Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10) (5 page)

When Nik saw a confused BJ moving
towards them, he let Traze go with a shove and stepped back from the bars.

“You can shoot him. I won’t tell
anyone I saw it,” Nik assured BJ with a wink.

“Fuck you!” Traze barked out as he
rounded on Nik. “That was bullshit when I was in here trying to rescue your ass
to begin with!”

“So you admit you’re here to break him
out of jail?” BJ asked as she came up behind the young man. “Put your hands
up.”

When Traze looked like he was going
to laugh at her, Nik grabbed hold of him through the bars again and held him
still while BJ disarmed him of a cache of weapons almost as large as the one
she took from Nik.

“Go in there,” BJ said as she
nudged the young man into the cell next to Nik’s.

Traze glared at Nik as he walked
into the cell and BJ closed it, the lock clicking into place.

“BJ, are you OK?” Mojo huffed out
as he ran into the room.

“Oh you’re fucking kidding me?”
Traze barked out a laugh. “Your name is Blow Job? Gods, you really are inbred .
. .”

Traze didn’t get to finish his
insult before Nik lunged at the bars between them and tried to reach for his
throat.

“Hey, hey! Chill out,” BJ said as
she spoke to Nik. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, and it stopped
bothering me long ago. But I appreciate you coming to my defense.”

BJ cursed that her voice shook a
little, not only from how close they came to pulling off an escape but over how
easily Nik could have killed her if he’d wanted to on the drive here. She’d
known how dangerous he was with a gun, but seeing his massive arms trying to
squeeze the life out of the young man had been more than a little eye opening
and seriously confusing.

Why would he react that way to his
rescuer?
she wondered.
And who the hell are they?

“You all right?” Mojo asked as he
put his hand on her shoulder, pulling BJ from her thoughts.

“Yeah . . . yeah I’m good. Guess I
need another fingerprint card,” she said as she pulled on the cell doors to
make sure they were locked before she looked over at the open side door.

“What the hell . . .” BJ gasped as
she saw the melted door handle.

Mojo whistled low when he saw it
and turned accusing eyes on the strange men in the cells. 

“What did you use that could melt
steel like that?” he asked.

When neither of the men would
answer, Mojo moved over to where BJ had piled Traze’s weapons on the floor. He
pulled a pen from his pocket and moved around the various guns and knives
before he looked up at BJ.

“I’m going to log these in next.
Get me the fingerprint card when you can,” he said before he left the room.

BJ waited a few seconds and watched
him come back in with a box and pair of gloves on. Mojo quickly placed
everything into the box and headed back into the outer office before BJ looked
back at the broken door.

“How many more of you are there?
Who the hell are you?” she found herself asking Nik, trying to ignore the rude,
younger man.

When Nik remained silent, BJ looked
at the broken door handle again.

“Mojo!” she called.

Mojo came running and watched the
two prisoners warily. BJ handed him her gun, and Mojo looked at her with
shocked hazel eyes.

“What the hell are you doing? You know
I hate guns!” Mojo whispered.

“Yeah, but you know how to use one.
Watch them,” BJ said before she stormed out of the holding area.

Mojo held the gun in steady hands
and kept a watchful eye on the two strangers while Nik ran his hands over his
head, wondering what the hell he was doing.

Nik didn’t bother to look over at
Traze; he was still pissed off at his treatment of the female cop. If there was
one thing Nik couldn’t tolerate, it was the abuse of a female, and Traze’s
mouth had pushed him too far. At least that was what he was trying to convince
himself.

“What the hell, Nik? Since when
does some hillbilly pussy make you forget what team you’re on?” Traze growled.
“I was trying to help.”

“Kid,” Mojo whispered as he pointed
the gun at the larger of the two men who looked ready to rip apart the bars. “I
think you’d shut up if you could see the look on his face. You may want to move
away from the bars.”

An engine gunned outside, and
lights flashed through the melted door handle and partially opened door before
they saw the door pushed closed. The lights went out, the engine stopped, and
Mojo grinned as he realized that BJ had moved her car in front of the door and
prevented it from being used for another escape attempt.

“Fuck!” Traze growled before he glared
at Niklosi.

“If Grai doesn’t kill you, I will
if you don’t behave yourself until he gets here,” Niklosi warned the youngest
T’Alq brother.

Traze moved over to the other side
of the bars, away from Niklosi, and flipped him off.

“He’s going to be just as curious
as to why you didn’t extricate yourself from the situation,” Traze countered,
even though he knew Grai would never be upset with Nik’s decision not to take a
chance on harming the humans.

Niklosi snorted as BJ came back
into the room with a grin on her face.

“I hope they shoot you,” Nik told
Traze before he sat back on the cot and leaned back against the bars.

BJ grinned as she walked up to Mojo
and gently removed her gun from his stiff fingers.

“Do you have any more friends that
plan on coming by to see if you need a ride?” BJ asked, walking over to Nik and
avoiding the irritating younger man.

Niklosi ran his hands over his head
in frustration before he turned to her, his dark eyes appearing sincere.

“I don’t think anyone else would be
stupid
enough to try and break me out of jail when a lawyer will
suffice,” he admitted.

BJ nodded and turned narrowed eyes
on the adorable, but apparently stupid younger man.

“What’s his name?” BJ asked Nik.

“It’s Trey,” Nik said, giving her
the name he knew she would find when she ran Traze’s prints.

Traze shook his head and snorted as
he threw his hands up in the air.

“What you fool?” Nik asked, turning
to Traze as he stood. “You don’t think she’s going to know it when your brother
gets here? You’re an even bigger idiot if you think that being a dick is going
to make this better! This is
your
bad, not hers.”

Traze moved to the bars near the
broken door and growled as he pulled on them in anger.

“So is it his brother who ordered
you to kill that man? Who was the man you killed?” BJ asked Nik, hoping to get
him to talk.

“This is where I leave,” Mojo said
as he checked the broken door, then went back into the office.

Niklosi sighed and sat back down on
the cot before he looked into BJ’s pretty hazel eyes. There was something about
her that tugged sharply at him, but he pushed it out of his mind and shook his
head.

“He’d love to play Truth and Share,
but he’s got a bigger commitment to worry about,” Traze snapped.

Niklosi came off the cot so fast
that BJ jumped back from the bars. He turned angry eyes to Traze as his fists
came through the bars and shook at the man-child.

“I suggest you practice some
silence,” Nik warned Traze with a growl. “Those bigger commitments are aware of
what happened and aren’t happy.”

Nik felt better when he saw the
blood drain from Traze’s face. He hadn’t been giving Traze a useless threat
either, Targe had gotten hold of Grai, and Nik knew their people were coming
for them. Grai wasn’t happy at all.

BJ watched the silent and
not-so-silent communications going on between the two men, and a shiver ran up
her spine at the potential meaning of their conversation.

“Who is coming for you both?” she
asked. “Is it his brother?”

“It’s the boogeyman,” Traze
muttered as he slid down the bars and sat on the floor.

All hopes of commanding his own
team evaporated rapidly, and the fight was sucked out of him.

Nik almost felt sorry for Traze
until he realized neither of them would be there if Traze had let Decano call
Grai earlier. He had no idea what it was going to take to get them out of this
situation, but he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

BJ looked at Nik with narrowed
eyes, her fear not the least diminished by the conversation.

“Is someone else coming to try and
break you out?” BJ asked Nik, knowing Trey wouldn’t be helpful.

Nik snorted and shook his head.

“No, I can promise you that the
only people coming are our lawyers,” Nik assured her.

BJ nodded her head in relief,
unsure why she believed him, but she did. Then a thought hit her.

“How did you contact an attorney?
You haven’t made a phone call yet,” BJ said a little suspiciously.

Traze burst out laughing.

“She’s a little smarter than the
average hillbilly cop. Yeah, explain that to her,” Traze said, irritating Nik
further.

Nik growled at the infuriating
man-child and turned to BJ.

“Once I didn’t return, my people
would have initiated a search and realized what happened when they couldn’t
contact me,” he said, trying to ease the distrust and fear he saw in her eyes.
It rankled him to think she was afraid of him.

“Your people?” BJ asked, her
concern not alleviated in the least. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

Chapter
Four

Niklosi shook his head and sighed
at BJ’s questions. A part of him wanted to tell her everything—mostly because
he knew she’d never believe him. Luckily, common sense won out, and he smiled
up at her questioning look.

“I can promise you that no one is
coming to harm anyone. I know you aren’t going to believe me, but we’re the
good guys,” Nik said.

It bothered him to see the
disbelief and disappointment in BJ’s eyes before she carefully masked her
expression.

“He’s telling you the truth,” Traze
interjected, sounding a little defeated. “I could have just as easily gone in
there and killed you and Mojo then got Nik out, but I didn’t. Neither did Nik
on the drive here. You’re safe from us.”

BJ looked a little surprised by
Traze’s words, and she studied both men carefully for a moment.

“What about the guy Nik killed out
there? Who is he? Why did you kill him?” BJ asked, hoping one of them would
answer.

Traze snorted and leveled his dark
gaze on BJ.

“That was one of the worst, most
senseless killing machines on this planet . . .” Traze began before Nik jumped
up and stared at him. His gaze telling him to shut his mouth.

BJ narrowed her eyes at the two men
but couldn’t stop herself from trying to find out why they killed that man.

“Who was he? Was he a gang member?
Mafia? Hit man? Murderer? Talk to me. If you did it in self-defense, then we
may be able to get you out of here,” BJ said.

She knew that self-defense was
going to be hard for them to justify when she watched Nik shoot the man in the
back as he was fleeing, but she found herself actually hoping it would work.

Traze stood and looked as if he was
going to speak when Nik stood as well and turned on him.

“We have nothing more to say about
it until our lawyers get here. They will work all this out,” Nik ground out as
he stared at Traze.

“Look, guys, I want to help you if I
can. Can’t you at least tell me who he was so I can notify his family,” BJ
asked. “Your cooperation will go a long way with the district attorney.”

Traze snorted again and glared at
Nik’s furious face.

“You don’t have to worry there.
Animals like that don’t have families,” Traze said, looking defiantly at Nik.

“OK, it’s your choice. You got a
few hours you can sleep before breakfast gets here. We’ll ring the circuit
judge at 9 a.m. and get your arraignment out of the way via video. Will your
lawyers be here by then?” BJ asked.

Nik nodded his head, still glaring
at Traze and BJ sighed.

“You need anything to drink?” she
asked.

“Water if you have it, please,”
Traze said.

His politeness surprised BJ, but
she shook it off and nodded as she headed out into the office and opened the
fridge. She grabbed four bottles of water and went back into the holding area.

She passed two bottles to Nik and
moved over to the other side to hand Traze his bottles so he wouldn’t have to
venture too close to Nik.

“I need to take your fingerprints.
Will you let me?” she asked the volatile young man.

“I’m not going to harm you,” Traze assured
her as he placed his hands outside of the cell bars.

BJ ran into the office and grabbed
her kit before running back into the holding area. She did his prints as fast
as she could in case something pissed him off again and he became
uncooperative.

“You OK?” she asked both of the men
as she handed Traze some wipes for his fingers.

When they nodded their heads she
went back out into the office area and handed the fingerprint card to Mojo.

“Put a rush on this one, even
though I know it’s going to come back the same as Nik’s,” BJ said.

Mojo nodded his head and set to
work scanning in the card while BJ pulled the evidence bag containing the
strange stone out of her pocket.

“What is that? Is that what lit up
the room?” Mojo asked as he got up from his desk and moved to look at the
stone.

“I don’t know what it is, Mojo, and
I know it’s going to sound crazy,” she whispered as she looked around to make
sure no one was listening, “but I think it’s what cremated the body too.”

Mojo held his hand out for the
evidence bag.

“I gotta see the thing. I can even
look at it without taking it out of the evidence bag,” he assured her and
grinned when BJ dropped it into his hand.

Mojo went to his desk and opened up
a small case containing his microscope as BJ sat down to finish logging in all
the weapons.

“Hey, who’s going to strip search
them and get them showers?” Mojo asked, hoping BJ wouldn’t pick him. He’d seen
more than enough of the strangers already.

“No need until their arraignment,
but after that we’ll take them one at a time to the showers. We’ll let Doc do
the strip searching so he can check where the Taser barbs went in,” BJ assured
him. “They’ll be transferred to the county in a few days anyway.”

BJ was almost sad at the thought
that Nik would have to be sent to the county jail with Traze once transport and
logistics could be arranged. Her small jail had never been meant to hold anyone
for longer than what it took for them to sleep it off after too much homemade
moonshine. Major crimes just didn’t happen in places like this, until tonight.

“You aren’t buying the self-defense
theory?” Mojo asked with a grin.

“I don’t know what to believe,” BJ
admitted as she looked at the sword in the box of Nik’s weapons.

Who uses a sword these days?
she
wondered.

There was a whispering chime and
Mojo spun around in his chair with a grin and began typing on his laptop.

“OK, girl, we got a Nicholas
Jeffries, 38 years old, six foot five, and a security expert with Freedom
Security International,” Mojo relayed as BJ came over to read the information
over his shoulder.

“Nicholas?” BJ asked as she read
the information. “He said his name was Niklosi.”

“He’s a mercenary, Beeg. He’s like
a politician and probably doesn’t know how to tell the truth,” Mojo said with a
shrug.

BJ knew Mojo was probably right,
but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Nik had told her the truth. It didn’t
explain why his prints came back as Nicholas though.

“You got anything on the other one
yet?” BJ asked.

“I just put his in; it shouldn’t be
much longer though because I have it running through the satellite and not the
dial up,” Mojo answered as he turned back around to look at the stone.

“It says he lives in D.C.,” BJ said
as she read aloud from the information on Mojo’s laptop.

Mojo snorted.

“If he’s working for that bunch of
criminals, then you know he’s guilty,” he said, his disgust clear.

“It doesn’t fit. I can’t explain
it, but none of it makes sense,” BJ muttered.

“How did you get this thing to
light up?” Mojo asked as he held the stone up to the light.

“I don’t know. I remember thinking
that I wished I could see, and then it lit up,” BJ admitted, knowing how crazy
it sounded.

Mojo laughed for a moment until he
realized BJ wasn’t kidding.

“Seriously?” he asked with a
doubtful look.

BJ nodded and shrugged her
shoulders. She had no other explanation.

Mojo cleared his throat and held
out his hands, the stone and evidence bag held above his head as he grinned.

“Lo, I say to you, let there be
light!” Mojo mocked and dropped the bag when the stone lit up in his hands.

“What the fuck?” Mojo screamed as
he jumped back and stood on the seat of his chair, staring down at the brightly
shining stone on the floor.

“Yeah, that’s unnerving,” BJ
admitted as she reached down and grabbed the corner of the evidence bag and put
it on the desk.

“Turn it off! It’s creeping me
out!” Mojo said as he backed away from the desk.

“I don’t know how to turn it off,”
BJ said and her mouth hung open as the stone’s light went out.

“Oh hell, girl, what kind of crazy
shit you brought home? Momma’s gonna kill you if you brought home trouble,”
Mojo warned her, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Knock it off,” BJ said as she tentatively
picked up the evidence bag and looked at the stone. “Maybe it’s some kind of
new technology?”

“Beeg, you know damn well I know my
technology, and that shit ain’t nothing I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Mojo was
adamant.

“Maybe it’s new defense technology.
The military comes up with crazy stuff all the time,” BJ suggested even though
she didn’t believe it herself.

Mojo cocked an eyebrow at her, his
facial expression making it clear he didn’t believe a damn thing she said.

“OK, OK,” BJ said, admitting she
had no idea what it was, but she knew who did.

Without another word she grabbed
the evidence bag and headed into the holding cell area and held it up to Nik
and Traze.

“I need to know what this is, or
I’ll have to call the FBI in order to ensure this isn’t some form of dangerous
weapon,” BJ said, noting the way the two men stared at one another for a moment
before Nik spoke.

“It is merely a stone that I found
that lights up once in a while. I’ve had it for years, for good luck, but don’t
have a clue how it works,” Nik almost choked on the lie.

He hated lying to anyone, but lying
to BJ seemed to affect him much more than it ever had before. His heart
actually ached from it, and he mentally shook himself as he stared unblinkingly
at her disappointed hazel eyes.

BJ deflated at his obvious lie, but
his expression gave her hope that he was still reachable, and she stepped up to
the cell, put her hands on the bars, and kneeled down in front of him. She
looked deep into his eyes.

“Listen to me. If you’re in danger,
I can help you. Please trust me with what happened, and I promise I can help
you,” BJ said, trying to convince him to talk to her.

“You’re so fucking clueless,” Traze
said with a chuckle.

“Don’t laugh. I’m dead serious,” BJ
snarled at Traze before she turned back to Nik.

“Please, talk to me. Tell me what
happened out there,” BJ asked him as her eyes pleaded with him.

BJ could have sworn she saw a
flicker in his strange, dark eyes and thought he might talk to her until Mojo
ruined it.

“Beeg! Holy shit, girl, get out
here!” Mojo screamed out then muttered more quietly, “Momma’s gonna kill you!
Momma’s gonna kill us both! I
knew
you brought back trouble! You’re a
damn trouble magnet!”

BJ sighed and stood, not bothering
to look back at Nik as she left the holding cells and stormed over to the desk
where Mojo was staring at the computer screen.

“What is your problem?” BJ ground
out as she looked over his shoulder.

The flashing pop-up on the screen
immediately grabbed her attention.

HOLD FOR MILITARY
AUTHORITIES!

“What the hell?” BJ asked aloud.

“You ever seen this before?” Mojo
asked, gesturing to the screen with both of his hands.

BJ shook her head slowly as she
tried to understand what was going on.

She’d been in law enforcement for
12 years and had seen a lot of different agencies issue holds on suspects, but
she’d never seen this kind before.

“Where is it coming from?” she
asked.

“This is coming from a military IP
address. It’s legit, Beeg. What does it mean? Are they military? AWOL or
something? Is the military sponsoring their mercenary group?” Mojo asked.

BJ looked to the holding area and
knew Nik and Trey must have heard the conversation because she could hear
movement and whispers.

“You’re using the satellite and the
dial up aren’t you?” BJ asked.

“Yeah, I was doing several things
at once. Why?” he asked.

“Because they’ve probably been
trying to call. Our information is given as the arresting agency as well as
what they’re charged with,” BJ said.

“Damn, I’ll log off,” Mojo said
moving to disconnect one of the laptops.

“No, don’t,” BJ said, surprising
herself. “Let them wait. These guys aren’t going anywhere. Find out where the
nearest military base is; I want to know when they’re getting here.”

“What are you doing?” Mojo asked
her in surprise. “These guys are probably dangerous as hell! We need to let the
military get them the hell out of here quick, and you know it!”

“Something isn’t right, Mojo, and
you know it too. When is Momma getting here?” BJ asked, knowing he’d called
their mother by now.

Mojo growled and rubbed his hands
over his face in frustration.

“She left home 20 minutes ago after
I told her you brought in the big guy for murder and he cremated the body in
the woods. She’s bringing them food,” he admitted.