Chapter Ten
“Are you sure this will work?” Naura asked from her hiding place in back of the military vehicle.
Tony maneuvered them through a checkpoint with ease. “It has to or else we will all die. Which is why you should have stayed back.”
Henry’s car was in the driveway as Tony rounded the corner on his street. He pulled in directly behind the black sedan and switched off the engine. “Stay hidden until you hear from me.”
“Be careful, Tony.”
Naura’s words resonated inside Tony’s head, laced with concern and no small amount of fear.
“Stay out of my head,” he bit out before exiting the vehicle and strolling up the drive.
A young soldier opened at the door before Tony could ring the bell. “Sir,” he rushed out with a sharp salute.
Tony kept his expression blank. “There’s been a change in plans, Private. I’ll be escorting Doctor Sutherland to the base.”
A wrinkle appeared between the private’s eyebrows. His Adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed. “I wasn’t informed of any changes in plans, sir.”
Tony could practically smell the guy’s nervousness. “What is your name, Private?”
“Talbot, sir.”
With lightning speed, Tony pulled his revolver from the waistband of his pants and had it trained on the young private before he could react. “Make a sound, and you’re a dead man.”
Talbot’s eyes grew huge, but he didn’t call out for help.
Tony jerked his chin toward the interior of the house. “Get inside and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Following the private inside, Tony closed the door and quickly took in his surroundings. “Place your weapon on the floor and kick it to me.”
Talbot’s eyes flashed with anger. He lifted his chin and reached for his weapon.
“Slowly,” Tony demanded, watching his every movement.
Freeing the gun from its holster, Talbot placed it on the floor and kicked it in Tony’s direction. “You won’t get away with this.”
Tony retrieved the weapon, shoving it into the waistband of his pants. “Turn around.”
“What are you going to do?” Talbot questioned, giving Tony his back.
Instead of answering, Tony flipped his revolver around and slammed the butt of it against the back of the private’s head. Talbot slid unconscious to the floor.
The sound of car doors caught Tony’s attention. He rushed to the window and inched the curtain to the side in time to see Henry striding up the driveway with another uniformed soldier in tow.
Tony eased over close to the door and pressed his back against the wall.
The guard stepped inside ahead of Sutherland, only to meet the same fate as the private. He crumpled to the floor at Tony’s feet.
“You killed him?” Henry cried, staring down at the fallen soldier in obvious shock.
Tony shook his head. “He’ll be out of commission for a while, but he’s not dead. Now get me something to tie them up with.”
Henry stumbled inside, stepping over the fallen man before disappearing into the kitchen. He returned a minute later with two rolls of duct tape. “This is all I have.”
“That’ll work.” Tony took the tape and went to work on securing the two felled soldiers before dragging them into Abbie’s old room and placing them on the bed.
He returned to the living room to find Henry sitting on the couch, wringing his hands. “What now, Tony?”
“I’m going to bring Vaulcron and Naura inside. They will stay here and keep an eye on the soldiers while I accompany you to Eglin.”
“Who the hell are Vaulcron and Naura?”
“Hauke’s siblings.”
Henry jumped to his feet. “You brought two of those creatures to my home?”
“Put a sock in it, Henry. You’ve already met Naura. She was the female they had in the tank at Winchester Industries last year.”
Anger rose up inside Tony with the memory of Naura’s half-dead body floating in that tank of salt water, nude and injured. He bared his teeth. “The one they’d planned to kill. Remember her?”
“I-I had nothing to do with that,” Henry sputtered, his face red with indignation. “I was merely doing what was best for my Abbie.”
“Horse shit,” Tony snarled. You have always put yourself before your daughter. Ever since Marlene passed away.”
“You leave Marlene out of this.”
Tony pulled the door open and stepped onto the porch. He spoke without looking back. “Get your things together. We leave in ten minutes.”
* * * *
Glenn Anderson paced in front of the two giant aliens secured in the holding tanks. They’d been pronounced dead on arrival, yet a tinge of color remained in their cheeks.
“Are you waiting on them to wake up and say boo?” Spivey joked, sailing into the room. He stopped in front of Glenn with a salute.
“Corporal,” Glenn greeted him with a sigh. “Any problems at the gates?”
Spivey’s eyebrows shot up. “Nothing that I couldn’t handle, sir.”
“They don’t seem to take kindly to the army infiltrating their base,” Glenn pointed out.
“Hopefully, we won’t be here much longer. I, for one, will be glad when this is over.”
“Me too, Spivey. Me too.”
Spivey cleared his throat. “Can I ask you a question, sir?”
Glenn moved closer to the glass, intrigued by the barbs on the aliens’ ankles. “Go ahead.”
“How come they brought these” —Spivey waved a hand toward the tanks— “things to this particular base instead of sending them to a more secure location like Area 51?”
“Because they’re using them as bait,” Glenn responded, keeping his gaze on the aliens.
“Bait, sir?”
Glenn abandoned his view to face the corporal. “To draw out Doctor Abbigail Sutherland. If she’s still alive.”
“Why do they want her so badly?”
“They believe that she holds the key to a cure for the Incola virus,” Glenn admitted with a frown.
“What does that mean for her if they apprehend her alive?”
Glenn turned away to continue his perusal of the tanks’ contents. “God knows, Spivey. But it can’t be good.”