by Anna Hackett
Reed looked at Marcus, who nodded. Then Reed grabbed something off his belt. “Sure thing.”
Once Reed had finished, Roth waved everyone on. “This way.” He led them through a door, following the directions from his partial map.
Steele ran a tight squad, but Roth missed his own team. He knew they’d be pacing back at base, bitching about not being part of the action. He got a lot of ribbing about having a mostly female team, but they were some of the best soldiers he’d ever worked with.
And damn, women could be smart and cunning. He’d learned a thing or two from them.
The next room was the office. Desk-like platforms were lined up with raptor comp screens on them.
Everything was dark and empty.
Natalya touched a screen and it came to life. She snatched her hand back.
“Thought there was no power?” Shaw said.
“There must be a failsafe,” Natalya said. “Some sort of emergency backup so they don’t lose their data.”
Raptor data might be useful. Roth slipped a small metallic hacker device from his pocket. He slapped it onto the edge of the desk and activated it. Its tiny illusion system triggered and the hacker blended into the desk.
“What the hell is that?” Marcus demanded.
“A little bit of tech Noah asked me to test out. Same as the mini-drone. The hacker will collect whatever data it can from the raptors’ system, and if we send a drone in range, it can download whatever the hacker has stored.”
“How come I don’t have anything like this?” Marcus said with a scowl.
“You must not have asked nicely.” Roth smiled. “And I think Noah used to have a thing for Elle until you stole her out from his lab. Maybe he hasn’t forgiven you?”
Marcus’ scowl deepened. But when the hacker emitted a tiny beep, Roth frowned.
“Shit, it’s having trouble interfacing to the computers.” He looked at Natalya. “I hate to ask, but can you open the raptor comp system so I can sync the hacker with it?”
Something moved through her eyes, but she nodded. “I’ll try.” She touched the screen, her fingers moving over the raptor symbols.
“The window is over here,” Devlin called out from the other side of the room. “I’ll see if I can get it open.”
“I’ll help,” Claudia said.
Roth checked the hacker. “That’s it. Operational. Thanks, Natalya.” He glanced at the screen covered in raptor scrawl. Then he noticed some English. The word Negotiation. Frowning, he tapped it.
Information filled the screen. Pages of what looked like classified Coalition government documents.
One file with a photo on it caught his eye. His mouth snapped shut, his jaw tight. The person in the photo looked very familiar.
He read the name. Special Agent Avery Stillman.
He reared back. In the photo she looked all spit and polish, with a serious face and almond-shaped, hazel eyes. When he’d pulled her from a tank in the Genesis Facility, her dark hair had been long and bedraggled, and there’d been nothing polished about her. He could hardly forget her, though, since she’d attacked him like a wild pitbull. She’d landed a few good hits while he’d been trying to subdue her without hurting her. He’d had to get the doc to heal his black eye after.
“Window’s open,” Devlin called out. “Time to go.”
Roth cleared the raptor screen, but the image of the woman was burned into his brain. Clearly, there was a lot more to Special Agent Stillman than just being an alien lab survivor.
Roth had more than a few questions for her.
And he always got his answers. One way or another.
Chapter Sixteen
Natalya gripped the frame of the window. “I can’t jump out of here. It’s too far.” The ground looked a very long way away.
“You can,” Reed said calmly. “Or you can go back the way we came.”
She pulled a face at him. “I won’t survive that fall.”
“The exoskeleton in your armor will do most of the work. Here, watch Claudia.”
The female soldier shot Natalya a wink, climbed up on the edge of the window and leapt out. When she reached the bottom, she crouched to absorb the impact, then was up and running into cover. She made it look easy.
Natalya pulled in a breath. The raptors would find them soon. She had to do this.
“Just think, after a short boat ride and a quick trip in a Hawk, you can have a nice, long shower back at base.” He gripped the back of her neck and his voice lowered. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“You’d better.” She climbed up on the ledge. “On three, okay?”
He smiled. “One. Two.” He pushed her.
Natalya fell, waving her arms in the air and swallowing a scream. It felt like the longest drop ever, but then her feet hit the ground.
The landing rattled her teeth and she ended up on her knees. Nothing like Claudia’s neat maneuver. But she was out of the ship, and not hurt.
Reed landed beside her, bending his knees. She pushed herself up and as they hurried into cover, she slapped his chest. “Asshole.”
His chuckle made her want to hit him again. “You can punish me later.”
She didn’t miss the sensual promise behind his words.
Marcus and Roth followed behind them and soon the entire squad was huddled behind a stack of raptor supplies.
Not far away, raptor troops were mobilizing. Groups of them were manning large search lights. They were swinging them around the area surrounding the ship.
“How the hell are we going to get back to the boat?” Shaw asked. “They’ll spot us in a second.”
“I think I can help.” Roth pulled an item from the backpack on his back. It was the size of a tennis ball and metallic silver.
“More gadgets.” Marcus shook his head. “What is it?”
“A portable illusion system.”
“For people?” Marcus asked, surprise clear in his voice.
“So the geeks say.”
“I’m having a long damn chat with Kim when we get back. I want some of this experimental shit.”
Roth depressed the button on top of the device. A hazy shimmer surrounded them. “We have to stick together and move slowly. Too fast, and the illusion fails. Anyone too far from the device will be visible. Its range is only a few meters.”
They all huddled together and Natalya found herself in the center of a group of huge, muscled soldiers. They shuffled away from the cover, heading for the beach.
Her heart was a loud thump in her ears. Not long now. Soon, they’d be far away from here.
“Stop,” Roth whispered.
A raptor patrol crossed ten meters in front of them.
“Go.”
“Nearly there,” Reed whispered.
Natalya could see the beach and the water ahead. She let out a breath.
Just then, a lone raptor appeared out of the shadows.
Three meters from them.
They froze.
God, it was heading in their direction. Natalya’s lungs clogged. She willed the alien to turn, to go somewhere—anywhere—else.
The alien strolled closer. Dammit, he was going to walk right into them. She felt the tension coiling in Reed and the others.
A shout sounded from the alien ship. The raptor stopped and looked.
High up on the ship, she could just make out raptors yelling from a window. The window Hell Squad had leapt from. The raptor in front of them turned and took off at a sprint.
Natalya released the breath she’d been holding.
Their group moved a little quicker now. Soon, she felt sand under her boots.
“Illusion is off,” Roth said.
“Who fancies a swim?” Reed asked, eying the water.
Natalya’s stomach cramped. She did not want to go back in the water. The surface was smooth, calm, with no signs of the giant alien creature, but in her head the Jaws theme was playing.
Da-da. Da-da.
“Let’s ju
st get the fuck out of here.” Marcus strode into the water. “The sea monster can go to hell. I just want to get home to my woman.”
Natalya waded in beside Reed. Every meter felt like a kilometer. Adrenaline was surging through her system, leaving her jumpy and breathless.
They reached the boat and Reed helped her in. A minute later, they were racing away from the ship.
They’d made it. She quivered. They’d gone into the alien ship, destroyed the energy cubes and made it out in one piece.
“Look!” someone said.
Natalya’s pulse spiked, and she glanced back.
The lights on and around the ship were shutting down. One by one, the search lights blinked out. Raptors were yelling, their shouts echoing across the water as they were plunged into darkness.
“Hot damn,” Shaw said. “Now that is a pretty sight.”
Reed slid an arm around Natalya’s shoulders. “Well done, my brown-eyed girl.”
His words made her feel good. She knew she wasn’t a victim anymore. She rested her head against him. He felt good, too. Really good. She was a fighter and now she had something to fight for.
***
Reed whistled as he strolled through the tunnel heading to the comp lab. A full day had passed since their mission to the alien ship. During the last twenty-four hours, there’d been no raptor patrols in the city, no pteros in the skies, no rexes rampaging through the suburbs.
Peace and silence. Almost like the alien invasion had never happened.
General Holmes had been sending extra scavenging teams out to hunt for supplies, and also teams to search for any holed-up survivors.
Reed knew the aliens wouldn’t roll over easily. They were no doubt in their ship, regrouping. But he would take what he could get, and he planned to take his sexy scientist swimming at their pool. In the sunshine. Maybe make love to her in the grass.
He grinned. She’d really messed those scaled bastards up. He was damned proud of her. The aliens wouldn’t be growing any more genesis tanks…at least not for a long time.
Reed saw the comp lab door ahead. Now, he wasn’t going to think about raptors for the next few hours. He had a beautiful woman to see and—he patted his pocket—a question to ask her.
In the lab doorway, he stopped and watched her. She was scribbling on a tablet, her brow creased in concentration, and she had her glasses on. Reed gave a mental groan. She looked so sexy.
“Hey there,” he said.
She raised her head and her face lit up. She pushed her chair away from her desk. “Hi, yourself.”
Damn, she was wearing one of her skirts. This one was navy-blue with a faint stripe through it. He strolled over to her and dropped a kiss on her lips. “What’s got you holed up in here?”
Her smile widened. “I think I can get us twenty-four-hour-a-day hot water!” She bounced in her chair.
He shook his head. “You and your hot water.”
“I’ve spliced some alien tech into the power system. Some of it from the alien glass from the tanks and some from the energy cubes. I still need to do a few more tests…but I know it will work. It’s good to be able to put something of theirs—something ugly—to a good use. Human ingenuity with a touch of raptor.”
Reed cupped her face. “Perfect. And just like you.” He rubbed a thumb over her lips. “Human with a touch of raptor.”
She pulled a face. “I think I’ve accepted it now. I’m not defined by one organ.” She rubbed her chest. “And I think I’ll get Emerson to remove my scar.” She smiled. “Then I’ll wear that bikini for you.”
“Don’t remove it for me.” He moved her fingers aside and touched her scar. “I don’t care about it at all.”
“I know.” Her hand covered his. “But I think I’ll remove it for me. It’s time to move forward.”
His fingers flexed. “Good. And with or without that scar, I love you.”
Her mouth opened. “What?”
“I love you, Natalya Vasin. And I have something to ask you.” He got down on one knee, and when he saw her huge brown eyes go wide, he almost smiled. But now, a touch of nerves was making his gut tight. He cleared his throat. “My parents were older when they had me, so some of the values they instilled in me are a little old-fashioned. Like getting down on one knee when you ask the woman you love to marry you.”
Natalya opened her mouth, closed it, then bit her lip.
He pulled the box from his pocket and opened it. The diamond twinkled under the lab lights. He’d used all his trading credits and borrowed a few from his squadmates to get the ring from the small selection of jewelry the clothing store carried.
“Natalya, will you marry me?”
“Oh my God, Reed.” Her voice was jerky.
“Is that a yes?”
She reached for the ring, then hesitated. “Are you sure? I don’t have my heart anymore, but if I did, I’d give it to you.”
Jesus, she could burrow deep inside and touch every part of him. “I’m sure.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she was smiling. “I love you, too. And I’d be honored to be the wife of the toughest, sexiest, bravest man I know.”
Elation slammed through him, stronger than all the times he’d come home from a successful mission. He slipped the ring on her finger, then leaned forward and kissed her.
Her hands slid into his hair and jerked him closer. The kiss went from sweet to hot in a blink. She moaned into his mouth, her tongue dancing with his.
Then he was surging upright. He plucked her out of her chair, turned, and set her on her desk. Her tablet crashed to the floor.
His hands were on her skirt, yanking it up to her hips. He reached down and in one swipe, tore her panties off her.
She gasped. “Reed!”
“I can’t wait, sweetheart.”
“Someone might come in.”
“Door’s locked. And I told Noah I needed some time with you. To propose. I didn’t mention this exactly, but we won’t be interrupted.” Reed delved between her legs, loving the husky cry she made. She was so damn beautiful.
“Now, Dr. Vasin, I want to tell you about this librarian fantasy you’ve sparked in me.”
She peered down her nose, her glasses slipping a little. “Oh? Did you forget to return a library book?”
He growled and captured her mouth again.
He’d always fought for freedom. Always wanted his own and thought that meant wide-open spaces. He’d just never realized he’d find it in Natalya’s arms. No matter where he was, with her, he’d always have his freedom and his fresh air.
---
I hope you enjoyed Reed and Natalya’s story!
Hell Squad continues with ROTH, the story of Squad Nine’s tough leader. Coming Sept/Oct 2015.
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Read the first chapter of At Star’s End
Book 1 of the Phoenix Adventures
Dr. Eos Rai has spent a lifetime dedicated to her mother's dream of finding the long-lost Mona Lisa. When Eos uncovers tantalizing evidence of Star's End—the last known location of the masterpiece—she's shocked when her employer, the Galactic Institute of Historic Preservation, refuses to back her expedition. Left with no choice, Eos must trust the most notorious treasure hunter in the galaxy, a man she finds infuriating, annoying and far too tempting.
Dathan Phoenix can sniff out relics at a stellar mile. With his brothers by his side, he takes the adventures that suit him and refuses to become a lazy, bitter failure like their father. When the gorgeous Eos Rai comes looking to hire him, he knows she's trouble, but he's lured into a hunt that turns into a wild and dangerous adventure. As Eos and Dathan are pushed to their limits, they discover treasure isn't the only thing they're drawn to…but how will their desir
e survive when Dathan demands the Mona Lisa as his payment?
---
Dr. Eos Rai gripped the edge of her seat and gritted her teeth. The pilot of her hired minishuttle executed a dizzying spiral descent toward the moon below.
The free fall was exactly what her life was like at the moment. Her hand clenched on the seat. How much longer until she hit the bottom?
Eos focused on the irregular, pockmarked surface below. Her first look at Khan.
The moon was a captured asteroid that now orbited the market planet of Souk. If she craned her neck, she could just make out the large planet with its urban areas interspaced with farms and forests.
Here at the edge of the known galaxy, Souk was the stopping-off point for explorers, colonists and daredevils heading off into unknown space to make their fortunes. And its small moon of Khan was home to the most notorious treasure hunters in the galaxy—the Phoenix Brothers.
Another sharp turn and she almost head-butted the synth-glass windshield. She shot a narrow look at the pilot, but the weathered old man peered straight ahead through his thick glasses—who still wore glasses when you could visit a medbooth and get your vision fixed for a few e-creds?—didn’t even glance at her. In fact, he looked bored.
As long as she landed in one piece…
She had to make the Phoenix brothers help her.
She pulled in a deep breath and rubbed the fingers of her left hand together. She felt the slight bump at the end of her index finger and thought of the precious cargo it carried.
It challenged all her beliefs to put this into the hands of treasure hunters, but she was out of options.
She’d worked with Niklas years ago at the Galactic Institute for Historical Preservation. He was steady and smart. She trusted him. His brothers, though, were the wild cards.
Why the hell had Niklas thrown away a promising career in astro-archeology for this? She stared at the scratched and dinted hulls of the various starships that littered the moon’s surface. A spaceship graveyard.
But she knew it wasn’t the brothers’ main business. No, they went after items far more lucrative than scrap metal.
