Anaz-Voohri (26 page)

That should do it. Carrick made sure any response to that message would be redirected to his secret mail box. The rest was simple. Carrick copied parts of Tia Vargas’ military record and modified the documents to show that she was officially married to a rich Venezuelan coffee grower as of three years ago. A little artistry and a touched up wedding picture should convince Zack never to contact her. But Carrick would also monitor Zack’s private communications to make sure he didn’t.

*****

China
, two days later

Carrick reveled in the loud vibration of the Black Hawk helicopters transporting his hundred ORION soldiers in their new blue uniform. He enjoyed the hunt more than anything and relished times like today, when he could join the fray. When he led a mission, Carrick felt powerful.

As they approached their destination, Carrick harangued the troops over the com system. “Remember that these people are not human. They may look like villagers, but don’t let that fool you. They are filthy alien scum, and their only goal is to eliminate the human race. So be ruthless. You have the best training, the best weapons. Kill every civilian on sight, including women and children.”

Carrick had to hold on to his strap as the Black Hawk banked. “Don’t be fucking stupid,” he thundered to the troops. “Fire first.
No quarters.
No mercy. Keep killing until they are all dead. Burn every single house.”

Only a couple of hybrids and their son lived among the villagers, but the troops didn’t need to know that. It was good for their morale to believe they’d killed many enemies. Erasing the village from the map was an acceptable loss. Carrick had no problem with that. Besides, it would serve as an example for those tempted to protect hybrids anywhere.

The helicopters landed on an empty marketplace, the wash of the blades lifting a cloud of dust. Frightened villagers fled toward the fields on foot or straddled a bicycle, while others stared in wonder. Cows mooed and monkeys screeched. An awning flew away and merchants tried to protect their vegetables from the dust.

“Don’t let anyone escape! Kill them all!" Carrick yelled as he leapt to the dry dirt. “Team one and two, stay with me. Team three and four, go after the fugitives. Team five, six, and seven, encircle the village. Go, go,
go
!”

Carrick’s personal target was the largest, house where the hybrid couple lived. He motioned team one to secure the back of the house while team two deployed around the front. Weapon fire cracked all around them and women screamed as the other teams did their work.

A Chinese man and woman Carrick recognized as his target, the Raidon couple, came out of the house at the commotion then ran back inside. They fired upon the soldiers through the front window.

Carrick turned to the two soldiers carrying missile launchers.
“Fire!”

One missile went through the window and another hit the roof. Carrick flattened himself on the ground as the house exploded into flames. The man ran out, his back on fire, and fell to a volley of automatic fire. His wife, followed by their teenage son, stumbled out of the burning house, only to be cut down by intense weapon fire.

The shooting ceased and Carrick approached the two downed hybrids and their progeny. The boy still breathed.

“Colonel?
This one is still alive." The soldier aimed at the boy’s head.

“Don’t kill him just yet." Carrick had a fantastic idea. “I might have some use for this hybrid pup." He approached the boy who looked about fifteen. “Are you Kin Raidon?”

The boy’s slanted eyes flashed and he spat in Carrick’s direction.

Carrick stepped aside and brushed his impeccable uniform. “I know you studied in England, son, so don’t pretend you only speak Chinese.”

Anger flared on the youth’s face. “You are a pig, and I’ll make you pay for killing my parents.”

Carrick chuckled. “I like your guts, Kin. How about I don’t kill you, and you come work for me. I can use someone with hybrid genes. How would you like to become one of the most powerful soldiers on this planet?”

“I’d rather die,” Kin snapped with stern determination.

“We’ll see about that." Carrick remembered that Kin Raidon hadn’t been modified by the Anaz-voohri. According to his
intel
, the boy was the natural product of two hybrid parents. As such he must have invaluable physical and mental abilities. Once brainwashed and reconditioned, Kin Raidon could become an asset to ORION.

Carrick called a medic. “How are his injuries?”

The medic considered the boy carefully. “His leg wounds aren’t life-threatening.”

“Have him transported to the Beijing CEM.”

“I don’t want to go to Beijing!" Kin screamed. Struggling to stand up, he fell back to the ground.

Carrick sighed then told the medic, “Give him a tranquillizer and get him out of here.”

*****

A log cabin in the Canadian wilderness

Kavak glided around the single room lit by primitive candles and heated by an open fire in a recess. How backward were these humans? But her mind boiled at this new development. She faced the woman sitting on the couch, Marianne Dupres, one of the adoptive parents for the Pleiades sisters and a loyal agent. “So who is this insolent officer killing our hybrids with such efficiency?”

Marianne raised her cool green gaze. “Colonel Jason Carrick, an upstart hacking his way to the top of ORION. Apparently he’s found a way to identify hybrids through DNA testing. He’s done much damage among our ranks in the last few months.”

Kavak hated smart humans. “If this Carrick wants to hunt hybrids, why not give him someone of our choosing to chase.”

“Like whom?" Interest sparked in Marianne’s clear face.

“How about McDougall?”

Marianne considered Kavak gravely. “You would sacrifice him?”

Kavak scoffed.
“Certainly not.
McDougall is my favorite person on this planet." She raised her blue drink to make her point. The best liqueur came from McDougall’s caves. “I only mean to set a trap.”

“At McDougall’s mansion?”

“Why not?"
Kavak enjoyed Marianne’s surprise. “We need a new place to convene anyway. The mansion is of no use now, and it’s perfect for this purpose.”

“All right."
The hybrid woman recovered quickly. “I’ll ask McDougall for a DNA sample and have it leaked to ORION.”

“Not so fast." Kavak emitted a dry hiss. “You don’t need to ask him. Better to acquire his DNA in secret. He might panic if he knows he is bait.”

“Then what do I tell him?”

Kavak took a delicious sip of Blue Heaven. “Just tell him that he should prepare for an attack. We’ll make the mansion an impregnable stronghold, bring reinforcements. I’ll provide the weapons, and when Colonel Carrick and his little army raid the mansion, we’ll be ready for them.”

Chapter Nineteen

Tia dropped her unit at the Venezuelan GSS base in San Fernando for R&R. The last mission had ended well, with an armada of drug dealers in custody. When did the US Special Forces become the international police for the GSS? The grateful base commander gladly offered Tia a Jeep from the pool for her personal trip.

Tia sat on an oil drum, waiting for the car, when her epad chimed. She rarely received messages other than mission orders from HQ, and this one came from a hospital in New York. Her first thought went to Zack. She hadn’t dared look for him, but if he contacted her first, she would gladly respond.

With trembling fingers, she punched the key to open the message. Her hopes died and her vision blurred as she red the first lines.
 
It is with the deepest regret...
Her heart felt as if a strong fist squeezed it. She could hardly breathe. How could Zack have died without her knowing? Although the doctors didn’t expect him to live more than a few years, somehow Tia had kept hoping for a miracle.

Now all she had left was the guilt of not contacting him before it was too late. Even if he’d held her responsible for his suffering, she should have been there, holding his hand until the very end. Zack wasn’t close to his family and she pictured him dying alone. Her chest filled with anguish. Now, there wasn’t even a grave where she could visit him, ask for his forgiveness.

She discreetly wiped her tears as the motor pool attendant approached her. She rose and handed her papers.
“
Gracias
.”

Tia sat behind the wheel of the Jeep with new resolve. Now more than ever, she had to watch for those she loved. If what she suspected was true, her mother might be in great danger.

Tears flowing freely on her face, Tia drove recklessly out of the base and into the countryside. She couldn’t grasp the thought of never seeing Zack again. She took a shortcut through the muddy jungle, on a trail barely wide enough for the vehicle. Tropical birds honked in the tall canopy of the tree tops. But all Tia could see in front of her was Zack’s face. She’d never stopped loving him, even after such a long separation. Now, she’d never see him again.

At the sight of a jaguar running through the underbrush toward the trail on a collision course, Tia slammed on the brakes. The tires slid on the muck and the engine stalled. She stopped barely two feet from the beast, who growled and swatted in her direction then vanished in one leap.

Tia glanced up, worried about emerald boas blending with the low branches in the jumble of vines and creepers, high among the orchids. Expecting a large snake to drop any second, she restarted the Jeep and buried the gas pedal, showering the ferns with mud. As she drove through the thick vegetation, the potent smell of humus and tropical flowers brought back memories of her childhood.

When she emerged from the forest onto the paved road, the familiar Andean mountains rose ahead, towering over a green valley. Tia drove down a winding road bordered on both sides by rows of lush coffee plants alternating with ribbons of rich cinnamon dirt. Somehow the sky seemed purer, and the breeze cooler than Tia remembered.

She slowed as she neared the village, to allow for the local traffic of cows and donkeys going to pasture, herded by barefoot children and barking dogs. A bell rang from the steeple of the old mission church, half a mile down by the river. Tia had come home.

How she wished she’d brought Zack here, showed him where she grew up... it was never meant to be. How she missed him. Quickly she pushed away the guilt of causing his demise and stifled the sobs that threatened to overcome her.

At her first glimpse of Hacienda Vargas from the high road, she recognized the long buildings housing the heavy equipment and lining the rectangular terra cotta patio. There, after each harvest, her father’s workers spread the coffee beans to dry. She remembered the sharp fragrance that filled the whole house at that time of year.

To the side, the plantation house also framed its own square patio. The pink tile roof had grayed a bit, but the farm had thrived since Tia’s last visit. The house now flaunted a swimming pool that reflected the aqua sky and played with gold rays of morning sunshine. Aqua
…
 
the
color of Zack’s eyes.

Tia’s father spent most of his time in the US nowadays, and she hoped her mother would be home alone for her unannounced visit. This particular conversation required privacy.

She parked the Jeep in the cobbled front yard, next to a green open truck with wooden benches that shuttled the servants to town. Jumping off the Jeep, Tia wiped her eyes and hurried to the massive front door, scattering chickens in her path. The hinges grated as she entered. Inside, nothing had changed, from the traditional furniture to the coarse tile. Even the smell of wax and olive oil remained the same.

A servant boy she did not recognize met her in the front room. He shrunk at the sight of Tia’s jungle fatigues.

Smiling to the boy, she asked in Spanish, “Is the
senora
home?”

“She doesn’t wish to be disturbed,
Capitan
." Obviously familiar with soldiers, the boy even identified her rank.

Impatience made Tia’s voice shorter than she intended. “She certainly wishes to see her own daughter.”

The boy’s gaze zoomed to Tia’s cadet portrait on the mantle of the fireplace, then back to her face.
“
Senorita
Tia?”

“Yes, I am Tia." With no time to waste, Tia left him to gape and strode toward the solarium, where her mother liked to read or paint in the morning. Tia knocked on the French door and barged in without waiting for a response.

Her mother sat, her back to the door, in a white cotton dress with soft ruffles and peasant lace, a book in hand. Her stuffed leather chaise faced the window. “I said I didn’t want to be disturbed”

How lovely the older woman looked, her long black hair loose, against the bay window opened on the rose garden. But Tia resented the tone her mother reserved to servants. “Can’t you be nicer to the help?"

Her mother jumped and turned at the voice, surprise and delight on her classic face. Her dark brown eyes sparkled.
“
Madre de Dios
!
Tia, is that really you?" She slapped the book shut, dropped it on the chaise and rose to meet her daughter.