Alien Interludes (5 page)

“Yes, my emperor,” Korkla and the crowd of Nobeks chorused, and with a blur of movement the room emptied out except for Bevau and Egilka.

The Nobek Emperor turned to his remaining clanmate. “Egilka, assemble a medical team, smal but prepared in case she’s found…” He swalowed before spitting out the next word. “…injured. Clear a surgical room and have Flencik on standby.”

“You expect they’l do damage?” The Imdiko’s voice was almost lost in an animal growl. His teeth flashed white behind his mustache.

“Every woman who’s been abducted has been hurt.”
Or killed
. Not many knew of the five horrific homicides, only that the women had gone missing. The information that Earther Mataras had actualy been murdered had been kept from even Jessica. “I’m hoping the bastards wil be too busy trying to spirit her out of the hospital before that happens.”

“If she is injured, you wil kil whoever harms her.” It was a flat statement, almost an order.

Bevau gave his clanmate a humorless smile. “Slowly and very painfuly,” he promised.

* * * *

Jessica lost al track of time in the silent darkness as she battled against panic and the paralysis that gripped her body. It was easy to believe she’d been entombed, never to see the sun again.

Terror and determination traded places innumerable times. During the fear-filed periods she cried silent tears, convinced she’d never escape, never see her clan or her children again. Noele and Wayne were too young to remember her should she never return to them. To miss seeing her babies grow up, to never witness them fulfil the promise the toddlers showed…

Moments later, she’d steel her resolve. Concentrating on the finger that had twitched earlier, she narrowed her focus to laserpoint precision, silently insisting it obey her and move again. Once she thought she felt her toe move instead, but it could have been wishful thinking. A muscle spasm, maybe.

Jessica was working at her finger again, determined she would lift it this time. She would not give up, would not give in to tears again. There was a way out of this. And when she got her hands on those bastards who had made her cry, they’d be the ones bawling.

Her finger jumped. Jessica caught her breath with excitement.
That’s it. Come on, do it again
, she coaxed. It jerked.

Okay, progress was being made. Whatever they’d drugged her with was wearing off. But she had to hurry, because whoever was coming to get here would be taking her away at any moment now. And only heaven knew where she’d end up.

Jessica switched her attention to her entire hand. She steadied her breath, going back to the breathing exercises Flencik had taught her for the birth of her firstborn, Wayne. Calm and steady. Thinking about energy and strength filing her hand, giving it the power to move. She could do this. Lifting up … lifting up … lifting up…

Nothing.

Damn this shit all to hell!
Fury at her helplessness blazed red and angry through her mind, giving rise to words her frozen vocal cords couldn’t utter.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck you, motherfucker!

Her hand jerked.

Jessica would have laughed if she could. Calm mind, no results. Giving into her temper had achieved a better outcome. No problem. She had temper in spades.

All right, body. Let’s show these shitheads they don’t fuck with the empress. Time to jump up and kick somebody’s ass.

Except jumping up was stil impossible, no matter how pissed off she got. But her hand moved up and down, executing a slow, trembling wave at her side. Progress, but not enough, damn it.

Jessica waggled her fingers, found that wasn’t too hard. She walked them up her thigh, straining to lift her stil heavy, stil stupid arm. She wanted to cheer when she managed to get her palm on the top of her thigh.

I am out of here. Just give me another couple of minutes.

She made her hand creep up her body, feeling the slick cloth that encased her with the back of her hand. Was it just draped, or was this similar to the body bags used back on Earth? She strained to lift her arm so she could feel it better. The arm obeyed her for a split second, then drooped and flopped down by her side again, putting her right back where she’d started.

MOTHERFUCKER!

Jessica hissed air when she wanted to scream. As rage consumed her once more, she brought her entire arm up and slapped at the cover. It moved al around her, shifting beneath her neck. Body bag then, not just a drape.

She flailed both arms, using the burst of anger to search for the closure. A smal familiar sound like a purring rip rewarded her efforts, letting her know the bag was sealed with a fabric hook-and eye closure. Her arms fel limp then, exhausted from her efforts. Bringing al the things that made her mad to the forefront of her mind couldn’t revive them this time. She had to rest.

Jessica fretted as the minutes ticked by, but she made herself count to 60 ten times. Then she ralied herself for another attempt. This time her arms and hands responded without needing her to go into an al-out rage; grim determination seemed to work just fine. She was stil terribly weak, but she made herself move.

Her fingertips skittered over the bag lying on her chest, seeking to find the seam closure. The coarse edge greeted her touch, and she wormed her fingers between the joining pieces of fabric. Slowly she forced an opening until her fingers broke through to the outside of the bag. Jessica huffed a voiceless version of a cheer. She pushed her hand farther out until her hand had completely escaped the slick fabric prison that held her.

She tried to slide her arm up towards her face, wanting desperately to breathe air outside the body bag, the air of the living. Her strength failed again, and with an inward curse, Jessica forced herself to count off five minutes. At the end of that period, she tried again, and the seam holding the bag closed parted.

She weakly pushed the bag open with both arms, emerging from her cocoon of blackness to … more blackness. Wel of course, she was closed up in a vault in the morgue. No light for a corpse to read a good book by.

But she’d broken through one barrier to her freedom, and Jessica couldn’t help but twitch her reluctantly responding lips into a smile. Now on to the next obstacle.

She slid her arms to reach beyond her head and found the closed hatch sealing her in the vault. Her hands wandered over the cold, slick surface, finding only smooth metal. Jessica hoped for a latch that would open the vault from the inside, but search as she would, she found no way to escape the confines. Hadn’t anyone ever accidently locked themselves in one of these? Surely there was some failsafe in case it happened! But if there was, she couldn’t locate it.

Jessica tried to think past the claustrophobic terror creeping up on the edges. Her temper wasn’t going to free her this time. She’d have to come up with another plan to get out of this mess.

* * * *

Clajak prowled the hastily assembled command center, looking at every vid, absorbing every tidbit of useless information that came in. His inability to find his mate was driving him crazy. It was the second time someone had tried to snatch Jessica from him, and he was considering either keeping her locked in the clan’s quarters or chaining her to his body. Not that his fiercely independent Matara would alow either.

He drew near Lidon, the limping Nobek who quoted scripture from the Book of Life. The dark and dangerous former spy was taking reports from al over the hospital, searching for any anomalous occurrences. The usualy inscrutable Nobek was frowning at his vid, and Clajak alowed himself a spark of hope.

“Something out of the ordinary?” he asked.

“More an instinct, my emperor. I’ve learned to listen to my intuition, as unscientific as it may be.”

“Tel me.” Clajak knew Lidon had been a major player in ending of the war with Earth. The Dramok Emperor had been present when Bevau decorated him and his clanmates for their service. The little Clajak had seen of the elder Nobek impressed him.

“I’ve received reports from the various departments as to operation anomalies. Nothing of particular interest. Only one department hasn’t reported in: the morgue.”

“Have you contacted them directly?”

“I tried, but no one is manning the desk at this time.” Lidon swung around to face Clajak. “Here’s what I know. Nothing realy noteworthy has happened there since the empress’ disappearance. Two bodies were brought in, and al paperwork checked out. Shortly after the second body was dropped off, the security camera covering the admitting desk went out for a period of thirty seconds. Again, this is nothing of particular note as maintenance has been trying to chase down an intermittent loss of power to that monitor for the last month. When the recorder came back on, the attendant was no longer at the desk. He has not returned for the last half hour, but it is conceivable he is having his midday meal.”

“So why is it bothering you so much, Lidon?”

“I can’t find footage of the attendant going anywhere. I have checked the recordings of al his possible routes, and he doesn’t show up anywhere at the time of his disappearance.” Bevau’s voice at his shoulder startled Clajak. He hadn’t heard his Nobek clanmate approach. “Is there a guard at the loading dock off the morgue?”

“Yes, a member of the Royal Guard. No one has gone in or out through there.” Lidon brought up the external video from the loading dock. “A shuttle is just now arriving for a pickup.”

“Is that being alowed?” Clajak asked.

“No one can enter or exit the hospital. See, the Guardsman is talking to the shuttle pilot now, probably informing him he can’t pick any bodies up. Admittance for any reason has been completely disalowed—”

Lidon broke off and the three men went on alert when the Guardsman and pilot entered the morgue together. “Someone didn’t get the message,” Clajak growled.

Bevau leaned over the seated Lidon. “The bodies that were brought in earlier. Were either of them smal enough to be Earther?” Lidon’s fingers flew over his command keys faster than he could have barked his wishes to the computer. “First one, definitely Kalquorian sized. The second—” They al growled like a pack of rabid animals at the replay of the footage. Lidon was on his feet and heading for the door in a blur despite the limp that plagued one leg. Bevau was quick to folow. His voice faded as he shouted back to Clajak.

“Relay the information to Breft! Keep an eye on the morgue!”

* * * *

The door to Jessica’s vault swung open, and she fought to keep her eyes slitted open in the sudden glare. She’d managed to move far enough to be huddled at the far end of the drawer. As she watched, an arm reached in and began to slide the drawer out. She tumbled her stil reluctant body off of it to the smooth metal surface below.

There was a moment of silence when the shelf, empty except for the body bag she’d been encased in, was drawn into the room outside the vault.

“Where is she?” a harsh male voice exploded. “It’s a trap!”

The silhouette of a head and shoulders appeared at the end of the vault. Jessica’s eyes were stil dazzled, and she was unable to make out the features of the man. She did see a familiar flash of red. He wore a Royal Guard’s uniform. Her breath froze.

“The idiots screwed up with the paralyzing compound. She’s moved herself down to the end.” The bulk of the traitor slid into the vault, reaching for her. Jessica cringed, but she had nowhere to go and not enough strength to fight him off. A hand closed over the back of her neck, puling her towards him.

She was able to turn her head. His forearm was right there, and she clamped her teeth on it, biting down as hard as she was able. Blood poured from the wound. The Kalquorian growled, and she saw a flash of fangs as he yanked her out into the open. He flung her to the cold, hard floor. Jessica barely registered the dul thud of pain that reverberated through her body before she scrabbled desperately to escape her attackers. Her heavy body tumbled a few inches before she was yanked into the air and slung over a muscled shoulder.

“Let’s toss her into the shuttle and sedate her quick. Then we’l get out of here.”

Jessica’s fury at the attack helped her to reach up and snarl her fist into the man’s long hair. She yanked for al she was worth, kicking weakly in an effort to get loose from him.

The man’s voice was a tight growl. “You wil stop fighting or be hurt very badly, Earther.”

“Fuck you,” Jessica’s voice finaly offered a thin hiss of sound. She yanked again, but her strength was failing once more. She steeled herself for one last burst of energy, for one last attempt.

He carried her outside into the sunshine-drenched loading dock. Shouts of angry Kalquorians exploded in the air.

“Stop right there!”

“Halt or be shot!” Bevau’s infuriated roar was the sweetest sound ever.

Sudden impact knocked the Kalquorian carrying Jessica out from under her, and she spiled onto the stone surface of the dock, her momentum roling her onto her back. She finaly clearly saw the abductor as he crouched over her. He indeed wore the red formsuit of the Royal Guards, and his ferocious face was vaguely familiar to her though she didn’t know his name.

One of her sworn protectors had attacked her. It was a bad sight to see.

The Nobek was showing his fangs to Bevau, who stood only a few feet away. Her clanmate also snarled around rattlesnake-like fangs, his body tensed for attack. Jessica wondered why he didn’t let the Guardsman have it for an instant before realizing her would-be kidnapper held a dagger inches from her chest.

The Guardsmen went for his blaster with his other hand.

Rage and fear burst through Jessica. Without thinking, she drew her knees up and pistoned her feet into the man’s crotch. A strange cry whistled from his throat; it almost sounded like a baby’s thin wail.

He dropped to his knees over her, and his dagger clattered to the floor by her ear.

With a roar, Bevau barreled into him, knocking the guard backwards and away from Jessica’s prone body. The next instant, Lidon grabbed the emperor by the colar and jerked him off the other man before he could kil him.