Captive (2 page)
Nashville, Tennessee -- Present Day
Mikayla Adkins awoke with a start and looked at the clock radio by her bed.
Good Lord, I’ve overslept.
She jumped out of bed and ran in the bathroom to wash her face. As she rinsed the soap away, she studied herself in the mirror and then wished she hadn't. Her hair was a mass of tangled curls. She glanced at her watch, and an exasperated sigh escaped her lips.
Damn, no time to wash it.
She'd never been late before, and she hated the thought that this morning might be her first. As receptionist, it was her responsibility to be in the office when it opened and greet any early-morning appointments. Her boss would have her head if she scurried in after a client.
Maybe working the second job at the nightclub across town wasn't such a good idea anymore. She had the money for her house, so she could easily quit. But on the flip side, she hated giving it up. It kept her busy and her mind off her ex-boyfriend, Greg.
For her one and only relationship, she'd managed to find the worst possible guy.
He'd done a number on her physically as well as mentally. It took two years to rebuild her self-esteem after escaping him, and she had no desire to date anyone else. She'd had enough of men.
Looking around the cluttered bathroom, she found her giant hair clip. One of these days, she needed to find the time to clean. Or make enough money to hire a maid.
Neatness was definitely
not
her forte.
Arranging the thick mass of curls on top of her head, she secured it with the clip and tugged out a few bangs. She gazed at her reflection with a frown. Not the most professional-looking style, but it
'
d have to do.
She made quick work of getting dressed and then peeked at the clock. With a smile of satisfaction, she realized she just might make it. Grabbing her car keys and purse, she dashed out the door.
Traffic would be a problem, so she whizzed through the back streets and alleys, avoiding as much of the hectic morning commute as possible.
She pulled into the parking lot and stared up at the sign on the glass building of COHEN, MELVAREZ & ROGERS. Taking a quick glance at her watch, she noticed she was right on time, then breathed easy for the first time since waking and, with quick strides, walked into the building.
Opening the bottom drawer of her desk, she shoved her purse inside, then reached over to switch on the computer. The television blared from the break room, and she frowned in the direction of the noise. It wasn't unusual for someone to be in there watching the news, but for some reason, today the volume was louder than normal.
She walked through the doorway and stopped dead, looking around at everyone.
There were probably fifteen people in the small room, which was a lot for this time of the morning. Making her way through the crowd, she grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. “What
'
s going on?” she asked.
“Haven't you been watching the news?” asked one of the secretaries.
“No, I haven't seen the news in a couple of days. Why?”
“You should see this,” someone else said.
Curious, she turned to the television.
Aliens?
She blinked twice to see if her eyes were playing tricks on her. When she glanced back to the screen, the scene hadn't changed. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. This had to be a joke. Right? But once she took a good look at everyone's faces, she knew this was no joke.
From what she could discern from the broadcast, a very large ship had arrived sometime after midnight, orbiting the planet. Satellite surveillance calculated the ship to be about three miles long, one mile wide, and at least fifty stories tall.
So far no signal had been detected from the ship, but the president had called to duty all troops on leave and had even put the reserves on alert. Other countries were gearing up in a similar fashion. No one would leave anything to chance.
“I wonder why they're here,” asked one of the attorneys.
“Maybe they're just curious.”
“Look at the ship. Do you really think they would come here in something that could hold half of the world's population if they were only curious?” snapped one of the other attorneys.
“Maybe they're just looking for a new home,” said someone else.
“Yeah.” Mikayla licked her dry lips. “But the question is, do they want to share it with us or take it away from us?”
Everyone was talking among themselves, sharing their ideas or fears, when Josh Cohen, the senior partner, walked into the room. “I think it would be a good idea if we
close down the office for a few days. Everyone go home to be with your families. We'll reopen as soon as we know what this is about.”
Mikayla listened with half an ear to the grumbling among the employees. Fear and confusion clouded faces as men and women shuffled from the break room to their desks and gathered their belongings. She thought of her mother in Florida. If anything bad happened, her mother would need her. As she went to the front desk to call her, she heard her best friend, Krista, softly crying.
When Mikayla started working at the firm, Krista, Mr. Cohen
'
s secretary, had been the first to make friends with her, probably because they were so close in age, and they'd been good friends ever since. She also knew that Krista's mother had died last year, and she was pretty certain her friend had no other family.
“Krista.” Mikayla knelt by her chair. “Why don't you come to Florida with me?
There will be plenty of room, and I really don't want to drive down there by myself.
Especially now.”
Krista wiped the tears from her eyes. “Are you sure you don't mind?”
“I'm sure,” she said with a smile.
She had no doubt that Krista was terrified, being alone, with no one to lean on while trying to face this bizarre alien development.
“Let me go call Mom and tell her we're coming; then we'll head out.” After a few minutes of discussion, Mikayla hung up the phone and gathered her things.
Krista walked over quickly, her arms loaded with personal items from her desk.
“I'm ready if you are. Is your mother okay with this?”
“Are you kidding?” She smiled as she grabbed a few things of her own. “She's thrilled to be able to see you again. Besides, she didn't like the idea of me traveling alone, so she's relieved you'll be with me.”
“Surely between the two of us, we can fight off any aliens that might come our way. Right?” Krista asked, her eyebrow rose in an attempt to be funny.
“Unless, of course, he's grade A hunk material, and then we might just have to keep him around for a while.” Mikayla grinned wickedly and wiggled her eyebrows, making Krista laugh.
“Mikayla, you're terrible.”
“At least you're smiling now.”
The two discussed what might happen as they walked to the parking lot. Since Krista rode the bus every day, they didn't have to worry about what to do with her car, so they piled into Mikayla's Cavalier and headed to Krista's.
“My God!” Krista said. “Look at the parking lot at the grocery store.” A gasp slipped past Mikayla's lips as she turned her head to look. There were people and cars everywhere. As they drove farther down the street, they noticed other stores in similar disarray. “People must think that the world is coming to an end.”
“How do we know that it's not?” Krista asked as they looked at each other.
Mikayla's heart pounded at the thought.
She’s right; we don’t know anything
. Even the news media and the government could only speculate as to why extraterrestrial visitors were here. Her fingers began to tremble, and she gripped the steering wheel harder. She couldn't let herself panic. They had a long way to go. Once she got to her mother's, then she could fall apart.
When they arrived at Krista's, they packed up clothes to suit Florida's weather.
Krista picked up a picture of her and her mother. For a second she gazed at it, her eyes full of sadness.
Mikayla gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Her friend had been extremely close to her mother, but she was a strong person. In some ways, much stronger than Mikayla.
With a sigh, Krista tossed her mother
'
s picture in the suitcase and then zipped it closed. "Maybe we should take the food as well.”
“Yeah, you're probably right. From the looks of the stores, there isn't going to be anything left to buy.” Quickly, the two of them began to clean out the cabinets.
* * * * *
Sidious sat in the prime minister's office with Commander Woods and Alonis. The four of them had gone over last-minute instructions as well as the speech the prime minister would make to the people of Earth in less than an hour. Upon their arrival, Sidious had intercepted planetary satellite transmissions and watched them most of the morning. He learned quite a bit by viewing what they called
“the news.” Personally, he thought they talked way too freely about their military, but he might be able to use some of the information to his advantage. At least for now.
Once he realized how heavily this world relied on satellite communication, he decided that would be the first to go. Getting rid of their satellites would make it more difficult for them to coordinate with each other long range. But first they had to announce their intentions. Once Earth refused to surrender, the invasion would begin.
Learning what they called English had not been difficult. It was actually almost identical to their own mother tongue, Rhinarian -- except for bits of slang -- and it didn
'
t take him too long to figure it out. He would have Stefan check into Earth's history.
Someone from the Rineah system had to have settled there at some point. But who?
“How long are you going to give Earth to surrender, your grace?” Alonis's question brought him back to the business at hand.
“Twelve hours, no more. Captain Marcone, are the flyer pilots briefed on what is expected of them?”
“Yes. And the flyer deck is outfitting the ships with the needed weapons as we speak.”
“What of the ground troops? Are they prepared as well?”
“Yes, your grace,” Sidious confirmed.
His fingers gripped the folder on his lap, their tips turning white. God, he hated this. The thought of Prime Minister Rigora taking over yet another world made him sick. He looked up and caught Rigora watching him intently. He released his hold on the folder and tried to make himself relax. He had to get a better grip on his emotions or he would blow his cover all to hell.
“Very well then.” The prime minister gave him one last long look, then turned to Woods. “Commander, if you will inform the engineer I would like to transmit my speech from the bridge within the hour, I believe we can adjourn this meeting. Tell him also to make sure the computer translates my speech into all languages and dialects known to this world.”
“I'll get right on it, your grace.” Woods stood to leave.
Sidious headed for the door, when Rigora's voice stopped him. “Oh, Captain.” Rolling his eyes heavenward, he turned. “Yes, your grace.”
“I want you on the bridge when I address Earth.”
“Of course.” He bowed slightly, then turned and left the room, gritting his teeth in frustration.
* * * * *
Mikayla and Krista left the suitcase in the car but carried in the bags of food they
'
d brought and set them on the kitchen table. Mikayla grabbed some empty boxes from her laundry closet. “We can put the food in these. They'll pack in the car better.”
“Good idea.” Krista opened the pantry doors and began pulling things out.
While Krista continued to pack, Mikayla went to the bedroom to throw some clothes in a suitcase, but first she grabbed the lock box under the bed. Putting part of the money in her purse, she hid the rest in a bag at the bottom of her suitcase. Not knowing how long they
'
d be in Florida, she didn't want to leave all her money here.
Under the bed was a crazy place to keep it, but she had gotten in the habit of hiding money from her abusive ex-boyfriend. Even though they had been apart for two years now, she still hid it. Some habits, she supposed, were just harder to break than others.
Turning to the closet, she looked through her clothes. It was April and still a little chilly, so she pulled out a long-sleeved shirt to wear as a jacket over jeans and a tank top.
Mikayla stuck her head out the bedroom door and yelled toward the kitchen,
“Krista, start a pot of coffee to take with us, and I
'
ll jump in the shower. I didn't have a chance to take one this morning.”
“Okay.”
She heard the kitchen water running, then the voice of a reporter with a breaking news report.
* * * * *
“Mr. President.” General Conely stood just inside the door. “We need to start preparations to separate the government.” “Of course, you're right, General.” President Davis Blake leaned back in his chair and released a heavy sigh. “Is the new hiding place finished and in order?”
“It doesn't make a whole lot of difference at the moment. Ready or not, we're going.”
Nodding his head, the president smiled slightly at his remark. In his late forties, Davis had thought he'd seen everything. But he never would have expected this. A science-fiction thriller coming to life right in the middle of his presidency.
“Have all nonessential personnel go home to their families. Get anyone on the list for NORAD on a plane and out of here. The rest of us will wait here to see if they contact us. But just in case, have our people ready to go at a moment
'
s notice.”
“Yes, sir,” the general replied before turning to leave the Oval Office.
Walking over to the door, the president gazed at the sky. It was a beautiful clear blue, and to look at it, one would never believe the horror that floated just above it. Was he doing the right thing? Was he doing enough?
Please
. He closed his eyes in silent prayer.
Please let them have come in peace. God help
us if they haven’t.
