Alien Read online

  She knew Earthlings were behind the rest of the universe in the technological world and for some reason, the Kiengir kept it that way. They only allowed dribs and drabs of the universe’s technology to infiltrate the Adamu. To Shia, it seemed as if they wanted them to remain stupid and blind to the reality of what truly lay in outer space.

  “This thing belongs to a warrior. You’d think it’d be equipped with the latest innovations available or have the Paoni fallen from grace?” She couldn’t miss the sneer in his tone. “Where’s this one’s vimani?”

  Vimani. If he only knew. She grinned. He was sitting in it. Wrapped in the disguise of a Bronco 4x4 was the latest in Kiengir technology. It had the ability to fly, teleport, shoot down enemy crafts and morph. Didn’t he know a vimani transformed into whatever its owner needed it to look like in order to hide it in plain sight? How long had this guy been incarcerated? Or was he just plain stupid? Remembering how he triggered her suit’s release mechanism with ease, she knew he wasn’t an idiot. A tad behind on his intel maybe, but not dumb. And it would do her wise to remember that for their next encounter.

  “Don’t know,” the one named Dio replied. “I got the coordinates for home on this. Think we should go to the Paoni’s place, stock up on supplies then head out?”

  “Not sure how safe that is. It’s possible others might be there and I’m in no condition to fight them right now.” She heard his heavy sigh and sensed he struggled to remain conscious. “Where are we?”

  “Earth,” Dio stated. The steady tap on the GPS panel couldn’t be missed and she knew he input new coordinates. “My grandparents own vacation property on this planet. Since the big Roswell, New Mexico, fiasco, the Kiengir no longer sanction visits here, but it hasn’t stopped the vacation industry. In fact, it doubled it. How anyone crash landed in a flat desert is beyond me.”

  Shia bit back the snort that threatened to escape. The kid stated the obvious that under different circumstances would have made her laugh. That accident happened before she was assigned to Earth, but every Paoni knew about it. It wasn’t a family set out on a vacation. It was a team of criminals on a mission to free their incarcerated boss from the bowels of hell. They encountered a Paoni task force as they entered the atmosphere. Their ship was damaged and the gravitational pull catapulted them into the ground.

  Pictures from that crash were part of her training. The Paoni assigned to that region could have handled the cleanup differently, to the point no one knew it even happened. According to the textbooks, the Kiengir chose to use it as a means to thwart future escape attempts—a scare tactic as they called it. They allowed the Adamu to locate, retrieve and do limited experiments, before they turned the remains into what now appeared as a poor excuse for a sci-fi movie prop. Then they leaked the information across the intergalactic telecommunications network. It must have worked, because to her knowledge, there had never been another external attempt to help Hellions escape.

  She wanted to believe if it had been anyone other then a trio of criminals in that crash, the Kiengir would have handled it differently. There would have been no evidence and the bodies would have been treated with respect. A shiver shot down her spine at the memory of the pictures posted in her textbooks of the Adamu’s experiments on the crew. A definite deterrent for even visiting this place, much less attempting to enable an escape as far as she was concerned.

  Blocking out the images, she focused on the big man’s voice the moment he spoke. “How far is it?”

  “According to this, we came out along the South Fork Flathead fault in the middle of nowhere Montana. My grandparents’ place is on a private island in Siskiwit Lake. That’s in the middle of Isle Royale in Lake Superior, which will take us about a full Earth day of travel in this thing.”

  “Which equals?” His impatience couldn’t be missed in his weakened tone and Shia sensed he needed immediate medical attention or he wouldn’t last much longer.

  “About twenty-three to twenty-four hours straight driving time.”

  Part of her wanted to let him suffer and die. Without him, the Sirian would be easy prey for her. Let him die. But the fact he removed her helmet without a hitch, survived deadly weapons and incapacitated her with only the use of his hands tormented her curiosity. Who was he? No one other than a Paoni should have known about that trigger. What if he was a Paoni? How had he become labeled as the worst of all criminals, a Lanius, and incarcerated? Nothing in her teachings fit this scenario. She needed to know who the hell he was before she killed him.

  Shia gathered as much saliva as possible in her dry mouth. Though it pained her to speak, she forced the words to exit. “Reset the GPS to home. There will be no other Paoni there. I live alone and my location is not public knowledge.”

  Dio’s surprised look was comical, but Kal was in no mood to laugh. Simply breathing equaled a challenge at the moment.

  “Why should we believe you?” Dio quipped before Kal gathered the strength to speak.

  “Why should you not?” the feminine voice from the rear of the vehicle retorted.

  Dio’s mouth opened, then shut, letting Kal know the young buck didn’t have a comeback for that one.

  “Besides, I’m the only hope you’ve got for your friend’s survival.”

  Damn if she didn’t state the obvious. Kal agreed. Every ounce of him hurt from his thigh, where the gash started to ooze blood through the bandage, to the steady throb in his head from the aftereffects of the drug still simmering in his system, to the just-been-beat-from-the-inside-out bruised sensation rewarded to him by the dart. Not to mention the shock his synapses received from the stun she hit him with first. Combined, it made clear thought a difficult objective, but he grasped for it anyway.

  “A good Paoni always has a backup plan,” he stated without lifting his head from the headrest. “What’s yours?”

  There was no hesitation in her response, which he had to respect. “To level the playing field by helping you heal, then I intend to kill you in the end and gift the Kiengir with your organs.”

  A low laugh escaped at the determination in her tone. If nothing else, she had spunk by speaking the truth. He held no doubt she meant to kill him. His goal—not to let her. There was something he intended to do and no Paoni hell-bent on killing him was going to stop him. Not now, not ever. He’d made the mistake to trust another woman once and it cost him too many years of incarceration.

  Kal closed his eyes for a moment and gathered his thoughts. They really had no other choice. He needed to find certain medical supplies to help him heal or he was toast. From the way he felt, if he saw morning it would be a miracle.

  “Reset the GPS, Dio.” He breathed an exasperated sigh. He knew it was a deadly risk to listen to the Paoni, but something in his gut made him believe she spoke the truth about living alone. If he was lucky, she was a typical woman with something to prove by being a Paoni officer, which made her stubborn and headstrong. Stubborn and headstrong were traits that caused mistakes. He swallowed the smile because his lips were just too tired to comply.

  “But, Kal,” Dio whined. “What if it’s a trick?”

  “Then we’ll handle it when we get to that point.” A wave of electrical pins and needles skittered through his system, renewing the threat of death. It was a residual effect of the Pulsar dart. Though it had been removed, it left behind a jolt to his nerves that could continue to do damage for days or until he died, whichever came first, unless treated.

  Dio mumbled under his breath but did as he was told, stopping the Bronco. Dio reset the coordinates to home. Kal winced at the movement as the vehicle lunged forward. He really didn’t have it in him to argue with the young buck. Closing his eyes, he leaned against the cool glass of the window. It eased the heat on that side of his face and he wished it would cool his whole body. Fever had set in. Kal swallowed hard, knowing his best chance at survival was to remain conscious. Dio needed someone to protect him until they found a way off this planet. Once they achieved that, Kal ha