Niko: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 9) (12 page)

She groaned. “Why can’t we stay here?”

Because his inner caveman wanted to show her off. Wanted to make his claim public.

“Come on, Carides.” He set her down and gave her a light slap on the butt. “I expected more stamina than this.”

She glared daggers at him, then grabbed her clothes off the floor and started to dress.

They held hands as they walked toward the dining room. He was surprised she let him, but as they got closer and could hear the murmur of voices, she tried to pull her hand away.

“No.” He held on tightly.

“I know what you’re doing,” she muttered.

“Holding the hand of my woman? Enjoying her touch?”

“Beating your chest.”

“Don’t you want the women to know I’m off-limits?”

She leaned in close. “I shouldn’t need to advertise the fact we’re sleeping together for them to keep their hands off you. Trusting you should be enough.”

Niko grinned at her. She trusted him. Damn, a gift like Mackenna Carides’ trust seemed better than a roomful of treasure. “You
can
trust me.”

She gave him a nod, then her eyes narrowed. “But be warned. If I catch you touching someone else—” she lowered her voice “—I’ll kill you.”

He shook his head. “You are so damn sexy.”

She was laughing when he tugged her inside the dining room. He noted a few curious looks, and then he spotted a table at the back. Squad Nine was sitting with Hell Squad.

“Hallelujah,” Cam cried out as they made their way over. “Mac finally got laid.”

Mac scowled at her friend. “A bit louder, Cam. I don’t think they heard you in Outer Mongolia.”

Cam rubbed her hands together. “That just leaves Taylor and Theron for me to sort out.”

“What about me?” Sienna asked.

“Sweet Sienna, you just bat those lashes of yours and flash those pretty curves, and you have men falling all over your feet.”

The brunette pouted. “But they never stick around. I intimidate them or something. And, well, they’re all kind of boring. They’re vanilla gelato, and I’m a chocolate-with-sprinkles-on-top kind of girl.”

Marcus nodded his head toward some spare chairs. “Take a seat. If you hang around with these ladies long enough, you’ll get used to this.”

From nearby, Reed Mackinnon rolled his eyes. “No you don’t.” His fiancé, Natalya smiled from beside him.

As Niko and Mac sat, he saw Elle smiling at them.

“Hi,” she said. “I heard about the hairy mission.”

Niko felt Mackenna’s hand flex on his. “Thanks, Elle,” he said. “Everyone’s okay. Any update on the drone parts we recovered?”

Elle shook her head. “Noah thinks he might get some information off it, but he is still working on it.”

“Dev and Santha’s intel guys are going over the photos,” Marcus added. “They’re researching everything we have on birds of prey—eagles, hawks. Trying to do up a profile on its behavior.”

Plates of food were delivered a moment later, but Niko was lost in thought. They needed more than this. They needed to find the damn drone killer and finish it before it took down more of their drones.

Or worse. He looked down at the woman by his side. Before the damn thing got someone killed.

Chapter Eleven

Mac liked the table in the conference room off the Command Center. It was a large, black, glossy affair, and if the situation wasn’t so serious, it would give her some naughty little fantasies.

But right now, it was covered in maps, papers, and sketches. The screens on the wall displayed electronic maps with the downed drone locations marked on them, and that nest they’d investigated at the tanks at the airport.

Niko stood with his hands pressed to the table. He had his sleeves rolled up, and her gaze kept moving to his muscular forearms. They made her think of what the two of them had done all day yesterday and all night. She felt a flush of heat in her cheeks.

For the first time, she admitted to herself that she was falling for him.

Her sexy Russian artist was seducing her. Making her believe that she could have it all—her job, her man, indulge in the little things she enjoyed…and love. Most of all, he made her believe in love.

At that moment he looked up and gave her a smile. But it was strained. He was stressed about finding the drone killer. She turned her head, and stared at the electronic sketch on the screen. They’d all pooled their impressions of the animal. It looked like a hawk, but with black, leathery scales. It had the sleek body of a bird of prey, and Roth had said he’d seen eerie green eyes.

“Maybe the aliens keep it locked away?” she suggested. “Caged somewhere.”

Niko’s jaws tightened. “Maybe they’re making more of them.”

There was a gasp from the doorway.

Mac turned and spotted the slim figure, but not before she saw Niko stiffen a little.

Selena was a shock to the system, at first. It was strange to have an alien in the heart of their base.

“Hi, Selena,” Mac said.

“Mac.” The alien woman had a soft, melodic voice.

Her skin was incredibly pale, and her long hair was white. No, that wasn’t quite right. It was kind of shiny and pearlescent. She had large, green eyes in a delicate face. She’d been rescued from alien captivity along with Claudia Frost. Her species was an enemy of the Gizzida.

But Mac knew that many Enclave members were still unsettled by her. She’d been sticking to herself and laying low since they’d arrived.

Mac turned her chair. “How are you doing?”

The woman gave a tiny shrug. “Fine. Thank you.” Sadness was like a shroud around her.

Mac couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be stuck on a planet, far from those you loved, with no way home.

A frown marred Selena’s face. “But I wanted to ask why you have a picture of a gyr?”

Mac straightened. “A what?”

Selena walked closer and pointed at the image on the screen. “It looks a bit different…its skin isn’t right. But this is a bird from my planet, Florum.”

Mac’s heart skipped a beat. She shared a look with Niko.

He pulled out a chair and gestured. “Please take a seat, Selena. Tell us more.”

“The eyes give it away.” She waved at her own face and her overlarge green eyes. “We all have green eyes. It fascinates me to see the variety of eye colors in humans.”

“So this bird looks like a gyr from your world?” Mac repeated. “But it also looks different?”

She nodded. “The black scaled exterior is different. On Florum, they are usually white. They are excellent hunters and ambush prey from the clouds.”

Niko started scribbling down notes.

Selena’s face turned sad. “The Gizzida took it, didn’t they? They twisted the gyr.”

Mac blew out a breath. “It looks that way. They’ve bred this thing to hunt our drones.”

Selena shifted in her chair. “The gyr are a very rare bird. The Gizzida couldn’t have more than one.”

“But surely they could genetically engineer more?” Niko said.

“No.” Selena pushed her hair back. “They can alter a living being, but they can’t create one from nothing.”

Sitting back in her chair, Mac considered Selena’s words. They all knew why the Gizzida had come to Earth—for the resources and the main resource was human bodies for their genesis tanks. To create more raptor soldiers.

“It’s highly doubtful they have more,” Selena continued. “The gyr only breed once every five of your Earth years.”

“Well, that’s a bit of good luck then.” Niko shoved his hands in his pockets. “Anything else you think might be relevant to us catching this thing?”

“They like to live near the water.”

Mac nodded. “We found its nest.” She tapped the keyboard and the image of the tanks and the gyr nest appeared. “It’s right near the harbor and the alien ship.”

Selena frowned and leaned forward. “That’s not its nest.”

“What?” Mac frowned. “It looks like a nest.”

“The gyr have…hunting outposts.” She moved a hand like she was searching for the right word. “Way stations. They store things there, but it isn’t where they sleep or spend the majority of their time. Its main nest would be on top of the water, surrounded by water.”

“Really?” Mac looked at Niko. “We need to get the intel team running some searches. Find any possible offshore locations that might work.”

“We don’t have drones offshore. Or recent maps of the area,” Niko said in a dark tone.

“We’ll find it,” Mac said.

“Gyr are very skilled hunters,” Selena said. “Their sense of smell is beyond anything we have ever encountered on Florum. My guess is this creature is smelling your drones.”

An alarm blared. Selena jumped and Mac jolted, ready to leap to her feet. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t on duty today. “Thanks, Selena.”

Niko and Mac rushed into the main Command Center area.

Elle was at a comp with a headset on. “Head northwest of the Enclave, Marcus. Twenty kilometers.”

“Got it, Elle.” Marcus’ voice came across the speakers.

On the screen, Mac saw Hell Squad sitting in a Hawk. “What’s going on?”

“Survivors coming in.” Elle’s pretty face hardened. “Aliens are in pursuit.”

“Are we sure they aren’t hybrids this time?” Niko put his hands on his hips, watching the screen.

“Lia has a drone going in close now to confirm,” Elle replied.

They all watched, tense and apprehensive, as Lia’s drone zoomed in closer to the frightened survivors. God, this was so much worse than being in the field. There was no way she could be a comms officer.

These survivors were clearly making a run toward the Enclave. In the back of an open truck, Mac saw a group of people with gaunt, frightened faces and threadbare clothes. Her gut cramped. A lot of them were kids.

A chair scraped loudly against the floor, and there was a strangled cry. A woman at one of the comp stations was standing and swaying on her feet. Her face was white.

“That’s…that’s my husband.” Tears welled in her eyes. “In the red shirt. That’s Jacob. He wasn’t selected for the Enclave. He made me come with our daughter.” She pressed a fist to her mouth. “I thought he was dead.”

Jesus
. Mac watched as Hell Squad’s Hawk raced closer to the truck. And the aliens’ big, rugged, black vehicle did too.

Niko stared up at the screens. “Let’s bring them home.”

***

Niko’s pulse was drumming. It felt like a ticking clock. He watched as the ugly, squat vehicle moved closer to the survivors’ truck.

Then the raptor vehicle opened fire.

Shit.
Niko tapped his fingers on the desk in front of him. He saw the truck swerving madly to avoid the raptor poison. In the back, adults covered the children with their bodies. One survivor toppled out of the truck bed with a bloodcurdling scream.

Chyort!
How long until Hell Squad reached them?

The muscles in Niko’s neck and shoulders felt stretched to their breaking point. He felt the terror of the woman, Anne, whose husband was in the truck. She was wringing her hands and quietly murmuring prayers.

“Bugs!” Elle cried out. “Marcus, watch out, you have alien bugs in the vicinity.”

Niko searched the screen and then he spotted them. The alien bugs looked like mutant dragonflies. They had long, elongated bodies, and two sets of transparent wings. Their heads had large, multifaceted eyes and their mouths had serrated mandibles on either side.

He watched in horror as one of the bugs reached the back of the truck and snapped at the humans. With a cry, a woman was wrenched out of the truck.

He heard Anne gasp. Her husband was shielding a group of children.

President Howell had died like this—taken by an alien bug. The bastard deserved it. Niko couldn’t believe the man had separated couples and families. All so he could pick the best of the best. Scientists, artists, the most intelligent…Howell had planned his own little utopia with himself at the helm.

“Anne, maybe you want to wait outside,” Niko suggested.

“No.” The woman grabbed his arm, her fingernails digging into his skin. “Bring him home.
Please
. Bring them home safely, Nikolai.”

He patted her arm. “We will.” Niko hoped it wasn’t a lie.

Finally, he saw the quadcopter appear, dropping its illusion. Hell Squad had arrived.

Laser fire joined the fray. The alien vehicle swerved to avoid it.

Mackenna moved up beside Niko and slipped her hand into his. They watched as the fight turned chaotic. Hell Squad fought hard and fast, and Elle continued to murmur information to her team. The alien vehicle skidded to a halt, raptors pouring out.

“Marcus, you have seven raptors exiting the vehicle,” Elle said. “Standard raptor weapons.”

Suddenly, a black shadow darted in front of the drone. A loud screech echoed from the speakers.

“Drone killer,” Lia said from another comp station. “I repeat, the drone killer is in the area.” She looked back at Niko. “Do you want me to pull the drones back? Or do we keep them there?”

Before he had the chance to respond, the drone shook. Something had impacted it. Hard. It fell from the sky in a dizzying spiral.

Lia cursed, fighting to regain control. A second later, the drone crashed into the ground and the screen went black.

Shit
. But they still had another in the air.

“I’m taking over the final drone,” Lia said. Then she barked orders to her drone operators through her headset.

Niko watched as Lia flew the drone in a mad dance through the sky to avoid the drone killer chasing it. Lia was using some pretty fancy flying to stay out of the bird’s reach. But it also meant this footage was shaky, blurry, and not aimed where they needed it.

“Keep going, Lia,” Elle said. “That drone is relaying back the audio as well. We can’t lose it.”

Niko got a glimpse of Hell Squad reaching the truck. He saw kids being handed down to Marcus. The rest of Hell Squad was engaging the approaching aliens.

Then the image was gone, and all he saw was blue sky and cloud. There was the odd glimpse of the drone killer’s sleek, black body.

“I can’t keep this up.” Lia’s voice was strained.

Dammit
. Niko drummed his fingers on the desk, felt Mac squeeze his other hand. Did he risk keeping the drone out there, or did he cut off contact with Hell Squad to save it? Without the drone, they couldn’t call for backup, and had no intel from Elle.