Reed: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 4) (13 page)

They stepped into the middle of the lunch crowd. Conversations stopped, cutlery rattled onto plates…silence.

Reed glowered. God, it was one thing to not want people to stare at her, but she
really
didn’t want them treating Reed like a pariah.

Swallowing, she took a step backward.

“Good afternoon.” Claudia appeared beside Natalya, gripping her elbow gently, but firmly. “We’re sitting over here.”

Shaw bustled up on the other side of Reed and slapped him on the back. “Man, I see you somehow convinced this super-smart lady to take you on.” A gusty sigh. “Almost all the good women are taken.”

Claudia snorted. “Shaw, you never keep the same woman longer than a night.”

He shrugged. “Someone has to keep the single ladies company.” He waggled his eyebrows at Natalya. “But a man can dream.”

Natalya blinked, overcome with emotion as the pair herded them past the gawkers over to a table against the far wall. All of Hell Squad was there, along with Santha, Elle, and even young Bryony. The girl waved, bouncing in her seat. She was wearing a set of dog tags and had two pink hair clips in her short, dark hair.

Marcus stood and pushed out two seats beside him. “Glad you managed to pull yourself out of bed, MacKinnon.”

Reed helped Natalya into a chair, smiling at his boss. She was thankful to see the tension in him lessen. “Well, my bed was warm, and soft and just too darn tempting.”

Natalya knew her cheeks were pink.

Shaw sat and snatched up a piece of toast with what looked like black grease smeared on it. “Heard Navy SEALs were lazy. Now I have proof.”

Reed snorted and sat down beside her. “And I heard Aussie SAS grunts think they’re tough because they eat that disgusting stuff.” He nodded at Shaw’s toast.

“Vegemite is like a sixth food group, mate. But I’ll grant you, it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s an acquired taste.”

Claudia sat back in her chair. “A bit like you, then.”

Shaw gave her an evil grin. “You love me, Frost.”

She huffed out a breath and snatched up a glass of juice. “In your dreams, Baird.”

Elle set a plate of food down in front of Natalya. “Eat. You probably need the energy.” A small knowing smile played around her lips.

More heat rushed into Natalya’s cheeks, but she picked up her fork and started eating the substitute eggs. She was hungry.

Conversations slowly started again, and after a while, she tuned out the interested stares and quiet whispers. Hell Squad helped.

They were all talking at once. Ribbing each other, talking about weapons and vehicles, rehashing old missions. Bryony was telling big bad Gabe about what she was learning in school and the scary man appeared to be listening with apparent interest.

They were like a big family—albeit with more muscles and tattoos and training in ways to kill people. But she was grateful for their support.

Suddenly a wave of titters flared in the crowd. She glanced up and saw Noah bearing down on them. He was scowling, and glaring at anyone whose gaze he caught. He had his dark hair tied at the back of his neck, highlighting his hawkish features.

He stopped at the table. “Hey, Natalya. How are you doing?”

She nodded. “I’m doing okay.”

“Couldn’t believe it when I heard they’d locked you up. Insanity.” He cast a dark glance around the room. “And I’m sure all these fu—” his gaze dropped to Bryony “—idiots are gossiping up a storm. Morons wouldn’t have their precious hot water if it wasn’t for you. And how do they show their thanks? At the first instant, they doubt you, talk about you behind your back, make someone who’s already survived hell relive it again.”

The room went quiet. Natalya squeezed Reed’s hand and stood. She gripped Noah’s arm. “Thank you. I’m so grateful you believe in me. But you don’t have to punish them. They’ve survived their own versions of hell, too, and I know they have loved ones they want to keep safe. They’re just scared. It hurts, but I understand.”

“Glad you do,” he grumped. Then he sat down, reached over and plucked some bacon substitute off Elle’s plate. “I’ve been working on that cube. I think I know why it didn’t work.”

“Oh, yeah.” Natalya moved back to her seat. “I’ve been thinking about it, too.”

“I think we messed up the code. But I do think if we refine it and do some more work, we can get it to work.”

She sighed. “But what we really need are more of those cubes so we can test it out first.” She hated the idea of Reed and the rest of Hell Squad heading into danger to do something that might not work. Again.

“Well,” Shaw said, his tone smug. “If that’s all you need, you’ll be happy to hear that I snatched a few on that last mission.”

Natalya froze. “What?”

Shaw finished chewing, swallowed. “Grabbed half a dozen of those suckers as we were bugging out. Thought they might come in handy.”

She jumped to her feet, leaned over to the sniper, and smacked a huge kiss on his cheek. “You are amazing.”

He grinned. “Oh, well, I know. Next time I’ll have to grab even more alien cubes. Then maybe you’ll toss the SEAL over for a real soldier.”

Reed made a growling noise and she looked over. He didn’t look happy. With a smile, she walked back to him, framed his rugged face with her palms and pressed a kiss to his lips.

The quick kiss she’d intended swiftly turned hot, as he captured her lips with his. Before she could catch her breath, he yanked her into his lap. The entire dining room disappeared. It was only her and this man that saw through to the real heart of her.

“Get a room.” Shaw’s laughing voice permeated the haze. “There are kids present, you know.”

Natalya pulled back and saw Shaw had his hand over a giggling Bryony’s eyes.

“Cruz is always kissing Santha,” the girl said.

Cruz laughed and Santha shook her head.

“Kid, seal it,” Cruz said, chuckling.

As the others all laughed, Natalya pressed her forehead to Reed’s and lowered her voice. “I can make that cube work.” She could prove to everyone that she wasn’t a raptor spy.

His hands came down over hers. “You have nothing to prove to anyone,” he said darkly.

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you reading my mind?”

“No. You just have the most expressive face I’ve ever seen.”

A communicator beeped and Natalya settled back into Reed’s lap. She saw Santha open her device.

Suddenly, the woman sat bolt upright. “What? Where are you?”

Everyone at the table went silent, watching her intently.

“You’re
where
?” She looked at Cruz, Marcus, then the rest of the table. “It’s Devlin. He says he’s found thousands of the raptor energy cubes.”

Natalya gasped and the men around the table cursed.

“Where?” Natalya asked.

Santha’s face turned dark. “On the alien spaceship.”

Now there was shocked silence.

Marcus stood, his chair scraping on the floor. “He’s on their spaceship?”

Santha nodded. “Yes.”

***

Reed stared at the screen. The feed wasn’t great, the image jumping around and filled with static. But he could see Devlin and he could see the strange room he was standing in.

Jesus, the guy was
in
the alien ship. He had to have a big brass set of balls.

Reed, Natalya and the rest of Hell Squad were crammed into Hell Squad’s conference room in the Ops Area.

General Holmes had also arrived. For once, he wasn’t in uniform, just wearing chinos and a white shirt. He looked…almost human. But the look on his face as he watched the screen was pure military.

Devlin was walking through a room on the alien ship. The walls made Reed think of the orange dome of the Genesis Facility that he and Hell Squad had blown to smithereens. The walls were the same amber color with black vein-like striations. Every now and then the walls pulsed with light. It was eerie as hell.

“The cubes are in here.” Devlin’s crisp voice was a little distorted.

“Can you clear up the image and audio?” Marcus asked Elle.

She was tapping on a comp screen, Noah hanging over her shoulder. “I’m trying.” Elle pushed back a strand of dark hair with a huff. “But nothing’s working. Something on the ship must be interfering with the signal.”

“I’d like to know how the hell Devlin waltzed right into their ship?” Shaw said. “Right past who knows how many fucking aliens.”

Devlin walked through an arched doorway. The next room was completely different. The walls were an oily-black and in the center of the floor was a huge stack of energy cubes, higher than Devlin’s head.

“There are adjoining rooms just like this one.” He panned the camera around. “Filled with these things. All operational.”

“They must power the ship,” Noah said.

“I think so,” Devlin agreed. “And everything they do in here. Hang on, I want to show you the next room.”

He passed through another doorway.

Reed wondered where the hell the raptors were. Security in the ship was pretty lax. Then again, it was tight outside and they probably never believed anyone would make it through undetected.

In the next room were cages. They were filled with animals from Earth. Birds squawked, monkeys screeched and somewhere a wolf gave a mournful howl.

“Fuck me,” Claudia said.

“This isn’t what I wanted you to see.” Devlin kept walking.

Something in the man’s tone made Reed tense. Whatever was coming wasn’t good.

The next room was long and cavernous. It made Reed think of a manufacturing plant. A huge raptor-version of an overhead crane dominated the roof, looking like some giant black tentacle. On the floor, it looked like things were growing. They were circular, around half a meter high.

Reed narrowed his gaze. “Are those—?”

“They’re making more genesis tanks?” Marcus said darkly. “Bastards.”

“We have to stop this,” Santha said. “Dev, how’d you get into the ship? Could you lead a team in?”

The image bobbled as the man turned the camera, his face filled the screen. “I came in from the water. They had loads of security and patrols on the land side of the ship, but they’re clearly not expecting anybody from the ocean side.”

Shit
. Reed had seen the ship, resting on the old runways of Sydney airport. The airport was right up against Botany Bay. “We could infiltrate from the sea. Go in under the cover of darkness. Quickly and quietly.”

“And we can plant the cube with the virus.” Natalya was staring at the screen.

Reed’s heart tripped. That meant she’d have to come on the mission. He
did not
want to take her there. Into the heart of the raptor territory, and into their fucking ship.

But as she turned and looked at him, he saw resolute determination. She wanted to do this. Maybe to prove herself, but also to strike back. And in the process, maybe heal the damage that had been done to her.

Damn
. He released a long breath.
Damn
.

Suddenly the image whirled as Dev moved the camera. Throaty shouts came through the line.

“Shit.” Dev started moving. “I’ve been spotted.”

“Dev.” Santha’s jaw tightened. “Get out of there.”

“I’ll get to—” The feed cut off, leaving a black screen.

“Get him back,” Santha demanded.

Elle’s fingers flew over her comp screen. But after a moment, she sat back and shook her head. “I can’t. He’s gone.”

“Can we go in and rescue him?” Reed asked.

Holmes’ face was impassive. “No. I can’t approve it.”

Santha started to say something but Holmes shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but the majority of the raptor forces are located right on top of him. And more are within a short distance. If I send a team in, it’s a suicide mission.”

Santha ran a hand through her hair. “The idiot shouldn’t even be there. He wasn’t supposed to infiltrate their ship.”

Holmes gave her a tight smile. “Get used to having people on your team who don’t follow your orders.” He arched a brow at Marcus.

Hell Squad’s leader crossed his muscular arms and met Holmes’ gaze, looking like he didn’t give a shit.

“So there’s nothing we can do?” Natalya asked quietly.

Reed slid an arm across her shoulders. “He’s tough and damned good. All we can do is wait.”

Santha’s communicator beeped. She held it up, frowning, then she relaxed. “He got out.” She laughed. “He sent me a message. He got out and he’ll be home in a few hours.”

“Crazy bastard,” Reed said.

Natalya straightened. “We have to destroy those cubes. That’ll leave them without the energy they need to manufacture more tanks.” Her gaze landed on Noah. “Can you help me? I know we can get this virus working, and with the extra cubes Shaw snatched, we can test it out first.”

“You got it,” the tech genius replied.

Marcus faced his squad. “Meanwhile, we’ll get started on an infiltration plan.” His blue gaze fell on Reed. “You’re our water man. I could use your help on this.”

Reed nodded, his arm tightening on Natalya. Looked like he was going to hell again and taking his woman with him.

Chapter Thirteen

As the boat hit a small wave, Natalya gripped the edge of her seat. She was with Hell Squad and they were flying along the water, parallel to the shore. The long, narrow boat was soundless and fast. They hit another wave, salty spray bathing her face, and her stomach turned over.

Cruz stood at the front, operating the controls, with Devlin by his side guiding him in. Two lines of seats filled the back of the craft.

Reed was seated in front of her, just a broad, black shadow, but the sight of his strong shoulders made her smile. The rest of Hell Squad surrounded her. She was surprisingly calm. She could do this.

She pulled the cube out of the bag at her waist and turned it over. She and Noah had also programmed a second, backup one that also sat in the bag. She could sneak into the heart of raptor territory, plant the cube, and get out.

She looked toward the shore and saw the faint crescent of a white sand beach. Sydney had been well-known for its beautiful beaches. People would have flocked to the golden sand and waves on the weekends—either locals escaping the city or tourists soaking up the sun. She’d loved the beach and been one of the many vying for a patch of sand.