Perfect Specimen (13 page)

Lizzie nodded. “I won’t take my eyes off her. Not for a second. We’re not sure the alien is really gone yet, right? So we can’t take any chances.”

“We don’t think he can find her here. But just in case . . .” Clay pulled the pistol from under his sweatshirt and handed it to the college student. “The safety’s on, so don’t worry. But if by some miracle he shows up, flip this, then aim and shoot. Can you do that?”

“Are you kidding? It would be the best moment of my whole life!”

“You’re as bad as Randy.” Clay grinned. “Can I get you a sandwich too?”

“I’m too excited to eat.”

“Okay then . . .” He kissed Sara’s cheek before heading for the door, adding over his shoulder, “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“We’ll be here,” Sara said with a sigh as she slipped back under the covers.

As soon as he disappeared from sight, she gave Lizzie a hopeful smile. “So?”

“I’ll help you,” the girl confirmed. “But only if you promise to take me with you to Ra-ahl. That’s not negotiable.”

Sara nodded in relief. Until now, she had assumed her only option would be to convince Clay to leave her alone with the female geneticist, whom she would then overpower. This was so much better.

“I brought you clothes.” Lizzie tugged a short black skirt and a black T-shirt out of the backpack. Then she pulled a tiny cell phone into view. “And this.”

“Hallelujah.” Sara accepted it reverently. “We need to get moving. But first, I’ll call my voice mail and leave Ga’rag a message about how to find us.”

* * * *

“Are you sure he hasn’t already left for Ra-ahl?”

“I’m sure.” Sara had pulled the sheer white drape around the bed so no one could pop in and see her changing into street clothes. “He and I made a deal. I’d do everything he asked, and he’d take me with him.”

“And me.”

Shrugging out of her gown, Sara pulled the skirt over her legs and wriggled into the too-tight shirt. “He’s going to perform surgery on me during the trip. To give me gills so I can breathe on Ra-ahl. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“No problem.” Lizzie handed her a pair of chunky sandals. “I’m still willing to go in your place, you know. I’d take good care of your daughters. And you could stay with Clay. Have more babies with
him
.”

Sara gave her a warm hug. “It’s settled. We’re both going.”

It was a lie, of course. Even if she were willing to watch this sweet kid throw her life away, Ga’rag would never agree to it.

Poor Lizzie. She’ll be so upset. But someday, she’ll meet a guy like Clay and she’ll be happy she doesn’t have gills
.

Sara had known from childhood that she would never have the privilege of falling in love, getting married, and raising babies in the traditional way. And now—even though she felt a twinge of jealousy for women who had that chance—she also felt grateful that she had been allowed to have this glimpse of such things with Clay. In a strange but real sense, she had lived a lifetime in one short month, learning the best of what a man—and a family—could be. Loving, and being loved in return. Trusting, albeit imperfectly. Forging memories—sweet, romantic, erotic—that could never be taken from her.

And soon she would experience the joys of raising her children. It wouldn’t be traditional in any sense, but compared to her worst fears, she almost felt blessed as she finished dressing.

“We should go,” she announced. “I told Ga’rag we’d head due west. He’ll catch up with us along the way.”

She reached for the sheer bed curtain, but a burst of blinding light at the foot of the bed froze her, and she instinctively grabbed Lizzie and pulled her behind herself, completely unsure of what to expect next.

He had never appeared this way. Not ever. And as he materialized, she realized she had never really seen him before. This Ga’rag—the
real
Ga’rag—was nothing like the illusion he had maintained for twenty-eight years.

This Ga’rag was a monster.

Not tall and slender like the supposed doctor who had counseled and reprimanded her so often. Not the quintessential alien with long bony limbs and huge dark eyes. Instead, only the clawed hands and gills had been accurately portrayed.

This Ga’rag was closer to an Earth reptile than a true humanoid. Still, he stood upright, and there was keen intelligence in his narrow, slitted eyes. Five feet ten at the most, he was nevertheless unbelievably massive, and while his expression was partially obscured by the complicated breathing apparatus imbedded in the flared collar of his military uniform, there was no mistaking the arrogant fury he was experiencing.

That
at least was familiar.

“Ga’rag.” Sara bowed her head, trying not to show how revolted she was by this new persona. He was a hideous sight—slimy and scaled. But he was also the only hope for her children’s survival, and she would gladly have dropped to her knees if Lizzie’s arms hadn’t been so desperately clinging to her rib cage.

The gills of the overlord were pulsating. “What have they done to you, Sara Kent?”

“What?”

“Barbarians! They dared use their primitive tools on you?”

Her hand flew to her face. “It doesn’t hurt, Ga’rag. I promise.”

“Don’t they know you are
my
property?”

“I’m sorry, Overlord. Just get me out of here. Please?” She hesitated, then glanced over her shoulder at Lizzie’s terrified expression. There was really no need to ask, but still she said to the girl, “Do you still want to come with us?”

Lizzie shook her head, her eyes wide with terror.

Ga’rag’s laugh was tinged with contempt. “I brought enough equipment, just in case you really wanted to bring this sniveling coward.” He tossed a handful of paraphernalia onto the bed. “I am glad to hear you don’t expect that. Put a mask on. You will not be able to breathe aboard the ship. And put a band on your arm so that you can be transported by the beam.”

Sara picked up an elaborate breathing contraption. “I don’t remember wearing this before.”

“You have never visited my ship before.”

She stared at him. “But the girls . . . ?”

He laughed again. “They await you.”

“Thank God.” Wincing, she added quickly, “And thank
you
, Ga’rag.”

“Hurry.” The overlord began to cough. Then he complained in a sputter, “This foul air is putrid to me.”

“Sorry you don’t like it,” a third voice drawled.

Before Sara could react, Clay stepped from behind the curtain and shoved a plastic spray bottle against Ga’rag’s neck. “Must be the ammonia, asshole. I had a feeling you wouldn’t like this stuff.”

“Clay! What are you doing? He’ll kill you!”

“Not if I kill him first.” Clay grinned. “What do you think, Ga’rag? Should I pump a few squirts down your throat?”

“No!”

“I didn’t think so.” To Sara he added, “I read about the ammonia in your diary. He wasn’t worried about
you
when he told you not to use it. He was protecting himself in case he ever had to visit you in the flesh.”

“Clay, let him go. He has my babies—”

“No way, beautiful. He’s a cloner. Sexual reproduction disgusts him. Right, big guy?” Pressing the bottle more firmly again the giant reptile’s throat, Clay added with rough menace, “Tell her. Now! Or I’ll fill your goddammed lungs with this crap.”

Ga’rag’s eyes were wild with fear. “It’s true, Sara. Listen to him. I am a cloner. I’ve been lying to you. Not from disrespect, but from necessity.”

“What are you saying?”

Clay’s tone grew grim. “I’m sorry, honey. But there aren’t any babies. There never were.” Nudging Ga’rag with the nozzle, he added, “Right, asshole?”

“There never were,” Ga’rag agreed hoarsely. “I swear it, Sara. Can you forgive me? My race was dying. We needed to test you, and for that I needed your cooperation. If it’s any comfort, you are the solution we have been searching for.”

Sara shook her head. “That can’t be true. I saw them. I held them.”

“They were never real. All I ever needed from you was a sample.” To Clay he added with renewed conviction, “Let me go and I promise this will be over.”

“What about the other specimens?”

“Yes, yes. I won’t bother them again either. Sara was always the best. And today, she proved that. We will be content with her sample. I swear it.”

Clay glanced at Sara as though awaiting her verdict. He clearly wanted to kill Ga’rag, but if Sara asked for mercy, he would grant her wish and let the overlord return to Ra-ahl.

But to Sara, those choices made no sense.

“I held them,” she repeated stubbornly. “I
felt
them. In my heart. In my soul.”

Ga’rag’s angry expression softened. “Your lover is correct, Sara. I am a cloner. I never took your eggs. My intent was always to clone you, not to breed with you. And you never came to my spacecraft. It was an illusion made possible by the chip.”

Sara studied him carefully. She had never known him to lie to her, but that had been a foolish assumption. Either he had lied in the past or he was lying now.

Turning her attention to Clay, she said simply, “I know what I know. My babies are on that ship.”

“Fine. I’ll take a look.”

“
We’ll
take a look.”

Clay shook his head. “I don’t trust this creep enough for that.”

Sara’s temper flared. “Ga’rag? I want to go too.”

Clay laughed. “Ga’rag isn’t in charge anymore. I am.” He twisted the tip of the nozzle against the alien’s neck for emphasis. “Just toss me one of those masks.”

“You need an armband too,” Lizzie croaked from behind Sara. “That’s how he beams you up.”

“Great. Help me out, Liz.” Clay held the bottle firmly in place while the girl grabbed the equipment from the bed and scurried over to him.

Wrapping a transport band around Clay’s upper arm, Lizzie said softly, “I’m sorry I gave Sara a phone. I just didn’t understand.”

Clay smiled warmly. “Mark called for an update when I was halfway to the cafeteria, and when I told him you were here, he filled me in about you. So no harm done.”

Visibly relieved, the girl gave him a sheepish smile. Then she secured the mask, backed away and sank onto the bed as though completely exhausted.

Clay gave Sara a stern look. “I’ll check it out thoroughly. But if I don’t find any babies, we’re done. Right?”

She nodded, scarcely daring to breathe.

“Okay.” Clay shoved the nozzle into the alien’s left gill. “Let’s go, freak.”

* * * *

The brilliant flash of light that engulfed Clay and Ga’rag had barely faded when Randy arrived with two other males. Pulling the curtain completely open, the youngest Ryerson brother demanded, “What did I miss? Sara, are you okay?”

“He took Clay.”

“Huh?”

Sara stepped up to Randy and wearily wrapped her arms around his chest. “I think it’s okay. For now at least. Clay overpowered him with a bottle of ammonia. It was—well, it was amazing.”

“Ammonia?”

“That’s Ga’rag’s Achilles’ heel, I guess.”

“And now Clay’s on the ship with him? Dang, I wish I’d gotten here sooner.”

One of the other young guys had sat on the bed next to Lizzie, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Are you okay, Liz?”

“I was so stupid.”

“No argument here,” the guy agreed. “Thanks for scaring us to death.”

“Yeah, Lizzie,” Randy scolded her. “You almost gave Durgan a heart attack. He’s been trying to get up enough nerve to hit on you, and then you almost leave the galaxy before he makes his big move.”

The girl blushed and said to Durgan, “What’s he talking about?”

Durgan scowled. “Just be my girlfriend, will you?”

“Yeah,” the third young man said with a grin. “You were willing to date a gilled ET, so don’t pretend you have any standards.”

Lizzie turned back to Durgan, burst into tears and buried her face against his
Lord of the Rings
T-shirt.

“How does this stuff work?” Randy asked, grabbing the second mask from the bed and positioning it across his nose. “We need to rescue my brother.”

“It goes around your neck, not over your face,” Sara explained. “But you can’t get to the ship unless Ga’rag beams you there. Using this.” She showed him the band on her arm. “I begged them to take me, but they wouldn’t. Let’s just hope there weren’t any other aliens on the ship waiting for them.”

Randy touched her cheek. “He went to look for the babies? I told you there aren’t any.”

She nodded unhappily. “I should have listened to you. Ga’rag said it too. And so did the genetic specialist your brother consulted. But I was so sure.” Her heart sank. “If anything happens to Clay because of me—”

“Clay’s a stud,” Randy insisted. “He’ll be fine. I just wish I had Dad’s gun. Just in case.”

“I forgot about the gun!” Sara rummaged in Lizzie’s backpack and retrieved the weapon. “If Ga’rag comes back, we’ll shoot him. I’m not taking any more chances.”