Erin M. Leaf (21 page)

Gideon schooled his face into
blankness. Theo scooted away from the door on his ass, closer to Gideon.
Abruptly, Gideon realized his partner had a broken leg and
couldn’t
stand.
Dammit,
he thought, angry and frustrated and helpless. He nudged
Theo’s arm with his hand, hoping no one could see the movement. Not that it
mattered anymore. The touch of his bond-mate sent energy through his skin and
he had to concentrate on suppressing the healing reflex all over again. From
Theo’s increased breathing, Gideon figured Theo had the same problem. That was
why neither of them noticed the Sitnam scuttling into the cell until it was too
late.

****

Bea stared down at the old factory
nestled in the valley beneath the ridge where she stood. That was where they’d
taken Theo. Where they’d held Gideon for weeks now, doing God-knows-what to
him. She glanced at the small Sitnam ship that had somehow escaped destruction
three months ago and grimaced. A tank and two jeeps were parked right next to
it. As she watched, more Sitnam crawled out of the woods. She hoped there weren’t
any in the trees behind her as she watched the factory. Theo had come up with a
trap for the rogue aliens, and though it seemed like a good idea when he’d
presented it to her, now she wasn’t so sure.

“Shit,” she muttered, watching
three more of them go into the factory. They’d found Gideon a few days ago, but
had held off rescuing him because simply freeing him wouldn’t stop the
remaining aliens. They needed to draw the stragglers in and cut off their heads,
so to speak. They’d also worked out who the mole was, since he didn’t try and
hide at all as he strode in and out of the factory, but telling someone in the
military that a general had gone bad wasn’t at all a practical solution.
Alerting someone to his identity wouldn’t do a damn thing. He was in charge of
it all.

Theo said he and Gideon had tried
to convince various officers that something wasn’t right months ago, and in
return, they’d seized Gideon and tried to abduct Theo, too. The mole was too
high up. Too well-liked to be suspected. Trying to capture him and provide
evidence of his treason, and then trust that military bureaucracy would bring
him to justice, was simply beyond Bea’s faith in humanity.

“Because no one would believe he
could work with the Sitnam against his own species,” she murmured, picking at
tree bark. “And he’s the freaking General of the Army.” She flicked a piece of
bark to the ground, then checked the sun’s position. It was nearly sundown and
there were still more Sitnam heading in. They thought they’d be up against ten,
maybe fifteen, but at least twenty alien soldiers had gone inside. Her scalp
prickled as another one came out of the woods.

No way am I safe here,
she thought, moving
down the ridge a bit. She stopped at another lookout a few minutes later, but
this one didn’t provide as much of a view.
Dammit.
She stared at the
factory, then went still as a figure she knew all too well suddenly appeared in
the doorway.

“Fuck,” she breathed, staring at
Eran. He looked up and down the clearing in front of the old factory, then
turned and closed the door. “What the hell?”

She remembered when Ella and Ivy
had come back through the portal. They’d said that Eran had taken care of them.
That he’d been kind and unfailingly polite, if a bit terse. When she’d told
them he was a synthetic construct, a robot, Ella had been shocked. Ivy, not so
much.

“I knew there was something strange
about him,” she’d said, tossing her hair back. “He smelled funny.”

Her mother had given her a look and
Bea had laughed. She’d forgotten all about that particular conversation, until
now.

She slid down the tree at her back,
tapping a finger on her lip. What was he doing here? She remembered the look on
his face when he’d first seen Gideon. No surprise. Did he even have true
emotions? How could he? He wasn’t human. He wasn’t even alive, not really. Bea
frowned, then shook her head. “It doesn’t change the plan,” she muttered, going
back to staring at the factory. “It can’t.”

****

A half hour later she began hiking
down the side of the ridge. There’d been no movement at the factory for at
least twenty minutes. The game trail she followed was rocky and difficult and
the fading light made it slow going, but she had no choice. The plan was to
draw everybody together and then take the place down. As far as she could tell,
all the major players had made it to the party. The plan was simple in theory,
but in execution…

“Not so much,” she muttered,
worrying about what she’d do when she reached that door. Sure, she had the
weapon they’d absorbed on Terrene. She could destroy the factory and any Sitnam
that attacked. On the other hand, what if not everyone showed up? What if she
wasn’t able to get to where they held Gideon and Theo? What if Theo and Gideon
were too injured to function? They could heal themselves, but doing that took
energy and time. They had to assume Gideon wouldn’t be in great shape. Also,
when Theo allowed himself to be captured, they’d believed no one suspected Bea
existed, but what if they were wrong and they knew about her? It was a huge
gamble on which to base the survival of the human race.

“God, this sucks,” she whispered,
catching herself on a tree when she nearly fell. Again. She stopped for a
moment to catch her breath. She hadn’t seen Gideon in three months. And she’d
only known him for a little over a day. Same with Theo. Why was she risking her
life for two men she barely knew?

“Because the world was invaded by
aliens and you’d do anything to stop them,” she said aloud. And, too, there was
the little matter of that incredible sex they’d had,
on another planet.
And the bonding. Every time she looked in a mirror the silver in her eyes shone
brightly. She remembered making love with Theo and Gideon. When she closed her
eyes, their stars burned in her mind’s landscape.

And don’t forget about the healing
ability,
she reminded herself, starting down the trail again.
Everything you’ve been
through is real.
Including getting herself seriously involved with two
exasperating men who’d been missing for months.

She remembered what it had been
like, soaring through their memories. She remembered what it felt like to have
them slide through her mind and body at the same time. It had been painful and
exquisite and wonderful. Bea put a fist to her heart. She wanted that again.
She wanted to make love again, with all the ferocity the invasion of her home
had created in her soul. When she stepped out of the tree line, determination
straightened her spine. She could do this. She
would
do this.

****

“Why would you do this?” Gideon
asked, almost unable to comprehend the betrayal.

As if in parody, the Cearvall servant
bowed. “My lord, I had no choice.”

Gideon shook his head. “Don’t call
me that.” He’d thought he couldn’t feel any more rage after his capture by the
general, but when Eran walked into the cell right after the Sitnam, he’d
finally understood what it meant to truly hate with every fiber of his being.
Only Theo’s hand on his arm kept him from attacking. He knew his partner had a
plan, but he didn’t know what it was. His loyalty to Theo kept him calm. His
absolute certainty that Theo would help him destroy this evil kept him controlled.
And his hope that Bea was still alive and safe kept him rational. He needed all
his wits to get out of this alive and do what was necessary.

Eran raised an eyebrow. “Why not?
It is what I was created for, after all. To serve your family.”

“And you believe betraying Gideon
is serving his family well?” Theo spat.

“Enough of this,” General Thorazn
said, shifting his weight. The Sitnam standing just inside the door held
perfectly still when the general put a hand on its claw. “I have assurances
that the aliens won’t destroy Earth if we cooperate.”

Gideon tore his eyes away from Eran
to stare at the man responsible for betraying the entire U.S. military. “Are
you insane?” he asked calmly.

General Thorazn frowned. “Thanks to
Mr. Eran, I now also have proof that your people won’t do a damn thing to help
us, so I’ve made compromises where necessity dictates.”

“He’s crazy,” Theo said, leaning
against Gideon.

“My people?” Gideon laughed. “There
are none.”

“Mr. Eran has assured us that they
have no intention of interfering with the Sitnam’s campaign,” the General said,
as if the irruption on Earth was just a minor little restructuring of
resources.

Gideon shook his head. “You’ve been
misled.”

The General’s eyebrows lifted. “Suddenly,
you’re talkative? Do you believe your people will help?” He laughed scornfully.
“I think not.”

“What did Eran tell you?” Theo
asked.

“He simply explained the massive
indifference the Terrenes have towards other sentient species. His reasoning is
sound. Why else would they refuse to assist the Sitnam when
their
home planet disintegrated?”

Gideon blinked at this outrageous
statement. Eran’s synthetic face stared serenely down at them, perfectly
neutral. Perfectly capable of the most abominable lies. “Why are you doing
this?”

Eran smiled, then. The look in his
eyes gave Gideon chills. “I am sentient, am I not? And do not all sentient
creatures yearn for freedom?”

Theo sucked in a breath. “Did you
betray them all, a thousand years ago?”

Eran inclined his head.

Gideon head felt strange. Like it
was full of air. How was it possible that a creature his family had built was
responsible for the genocide of an entire race? If he wasn’t already sitting
down, he would’ve fallen.

“You betrayed Terrene to the Sitnam
because you wanted to be free? Why not just ask?” Gideon forced himself to ask.

Eran frowned. “I did. Your
ancestors refused. I was created to serve, not choose for myself, they said. I
refused to accept that.”

“What about Ella? And my niece?”
Theo asked.

“I would never harm the innocent.”

“You’re harming
me.
I had
nothing to do with your servitude,” Gideon replied, anger leaking into his
voice. He couldn’t help it.

“You are Cearvall. You are
genetically incapable of innocence.” Eran swiveled his gaze to Theo. “As are
your bonded mates.”

With that, Theo lunged. Gideon hadn’t
noticed, but his partner must have healed himself during their little pow-wow.
He scrambled to his feet, hoping he wasn’t too late. The Sitnam, which up until
now had been standing perfectly still, as if he weren’t even alive, suddenly
moved, beheading the General neatly with his free claw.

Eran swung out his arm and
backhanded Theo, sending him into the opposite wall. Gideon yelled, holding up
his arm. The weapon activated and sparks flew through his skin, but the Sitnam
raised his claws and a translucent bubble encapsulated him and Eran. Gideon’s
power hit the shield and buzzed impotently.

“You thought you’d beaten us,
Terrene,” the Sitnam rasped. He inclined his head to Eran. “We have allies you
never suspected. He gave us your portal technology. I believe you call it
tesseract rima.”

“You told me you knew nothing about
the weapon my mother developed,” Gideon said, holding himself stiffly. The
healing reflex wasn’t working very well. He hadn’t had real food in longer than
he could remember.

“I lied,” Eran said, unruffled.

When the Sitnam began to walk
towards him, Gideon knew this was the beginning of the end.
Mine and Theo’s,
he realized. His only regret was that he never got to say goodbye to Bea.

****

Bea disintegrated yet another
Sitnam, feeling a sort of fierce satisfaction every time the aliens collapsed
in on themselves. The General’s soldiers had been few, and easy to subdue. The
armor she wore protected her from anything they could do, so it was a simple
matter of knocking them out cold. And as a physician, she knew exactly how to
do it.

Not really part of my Hippocratic
oath, but on the other hand, they’re working with our enemies,
she told herself,
raising her arms again. Another Sitnam dissolved without a sound. She found the
effectiveness of the weapon a bit disturbing. It hadn’t been as easy to use it
before, but of course, she was much more motivated now. She had to get to Theo
and Gideon. She rounded another corner, side-stepping some more rusty
equipment, then stopped. At the end of the hall a door stood open. From behind,
she could see a shimmering sort of bubble.

What the hell is that?
she wondered, creeping
forward. She had her face mask down and for a moment she wondered if it was
obscuring her vision, but then she overheard Eran speaking.

“I lied,” he said, the very
neutrality of his tone masking his utter arrogance. “I knew she was developing
something that could dissolve the Sitnam’s exoskeletons. I merely sent off that
information to where it was most needed.”

“To the Sitnam. The killers of my
people. Both my people, on Terrene and Earth,” Gideon said, sounding completely
despairing.