True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (16 page)

True hopped off of his lap, updated Grai about where she was and wasn’t surprised that he’d already asked Nana about her and knew she was in a safe place. He promised to come in a day or two when things quieted at the Folly. But, ordered her to remain there until things were more settled.

True gave Leif a small smile. “Looks like we’re stuck here for a little while. So, show me around,” she said.

Leif grinned and stood, gesturing for her to go back inside the room. He waited for her to get to the bedroom door before saying, “I’m starving. Can we grab some food while we’re out?”

True was a little surprised and giggled, feeling like she had woken up in another world. It seemed like only five minutes ago they were rushing down a tunnel in the middle of a semi-war and now she was getting ready to explore a mythical paradise.

Leif moved in front of True to the door and held his finger to his lips as he peeked outside. Seeing no one in the hallway, he opened the door and stepped outside, holding his hand out for True as he did.

He smiled as she didn’t hesitate to take it and stepped out with him into the large hallway. True looked around the hallway in awe. It was definitely tall and wide enough to fit one of those mammoths. Huge slabs of solid rock made up the floors, walls and ceiling and True likened it to the tunnels they’d been in at the Folly.

Leif led an open-mouthed True down the hallway and several flights of stairs before ending up in a kitchen that was the size of a convenience store. The counters were covered with bowls of fresh fruit and vegetables and the smell of fresh baked breads and other goods permeated the room.

Leif’s stomach chose that moment to growl and he blushed as True giggled at him before she walked over to one of the bowls and grabbed a handful of nuts. Leif moved to a cupboard and grabbed a few plates and bowls before handing one to True. Then, he began piling food on his plate.

True leaned over and smelled the different sliced breads that lined a counter and grabbed a few before spreading them with fresh butter and fruit preserves. Adding some fruit to her plate as well, she joined Leif at a large table in the corner of the room.

True studied the room for a few minutes while they ate, surprised at the unique carvings that were made into the rock walls and ceilings. She’d seen them throughout the hallways as they went into the kitchen. And they looked strangely familiar.

Leif interrupted her thoughts with a snort. “You don’t have to smoke your brain trying to figure things out yourself. If you have questions, ask me. I’ll tell you anything I know, even if it’s just observations we’ve made about the place since we’ve been here. And we’ve been here over a thousand years, so we have a lot of thoughts,” he said with a cheeky grin, hoping to re-engage her in a conversation.

She was smart and funny and when she wasn’t trying to set his ass of fire, she was a lot of fun to be around and Leif really wanted to get to know the person that she was inside, not the fire breathing war dragon she was at the Folly.

True grinned. “It’s not that I don’t want to ask, it’s so overwhelming that it’s hard to think of something to start with. But, I wasn’t thinking of a question . . . more of an observation that I’ve seen these same carvings somewhere before and I was trying to remember where,” she admitted.

“Ahh, I see,” Leif said. “You’re right, you probably have seen them before. They are the same unique animal carvings that have been found in some of the oldest archeological sites on the planet. Gobekli Tepe immediately came to my mind when I first saw them,” he said, popping some more grapes into his mouth.

True sucked in a breath and smiled wide. “That’s it! You’re right, that’s exactly where I’ve seen them! Have you been there?” she asked in amazement, hoping that he had. She loved stuff like this.

Leif sighed and shook his head. “No, the legends kept a pretty tight leash on me and we were usually kept pretty busy so there wasn’t too much time for vacations. You probably know what I mean,” he said, assuming that her people didn’t get much breaks either.

True shook her head. “No, we get vacations. Hell, we even get paid. Grai thinks it’s better for us to live like the humans for the most part. Mad skills and awesomeness aside, we are still human too. We celebrate holidays like they do. Even if we don’t worship their particular World Gods, we can appreciate that it is a special time for them and show respect for their beliefs,” True said honestly, wondering how tight the leash was on the poor guy.

Leif snorted and shoved his plate away. “Yeah, we don’t get paid either. The theory is, if everything is provided, what’s there to buy? I would like to travel a little . . . you know, act like a tourist. Check out some of the ancient sites like Machu Picchu in Peru or Dwarka in India. I can’t help but think there are specific clues for the humans in places like that. Clues to help them prepare for the conversion,” he said, his eyes gleaming with interest and excitement.

As True watched Leif become more and more animated it finally dawned on her what they both had in common and she giggled a little. “You watch that show on the ancient alien stuff don’t you?” she asked with a wide grin.

Leif blushed a little. “Come on, can’t a guy like history without being accused of being a fluffy hair guy fan?”

True busted out laughing. “You are!”

Leif turned a deeper red and stood up to put his plate in the sink and True jumped up to do the same. Seeing he was embarrassed she bumped into him at the sink until he looked down at her.

True grinned, her grey eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’ll deny this if you ever tell on me, but I love that fluffy haired guy too. He’s so passionate and engaging that it’s hard not to appreciate it. Besides, I call it research into our past as well since no one knows where the first compatible female for the outpost survivors really came from,” she admitted with a slight blush of her own.

She had no idea why she shared that with him. No one knew of her secret obsession for the fluffy haired guy and his show. All she knew was that Leif had been deeply embarrassed about something they had in common and she felt like a traitor for not admitting it.

Leif’s bright smile made True shiver a little, but it made her feel 10 feet tall as well. In a strange way, it was nice to know that she could confide in someone about her secret obsession for the fluffy haired guy and his shows. Just then, a thought occurred to her.

True pulled away from the sink and looked around the room for a minute before she started grabbing random food items and started dumping them in a small basket. Leif watched her in amusement, wondering what she was doing.

“You don’t have to hoard the food. We won’t starve you,” he said with a chuckle.

True just grinned broadly and said, “Grab some drinks we can take with us.”

Leif was curious, but did as she asked and grabbed two refillable drink containers with lids and added them to her basket with a few bottles of wine. Leaning against the counter he asked, “Now what?”

True looked up at him and smiled. “Now, you get to carry this, while we go play tourist and put our fluffy haired guy knowledge to the test! We can picnic with some mammoths and maybe use the comms to see if we can find out something about this place. We’re stuck here, we may as well have fun on our vacation, right?” she asked with a teasing grin and a twinkle in her grey eyes.

Leif’s eyes grew wide and seemed to light from within and it only made True’s smile grow bigger to see him become so excited. He grabbed her into a quick hug before grabbing the basket in one hand and one of her hands in the other before pulling her through a doorway and into a breathtaking courtyard. True stopped and let her hand fall from his as she looked around and drew a deep breath into her lungs.

Leif stopped and was going to urge her on again when he saw the look of pleasure on her face. Wondering what she’d stopped for, he looked around and breathed deeply as she’d done and he was surprised that he’d forgotten how beautiful this place smelled and how gorgeous it looked with the explosions of large, fragrant blooms of all kinds.

The kitchen courtyard garden contained hundreds of edible herbs and flowers. Some of the plants had been extinct elsewhere on the planet for hundreds of years but continued to thrive here in this little oasis.

True gently touched a large rose and turned to Leif with a smile that made the flower’s beauty pale in comparison to the woman holding it and Leif sucked in a breath and clenched his fists to keep from pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

“This place is incredible,” True said, smelling the large flower.

Several seconds later it dawned on Leif that she’d spoken. “Huh?” he asked, still staring at her mouth.

True finally realized that not only was he staring, but his desire was being broadcast through his energy pretty clearly. She cleared her throat and stepped away from the flowers.

Motioning in front of her she said, “Flower break is over. Let’s go see what we can find. How many buildings are here? What do you guys do here besides piss off the humans? And how does that work? Why haven’t they just sled dogged here instead of flying?”

As she’d expected, her questions were like a bucket of ice water being thrown on him and Leif weeded through her questions in his mind before answering her.

He began walking out of the garden with her beside him. “We’re not sure how many buildings are here because we still haven’t found them all. Even here, it looks like a civilization, on top of another. Like one was here first, but then left and another took over the already built city and added their own touch,” Leif said.

He turned and gave her a big smile.

“We do more than piss off the humans, although just our existence here does that. The elite scum think that we’re here to steal what they think they’ve claimed for themselves. They already know that once the conversion occurs that this will be a sanctuary for most of humanity, but they don’t want most of humanity here. They want this place, its relics, history, and power for themselves. Fiorn won’t let them have anything if he can help it. I have to agree with him on that,” Leif said honestly.

True walked under a huge covered sidewalk and couldn’t help but swing her head from side to side trying to take everything in until she realized what he’d said.

“What power and relics are here?”

Chapter Fourteen

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

11:00 Hours

This is WFWZ Radio News. Several hundred residents have now been displaced in the Burnt Tree Ridge area due to the landslide and authorities expect that number to rise over the next few hours.

Due to the danger surrounding the area, the roads remain closed down while authorities make their way to the area to determine stability. Stay tuned to WFWZ Radio News for regular updates on this dangerous situation.

Grai and Ivint had long passed amazed an hour ago when they first stepped into Thjodhild’s command center. Like most of the facility, the floors and walls were illuminated and the crystals interspersed in the walls gave it a magical but surreal feel to it.

Thjodhild’s personal staff had taken over the moment she had arrived and they were currently manning a wide variety of screens, panels, and comm centers around the room. The center of the large room was taken up by a large table where another 3D image of the area was projected on it.

Grai had just heard from Tricia that she and the children were now resting in a suite of rooms not far from where they were located, and he couldn’t help but be relieved that they were safe and well. Both Decano and Lauren were staying with her and the children, and Grai was grateful that things had gone so well considering the circumstances.

The only thing that had everyone puzzled, was where Fiorn and a select few of his team had gone. Thjodhild had ordered someone to go check on him an hour ago, when they hadn’t heard from him in a while, and he was gone. He had left the Folly and no one knew or was willing to say where he had gone.

Thjodhild leaned her hands on the table and called out, “Give me a report on the park area. Have all the humans been evacuated?”

Slate answered, “Ma’am, the humans have been evacuated, but Sam and Jax reported that the animals have seen several drones flying in the area. They aren’t ours, so we’re looking for them.”

Thjodhild turned to Ivint and Grai. “Can your cloaked ships help find them?” she asked.

Grai nodded and opened the comm to his brother.

“Koda, we need your ships to find some drones and shoot them down,” he said.

Seconds later, Koda’s strong voice came through.

“Will do. We’re on our way back from the quadrant border, if you need more aerial support. Seems Dagog was trying to test our defenses. He must have thought we were too distracted to notice them,” he said with a sneer in his voice.

Grai chuckled.

“He never was the brightest of us. Thanks, Koda. We’ll let you know if we need more support,” he said, glad that it hadn’t turned into a multi-front war.

Moments later, one of Koda’s hybrid pilots came through the comm.

“We’re going in for a systematic search, sir.”

Thjodhild whistled as she watched several ships enter the atmosphere and disappear.

“Damn, that is so handy. We really need that cloaking technology on our ships. Can we retrofit something like that?” she asked, her blue eyes alight with excitement.

Ivint and Reven chuckled.

“Yeah, we could easily retrofit something like that right into the shields. You have shields on your ships right?” Gracus answered.

Thjodhild nodded.

“That was something Fiorn did not compromise on,” she said.

“We could have them fitted in a week, depending on how many ships you have,” Gracus said helpfully.

Just then the comm flashed again, denoting Traze, David and Tara were checking in next.

“We’re all clear at the caverns and ready for you to reseal the door into the Folly,” Traze said.

Thjodhild was the first to speak. “We’ll seal the door now. Take all excess personnel, not needed to maintain the ruse of studying the aftershocks, and head into the forest to help retrieve the crash debris,” she ordered.

Thjodhild turned to Austar.

“Seal the door and open the comm,” she said.

Austar nodded when the comm was opened. “We need all personnel clear of the old entrance to the Folly within 15 minutes. We’re blowing the top to hide the exposed tunnels. 15 minutes! No exceptions! No excuses!” she said, before ending the communication.

Ivint looked at the partially exposed area on the 3D image and asked, “Are you sure that will cover it sufficiently?”

Thjodhild laughed, her eyes twinkling. “It won’t matter. We have a few elemental hybrids here who can work with and manipulate the earth. When it’s blown, they’ll work their magic and the earth will seal it from discovery and stabilize the area so the humans will be safe from a real collapse,” she said with pride in her people.

Thjodhild turned back to Slate. “How is the debris retrieval coming and what’s the status of the media blackout?” she asked.

Slate pulled up a status report from their media division before responding. “We’re 50 percent complete on debris removal. Sam and Jax have redirected most of the animals to finding debris and looking for drones. Media is locked down to only a local area level. Radio and local news channels only. With the Internet and cell communications out we’re still good. Techs are going through everything the news and radio stations have and is receiving from viewers and deleting everything we need removed,” he said.

Thjodhild sighed. “Activate our special assets, this may have gotten farther than we know and we can’t take any chances. I want all of them on deck,” she ordered to Slate.

“Special assets?” Grai asked, while Ivint and Reven looked at her curiously.

Thjodhild grinned.

“I have spent a very long on this world and I know how it works. We put certain people, with certain abilities in places that would help us a long time ago. Embedded operatives. Much like some of your own,” she said knowingly as she winked at Grai.

Grai chuckled at the tiny, but very intelligent woman. “Why do I get the feeling that you are fishing for information, rather than sharing it?” he asked with a quirked brow.

Thjodhild laughed lightly, she hadn’t expected the men to fall for it. “You can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said.

“No, I can’t,” Grai said, turning serious. “We do have embedded people. Probably in some of the same places that you do. Tell me who and what we need to help and I’ll pull in everyone I can.”

Thjodhild nodded, her respect for the man growing by the minute. “We need military and government assets pulled. Pretty quick too. There’s what we refer to as a ‘Dark Faction’, led by the ‘one percent’, that controls certain groups within the government and military. You know the people I’m talking about, you’ve had to have encountered them. Anyway, they’ve dogged our asses for over 70 years and this kind of thing is going to send up major red flags. Right now, they know only of our Beta Base. This incident could easily expose the folly,” she said honestly.

Thjodhild wasn’t sure if their assets could control this alone this time. It had gotten more out of control than she had ever expected Fiorn to let it get and she was much more concerned about their discovery than she was letting on.

Ivint looked at her with raised eyebrows as Grai cursed in his mind. Grai ran through his operatives in his head and realized he needed a little more information before he could choose correctly. The risk of exposure was too great to use more than what was necessary to do the job.

Grai turned to the DF.

“I need to know what they know of you, in order to pull the right people to deflect this. Until now, I was unaware of a division that knew of your existence. Our existence. How the hell did this happen?” he asked, wondering just how exposed they were. The fact that someone knew and the regular humans didn’t, meant that whoever knew wasn’t the good guys.

Thjodhild sighed.

“Back in 1947, a man called Admiral Byrd had engine trouble in his plane when he was trying to fly over the pole,” she said shaking her head. “Wait, let me go back. We had a mini rebellion a decade prior that started it all. We had people in Germany when Hitler took over. Somehow, they were captured and that was when our hybrids and their abilities were first discovered. They were all Norwegian, from families in the old country, all blonde haired, blue eyed, special abilities . . .” Thjodhild trailed off.

“Oh fuck — the Master Race,” Grai said, absolutely floored that he’d never made the connection before.

Thjodhild nodded her head sadly. “Yes. The bastard’s sick doctors spent years torturing them, using their abilities against one another until they broke. I’d never seen Fiorn so enraged as when we heard what was being done to them,” Thjodhild said with a sad shake of her head, a single tear slipping down her cheek.

“Sorry — it was a bad time for us,” she said before wiping away the tear. “It was how they created the Nazi Bell UFO and why they sent a contingent to Beta in 1939. They wanted to find us, make a deal for weapons and brood mares for Hitler’s select men. We didn’t let them near us. The rebellion came when Fiorn refused to allow more of our people into the war to stop them and what they were doing. Instead, Fiorn put our people on lockdown, trying to prevent any more from being captured. It created a rift in our people that as you saw, continues until today.”

Grai’s mind was a riot of thoughts and feelings, he had so many questions that he felt a little overwhelmed but forced himself to concentrate on the immediate problem they faced.

“How did the US government find out?” he asked.

Thjodhild sat heavily, the memories obviously still powerful enough to shake her. “Before we could rescue our people, the Americans went in and liberated the camps and they got hold of the doctors and scientists that had been working on our people. They gave the animals immunity, changed their names and brought them over to the US to continue their experiments. They took the bell, all their notes and what was left of our people and brought them over as well,” she said, her voice more soft and emotional.

Grai knew where this was going. “How did they contact you?”

Thjodhild put her elbows on the table and leaned her head in her hands.

“We tried many different ways to find out where they were being held and how they fared, but we had no luck. Not even through our assets, at the time. Finally, in 1947, this Admiral Byrd came flying over and our best telepath said that his intentions were peaceful and honorable. So we let him in to talk to him and see if we could broker a trade for our people, against Fiorn’s better judgment. He was only considering it to appease those still angry over the war,” she said, then looked up at Grai and Ivint who were listening intently.

She snorted in disgust. “Byrd wanted peace and the cure for cancer, the government demanded technology, weapons and our promise not to tell the humans about us and the backdoor deals they were trying to make to fuck over the regular people. The super-rich wanted to rule with the ultimate authority on the planet. The bastards were bored and decided that they’d run through most every disgusting evil on earth to try and decided they wanted the ultimate God-like powers to determine who lives and who dies. And how quickly and painfully, to suit their amusement. We were sickened,” Thjodhild said, her stomach roiling with the memories.

Reven and Ivint cursed, unable to fathom that the humans could harbor such evil within them. Grai, on the other hand, had seen how sick and pathetic these people were and wasn’t nearly as surprised.

“So you cut communications with them?” Grai asked, trying to hurry the story along so they could figure out what was needed in the here and now.

Thjodhild nodded her head. “Yes, but the situation was quickly turned over to the Dark Faction. Funded by the elite, the Dark Faction is a secret group within the world militaries and governments that handle all issues related to UFOs. They began hunting us and our craft, firing on us to try and down one.”

Thjodhild paused and took a heavy breath. “Then they decided to kill our people if we didn’t establish communications. They murdered two of our captives before Fiorn had enough. In 1952, for two weeks in July, for two days each week, we buzzed the shit out of DC. A huge display of ‘Go fuck yourself’, from us to them. They stopped killing our captives as far as we know. We’ve been in a private war with the bastards ever since then,” she said.

Grai sighed and ran a hand down his face, feeling exhausted. “So, they’re the true problem here and not the normal humans,” he said.

Thjodhild nodded her head. “They know how we do things, they’ll recognize this as our signature and be here before we know it. So, if you’ve got anyone, anywhere that can give us a heads up on if they’re on their way or help to hold them off, now would be the time to call them,” she said.

Grai nodded his head and pulled out his comm, scrolling through the list of people that were in a position to help, even though he already knew who he was going to contact. He just wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgetting about anyone.

While Grai was busy, Ivint was struggling to understand how this could have happened. He’d learned a great deal about Earth history in the two years that he’d been here, but this was a shocking revelation he’d never considered before.

“How the hell can an elected president have gotten away with this?” he asked.

Thjodhild snorted. “There hasn’t been a fool in that White House who has known any of this since Eisenhower gave control of it all to the Dark Factions. They use their black ops groups to fund it through the back doors of other agencies. You don’t really think that the FDA needs four million bullets, do you? It’s all on paper, that money goes into the groups that are hunting us. The rest of the people’s tax money goes into building the space ships and bunkers for the elite to survive the conversion,” she said, having wondered for years how the regular humans hadn’t figured it all out yet.