The End Zone: SPORTS ROMANCE (Contemporary Sport Bad Boy Alpha Male American Football Romance) (New Adult Second Chance Women’s Fiction Romance Short Stories) (62 page)
Authors: Jenna Payne
*****
The mission had started and the attack had begun. Carrie and Mike were on the Sphunkons’ main ship.
All around them, sounds of laser blasts and skirmishes went on raucously as the human space fighters fought the greatest battle of their lives. Carrie quickly crouched down beside her partner Mike as they hid from passing alien scientists inside the Sphunkons’ main ship.
“Shouldn’t we shoot them?” Carrie hissed.
Mike shook his head and put a finger to his lips to signal her to keep silent. The footsteps quickly went by. But not long after, they heard a reverberating clash, followed by the resonance of muffled gunshots.
Carrie sneaked a peek and saw that a few of their teammates had gotten to the aliens who now lay motionless on the shiny deck of the ship.
Mike grabbed her hand and they shuffled quietly down a long hallway. This part of the ship looked quite empty. Perhaps the aliens had all gone out to combat with the space fighters.
Finally they ceased in front of a plain metal door. “This is where the Sphunkon leader transmits his orders to the rest of the battalion,” Mike quickly explained. “It’s the control room that we have to blow up. But we might have to kill the leader and his guards first.”
Carrie’s heart lurched with anxiety. But she nodded resolutely, positioning her weapon in front of her. It was the same weapon that Mike had challenged her with in class, but now she had mastered its use.
Mike took out a grenade and affixed it to the door before the two of them ran to take cover. The door blew up into pieces in a loud explosion, white and grayish smoke billowing from it and causing Carrie to be blind for a moment.
About five hideous-looking armored Sphunkons rushed out yelling and charging toward them. Mike and Carrie blasted at them expertly and caused them all to fall down to their deaths. But before they could move forward, another group came out to meet them. They were able to shoot all except for one who pounced at Carrie and tackled her legs. The force drove her down and caused her weapon to topple to the ground about a foot away. She reacted quickly, kicking his monstrous, warped face hard. He screamed in pain and she took the opportunity to break his nose with a solid punch, and then twist his leg around. She scrambled to her feet then and was about to run when she felt his hand on her ankle. Before she could react, though, she saw a laser beam hit his hand and then his torso. Blood splattered all around, some spraying on her spacesuit.
“Come on,” Mike said, holding her hand. Together they went into the control room and started planting their explosives.
“Where’s the leader? Did you kill him?” Carrie asked breathlessly.
“Not yet,” Mike replied. “He doesn’t seem to be here.”
Carrie was about to finish setting up the explosives on her side of the room when her nose caught a pungent scent and a strong hand suddenly clamped over her mouth. Her scream was muffled, but she reacted quickly, biting the hand with all her might and trying to squirm free from the grasp of her assailant.
A blow on her head made her stop moving as intense pain shot through her and somehow blinded her momentarily.
“Stop!” Mike’s voice shouted from the other side.
Carrie was still conscious, though. She felt and could smell the sticky blood oozing out from her head down the side of her face. Her head hung limply while the huge Sphunkon trapped her arms with his. “Stay where you are or she dies,” he threatened Mike in his croaky voice.
“Don’t touch her,” Mike warned, gritting his teeth while trying to control himself.
The Sphunkon leader let out a cruel laugh. Then with his eyes still fixed on Mike, he leaned over and licked Carrie’s cheek. Carrie remained steady despite her disgust, her mind whirring with possibilities and options.
“I will do whatever I want with her,” the alien said. “And you can’t do anything about it, just as you were not able to save her father.”
Carrie could feel her anger surfacing at the mention of her father.
Is he the one? Was he her father’s killer?
“Drop your weapon,” the leader commanded to Mike. “Or I’ll not just break her legs like I did with yours.”
Mike didn’t have a choice. Slowly he crouched down and dropped his weapon to the ground. He looked as if he was still calculating his moves. One wrong move and he might lose Carrie too.
“What do you want?” Mike asked.
The alien chuckled viciously, snorting as he did. “This girl’s got spunk. She’s tough like that Carson Cox, but not tough enough for me… I want her as my queen!” He laughed then, before turning serious again. “If you’re smart, you’ll walk away right now and save your own life. Don’t make the same mistake again trying to save your partner’s ass.”
Mike stood his ground, not saying anything.
The Sphunkon leader continued, “Remember how you offered yourself to be imprisoned in exchange for Cox’s freedom? What a stupid decision! You ended up getting tortured repeatedly and losing your human legs in the process. You were lucky enough to have escaped, but I still got to Cox. He was another stupid human, thinking he could outsmart me.”
Carrie almost cried when she heard that revelation. Her eyes shifted to Mike’s cybernetic legs, imagining the torture he must have endured from the Sphunkons. He had been turned into a cyborg because he had tried to save her dad. The fury that was building up inside her flared up into a strong, raging fire that made her adrenaline rush across her body. In a split second, she stomped on the alien’s foot hard and crushed the little bones on his toes with her renewed strength. At the same time, she maneuvered herself out of his grasp and twisted his arm as she did, causing him to squawk in great agony.
Mike reacted fast, charging forward with his laser gun and shooting at the alien repeatedly until he fell backward, bringing Carrie down with him. She released him right away and crawled away as Mike angrily shot at him more. The alien’s body shook uncontrollably on the floor and his eyes rolled upward. Blood spurted from all over his body while Mike continued to shoot.
“Enough!” Carrie screamed, rushing toward him and hugging him tightly.
Mike stopped shooting, shocked too at the immense wrath that had taken over him. Gradually he wrapped his arms around Carrie and rested his head on top of hers, closing his eyes and savoring their meaningful victory.
*****
“Mike Gomez and Carrie Cox,” the military general began, looking at them with great pride as they all stood on the stage in the space fighters’ headquarters on Earth. “I hereby give you these medals of valor for completing your mission successfully and helping bring back peace in the entire universe.”
Carrie smiled as the general pinned the notable platinum medal on her space fighter uniform.
This is for you, Mom and Dad,
she said silently.
Thank you for everything. I will never forget you and I will always, always love you.
After the general pinned Mike’s medal on, the audience clapped for them.
Later that day, there was a celebratory party for all the space fighters. Carrie grinned excitedly, looking around at her future workplace.
“Congratulations again, Cox,” Mike said, interlacing his fingers with hers.
Carrie smiled. “Does this mean I get to graduate on time, sir?” she asked jokingly.
Mike nodded with a grin. “Yup! You just passed my class with flying colors.”
Carrie laughed and faced him. “Thank you,” she said sincerely, her tone turning seriously. “I never realized how much you’d actually done for him.”
He shrugged. “It was the least I could do after what he did for me. He mentored me patiently, gave me direction, and loved me like his own.”
“He’s probably looking down at us now from the heavens, beaming with pride,” she said.
“Right,” Mike agreed. Then he placed both of his hands on her cheeks and gazed into her dark brown eyes. “Carson asked me to look after you like my own sister. But I wonder what he’d say if he knew I’d actually fallen for his one and only daughter…”
Carrie’s heart soared. She could feel its rhythm quickening. “I think he’d approve of it,” she told him. “As long as you love her just as much as she loves you.”
“Hhmm,” Mike said, leaning forward to kiss her lips. “With a girl like you, I don’t think I’ll ever need anything else. I love you, Carrie Cox,” he whispered before kissing her again.
THE END
Anita’s mobile rang for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Sighing, she looked at the number. She would have to take the call. It was from the office of the American Embassy.
The last four weeks had been a frenzy of organization and planning. Anita didn’t mind that so much. It kept her from moping around and thinking about George, the slime ball! Dependable and generous George had been her partner in crime for the last 13 years. Maybe a little too generous in some respects, for he had decided one day in her absence to spread a little loving with her best friend Sophie, now an ex-friend.
Anita could feel the anger start to pitch in her stomach, the horrid bitter taste of bile rising in the back of her throat. God, it was almost six months ago now since she had discovered the affair, walking in on the couple
in flagrante delicto
. What made it worse was that they were doing it in
her
house, in
her
bed. She had been the bread winner of the pair, allowing George to take a few years off to
‘
find himself
’
and write a novel. What a fool she had been. George had pleaded with her; Sophie had meant nothing, blah di blah. She kicked him out of her house and out of her life.
Within a week she had applied for a new post as Senior Fundraising Manager for an international charity and within a month she had found herself sitting on a plane and flying to Nepal wondering what the hell she was doing!
Nepal was beautiful. She was based in Kathmandu and rented an attractive two-bedroom cottage in Maharajgunj that possessed a wonderful garden full of fruit trees and flowers. It was only a four-minute walk away from the US Embassy and main business quarter so that was a blessing too.
At first she had been lonely, especially during the long dark nights, but gradually she was building up a new circle of friends and slowly getting her life back on track.
Now five months into the job she was planning the biggest fundraiser of the year, the annual Charity Gala Ball at the American Embassy. The invitations had already been issued to the great and good. This was her chance to show off her talents and demonstrate to her CEO what she was capable of. Her contract was subject to six months’ probation and she wanted to impress.
Now with a day to go she felt stressed yet quietly confident that her considerable efforts would be well rewarded. Several high ranking dignitaries and even a couple of well-known celebrities were on the guest list. With only a few remaining activities left on her to-do list, the job would soon be complete. That was until the phone call anyway.
It now seemed that there was an additional layer of security required. A warning level of Black Special had been issued (whatever that meant), and there was to be a debriefing at the embassy that afternoon.
Anita sighed again. She had planned a visit to the salon that afternoon to get her highlights done, give her mousy hair a bit of a boost. She would have to reschedule for the next day now. She hoped they would be able to fit her in at such short notice.
Just before 2pm she walked the short way from her home to the U.S Embassy, a beautiful modern building set in landscaped gardens. Janice, a woman with whom she had become quite friendly, was in charge at reception. By the time they had exchanged a few words and Anita had signed the visitor’s book, it was a little after 2pm. She was quickly shown down the corridor and into a room full of men seated around a large meeting table. She spotted her CEO directly in front of her glancing slyly at his watch, because the meeting had already convened.
“Miss Jackson I presume? Glad you could join us,” a voice boomed sarcastically from across the room.
Anita squinted up at the window as she squirmed into her seat. She could barely see the face of the speaker against the bright sunlight.
As if reading her thoughts, the window blinds were closed with a quick tug on the cord, allowing Anita to get a good view of her protagonist.
“I was just introducing myself, Miss Jackson; I am James Miller, head of security here. I will be in charge of the security for the event taking place tomorrow evening.”
She hated the way he kept referring to her as
“Miss Jackson.”
It made her sound like an old spinster.
James Miller was a handsome man, an exceedingly handsome man and Anita felt her cheeks start to flush under his direct gaze. She already disliked him, not only because he had put her on the back foot and made her feel like she was back in junior high, but he was achingly, jaw-droppingly handsome, and the arrogant man knew it.
Anita pulled herself together and sat up straight, taking command of the situation. She would not let this bunch of testosterone-fuelled men trample all over her. She was an intelligent, well-respected woman and highly competent at her job, and would not let this jumped-up security guard get the better of her.
“I apologise, Mr Miller. Gentlemen, please do continue.”
James started to hand around a printed document, and flicking through it she noticed it was a paper she had prepared a few months ago outlining the schedule of events for the charity ball. She noticed it had been rebranded with the word ‘REVISED’ typed across the front and ‘Official in Confidence’ stamped in red ink in the top right hand corner.
Opening the document, James addressed the group. “Due to security concerns regarding some of the noteworthy attendees on the guest list for tomorrow evening, it has been decided that some of the planned activities will have to be curtailed.”
Anita dropped the pen she had been cradling in her hand. “What do you mean by curtailed?” she said.
Shooting her a dark look, James opened the document in front of him. “If you turn to page five, you will see that the planned outdoor firework display at midnight has now been cancelled.”
At first she couldn’t take in the words he was saying, this was the first she had heard of it. The fireworks display for the grand finale of the evening had been months in the planning stage and had already cost a tidy sum.
“I’m afraid that’s impossible, of course the fireworks display is going ahead. It’s all planned, and is one of the highlights of the evening. It can’t possibly be canned, isn’t that so Geoff?” Anita smiled across at her CEO for support.
Geoff shuffled his papers and gave her a half-smile. “I’m afraid James is correct. Certain international events have led us to tighten up on security and that means that we do not want our guests outside the main building for any length of time.”
“But that’s ridiculous, on whose order?” Anita almost shouted across the table.
“I’m afraid that would be mine Miss Jackson, and unless you can re-arrange for indoor fireworks then your boss is correct, there’s no room for negotiation, I’m afraid.” James smiled smugly down at her, his brown amber eyes twinkling with satisfaction.
Odious man! That was twice he had belittled her in front of Geoff. Anita could feel her blood start to boil, her cheeks flushed with rage. If there were real threats to the guests then so be it, but to be told at this late stage and in this manner, it was humiliating!
A few more changes had been made to the schedule but nothing as drastic as the fireworks. Soon the meeting was concluded. Anita gathered her things quickly; she wanted to catch Geoff and give him a piece of her mind, in a nice way of course, he was her boss after all.
As she reached the doorway a voice called her back “Miss Jackson, if I could have a word?”
It was that vile man again. Anita turned, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
“Miss Jackson, Anita isn’t it?” James walked over to her. He seemed to have softened slightly, and his deep eyes studied her cautiously.
“Yes”, said Anita. Her voice was sharp and prickly. She wouldn’t let this man try and charm her, however good looking he may be.
“About the firework display ...”
Anita didn’t let him have time to finish.
“And what firework display would that be Mr Miller? I don’t believe there is one planned in the schedule,” she said, and with a toss of the head turned her back on James and walked out of the room and down the corridor. She felt childish, unprofessional, but God it felt good!
The day of the ball arrived and Anita woke early. She hadn’t slept well. She had been thinking all night what could replace the fireworks, what else she could plan at such short notice to send the guests home with a
bang
. One of the celebrities attending was a singer, perhaps she could ask him to perform a short set to end the evening. It was a long shot but it might work.
The rest of the day was frantic, organising the caterers and the florists and seeing to last minute glitches. By 5 o’clock everything was prepared, and Anita felt satisfied that she had done everything possible, everything that is except for her hair appointment and that was the fault of that awful man James.
Anita relaxed and allowed the tension of the day to evaporate under a hot shower. Despite James Miller, she felt good. She hadn’t let that man ruin her big night. The finale was all sorted; the celebrity, his star a little in the descendent, had been more than willing to play an impromptu set of old ‘Rat Pack’ numbers.
Her new dress hung in her bedroom. It had cost more than a month’s wages but it was worth it, a long emerald-green silk dress that showed off her shapely figure perfectly. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Not bad, not bad at all. She had fixed her hair in a gentle ‘up do’ that flattered her face, a few dark curls framing her face to give her a softer appearance. If only you could see me now George Thompson, she smiled to herself. Perhaps she was finally getting over him after all.
Now all the arrangements were complete she could have a good time. Essentially she was ‘off duty’ tonight. Geoff her boss would be giving the keynote speech to set off proceedings and then the formalities would be over. Guests had already paid an arm and a leg for the exclusive tickets and the secret auction would more than double the amount already raised. Yes, she was going to enjoy the evening.
With a glass of champagne in hand, Anita crossed the ballroom floor to find her seat. She had personally supervised the seating plan to ensure she was sat at a table with people she knew. Brian her co-worker was to be seated to her right, though his wife had just had a baby and was staying at home. On her left would be John, her equivalent from a similar charity in Nepal and they would have a lot to talk about.
Anita took her place. She was the first at the table, and watched the guests as they started to arrive. She loved to people watch. The contrast among the women was amazing. There were mainly two camps: the young, size zero trophy wives, underdressed with their Barbie doll eyes and flashing white smiles, and the older women, overdressed with tight face-lifted skin that made it almost impossible for them to smile. Of course that was an over exaggeration, there were plenty of normal women in the room, too, it’s just that they weren’t as noticeable. A bit like life, Anita shrewdly thought.
She glanced at her watch. It was almost half past seven, and the formalities were due to kick off. All of her table had arrived and were seated except for Brian, and she scanned across the room looking for him. Where on earth was he?
The lights began to lower and she swivelled her chair around so she was facing the stage to hear George’s speech. She had written it and knew every word of what he was about to say. She spotted Brian; he was seated three tables in front of her and gave her a short wave just as Anita felt someone slip into the seat behind her.
If Brian was out there, then who on earth..? Anita turned around to get a glimpse of her new dining partner. Her heart quickly sank, it was James Miller.
How on earth he had managed to switch the seating arrangements she had no idea, but she guessed he had done it purpose – just to irritate her. Well she wasn’t going to let him get under her skin!
Once the formalities were out of the way and the lights restored, Anita turned immediately to her left and engaged in conversation with John, her back turned slightly towards James. If he wanted to play games with her then so be it, she could play harder and faster than most.
As the hors d'oeuvres were being served Anita swivelled back in her seat to face the table. She could feel James looking at her and it made her feel uneasy, this was going to be harder than she had first thought. Now she had deliberately ignored him it would be almost impossible to make small talk, and his presence was a burning coal at her side.
One of the waiting staff passed the table and accidently brushed a linen serviette onto the floor. James immediately bent forward to pick it up.
“I believe this is yours Miss Jackson”, he said. His eyes twinkled with mischief; he was laughing at her. Anita looked away feeling her cheeks start to burn. “Thank you Mr Miller, that is so very kind of you”, she said, a trace of sarcasm revealing he inner thoughts.
James rubbed his chin and took a sip of his water before returning to face her, his eyes narrowing, searching her face, scrutinising.
“I don’t think you like me very much do you Miss Jackson?” Anita reached for her glass of wine. His frankness unnerved her, had thrown her off balance and she could feel her cool start to slip. Honesty was the best policy she guessed.