Alien-Under-Cover (3 page)

With one last look at her, he left to execute Zacar’s orders.

“Nice and round,” he heard her mutter and was pleased he’d thought to compliment her.

Chapter 2

Zurian returned to the shuttle and sat down in the pilot seat. They had one shuttle for each Zyrgin warrior who came on the mother ship. They did double duty as escape pods and could also be used as fighter planes. Although the chances of ever needing fighter planes against the humans were zero.

“Contact Zacar,” he ordered the computer in the old language.

“Zurian,” Zacar said. His image was clear, without the distortion caused by the humans’ primitive TC. “We intercepted another transmission to the town.”

“Could you find where he called from?” Zurian asked.

“No. And only their government has the resources to hide the origin of their calls.”

In the last year they’d picked up encrypted messages coming into and out of the town. The probe covering the town could not determine the exact location. Azagor had been working on it, trying to fix the locator problem. If their probe had been working as it should, the human operating in secret in town would never have been able to cover his tracks like this.

Zurian flashed his claws to show his disgust. “What government? They can’t even pay their people.”

From their intelligence all over the world, they had found out that most government servants went to work in the hope that they would eventually be paid. But because they hadn’t been paid for a while, they did not do any work while they were at their offices. Zurian had nothing but contempt for such nonsense. Under Zyrgin rule they would not be able to indulge such laziness.

“They still have access to remnants of technology.”

“
Remnants
,” Zurian sneered.

“Since the murder of President Jacobson five years ago they have been deteriorating fast,” Zacar said. “From what I can glean from newscasts and their primitive databases the dead president might have turned the tide for humans for a while. He was a man of vision.”

“Any news on who murdered him?” Zurian asked. “If we could find the killer, we would have the person working behind the scenes. The humans’ collapsing society has stumbled much faster since the murder of President Jacobson.”

“No, unfortunately. I have been unable to determine this.” Zacar paused then changed the subject. “Can you find out why the government interested in this town?”

“Has to be the reverend,” Zurian said. “No one else is running anything.”

“Who are you impersonating to infiltrate the reverend’s organization?”

Zacar glanced briefly to the side and Zurian knew he was checking on Natalie. Zurian had thought it unworthy behavior of a warrior until he had seen Julia the first time. Now he went to check on her regularly and had her watched when he was not available. “A person who called himself an ‘enforcer’ for Denver city.”

“You found him close to town?”

“Yes,” Zurian confirmed. “It is another factor we have to keep our eyes on. He was from Denver and came to do business with the reverend.” He also knew Julia, a fact that Zurian did not appreciate.

“That works into our plan,” Zacar said. “We have been aware of Denver for a while.”

Three of the ten probes in Denver had malfunctioned and were being fixed by Azagor. With several of the probes malfunctioning, Azagor was working day and night to get them operational. Before the malfunction, the Zyrgins had traced several calls, indicating that someone in town was communicating with the Denver Corporation. From Denver, Zacar had traced calls to Washington. Though they could pinpoint calls in Denver, they could not find the exact location in No Name town or in Washington. What he and Zacar did not know was what they were working on.

“Did you have any problems making him talk?” Zacar asked.

“After I cut off his third finger, he begged me to let him tell me everything.”

The physical weakness of the humans constantly surprised the Zyrgins. Once or twice, some of the humans had shown unexpected courage, but mostly they just cried and begged for mercy. They would be conquered soon enough.

“Why do you sound disturbed?”

“He came here for my breeder,” Zurian snarled.

Did Zacar doubt Zurian’s ability to torture prisoners? They all knew he visited Julia and planned to bring her to his dwelling. Did they think he would become soft because he took such a small female?

“How is that possible?” Zacar touched his hip and Zurian didn’t blame him. The thought of anyone coming for Zurian’s breeder made him want to reach for his sword as well.

“It seems she belonged to a powerful family who wants her back. This woumber thought to take her for his own.”

“I can send another warrior to the reverend if you want to bring her here now.”

Zurian appreciated the offer. Next to conquering worlds for their empire, protecting a breeder was the priority for any warrior. “That won’t be necessary. I will keep her safe.”

He frowned when Azagor walked into view to talk to Zacar. More malfunctioning probes. Azagor was the youngest warrior in their group. He had only recently gone through his third change and had developed the habit of talking to Natalie. No doubt he would try to talk to Julia as well.
It would be unfortunate if I have to kill another warrior.

“Anything else I should be aware of?” Zurian asked.

“New Raider camps are going up fast,” Zacar told him. Zurian understood the anticipation Zacar clearly felt. Zurian wanted a battle as well--any kind of battle. Since they had come to Earth, they’d only fought Raiders, who barely afforded them any sport. “These humans are like the locusts on planet Y2539,” Zacar continued.

“We will make them as extinct as Solari worms,” Zurian assured him.

Rumor had it their supreme leader owned the last Solari worm in their galaxy. Speaking of their leader...

“I do not understand this delay in conquest our leader is insisting on.” Zurian watched Zacar carefully. As the leader’s son, Zacar wasn’t necessarily privy to his father’s plans but if anyone would know, he would.

“I suspect he wants to test a new weapon.”

“You don’t like the idea.”

“How do you think Natlia would feel if one of our weapons were tested here and wiped out all her people?”

“Why does it matter what she feels?” Zurian wondered aloud. Zacar had given Natalie a bear pelt after she’d hit him with the ceremonial club. She should know her place and not interfere with warrior business.

Zacar signed the tablet Azagor handed him. “You are still guarding your yellow-haired woman?”

“Golden, and I am. What of it?”

“Would you like to go to her and tell her that you tested a weapon on her people and killed the human race?”

Zurian rubbed a finger on his scar. “You are right. I would not want to do that.”

Still, nothing would give him greater satisfaction than wiping out the humans. And Zurian was not altogether sure they should cater this much to the whims of their breeders.

Zacar nodded. “We could not trace the call but we could listen to the conversation. A slaver is coming here and he will be bringing information to the reverend. They said it could not be trusted over their primitive TC.”

Zurian sneered. “And they think a puny human could keep the information safe.”

“Their logic escapes me as well.”

“I will meet with the reverend and stay in town. I can camouflage and listen to their conversations.” Many times he’d camouflaged and stood next to a human who had never known he was there. It was something that had puzzled the Zyrgins from the beginning. Zurian might not be able to see other warriors when they were camouflaged, but he could sense them. Humans had weak hearing and didn’t see very far and, on top of that, had no sensors to warn them when danger approached.

“The conversation clearly indicated the slaver knew the new Raider leader,” Zacar explained. “And he knew who put him in power.”

“The person, whose identity I assumed, admitted that he would also buy humans while here,” Zurian said. “They are a truly disgusting species.”

“That they are. Do you have the cover personality in place?”

“Yes, I will meet with the reverend in a few hours and find out who the third party is.”

“I want him dead,” Zacar said.”

“I will find the person coming with the information and then kill the reverend,”” Zurian promised.

They had allowed the man to continue with his activities this long only so they could find out exactly who he dealt with.

Zurian knew he should focus on his mission but thoughts of taking Julia to his dwelling intruded. If all went well, by tonight he could have her in his bed. His fascination with Julia had turned him into a deviant. He wanted to kiss her, maybe try other deviant human practices.

He forced his attention back to his discussion with Zacar. “Going under cover--that is the humans’ strange term for what I am about to do”

“Sometimes their ugly language is most apt,” Zacar said.

“I find it confusing. When I visited my breeder last week--” He would never tire of calling her that. “--she said I was like a gnat. I looked it up and I do not at all look like a gnat.”

Zacar rubbed the ridge on his head. “It doesn’t make sense to me either. While you are dealing with the reverend, find out everything you can about him. Religious figures make me very uneasy.”

In every galaxy, on almost every planet they conquered, they came across zealots. Experience had taught Zacar that they could not be dealt with easily. Killing them made them martyrs so their followers tended to grow and not dissipate.

The reverend had taken all the undesirable elements in town and united them, calling them “The Coming Sect,” and had set himself up as their prophet. He then proceeded to terrorize the town unchecked.

Now, I have to deal with the reverend before I can take my breeder home
.

Chapter 3

Julia shuddered and staggered to her couch. Ever since that demon had started to haunt her, she hadn’t felt safe anymore. The warm cream-colored curtains and terracotta tiles in her home no longer enclosed her in a soothing, safe environment. Would she have to run before she could escape another visit from that creature?

Could he be an experiment gone wrong? Even though he insisted he wasn’t a demon, the ridge on his head, his pitch black eyes, and the pronounced raised veins that crossed what she could see of his green body made her think he really was one. One that wore some kind of uniform and scared her. How many of them were out there? If only she could talk to someone about it. Apart from the fact that she didn’t want to be thought of as crazy, she needed to keep a low profile. If some journalist heard about a crazy woman seeing demons and reported it, she could end up dead.

“I’ve managed to hide from my psychotic family for almost five years and what happens?” she moaned at the walls. “A creature from hell haunts me.”

Could he really find her anywhere she ran to? Julia clutched her arms around herself, battling the very strong need to pack her stuff and run. He’d be back. She got up and padded over to the fur lying in the middle of her living room. She poked it with her shoe and couldn’t even budge it. Crouching, she carefully touched it. The hair was that of an animal, but the blue color had to be artificial. The demon had left it like some kind of offering.

In return for what?

Natalie had told her about bears. Extinct now for nearly two centuries, the creatures had sounded magnificent. And big. But the demon had carried it around as if it weighed nothing more than a blanket.

He was so strong. And taller than any man she’d ever seen. If only he’d been human size, she could’ve fought him. His reflexes were scary fast. In all the months he’d been haunting her, she never managed to shoot him. Julia shuddered and clutched her arms tighter around herself. His eyes reminded her of burning tar pits. She knew exactly why he came to her. When he looked at her body, those tar pits boiled. Whatever he was, he saw her as a woman he desired. Whenever she fought him, he found a way to rub his body against hers. His muscles were rock hard. Held that close to him, she could see the raised veins on the creature’s body pulse. Julia shivered. He was a creature with a body most men would envy and eyes that promised long, hot hours of pure sin.

But she didn’t have the luxury of time to stress about his visits. She had to find Sarah and rescue her. Charles might think Julia would run and leave her friend to the reverend’s mercies, but she couldn’t do that.

If she did manage to find Sarah and the reverend didn’t kill them in the process, they’d probably both end up on the run for the rest of their lives. Julia groaned and slapped her forehead. She’d managed to live quietly for almost five years as plain Julia Smith. She even managed to stay under the reverend’s radar. Julia stood up and paced, her heels clicking against her prized tiles.

Now she ran the risk of drawing his attention, something nobody in this town wanted. There’d been rumors lately of strange rituals and orgies, of people disappearing.

If she could manage to get into his house, she might find Sarah. Or at least a record of what they’d done with her. Julia could plant some bugs and listen in on their conversations. She looked down at her cream-colored pants. They would stain if she had to do any climbing. And her sandals were not the most sturdy.

What should she wear for breaking and entering?

***

An hour later, Julia crouched next to the only tree behind the reverend’s place. Natalie had planted it a few years ago. It wasn’t very big and didn’t have many leaves, but at least it afforded her some cover.

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve done in a long while,” she muttered as she ran over to the back window and crouched beneath it. She chanced a quick look and saw a room that could be a study.

She’d dressed in her skintight black jeans and long sleeved black T-shirt and had hidden her blonde hair beneath a black woolen cap. For one moment, as she stared at her image in the mirror, she’d looked like her mother used to when she went out on a job.