Hitting the Target Read online

  “Out? Over an hour?” She shook her head. “How—?”

  “You were attacked.” Trey’s deep voice was grim. “I’m so sorry, little one—I should have gotten to you sooner. That bastard…”

  “Someone did get to me though—didn’t they? Or maybe I only dreamed it. I must have dreamed it,” Mia said, telling herself it must be true.

  “Dreamed what?” The big Kindred’s voice was wary in the darkness.

  “A…a huge targen,” Mia said slowly. “I dreamed that it killed the man who…who hurt me and then came over to me.” She had a sudden thought. “It was like those big targen-like creatures you were telling me about—the ones from your home planet who get so huge you could ride on them if they let you.” She shook her head. “I must have dreamed that part though—I must have knocked my head on the tree trunk and dreamed it. Didn’t I?”

  She looked up at the big Kindred, whose eyes were glowing faintly in the dark. Slowly, he shook his head.

  “It was no dream, Mia,” he said in a low voice. “I have to tell you something. I have a—”

  “Not a dream?” she interrupted. She could hear her own voice going high and shrill, not wanting to believe him.

  “I’m sorry, little one—I’m afraid not.”

  “But…but…” Mia shook her head, refusing to believe.

  Because if the targen was real, then she realized instinctively, everything else was real too. The attacker who wasn’t just an attacker but also an agent of The EYE. The words he had said to her…the orders he had given in the name of the Commandant…all of it was real. None of it could be wished away or dismissed as the result of a nasty knock on the head.

  It’s true, she thought despairingly, unable to hold on to her disbelief. All of it is true—all of it!

  “Mia? Are you crying?” Trey sounded concerned in the darkness and she became aware that a choked kind of sobbing was coming from her wounded throat. She put a hand to her face and it came away wet. Oh yes, she was crying all right. Crying as though her heart would break and she couldn’t stop herself.

  It was over now—or it would be very soon. Her beautiful pretend life and the pretend love that had become much more real than it had any right to be. Over…all over.

  As she buried her face in Trey’s broad chest and felt his strong, muscular arms wrap around her she knew it was the last time he would hold her like this. And as she sobbed, the words of her attacker—the agent of The EYE—came back to her and echoed in her brain.

  “These orders are from the Commandant himself: Your time here is through. Be prepared for extraction tomorrow. But before you go, you will kill the Kindred.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Mia crept out of bed at the lonely hour of the early morning when the night is so dark it seems the sun will never rise again. As she left the bed, Trey stirred in his sleep and turned over, mumbling her name. Mia’s heart ached and she longed to reach out and touch him, to run her hand over his scratchy cheek one more time—but she knew she didn’t dare. She might wake him and she couldn’t afford that right now.

  The agent of The Eye had told her—before the huge targen had killed him—that she would get more in-depth orders from a message on the link-box and she must follow them exactly. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom and closing the door softly behind her, Mia snuck to the living area and called the desk out of the ship’s wall, just as Trey had taught her to do.

  Seating herself on the cold metal bench, she turned on the link-box and watched as the screen hummed to life. Then she clicked on her link-mail, which Trey had set up for her as a way to send and receive messages from friends—though mostly she just got what he called “junk mail” from advertisers wanting to sell her things.

  Scrolling down the list of recent messages, Mia saw one which advertised a free eye exam. There was a sour taste in the back of her throat as she clicked it and was rewarded with a large image of a single eye staring back at her.

  Is your vision cloudy or dim? Are you having trouble seeing important things? Contact us today—we can help you see clearly again!

  And under that, was a link to a new window.

  Trey had warned her never to click the links on junk mail due to the high likelihood of downloading a virus, but Mia clicked on this one anyway, her heart pounding like a drum as she did so.

  At once a new window popped up—a window filled with the Commandant’s face.

  “Hello, Mia my dear,” he purred, grinning at her with those flat, soulless black eyes. “And so, we meet again. How have you been enjoying your little vacation on the wrong side of the Great Barrier?”

  “Commandant, please…I—”

  But the Commandant went on talking, apparently ignoring her interruption. After a moment, Mia realized this was a prerecorded message—not a live feed.

  “I believe we have gotten everything we can from your cohabitation with the Kindred alien now,” he continued. “So you will be extracted at Oh-nine-hundred tomorrow. However, The Eye concludes that the alien is too dangerous to live. He and his kind are trying to subvert Ormyulian society and gain control of the South, whereupon they will set their sights on our glorious Republic next. That cannot be allowed to happen.”

  “That’s not what they want—that’s not it at all,” Mia couldn’t help pleading, even though she knew the Commandant couldn’t actually hear her.

  “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how in the world you’re going to kill an alien that outweighs and outmasses you so drastically.” An evil smile spread over the Commandant’s liver-colored lips. “Fear not, my dear—we have an easy and elegant solution.”

  Mia listened, feeling like she’d swallowed a fist-sized ball of lead and wondering what in the world she would be expected to do.

  “Sewn into the bottom hem of the dress you were given to wear is a small green capsule,” the Commandant went on relentlessly. You must break it under the Kindred’s nose as he sleeps and wait for him to inhale. The capsule is filled with microgranules of a slow acting poison.” He grinned. “So slow, in fact, that it takes days to work. You’ll be long gone before the alien succumbs—no one will dream of blaming you or the People’s Republic.”

  I’m not going to use it—I’m not going to poison Trey! Mia thought defiantly. If it’s really that slow acting, The EYE won’t know for days that I didn’t give it to him. That will give Neemah and me plenty of time to get away to Beria—or else maybe I can say the poison didn’t work because of Trey’s Kindred constitution. I’ll say he’s too strong or that he told me he has natural immunity to most natural poisons.

  The plan lightened her heart considerably, but the Commandant’s next words sank it like a rock again.

  “Of course, I’m well aware that you might have developed an affection for the big alien—women are foolish that way. It is difficult for you to give your bodies without also giving your hearts.” The Commandant sneered, as though such weakness was contemptable. “So, in case you think you’re in love with him and you’re contemplating disobeying orders, let me caution you against such treasonous thoughts.”

  “I don’t see how you can stop me,” Mia muttered rebelliously, glaring at the screen. Unfortunately, the Commandant had an answer for that as well.

  “Attached to the microgranules of poison are biometric sensors and micro-transmitters. Once the granules reach the stomach lining, the biometric sensors trip and the transmitters relay a signal which comes directly to me, here at The EYE’s headquarters,” he continued smugly. “In this way we will know you have done your job. If the granules fail to implant in the stomach lining and no message is sent, we will know you have failed. And Mia…” He leaned closer, his face filling the small screen ominously. “I think you and I both know that if that is the case, you will not be the only one to suffer.”

  Mia felt a surge of hatred and despair welling up in her. He had her trapped and once again there was no way out. He was forcing her to choose between Trey and Neemah—both of whom she loved mo