“I want to go home,” Tina said bluntly.
Tandor paused and looked at Tina in confusion. “But…,” he started to say, but found himself staring down into Tina’s closed face.
“Now, I want to go home now,” Tina ordered. “Not later. Not in a little bit. Not when Viper gets back. Right now!”
“I…,” Tandor frowned as he tried to think of what he should do. Viper would probably kill him, but if the female insisted she wished to return to her world… With Creon Reykill gone, he was the one in charge. “I….”
“Where the hell is she?” A familiar voice yelled. “Where’s Tina St. Claire? Where the hell is my granddaughter?”
“Grandma?” Tina gasped, turning to see the comforting figure of her grandmother striding down the corridor.
“Tina, thank God,” Pearl breathed out as she quickly walked forward and wrapped her arms around her granddaughter.
“How… What are you doing here? Where’s Viper?” Tina asked in confusion. She pulled back to stare at her grandmother before her eyes met the violet eyes of Bahadur. “Pearl, where is Viper?”
“They have him, hun,” Pearl said in a gentle voice.
Tina swayed. “Who… Who has him?” She forced out. “Who has him?”
“Your government has him,” Bahadur snapped.
Chapter 14
Viper leaned his head back against the cold, stone wall. He was in a small cell that was a very ugly pale green. He had been there for about three hours from his calculations.
Bowing his head, he rubbed at his aching temple. This was not where he planned to be. If he had not returned to retrieve the documents he had dropped earlier, and Pearl St. Claire, he would have been fine.
“So what’s with the Catman?” A male in a black uniform asked the one sitting behind the desk as he shut the heavy metal door behind him.
“Some crazy,” the man replied with a shrugged. “They caught him behind The White Pearl late this evening.”
“Isn’t that the bar where the owner had some kind of wild cat that went nuts and killed a bunch of people?” The man asked. “I heard the guys talking about it when I came on duty tonight.”
“Yeah, it killed four men. Crushed their throats. The woman said she didn’t know where in the hell it came from. Her granddaughter is missing, too,” the man sitting replied before he glanced over to where Viper was reclining on the bench seat. “Guess this guy heard about it and wanted to meet his furry cousin for an after dinner snack.”
“So, why’d they bring him in?” The man standing asked, glancing over at where Viper sat on the metal bench in the cell. “Why didn’t they bring her in?”
“One of the forensic guys was finishing up and saw him on the other side of the wall. When they ordered him to stop, he ignored them,” the man said with a shrug. “Hocker was on duty and heard the call. I guess the bastard pissed him off.”
“That doesn’t take much,” the man standing replied with a chuckle.
Viper watched as the male walked over to where a machine with a pot of dark liquid was located. Viper watched the two men under his lashes. They had kept their restraints on him even after they had placed them in the cell. He had broken the cuffs around his wrists the moment he had sat down.
The loud sound of ringing echoed in the room. The man sitting at the desk reached over and picked up the device next to him. He mumbled his name before listening to what the woman on the other line was saying. Viper frowned. He couldn’t make out what was being said.
The man hung up the device and grimaced. “Our friend has a visitor,” the man said with a grin.
“Who?”
“FBI,” the man chuckled, staring at Viper. “I hope you’ve got a good alibi. You’re going to need it.”
*.*.*
Detective Joel ‘Joe’ Manchester sat in the car outside of the San Diego Police Department. He reached over and picked up the packet of material lying on the seat next to him. He worked on missing persons cases for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, better known as the FBI. He had just closed one that had scared the shit out of him and made him question everything that he thought he understood about the world around him.
He glanced down at the image of the young girl from Georgia. Melina Franklin had reappeared just as mysteriously as she disappeared. He had received a flag that she had returned and went to find out what happened. What he discovered had not only shocked the shit out of him, but scared the hell out of him as well. He thought back to just a few days ago when he sat in the cemetery beside her.
“Do you have a family, Detective Manchester?” She had asked him in a quiet voice that held a knowledge of things he couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Yes,” he remembered replying, startled by her question.
“Keep them safe and tell them you love them,” she had whispered in a voice far too old for a girl her age. “The universe is a very large and dangerous place. It is also an empty one without them.”
It wasn’t only her words that had shaken him., it was what he had seen. Out of the corner of his eye, he had caught sight of a glimmer of gold in the woods off to the side of the cemetery. Gold that reminded him of the creatures he had seen in the small police station in Clayton County, Georgia.
A shiver of apprehension ran down his spine as he closed the file and picked up the next one. Something told him that the universe was about to get smaller, and more crowded, then he was going to like. He opened the folder and looked down at the bright blue eyes shining back at him with a wicked mirth.
Riley St. Claire, born Denver, Colorado. Last seen outside of Righteous, New Mexico. His eyes scanned the details. He had been on his way home to Oceanside, California when he decided to check on some of his cases. He had sat up straight in his seat on the airplane when he noticed one of the names he had flagged popped up. Tina St. Claire was missing after an unusual tiger attack at the bar her grandmother owned. Searching his records, he quickly realized why the name sounded so familiar. She was Riley St. Claire’s sister.
Joe had felt a sense of disbelief wash through him as he read the reports. He had practically snarled at the stewardess when she insisted he needed to shut down his laptop. Closing it, he had impatiently waited for the plane to land in San Diego. The moment it had, he had hurried to where his car was parked in the long term Parking garage.
Forty minutes later, he found himself sitting outside of the San Diego police department wondering if he was crazy. A quick check had shown that a suspect had been picked up and was being held for questioning. Joe looked at the dim lights of the building in front of him. It was after two in the morning, and while he knew he should be exhausted, his mind refused to agree.
Pushing open the door, he waited to be buzzed in. He nodded to the officer at the window. He reached into his coat pocket and removed his badge and identification and slid it into the slot under the window. A moment later, he was being escorted down a series of corridors.
“You said he had a strange device attached to his collar?” Joe asked the officer leading him.
“Yeah,” the woman said. “It looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.”
“I’d like to see it,” Joe said.
The woman glanced at him, but turned a corner and stopped by a door. She flashed her badge in the window and a moment later the door clicked open. Joe glanced at the name plaque outside: Properties. He gave the officer on the other side of the corner a brief smile.
“Detective Manchester would like to see Catman’s Space device,” the officer joked.
“Catman?” Joe asked with a puzzled frown.
“Yeah, the guy has tattoos that look like spots, had his teeth sharpened, and is wearing contacts that make him look like some kind of strange big cat,” the woman said with a laugh, glancing at Joe over her shoulder. “He even has these little ridges on his nose.”
The woman nodded her thanks to the officer when he handed her an envelope. She turned and smiled at Joe, before holdin
g it out to him. Joe took the large envelope and opened it. Tilting it, he held his hand out for the tiny device inside. He stared down at the odd shaped piece. It looked like an emblem. It looked like a…
“Dragon,” Joe muttered, staring at the shiny gold metal.
The universe is a very large and dangerous place.
Joe thought of Melina Franklin’s haunting words. For a split second, he was tempted to return the device to the envelope, thank the officer, and run like hell, for a split second. Instead, he pulled one of his silver cross cufflinks off of his shirt and slid it into the envelope while palming the device in his hand.
Resealing the envelope, he turned back and handed it to the office behind the counter with a murmur of thanks. He cleared his throat and smiled at the woman officer. With a nod, he followed her out of the door and down several more sections of the building before they reached the outside of the cell block.
He watched as she pressed the button on the wall. “Hey, Frank, it's Kathy, your Catman has a visitor,” she said in a clear voice. “This way.”
“Thank you,” Joe responded, his eyes already glued on the still figure sitting behind the metal bars. “Would it… Would it be possible to speak with him alone?” He asked in a hesitant voice.
The three officers frown. “That isn’t normal procedure,” Kathy stated.
“I’m not your normal officer,” Joe reminded her. “I work for the FBI. I need to speak with the prisoner alone.”
Kathy looked at the other two men. They both shrugged. She stared at Joe for several long minutes before she slowly nodded her head.
“We’ll be right outside the door if you need us,” she said.
Joe glanced up at the camera in the corner. “Does that work?” He asked under his breath, glancing over at where Viper sat behind the bars.
“No,” one of the men replied with a grin. “It’s been out for the last three days. The tech said it needed to be replaced. Of course, there is no money.”
Joe nodded, not letting the relief show on his face. Instead, he waited impatiently for the three police officers to step out of the room. Only when the door sealed behind him and he heard the click did he turn back to the huge male that was now staring at him.
Yes, he thought with a weary sigh. The world is indeed a very large, and crowded, place all of the sudden.
“You aren’t going to turn into a dragon on me, are you?” Joe asked in a quiet voice.
“Why do you ask?” The deep voice finally responded.
“Because the last police station I was in, they did. They blew a huge hole in the back of it as well,” Joe admitted with a slight grin. “They wouldn’t happen to be friends of yours, would they?”
Viper slowly stood up. He casually tossed the metal cuffs that dangled from his wrists, back onto the metal bench he had been sitting on. Rubbing his wrist, he stared down into Joe’s dark brown eyes.
“They might be,” Viper replied with a sharp-tooth grin. “They make better friends than enemies. They don’t like to die. Their gold friends make sure of that.”
Joe swallowed when he saw the man’s eyes glowing with an unnatural light. His fingers instinctively wrapped around the device in his hand. There was something different about this man compared to the other two.
“Do you know where Tina and Riley St. Claire are?” Joe asked in a low, urgent voice. “Tina disappeared from the bar her grandmother owned tonight. Her sister, Riley St. Claire, disappeared over six months ago. Riley has shoulder length, blonde curly hair, bright sky blue eyes, and….”
“Is a pain in my brother’s ass,” Viper finished. “She is my brother’s mate, as her sister is mine.”
“Mate…,” Joe mumbled, staring back at the intense eyes. “The tiger tonight was you.”
Viper’s eyes glittered with anger. “The men were sent to kill my mate. The one upstairs almost did.”
“Knockletter was one of the men killed,” Joe replied. “He was Riley’s boss at the Bail Bond company she worked at before her disappearance.”
“She escaped him,” Viper replied with a shrug. “Riley gave me papers to turn over to the Earth’s authorities. She said that he is responsible for many deaths, including a man with the same letters that you have. She has proof of it.”
“Do you have this proof?” Joe asked.
Viper shook his head. “I returned to retrieve it, but it was gone. I can get it for you, though,” he said, stepping closer to the bars. “But, I would need to return to the Valdier Warship.”
“War… Warship,” Joe stuttered, paling beneath his mocha complexion. “Are you planning on attacking the Earth?”
Joe watched as the huge man in front of him frowned for a moment before he shook his head and grinned. The smile would have eased his concern if it hadn’t been for the sharp teeth and flashing eyes. Instead, he wondered if it would be smarter to just run like hell and try to find a safe place for him to hide his wife and two kids.
“No, my mission is to deliver the documentation to the Earth authorities to stop the men and kidnap Pearl and Tina St. Claire if I have to so that I can return with them to my world,” Viper explained with a raised eyebrow.
“Kidnap... Why are you going to kidnap them?” Joe asked, unable to stop himself.
“Because Riley is getting married to my brother, Vox d’Rojah, King of the Sarafin,” Viper replied.
Joe stood staring at the man on the other side of the bars. He knew he looked like a fish out of water with his mouth hanging open, but he couldn’t help it. The last thing he expected to hear was that Riley St. Claire was marrying an alien King.
“If your brother is a King, then that makes you…,” Joe’s voice faded when he saw the regal bow of the man’s head.
He decided his complexion was probably the color of French Vanilla creamer in black coffee instead of his normal mocha. He couldn’t imagine it getting any lighter. Shaking his head, he also realized that he was about to make the craziest career decision of his life.
He slowly extended his hand and opened his fingers to show what he had nestled in the palm of his hand. His dark eyes locked with the male. Nodding his head, he forced the words past his frozen vocal cords.
“You might need this to get those papers for me,” Joe said. “I’ll make sure they get into the correct hands.”
A shiver went through Joe when one large hand reached out and took the device out of his palm. What he had not expected was for the other to reach out and wrap around his wrist. He started to pull back when he felt himself pulled closer.
“This is Viper,” Viper said, staring down at him in warning. “Two to beam up.”
“Beam,” Joe choked out. “Hel…”
His shout was cut off as the white light of the transporter engulfed him. It was still loud enough for the three officers in the hallway to hear. The loud, frantic sound of keys in the door and the loud thump of it opening echoed through the empty room.
“Where is he?” One of the men asked, coming in with his gun raised.
“Look,” Kathy whispered, staring at the pieces of handcuff tossed on the metal bench like it was a gum wrapper someone had twisted and torn.
“Shit,” the other officer said, picking up the phone and pressing the button. “We’ve had an escape.”
Chapter 15
Tina and Pearl stood outside the police station. Bahadur stood glaring at the two, stubborn women.
They had to be the most ridiculous rescue team in all the star systems, he decided. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had lost track of Toni Di Stefano and needed help locating her, he would have missed all the excitement tonight.
He was really beginning to hate this species. He had arrived at the bar to find it crawling with local government officials. Fortunately for him, Tiny had seen him before any of the ‘police officers’ as Tiny referred to them. He had pointed out the fire escape and told Bahadur to climb it to the roof.
“I’ll let Pearl know you are up there,” Tiny had said.
/>
Twenty minutes later, Pearl St. Claire had opened the door to the roof access. The female just glared at him like it was all his fault. If he hadn’t needed to find the damn human female he was looking for, he would have returned to the Horizon and washed his hands of the whole planet.
“Viper killed four men in the bar, my place is shot to hell, and now I’ve lost not one, but both of my granddaughters,” Pearl had said, pointing her shotgun at him.
Bahadur had just shrugged. “That is the Sarafin’s mess to clean up, not mine,” he had informed Pearl. “Where can I find Toni? She has disappeared.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Pearl said with a raised eyebrow. “My people have taken Viper into custody so he can’t clean it up. I want my granddaughter back or I’m going to start shooting and it ain’t gonna be no damn salt coming out of the gun this time, do you understand?”
Oh, Bahadur had understood. He had contacted the Horizon and discovered that Viper had indeed taken Tina St. Claire up to the warship. Viper had returned to the planet for Pearl, but had been captured before he could escape with her. Bahadur also discovered that if he wanted any information on the location of Toni Di Stefano, he would have to do what the damn females wanted before they would give it to him.
And that information is the only reason I am standing outside the human law enforcement building on a rescue mission with two stubborn human females and a chicken, he thought in disgust.
“Can you open the door, take out the cameras, and knock out the guards?” Tina asked anxiously as she cradled Ruby in her arms.
Bahadur cast Tina a pained expression. “And be able to walk?” He added sarcastically. “I am good at getting in and getting out of difficult places. That is one of my ‘gifts’ from the Goddesses. Doing it with two females and a chicken? No, it would require too much energy and I could become unstable.”