Alien Research

CHAPTER 66

CONTEMPLATED ASKING GLADYS if she’d seen that we’d be in the bowels of Guantanamo when we found Ronaldo but I knew she’d had no idea. Algar enjoyed his little jokes, after all. Prick.

“You’ve made me a murderer.” This voice I also recognized—it was Mahin.

“Things happen,” Ronaldo replied.

“You told me no one would get hurt, that we were just going to find and rescue the rest of our family. But I watched you murder one of those people.”

“Oh, please.” So, Annette Dier was here, too. Good. I’d be really happy to break her neck. “Casualties of war. Look, we don’t have long. Either you’re coming with us or you’ll get to stay here and rot, or worse.”

“We’re your family now,” Ronaldo said. “You’re your father’s daughter.”

“My father, the man who raised me, wasn’t a killer. He was a decent man. He thought war was wrong.”

“And he’s dead because of war, so what does that prove?” Ronaldo asked.

“It proves she’s a liability,” Dier said. Heard a gun cock. “The hell with her so-called talent. We have orders—she comes or she dies. Period.”

Wasn’t sure what to do here, even as I grabbed my Glock out of my purse. But what Gladys did wouldn’t have been in my playbook, constant accusations of recklessness or no. She ran around the corner without looking to see what, exactly, was around said corner.

She ran at hyperspeed, so there was that. Which I guess was so that she could hit into Ronaldo that much harder.

I followed her, in part because it wasn’t like I was going to stay undetected for long and in other part because I didn’t want to give Dier time to recover and shoot the gun I figured she had out and cocked.

As I rounded the corner and could see clearly, I was surprised to see a cell door standing open, though Mahin wasn’t in the hallway. I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Ronaldo and Dier weren’t alone, Mahin still in her cell or no.

There were two other men with them. One was Kozlow; the other was someone I hadn’t seen before. He was younger and appeared to be having a really fun vacation—he looked eager and excited and very one with Ronaldo and his Cause.

He also didn’t look like any of the people here so much as he resembled a younger, male version of Serene. Which might mean he was a full-blooded A-C, or it just might mean that Ronald Yates had sort of had a type when he was being choosy.

All of them were dressed alike, in khaki pants, T-shirts, and hooded sweat jackets. They looked like an odd group of Marines getting ready for a workout. Clearly they’d planned ahead.

Gladys knocked the gun out of Dier’s hand with the clipboard as she slammed into Ronaldo. Those two hit against the wall while Dier’s gun flew into the air.

Unfortunately, while Dier wasn’t able to catch the gun, Kozlow did. Decided I didn’t care and shot at the three of them.

The young kid knocked Dier out of the way, so I missed him and her. Winged Kozlow, though, so there was that. Of course, didn’t hit him enough to stop him from firing right back at me. I flipped into a forward roll, so the bullets missed me. And it was bullets plural—Kozlow fired wildly and emptied the clip. Had the feeling he expected more people coming behind me. You know, like would have been smart. Lucky for whoever would have been there to take bullets, Gladys and I hadn’t been smart.

I was up and had my gun aimed before the three of them recovered. Which would have been great if Gladys and Ronaldo were still fighting. Only they weren’t.

“Tell you what,” Ronaldo said pleasantly, as he wiped some blood off of his lip. “I’ll be nice and leave you here, with the sister of mine who isn’t good for anything, while I take my other sister, who’s really my favorite, along with us.”

“What are you talking about?” Had a feeling I knew, but keeping the bad guys talking was one of my specialties and I saw no reason to hold that move back.

“Some people are easier to control than others, that’s what I’m talking about. You were a fool to bring her with you to try to take me. She can’t say no to her little brother.”

He turned Gladys around, keeping his hands on her upper arms. She looked right at me. “Sorry, kiddo,” she said as she tossed the clipboard down at my feet. “I could kill her for you, little brother.”

Gladys was small and Ronaldo was tall. My gun was out and ready and I was in a good position, so I could shoot him in the head. However, I wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t find a way to throw Gladys up in front of the bullet. He was holding her in such a way I was pretty sure that was his plan, and he definitely had the strength and hyperspeed to do it. Plus I was fairly sure he’d love it if I killed Gladys by accident; it was his kind of thing.

“No, that would upset Mahin,” Ronaldo said with a nasty little laugh. “We have someone much better now, and they’re going to have some fun explaining why this one’s down here trying to break Mahin out while the base is exploding.”

“I really think we should kill her,” Dier said.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll have time for you to reload before she shoots you,” Ronaldo replied. “Russell needs some weapons training. Now, get moving.”

“Who’s the kid?” I asked. “Yet another illegitimate son of Ronald Yates?”

“As if legitimacy mattered?” Ronaldo asked.

“Sure it matters. It matters a lot. That’s why you’re trying to gather up all your half siblings, so that you can claim a seat on the YatesCorp board. Of course, if your father had really wanted you to be able to claim that seat, he’d have written your name clearly on the paperwork.”

Ronaldo’s eyes flashed. “He wanted all of us able to take our rightful places.”

“Hardly. If he knew about you, then why not just list your names on the document? Why force you to have to prove his paternity? Especially since you can’t.”

Ronaldo opened his mouth, but it was Dier who actually spoke. “Stop being an idiot. We leave, right now, or I kill her, right now.” There was something in her tone—she sounded like the one in charge.

Ronaldo reacted like she was as well. He shut up and nodded.

“Um, hate to ask, but how do you think you’re going to get past me?” I got a variety of “duh” looks from all five of them, and then they ran off down a hall I hadn’t realized was there. “Oh. That’s how.”

Trotted closer to Mahin’s cell and looked in. She was against the back wall, looking scared. “What are you going to do to me?” she asked.

“Just ask a question or two. What are they up to?”

“I believe they’re going to blow this base up.”

“Fantastic. Why’d you have your change of heart?”

She shrugged. “Your father . . . he reminded me of my father. He asked me if I was doing what I believed was right, or just what sounded right.” She swallowed hard. “And then I watched them kill . . .” She looked down. “You’d said they were my relatives, too.”

“They are. All the A-Cs are related back there. Like the Jews are.”

“Your father told me. He said . . .” She looked back up. “He said they’d still forgive me and let me be a part of their family. But I don’t see how.”

“You didn’t kill anyone. You tried, sure, but you didn’t succeed. And you actually protected all of us when the plane and tank exploded. And you told Malcolm and my dad where Ronaldo and Dier were.”

“You knew it was him? I didn’t know it was him.”

“Yeah, we figured it out. Looking like someone else is part of his talent. Look, I either have to run after them or we have to run after them. You pick.”

She stared at me. “You’d trust me?”

“I’m stupid that way, yeah. Like to live on the edge, sort of thing. Frankly, I don’t know if they were putting on a show for our benefit and knew Gladys and I were there or not, but I need to go back her up.”

“But, she’s back under his control.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t think so, though. She’d called me kiddo, and I had a feeling she’d done that on purpose. “So, why are you still standing in your cell?”

“I’m not sure that you won’t shoot me if I move.”

Heaved a sigh and put my left hand out toward her. “Come with me if you want to live.”

“You’ll kill me if I don’t go?”

“Wow, really? They didn’t show The Terminator wherever you grew up? No wonder you feel like you had a sad childhood.”

She stepped forward and tentatively reached out her hand. I grabbed her, turned, and ran off the way Gladys and the others had gone.