Chapter 9
Earth’s morning arrived, and Cade couldn’t completely contain his excitement at meeting with Colette. It made no sense. After all, she’d chosen Jaspar to seduce, meaning the best he could hope for was admiring from afar, but that reminder didn’t stem his enthusiasm.
Jaspar, on the other hand, appeared reticent. “I think it would be prudent if one of us remained aboard monitoring.”
“Beta is capable of doing that,” Cade noted.
“It seems somewhat irresponsible for us both, though, to be on the surface. What if something happens?”
“Like?”
“I don’t know. What if we’re attacked, captured?” Jaspar exclaimed. “Who would help us escape? Beta can only do so much independently.”
“You think the meeting with Colette is a trap, that she’d betray us?” Cade asked before quirking his lips and adding, “Were you that bad at intercourse?”
“No!” Jaspar huffed with clear indignation. “However, it is common sense to not deploy all assets at once and to keep something in reserve. In this case, one of us.”
“If you want to meet with her alone, just say so,” Cade growled. “But before you get to fornicating, please remember our mission.”
Jaspar recoiled. “That’s not why I’m suggesting it. As a matter of fact, I was going to propose you be the one to attend while I monitor.”
“Me?” Cade couldn’t help asking in surprise. “Why? I would have thought, considering what happened, that you’d be eager to see Colette.”
“I am, and that’s a problem,” Jaspar grumbled. “I am here on an important task and should not have allowed myself to be distracted. I can only hope my inappropriate action doesn’t affect our mission.”
“It shouldn’t be an issue if you pleasured her properly,” Cade drawled, to which Jaspar turned an impressive shade of purple.
“She achieved culmination, and that is all I will say on the matter. Are you ready to meet with her?”
“Yes. I’m just waiting for Beta to advise as to when she’s available in her office location.”
As if mentioning her summoned, Beta said, “I cannot locate the human.”
“What?” Cade and Jaspar both exclaimed in startlement.
“Not long past Earth’s dawn, the subject prepared herself for departure. I recorded her contacting a service requesting transportation. Shortly thereafter, she embarked in a vehicle for travel, however, never arrived at her destination.”
“Yet,” Cade interjected. “Could be she had another meeting to attend first or an errand to complete.”
“Her instructions to the transport service indicated she wished to be brought to her office.”
“As Cade stated, could be she changed her mind. Where is the vehicle now?”
“Unknown.”
“What do you mean unknown?” Jaspar repeated with a frown.
“I ceased monitoring it when I shifted focus on her arrival point.”
“Why would you do that?” Cade blurted.
“I can only split my focus in so many directions.” Beta sounded almost defensive.
“What else are you watching that’s more important?” Jaspar raked fingers through his hair.
“Long-range sensors are currently focused on three anomalies in this star system. Two of my three short-range scanners are busy deflecting debris in orbit—of which there is much.” Definitely disapproval in that last bit.
“That leaves me only one scanner to monitor the human, and at the time, since the target appeared secure, my programming deemed the best use of it to be looking ahead at the arrival point to ensure no one laid an ambush.”
“And now she’s gone.” Cade rubbed his jaw. “Any theories on what could have happened?”
“No, and I do apologize for the medical unit being offline, thus not allowing the implantation of a transponder on the target.”
“I assume it will be repaired shortly.”
“Yes. Once we locate the female, we can ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Cade glanced at Jaspar. “Now what?”
“I don’t know. Could be her disappearance has a benign reason.”
“Females do like to primp,” Cade added, more to reassure himself.
“Or, could be she had a personal matter to attend, and, given she had no way of contacting us, could not inform us of a change in plans.”
That problem would be resolved once she got her implant, which would act as a beacon and communicator as well as a translator.
“What should we work on while we wait to see if she reappears?” Cade asked.
“Figuring out how we should approach the human leaders in a way that won’t cause panic.”
Which turned into a fruitless exchange, given they both couldn’t stop asking Beta if she’d located Colette yet.
A surge of relief hit Cade when Beta eventually crowed, “I’ve located the subject.”
“Where?” Cade bounded to his feet and stared at the screen, which switched from a display of the names, faces, and general information of current world leaders to the office where he’d first met Colette.
She paced the space before flopping into her chair, which she then spun to glance outside her panoramic windows, not that much could be seen with the fat flakes of falling snow.
“Do you still want me to be the one attending the meeting?” Cade asked without looking at Jaspar. Why would he want to eye his ugly partner when he could gaze upon delectable beauty?
“Go. I want to study one of the anomalies Beta detected more closely.”
“Is there a problem?” Cade glanced back over his shoulder.
“Probably not, but I want to be sure.”
“If you insist.” Cade stifled any hint of glee at being the one to spend time with Colette. “Beta?”
“Just say the word, Commander.”
“Beam me to the human.”
A blink and he stood in Colette’s office.
She didn’t swivel her chair, but she did notice his arrival. “Thanks for coming. Sorry, I’m late for our meeting.”
Something in her tone led him to ask, “Did something happen?”
“Yes.” She pivoted to stare at him. “The US military is aware of you.”
His brows lifted. “And you know this how?”
“Because they kidnapped me this morning and took me to a military base, where I was questioned.”
He balled his fists and rose up slightly on his toes. “Did they harm you?”
“No. Nothing like that, but I’m afraid I had to tell them about our meeting and why you’re here.”
“Don’t apologize. We knew exposure was inevitable. May I ask how they reacted??”
Her lips twisted. “Depended on the person. The general in charge didn’t really reveal how she felt about it, unlike the colonel, who’s convinced you’re here to enslave or destroy humanity.”
The claim raised his brows. “Why would we do that?”
She shrugged. “Dunno. He thought you might be kidnapping women so you could study and use them for the creation of a lethal virus.”
“We would never do such a thing.”
“He also had a theory you were spying on us to relay information for the armada he believes is en route to wipe us out.”
“This colonel doesn’t sound too intelligent.”
Colette snickered. “Agreed. The doctor they had at the interrogation seemed more curious than worried. She wanted to know all about you and Jaspar. Apparently, you’re not the first blue aliens to be spotted.”
“We have been visiting for some time now. I am not surprised they would have some record of our visits. Did the military give you instructions for me or Jaspar?”
“Just that they’d like to have a talk.” She frowned. “It occurs to me, though, that they didn’t give me a way to contact them.”
Beta spoke, and only he could hear.
“Uniformed humans have infiltrated the building and are ascending toward your position. Ready for transport.”
“Hold off,” he murmured aloud. Cade never had been good at the whole thinking hard enough for the communicator to understand.
“What?” Colette replied, not realizing he spoke to Beta.
He didn’t tell her of the approaching soldiers. “How did this general know you’d met with us?”
“Something about an energy pulse every time you beam. Guess their sensors picked it up. They knew about your visit to my office and then the one to my home.”
Interesting, and a recent development, obviously, since previous incursions by the Xamian hadn’t been detected. “Do they know the location of our vessel in orbit?”
“They didn’t say, although they did mention you cloaked when you entered our orbit.”
“More soldiers have just dropped from a flying craft onto the roof.”
Meaning Cade had little time.
“We need to apprise Jaspar of the situation.” He cocked his head, waiting for a reply.
A clueless Colette assumed he spoke to her. “Agreed, but I don’t think you need to panic. The general seemed more interested in finding out more about you than anything. Thankfully, she’s not crazy like the colonel. Otherwise, I doubt I would have been released so quickly.”
Not released so much as let loose as bait. Cade saw through the tactic.
Through his communicator he heard Jaspar speak. “Do not resort to violence, as it will defeat our mission. You should return to the ship rather than engaging.”
“Let’s not be hasty. Colette says they want to speak.”
“Are you talking to someone else?” Colette frowned as she stood from her chair.
He glanced at her and mouthed Jaspar. Then tapped his ear, hoping she understood.
The confusion in her expression cleared.
“Beta says they’re wearing body armor and carrying weapons. Doesn’t sound like they’re there to have a conversation.”
“Would you confront a stranger from another world unarmed?” he pointed out. “Seems more likely that they’d want to capture me in order to question.”
“Capture?” Colette exclaimed, only having heard his half of the conversation. “No, they said they wanted to talk to you.”
“And how many do they need to do that? Because there’s currently upwards of twenty soldiers converging on this position.”
Colette’s eyes widened. “I swear I don’t know anything about that.”
“I believe you,” he stated as Beta advised him how to proceed. He dropped to his knees and laced his hands behind his head.
“What are you doing?” Colette asked.
“Surrendering.” Which went against every warrior fiber in his body. “Beta, shields please.” Just in case the military chose violence over capture.
The air vibrated as a temporary force field encased both him and Colette, and not a moment too soon.
Windows shattered as the soldiers who’d rappelled from the rooftop kicked in the panes.
As shards flew and wind whistled through the breach, the door to Colette’s office slammed open, spilling in even more armed individuals.
Not that he heard anything in his pocket of calm.
The protective force field dulled noise as well as stopped projectiles.
“Shield down,” he murmured in time to hear someone yell, “Don’t move.”
Cade remained in the position Beta claimed was the human version of submission and yelled, “I come in peace.”
The humans didn’t seem to care, for someone fired at him! A tufted projectile hit Cade in the chest.
“I’m shot!” He yelled the thought, and Beta replied. “Remain calm. It’s simply a tranquilizer dart.” The drug within it spread an immediate languor.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t beam you aboard?”
“No,” he slurred. “Not yet.”
His last thought before darkness sucked him into the black abyss of unconsciousness.