Jo's Journey (6 page)

Oh shit,
Jo thought just before all hell broke loose.

“Put this on the bump, Tony, it should help the swelling go down,” Jo murmured, handing an ice pack to Antonio Vega, elephant trainer extraordinaire and Jo’s tenacious but hopeless suitor. She shook her head as she turned and picked her way through her overly crowded apartment. “Excuse me, Stan. How are you doing, Kid? Hi, Marcus. Nice to see you again, Curly. I like your new look, Suzy.”

Jo did a great imitation of hopscotch as she stepped over the six dancing dogs that Mattie never went anywhere without. She kissed Marvin and Martin on the cheek as they silently opened the imaginary door leading to the only place that wasn
’t overcrowded – of sorts. Five out of the six chairs were filled at the oval dinette set. Marvin and Martin turned and stood at attention as if they were guards protecting the queen’s gold or Fort Knox. Jo let out a deep sigh as she stared at the stony look of rage frozen on Manota’s face as he stood with his back against the windows which looked down over suburban Orlando. His eyes were still glued to Tony.

“
Knock it off,” Jo muttered as she moved to sit down in the chair in front of where he was standing. “You almost killed the poor guy, you know. And you almost did it in front of my parents!”

“
He should not have put his hands on you much less his mouth,” Manota growled out under his breath, still keeping his eyes on Tony who was doing his best to ignore the huge warrior.

Tami reached over and patted Manota on his arm.
“Don’t you worry, dear. It isn’t the first time someone tried to kill Tony for kissing Jo. He’s been in love with her for years.”

A deep rumble of a growl echoed at Tami
’s words. Jo rolled her eyes and shot Manota another dark look. She turned back to look at the hot drink Ricki had set down in front of her seat.

“
Thanks,” Jo muttered.

“
You looked like you could use it,” Ricki responded, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “Now, please tell us what happened.”

Jo couldn
’t help the small grin that escaped. Only Ricki could act like this was a typical day at the circus. She never got flustered. She just saw a situation that needed to be dealt with, asked for the facts, and went about solving the problem. That was what made her a priceless treasure to the crazy life of the circus.

“
Well,” Jo looked at her parents before carefully retelling everything that had happened since she, Star and River had disappeared almost six months ago.

As she finished, her eyes moved around the table, pausing on the other two figures sitting at the small dining table with them. Walter and Nema sat gazing at her with a look of incredulity on their faces. Well, Nema looked amazed. Walter looked like he was sizing Manota up and trying to decide where he was going to put him in the next act. Jo hoped she hadn
’t really heard Walter’s gruff voice announcing his idea for the next great act –
The Amazing Alien Warrior from Kassis, Manota the Monstrous
!

“
I like that, dear,” Nema said leaning over and squeezing Walter’s hand as he whispered the words Jo hoped she had only imagined.

“
No, no, no, no, no!” Jo said wanting to immediately nip Walter’s train of thought before he got on a roll. “Walter, Manota is not circus material,” she stressed with a look of warning at the small ringmaster and owner of the circus.

“
I think he is,” Walter said, stroking his thin mustache. “I saw the way he was holding that planter. He moved like lightning when Tony kissed you and he threw him a good twenty feet! That sword thing he has is magnificent! I bet we could build an entire act around him.”

“
Daddy!” Jo groaned out in frustration. “Say something! I… we can’t stay! We only came to get you and momma. We have to go back. Star and River are there. River is expecting her first baby,” she said looking at her dad with huge, pleading eyes.

Alan Strauss looked up at the dark man standing protectively behind his oldest daughter. He had always hoped his little girls would find good men who would love them like he loved their mother. He also hoped those same men would be able to provide and protect them but he never expected them to find anyone like the man standing stiffly against the wall. He turned to look at his delicate wife. She was gazing at him with a look of barely suppressed excitement in her eyes. He had spent the better part of his life with her. Her love of adventure was one of the things he adored about her. He never had to wonder if she would shy away from wanting to explore the world with him. From the look in her eyes now, there was not a single doubt that they would be exploring the stars next.

He released a soft chuckle. He had always been a sucker for the girls, all of them, when they gave him that puppy-dog look. He drew in a deep breath and looked at Walter and Nema.

“
Sorry Walter, we have some packing to do,” Alan said with a grin. “Seems like there is a star system out there with our name on it.”

Walter
’s face flickered with disappointment before a calculating gleam suddenly appeared in it. He nodded in agreement before he let out a huge sigh. Hopping off the chair, he turned and helped Nema down off hers. At only three and a half feet tall, even the standard size chairs could be a challenge for both him and his tiny wife.

“
When do you plan to leave?” Walter asked as he threaded his fingers through Nema’s slender ones.

“
It will take a couple of weeks to get everything in order,” Alan said looking over to where Manota was standing, his eyes still moving to Tony on occasion now. “Will that be alright, Jo? We need to take care of things here if we don’t plan on returning. I’d liked to set things up so that we can hopefully support ourselves on your new world. There are a few things I know your mother will want to take with us as well.”

Jo looked over her shoulder at Manota. She had been doing all the talking because, although he could understand what they were saying, they could not understand him until a translator was embedded into their ears. She cleared her throat to get his attention, raising her eyebrow at him in amusement at the dark scowl still on his face.

“Is it possible to stay that long?” She asked softly.

Manota gave a brief nod of his head.
“Yes,” he muttered before he glanced back at Tony who was trying to not to be too obvious about how his eyes kept going back to Jo. “I swear if he looks at you one more time, I will cut his eyes out,” he added.

Jo rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Down boy. He has been like this since I first met him when we were seventeen. He isn’t really in love with me, he just thinks he is because I haven’t fallen for his good looks.”

Manota
’s eyes jerked back down and if anything, the look on his face became more menacing. “You think he is good looking?” He growled out.

“
I am not discussing this with you right now,” Jo muttered turning back to where Walter and Nema were looking at them in amusement.

Ricki stood up gracefully, closing the notebook she always carried.
“Yes, well. If you need any assistance with anything, Alan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I can handle the liquidation of any assets that you have and file the necessary documents,” she said quietly. “Papa, I think it might be best if you could say something to help those who have been worried about Jo, Star and River at the meeting tomorrow morning - just to let them know they are okay.” Ricki turned to look at Jo for a moment before she bent and hugged her friend. “Everyone has been very worried. I am happy for you, Jo,” she whispered. “You, Star and River all deserve this happiness.”

Jo looked into Ricki
’s smoky gray eyes. She saw the sincerity there and a hint of sadness that Ricki couldn’t quite hide. She reached over and squeezed Ricki’s hand.

“
Thank you, Ricki,” Jo said quietly. “I’ll miss you. You’ll always be my sister, no matter where I am.”

Ricki
’s eyes clouded for a moment before she straightened, standing stiffly. “Papa, momma, if you are ready.”

“
Marvin, Martin, move everyone out!” Walter’s gruff voice called out. “We have things to do.”

Jo stood up and walked Ricki, Walter and Nema to the door. She gave them each a hug before giving the others who had come along one as well. She paused as Tony came up to her.

“Sorry about your head, Tony. Is it feeling a little better?” She asked, ignoring the low growl coming from the other side of the room.

Tony grinned and nodded.
“I’ve had worse,” he admitted as he shot an amused glance at Manota who was glaring daggers at him again. “Do you think he would try to kill me again if I gave you a hug?”

Jo nodded her head and giggled.
“More than likely,” she said with a wry grin.

“
Well, they say you only get to live life to the fullest once. I always did love to live dangerously,” he said as he bent forward and sealed his lips over hers again in a quick kiss.

Jo gasped as she was turned, placing her body between Manota and Tony. She felt her feet leaving the ground at the same time as Tony pulled away with a laugh. Massive forearms circled her waist, pulling her back against an equally large and solid chest. Jo watched as Tony chuckled as he ran down the hallway and slid between the doors of the elevator as it started to close. The twinkle of merriment and challenge burned in his eyes as he gave a last minute salute to Manota.

“I’m going to kill that bastard,” Manota said, staring at the closed doors.

Manota paused as he looked over the items that had already been stored. They had been on Earth for almost two weeks now. He had focused on learning as much as he could about Jo’s life here, as well as monitoring the situation back on Kassis when he was aboard the warship. His brother had been rescued and would be on his way back to Kassis soon.

He wasn
’t surprised to discover Tai Tek had been behind Jazin’s abduction. His father refused to tell him any details, explaining he would share everything once they returned to Kassis. Manota knew the former councilman, who had been behind the assassination attempt on his older brother and the attack at the dinner, would have tortured Jazin in an attempt to get information from him.

He might be limited in what he could do from Earth to avenge the wrong done to his family but there were other things that could be done in the meantime. He had directed Kev and K
’tar to step up their efforts to find every source of credit Tai Tek had and shut him down. Both men had taken on the task with glee, finding source after source and freezing or confiscating it.

“
When do you believe we will be able to leave, my lord?” Kev asked as he came to stand next to Manota in the loading bay.

“
Tomorrow night,” Manota said.

He looked at the two small crates sitting forlornly in the corner. Jo
’s parents did not have much that they wished to take with them. He had expected the cargo area to be at least partially full. Even Jo hadn’t wanted to bring much, just a few boxes.

The tall female, Ricki, had taken care of the sale of Star and Jo
’s condo and Tami and Alan’s place in record time. She had also deflected questions from a detective who was working the case. It would appear Jo’s condo association had installed video surveillance cameras shortly after their disappearance. It was checked after a neighbor complained about discovering that the large potted plant on the eleventh floor was now embedded in the outside wall of their condo while they were gone. The detective was able to identify Jo from the grainy video. If that wasn’t bad enough, a reporter had also been ‘sniffing’ around according to Ricki.

The only reason they couldn
’t leave tonight was because there were a few unanticipated visitors aboard. His thoughts turned to Jo and her unexpected guests. Alan and Tami Strauss had arrived at the isolated cattle pasture outside of Orlando several hours ago with more items they wanted to bring with them. Only this time, they had not been alone. Walter, Nema and Ricki had been with them. Walter had explained that he wanted to check out the warship, just to make sure it wasn’t some elaborate scheme or trick.

It would appear not much got by the little ringmaster. Alan had explained that Walter had several of the performers who were experts in
‘unmentionable’ skills keeping an eye on him and Tami. Walter had been concerned that someone was targeting the circus performers from the Cirque de Magik after the girls disappeared. When his contacts reported Alan and Tami were heading to Jo’s condo in a hurry, Walter had called in some re-enforcements which is how everyone ended up at Jo and Star’s condo at the same time.

Jo had explained to Manota what a few of the
‘unmentionable’ skills included. He found out that Mattie had been a ‘handler’ and all her dogs were trained to sniff out explosives. Suzy was a former rodeo clown. Her husband, Curly, had been an undercover DEA agent working a case. They had met, fallen in love, and had almost been killed when Suzy witnessed a murder by the cartel moving drugs through the rodeo circuit that Suzy was working. Kid was really Kid Cozack. He was almost as good with a blade as River and had worked as a bodyguard for the Russian mafia before changing his identity. Stan was an ex-computer hacker who worked for various organizations, including Greenpeace, before joining the circus when several governments decided to put a price on his head. He could work just about any computer language. Marcus was really Marcus Jones, a pickpocket from Vegas that learned the tricks of the trade on the streets. The only ones no one was sure about were Marvin and Martin. They hardly ever talked and joined the circus a couple of years ago. Personally, Manota thought the two men might be members of an alien species from the outer ring of the Dramentic star system. He couldn’t tell with the white and black face paint on but he swore their vivid gray eyes were the same as the Kor d’lurs. Walter insisted they were just Mimes who acted as his bodyguards when he or Nema were away from the circus.

Kev turned as Jo and the others came back into the cargo area. He watched in amusement as Walter asked the tall, slender female next to him several questions. They were too far away for him to hear what was being said but the small male appeared to be satisfied with the answer he received.

“He has a commanding presence,” Kev nodded at Walter who was thoughtfully looking over the area. “I get the feeling he is up to something.”

“
Well after tonight, it will be too late,” Manota said, watching the gentle sway of Jo’s hips as she walked over to where her parents were standing talking to Nema. “I would like for you to escort Walter, his mate and their daughter to the surface.”

Kev bowed his head before turning and leaving to prepare the air bike. Manota watched Kev leave before turning back with a deep sigh. He could tell that something had surprised Jo when she looked up at him with a jerk, her eyes filled with trepidation. He walked over to where she was standing with her parents and Nema. Walter and Ricki joined them at the same time.

“Walter,” Manota bowed his head in respect. “My Security Chief will escort you and your family to the surface. We will be preparing for our departure tomorrow. I thank you for your help and support during our time here.”

Walter grinned up at Manota.
“You have a magnificent ship here, Manota. This is going to be perfect,” Walter said.

“
Perfect?” Manota repeated, confused.

“
Yes, perfect. I had been worried but there is plenty of room. Hell, we could fit twice the size of the Cirque de Magik in here if we had to.”

“
Twice the size?” Manota repeated.

He was beginning to wonder if the translator that he had Shavic install in the ringmaster
’s ears were defective and if they were having two totally different conversations. He opened his mouth to ask the short male if he could clarify what he meant when Kev suddenly reappeared and called out to him.

“
Excuse me,” Manota said with a slight bow.

He turned, striding toward Kev who was walking toward him with a dark scowl on his face. A sense of unease began to build inside him as he glanced over his shoulder. His eyes collided with Jo
’s worried ones. She smiled – apologetically before lowering her lashes as a small smile curved her lips. His head began to throb as he turned back to study the tight look on Kev Mul Kar’s face. Something told him he was about to understand the conversation Walter was having and he wasn’t going to like it – not one little bit.

*.*.*

Jo winced when she heard the loud ‘What’ echo as Manota discovered there had been a tiny change of plans.

Okay,
she thought,
it wasn’t exactly ‘tiny’.

She bit her fingernail as she watched him turn to glare at Walter who was talking animatedly to her parents. His short arms were waving back and forth as he talked. In between his explanations to her parents, he was giving out orders for Ricki as he thought up new things. Knowing Ricki, she would have already taken care of it before her dad said a word.

Jo studied Manota’s face as first disbelief, then horror, then fury crossed over it. She grimaced as he raised his hands to his head and ran them through his short hair, a loud groan of frustration heated the atmosphere. He turned and strode back toward them with a grim determination that didn’t bode well – for him. He didn’t know Walter like Jo did. If he thought he was going to change Walter or any of the other circus members’ minds then he was about to learn that Walter was a might that not even the strongest Kassisan warrior wanted to go up against.

“
Walter!” Manota called out through clenched teeth. “I need to have a word with you!”

Jo glanced worriedly down at Walter. She covered her mouth to stifle the nervous giggle that escaped. Walter was beaming.

Nope,
she thought as she watched Walter walked toward Manota.
Manota didn’t stand a chance.

*.*.*

Manota glared down at Walter’s smug face as the shorter man walked up to him. There was something in the human male’s eyes that was a little – too self-satisfied – too confident. Manota didn’t know what it was but whatever in the hell it was, he was going to wipe it out of the man’s eyes. Kev came back to let him know their scanners were picking up a lot of unusual activity along the edge of the lake they were submerged in.

“
The scanners are picking up a wide variety of life forms, some quite large. In addition, there are numerous vehicles in various sizes with more approaching,” Kev had informed him grimly. “It is going to be very difficult to remain unseen. The only reason we are submerged is because the drain the cloaking device has on the crystals. There is no way we will be able to take off from the lake unseen. For that matter, there will be no way for our three newest visitors to be returned without being seen.”

Manota
’s mind worked out how it was possible to be discovered. It had been the look in his mate’s eyes, combined with the words he didn’t understand from Walter, that finally came together to create a very unpleasant picture.

“
You’ll have to bring this thing to the surface, of course,” Walter was saying, snapping his fingers in the air. A moment later, Ricki was by his side. “How long do you think it will take to arrange everything, Ricki?”

Ricki smiled at Manota.
“The crews are very efficient. They can have everything loaded and locked down within six hours. The large pieces of equipment and all the animals will be brought on first. There is adequate room for the equipment and animals in this bay. The bay next to this one should be fine for the crew’s living accommodations. It will work out well as they would be in close proximity to the animals that will need to be cared for,” Ricki explained quietly.

“
Animals?” Manota choked out in dismay. “This is a warship! Not a… a…” He paused trying to think of the word Jo had said. “This is not a zoo!”

“
Then it is a good thing this is a circus and not a zoo, right Manota?” Walter chuckled good-naturedly. “The crew are experts at handling the animals on long voyages.”

“
That is true, Mr. Ja Kel Coradon. We have made many trips on both ocean going freighters and trains. Both have a certain amount of movement that can cause the animals distress but those in charge of the animals are quite prepared to deal with any situation that may arise. Now, if I can get your signature here, here and here, please,” Ricki asked handing her clipboard to Manota along with a pen.

Manota glanced down at the lines on the documents where small yellow markers pointed. He picked up the writing device and signed his name when Ricki pointed to them again. As soon as he finished, she quickly slipped the clipboard back out of his hands. His mind was trying to keep up with what Walter was saying. Something about
him and Nema needing to return to town to finish hooking up their fifth wheel but would be back in just a few hours. Everyone else would be ready and should be arriving in segments over the next two hours so it wouldn’t look too suspicious.

“
You just get this damn thing up to the surface and we’ll take care of the rest. I can’t tell you how excited everyone is. Not one member of the circus backed out. Of course, we’ve been together for years and I didn’t expect them to…” He was saying.

“
Of course not, dear,” Nema said as she came up to give her husband a hug. “Half of them have been hiding for years from some devious element or just love traveling and seeing new worlds! This is a wonderful new start. To think we are going to be performing to a whole new audience! I’m so proud of you, Walter! Oh my, this is so exciting, Manota. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you taking us with you!”

Jo and her parents came to stand next to Manota who was still trying to figure out at what part of the conversation he had lost control. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, Walter would go off on another long explanation of what they would need or how they were going to secure the items they were taking. Manota looked at Jo who was staring at him with stars of excitement and happiness in her eyes. He knew at that exact moment that he had lost not only the battle, but his entire warship – to the Cirque de Magik and Walter.