A Seacat's Love (Oceanan Trilogy Book 1) (30 page)

“What the—” Challen was heard to say before he dematerialized.

Carol Ann scurried off the floor and ran into the kitchen. She reached behind the fridge to grab the key Rick kept taped to the backside. She then made a mad dash out the front door, turned right, and raced down three blocks to a neighboring home. She used the key to open the door to the garage.

Inside, Carol Ann quickly turned the lights on. There was a silver BMW parked in one spot of the garage and a motorcycle on
the other. Rick paid the owner monthly to store his motorcycle in the garage. Naturally, the bike was kept there for emergencies.

On a shelf opposite the door, she spotted a black helmet, a one-piece jumper on a hook, and matching boots beneath the jumper. She immediately dressed in the jumper and boots. She had less than a few minutes before the enemy troops arrived at her home.

Carol Ann reached under the front tire’s rim and took the key Rick had hidden there with duck tape. She hurried to the panel on the wall and pressed the button. As the garage door opened, she slipped on the helmet, mounted the bike, and escaped. She leisurely passed the speeding army trucks heading west, as she headed east to one of the hotels the Shadow Team uses during assignments. Her intention was to safely meet her brother.

After being on the highway for about twenty minutes, a car zoomed past her, going west. She thought nothing of it and kept on going.

“Stop!” Rick suddenly yelled, startling Lance. He had not spoken a word since they left the hotel room. Therefore, it was obvious that Lance was not expecting him to speak now.

“What?”

“Stop! Turn this car around. That motorcyclist…” He pointed in the direction the motorist was heading and said, “Follow that motorcycle!”

Lance had switched places with Rick when they had stopped for gas. Lance made an illegal U-turn and took off after the cyclist. “Why am I following someone on a bike?”

“You’re not going to follow her. You’re going to stop her.”

Lance gave him a funny look, “Her?”

“That’s Carol Ann,” Rick informed him. “So move it!”

“Carol Ann? Rick, we zoomed past him. The person had his face covered. He was a blur. Plus it’s pitch black out there. How the hell could you possibly tell if it was Carol Ann?”

“Because I have keener eyesight than you, and I’d recognize my bike anywhere. And if you don’t move this piece of junk, we’re going to lose her!”

Lance sat straighter in his seat, obviously insulted by Rick’s reference to the car. “I take offense to that, McCall. This is not a piece of junk. It’s a classic. Besides, your sister, if it is your sister, can’t even lose her own shadow on a cloudy day.”

“Can you?” Rick countered irritably.

Lance sent him a narrowed-eye look. “Don’t start.”

“Then move it!” Just as Rick was about to put his foot on the accelerator, Lance speared him with a glare that blared “don’t you dare.”

Lance soon caught up to the motorcycle. He blinked his headlights, hoping she would understand and stop. She did not. They had to drive alongside of her.

“Carol Ann!” Rick yelled. He gained her attention by waving his arms wildly.

Signaling back, Carol Ann pulled off at the curb. Lance followed close behind. She turned off the ignition and swung her leg over the bike. Taking off her helmet, she dropped it on the floor as Rick reached her side.

He pulled her into a tight embrace. “Oh, Rick, thank God you’re all right.”

“Thank God
you’re
all right. What happened? Where’s Leonora?” He had been on edge since he found out of the army’s plan to storm his beach home. The thought of his little sister and wife being taken prisoners by people who did not know the meaning of mercy brought a chill to his soul like no other.

“She’s gone,” Carol Ann softly answered.

Rick’s heart stopped. His blood turned cold. “Gone? What do you mean…gone?” He stood rooted to the ground, waiting for her answer.

“Her brother, Challen, arrived yesterday morning. He had decided to wait for your return. We were all sleeping when he received a warning signal from his ship. The person stated that we were about to receive unwelcome visitors. Challen ordered his crew to transport all of us aboard his ship. But I ran out before I was transported.” She paused. “They left, Rick. But Leonora is safe.”

Rick said nothing. He could not. Too many thoughts were racing through his mind at once. He turned without a word. Walking a few yards away from his sister and friend, he stopped, facing the darkness.

Gone? Leonora is gone? She can’t be. Dear God, she can’t be
. His head shook negatively.
Not my Nora
. His eyes watered.
Not Nora, dear God
. “No. NOOOO!”

“Rick!” Carol Ann was about to run to him but was halted by Lance who grabbed her arm. “Rick!”

Rick did not hear her. His gaze turned upward. “God, no! Don’t take her from me! Not Nora, too!” he hollered. He swayed on his feet then fell to his knees.

All the precious moments he had shared with his new wife flickered across his mind. Leonora’s smiling face appeared before him. Her pale eyes gazed adoringly at him. His soul tore from his body and soared into her image. A dark, ominous curtain draped over him, ending his will to live.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, but in reality it was only a few seconds. Her features began to fade. Rick instinctively knew it was the end.

His grief-stricken eyes fluttered shut. Both hands balled up in tight fists. He threw his head back and howled, “NORA!!!” He sat back on his haunches and crossed his arms across his belly. Rocking back and forth, he cried pitiably for his lost love.

It pained Carol Ann and Lance to see their tall, strong brother reduced to such a state. Unable to continue looking at him, Carol Ann buried her face in Lance’s chest, while Lance closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Aboard the invisible warship, Challen, Jugar, and Leonora entered the bridge. They tried to come up with a way to find out if Carol Ann was all right without letting the enemy know they were hovering above the ocean. But they had no success.

They knew why the humans were there. In an attempt to erase all signs of alien life forms, Challen instructed the Seacats to use their search-and-destroy (SAD) scanners to erase all imprints, blood, and hair follicles left behind by the humans and the aliens. That way the enemy would remain clueless as to who had helped them escape.

The Seacats were not concern about the enemy discovering what they were doing, because SAD also stood for silent and deadly. The SAD scanners would scan a designated area and execute any performance specified with a beam of light, with the effectiveness of not being heard, or seen. It was how the Seacats disintegrated
Star Cruiser 9
at the bottom of the ocean.

For an hour, Challen stood hunched over the main control panel, deep in thought. Leonora and Jugar wandered a few feet away from him. A sudden gasp drew his attention. Glancing up
from the panel, he saw Leonora lose all color. A painful look fell over her face.

“What is wrong?” he asked irritably. Leonora stared into space and did not answer him. Challen grew angrier. He stomped toward her. He was beyond compassion when he grabbed her shoulders. Forcing her to face him, he shook her. “Leonora, I asked what is wrong?”

“Challen?” came her low, dazed reply.

She was trying to come up with a way to outsmart the humans, so that she could return to Earth and properly say good-bye to her husband, when out of nowhere she was besieged by a sense of loss. She stared ahead as if in a trance.

Challen shook her again. “Blast it! What is wrong with you?”

Leonora blinked rapidly. “I…I just felt an enormous amount of pain and the greatest sense of loss. It was so powerful. I…I cannot imagine anyone living through it.” She shielded her eyes from his cold, insensitive ones.

Tears welled up behind her closed lids. She feared what she sensed involved her husband. Perhaps he was informed that she was no longer around. Or worse, he had not returned home because the enemy had discovered his involvement with her escape, which would explain how they found her location, and had just killed him, which, in turn, killed her.

“That is it?” Challen released her shoulders and headed back to the control panel. “Leonora, you are a warrior. Act like one.”

Leonora ran off, nearly knocking him down as she passed.

“Leonora!” Challen chased after her, only reaching her when she slowed down. {Leonora, what in the blazes was that about? Can you not see that I am trying to save your friend’s life?}

{Get me out of here, Challen, please. Get me away from this place.} She flung herself into his arms. {I want to leave this place. I want to go home.} She cried, unable to hold back the pain and fear of living her life without her soul mate.

{What about Carol Ann? I cannot leave her.}

“Challen, please,” she verbally pleaded, before fainting in his arms.

“Nora!” Challen lifted his sister gently into his arms and rushed her to her quarters. He lowered her onto her bed. Almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, her eyes fluttered open. {Are you all right?} Challen sat beside her. He smoothed back a strand of hair from her forehead.

Leonora noted the concern in his eyes. {I want to go home.} She mentally spoke to him.

{But your friend is in danger.}

{No, she is not. Rick is there. He will protect her.} She was sure of it. She had to be, for the idea of Rick being dead only made her ordeal harder to endure.

The only sound in the room was Challen’s deep-throat growl. {How can you be so sure? Besides, Rick McCall is
not
there.}

{Because she is his sister, and he took care of me, did he not? Please, Challen, take me home.} She had to get out of there. If she did not, she felt certain she would never leave. Damn the consequences.

{I cannot leave her.}

Leonora heard the strain in his voice. She felt sorry for him. Challen was a devoted, loyal male. It went against his nature to abandon someone in need of help. Nonetheless, she had to leave. Her sanity depended on it.

{Challen—}

{No!}

Before she could say another word, Challen stormed out of her chambers. Leonora remained alone in her quarters willing her tears to go away. She failed.

Later in her brother’s chamber, Leonora badgered Challen for several hours without a break.

“All right!” he snapped. He was no closer to finding a solution to help Carol Ann anyway. “Krey?” he spoke into his wristguard.

“Krey here.”

“Take us home.”

“But what about the human female?”

“Just do it!”

“Yes sir!”
came Krey’s happy voice.

Star Gazer
was two tides into its six tides voyage home. Every crew member was on edge, because of Challen’s foul mood. They had all decided it was best to stay out of his way. They turned to his second in command whenever possible. Even Jugar limited his time around his old friend. It was either that or have his head chopped off for just breathing too loud.

Leonora, however, had no problems staying away. She had locked herself in her chambers. She refused to see anyone for any reason. She was mourning the loss of the only male she could ever love. Alone in her quarters, she not only cherished the incredible memories they had created together but also the life no one else knew she carried within her.

Tigif, on the other hand, thought time was of the essence. He decided there was no better time than the present to come clean with the one male who could make all his dreams come true. He rang the doorbell to Challen’s quarters.

“Enter,” spoke Challen.

Tigif entered the room. “I need to speak with you.”

Challen was sitting behind his desk with a pile of papers in front of him. “What do you want?” he clipped. He looked like he was not happy to be interrupted.

Tigif was not going to be dissuaded. He was a cat on a mission. “I want to talk to you about Leonora.”

“What about her?”

“You are not going to like this, but—”

“Get to the point.”

“Very well then. I am in love with her.”