Laura Jo Phillips (53 page)

“It’s great to see you,” Grace said after the two met and hugged each other tightly.  She stepped back and looked at Hope carefully.  “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much,” Hope said.  “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The two women began walking toward the gate.  “How’s your sister doing?” Hope asked.

“She’s fine,” Grace replied.  “Sissy has problems if she’s alone too much, so Jan will keep her company until I get back.”

Hope turned to Grace, her mouth open to ask another question, when suddenly the hair on the back of her neck stood up straight.  She spun around, instinct warning her that she was in danger, and that it was already too late to do anything about it.

Strong hands grabbed her around the waist in a tight, vise-like grip and yanked her off the ground.  It happened so quickly she couldn’t quite register what was going on.  One moment she was on the ground, talking to Grace, the next she was being tossed onto the floor of a VTOL.  Her head banged against something hard enough that she saw black spots before her eyes, but she struggled to stay conscious.  A moment later, Grace’s small body came flying toward her.   Grace landed on top of Hope, knocking the wind out of both women. 

They heard shouting, then a series of loud, deep roars that Hope sensed were filled with fury and fear.  She knew the roars were coming from the Bearens, and she was relieved that they had seen her get grabbed.  Hopefully, they would be able to find her. 

A reptilian face suddenly appeared in front of her with an ugly grin.  “Mine,” he said simply as he jabbed her arm with a needle.  He yanked it out, then used the same one to jab Grace with.  As her vision dimmed she heard him shouting orders at the pilot.  Then the darkness closed in on her.

***

Jackson, Clark and Rob had gone to the hospital for a quick visit with the babies when Hope left for the airfield, and were on their way to the lab for the first round of tests on Blind Sight.  Four separate energy signatures had been identified, and there were high hopes that one of them would crack the Blind Sight camouflage system.  They spotted Hope and Grace leaving the airfield and turned to meet them. 

Jackson blinked in surprise when a dark figure appeared from nowhere behind Hope, grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into the air where they both suddenly disappeared.  Jackson was stunned, unable to process what he was seeing for a moment.  The dark figure appeared again and grabbed a screaming Grace, lifting her into the air and disappearing once more.  By then Jackson, Clark and Rob were racing toward them, transforming into their bearenca forms as they ran.  They used Air to increase their speed, but even so Jackson knew that they were too late.  His sensitive bearenca nose caught a familiar scent, and he knew that the figure that had grabbed the women was the same one that had escaped from the ground-car in the desert. 

The bearencas reached the spot where the Blind Sight hidden VTOL had hovered, roaring in frustration.  They could not hear or see the aircraft, and had no idea which direction it was even headed in.

Jackson required all of the self-control that he possessed to yank himself back from the blood-rage that was engulfing his mind.  Their Arima had just been kidnapped right before their eyes, and she needed them thinking and clear headed.  He threw his head back and roared one last time, then forced himself to release his bearenca and return to his human form.

It took a little longer to get through to Clark and Rob but, once he did, they also released their bearencas.  By then they had attracted a large crowd of men, many of whom had also witnessed the abduction of the women into nothingness.  There was fury all around them, but Jackson walled himself off from it.  They could not afford to waste even a moment. 

Clark tapped his vox and called the Director even as they turned and began racing toward the lab.  Jackson hoped with all of his being that the energy field experiment worked.  If it did, they would be able to cut through the camouflage, and find Hope and Grace.  If not, he had no idea what they were going to do.

The Director was already snapping orders at the scientists setting up the first test when the Bearens rushed into the lab.  He held up one hand as he finished responding to a question, then turned to face Jackson.

“The first test will go in about two minutes,” he said.  “If it works, we should be able to track and locate the aircraft that just left with the women within moments.”

“If it doesn’t?” Jackson asked.

The Director frowned at the thought of failure.  Not only was it important to retrieve the women for their own sakes, there was also the fact that Hope might very well be the only person alive who could pin-point the Xanti home world.  She was certainly the only person he knew of capable of it.

“Did either of them have a vox?” he asked.

“Yes, Hope had hers, and Grace called Hope this morning, so she must have one as well,” Clark replied.

The Director looked around the busy lab, then tapped his vox with a frown.  “Where the hell did that damn man go this time?” he muttered as he waited for his assistant to pick up.  After a few moments, Mark answered the call.

“Run a track on these two vox codes,” the Director ordered.  Clark gave him the codes and the Director relayed them to Mark.  “Omega Red Priority,” he said.  “I want this done now.”  He tapped his vox to disconnect, then turned back to the scientist at the control panel. 

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir, on your mark,” the man replied.

“Now,” the Director replied without hesitation.

A man in a white lab coat pressed a couple of buttons and flipped a switch, then all eyes turned to stare intently at a giant view screen on the wall.  The screen flickered, then displayed an image of the ground-car now sitting in the center of the room, a lab-tech kneeling on the floor outside the open passenger side door.  At a signal, the lab-tech plugged the Blind Sight power cable in, and the ground-car disappeared from view. 

“Now,” ordered the Director. 

The man at the control panel flipped a switch, and everyone waited breathlessly for the ground-car to appear on the view screen.  Several seconds crawled by, but the screen remained blank.”

“Reset,” the Director ordered.  All of the white coated personnel began scrambling to set up the next test.

“Damn!” Jackson swore. 

The Director’s vox beeped in his ear and he tapped it.  He listened for a moment. 

“What about the other one?” he asked.  He listened to the answer, then tapped the vox off.

“Grace’s vox has been located,” the Director told Jackson.  “A VTOL is being dispatched to its coordinates right now.  I warn you though, it isn’t very far from here.”

“You think they tossed it,” Jackson said.

The Director nodded.  “Yes, I do,” he admitted.  “There’s no signal from Hope’s vox though.  Are you sure she had it with her?”

“Positive,” Clark replied.  Jackson glanced at Clark, then turned to the Director. 

“Hope was complaining that the vox was too difficult to get to, so Clark hooked it into her braid this morning,” he said.  “If they searched her for a vox, they probably wouldn’t find it.”

“Then there’s a good chance she still has it,” the Director said hopefully.

“There’s only one problem,” Clark said.  “It was turned on when I gave it to her.”

Jackson swore again.

“Would you ask your assistant to send me the tracking feed please?” Clark asked.

Jackson looked at him in surprise. 

“There’s a chance she still has it,” Clark said.  “They didn’t turn Grace’s off before tossing it.  Maybe Hope turned hers off, but left it where I put it.” 

The Director tapped his vox again and gave Mark the orders, as well as Clark’s vox code.  A moment later, Clark checked his hand terminal and nodded.  “Got it,” he said.  “Thank you.”

The Director turned back to the scientists in the room who were still scrambling around.  “How long?” he asked.

“A couple of minutes to change the frequency,” a small man in a white coat replied. 

The Director nodded, trying to think of another way to track the women, but he knew there wasn’t one.  This had to work.

***

Hope heard voices.  Male voices.  Unfamiliar male voices.  She opened her eyes a fraction, saw two dark figures approaching her and closed them again.  She forced herself to remain limp as she was picked up and slung over someone’s shoulder like a sack.  Her only consolation was in knowing that the other figure had picked up Grace and was following.  Hopefully, they would remain together. 

She didn’t dare open her eyes again as she was carried out of the aircraft.  She felt the sun on her skin and knew that they were outside for a few minutes.  Then they were inside again.  There were several twists and turns, too many for her to remember, though she tried.  Her head hurt from where it had banged against the floor when she’d been tossed into the VTOL, and it was hard to think.

She heard what sounded like a lot of people running around, and a lot of voices yelling and talking loudly in the distance.  The overall atmosphere was thick with tension. 

She heard a door open, then she was lowered to the floor, a bit more gently than before but not by much.  A moment later there was a soft grunt nearby, and she hoped it was Grace being put down.  She heard footsteps leaving the room, then voices.

“You two stand guard, and don’t even think about moving.  Those two women are going with us, and I don’t want to have to chase them down again.  When I call you, bring them out for boarding.  Do not move till then, is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” two male voices said at once.

Hope waited another few moments, then slowly opened her eyes.  She was disappointed to see a window in the door directly in front of her, though there wasn’t anyone looking through it at the moment.  She turned her head, relieved to see that Grace was conscious too.

Grace smiled at her, then reached into her pocket.  She searched for a moment, then frowned.  “My vox is gone,” she whispered softly.  “How about yours?”

Hope’s eyes widened in surprise.  She hadn’t even thought of that.  She glanced up at the window in the door, then reached into her pocket, feeling around for it.  As usual she couldn’t find it.  She dug deeper, but no vox.  She started to shake her head at Grace when she suddenly remembered Clark putting it in her braid that morning.  She’d meant to take it out and put it in her pocket, but she’d forgotten all about it.

She raised one hand to the back of her head, realizing with dismay that her head had hit in the same place where Clark had hooked the vox beneath her braid.  She sincerely hoped that it hadn’t broken.  If it had, she didn’t know how they were going to get out of this one.

She felt around carefully, her fingers finding the vox a bit lower than she’d expected it to be.  She unhooked it and lowered her arm, glancing at the window again.

She looked at the vox closely, but it seemed fine. She put it to her ear and tapped it, but nothing happened.  Her heart skipped a beat in fear, but she refused to let herself panic.

Maybe the hit turned it off, she thought.  She squeezed it gently, relief pouring through her when the vox beeped softly in her ear.  She looked at Grace and smiled. 

***

Every few seconds Clark glanced down at his hand terminal, not really believing that Hope’s vox signal would suddenly appear, but unable to let himself give up on it.  He looked back up at the lead scientist, waiting impatiently for the third test.  It was difficult to believe that the only hope they had for finding their Arima was this damn test.

“On your mark,” the lead scientist said to the Director.

“Now,” the Director barked.

Everyone held their breath as the familiar routine of switches and plugs was repeated once more, and the ground-car disappeared.  Then all eyes went to the screen and waited as another button was hit.  Long seconds went by, and Jackson was getting ready to swear again when the screen flickered, went dark, flickered again, then steadied with the image of the ground-car bright and clear in the center of it. 

“Got it,” the Director barked. 

Clark glanced down at his hand terminal and gasped in surprise.  “I got it too,” he said hoarsely.  He instantly had the attention of most of the people in the room.  He rapped out the coordinates on his screen and waited tensely for someone to translate the numbers into a location. 

The Director thought for a moment, then nodded.  “That’s Texas,” he said.  “Deep desert.”  He looked at Jackson.  “Get down to the airfield.  By the time you arrive, a VTOL will be ready to lift off.  We’ll send the technical data to our orbital surveillance systems and neutralize every damn Blind Sight on this planet.”

Jackson nodded and left the lab at a run, Clark and Rob at his heels as they raced for the airfield with all of the speed they could muster. 

***

“Its working,” Hope mouthed.  “Now what?”

Grace thought a moment. 

“Where are we?” she asked, making her voice sound as weak as possible.

“Shut up in there!” a male voice yelled.  Both women glanced at the door, not surprised to see a man’s face glaring at them through the window.