Chapter Twelve
Aton
I had expected Toni to hurry back, but she didn’t, and I heard the rumble of a Terran male’s voice. I couldn’t distinguish the words, but the tone raised an alarm. My mate faced something threatening out there. I flung back the bed covering, yanked on a pair of leggings, and rushed into the main room.
She had cracked the front door and was speaking to somebody on the other side.
“Toni? Who is it?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
The door flew out of her grasp, and a man stormed in. Three others followed. Their clothing, although not exactly the same, reminded me of the uniforms worn by the guards who’d shot me with electrical darts.
Waving her arms, Toni jumped in front of them. “Hey! Hey! You have no right to come in here! Not without a warrant.”
“Don’t touch her!” I shouted.
“Here’s your warrant.” The first man who’d barged in shoved a sheet of parchment at her, and barked at me, “Are you Aton?”
“Don’t answer that!” Toni said. “Don’t say anything.”
“Aton of Dakon, you’re under arrest for illegally entering Earth. Place your hands on your head.” He aimed one of those Taser devices at me.
I hesitated, glancing at Toni.
“You better do it.” Her voice quivered as if she was about to cry. “Do what they say, but don’t say anything.”
“Are you interfering with his arrest?” The man narrowed his eyes.
I stifled a growl as Toni motioned for me to obey the order. I laced my fingers atop my head.
“Interfering how? Telling him to comply? Informing him of his rights? I’m his attorney,” she snapped.
“He’s an extraterrestrial. He doesn’t have any rights! Cuff him.” The man motioned to one of his fellow guards but ceased issuing threatening glances at my mate.
“I’m going to get you released, I promise,” Toni said, as they yanked my arms behind my back and snapped metal bracelets around my wrists. She followed, trotting alongside as they hustled me barefooted out of the house to the street.
They shoved me into a vehicle.
“Don’t say anything to anybody. I’ll get you out, I promise! I love you!” was the last comment I heard before we drove away.
* * * *
“Your attorney is here.” A guard stopped outside my warding cell.
“Toni?” Thank the Fates, she’d come. I’d been locked up all night. I’d wanted to demand answers of the guards who’d brought me meals, but she’d impressed upon me the need to remain silent, and I had to trust her judgment.
I leaped up.
“No, not Antoinette, sorry.” A silver-haired man in dark-gray clothing stepped into view.
“Stand back,” the guard ordered. Keeping his Taser pointed at me, he deactivated the force field, and it collapsed with a crackle. When they’d first dumped me in the ward, I hadn’t known about the electrified wall. When I’d tried to leave, the shock threw me onto the floor and caused painful tingling for hours.
The man stepped inside my cell.
The guard reactivated the field. “Give a shout when you’re done,” he said and left.
“We met at the courthouse one day. I’m Phillip Markham,” said the man.
“I remember.” What I recalled was him badgering my mate, how she didn’t like him. Why was he here?
“How are they treating you?”
“All right.” On Dakon, men who caused trouble were sometimes warded. On their honor, they remained in a special hut or a cave. They weren’t locked in the way I was in this windowless maze of tiny, overcrowded cells. Three to four men shared a space too small for one. My area barely accommodated a metal bunk wedged between opposite stone block walls. When lying down, I couldn’t extend my legs, and I had to be careful not to hit my head on the bed above me. At least the other two bunks in the stack were empty. I had a cell to myself. Not so the others.
I’d gotten little sleep because of the noise, the multiplicity of alien tongues blurring into an ever-present buzz. The lights overhead hummed, too.
“Shall we sit?” Phillip gestured and then sank onto my bunk. His brows wrinkled with consternation. “This is…uncomfortable.”
“Yes,” I agreed. The thin padding did little to soften the metal and allowed the cold to seep through.
“Maybe we can do something about that.” He smiled as if we were friends, but I couldn’t forget how he’d treated my mate. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’m here.”
“Yes.”
“I would like to represent you—as your counsel.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means I can get you out of here.”
I could go back to Toni! My heart raced with relief, but a little voice—and her last words—urged me to tread with caution. “How? Why would you help me?”
“Why doesn’t matter. Only the how. If I’m your attorney, you’ll need to be honest with me. You can’t hold back. The smallest detail could be crucial to getting you out of here.”
“Toni said she would get me out.”
His mouth curled briefly. “Yes, well, she can try. However, Antoinette doesn’t know what I know—or who I know. I have contacts within the Department of Extraterrestrial Immigration.” He looked at me. “They’re not going to release you—ever. They will either lock you away in a prison, or deport you to your home planet. Either way, you’ll never see Antoinette again.”
If they sent me to Dakon, I had a chance of reuniting with Toni. I’d managed to get here once, I could do it again. But if they kept me incarcerated, that would be bad. Very bad.
“I’d like to see Toni. Can you arrange that?” I asked.
“She’s on the do-not-admit list, but if you accept my help, I’ll see what I can do. So, do you want my assistance?”
“What do you want to know?”