least a week. This thing can’t be trusted. And besides, that’s not our decision to make.”
“But it didn’t hurt the kid, right?”
Bob stopped and stared down at her. “What the hell are you saying? Are you losing your nerve?”
“What? No, I’m just—”
Bob shut the trunk of the car, forcing Norah to jump back or get hit. Bob chambered a round and grinned at her. “Good. Because it’s time to go hunting.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
DENVER, COLORADO
Chris stood in front of Maeve, a determined look on his face. “I don’t have to go.”
“Yeah, you do, at least according to the U.S. government.”
“But if you need me—”
She placed a hand on his face. “I always need you. But you need to go. We’ll be all right.”
Chris was required to head to Edwards Air Force Base for recertification. It was a new regulation that they had just learned about a month ago. When Chris found out he’d need to be away for a few days, he had been dead set against it. He’d even threatened to resign from the Air Force. But Maeve knew how much the Air Force meant to him. And so she had managed to talk him into going. But with Greg’s death, Chris was digging in his heels again.
“Look, if we are going to have any semblance of a life, we need to occasionally leave this place. We agreed on that.”
“I know. But right now, with Greg …”
Maeve’s heart clenched. “Greg’s death is going to hurt for a while. You leaving won’t make it hurt more. You need to go. See if you can wrap this up quicker than planned and then get back here. We’ll all be waiting for you.”
Chris stared into her eyes, and Maeve was sure to keep her emotions in check. One tear, one lip tremble, and she’d never get him to go.
“And then there’s all the alarms.”
“Which have all been false alarms,” Maeve reminded him. About a month ago, the security system had started malfunctioning, issuing alarms. But the guards assured her they were false alarms, although they did seem to be increasing in number rather than decreasing. For the last week, they’d been going off every two days.
“But what if—”
“Chris, we have armed guards protecting us twenty-four seven. We’re fine. And you need to do this. We need to plan for the future we’re going to have one day. Which means you in the Air Force, me in the lab—”
“And the triplets in public school and Alvie in grad school?”
Maeve smiled. “Exactly.” That part might be close to impossible, but Maeve needed to believe that normal was still possible for them. She put hand on his chest. “So go. We agreed we can’t put all aspects of our lives, our futures, on hold.”
He sighed, his gaze roaming over each member of his family before it returned to Maeve. “Okay.” He turned to where Alvie stood with the triplets. He knelt and hugged Alvie tight. “Take of her, okay?”
Alvie nodded. Then Chris held out his arms and all three triplets flung themselves at him. Chris stood, hugging them tight, kissing each one on the cheek. “And you three, be good, okay?”
They nodded back at him in unison, forcing a smile from Maeve. Man, they are cute.
He placed them back on the floor and then patted Hope’s head. “You
be good, too,” he ordered. Hope wagged her tail in response. He turned to Maeve and she slipped into his arms. He pulled her close. “If you need me—”
“You’re only a phone call away. I will call.”
“You better.” Then he leaned down and kissed her. Maeve wrapped her arms around him and let herself get lost in the kiss. When Chris pulled away, she felt shaky but in all the right ways.
“I hate leaving.”
“I know.” She stepped out of his arms and opened the door. “We hate it, too. But the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll be back. And we’ll be here waiting for you.”
“You better be.” He gave her another quick kiss and then headed outside. Maeve stepped out onto the porch. The triplets climbed up onto the porch railing. Alvie stood next to her, sliding his hand into hers. Chris started the truck and Maeve forced herself to smile and wave.
The triplets balanced themselves on the edge of the porch railing and waved like mad. Maeve laughed at their antics. She’d long since stopped worrying about them falling. Their balance was insanely good.
They stayed on the porch until Chris was out of sight. And then they all turned back inside. It was weird. The house wasn’t different, except without Chris here, it felt different—a little less like home.
Maeve sighed. It was just two days and then he’d be back. Two days was nothing. She’d just fill the days with activities and Chris would be back before she knew it. She glanced back out the door at the empty driveway, a sense of foreboding coming over her. She shook her head. It was just because she wasn’t used to his absence. That was all.
But the sense of foreboding didn’t leave. It just took up residence in the back of her mind, and she had a feeling it was going to stay there until she saw Chris again.
CHAPTER TWENTY
