Collision (Colliding Worlds Trilogy Book 1) Read online

“Hm.” Sommers watched Sienna for some time. “You were held by the Sephians for over three months. How can you be sure you weren’t fed a line of bullshit or that you weren’t brainwashed? What if the Sephians are the ones after our world?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “They may have forced me to come to their base to keep their secret, but they’ve never harmed me, and everything I’ve seen aligns with their story. I don’t agree with Apolo’s decision to wait, but I understand why he did. Earth has no recorded visits from other worlds. Apolo was afraid we wouldn’t be able to handle that knowledge. He’s trying to do the right thing. When you meet with him, you can determine the truth for yourself. He’s ready to meet. He wants to work with you to eliminate the Draeken threat.”

  Sommers leaned back. “I’m ready. Take me to his base tonight.”

  She stammered. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t or won’t?” Sommers countered.

  She swallowed. “Apolo does want to meet, but not at the base. He has concerns that the military would attack the base, and there are children there. He can’t share the location of the base yet.”

  Sommers cocked his head. “This fellow wants to meet, but on his own terms. That’s awfully convenient for him.”

  “I’m doing what I can. Give me your card, and I’ll give it to Apolo.”

  “That’s not good enough. I’ve got brass on my ass to get this situation under control. I need an assurance that Apolo will contact me tonight, and that his kind will show no hostilities.”

  “I’ll stress the importance to him,” she said, “but I’m just the messenger. Believe me, if I could get you in front of Apolo this very moment, I would.”

  Sommers eyed her for a moment before giving a tight nod.

  She let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

  Jax stood, allowing her to slide out and stand. As she turned to walk away, she noticed Sommers had said something as he lifted his beer. It wouldn’t have been odd, except Jax was standing next to her, leaving no one near the major. Ear piece. She frowned. How many had just listened in on their conversation?

  Jax followed her to the door. “I’ll get you out of there, Sienna. I promised Bobby I’d look out for you, and I will.”

  She forced a small smile and patted his chest. “I’m where I need to be, Jax. The Sephians need me. I can save lives.” She turned, threw open the door, and stepped into the cool night air. Grabbing the helmet off the seat, she hopped onto her Can-Am Spyder and peeled away from the curb, not quite confident whether she had just helped the Sephians or opened their back door to the proverbial wolf.

  As she sped under flashes of streetlamps, it hit her that Jax and Sommers were the first humans she had spoken to in three months. It seemed like forever ago since she hadn’t been the one the Sephians looked at like she was the alien. The normalcy of something as simple as a bar reminded her of the quiet, easy life she used to have.

  She flogged the throttle to burn out the tension in her body. There was no going back. She didn’t regret her choice to join the Sephians, not that she’d really had one to begin with.

  A bike identical to hers pulled up alongside. Startled, she nearly drove off the road. She glared at the other rider. Legian’s all-black garb and body shape was one she knew all too well. They drove side by side down the highway then down a winding country road, making turns every couple of miles until they reached a dead-end—their rendezvous point.

  She climbed off her bike, pulled off her helmet, and scowled at Legian.

  He’d removed his helmet and rubbed his head, the moonlight glistening off his skin.

  “You were supposed to stay off the highway. What if someone saw you?” she said.

  He motioned to his full suit. “And they would’ve assumed I was just another biker.”

  She shook her head. “You’re lucky we weren’t followed.”

  He reached into a chest pocket and pulled a small black device with two buttons, one blue and one red. He clicked the blue button. It lit up immediately.

  Her jaw slackened. “Jax. I can’t believe he bugged me.”

  “Your race is better trained than I anticipated,” he said as he ran his hands over her.

  “I guess they were serious about wanting to know the location of the base,” she said, holding out her arms. “Damn it, I should’ve thought of that.”

  Legian stepped away and held up a tiny device. Legian dropped the tracker and shot it, sending dirt and leaves scattering. He watched the charred device smoke for a couple seconds before he holstered his blaster and clicked the red button. “This should block the signal from any other bugs.”

  She frowned. “You should’ve turned it on the moment I left the bar.”

  “I have no idea if it blocks human tech.”

  “Do you think they’ll know we destroyed the tracker?”

  “Yes.” He turned to look down the dark road. “They’re coming.”

  “I don’t hear anything.” She looked down the road, but couldn’t see anything beyond the first curve. With the bike headlights off, the country night was black under a thick cloud cover. Exactly how Sephians liked it best.

  “Three vehicles. About a mile off. Closing in fast.”

  “Call the base for an earlier pickup?” she asked.

  “No time.”

  Chapter Five

  “Into the woods,” Legian said and took lead.

  There was no mistaking the engine noise now. They were coming up fast and hard. Multiple big vehicles. Sienna followed Legian in the blackness, putting all her faith in his ability to find them a way out of this mess.

  Legian helped her weave around trees. The engine noises cut, so he picked up the pace, and branches whipped at her from all directions. She could hear voices then the rustling of leaves as their pursuers began closing the distance between them. Adrenaline gave her added acuity, but she was still no match for the speed of the military guys on their tails.

  “Stay safe.”

  “What?”

  Without any additional warning, Sienna was sliding down a sharp decline. She landed hard and rolled back onto her feet. Legian had shoved her into a gully of some kind. She cautiously cocked her head from side to side. No whiplash. No broken bones. Still, her body was going to remind her of the fall in the morning. Legian tended to forget that she lacked the Sephian ability to heal.

  “Legian?” she whispered.

  No answer.

  With the moon hidden behind clouds, she couldn’t make out much in the darkness. She held out her arms and began to walk forward as fast as a nearly-blind woman could in a forest at night. She heard someone breathing fast above her, and froze. When the sound disappeared, she hurried forward, only to tumble over something and onto the ground.

  Grabbing her now-throbbing shin, she leaned back against the fallen tree she’d catapulted over. To make matters worse, she found a soldier standing over her. His eyes were covered with night vision goggles, meaning he could see fine in the dark. He held a GPS-style device in one hand with a flashing bleep right in the center. The red light glinting off the nine-millimeter gun he held in the other. Damn. She had a second bug on her.

  “Halo Two reporting. Target One attained. At least one unaccounted for. No tracking,” the soldier spoke into the night air. It was Jax. “Halo One. Come in.” He paused for a moment and looked around, his gun still trained on her. He tried to reach his unit several more times, and by the number of F-bombs he dropped, he wasn’t getting the response he was looking for. “Are you okay?”

  Sienna realized he was now talking to her. “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Good. Where’s the one that was with you?”

  “I’m alone.”

  “Then how’d you get two bikes out here?”

  “He ditched me.”

  Jax continued to try to reach his unit.

  She pulled herself up onto the log, yelped, and grabbed her leg. She winced and looked up at him. “I think my leg’s broken.”

&n
bsp; Jax watched her for a moment then abruptly slid the gun into his holster and reached down to her.

  As he went to examine her leg, she whipped out the Taser from the waistband of her jeans, shoved him off her, and zapped him. Electrical buzz filled the air as the two wires sent a violent charge into his chest. The shot lasted five seconds, but she imagined it felt like an eternity for Jax. When the burst stopped, he fell to the ground. She almost felt bad for him… almost.

  Sienna pulled out a small cylinder that looked like a mini lipstick tube. Colorless, odorless, and potent. She bent over Jax and shook her head while he convulsed on the ground. “Sorry, but that’s what you get for bugging me.” She took off the cap and ran it across his neck the moment his hand grabbed her calf. Instantly, his grip relaxed, and his eyes fell shut. Jax would be out for hours.

  Her leg throbbed. She may have exaggerated that her leg was broken, but it was close. She pulled the wires from his chest, retracted them into the Taser, and slid the weapon back into her waistband. She then felt around his neck for a transmitter, and realized it was an all-in-one earpiece. She tossed it into the darkness.

  “Hey.” A voice startled her from behind. She swung out, and he ducked. “Nice one.” Legian sounded more pleased than pissed that she’d tried to punch him.

  She pulled out her black bandana and wiped the sweat from her face, and then she looked up at Legian. “Where’d you go?”

  “Leading the rest off-trail. I blocked their transmissions. Should buy us a minute or two before they regroup.”

  “So that’s why Jax couldn’t get a hold of them.”

  “This is Jax?”

  She nodded. “But the blocker didn’t work. He must’ve got a second bug on me because he used a GPS to find me.”

  She didn’t want to ask, but she had to. “What do we do with him?”

  “Leave him. We don’t have time. I have a new rendezvous point.”

  “We can’t leave him here. What if they don’t find him? What if he gets bit by a rattlesnake or eaten by a bear?”

  “The bears in this area are small. They could only gnaw on him.”

  “We’ll take him to the base. Introduce him to Apolo.”

  “We could use a hostage.”

  “As a guest,” she corrected. “Sommers didn’t believe me. Maybe he’ll believe one of his guys more.”

  After a brief moment of thinking through her words, Legian responded with his unique cross between a grumble and a sigh.

  With a grunt, more for effect than strain, Legian lifted the unconscious soldier onto his shoulders, and they made their winding escape through the woods. The sounds of breaking twigs and crunching leaves were not far behind them.

  Legian, carrying two hundred extra pounds, moved at a pace Sienna could keep up with. He remained in lead, using his natural night vision to guide them around trees and gullies. Sienna’s leg throbbed with every step, but after several minutes, the pain lessened to a dull ache.

  As they jogged, Legian called the base for an immediate pickup. She knew the soldiers would catch up them—they were trained for this sort of thing, and so it became a race to put enough distance between them to allow for a pickup.

  Both Legian and Sienna panted as they continued through the woods.

  Legian stopped and looked behind them. “They must be tracking us,” he said in between breaths. “They’re getting closer.”

  “It’s me,” Sienna said. “We should split up. I’m not a risk, but if they caught you…” Her words died in her mouth as she considered what the military could do to the first alien in their custody.

  “Never,” Legian said.

  With perfect timing, a pale glow flashed three times just above them.

  Sienna grinned. “They’re here.”

  The silent shuttle touched down in a wider spot on a dry creek bed several dozen feet from them. The sound of slate cracking under its weight was welcoming. The door opened, and Legian and Sienna sprinted toward the ship. Legian, carrying Jax, entered first.

  Shots rang out in the night, and Sienna ducked as she jumped on board. The door closed behind her, cutting off the sound of gunfire. She nearly collapsed with the feeling of safety in the dark ship.

  “Made some friends tonight?” Nalea asked from the pilot’s seat as she handed Sienna a pair of drades, the goggles that allowed night vision.

  Sienna sighed as she slid on the glasses and the ship’s interior came into full view. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “I’m counting on it.” Nalea lifted the ship from the ground.

  Through the pilot’s screen, Sienna could see at least a dozen troops entering the clearing, shooting at the bulletproof hull as they did so.

  Nalea pointed to the screen. “Look, they keep shooting at us like they can damage something.”

  “I need a second pair of drades for Jax,” Sienna said.

  “He doesn’t need them,” Legian grumbled from the back.

  “Guest,” Sienna reminded him.

  “Hold your hollies.” Nalea rustled through a compartment. “I know I have an extra pair up here.”

  “It’s horses,” Sienna replied with a smirk to her friend. Nalea spoke excellent English, but for some unknown reason, clichés and jargon threw her off every time.

  Nalea rubbed her head. “Horses? Son of a bitch. I always mess that one up. Hold your damn horses, Sienna.”

  Sienna grinned and shook her head. And for some other unknown reason, Nalea picked up profanity and slang faster than a sailor could find a whore at port.

  After a minute or so of opening and closing compartments, Nalea held out a second pair of glasses. “Strap in,” Nalea said. “We’ll be at the base in no time.”

  “Divert,” Legian said from the back where he was disarming and securing Jax. “Sienna has a tracer somewhere on her.”

  “Sounds like you really made some friends,” Nalea said. “Okay, I’m diverting now.”

  The ship twisted onto a new flight path, and Sienna held on to keep from falling.

  Nalea pointed to a compartment near the ceiling. “There should be a scanner in there.”

  Sienna fumbled with the latch. Once open, she rummaged through the devices and pulled out one.

  “No,” Nalea said. “It’s the black one.”

  “They’re all black,” Sienna said.

  “No, most of them are various grays,” Nalea countered.

  Sienna held up another one.

  “No.”

  A third one.

  “Yes,” Nalea said.

  Sienna clicked the only button on the device and scanned her clothes. It flashed near her hip. She examined her waistband and found it on her belt.

  She handed the tracker to Legian who dropped it into a trash compactor. Meanwhile, she scanned herself one more time to make sure Jax hadn’t planted a third bug.

  She went to put away the scanner, but Legian stopped her. He motioned to the unconscious soldier. “Scan him.”

  She stepped over to Jax and ran the scanner over him. The scanner vibrated over his forearm. She pulled up his shirtsleeve and ran it over him again. Dammit, he was microchipped. “Uh, guys?”

  “Use a blocker,” Nalea said as she flew the ship.

  “Blockers don’t work,” Sienna said.

  “Use your knife,” Legian said.

  Her eyes widened. “You serious?”

  “I’ll do it,” Legian said.

  “No, I’ll do it,” Sienna said quickly. She didn’t trust Legian to be gentle. She set down the scanner, pulled out her Swiss Army knife, and gulped. She ran her fingers across his skin several times. Only once she was sure she found the rice-sized microchip did she make a small slice and push it out. Immediately, she took her bandana and tied it over the bleeding wound.

  Legian disposed of the microchip.

  “All bugs are taken care of,” Sienna called out.

  “Returning to base flight path,” Nalea said.

  Sienna looked at Jax to see h
is eyes were now open. He was looking around, but she knew he couldn’t see anything without night vision. “You’re awake.”

  “You trying to slit my wrists?” Jax asked.

  “You planted bugs on me. Call us even,” she snapped back.

  “You tased me,” he said. “We’re not even.”

  She slid the glasses onto his face for him since his hands were bound. Jax took in the high-tech cabin. She had to admit, the first few times she had been in a Sephian ship, she had also been in awe. Everything was so different from human planes. There were no keyboards of any kind. Every unused space was covered by smooth panels of dim screens. Sienna wouldn’t have known they were computer screens as opposed to just wall panels, let alone been able to read them, without the glasses. The ship was controlled by mental commands made through a band worn around the pilot’s neck. Legian swore the technology was simple, but when he tried to explain it to her, it sounded anything but.

  “Where am I?” Jax asked after a length.

  “You’re on a Sephian ship,” Sienna answered. “You’re going to meet Apolo.”

  He didn’t answer, and he certainly didn’t look pleased. If anything, he looked like the grim reaper had come for him.

  Chapter Six

  “You’re not a prisoner,” Sienna said.

  “Then untie me,” Jax said.

  “No,” Legian said.

  Sienna moved to remove his restraints.

  “Sienna, leave them,” Legian said.

  She looked up to see Legian, sitting directly across from Jax and pointing his blaster at him. She glared, knowing he would never shoot inside a ship. “Apolo wanted me to contact Jax. He’s a guest, not a prisoner.” She removed the rubber-like bindings.

  She took a seat and watched Jax rub his wrists. She knew he must have had the same thoughts going through his mind that she’d had three months earlier when she stood outside a Sephian ship. Make a run for it or play along… for now.

  He continued to look around the ship, clearly trying to ignore the blaster aimed at him.

  Sienna broke the silence. “Pretty impressive, isn’t it? The first time I was in one of these, I didn’t have those night vision glasses so I was blind.”