Striker Page 4

  At least that - thing - was out of her neck. It was clearly more than just a tracker. It had to be. No tracker she'd ever seen leaked black acid like that. Her palm was still red and tingled where it had leaked. Those fine hair-like ends had moved as though they had a mind of their own. Like it was alive. Just the thought of that thing burrowing into her sent shivers up her spine.

  She was getting pretty sick of horrible surprises of late. For the first time in her life, she called on the darkest of her training, and that was not to understand and make sense about what was happening to her, but just to remain functional until she could get the hell away. Then she could try and reason it all out from the safety of her tiny apartment on base.

  She'd never found her little apartment very homey, but the thought of being there right now sent a deep longing so strong, it crashed through her system like a thunderstorm. Ruthlessly shoving the thought away, she forced her attention to the man - alien - peering out beneath the low hanging branch that almost scraped the ground.

  Huge. Massive, in fact, which was a surprise given that she was usually the same height, if not taller, as most men. Being close to six feet put her on an even playing field that had more than helped her over the course of her career. Men respected height, and a tiny woman didn’t cut it in her grade of military. Being the Neanderthal, type A alphas they were, a smaller woman was easily overlooked, and had been on numerous occasions, all because of a small physical stature. She almost snorted; those men also totally underestimated a woman's determination and intellect, more fool them. She'd worked on her physical fitness, added muscle, become fit and lean and strong to be taken seriously. You couldn’t buy height, and she used it to her advantage.

  This guy, however, made her feel positively delicate.

  A mop of blonde waves framed an entirely masculine face. He ploughed it back off his face with splayed fingers before peering out again. Strong, square jaw, straight nose, passionate lips that could definitely kiss, eyes that framed sky-blue eyes with little lines that fanned out from the edges. What he thought by coming to this godforsaken place to rescue her was yet to be understood.

  Or believed.

  She'd been caught up with the mind-fucks of the Taliban over the past few years, eluding people with lies upon lies. Despite the lies though, they were an enemy she did understand. Striker, though. She’d never come across anyone quite like him. Of course, she hadn’t, because he wasn’t even from Earth! She swallowed hard and forced her heart rate back down.

  But just like the Taliban, he was an unknown factor, someone not to be completely trusted, and that made him an enemy. She’d allow herself to be pleasantly surprised if he turned out not to be.

  Although kissing like he did, she almost hoped he didn't turn out to be an enemy. That had taken her by complete surprise. She'd reacted so - fully. And the man hadn't even used his hands! She was all hot and flustered, and not all of it had to do with how crappy she felt.

  She didn’t know this Commander Striker. Didn’t trust him. Didn’t even know what the hell was happening. All she knew was that the man could kiss, and as far as she could recall, that was not a good enough reason upon which to base a character reference. She'd stay with him for as long as it suited. He seemed to have some idea about those monsters - Reptiles, he'd called them - who had abducted her, so she'd keep him close. She might have use for that knowledge. It might just keep her alive long enough to really think about what she needed to do. Besides, options were very thin on the ground at the moment.

  “How far away do you think these caves are?”

  “Not more than two clicks, but the terrain is… challenging.”

  He had a nice mouth. Full, generous lips. She knew they felt as good as they looked. She watched them for a moment too long before mentally kicking herself. Luckily, he'd turned his attention back to peeking beneath the branch.

  “It seems they've moved away. We should be able to get away without attracting attention if we go now,” he said.

  She was thinking the same thing. If he was actually a commander, he must have had some sort of military training - whatever an alien version of that may be. Still, she'd take nothing for granted. He could be soft and pudgy beneath that uniform. A figurehead who spent more time behind a desk than they did on their training. In her opinion, they were the ones to watch out for.

  “How do you feel?” Intelligent eyes peered at her.

  No, if she could form an opinion, it was that this man had the look of experience behind him. Belatedly, she realized she was staring at him like a fool, and he waited for her to answer. She gave a sharp nod that sent a shard of pain through her skull. That - thing - had done damage, but she wasn't going to tell him that. The less he knew, the better.

  “Good enough to get out of here.”

  Without a backward glance, and because she could spend more time just staring at him, she flattened to the ground and wiggled beneath the branch. Really, she needed to pull herself together. She was an experienced captain in the Australian SAS, not a love struck teenager. She need to get her arse in gear and act like it.

  Crawling into a hunch and freezing stock still, her gaze darted around, watching for anything that might signify danger. Nothing stirred. Not even the air that was now more frigid than before. Her breath condensed and puffed out before dissipating. The blue, spindly leaves were covered in a layer of whitish dew. The temperature definitely had dropped. She'd been hot from running through the forest before finding their hidey-hole, but she still felt as though a furnace was still burning inside her.

  Striker managed to work his considerably larger form next to her. For such a big guy, he moved surprisingly lightly.

  She gestured at him with the flick of her chin. “Lead the way.”

  His eyes ran over her face, and a look of unease crossed his features. “You sure you can do this?”

  She grimaced. She must look like she felt. His concern was... touching. If anything he said or did could be believed. Again, she suspended judgement, erring on the side of caution. She sent him a decisive nod.

  “Just look out for yourself.” She sent him her best hard-arse captain look, which usually sent privates scattering.

  He went to stand, then paused, coming back down to crouch on his haunches again. “I don't know your name.”

  “And what's that got to do with finding a cave?” She sounded unnecessarily bitchy but was of the idea not to give away any more information than necessary.

  “Well, if you faint and fall face first into the ground, at least I can call your name so I can help bring you back around,” he said.

  She considered. Nothing got attention faster than a name. Shock must finally be getting to her. Since she'd woken, it had taken every ounce of her training not to curl into a ball and give in to whatever it was that was happening to her.

  She offered him a weak smile. “It's Vivien. Vivien Demazi.”

  He consulted the little device he had striped to his wrist. “Okay, Vivien, Vivien Demazi, it's this way. Hopefully, we'll get there before sundown.”

  She fell into step behind him, silently thankful that he led with way by clearing a sort of path through the thick branches. For such a large man, he moved almost silently, something she was thankful for. There was no telling where those Reptile things were, and she'd be happy not to meet another one as long as she lived.

  Which, at the moment, was questionable.

  She forced the sick thud that landed in the pit of her stomach aside. Her survival training had been about mental toughness, as well as physical. She had to keep her mind out of despair. When despair got the better of you, stupid mistakes soon followed.

  She focused on Striker's back, watching the way his shoulders filled out his jacket. The way his biceps pulled the fabric on his sleeves. The way the end of the jacket fell in a perfect triangle shape to a tight backside no man had a right to own.

  But he wasn't a man - was he? He was… more. An alien, like those Reptiles. She let
out a quick burst of breath. Half a day or so ago - it was hard to really know how long - she'd been in the middle of the desert tracking disappearances, her mind firmly on humans.

  Now… now she was either on her way to work out what happened to those missing people because she was one of them - and the reality was so much scarier than she could even have imagined - or the stress of her life was getting to her and she was finally going bonkers.

  Striker glanced over his shoulder at her and frowned. “So you're a commander? You mentioned you haven't been in the position for long.”

  The last thing she wanted to do was talk about how fast she was failing. If she could keep her mind off the way she was feeling, she could collapse when they got to safe ground. She wasn't going to expect him to keep her safe, and she really didn't know him well enough to trust that he really was in her side. There was nothing stopping him from deciding she was too much trouble and try to get himself off the planet without her unconscious arse slowing him down.

  He'd told her he'd come to rescue her - but for what purpose, and how strong was that reason? She had nothing of value to give him - no information, no secrets. Not that she was aware of anyway. In situations like these, it was always best to learn thy enemy - at least complete stranger - a little more.

  A ghost of a smile curved his full lips before he returned his attention to pushing branches out of the way. “It was handed to me after my commander left his post.”

  “Oh? He left on purpose?”

  “If you consider finding your life's mate more important than commanding a Starship, then yes, he left by his own decision.”

  “Oh.”

  “You sound confused.” He glanced at her again, his brow pinched.

  She kept the branch he held for her aside as she passed around it. “It's just that normally people don't leave their command just because they - uh, marry.” She assumed finding a life's mate was similar to marriage in his culture. In her experience, it was usually a complication most people ignored after a while. Certainly, if a general or high-ranking officer married, they never gave up any sort of position because of it.

  “It wasn't a big decision for him, really. His mate is a human.”

  That stopped her in her tracks. “What did you just say?”

  Striker stopped walking and turned around. “Lauren was abducted, just like you were, by the hands of the Reptiles. Jo'Aquin couldn’t stand by when an innocent woman was taken, and he went after her.”

  “Just like you've done for me?”

  Striker's huffed a derisive laugh. “It seemed Jo'Aquin was a little more successful in his rescue. But yes, just like I've done for you.”

  To think he'd put himself at risk. As well as his former commander. What sort of men were these people? Either honourable or completely stupid. The jury was still out.

  But still, she couldn't help the little shiver that went through her stomach at the thought that he might be telling the truth. That she might be important enough for someone to risk themselves like this.

  Because there was one thing she did know - there was no one on Earth who would even come close to offering the same. She wasn’t even sure her disappearance would be missed.

  Chapter Six

  Vivien cleared her thoughts, feeling more than a little self-conscious. Mind. She had to get her mind back on track. Even to notice his shoulders and nice arse was a very, very bad choice.

  “You said Lauren was taken. By the Reptiles. Do you know where on Earth she was taken from?”

  He nodded. “She said somewhere called the Null-boarding Plane.”

  She reached and grasped his bicep, vaguely noting his muscles were as hard as they looked. “You mean the Nullarbor Plane?”

  “Yes, that's correct. That's what Lauren said.”

  She audibly gasped. Vivien jerked to a stop, not seeing her surroundings. That name was number one on her list - the most recent missing person. “Lauren Matthews? That's your commander's wife's name?”

  “Yes. That is indeed her.” His frown had grown so deep, a groove notched in his forehead.

  “She was taken by those Reptile monster things.”

  Striker nodded, and he looked infinitely sad. “Unfortunately.”

  She looked up at him, taking in his serious expression. “There have been several missing people reports from that area. How many others have been taken that you know of?”

  She didn’t want to tell him too much, but if he had information, she had to take a chance. At least twenty people - women - had been reported missing somewhere along that long, lonely stretch of road over the past year alone. Who knew how many before that. Her mission was to find evidence, whatever that may be. At least she'd done that spectacularly.

  His frown drew deeper. “There have been others?”

  She nodded, frowning. Maybe he didn't know much more than she did.

  “Vivien, if we had known, we would have done everything in our power to stop the Reptiles from taking even one more female.”

  He looked so honest that she was inclined to believe him. The reality of it all was that Striker had put himself in danger to rescue her. His commander had rescued Lauren Matthews and then gave up his command position for her by the sounds of it - what was up with that? - and looked to be as much an enemy of these Reptiles as she apparently was.

  “Why do they take them? The women?” If he didn't know how many were taken, he might be able to shed some light on why.

  “I will tell you this sad tale as we walk. It won't do to stand around like sitting ardvks with the Reptiles looking for us.”

  “Ardvks?”

  “A small feathered creature with a snout, much like your ducks. Without a beak. And a long tongue.”

  She tried to picture it but came up short. It was all too hard, and she turned her attention back to the problem at hand. Of course, he was right. She should have thought of that. Mentally chiding herself, she kept pace behind him as they walked.

  “We don't know for sure, but we think human females are very important to the Reptiles,” he said.

  “Just women? But why?”

  She stumbled over some loose rocks and recovered fast so Striker wouldn’t notice. Although the ground was now marginally sloping up, it felt as though her feet were filled with lead. Any upward step took five time more effort than it should.

  “The Reptiles are a stupid but lucky race. They have no capacity to live in harmony, only to dominate and destroy. All races knew this and left them relatively alone on their planet. But a few decades ago, somehow, they discovered a way to control the minds of others. They started on their own tribes until they were all as one. A hive mind. Then, when they had control over their own species, they invaded their neighbouring planet. In a matter of days, they'd taken over the minds of every soul who lived there.”

  Vivien gasped. “Days?”

  Striker nodded, his face grave. “No species had seen anything like it. There were rescue missions, but it made no difference. The Reptiles turned the innocent into an army to fight against those who would save them. They didn’t stop there. In a few short months, they'd taken over their galaxy, then moved to others.”

  Shock reverberated through her system. “My God. How...how many planets have they done this to?”

  “Too many. They were able to take over the three major solar systems before races combined and stopped them from openly invading other planets.”

  Three solar systems! That was a lot of space, and by the sound of it, a lot of lives as well. Billions!

  “Were you able to stop them from taking over more planets?”

  “Some more than others.” Sadness tainted his voice as it trailed off, but before she could ask him another question, he spoke again. “For a few years, the invasions stopped. The Interspecies Council formed to protect planets and their peoples living on them, whether they knew that or not. So far, it seems prevention is the best defence.”

  Which made her wonder about the level of security o
f her planet and how safe everyone actually was - not much by the looks of things.

  “Prevention? You've been protecting Earth?”

  “For five of your Earth years now.”

  Five years! That was such a long time. Maybe all those alien spotters weren't that wrong after all. “But… no one knew you were there.” Well, maybe apart from a few top ranking officers, as well as the nutters.

  “It is as it should be. Earth is a young planet, your people in the early stages of space travel. It's better to let a people work space travel out for themselves before contact. Their ensuing society is always a little more socially advanced when that happens naturally.”

  Yeah, when they weren't busy killing each other and had their minds on bigger things, was what he really said. She quietly agreed with him.

  “But the Reptiles still came.”

  “They still came,” he echoed. “There has been a breach, and we didn’t know.”

  They walked for a while, each lost in their thoughts. The ground was increasingly steep, the landscape vastly rockier and the tree cover thinning. The air even seemed to be thinner than in the dense forest. Without talking, they both naturally slowed, staying close to the tree trunks before darting to the next. Vivien preferred the cover of the trees, but a cave would be the safest of all. So far, there'd been no sighting of any Reptile, but experience told her it might only be a matter of time before their luck ran out. They were actively being searched for.

  She needed to take her mind off her tumbling thoughts and increasingly aching body. “Why do they do it?”

  Striker glanced at her with eyes the deep blue colour of a deep Mediterranean ocean. They also had a subtle glow to them. She mentally slapped herself; since when did she compare eye colour to an ocean? She'd never been that romantic. She wasn't wired that way. But it was true. There was something - magnetic about him. Something that compelled her on a base level.

  A level she had doggedly ignored for years for the sake of her career.

  And now definitely was not the time to be lamenting that fact.