Your Truth is Out There (Find Your Truth Book 1) (35 page)

“Enough, enough!” he said. “I can’t understand a thing you’re telling me. Accounting has never been my forté, and since I don’t know you, I’m not just going to take you at your word. Xtlar, Tsedle, does this make any sense to you?”

“At first glance, I’m afraid it does,” said Tsedle. “Xtlar, why don’t you take a closer look at the file, while Gsefx here tells us more about his friend.”

“Of course,” said Xtlar, as he took the file and moved back into his chair.

Tsedle and Pigawitts were now looking at Gsefx, expecting him to explain exactly why Henry was there with him.

“Yes, sir. If I may speak to him briefly, explain to him what’s going on.”

“As you wish,” said Tsedle, “but be quick about it, Gsefx, you may have brought important information to our attention, but it doesn’t excuse the impertinent manner in which you’ve done so.”

“Yes sir,” said Gsefx, as he quickly turned to Henry. The Earthling’s obvious distress caught him off guard. “Henry, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“Everything. Gsefx, we have to get out of here.”

Gsefx was about to ask why when he was interrupted.

“He’s right, young Gsefx, you do need to get out of here,” said an unexpected voice from the conference table. They both turned to see Xtlar looking up and speaking perfect English to them. “Except that it’s too late, it was too late to get out of here as soon as you opened those doors.”

Before Gsefx could say anything, the conference room doors burst open and Galacticount security grabbed both he and Henry.

“You disappoint me, Gsefx,” said Xtlar, a condescending look on his face. “You didn’t really expect to succeed, did you?”

Gsefx was in shock.

“By the Gods! It’s you!” he said as they dragged him from the room. “All this time, it’s been you.”

Lhvunsa grabbed Theo and threw him to the ground just as the obliterator blast flew past where their heads were moments before.

She looked at Theo as she got up to run, expecting him to be doing the same, but instead, he had taken the primitive Earth weapon and was aiming it toward their attacker. Before she had time to react, he fired, and the projectile from the weapon struck Ricnor’s gang member in the head, dropping him to the ground, dead.

“Well done,” said Lhvunsa rather amazed at what she had witnessed. “I didn’t realize Earth weapons were so accurate, or that you were so well-versed with them.”

Theo hadn’t moved, he was frozen in place, the weapon still pointed straight ahead.

“Theo? Theo, are you okay?”

He slowly lowered the weapon and looked down.

“I’m the only son of a General in the United States Army. I really didn’t have much of a choice but to become an expert with pretty much every weapon there is … well, Earth weapon anyway. But this is the first time I’ve ever shot anything other than a paper target.”

Lhvunsa knelt down and touched Theo gently on the arm.

“Theo,” she said softly, “we need to go. If that one was awake, there are bound to be more. We need to find the others and get to the main bay.”

Theo didn’t move. Lhvunsa shook him less gently.

“Theo! We have to go!”

Theo stirred finally.

“Yeah … sure … you’re right. Let’s go.”

They took off toward the far end of chamber, but got only a few feet before obliterator blasts went off around and above them. They froze and were immediately surrounded by three members of Ricnor’s gang, all pointing different, but equally dangerous looking weapons at them.

“That’s far enough,” said the one in front, who Lhvunsa recognized as one Ricnor had called Cindror. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but your pathetic attempt to escape is over. Now, tell your friend to drop his little toy, because the both of you are going back to your cell.”

“What did he say?” asked Theo.

Before she could respond they heard the sound of another obliterator blast and the captor to Theo’s right exploded into tiny bits of flesh, bone, and goo.

Lhvunsa took advantage of the ensuing chaos by grabbing Cindror’s obliterator and pushing it upward, while drawing herself close enough to knee him, quite forcefully, in his most sensitive of areas. As he buckled, she heard Theo’s Earth weapon fire again, but she had no time to check on him. She ripped the weapon from Cindror’s hand, flipped it around, and used the butt of it against his head, knocking him unconscious.

“What the hell?” she heard Theo and Alcorn say simultaneously, as they each stared at her in disbelief.

“What?” said Lhvunsa.

“Where did you learn to do that?” asked Theo, while the General continued to stare with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Lhvunsa looked at each of them and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know,” she replied hastily as she ran past them for the doorway Alcorn had just come through. When she got to the door, she turned back to them. “Are you coming or are you going to just stand there?”

Lhvunsa didn’t wait for an answer, but turned and ran until she reached cover. Alcorn and Theo were close behind. Both were carrying obliterators.

“Do we have a clear path to the main bay?” asked Lhvunsa, not giving either of the Alcorn men a chance to bring up her fighting skills again.

“Yes, it should be clear, but we can’t go just yet,” said the General. “We have to give Qilzar some time.”

“Time for what?” she asked.

“Qilzar has a ship for us, but he needs some time to disable the other ships so we won’t be followed.”

“I’ll go and help,” suggested Theo. “Maybe it will go faster.”

Lhvunsa saw the conflict flash across the General’s face. Clearly he didn’t want his son going alone into danger, but he also knew it was the right thing to do, for all of their sakes. Fortunately, the General was one who knew how to make difficult decisions quickly.

“Good idea, Theo,” he said. “We’ll hold them off for as long as we can. Be safe, son.”

The concern in the General’s eyes was clear as he sent his son on his way. She glanced at Theo and saw the same look in his eyes, as he nodded his head and took off for the main bay. In that instant she knew what she had to do—if they survived their escape attempt, that is. Before she could do anything, an obliterator blast sent them both to the floor. More blasts followed.

“How did they get working weapons?” said Lhvunsa, yelling to be heard over the sound of blasts. “I thought my genius husband was supposed to have knocked them all out. And where in the Galaxy is the GCP?”

“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be here.”

They both took turns returning fire and taking cover.

“I count six of them,” yelled Alcorn.

Lhvunsa stood up, fired, and then dropped back down under cover.

“Five,” she said, “but there will be more coming.”

Alcorn looked impressed.

“Agreed,” he said. “We need to move forward. I’ll go first, cover me.”

Obliterator blasts continued exploding above their heads.

“Cover you with what?” she asked, confused by the Earthling’s command.

“Sorry, ‘cover’ means that you fire as many shots as you can at the enemy, while I advance. Then I’ll do the same, so you can advance.”

More obliterator blasts, mixed with other types of weapons fire were landing all around them.

“I’m not sure this is such a great idea, General. Why don’t we just stay here?”

“Look, there’s no time to explain right now. You have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”

The weapons’ fire seemed to be getting more intense.

“But, I don’t …”

“Look, Lhvunsa, there’s no time for this! Just cover me, dammit!”

Alcorn popped up and fired, then took off. Lhvunsa put her shock—and anger at his arrogance, real or not—aside, popped up and began firing. She saw Alcorn reach cover and she dropped back down.

The attacking fire seemed a bit less now, perhaps her ‘cover’ fire landed once or twice.

“Okay,” yelled Alcorn over the din, “when you’re ready, you fire once, then start running and I’ll cover you.”

Lhvunsa took a deep breath, stood up, and fired as she took off for Alcorn’s location, firing as often as possible. When she’d covered the space, she dove in next to Alcorn, where he was firing as well.

Their attackers stopped firing.

“Okay General,” she said, catching her breath, “now what?”

“Now, we keep them from getting any closer for about ten minutes or so, then we make a break for the main bay.”

“They’ve stopped firing. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?”

Alcorn looked concerned.

“Not usually,” he said. “Stay down.”

She watched as he checked his weapon to make sure it had fully recharged before popping up again to fire. He dropped back down immediately as they were bombarded by more weapons fire than Lhvunsa had thought possible. It continued steadily for some time.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” said Alcorn over the roar of surrounding explosions. “Their reinforcements have arrived.”

“So now what, General?”

“We wait.”

“We wait? Shouldn’t we shoot back?”

“Not now, it’s too dangerous. We’re safe enough here. Whatever this is made of,” he banged on the wall they were hiding behind, “it seems to be strong enough to withstand their weapons.”

Lhvunsa wasn’t convinced, but she wasn’t about to argue.

“If you say so, General.”

Weapons fire continued to blast all around them, but Lhvunsa decided it was time to say something anyway.

“General,” she said, doing her best to be heard over the blasts, “while we have the time, we need to talk about Theo.”

“What about Theo?” asked Alcorn distractedly.

“We need to talk about your relationship with him and how to repair it.”

Alcorn stopped what he was doing and looked at Lhvunsa. It wasn’t a kind look.

“This is hardly the time … besides, what do you know about my relationship with my son?”

“Quite a bit, actually. I know that the two of you are a lot more alike than either of you want to admit, and …”

A particularly large burst battered the wall in front of them, knocking them backward.

“Perhaps we should discuss this later,” said Alcorn a sour expression on his face as he moved back to the wall.

“Perhaps, General,” said Lhvunsa, following suit, “but I will tell you one more thing first. Theo doesn’t think you’re nearly as bad of a person as you seem to think you are. But, he won’t make the first move. It will be up to you.”

Alcorn looked as if he wanted to throw an angry retort her way but couldn’t think of one, so he closed his mouth and tried to act as if he was ignoring her.

“Ignoring me won’t do you any …”

“Shhh …,” said Alcorn, hushing her into silence. “They’ve stopped firing.”

They listened to the silence briefly before the General spoke again.

“Follow my lead,” he said in as soft a voice as he could manage. “Do exactly as I do.”

She nodded her understanding.

Alcorn, jumped to his feet and fired toward the enemy line, then dropped back down.

Lhvunsa did the same, which immediately drew fire back from their adversaries.

“Why, in the name of the Gods, did we do that?” asked Lhvunsa when they dropped back down below the barricade.

“As long as they’re firing at us, they’re not advancing. When it gets quiet, we’re in trouble.”

“I see … I think. How much longer before we can get out of here?”

“I’m ready now. It’s just a matter of …”

Before he could finish his sentence, the wall behind them exploded and a short-range scout, similar to the one that had rescued Ricnor, came flying through, this time with Qilzar at the helm. The ship flew around between them and Ricnor's gang and the door opened.

“Let’s go,” said Qilzar. “Theo’s waiting!”

Lhvunsa and Alcorn jumped in and they were off.

“Thank God you showed up when you did,” said Alcorn. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to get out of there.”

He looked at Lhvunsa.

“Don’t say it,” he said to her, “just don’t.”

“Why should I say anything?” said Lhvunsa, “We both know you had no idea what you were …”

“Hold on,” shouted Qilzar, “this part’s going to be a bit bumpy.”

They banged and bounced their way through a hole that was too small for their scout to fit through, but somehow made it through anyway.

“Whoa, that was close,” said Alcorn.

“There wasn’t enough time to make the opening any larger,” said Qilzar. “We’re almost there and it looks like the natives are not far behind us. When we stop, we’re going to have to make a quick transition from this vehicle into the larger one. I’ll go first since I’m piloting, but hurry in behind me.”

“Right with you, boss,” said Alcorn.

“Get ready,” said Qilzar. “In three, two, one … Go!”

The scout spun around and stopped, its doors lined up directly with the doors of a Klurdine Remlin. The door popped open, and Qilzar flew out and jumped into the larger ship.

“Lhvunsa, go!” said Alcorn.

Without hesitating, Lhvunsa jumped out of the scout and into the Remlin, with Alcorn close behind.

“Dad, get down!” said Theo, as the younger Alcorn pointed a large weapon that Lhvunsa had never seen before at the scout. Alcorn dove down to the floor and Theo fired, destroying the scout, and, more importantly, blowing the bulk of its wreckage back into the entrance from whence they came, completely blocking the way.

“I hope everyone is in,” said Qilzar, as the door closed and the ship lifted off.

“We’re in!” came the response from Lhvunsa, Alcorn and Theo all at once.

“Go!” yelled Alcorn.

“Get us out of here!” said Lhvunsa, taking the seat next to Qilzar.

“As you wish, my dear,” said Qilzar. “I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you again.”

“And you, dear friend,” said Lhvunsa, touching his cheek.

“Where shall we go?” asked Qilzar.

“Right now, anywhere but here sounds good to me,” said Alcorn, coming up behind them.

“Agreed,” said Lhvunsa. “But for now, let’s head for Laxor. General, you and Theo had better strap in.”

“Right,” said Alcorn. “What about the rest of Ricnor’s gang? Clearly the cops aren’t coming. Are we just going to let them go? Shouldn’t we call the police again?”