License to Love (An Agent Ex Novel) (36 page)

Death by alien, RIOT, or cattle. Not good choices.

Rock yelled into his mouthpiece. “Will, Zach, Jake, forget the illusion. Get over here with your hovercrafts and pick us up.
Now
.”

Ty was yelling more commands, trying to reach HQ inside Area 51. His calls went unanswered. “Damn, RIOT must somehow be jamming our signals from inside Area 51. We’re on our own, boys.” He sounded breathless as he rode his bucking cow. “Hey, bossie, bossie, calm down, girl.”

“We’ve already dropped Jake at the gates,” Will answered.

Zach cut in. “We’re still being remotely controlled from inside Area 51. They’re sending us through our preapproved illusion pattern. Give me a sec. I’m trying to wrestle control away and switch to manual operation.”

“Can you do that?” Rock asked. “Do you know how?”

“I don’t just play games. I have an engineering degree from MIT,” Zach said. “I’ll give it all I’ve got, Captain.”

Rock rolled his eyes as the cow next to him cuddled up to him and began making eyes at him. He didn’t know what she suddenly saw in him, but it appeared to be love at first sight. “Nice, girl.” Rock reached out, cautiously, and stroked her forehead.

She let out a loud moo, but at least it sounded happy.

“Sounds like you have a new friend. Where are you guys?” Will said. “Your GPS is down and I can’t see you in the dust and dark. Can you give us a signal?”

Rock had magic up his sleeve in preparation for the big reveal. Hell, he always had magic up his sleeve. But once he shot a sparkling flare up and gave away their location, RIOT would be after them again, too. Under the cover of cow, they’d been fairly safe. “We’re less than a mile from the gates on the Area 51 side of the stampede.

“As soon as Zach gets control of your crafts, let me know and I’ll send up a flare. And when I do, you two get your butts over here as fast as if you’d just been teleported. RIOT is looking for us, too. You better believe they’ll see the flare and come firing.”

“Roger,” Will said.

An eternity seemed to pass while the cow next to Rock continued to make eyes at him and the cow on the other side let loose a large, unpleasant-smelling cow pie. Rock dodged out of the way just in time to save his shoes. Meanwhile, Ty had his cow under control and was maneuvering her to the edge of the crowd to make a dash for Dreamland. Rock hoped Ty had some badass weaponry on him, something more powerful than a six-shooter wand.

“Got it, boss!” Zach’s voice rang with excitement. “We have control.”

“But do you know how to drive?” Rock replied.

“I’ve played video games all my life. Piece of cake,” Zach said.

“Will?”

“I’m no slouch, either,” Will said. “Send up the signal and be prepared to board ship when we hover above you.”

“Here goes nothing.” Rock shot a sparkling flare straight up into the dust cloud above them. The flare startled his new friend Daisy the cow. She kicked and let out a loud moo, sending Rock back a step into that fresh, steaming cow pie her buddy had made minutes before.

He was still cursing and wiping his shoe in the sparse desert grass as a shot whizzed past him.

The hovercrafts had a low noise signature, which was part of the genius of using them for the illusion. Unfortunately, that meant Rock and Ty couldn’t hear a now enemy-controlled one coming after them. Or hear the friendly ones approach.

Rock ducked back into the herd of cattle, trying not to get kicked or trampled. The cattle had seemed to realize he was the source of that frightening flare and now they didn’t trust him. They gave him a wide berth. Even Daisy turned her back on him, leaving Rock in the open like a sitting cow thief as the lynch mob approached.

Ty had reached the edge of the herd. Will’s hovercraft spotted him and swooped in to pluck him off his somewhat trusty steed. By hovering ten feet off the ground, the crafts were high enough to cruise above the cattle. The engineers had warned them not to hover at that height too long. It was a strain on the fans and engines.

The fans blew stiff breezes below the craft, providing the cushion of air the hoverers floated on. The cattle didn’t like the late-night burst of wind and quickly cleared a path beneath the crafts. Ty’s cow didn’t like the wind from the fans any better than the rest of the herd did. As Will leaned over to grab Ty, and Ty pushed himself to a stand on the cow’s back to pull himself into the craft, the cow bolted from beneath his feet. Ty dangled from the vehicle as bullets whizzed past him.

Off balance, the craft tipped precariously to the left. Zach pulled up in his craft on their flank. Ty shouted at him to rescue Rock. Zach ignored the orders and came around in his craft to give Ty a boost into Will’s vehicle.

Meanwhile, Rock was surrounded by cow dung and the equally unpleasant odor of sweating cattle. Those were not the worst of his problems, however. Now that the cows had abandoned him, the commandeered hovercraft had spotted him and was headed directly at him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

It was utter mayhem on the tarmac—fire, gunfire, fire engines, smoke. Area 51 had been breached and was going into lockdown. Lani couldn’t reach either Tate or Tal. And she’d lost contact with the magic crew and Ty on the outside, too.

But she still had a visual on the main craft. To her great surprise, Rock’s hovercraft had not exploded. Instead, it was now being piloted by Sol dressed as an alien king and his RIOT henchman.

A flicker of hope crashed through her—where were Rock and Tate? Was it possible they were still alive? Had they somehow managed to escape?

The crowd of NUFOs was in full panic mode now as Sol made threatening gestures, almost taunting them.

It was clear to Lani that RIOT had taken control of the illusion, twisting it to fit Sol’s warped sense of magic, and was intent on driving the NUFOs into Area 51, causing more mayhem while RIOT stole the developmental hovercraft and whatever else they could cart out of Dreamland.

Lani studied the feed with a trained eye, putting herself in professional spy mode to hold her emotions at bay. There was no sign of Rock or Tate. At least she hadn’t seen their bodies. Yet.

A message from engineering cut into her thoughts. “We have a problem. We’ve lost control of the hovercrafts. They’ve somehow been switched to manual and gone rogue.”

The video feeds from the two auxiliary hovercrafts had been cut off. Lani couldn’t bring up their cameras. “Looks like we’ve lost them, too. Do what you can to regain control.”

There was only one thing to do—take back control of the illusion and stop the panicked hordes from storming past the point of no return. Already camo dudes were massing at the entrance, aided this time by soldiers with battle experience under their belts. If Lani didn’t act, innocent people would die, and more damage done to intelligence and national security matters. She had to perform the reveal. And trust Jack and his crew to rescue her baby and Nanny.

She got on her mouthpiece. “I’m going out to end this illusion. I need backup.”

She grabbed a rocket launcher and headed out.

*   *   *

Ty toppled into the craft and Zach headed out for Rock. Zach had the advantage of being closer to Rock than the enemy hovercraft. And all that high-performance video game driving paid off. Zach zipped in, hovered above Daisy, and threw Rock a rope. Yes, a rope. Low tech, but efficient. Since junior high PE Rock had been a ropeclimbing champ.

He scrambled up the rope and fell into the hovercraft with Zach just as the enemy craft got close enough to see the enemy’s eyes.

“Rock, how thoughtful of you to show up at another one of my performances.” Beneath the creepy alien costume, Sol’s eyes gleamed with malice in the moonlight. “Not planning to upstage me again, I hope.”

“Really, Sol? Stealing another of my illusions? Originality isn’t your strong suit.” Rock pointed his wand gun at the evil magician. “Now, you’re standing in something that’s mine and I’d like it back. If you’d kindly exit the vehicle, we can do this all without bloodshed.”

Sol’s laugh was positively bloodcurdlingly maniacal. He was obviously off his mind and out for revenge. “Make me, Rock. What’s your plan, exactly? Are you going to hit me with the death curse?”

Rock smiled back, trying to keep his anger under control. “You know I don’t believe in real magic. I have a reputation as a debunker to maintain. Now, don’t make me shoot you. Jump out and take your goon with you.”

Around them, the cattle were lowing and spreading out into the desert. And the NUFOs were winding their way through the herd on foot and in a slow-moving menagerie of vehicles. Rock could only imagine what the NUFO crowd must think of a magician holding an alien at bay with a wand. The cows didn’t look too thrilled about it, either.

Rock had to get to the gates and head off the NUFOs with the big illusion reveal before the NUFOs crossed the line and someone got killed. He had to trust NCS to save Stone at the same time. But first Rock had to dispatch Sol.

Rock whispered to Zach. “Get me close enough that I can jump on that hovercraft. Then take out the thug and let me deal with Sol.”

“Come and get me, Rock.” Sol hit a button and his alien helmet lit up, emitting a blinding light show directly into Rock’s eyes. At the same time, he pointed a laser saber at Rock.

Damn it!
Rock pulled the wand gun trigger and fired into the light just as Sol’s craft surged forward and rammed into them.

Sol let out a scream. For an instant, Rock thought he’d delivered a fatal shot. The laser saber dropped and Rock could sort of see again through the spots in his vision. Sol was holding his arm and cursing.

Now
, Rock thought.
I should shoot Sol now and end this all for good.

He aimed his wand, but somehow he couldn’t make himself fire on the wounded man. “That was just a warning shot, Sol. Because you saved my life once years ago in Lake Tahoe and I owe you. I won’t miss again.”

“Owe me.” Sol laughed again. “You’ve always been naïve, Rock. I’m the one who was responsible for you taking the spill and nearly drowning in the first place. To cover my tracks so no one would know that I’d stolen your trick.

“I let you suffer as long as I could and only changed my mind about killing you at the last second. And that was only because you hadn’t finished Outlandish Marauders yet. That was a good call. Without that, where would my career be today?

“That trick is what convinced Archibald Random to fund my show. So I could perform the first illusion I stole from you.

“Now, however, I think you’ve finally outworn your usefulness.” Sol signaled the goon behind him.

The goon raised a rocket launcher to his shoulder. Rock reacted by pointing his wand.

Ty and Will were silently sneaking up behind Sol’s craft. At the last second, the RIOT goon heard something. He spun around and fired at Ty’s craft.

Ty returned fire, hitting the goon directly in the forehead just before Ty’s hovercraft caught fire and went down. The thug dropped the launcher and fell forward, dead.

Sol grabbed the launcher. Rock pulled a handful of heavy-duty flash powder from his pocket and threw it onto the craft. “Get us out of here! Now!” he yelled to Zach. “We have to help Ty and Will.”

Zach was already on it. Within seconds they zoomed around Sol’s craft toward Ty and Will’s now-fallen hovercraft.

The night was dark and the hovercraft was camouflaged. To the crowd it probably looked as if Rock and Zach had simply disappeared in a burst of magic.

The gunfire and flash powder scared the herd. The cattle lowed and stampeded away from the area.

As Sol tried to figure out how to operate his hovercraft, Rock searched the area around the fallen hovercraft. Ty appeared, holding a fire extinguisher. Will was beside him.

Rock let out a breath of relief. “We’re coming to pick you up.”

Ty waved him on and spoke to him via their headgear. “No way. Leave this to us. Get out of here. Get to the gates and perform the reveal. We have to stop this madness. That’s an order, dude.”

*   *   *

Lani arrived at the front gate with a battalion of soldiers and camo dudes and began issuing orders. How in the world was she going to operate the lights and the lasers and do the reveal without Rock and the others?

“Over there!” One of the camo dudes pointed to an alien leaning against the guard shack.

“Jake!” Lani ran toward him. “Oh, thank goodness.” She turned back over her shoulder and shouted to the camo dudes, “We have our alien. We can do the reveal. Get the engineers and the stage crew in place. The crowd’s approaching. Hurry!”

The need for secrecy had forced Rock to use Area 51 personnel for his crew. His regular stage crew couldn’t be kept under tight enough wraps. She hoped these Dreamland guys could perform magic.

Jake stood.

Lani paused in front of him. “Are you okay?” Her voice shook involuntarily. One of the young magicians had survived. That was something. She may have lost Rock, but she still had a chance at getting her son back alive. She had a shot at making a hero out of Rock and she was damned well going to take it.

She never should have wasted these last two years. She should have been with Rock. They should have been a family. She couldn’t undo all that, but she could ensure his memory and his magic lived on. And she could thwart RIOT. She had to.

Jake was nodding. “I’m fine.”

Lani looked around, afraid to ask. “Where are the others? We lost contact. What happened to Will and Zach?”

“Rock called for them to bring their hovercrafts to him and Ty so they took off into the middle of that raging herd.”

Lani felt so happy that for a second she couldn’t speak and her eyes misted over.
Damn feminine emotions
. She pushed them aside. If Rock was still out there, he’d find a way to make it back to her. For now she had a job to do. “You know the old saying—the show must go on. In this case, right now. Before the NUFOs swarm us and breach the barrier. Can you perform?”

Jake grinned. “On with the show.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Prepare for your stage entrance. It’s time for our prestige.”