Not being in a coma sounded nice. My fingers teased the edges of the bandages and felt the tug on my skin. As for the CeeBees… Now was as good a time as any to get a few answers. “They talked to me.”
“Ulla isn’t one to shut up.” Tobias ripped open another three packages and smoothed them in place. “She bragged about culling her property of unsavory characters after the Antaries Uprising. Twenty of their second-class citizens live in a twelve-by-thirty foot cabin. Rumor has it she made each cabin select two family members to be killed. Afterwards, she selected another two—the ones she viewed most libel to cause the trouble—and had them executed. Thousands of bodies were nailed to the cabins for weeks as a warning for anyone else who dreamed of freedom.”
Antaries Uprising. Many of the names on Tobias’s memorial armlet were from that battle. I’d look it up later. Right now I needed to concentrate on getting well. I had a job to do. I worked myself up onto my elbows. Not bad for being nearly dead ten minutes ago. “We have to stop them.”
“We will.” He scooted closer and slid his arms under my back and knees. “But first we have to get that data off your arm and into the right hands.”
I managed to wrap my arms around his neck as he lifted me off the ground. Dang but he was strong. Staring at my feet, I counted my toes. All present and accounted for. Had I imagined the one missing? No. My right baby toe looked pinker than the others, like the skin was newer. I refused to look on the ground. If my toe was there, I’d rather not know.
And if Ulla had taken it as a trophy? My conscious tossed back at me.
Well, I’d find out when Tobias arrested her. Right now, I wanted a few answers about those Spam dots inside me. “The CeeBees talked to me.”
“That’s not possible, Rae.” Tobias dipped slightly to grasp the door handle. It jingled before he managed to get the door open.
Humid air washed over me. I inhaled the scent of wet asphalt and ignored the other, more pungent smells of the rent-by-the-hour motel. “They said if I didn’t work for you, they wouldn’t revive me then they went on to say they were studying me. Are they?”
With his foot, he eased the door shut behind us. “No, the CeeBees are just left over Archa technology. They have no programming until the UED inserts it. While the UED might deactivate the CeeBees, I doubt they could make them kill you for not cooperating.”
I didn’t know if I believed him. But I knew the CeeBees would kill me. I just had to find a way to find out about this study. Surely there was something in a database somewhere. I rested my head on Tobias’s shoulder. Aw snap. I’d just volunteered myself to research the problem.
I hated research.
I needed to change the subject before I thought of something else I could spend hours trying to find out. A snippet of dialogue surfaced from a hidden compartment of my brain. “Victor said he didn’t kill Pascel. And since he thought I was dead and Ulla is his employer, I see no reason to suspect he lied about it.”
Or that I imagined it.
Tobias splashed through a puddle in the pitted parking lot. “APres Guarda has plenty of spies on Earth. The problem is we can’t seem to figure out what their overall game plan is.”
I glanced up at the sky. A few stars peeked though the sparse cloud cover. Oh geez, how could I be so stupid? How many thrillers have I watched where the bad guys were tracked by Big Brother’s eyes in the sky? “Can’t Ulla and her stooges track us through the satellites?”
“No.” Tobias juggled me in his arms then a double chirp pierced the night. The headlamps of a dark HHR flashed on but the interior remained dark. “We’re able to create an invisibility bubble around us and our vehicles. Even your government’s most sophisticated technology isn’t able to track us. The APres Guarda would need a Class I battle cruiser to find us. And trust me, the world would know if one of those was in orbit around Earth.”
That was something at least.
He pressed another button and the door eased slowly opened. Bending at the waist, he set me in the front seat, folded my legs inside and reached for the safety belt.
I beat him to it. Time for me to stop feeling like an invalid. “I can handle this, thanks.”
He nodded, then walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in.
My fingers felt sausage thick as I fumbled to insert the tab into the slot. Once. Twice. The third time it clicked home. I melted into the seat and dug my toes against the carpet. Those patches certainly helped, but I was still hungry and thirsty.
The engine roared to life.
“What about our stuff?” And the pizza? I pressed my nose against the window, staring at the door as he backed out of the parking space. Cold pizza would taste heavenly right about now.
“It can be replaced, you can’t.” Tobias waited for a car to pull up to the curb by the hotel and talk to a rotund prostitute leaning against the wall before easing into traffic ahead of the John.
I swiped at a tear leaking from my eye. That was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me since I returned from the dead. It also wasn’t true for so many reasons.
“You mean the data, don’t you?” I touched the blue tattoo on my forearm. The terabytes and terabytes of data stored in the blue light ink would expose a traitor in Tobias’s government and protect Earth, my family and friends. I didn’t need to be alive for him to retrieve it.
At least I didn’t think I did. I added the question to the list I would look up once I got my nifty Spam dot communicator slash Smartphone.
“I meant what I said.” After slanting me a look, he aimed the car for the interstate.
***
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into a corporate park. For sale and lease signs rose from the desert landscaping like tombstones. Yellow streetlights reflected in the abyss of tinted windows while white lights danced like specters in empty buildings. Here and there, the ghostly imprint of businesses remained burned onto the paint.
I shivered in the decay while my stomach growled. The energy patches had worn off, leaving me with a bad case of the shakes and a ravenous appetite. I pressed my trembling hand to my belly. “What are we doing here?”
“Headquarters.”
“Here?” Ten miles from downtown Phoenix? Why not, I’d lived next to an alien for four years without knowing it. Rubbing the goosebumps on my arms, I scanned the parking lots as the HHR slipped through the darkness. Except for the occasional weed and pot hole, the acres of space were deserted. Perhaps my CeeBee vision was on the fritz.
After we drove over a concrete bridge spanning a ravine, Tobias turned into the parking lot of a mud colored building. A hole graced the glowing sign on the wall dubbing the property as Outreach. He coasted to a stop near a closed wrought iron gate and stabbed the phone button on the rearview mirror. The sound of dialing filled the interior.
“Biscotti and pizza.” The tinny male voice drifted on the air conditioning. “May I take your order?”
Food! Tobias had read my mine. Or heard my stomach. Ripping off my seatbelt, I rose out of my chair and spoke into the rearview mirror. “Everything, I want everything on a very large pizza and a two liter bottle of grape soda-Welch’s not any other kind. Breadsticks too. With marinara sauce.”
I caught a droplet of drool leaking from the corner of my mouth. “Double that order.”
Tobias snorted before his chuckles escaped and clung like dung in the car’s interior.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.” The disembodied voice sputtered. “But—”
Tobias set his hand on my shoulder and tugged me back to my seat. “This is Werner. Tobias. Identification Alpha-Foxtrot-Tango-7-9-8-6-6-Omega.”
Embarrassment heated my cheeks. Aw snap. He’d just said he was taking me to headquarters. Still… I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the closed gate. A little warning would have prevented me from making an ass of myself.
“Confirming identity. One moment please.”
Tobias’s thumb found a knot on my shoulder and gently rubbed it away. “I promise I will feed you soon.”
I nodded once. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t get another chance to make a good first impression with my new employers. They’d probably talk about my blunder around the water cooler tomorrow morning. I stared at the clock. One-thirty AM. This morning. Oh joy and I might be there to enjoy the snickers and snide remarks.
The phone clicked then another male voice drifted on the air currents. “Colonel Werner, it is nice to hear from you, sir.”
“Kuma? Is that you?” Tobias smiled but white dotted the knuckles as he tried to strangle the steering wheel. “Open up. I’m coming home.”
Kuma cleared his throat. A well-worn vintage of whine filled his voice when he spoke again. “Sir, we see an unauthorized passenger and—.”
“Open the gate or I’ll rip it open.” Tobias raced the engine and while punching the radio button.
A faint humming surrounded me. That can’t be good. I gabbed the ‘oh snap’ handle above the door.
“Opening the gate, sir.”
The gate in front of the hood parted silently.
Tobias edged the nose of the car forward crowding the opening.
“They won’t close it will they?” I’d hate to get chopped in half after I just came back from the dead.
“No.”
I might have felt better if his face wasn’t a stone mask of grim determination. When the car’s grill reached the edge of the gate, an iridescent bubble oozed over the hood. Light sparked and danced toward me and the air grew thick and heavy.
I pressed against my seat back. “Is this going to hurt?”
My thighs trembled as I slid up the cushion. Maybe I should hop in the back seat.
“Relax.” Tobias stroked my arm before lacing his fingers through mine. “We’re the good guys and you’re one of us.”
That was a swampland pitch if ever I heard one. I wasn’t one of them; I was their tool, a means to an end. I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. The shimmering bubble pushed through the windshield and brushed against my knees. Oh god, I was about to be engulfed in clammy snot. Squeezing my eyes closed, I turned my head and held my breath.
The pressure rolled over me, gentle, firm, cold and slightly sticky.
Once it passed, I ran my fingers through my hair, seeking any stray loogies.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Releasing my hand, Tobias drove into the well-lit parking lot.
“No.” I tried to think positive. I could have been covered in slime. I scratched at the itchy dried blood on my legs and arms. “Too bad it couldn’t have washed me up a bit.”
Running my hands down my stiff tank top, one finger became snagged in a hole. I lifted the fabric away from me and stared at the bloody slit. Maybe my appearance would override the whole pizza order impression.
“You can clean up inside.” Tobias eased into a spot between two minivan-sized silver bubbles.
“After I eat?” God, I was pathetic.
“After you eat or while you’re eating.” He switched off the engine.
I reached for the door handle.
“Wait until I come and collect you before getting out. I don’t want you accidentally incinerated.” He pointed to the black cameras mounted on the light poles. “High energy particle weapons are automatically designed to get rid of any unauthorized personnel.”
“Great.” It would be most helpful if their weapons looked like weapons.
With a wink, Tobias slid out from behind the wheel and loped to my side.
No sooner had he opened my door, than I stepped out and stood up. My knees trembled from my weight and my teeth chattered. The world dipped and spun. I braced myself on the car just as my legs gave out. “What is happening?”
He scooped me up in his arms and strode toward the double glass doors at the back of the building. “You’ve overdosed on the energy patches. The CeeBees should eliminate the toxins but you definitely need food.”
“I’m starving.” My head lolled against his shoulder. Darn I felt weak again. Maybe I should just go to sleep for a bit.
“Wake up, Rae.” Tobias shook me as the doors whooshed open. You must not fall asleep before you get food in your stomach.”
Food! I loved food. My eyes closed from the weight of my lids. Surely a cat nap wouldn’t be too bad.
“Damn it, Rae.” He dropped my feet and slapped me across the cheek with his free hand.
Pain pushed the lethargy at bay. I rubbed the sting from my cheek. “That hurt.”
“Then stay awake.” He shook me again before storming forward.
My feet dragged behind me. How humiliating. But no matter what I did I couldn’t make my legs walk.
A muscular man in a blue uniform met us in the empty hallway. He clutched a flashlight in his hands. “Colonel Werner, I must protest this…” His eyes flicked over me. “By the Creator, what happened to her?”
“Ulla Torunn.” Tobias hefted me higher up his torso.
The guard paled and activated the radio perched on his shoulder. “Code blue! Prep medical bay. How long was she dead?”
Really, I was standing right here. And the death thing had happened to me. He could at least talk to me.
“Hello.” I tried to wave but ended up smacking myself on the side of my head.
“Fifteen minutes.” Tobias turned into the next corridor. “I gave her six energy patches.”
“Six?” While jogging beside us, the guard patted his pockets. After a moment, he pulled out a packet of peanut butter crackers. His fingers felt cold as they pinched my jaw, opened my mouth then set half a cracker on my tongue. “Don’t try to chew just let it dissolve naturally.”
I nodded as the sweetness flooded my mouth. I was too tired to chew, but my stomach tried to jump up my throat to get to the food.
Tobias turned down another corridor and suddenly a handful of people raced out of the rooms.
A tall, thin man in a black apron blew to our side. “She has the information?”
A woman pushed a gurney my way. Plastic bottles of clear liquid slapped the IV holder as she raced toward me.
The guard grabbed my feet and lifted me onto the sheet covered gurney “She has six energy patches on her.”
“Six?” The woman near my foot shot daggers at Tobias. “Three is more than enough.”
“She was dead for more than fifteen minutes.” Tobias lifted my shirt and ripped one of the patches off my stomach.