Manipulating Mikey (First Wave Book 8) (4 page)

If these men were indeed the aliens
that Lt. Colonel Ballard had thought he was a part of, then Mikey understood
why the man feared the aliens so much. They were scary as hell. Whatever
increase he’d had in strength and stamina would not come close to what he felt
exuding from these two, and he was beginning to wonder if he’d jumped from the
frying pan into a volcano.

Mikey was pulled from his thoughts
by a jerk on his hand and a scathing look from the dark haired man whose belt
he was holding. He quickly followed them out of the elevator and jogged along
beside them as they ran through a parking garage and into another elevator.

He stood beside them as they
punched the button to the top floor. The doors were just closing when a large
hand stopped them.

“Be silent!” Grai warned the hybrid
soldier while David held a weapon at the ready.

Mikey nodded mutely as he tried to
plaster himself against the back wall of the elevator. The soldier in front of
them stood right in front of him, so close that Mikey could reach out and touch
him if he wanted to.

Mikey wasn’t the only one who
breathed a sigh of relief when the soldier got out on the second floor. They
only went a few more floors before they got out and headed to the stairs that
went to the roof. They opened the door as alarms began to sound loudly
throughout the building.

Mikey heard the word “Run!” scream
through his mind as he started sprinting alongside the two men who were still
joined at the belt the way his hand was on the man in front of him.

He felt the rush of warm wind
seconds before he saw a large craft hovering above them. The shock of seeing it
stopped Mikey short, and his hand fell from the dark haired man’s belt. He
heard the sound of gunfire and the screams in his mind before he felt an impact
in his leg, and he dropped to the roof.

He looked up at the dark haired man
as he grabbed hold of him and pulled him over his shoulder while the ex-SEAL
returned fire. Moments later, Mikey was looking around the inside of an
aircraft while the man strapped him into a seat.

“Stay the hell in that seat!” the
dark haired man yelled at him.

Mikey nodded his head mutely, a
little surprised that the man’s real voice sounded just like it had in his
head. He watched the ex-SEAL come in next, and he wondered how they got from
the roof inside the craft.

“Go! Go!” Grai shouted at the pilot
as he sat next to David in one of the seats across from Mikey.

Both men stared at Mikey until he
began to feel pretty uncomfortable under their scrutiny. Not sure what to say
or do, Mikey decided on the old fallback his mother had taught him when he was
young. Manners.

“Thank you. For saving me,” Mikey said,
hoping he didn’t just hand himself over to a worse fate.

“Who are you?” Grai demanded.

Mikey cleared his throat and looked
up at the dark haired man. The one he’d determined was the more dangerous of
the two that rescued him.

“Private first class Mikey Davis.
Well Michael really, but everyone calls me Mikey,” Mikey said, sounding as
nervous as he felt.

“I’m David Jacobs; this is Grai
T’Alq. How did you end up in the forest?” David asked.

Mikey sighed heavily and lowered
his head.

I really wish someone would ask me
something else!
he muttered to himself. When he saw the dark look
on Grai’s face he settled for telling it one more time.

“I was on leave after my second
tour in Afghanistan. The roadblock I came to had soldiers with no insignia. I
went to the nearest base, had some drinks with a bartender, and we came back to
check it out. This time, there were ROTC kids there, but I could see the UFOs
in the sky. Suddenly one of them became a fireball, and the next thing I
remember was being tortured in that hell hole,” Mikey explained, hoping they’d
believe him and not ask him to tell it again and again.

Grai and David looked at one
another, and Mikey could swear they were doing the mind talking thing again. It
bothered him that he was again at the mercy of someone else, and he hoped he
could get his freedom.

“Look guys, I’m really grateful you
got me out of there. If you can just drop me off somewhere, I can take care of
myself from there,” Mikey offered. He really didn’t want to have to try and
escape these two.

Grai sat back and folded his arms
across his chest as he silently stared at Mikey. Mikey couldn’t hold his gaze
and turned to David as he spoke.

“You wouldn’t last a second out
there, and you know it. Between all the cameras and facial recognition software,
you’d be retaken by the end of the day. You’re better off with us until we can
get you a new identity and papers,” David said, hoping to get the kid quiet.

“But . . .” Mikey began before Grai
released his safety belt and had his hand around his throat.

“You go nowhere until I know what
the hell happened out there and where my brother is!” Grai roared at Mikey
while David tried to pull him away from the kid.

“Landing in 5, 4, 3 . . .” the
pilot called out.

Grai shook off David and stood over
an angry, scared Mikey as a small thump signaled the landing of the craft. Grai
leaned down and unsnapped Mikey’s safety harness before pulling him to his feet
and throwing him over his shoulder.

Mikey leaned up to say something as
he was carried out of the ship, but the jerking of David’s head told him he
should probably shut up. It didn’t matter since a few seconds later Mikey was
rendered mute as he swung his head around, taking in all the UFOs parked around
them.

Mikey returned the stares of what
appeared to be taller-than-average humans with the same strange swirls in their
eyes that Grai and David had.

Where the hell am I?
Mikey
wondered as he was carried out of the UFO hangar and through some hallways
before he was dumped unceremoniously onto a bed.

Mikey tried to see where he was,
but he couldn’t see much of anything with Grai standing in front of him.

“Get him healed and checked. I’ll
be back in an hour,” Grai ordered before he slammed out of the door.

Mikey turned from the door when he
heard the beautiful voice come from beside him. He turned to see a gorgeous
blond with striking blue eyes that had green swirls in them. She stood at least
six feet tall, and her white coat did little to hide her killer curves.

Her black pencil skirt emphasized
her curvy hips, flat stomach, and legs that seemed to go on forever beneath the
hem of her skirt. The white, button-up top did little to hide the swell of her
full breasts.

Is she an alien too?
Mikey
wondered as he stared at her with fascination, instantly attracted to her in a
way he never felt before.

“David, you’re not needed unless
you believe him to be dangerous,” Dr. Lauren Campbell said as she began the
scans on the wounded man.

David ran a hand over his head as
he looked between Mikey and the door.

“I’ll post someone outside. If you
have any problems . . .” David said, wanting to get out of there so he could
talk to Grai.

Lauren chuckled.

“I’m sure I can handle myself,”
Lauren assured him before she looked pointedly at the door.

David gave a narrow eyed glare at
Mikey.

“Be nice and no one here will harm
you. Her name is Dr. Campbell, and she’s going to help with that bullet you
took on the roof,” David said, making sure the kid understood him.

Mikey nodded. He’d completely
forgotten he’d been shot on the roof. Either he was in shock or just in awe of
the place and the beautiful doctor. He watched David walk out of the door
before he turned to the doctor.

“Where am I?”

Lauren chuckled and moved closer to
the bed her patient was sitting on.

“Half the time I don’t know myself.
But today is your lucky day. We’re at a base in Texas. Not a military base like
you’re used to though,” Lauren said as she tried to keep her mind on the
scanner and not the handsome hybrid soldier in front of her.

Her first look at him had surprised
her in more ways than one. He was undoubtedly attractive. At six foot four, he
was well muscled, but not overly so. His black hair was cropped in a standard
military fashion, like most of the hybrid men wore, but his hair was so dark
and his eyes so blue that it was a startling contrast. There was a small hazel
dot that she had seen in his eyes before she’d looked back at her comm to start
the scans on him.

What surprised her was her reaction
to him. She’d immediately felt a pull towards him that she’d never experienced
with a patient before. Even after stepping away from him as she scanned him,
she could feel her energy drawing her closer.

Mikey wanted to get her to look at
him, needing to see her eyes again.

“How do you know what I’m used to?”
he asked, leaning down to try and see her face.

When she finally looked up at him,
he felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. She was the most mesmerizing
woman he’d ever seen. If she was what the enemy used to get information, he was
a goner.

“I’ll tell you anything you want to
know.”

Mikey didn’t realize he said that
out loud until he heard her laughter, and he blushed a deep red.

“Don’t be embarrassed, I can tell
by the scans you were put through a lot, and it probably seems like heaven
here,” Lauren said, trying to ease his embarrassment.

Mikey nodded, his embarrassment
fading as he thought about the last few weeks.

“They’re my people, my commanding
officers, our government . . . I just don’t understand it. I told them what I
knew, which was nothing,” Mikey admitted.

Lauren shook her head as she
studied her comm and the results coming through from her scans.

“You aren’t their people. You’re my
people—well our people. You’re a hybrid like me. There are a lot of us here,”
Lauren explained, wondering what he knew about himself.

“What is a hybrid?” Mikey asked,
hoping she knew something that the military doctors didn’t.

I’d really like to know what the
hell I am
, he thought.

Lauren whistled softly.

“You don’t know anything do you?”
she asked, wondering how he could not know he was different.

Mikey threw his hands in the air
and snorted.

“Finally! Someone gets it! I don’t
have a clue what the hell is going on. All I know is I’ve been infected with .
. . something, and the military had no idea you could be infected. I was hit
with the flaming ship in the forest, then infected—” Mikey said before Lauren
placed a delicate hand over his lips to silence his rambling.

Her scent was lovely, and Mikey had
to stop himself from rubbing his face along her hand as he stared into her
pretty eyes, mesmerized by the tumultuous green swirls that danced inside them.

“You weren’t infected. You were
born this way, just like the rest of us were. Which means that your father was
either an outpost survivor or a hybrid, and your mother was gifted or hybrid.
We’ll know as soon as the DNA scans are complete,” Lauren said, removing her
hand from his mouth. She’d been far too tempted to caress his cheek to ease his
concerns and make him feel better.

Lauren leaned down and pulled up
the leg of the hospital pants he’d been given to wear when they’d released him
from the restraints at the fort and placed a mediband on the already healing
wound.

“The bullet went right through, and
it’s already healing, so you should be fine in a few hours,” Lauren assured
him.

She’d used her own unique ability
to scan his body and knew that the only medical issues he had now were
regarding who and what he was. Since no one else seemed inclined to do so,
Lauren decided to begin explaining to him about his lineage.

“Did you just put a band aid on a
bullet wound?” Mikey asked in shock as he looked at the small strip on his calf,
thinking it was a joke.

Lauren sighed and rubbed her
temples.

This is going to be a long day
, she
thought.

Chapter
Four

Mikey paced the room and shook his
head, still trying to grasp what the beautiful doctor had tried to explain to
him. It was all a little too much to take in, much less take seriously. But it
also made too much sense for him to ignore.

“I’m a freak . . .” Mikey muttered
to himself while the beautiful doctor studied him beneath her long, dark
lashes.

“You’re different. You are
definitely one of us; you have the beast which is passed down from our fathers.
It’s your mitochondrial DNA which is odd,” Lauren said.

Mikey ran a hand over his head in
frustration.

“Great, so you’re saying I’m a
freak among freaks. This just gets better and better,” Mikey muttered,
wondering what was next.

Am I going to sprout horns or crave
human flesh?
He wondered sardonically.

Lauren laughed and put some images
on the wall.

“We’re not freaks, and neither are
you. Here,” she said, pointing to a colorful image on the wall. “These markers
here are common markers in the mitochondrial DNA of our other hybrids. But
yours, is missing those markers.”

Mikey stared at the wall, trying to
understand what that meant.

“This means my mom was a freak?” he
asked, tilting his head to look at the colored dashes on the wall, hoping a
different angle would help him understand it.

Lauren tried to give him her best
irritated look but ended up smiling at the charming soldier.

“Would you stop with the freak stuff
already? And no, it doesn’t mean your mom was a freak either. What it means is
she didn’t have these markers. Which means . . . I haven’t got a clue yet,” she
admitted, looking up at him with a grin before her face fell.

Wondering what caused the change in
her, Mikey turned to see the large, angry man who carried him into the medlab
with the ex-SEAL standing behind him.

Mikey refused to cower now that he
was feeling a little better and more grounded than he had in a while. He stood
and held out his hand to the intimidating man.

“Thank you for getting me out of
there. I know I’m not the person you were looking for, and I’m grateful you did
what you did. If I can help you find the guy you were there for, I’ll tell you
anything I know,” Mikey offered, feeling he owed them big time.

Grai gave his hand a quick shake.

“I’m Grai T’Alq. I was there
looking for my brother, Koda. He was flying the ship that apparently crashed
into you. Do you remember anything?” Grai asked, hoping the entire mission
hadn’t been for nothing.

Mikey sighed and rubbed his hand
down his face as he tried to remember what happened that day.

“Sarge and I had just come down the
embankment from the road. I saw a UFO go right over us, but Sarge couldn’t see
it. He threw rocks at it and felt the heat and wind of it though and knew it
was there. We followed it towards the forest floor, then all hell broke loose.
There were UFOs and helicopters having a firefight right there above us,” Mikey
said, seeing it happen again in his mind as if it were yesterday.

“Then what?” Grai encouraged.

“The UFO was hit by an RPG from one
of the choppers, and it was heading right for us. It seemed like it was in slow
motion for some reason, and I saw something shoot out of it seconds before the
ship exploded. Then Sarge and I were hit, and I woke up in that hellhole,
strapped down while they tortured me about . . . you guys. They thought I
infiltrated the military and was reporting to you,” Mikey explained, telling
them everything he knew.

Grai looked over at Lauren and she
nodded her head at him.

“I was just telling him that he is
one of us. His mitochondrial markers are unusual, but he has a beast. I’m
running his DNA for familial matches now,” Lauren told Grai.

Grai nodded at Lauren before
turning back to Mikey.

“The thing you saw come out of the
ship, what direction did it go in?” Grai asked, positive that it was the escape
pod that Koda had tried to use after setting the detonator on the decimator
charge.

Mikey thought hard about it and
closed his eyes to try and see it again in his mind.

“East. Definitely north east. But
it broke up again,” Mikey replied, seeing the pieces in his mind.

“What do you mean it broke up
again?” Grai demanded.

Mikey opened his eyes and looked at
the intimidating man.

“I could be remembering it wrong,
but I swear I saw a big piece of it break off and hit the ground while the rest
of it continued out of sight,” Mikey said, trying not to give him false hope.

Grai turned to look at David, his
eyes silently asking him if it was possible that they missed it.

“Anything is possible,” David said
with a shrug of his shoulders.

Grai turned to Lauren.

“Can he withstand Blade?”

Lauren held up her hands, turning
angry.

“Hold on there! He’s barely
recovering from what they did to him and you want him reaped?” Lauren accused,
putting herself in front of her patient.

Grai folded his arms across his
chest and stared down at the doctor.

“I didn’t say I wanted him reaped!
I wanted to know if he could share the images of his memories with Blade,” Grai
countered.

Lauren huffed in outrage.

“It’s the same damn thing! No
matter how you say it, there are dangers to him because he’s not bonded with
his beast!” Lauren argued, trying to convince herself she was only protecting
her patient.

Mikey slid off the bed and moved
from behind Lauren. He wasn’t going to let a woman fight his battles for him,
especially not this one. For whatever reason, he felt an urgent need to protect
her, and he moved to stand in front of her.

“I don’t know what reaping is, it
doesn’t sound like too much fun either, but it’s the least I can do for you
after you saved me,” Mikey offered, hoping to end the tense situation.

Grai nodded his head sharply in
thanks as another man made his way into the room.

“He’s got you on speed dial? What
the hell, Grai?” Lauren demanded as Blade came into the room and stood in front
of Mikey.

“Lauren hush! I’m not going to reap
him, just look at the pictures as he remembers. So chill,” Blade said as he
grinned at Mikey. “Seriously, that’s all I’m going to do. It won’t hurt at all.
Just relax, close your eyes, and try to remember everything from the beginning
so I can ride the memory, OK?”

Mikey nodded even though he didn’t
understand what any of them were talking about. He turned to Lauren when he
felt her move out from behind him, and he smiled at her as she gently pushed
him to sit back on the bed.

“Take a deep breath, close your
eyes, and don’t fight it,” Lauren said, her concern evident in her voice as she
took his hand in her own.

Mikey nodded, squeezing her hand
gently in reassurance. His last image as he closed his eyes was of her
beautiful eyes before he started remembering everything from the moment they
left the car on the side of the road. He felt the prodding in his mind and
tried to relax as he felt someone inside his head with him.

After he replayed the memories in
his mind again, he felt a pop in his mind before he opened his eyes and looked
around at the expectant faces.

Blade shook his head to clear it
before turning to Grai and David.

“He’s right. The pod broke up, most
likely due to the percussion of the blast. We found the shield, but the rest of
it continued much farther and must have landed elsewhere. He could still be out
there,” Blade said, unsure what the chances were of Koda surviving the kind of
injuries he must have sustained in the blast for weeks alone in the forest.

Grai roared in rage before he broke
the door off the hinges as he left the room quickly followed by David and
Blade.

Mikey turned to make sure that
Lauren was all right and saw the shock on her face as she stared at the door.

“Is he always like that?” Mikey
asked teasingly, hoping to ease her concern.

Lauren shook her head to clear it
and mustered a smile for the soldier brave enough to go through a reaping
without even knowing what it entailed. She grabbed her comm and began scanning
his brain to make sure Blade didn’t harm him.

“It’s his brother that is missing.
If he’s still in that forest and badly injured, he’s in terrible danger and it
will kill Grai to think that he’s wasted all this time looking for him in the
labs when he was out there all along,” Lauren explained, hoping he would
understand why Grai was so intense.

Mikey winced at the thought that
the guy’s brother was out there alone and injured, waiting for someone to find
him. After spending a few weeks locked up by his own government, he could well
understand how horrible it must be for both of the brothers.

“I’m sorry. It has to be hard on
him,” Mikey said, not sure what to say.

“If anyone can find him, it’s Grai.
Now, what questions do you have?” Lauren asked, hoping to spend a little more
time with him.

Mikey laughed and held his arms out
wide.

“Everything. Where the hell are we?
You said Texas but how the hell do you hide the fleet of UFOs we passed out
there? What is a beast? What does it do? What is a hybrid? And is any of me
human? What is the other part of me?” Mikey stopped only when he ran out of
breath.

Lauren laughed and held out her
hand to him. She waited until he took it before she led him out of the broken
door and into the large hangar that housed their ships.

“Grai brought you into the medlab
closest to the ship. Come on, I’ll show you around,” Lauren said with a grin at
Mikey’s open mouthed stare.

Grai had given her no instructions
regarding the young soldier, so she just assumed that they were going to let
him stay like any other hybrid they’d found over the years.

Mikey nodded his head woodenly as
he looked around at all of the aircraft they passed before she drew him into an
elevator. They went up more than a few floors before the doors opened again. He
stepped out with her and was surprised to be in the sunshine. He drew a deep
breath and held out his one hand to the sky, unwilling to let go of her hand
with the other.

“Been a while since you’ve seen
daylight, huh?” Lauren asked with a smile.

Mikey closed his eyes and drew
another deep breath before he turned to grin at her.

“They had me locked up since they
pulled me from the forest. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever see daylight
again,” Mikey admitted as he looked around at the mountain they were on.

They stood for a moment in silence
as Mikey enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, but it wasn’t long before the
questions began running through his mind again.

“We’re standing on top of the
hangar with the UFOs aren’t we?” he asked, knowing the answer.

Lauren nodded her head and pulled
him towards the building on the other side of garden they emerged in.

Mikey looked up and whistled when
he saw the name on the building.

“Freedom Enterprises? Seriously?
Don’t they make . . . everything?” he asked, surprised that a company that big
would be involved with aliens.

Or hybrids, or whatever hell I am,
he
thought.

“It may surprise you to know that
the company is wholly owned and operated by our people. I know the military
people probably tried to convince you that we’re terrible and out to destroy
humanity, but that isn’t the case,” Lauren said, feeling out his thoughts on
what she was saying.

“Oh, the horror!” Mikey teased
before he grew serious. “I have no loyalty to them. After what they put me
through, I’m not inclined to believe anything—or anyone—easily.”

Lauren gently rubbed the back of
his hand with her fingers, the small action making him feel calmer and more clear
headed.

“We’re not trying to convince you
of anything. I’m only trying to help you understand who you are before you
decide where you want to go and what you want to do,” Lauren said.

They reached the doors to the large
building and Mikey reached out and opened it for her.

“Thank you,” Lauren said as she
smiled up at him shyly, before she ducked under his arm and entered the main door
to the building.

Mikey followed her inside, and
without thinking about it, he took her hand back in his as he looked around in
wonder.

“Are all these people . . .” Mikey
began before he lowered his voice. “like us?”

Mikey couldn’t help but smile when
he heard her laughter.

“No, silly, a lot of these people
are normal humans doing business with the company. Come on,” Lauren tugged on
his hand and pulled him towards another elevator.

Once inside, Lauren placed her palm
on the wall and a panel lit up above the regular floor buttons. Mikey watched in
wonder as she pressed a button and the new panel disappeared while a voice came
over the speakers.