Tekgrrl (30 page)

“You’re still working for me,” Wesley reminded the former villain.

“Don’t forget about owing me, either,” Fantazia said to Cyrus. “One little favor isn’t going to cut it for all I had to do for you.”

“Don’t believe a word Simon says,” Luke told Wesley and Paul, as if they needed to hear it. “I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”

“No one does,” Wesley replied. “I always said it was a mistake to have him on the team.” He gave Paul a look.

“Yeah, yeah,” Paul said, brushing this off. I was shocked; a few weeks ago and he would have been having a minor meltdown, now he just quietly acquiesced? God, how he had changed. How he had mellowed.

He squeezed my knee, and I smiled. He’d changed for the better. Definitely for the better.

“I’ll set up everything and be back later,” Forrest said.

“I’m going with him,” Toby said, motioning to Forrest. Paul nodded, and the two other men walked out of the room and back into the real world.

“You guys
will
be careful around Simon, won’t you?” I asked Paul.

“Why, Mindy Clark, are you concerned for me?”

My cheeks burned. Our kiss last night had outed our relationship before we had truly identified—at least in words—what it even was to us. I wasn’t sure of how he felt, though I knew in my heart this was more than a fling for me. Kate had confirmed it before I was ready to hear: I was in love with Paul Christian. It was strange how it had happened in a matter of days after so many years; but there it was.

Something kept holding me back from voicing this, however. “Of course I’m concerned for you,” I murmured. “And Wesley, for Lainey’s sake. But I’m more concerned for you.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate your concern, but the day I’m scared of Simon Leasure…”

“Is the day you get a tattoo and hook up with me?” I teased.

“Neither of those turned out to be unlikely, now did they?” he asked, brushing a light kiss against my hair. “Looks like Lainey wants to talk to you. I’d better speak to Wesley, anyway,” he said, getting up. “She’s all yours,” he said to Lainey, motioning for her to sit down on the couch next to me.

Lainey did, settling Emily on her lap. I smiled at the baby and took hold of her chubby hand.

“Hey, Em. Keeping Mommy busy?”

“Of course.” Lainey gave me an awkward smile. “I’ve got to admit, Min, I was a bit shocked at first. You and Paul were the last people I could ever imagine hooking up.”

“As weird as you and the Reincarnist?” I quirked an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged. “Touché. But when I started noticing how you two were acting around each other, well, it wasn’t a shock when Wesley told me he accidentally stumbled onto something he shouldn’t have.”

“It came out of nowhere,” I admitted. “Both of us were surprised. But…”

“It’s serious, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “I think so.” I didn’t know what a future with Paul would hold, but I was suddenly starting to see it as a distinct possibility.

Lainey grinned. “I’m excited for you! Frankly, I always thought all Paul needed was the right person to draw him out of himself, and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am you’re finally over Luke.”

“Yeah, speaking of that…” I lowered my voice. “Did I tell you he wanted to get together? With me?”

Lainey looked shocked. “What? No!”

I nodded. “He pretty much offered to dump Selena for me.”

Lainey cast a glance over her shoulder to where Luke was talking to Fantazia, Selena in tow. “But he’s still with her. What’s up with that?”

I shrugged. “Who knows with guys? I think he got lonesome for my fawning adoration, frankly. I don’t think he actually wanted to be with me, he just wanted someone to think he’s awesome.”

“Hello, male ego,” Lainey said.

“Tell me about it.” I gave Emily another halfhearted smile. “I’m worried about them going to meet with Simon, though.”

“Welcome to my world,” Lainey said. “It never gets any easier sending someone you love into combat, or any potentially dangerous situation, and wondering if they’re going to come out alive. It’s even scary when you know they’ll come back one way or another, but that they just won’t remember you.” She nodded in Wesley’s direction.

“It’s just this feeling I have. Like, all the hair on the back of my neck is standing up,” I said, brushing a hand there. “Something bad is going to happen.”

“Mindy! You know you should never say that because…”

I couldn’t hear Lainey anymore, as a searing pain went through my head. Clutching it in my hands, I cried out in pain as the familiar voice of my nemesis spoke two words:

We’re here.

“So this voice has been talking to you for a while, but before this never in my place, and never this loud?” Fantazia said, taking her hands from my head and gazing down at me with a frown. Apparently my shrieks had drawn a bit of attention. Now she and Wesley were casting several spells to try to track down the source of the voice. Paul stood nearby with a worried look.

“That’s right,” I affirmed. “The basic villainous ‘We’re coming to get you’ threat. No offense, Cyrus.”

“I never went around threatening to go get anyone,” Cyrus replied, affronted. “Now ‘You’ll never stop me,’ or ‘You’re powerless to resist,’ sure. But I’m not out to ‘get’ anyone.”

“We stopped you,” Luke put in.

“Yeah, you stopped me with the almighty dollar. Hiring counts as stopping. Good for you,” Cyrus said.

Fantazia tapped a ruby nail on her lips, ignoring their babble. “So far the voice has only targeted Mindy. There are no reports of other telepaths with similar incidents, right, Cyrus?”

Cyrus shrugged from behind his computer. “If anyone’s been contacted, they haven’t been talking about it online. That’s one of the things our grand leader told me to search for.” He motioned to Wesley.

Fantazia looked at Wesley, too. “Knowing what I do about your background, Mindy…this has something to do with those communications we stumbled across at your headquarters last night.”

Wesley ran a hand through his hair, disgruntled. “I was going to wait until we got confirmation from Simon before dropping that bombshell. Thanks, Fantazia.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my nerves buzzing.

“The government stumbled onto an alien transmission,” Wesley said. “They passed it along to the American Agents. When Fantazia and I snuck in last night, we caught it on our alert systems. It’s a countdown to an invasion.”

All of my nerves jangled at that moment. An alien invasion? Sure, there were many alien species out there, not just the Kalybri and the Vyqang, but were there any who would be telepathically harassing me? Not likely.

I slumped in my seat, feeling like the room was spinning. “Oh my God.”

“An alien transmission that those of us in the know have had for weeks,” Cyrus bragged.

“One that you should have shared,” Wesley snapped.

“I didn’t work for you then!” Cyrus said. “And I didn’t know it was important. Come on, I’m no hero. Do you know how many end-of-the-world plots I hear about on a regular basis? And how many of those are all talk and no action? Who knew this was the real deal?”

“I didn’t want to unduly upset you, Mindy,” Wesley said. “I wanted to have all of the facts before I came to you.”

“I need to hear,” I said softly. “I need to hear what language they’re speaking. I might know for sure all of what they’re saying. I need the original transmission, not whatever the hackers or the government has already translated.” I looked over at Cyrus.

He nodded. “Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can do.” He attacked his keyboard, and I could see magic radiating off his fingertips as he used his powers to move even faster.

After a few moments, he motioned to me. “Have a listen.” He clicked a button on a Wave file and it immediately played.

The sounds that came out of his computer speakers were the same as those that populated my own personal hell, the ones that haunted my nightmares and my memories. The Vyqang had spoken largely in Kalybri to us captives, but I had a ghost of a memory of lying on that table, strapped down while they worked on my brain, and those grunts and growls in the background.

“Oh God, oh God,” I started moaning, unaware of the fact I was unconsciously putting my hands over my ears. All of this time it had been one of them in my head, one these monsters of my past, whispering threats.

“Turn it off!” Paul ordered Cyrus, rising from his seat to stand by my side.

“No, no!” I held out my hands as if to ward off blows. “No, I have to hear.” I listened, caught between nausea and terror, trying to see if I could make sense of the words and wondering if my invader was still present.

Yes, I am.
A laugh echoed in my head.
Do you believe me now that we’re coming to get you, or will it take ripping the guts out of your little friends to make it real, Mindy?

I tried to tune out his words and the terror he inspired by speaking my name. Instead I focused on him, trying to make him more real to me. After all, he had tracked me down using this link the Vyqang had probably installed in me for this very purpose. I was part of a catch-and-release program and…

No, we don’t make that habit,
the voice said.
If it was anyone other than me, well, they might have left you and this backwater world of yours alone.

His words were horrible but our link was real. It only stood to reason that I could track him. I focused on that voice, and on his thoughts that I could almost reach out and touch.

What are you doing? Stop it!

He was sitting on one of those cold metal ships headed toward my world, blue eyes glittering in the darkness.

Stop!

The connection was immediately severed, and I stumbled backward, falling against Paul, who steadied me.

“Turn it off!” Paul snapped, and Cyrus immediately complied.

Paul turned me to face him. “Are you all right?”

“It’s them,” I whispered. “The Vyqang. The aliens that…tortured me. It’s them. They’re coming here. They’ve just hit our solar system, but with their ships, they will be here in a few days. Maybe less.” I focused on Paul. “They’re coming here because of me. I thought they were gone, destroyed, but I should have known they’d come back.” I started crying.

Paul held on tight to me. “They’re not going to hurt you. I promise.”

“You can’t promise something like that, Paul. You don’t know them!” I said.

“Yes, I can,” he replied, a steely edge to his voice. “Because we will stop them.”

Forrest and Toby stepped into the room, and we all jumped.

“Jesus, it’s just us!” Toby held up his hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Alien invasion,” Cyrus said.

Toby and Forrest looked at each other. “Invasion? But I thought they wanted to help,” Toby said, looking confused.

“What are you babbling about?” Luke eyed him.

Forrest stepped forward. “I just got another call. From Senator Leasure.”

“Simon’s a senator now?” Kate asked.

“Simon’s father,” Paul corrected. “What did he want?”

“To meet us without Simon knowing. He was saying that ‘Simon screwed up’ is the understatement of the millennium,” Toby replied. “Apparently this group of aliens heard how something bad was going to go down on planet Earth and wanted to help. Simon told them to stick it, that he had everything covered. The government is adding his poor diplomatic skills to a long list of things they’re upset with Simon about, and wants us to help.”

“They don’t want to help, they want to kill us all,” I murmured to myself.

“The Kalybri?” Toby looked really confused. “I thought they were the good ones, the ones who rescued you.”

“Wait, what?” I was lost. “The
Kalybri
are here? Were here?”

Forrest nodded. “I just found out they came to lend their assistance. Until Simon turned them down.”

“How do you know it’s them? Were they speaking Kalybrian, because don’t believe that. It could just be the Vyqang pretending to be Kalybri.”

Forrest shrugged, looking out of his depths. “You’ll have to talk to Senator Leasure about it, Mindy. He was one of the people who heard the original transmission. You’re mentioned in it, actually, and you’re the one he wants to talk to. The only one. He doesn’t want news about this getting out.”

“Too bad,” Paul growled. “They put their foot in it, now they’re going to have to play by our rules if they want our help.”

“From what I’m told, the aliens are refusing to speak to anyone other than Mindy.”

“If it’s the Vyqang, this might be a trap to get Mindy alone to brutalize her,” Paul suggested.

“Or it could actually be the Kalybri,” I said. “They know I’m the only one who knows how seriously to take this threat. I’m not afraid of Simon’s dad, of course. He’s the least scary person in all of this.” I met Forrest’s eyes. “Set it up. I’ll do it while Paul and Wesley are talking to Simon.”

“No!” Paul shook his head. “I’m not letting you do this, Mindy.”

“You’re right. You’re not
letting
me do anything. I’m doing it, end of story,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Excuse me, but I have to go change.” I spun on my heel and went back to my room to put on something more serious than jeans and sneakers for my meeting with the senator.

Paul barged into my room without knocking just as I’d finished undressing. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you think
you’re
doing?” I snarled. “I’m kind of getting naked here.”

His eyes flicked over me. “Yeah, nice. But I’ve seen it before, so I’m not going to be shocked out of having this argument. You are not going down there to offer yourself up willingly to Simon’s father or some aliens who may or may not be the Kalybri and may or may not be the Vyqang.”

I yanked a sweater on. “I’m just going to see Simon’s father, and to find out for sure what he knows and who he’s talking to. I’m not meeting with any aliens yet.”

“What if when you get down there it’s just a diversionary tactic or a trap? I wouldn’t put it past Simon, and I’m not putting it past his father.”