Layla stroked the blood trails on my arm. “So Ulla Torunn didn’t inflict this damage to retrieve the data?”
I snorted. “No, she did it because she’s a psychotic bitch.”
“You owe your swear jar another dollar.” Tobias stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a shiny silver dollar. “Even if your assessment is correct.”
When I reached for it, he rolled it across the back of his fingers and it disappeared. Just when I was beginning to like the guy, he acted like a douche. I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him. “I think I’m entitled to a few choice words. The woman killed me after all.”
Technician Minor snapped off the Gruseation tube and the spotlight on my arm blinked out. “The CeeBees will have made it a permanent fixture on her arm.”
“What?” I don’t want that thing on my arm forever. My parents would kill me. Although they lived an avant guard life, they drew the line at tattoos. I had something against tattoos. The government could track you with them because some places inserted GPS chips into the ink. Good God, what if Ulla and her thugs could track me? “Get it out of me.”
Tobias looked at Minor who in turned stared at Layla.
Great. Nobody knew what to do. So much for being an advanced society. I scratched the itchy tattoo. I was so going to loose this thing tonight even if I had to chew off my own arm. “Give me a Smartphone.”
Tobias finally met my gaze. “Rae, I don’t think—”
“That’s obvious,” I snapped. “You blow hot one minute, cold the next. But that is not the issue. This stupid tat is. Now get me a Smartphone. The CeeBees put the thing on my arm with it maybe they can take it off with the cell.”
Layla pulled a cell out of her back pocket and slapped it onto my waiting palm.
“Thank you.” I twisted the phone around so the fish-eyed camera lens aimed for the tat. “Alright CeeBees, time to transfer the information to this cell.”
The skin around my tattoo itched then tingled. Slowly the blue ink faded.
“Remarkable.” Tech Minor leaned over my wrist and eyed the screen. Hieroglyphs, Chinese characters and Arabic letters ran down in the display in a blur. “It’s actually working.”
I smiled. Not such a dumb Earthling after all. “What does it say? Does it identify the spy?”
I spied pictures of faces. Maybe one of those identified the traitor.
“I don’t know.” He jerked his own cell from the front pocket of his uniform, aimed it at the phone in my hand and pressed the send button. “But we’ll find out as soon as the data is processed.”
Red strobe lights flashed on and an alarm blared in the hospital room.
Son of a monkey’s butt! Raising one shoulder, I tried to shield my ear from the sound. Unfortunately the other got hit with the full sound tsunami. Gritting my teeth, I kept streaming the data. “What’s going on?”
Tobias knocked the cell from my hand. A knife flashed in his hand when he leaned over me.
Aw snap! I’d done something wrong and now my arm was going to explode.
Turning my head, I scooted away from my strapped down arm. I’d already been doused in my own blood, splattered by gooey remains of others and now I was about to be sprayed by chucks of my own arm. And for what?
I’d failed.
I rubbed at the tears stinging my eyes. Right, and crying would change everything. I was such a loser God should just brand a big fat ‘L’ on my head. Then everyone would know.
The security officer sprinted through in the doorway. “The self-destruct countdown has begun. You have five minutes to load all Spec Forces equipment before evacuating.”
Self-destruct? My brain tripped over the word. “My arm’s not going to explode.”
Tobias sliced through my restraints. “No, but the facility is self-destructing.”
Oh, well, that’s so much better. I rubbed the feeling back into my arm. The frickin’ tattoo stared back at me. “Why? What did I do?”
“Nothing.” Tobias lifted me from the bed and held me until my rubbery legs solidified.
Layla threw open the cabinet door and began yanking out aluminum suitcases and piling them onto carts.
Technician Minor yanked his Gruseation tube from its holder, tucked it under his arm and sprinted from the room.
“Yeah. Right.” I patted his hands and took a step toward the door. Self-destruct meant boom and I didn’t care to be anywhere in the vicinity when that happened.
Tobias kept pace with me. “Torunn must have grafted a virus onto his data. It infected our systems. We don’t know how much information it relayed about this base so we have to evacuate before the enemy arrives.”
I walked faster. My bare feet slapped the cold floor. “I can’t believe he betrayed us.”
I can’t believe the tattoo didn’t help the UED, but hurt them. Someone better have a plan ‘B’. I hugged the wall as the security guard zipped by pushing a cart piled high with silver luggage. Humid air washed inside the hallway as the double glass doors opened. A white sphere hovered just on the other side. The back hatch flipped up, revealing the two seats inside and empty space suitable for storage.
Someone had hover cars in the Twenty-First century.
“It was a long shot that a person that high up in Fourth’s powerbase would turn away from all that power.” Tobias grabbed my arm as we passed a door and drew me to a halt. Twisting the handle, he quickly opened the door and slipped inside.
I leaned against the wall as the guard drove his cart back into the building. Maybe I should offer to help.
“Four minutes until detonation.” A computer voice counted down in monotone.
I rubbed the chill from my arms. Yeah. I definitely should help. After all, I’d unknowingly released the virus on them. But how? I drummed my fingers against the wall before reaching for the door where Tobias had entered. No sooner had I opened it then he pushed a cart loaded high with black duffle bags.
He peered over the top of the pile and smiled as he pushed the cart over the threshold. “Thanks.”
Nodding, I stepped back and opened the door wider. Sure, I could be a doorman. “Should I go and help the others?”
Tobias aimed his cart toward the door. “Nah, they’ll be coming in a minute. This isn’t the first time we’ve had to bug out.”
As if on cue, Technician Minor shot around the corner. He took the turn wide because behind him were two tandem carts loaded with silver suitcases. A small one balanced on the top kept going straight while the others took the turn. Minor winced as it landed with a loud thump. He pivoted about, placed both hands on the cart and pushed to slow it.
“I’ll get it.” I released the door I’d been holding and jogged down the hallway.
“Thanks.” Minor waved as he switched positions and began pulling the cart again.
“Not a problem.” Skirting around the wobbly cart, I dashed for the suitcase. It lay on its side against the wall. Slipping my fingers under the molded metal strap, I lifted the bag. Or tried to. Holy Toledo! The sucker was heavy. Wrapping two hands around the handle, I heaved the bag upright, bent my legs and straightened up to lift it off the floor. My muscles trembled and a burning sensation cut across my shoulder blades. Good God, what had he packed? Meteorites? I carefully scooted one foot along the floor. My knee flared with pain.
Come one, Rae. You can do this
.
“I’ll get that, ma’am.” The security guard jogged toward me lugging his own wagon train of three carts. He guided them around the corner and let it keep rolling toward the exit before he turned toward me. Smiling, he lifted the bag out of my arms with one hand. “You single gravity worlders are quite weak.”
“Thanks.” I managed to lift my spaghetti arm with a wave. Not that I had a clue what he was talking about. I definitely should have paid more attention in science class. How many gravities were there?
With the yellow Funyuns bag in one hand, Layla strolled around the corner walking before four carts that seemed to guide themselves. “Don’t mind him, Rae.” She joined me while her train glided by. Literally.
I bent down. Yep, no wheels. Hover cars and carts? Dang but that was cool.
Layla tucked her arm through mine and guided me toward the double doors where the others pushed their supplies into an oval the size of a semi. “Kuma is from a world with one-point-five-two Earth gravities. As a result his muscle is much more compact and he appears stronger than those of us born on one gravity worlds.”
Ah, now I understood. Nice to know there was only one kind of gravity. Layla’s cart trundled up the ramp and glided between the rows of other carts before stopping.
Security guard Kuma jumped down from the bed of the semi while the ramp retracted on its own. Pulling an electronic pad from his shirt pocket, he ran his thumb over the screen. A clock materialized.
Crap on a cracker! Was it really two-forty in the morning?
“Good work people.” The guard tapped a button on his phone and the truck’s cargo door rattled down. “We beat our old record by a tenth of a second.”
What an idiot I am. That wasn’t the time; that was a countdown.
Tobias appeared by my side, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. “Meet you at Base Camp Beta?”
Officer Kuma nodded. “You bet. I just need to make sure the self-destruct works then I’ll follow along.”
Layla walked to the front of the semi. “Should I follow you, Colonel or do you want us to wait for the sanitization?”
Technician Minor stroked his moustache. “I’d feel much better if we were well away from here. My equipment might be affected by the EMP blast.”
Tobias nodded. “Minor, stay with Kuma and verify the sanitization, then meet us at Base Camp Beta. Layla, do you know the way to the alternate site?”
Selecting a whole yellow round from the bag, Layla bit off the edge and shrugged. “It’s been a while since we’ve been out with the natives, but I think I can find it.”
“Then we’ll follow you and sweep for any parasites.” Grabbing my arm, Tobias guided me toward the HHR we’d driven in earlier. He popped open the rear hatch and threw his duffle inside.
I scampered around to the front passenger seat.
After Tobias climbed inside, he adjusted the rearview mirror then started the ignition. The center console of the dash lit up.
“Parasites?” I snapped my seatbelt and scratched at the dried blood on my thighs. I hoped I could take a shower at the new place.
“I believe you call them tails.” He punched a few buttons where the radio controls had once been. Images ghosted across the screen showing the parking lot around us. “Ours are not usually people in vehicles but a swarm of gnats taking point in reconnaissance. Most ordinary people wouldn’t notice the little machines, making them highly effective.”
I leaned closer to the screen in the center. Black images scrolled across the screen. “How can you detect them?”
“Machines have an energy signal.” He flicked the top screen. “They’ll light up the night in bright red and orange, depending on the size of the swarm.”
“Okay.” Red and orange. Got it. I could keep an eye out for that.
Layla blew her horn once and wheels dropped from the bed of the truck to skim the asphalt. Before she pulled out of her spot, she flashed her headlamps. The large truck ghosted through the darkness as it made a tight u-turn and headed back to the gates.
Tobias circled behind her, practically nosing her bumper.
I grabbed the handle above the door and worked the imaginary brakes on my side of the car. “Do you have to tailgate her? It’s not like we’re going to lose her in the parking lot.”
“Relax.” He squeezed my hand as we braked while the gate ahead of us opened. “I’m following close behind her so our energy signal looks like one vehicle left the parking lot, not two.”
I rested my forehead against the window and glanced up at the cloudy sky. “I thought you made it so no one could track us via satellite.”
“Your government agencies and APres Guarda’s tech can’t follow us, but we have a spy in our organization, remember?”
I wasn’t liable to forget that anytime soon. I scratched the tattoo on my arm. The stupid thing had returned in all its blue glory the moment the alarm rang. “So what? They think because they haven’t seen us leave that we died in the explosion?”
Layla nosed the semi through the gate before it finished completely opening and turned right. The truck glided smoothly over the rutted road.
“What explosion?” Tobias rested his hands on his thighs as the HHR followed in the big rig’s wake.
Holy Toledo! The car drove itself? Did alien humans have to do any actual lifting or work? Stupid question. Tobias had the scars to prove it. I shook the distracting thoughts from my head and looked at the side mirror as we passed. “The sanitization thingy. You’re going to blow up the building, right?”
His laughter flowed like warm chocolate syrup. “We don’t blow up our property, Rae. The sanitization will send an electromagnetic pulse through the building which will overload any electronic device left behind. Any eavesdropping machines might explode. But most likely they won’t. Instead, the successive magnetic sweeps will wipe the data from their drives.”
We slowed as Layla braked for a stop sign.
I checked the screen. No swarm of red or orange. We seemed to be alone. But then, I had thought that before.
“And how do you know they won’t have some tech to circumvent that?” Like Ulla had at the airport or Victor used to get inside my apartment.
Tobias shrugged. “We don’t.”
Not the reassurance I craved. I sucked on my bottom lip. What was I supposed to do now?
We picked up speed as Layla crossed the intersection.
“Tired?” Tobias enfolded my hand; his thumb stroked the back of my chilled skin.
“No.” I rested my forehead against the warm window glass. In the western sky, lightning colored the underbelly of the clouds a putrid yellow. My reflection flickered in the show.
“Is it the hibernation?” His thumb stilled. “Are you having any after effects?”
Shaking my head, I heard my hair rustle against the glass. “No.”
Up ahead, Layla tapped the brakes and crimson light bathed the car’s interior.