Mikal (Second Wave Book 3) (9 page)

“Continue,” Mikal said simply, trying desperately to remain as impassive as he could.

“They ended up firing on the dark man while he was on the bridge. The reports state he disappeared, and they didn’t know if they had hit him or not. Alpha One was interrogated when he was returned to the lab,” Chris said.

“I remember that,” Chance said as she came into the conference room and sat next to Mikal.

“I was only a child. After that, they stopped letting anyone leave from the lab for a mission or return on their own. That was when they stopped letting me spend time with Alpha One,” Chance added.

Chris nodded his head.

“That makes sense. Alpha One told them that he’d met another of his kind. The dark man. The man told Alpha One that his name was Indrid Cold, and he was looking for his missing son . . . Mikal,” Chris said watching his brother’s eyes grow wide.

Mikal drew in a deep breath and clutched the arms of his chair. Grai had told him that when he’d found him, he was able to tell him only that his name was Mikal. But his biological father verifying it was a little overwhelming. Although his mind was desperately trying to wrap itself around what his brother was telling him, he needed to know the rest. Immediately.

I’ll process it all later
, he thought.

“Chris . . .” Mikal said, conveying his need for the rest of the information with that word.

Chris looked back at his comm.

“For days after the bridge incident, sightings of the dark man continued to increase. People said that they felt like the flying man, Indrid Cold, was trying to tell them something. Warn them of something. But the humans couldn’t understand him. Whether it was fear or a language problem we don’t know; there are no specifics,” Chris said, looking back at his comm.

“What we do know is that three days later, the bridge collapsed and killed 46 humans. After that, the sightings of the dark man, Indrid Cold, stopped. The collapse was blamed on a single eye bar defect which the lab and security were later able to confirm through military contacts, was created by the weapons fired on Indrid Cold three days earlier on the bridge,” Chris said, shaking his head at the senseless tragedy.

“So no one knows what happened to him? Indrid Cold?” Mikal asked.

Chris shook his head and looked back at the comm.

“No . . . I’m sorry. But there is more information in the report of Alpha One’s interrogation. Alpha One said that Indrid Cold told him that he had felt the disturbance in the energy when Alpha One began leaving for missions. Indrid said he arrived in the area in November,” Chris said.

“Which coincides with the first sighting of what the humans called the Mothman,” Siggy added.

“Unable to stay in the area, Indrid continued to come back when he felt the energy, hoping that it would lead him to his son. Instead, that December, he found Alpha One. When Indrid heard of where Alpha One had come from, he became enraged and had vowed to help free him and Chance from the lab. It appears that is when the security showed up and subdued Alpha One,” Chris said.

“That’s where the new protocols and the experts came in. They wanted to know if there could be any more of them that may still exist,” Dante said.

“They learned that we could sense one another’s energy,” Chance said. “That we could follow it. No matter how much they punished us, neither of us ever told them that we could speak in our minds, and we only did it after evening lights out, when they didn’t watch us so closely.”

“What did the experts say? Did they ever find any others?      Or . . . Indrid Cold?” Mikal asked.

Chris shook his head and scrolled through the information on the comm.

“There’s talk about places where they looked based on information given to them by the experts, but the problem here is the lack of information in general,” Chris said in frustration.

“They’re paranoid bastards,” Siggy said.

“It’s a bread crumb trail,” Dante added.

Chris threw his hands up at his two brothers, daring them to interrupt again before he turned back to Mikal.

“We have to hit another lab to get more information. Each lab has a different piece of the puzzle to ensure that if one is taken, the others aren’t compromised, and not all the data is retrieved,” Chris said.

“It’s so if one place is hit, the program can’t be replicated with the information gotten from it,” Siggy added.

Mikal clenched his fists in his lap until Chance covered his hand with one of her own and squeezed it gently. He looked up at her, felt the calming energy she was sending to him, and unclenched his fist so he could take her hand. He looked at Chris with determination.

“Where’s the next lab?” Mikal asked.

“Hell yeah!” Declan said, slapping Mikal on the shoulder with a grin.

“We got your back, bro,” Reign added with a thumbs up and a grin as the others all nodded their heads.

Chris grinned at Mikal and nodded at Siggy. He stood as Siggy put another map on the wall behind him.

“We’re heading to another underground bunker in New Mexico,” Chris said.

“Area 51?” Dree asked with a grin.

Everyone chuckled and Chris shook his head.

“No, another state. Although, Dr. Mussberger said that some of the other labs were connected through a huge underground tunnel system, so we need some recon to make sure we don’t bite off more than we can kill,” he said with a smirk.

“Who’s telling Dad?” Dusty asked, looking around the room at his brothers.

When no one answered, Chris cleared his throat.

“I’ll . . . tell him when we’re done with our plans. This place isn’t close or convenient, and we don’t have an insider like we did with Chance and Dr. Mussberger. We’re flying blind and winging it as we get more information,” Chris said.

They all knew Chris was lying. If Grai knew that they were planning any kind of mission near a well-known military base, where the humans could send massive backup or capture one of them, he’d never let them leave his sight.

“This is worth getting stranded on an island for,” Angel said with a huge grin.

“What?” Drago said, turning to his mate in surprise.

“No worries, bro! Dad makes sure we have all the amenities,” Shane said as he patted Drago on the shoulder.

Lara chuckled and leaned back in her chair, holding her hands up.

“I’m not getting in the middle of this with your father, we’re just here to keep you out of trouble and to help each other,” Lara said, wondering if she should be the one to tell Grai what they were planning.

Vladimir looked over at Lara and the Tezarians with an evil grin on his face.

“So, which one of you really want to tell dad about this?” he asked.

Dread immediately thought of how angry and dangerous Grai had become since the US military had captured Koda, and he looked at his brothers to see where they stood on the issue.

Viper shrugged.

“Grai told
them
to contact him, not us. But I damn sure don’t want to be the one to tell him if something goes wrong,” he said.

Drago hugged Angel to his side and looked down at her before turning to his brothers.

“I will fight with them. They are family, and we don’t let family go it alone. But I’m also not looking forward to facing Grai after this, whether it goes wrong or not,” Drago admitted.

Like the others, Drago had a healthy respect for Grai and his abilities before Koda was captured. In the last week, Grai had grown more primal, more violent and dangerous than he had been before. And those who knew him were very concerned about the change in not only Grai, but in Traze as well.

Mir chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair.

“I’m not one of his kids, so I’m not worried about what he’s going to do to us,” Mir said with a cocky smirk before Dree knocked his chair out from under him.

Mir sprawled on the floor, glaring up at his sister as Liam helped him to his feet. Dree put her hands on her hips and stared at Mir.

“You’re a fool if you think that he can’t do anything to us. I, for one, have no desire to test his limits,” she said before taking Liam’s hand and looking up at him adoringly.

“But Drago’s right: we’re family, and we stick together. So let’s make sure this goes right so we don’t have to tell Grai the gory details,” she suggested with a mischievous grin.

Siggy whooped and clapped his hands together before typing on his comm.

“Let’s get this party started!” he said as he and Dante began putting aerial images on the wall.

Everyone turned at the sound of a low, keening growl and were shocked to see Ranger—along with a dozen other Sibiox—standing in the partially opened door to the conference room.

“Oh hell,” Declan whispered.

“Odds are we can’t keep them quiet,” Elias whispered back.

“Does this mean the cat’s out of the bag?” Dree asked before bursting out laughing.

Chapter Nine

Chris and his siblings groaned at the appearance of the temporary Sibiox leader and his fellow cats. Gibly left Ranger in charge of their people when he’d gone in search of Koda, and the Dranovians had been pretty happy to be cat-free. Until now.

“How long have you been standing there spying on us?” Angel said with a groan.

“What is that?” Chance asked as she stood slowly, staring with wide eyes at the large black cat.

Ranger walked into the room and bowed in front of Chance.

“I am Ranger, co-leader of the Sibiox. We assist in planetary operations. I am honored to meet you,” the large cat said, sending a glare at the Dranovians.

“Why are you here?” Chris asked, hoping like hell the cats hadn’t heard much.

Siggy and Dante quickly pulled all the images from the conference room wall and pretended like they hadn’t been in the middle of planning a raid on a lab.

Ranger stepped back from the amazed Chance and jumped up on the top of the conference room table. The large black cat flicked his tail sharply as he stalked up the table to where Chris sat.

The odd cat was jokingly referred to as “Ranger Danger” because of his habit of emitting an almost continuous low growl when he walked—which he was doing right then.

Declan began humming a popular theme to a series of action movies, in time to Ranger’s growling steps.

“Dun duh, dun dun, dun-duhhhh-duh . . .”

Suddenly the room erupted into laughs, and the cat stopped in the middle of the table. But his growling didn’t. No one—except Chance—noticed the blazing look in the eyes of the large cat or that the other cats had slowly surrounded the Dranovians and Tezarians while they continued to laugh. Chance rolled her chair slowly away from the table.

Chance warned Mikal seconds before Ranger emitted a loud, yowling screech and his front claws slashed deep enough to completely penetrate the solid wood table. Now that the laughter had died down, they could hear that all of the cats were growling, and Ranger was crouched as if to attack, his fur standing on end.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Lara said, casting out a wave of golden energy, hoping to calm the situation.

When the cats calmed down, she stood and faced Ranger.

“Ranger, I apologize if you and your people were offended. Although you’ve not had a chance to work with us before, I’m sure you’ve heard from Gibly that we have . . . unique personalities, and sometimes offend when we don’t mean to,” Lara said, hoping to calm the cat’s fury over being mocked.

Declan cleared his throat and sighed.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I honestly do appreciate everything your people have done for us . . . and for Gibly searching for Koda,” Declan said, truly sorry for offending the prideful animals.

Although his fur was no longer poofed out, it was obvious that Ranger was still upset by the sharp flicking of the tip of his tail and his narrow-eyed stare.

Chris stood, knowing it was his place to try and fix it and get rid of the cats so they could continue with the mission brief.

“Ranger, I apologize on behalf of my team for their insensitivity. As Lara said, we are a little different than the others that you have worked with, and though we meant no harm, we are sorry that we offended you and your people. Now, what can we do for you?” Chris asked.

Everyone was a little puzzled when Ranger Danger started a laughing growl, the other cats following suit.

Chris chuckled hollowly.

“OK, we deserved that,” he said as Ranger and the other cats stopped laughing.

Ranger shook his head slowly.

“No, you deserve for me to report this ridiculous plan to your father,” Ranger threatened, his whole tail swishing back and forth.

“Wait a damn . . .” Shane said.

Ranger growled and swiveled his head to glare at the Dranovian.

“Silence!” Ranger said sharply.

The cat finished stalking up the table to Chris.

“Your father had us dropped off here to assist in the protection of Mikal’s recovered people and to aide in your efforts to find the others. We have heard your conversations and know of your intent to deceive your father,” Ranger said, his voice a low rumble.

“Oh hell,” Elias muttered while most of the others expressed varying degrees of disappointment.

Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair, struggling to figure out how to salvage this.

“Ranger . . .” he began.

Ranger cut him off.

“I have every intention of completing
my
mission,” Ranger said, staring at Chris.

“So . . . does that mean we can carry out our mission as long as you get to come along and carry out yours?” Dree asked, her face scrunched up as if expecting to be yelled at.

Ranger turned his head slowly until he focused his dark stare on the small, blond Tezarian.

“Hey, how many cats did you bring? We can divide them up between here and the mission so we’ll have everyone covered,” Declan suggested, hoping to convince the cat not to tell their father anything.

Everyone quickly agreed, hoping to assuage the animal’s ire and convince him to remain silent of their plans.

Ranger’s shoulders rose and fell dramatically as he snickered loudly.

“Well, it seems I have an odd personality as well and will fit right in with you,” Ranger said as he sat down, a smile on his face. “So what’s the plan?”

“Uh . . .” Siggy asked, a little confused.

“Wait . . . does that mean . . .” Dusty said.

Ranger snorted loudly.

“It means I have no intention of mousing you to your father, unless you refuse to allow us to help,” Ranger said, narrowing his eyes at the Dranovians.

“Mousing? What?” Elias asked.

“Ratting! He means he won’t rat us out,” Angel said with a grin.

Chris crossed his arms over his chest and eyed the cunning cat.

“You really won’t tell anyone what we’re doing if you are allowed to stay and help?” he asked, not sure if he could believe the cat.

Ranger had only taken over leadership of the Sibiox forces on the planet in the last few weeks while Gibly was gone to find Koda. Until then, none of them had ever heard of Ranger before and didn’t know the cat well enough to know if they could trust him.

The cat twitched his whiskers, his tail flicking back and forth hypnotically as he kept his feral eyes trained on the leader of the Dranovians. Then his eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to Chris, putting the Dranovians on edge while they wondered what the cat would do next.

“My people do not plan to assist you. We are not accessories for you to use like your gun or your knives,” Ranger said as he stalked closer to Chris.

Chris felt nervous. He couldn’t decipher Ranger’s energy, feeling only danger radiating from the cat.

Now I know why they call him Ranger Danger
, Chris thought, holding his ground against the advancing feline.

Ranger stopped inches from Chris, close enough to slice open his throat if so inclined. He sat again and flicked his tail.

“We are highly evolved trackers, invisible hunters, and efficient and silent killers. I don’t plan on assisting you, you fools; I plan on saving your asses when you do something stupid. You can show me how intelligent you are by accepting graciously, or the whole of Dillon, and your father, will know of your intentions,” Ranger said with a low, rumbling growl to his words.

Reign chuckled.

“You’re threatening us? Seriously?” he asked.

Reign and the three brothers sitting next to him jumped forward in their chairs when they heard a loud hissing and spitting from behind them. They turned in time to see two of Ranger’s Sibiox poofed out, furious, and much too close for their liking.

Reign turned from the cats behind him, only to see Ranger staring at him, his whiskers only inches from his face.

“I do not threaten, Dranovian. Nor do I fear you as others may,” Ranger said as his eyes roamed over Reign as if finding him lacking in some way. 

“Damn . . . you’re not nice like Gibly,” Dree whispered.

Ranger’s dark eyes swiveled to her and she gulped as Liam moved to stand more in front of her. Then Ranger surprised them all by chuckling again.

“You mistake determination for a lack of kindness. As much as I may like you and enjoy the uniqueness of your energies and personalities, I am here to protect you. I promised your father that I would, and among my people, a willfully broken promise is a death sentence. I have no intention of dishonoring Gibly’s trust in me, nor your father’s trust in my word,” Ranger said, allowing the Dranovians to feel the honor and loyalty in his energy.

“At least he said he likes us,” Dree said, and everyone chuckled.

Chris cleared his throat.

“We are honored that you’re here, and I apologize for not welcoming you properly. Siggy, Dante, get the images up and let’s get this briefing going. We’ve wasted too much time,” Chris said turning to the wall and the aerial images of the next lab then intended on hitting.

“OK guys,” Siggy began as he put up a few more images. “We’ve got another nine hours in our window before Chance’s lab has to check in again. Amun got the next code to enter from Dr. Mussberger, but we don’t want to take any chances.”

Chris turned to the room.

“The labs are set up so that if a check in fails, all the labs resort to lockdown procedures. The bastards are seriously paranoid, so even Dr. Mussberger had no idea what all a lockdown entailed, and we don’t want to find out. We need to get in and keep one person alive who knows the codes to that lab,” Chris said, looking at each of his team members to make sure that they understood.

“Who has the codes?” Vladimir asked.

“The head of security and two of the doctors in the lab, according to Dr. Mussberger,” Dante added.

“How many guards are there?” Angel asked.

Chris shook his head.

“We don’t know. All we have are the aerials right now. We’re going in for recon first to see if it’s a similar setup to the last place,” Chris admitted, unhappy that they didn’t have more to go on right now.

None of them said aloud that their father could probably get them more information; they all knew that if they told their father, he would only go in without them. Not only was Grai needed where he was, but he was working almost non-stop since Koda was taken, and they knew they could handle this on their own.

“I’ll go first,” Mikal said.

“I will go with you,” Chance said, her voice strong and filled with determination.

Mikal squeezed her hand and nodded his head. He understood why she was determined, and he wouldn’t take it from her. She’d earned the right to fight for the freedom of their people.

Chris cleared his throat to get Mikal and Chance’s attention.

“We’re going to set up a temporary base camp . . . here,” Chris said pointing to an area near Trinidad, Colorado.

“Deacon,” Chris said. “You’ll pilot the transport and keep it cloaked while Mikal and Chance do a close surveillance. The rest of you,” he said, looking at his siblings and the Tezarians.

“We’re doing outer range surveillance heading towards the lab so we can see how big their perimeter is and what security measures they have in place. Deacon will drop us in a circular pattern, and we’ll make our way in.”

Chris turned to Ranger with a smile.

“Would you drop with us on the outer perimeter and scout ahead for us?” Chris asked respectfully, knowing the cat would.

Ranger nodded his head regally.

“We would be honored to kill anything in your path,” the cat said with a fanged smile.

The other Sibiox emitted a mix of cackling growls, startling the Dranovians and Tezarians.

Chris cleared his throat.

“Dante and Siggy, stay in the transport with Deacon and get us as much information as you can as quickly as you can. We don’t have much time before someone realizes that the other lab was compromised and the doctor is missing. So we need a fast pace and no recklessness,” Chris ordered, looking harshly at each of his rash siblings.

He even included the equally reckless Tezarians in his stare. When Ranger snickered at him and the room burst out laughing, he gave up trying to be the serious and responsible brother.

“Screw you all,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s get our heavy gear and get out of here.”

Chance stood to follow everyone else out of the room, but Mikal held her hand tightly, and she waited with him while the room emptied.

“We don’t need gear,” Mikal said with a smile. “We’re going to drop with everyone else, and we’ll be able to get there long before the Sibiox. I want you to stay with me. Don’t go off on your own; it’s too dangerous.”

Chance knew that he didn’t want her taking chances that could endanger his family and she agreed.

“I understand. I will follow the plan,” she said, nodding her head as she looked in his eyes.

Mikal held her hand, enjoying the feel of her soft skin and the energy that flowed between them like a calm river. It was unlike anything he’d felt before. A feeling of oneness, of belonging that he’d never been able to feel so completely with his siblings. He loved them more than life, but there had always been an empty spot inside of him that he never thought he’d ever fill.