Chapter 7
Daria
My legs were wobbly when Ian let go of me to set me back on my feet.
Without my heels, he towered over me, his wide shoulders looming, the gold of his hair glowing in the lights.
I was starting to see it more now, the alien parts of him.
His cheekbones were too sharp, and that tan of his was too golden, actually holding hints of a glimmer like he was a precious gemstone. Or covered in pixie dust.
I wanted to believe in him. Every instinct, gut feeling, whatever you wanted to call it, told me to do so.
How could I, when he was the very thing I’d come here to fight?
Whoever was talking in his ear, his handler, they’d informed him of a rogue CIA agent, and that was me.
Ian was right about that, I had gone off the reservation to start my quest for the truth.
If he knew, others knew. No wonder I was receiving death threats and had received immense scrutiny the moment I stepped inside the museum this evening.
“How are you going to prove it?” I asked him.
My fist closed tightly around the pin with the data; it was my lifeline.
With that thing, I could hopefully expose what the government was up to and maybe put an end to it before it was too late.
He was right about one thing. If they knew I was the thief, though technically I wasn’t, I would never get out of here with it. Not without help.
“By saving your life, for starters. My analyst already confirmed the data, it proves an alliance is forming called the UAR. Praxidar, Dragnell, and humans. If we don’t stop it, humans will be endless fodder for their war machine, and my planet will be annexed.
” Well, when he put it that way, it did sound like we would be likely allies. The enemy of my enemy and all that.
I shrugged out of his arms, although I didn’t want to leave that safe circle of protection. Distance was what I needed to figure out what my next course of action should be. We couldn’t linger in this hallway much longer, any second risked the discovery of the missing pin.
The two alien species he’d called out by name matched the intel I had on this situation.
I knew my friends had fought with agents for the UAR, and with a Dragnell just before Stella escaped with her sexy good alien into outer space.
My breathing faltered as I considered that.
My friend had found an alien in her chimney last week and rescued him.
It prompted me to start this mission to stop the formation of the UAR.
“United Alliance of Races, that sounds inherently wrong, don’t you think?” Ian pushed. “It’s not an alliance if the humans are made to be the foot soldiers. That’s what’s going to happen. The Praxidar are few and weak, but ever so smart, and the Dragnell are all brutal purists…”
Yes, I knew those things too. I’d read enough secret data to know those facts.
I just hadn’t gotten any proof that would convince the public.
Something that would want to make people stop this before it started.
“Okay, what do you suggest?” I glanced at my fist, curled tightly around the data.
“You know what’s on this? If we leak this to the media, will that convince them aliens are here?
And they’re looking to use us for their own gain? ”
Ian’s features grew tight, his gaze turning inward for a moment.
I appreciated that he took his time to answer, but when he gave a subtle head shake, my stomach plummeted.
“That they are real, yes. That they are here for an alliance? Also yes. I don’t believe it’s enough to turn the public against it. ”
“Come, we must try to leave this place,” he added, and his hand found the small of my back.
I felt numb as I let him lead me through the art-lined hallway back to the party.
I’d pinned all my hopes on this data. If it wasn’t enough, then what options did I have?
Leaking the data would prove that I had turned against my government, I would not be safe anywhere.
Not on this planet, and yet, I had to try.