Samantha's Talent (56 page)

"You touch him you're a dead man, Mister." Samantha stared daggers at him then decided it was useless to carry on a conversation with the man. He was obviously so certain of his position that he wouldn't be convinced of anything else. Apparently, Anton thought so, too, for he wasn't joining in.

"Let it go, Sammie. I believe we'll have this straightened out before long."

"We'd better. Reddy will be back soon, or has that changed while we were gone?"

"No. Now you two just sit quietly for now. We'll be in a better position if we don't... "

His computer dinged for attention. Anton glanced at the screen. A smile broke over his face. "Hello, Gene. I assume you got my message before my keepers shut me down?"

"Yes. I'll be there shortly. Just sit tight and don't give those bastards the time of day."

"Who the hell are you and what-"

The man beside Anton stopped speaking abruptly. Samantha assumed the connection with Skype or whatever program Anton was using had been discontinued. She was glad to hear that Gene was free, at least. She felt Juan's hand tighten its grip on her own and turned to smile at him. Somehow there must have been a tremendous leak if Homeland Security thought they could assume control of DARPA from the military and in the process take over any proceedings with Reddy.

After being cut off the man beside Anton--still without a name so far as Samantha knew--stood up. "I think we'd better escort all you people to a more secure area until this situation becomes a bit clearer. Get up, old man," he said to Anton, "And hurry your ass. We're leaving here."

Without a conscious thought Samantha was up and moving. She never knew whether it was the vulgar language toward the gentle old scientist or word that Gene would soon be on the premises that motivated her. Whatever, she was beside the unwelcome visitor in Anton's office before he paid any attention to her and by then it was much too late. He felt the barrel of her pistol being pressed to the back of his head and froze.

"You can stop right where you are, sonny," she said, purposely returning the kind of uncomplimentary designation he had given her. "And if I find out you've harmed a single hair on my Mom or Dad's head you won't have any hair left because I'll personally blow the whole top of your skull off. Is that clear?"

He mumbled an assent, visibly forcing the words out. Anton laughed. Juan had followed Samantha and promptly relieved the man of the handgun holstered under his jacket, then squatted and took another smaller one from an ankle holster. "My, my," he said. "You must have thought we were really dangerous. Anton, I'm going to lock him in the washroom for now. If his compatriots come inside we'll worry about them then. That was nice work, sweetheart." He walked the man over to the small washroom that contained only a sink and commode then closed the door and locked it.

"Indeed it was nice work, Sammie," Anton said. "Gene is on the way with some help. I'm hoping he arrives before Reddy returns. In the meantime, I need to call the President. The NSA and HS people took us by surprise. I suppose Liadra finally got a message to them past Gene."

"What do you mean?" Samantha asked. Everything was happening too fast to suit her.

Anton punched a key then looked up. "Oh, she was a plant by someone in HS who became suspicious of us. Gene and I knew about her but we fooled her into thinking Gene was her contact. She thought he was passing data on to her boss but nothing important ever went past Gene." He chuckled. "I suppose Gene won't mind if I tell you now, but he's been working for me from the time before Liadra was brought into the circle."

"We thought Joanne was a spy," Juan said.

"She is but Gene recruited her. She was spying on Liadra. I'm sure she'll apologize for that act she put on when you see her again." He appeared to muse to himself for a moment. "I still don't understand how Liadra got anything past Gene. I thought we had everything under control."

"You certainly fooled me," Juan said.

"And me, too," Samantha added.

The door to the office opened. At first Samantha thought the two men who had been in the alcove outside where her mother usually worked had decided to take over but then she saw that Gene was behind them and holding his gun. He herded them inside and was followed by two others in military uniform. One was a Master Sergeant with a Military Police brassard armband. The other was a Major. She wasn't familiar enough with the military to recognize which branch they belonged to and didn't really care. Apparently the military was back in control of the area, for the moment at least. Best of all, her parents followed close on the Major's heels.

"Sammie!" Elaine cried. She and Samantha were hugging a second later.

Anton's computer dinged for attention.

At first Samantha thought it was the President and wondered exactly how much influence Anton had if he could connect with him that fast. Then she heard the voice over the speaker phone. She didn't recognize it but the words told her it was the guard at the site of the stealthed lander.

"Sir, the alien is out of stealth and its computer screen has Ms. Douglas' picture on it."

"That would be Mrs. Carrera now, Tony. But I'm gratified that Reddy wants to see Samantha. She'll be there shortly."

As she and Juan left for the lander's site the Military Policeman was calling for reinforcements. Anton stayed where he was, waiting to hear from the President or one of his advisors.

"I wonder who will wind up with authority over Reddy and the project," Samantha said as they drove.

"No one will be in charge of Reddy, I hope. As far as the rest of it goes, I'm putting my trust in Anton."

"Me, too. I wonder what Reddy wants?"

"Why wonder? We'll be there in a moment and ask him."

"Ask Reddy! Ask Reddy!" Sheik agreed. Shufus didn't voice an opinion.

The lander popped into visibility once they were in range. Reddy saw them and flapped his arms in a familiar gesture, although Samantha thought he was more agitated than usual. He had reason to be, as she and Juan soon discovered.

Once the alien being settled in to a prolonged intercourse, a shelter had been moved to the site, with its opening facing the airlock where Reddy stayed while talking with Samantha or Juan. It contained chairs, tables with computers, calculators and other paraphernalia they found they needed. Just as she sat down, Juan's phone rang. He answered then promptly switched the call to speaker phone so that Samantha could listen in.

"Juan, the President's office contacted me. Our project is again under DARPA. Apparently Homeland Security sicced the NSA on us with no authority to do so. President Eddison was very perturbed. He's sending in a special force of army troops to secure the area and arrest every NSA agent on the premises or nearby until we can sort out the guilty from the ones simply following orders from their superiors. That's not the real news, though. In case Reddy hasn't told you yet, the interstellar ship he thought had been lost just went into geosynchronous orbit above the lander's site, which is obviously above you two and us as well."

Samantha and Juan grinned at each other after they both involuntarily looked upward, as if they would have been able to spot the ship. Fortunately it wasn't that big or it might have caused perturbations in the orbits of many other satellites.

"What is Reddy going to do?"

"That's what you're there to find out. Get busy. The President is waiting, not to mention everyone associated with the project." Samantha could practically see Anton's triumphant grin over the phone. She brought up her computer conversion program that enabled her and Reddy to converse with each other, although the computer voice sounded like neither of them. Sheik was no longer needed even though he stayed close. Reddy seemed to take his presence for granted. The first couple of times he had not been there when she attempted conversation with the alien, he complained. Now the parrot always accompanied her, just as Shufus did. She had no idea what Reddy thought of the big German Shepherd or what he gained from his presence but he also liked to have him there.

"My ship has returned," were Reddy's first words.

"I'm glad for you, Reddy. Now you can return to your home much sooner than you anticipated. We're glad your companions are safe as well. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Yes, your assistance is still required. I have insufficient power to take the lander into orbit."

"I thought the big ship had a number of landers. What has happened?"

"Unfortunately, the ship never left this system. A shield failure as it was leaving stranded it in the Oort belt. It very nearly destroyed it and did destroy the last two landers it had on board as well as its communication module. The last, I am pleased to say, has been repaired and with the module your friends constructed for me, we were able to speak together."

"I see," Samantha said, although she actually didn't yet. "Is there anything we can do to help you now?" she repeated.

"My lander requires energy pellets in order to gain orbit. If one of your spacecraft could reach geosynchronous orbit and mate with the interstellar ship, then return to earth with the pellets, I would be much pleased."

"We'll have to talk to our superiors, but I doubt that that will present an insurmountable obstacle. Is there anything else?"

"Not at this time, no. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Samantha wondered just how much of the politeness and stilted language Reddy used was using was part of his culture or simply following English's grammatical rules and conventions. Not that it mattered, she thought. They understood each other very well now.

***

"The President authorized an immediate trip to the alien mother ship by an unmanned capsule. Fortunately one was already on the launch site at the Spaceport in New Mexico. It will be leaving in two days," Anton said the next day Samantha and Juan reported.

"Good. He assured us that the fuel pebbles don't weigh that much. He also said that the capsule would bring down plans for manufacturing them, a little matter we forgot once had the plans for both the lander and the interstellar ship," Juan replied.

"Fine, fine. You've both done an outstanding job. It seems strange now to think it will be over with soon, so far as our friend Reddy is concerned. I want to tell you that I'm exceedingly glad his superior decided against taking you two and Shufus and Sheik back home with him."

"That made Mom and Dad happy," Samantha said, although she still had a faint sense of loss at not being a passenger on Reddy's ship when he left Earth. "He did extend an invitation, though. In fact, he told me that his superior will expect us to be on the first ship that comes calling on them, once we have our own interstellar transportation."

"Should I relay that message to the President?"

"There's no need, sir," Juan said. "Reddy wants to tell him personally before he leaves. He did say a computer hookup would be sufficient, though. I guess he understands the demand on the time of the leader of the most powerful country on Earth. And, I'm happy to say, there's no question that we are the most powerful and will remain so as long as we keep our little secret concerning tolerances."

Anton smiled at his two young employees. He was going to miss them. He found himself hoping he lived long enough to indeed see them off to the stars to visit the alien he had been in touch with for so long. In the meantime, he could finally rest.

"There was one other thing, sir," Juan said. "Reddy's superiors have decided to send some biological data down with the fuel pellets and other items. They are making no promises but believe the data might possibly help us in extending our life spans and those of our animal companions."

***

"Are you sorry we're not to be going, sweetheart?" Juan asked as they lay in bed several nights later, after Reddy had said goodbye and launched his lander.

Samantha knew what he meant. "Not really. I'm sure it couldn't possibly be as satisfying as staying right here with you and getting used to being married. There's just one problem."

"What's that?"

"You're going to have to look for a new job."

"I believe I can manage that. And what will you be doing in the meantime?"

"Me? Tomorrow I'm going to deposit my part of the advance on the book Jennie is writing. Then I'm going to begin thinking of ways to spend it. As big as it turned out to be, that ought to keep me occupied for a long time!"

The End

Author's note: This novel was originally a short story, published individually. Later I expanded it slightly when it was included in my latest collection,
Oops!
It was then that I began thinking it might make a pretty decent novel and began trying to turn it into one. It took several attempts over a period of several years before a plot finally clicked. This long novel is the result. My granddaughter, Robyn, was a first reader for the novel that was published just before this one. She did such a good job that I imposed on her to read and edit this one for me. She accepted, and did so well with the editing and helpful suggestions that I thought she deserved more than just a mention, which is why you see her name here as a co-author. So, thanks again, Robyn.

Darrell Bain

Shepherd, Texas

June 2014

From Double Dragon Publishing

www.double-dragon-ebooks.com

From Double Dragon Publishing

www.double-dragon-ebooks.com

Earth Storm

By Kassie Burns

Disaster comes in threes, they say. When a terrorist plague strikes Chicago, followed by an earthquake, Mercy Johnson doesn't wait around for the third tragedy. She takes her new lover, Noah McKnight, up on his offer to leave the dangerous city behind and find a safe refuge in a secluded cabin in the Kentucky woods. Noah had almost given up hope for the human beings on planet Earth before he found Mercy. Kidnapped by aliens as a child and trained as a Sensitive, he returned to his home world on a mission. Mother Earth was about to blow her top over the humans' abuse of her world, and only true and selfless love could cool her down. Together, Mercy and Noah battle the raging elements on an erotic journey to save the Earth from ultimate disaster.