Siren's Surrender (35 page)

Thompson nodded. “I’m just following established protocol. Right now we’re on lockdown where the Mer are concerned.”

“I know all that,” Blake snapped irritably. “All Mer have been declared enemy aliens. But Gwen and her sisters don’t belong behind bars. They’ve helped us since day one.”

“They’re still Mer,” Thompson countered. “And they have the capabilities to turn on us anytime they want. They’re still an enemy we don’t know how to fight. Even though it seems primitive, their technology is leaps and bounds ahead of ours.”

“There’s still so much we need to know,” Blake reminded. “And they’re the only ones who can help us.”

The A51 director offered a sycophantic smile that played more than a small part in cementing Blake’s dislike of the man. “Which is why I am following contain-and-quarantine procedures.”

Blake refused to twitch an eyebrow. Even though it was difficult, he forced himself to remain detached. The idea of Gwen, locked in a cell and wired to be shocked like an animal if she showed the slightest sign of aggression, was enough to send him through the roof. It was just another subtle way the A51 sought to strip the Mer of their dignity.

“For how long?” he wanted to know.

Face grim, Thompson shrugged. “Until I get an extermination order,” he replied coldly. His answer compelled immediate attention.

“Wait a minute—are you telling me they’re going to be put down?”

Taking a seat behind his desk, Thompson spread his hands. “For now, no.” His hairless brow creased. “But you know as well as I do we can’t have knowledge of these things spreading among the general population. Think of the backlash, the panic.” He waggled an index finger like a teacher scolding an errant pupil. “The number one objective of the A51 is to find Massey and this Mer queen he’s helping to infiltrate our world. And we’ve got to do it without alarming the public. That won’t be easy.”

It was a very tricky tightrope for officials to walk.

Fortunately the bystanders in the museum had scattered before witnessing anything truly damning. For now the press and public were being told it was the statement of a radical group of domestic terrorists whose motive and identity were yet to be identified.

Blake braced himself against saying too much, or revealing his true feelings. “I can see where that makes sense.” But in truth, his blood was running cold.

Leaning forward, Thompson locked his hands over his desk. “We’re putting together a covert taskforce to handle the mission of recovering Massey and his Mer cohorts.” He pointed toward Blake. “I can already tell you that you’re going be tapped to lead it.”

Blake’s eyebrows rose. For a moment he couldn’t breathe.

“Me?” He felt his pulse quicken at the base of his throat. It was the last thing he wanted to do.

Thompson pressed his lips into a serious line. “Of course. You have experience with engaging the Mer in warfare. You know their capabilities. Your background as an army ranger doesn’t hurt either.” He paused a moment, tapping at a few letters on a nearby keyboard and consulting the resulting information displayed on the screen. “You were a sniper, a very damn good one from what it says here.”

It was true, but the idea of hunting the Mer with the intention to completely eradicate them from the face of the earth was another matter entirely. Especially since they were the people of the woman he was growing to love.

He sighed, feeling the exertions of the last few weeks come crashing down on his head. There was no chance he’d sleep tonight. He had too damn much to grapple with.

First and foremost was Gwen’s imprisonment.

His heart rose up into his throat and he blinked against the dryness in his eyes.

God. He would do anything to have her back, safe in his arms. But what could one man do against the agency?

“Something wrong, Agent Whittaker?” Thompson’s gaze probed, searching for signs of weakness, a chink in the soldier’s armor.

Blake mustered the willpower to keep his wits in check. “I understand what you are saying about the dangers the Mer present. I’ve seen them in action. Not once, but twice. And I do believe Queen Magaera presents a threat that needs to be contained.” His palms started to sweat. He forced himself to keep still instead of wiping them across his legs. “But to judge all Mer to be alike would be like saying all Germans were Nazis.”

Thompson waved a hand. “We’re not throwing them all together because they are a part of the same species. But until they have a leader who is willing to open diplomatic channels and negotiate peacefully with humans, we have no other choice but to treat them all as hostiles.”

Blake’s mind was working a mile a minute. “Gwen’s family was a part of the Mer monarchy,” he reminded Thompson. “It was a relative of theirs, a Queen Nyala, who chose to seal the sea-gate and end the hostilities brewing between human and Mer. Restoring one of her descendants to the throne of Ishaldi would make sense. We know from what Tessa has told us not all Mer are sympathetic to Queen Magaera’s rule. Ishaldi and its people could one day become an ally and not an enemy.”

Thompson sighed heavily. “I’ve read the reports and know this just as well as you do. But at this point it’s all uncharted territory. Do we even want to help an alien species reestablish itself in our world? That in itself would be a political nightmare.”

Blake studied the stubborn features of his superior. “I would think we would want to help any free-thinking, intelligent species survive and thrive,” he countered. “At least I thought that was the policy of those we elected to govern our country.”

The two men exchanged hostile glances.

Thompson broke the eye-lock by leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers together. For a moment he studied Blake carefully. “I understand you’ve probably grown fond of these Mer because you have a personal connection with Gwen Lonike,” he said, switching the direction of their conversation back around to Blake. “But that part of your assignment is terminated as of today. Any emotional ties you developed for her need to be cut. ASAP. And it is an order I expect you to follow.”

Blake shifted impatiently in his seat. He absently rubbed a throbbing vein at one temple. It took every bit of self-restraint he possessed to keep from leaping across that desk and putting his hands around Thompson’s neck. He believed he could strangle the shit out of the man and smile as he did it.

“My personal feelings have no bearing on this matter,” he replied, making sure his tone was appropriately chilled. “All I am saying is the A51 should consider utilizing the Mer we have on our side to help take Massey and Queen Magaera down.” He jabbed a finger in the air to make his point. “They have a lot more knowledge than we do. And they are better equipped to defend themselves against an enemy they understand.”

Having allowed Blake to make his argument, Thompson exhaled slowly. “It would make sense,” he allowed.

“Then do it.”

Thompson lifted his arms in a gesture of helplessness. “My hands are tied, and you know it. I don’t make the decisions, Whittaker. Like you, I just follow orders.”

He rubbed burning eyes. He could go round and round with Thompson for hours and it would just be a colossal waste of time and breath. It also wouldn’t change anything for Gwen or her sisters. It looked like they’d be confined to solitary until the A51 decided to dispose of them.

Blake knew there was only one way he could play the cards he’d been dealt. If he played things smart, he could manipulate the circumstances to his advantage. Instead of beating his head against the wall, he had to find another way around it.

Keep cool and keep focused
, he reminded himself.

“So when is this taskforce due to deploy?” he asked.

Refusing to join the squad would be worse than cutting his throat. He’d simply be bounced to the outer edges and ignored. He might as well take whatever power he could grab and use it to help Gwen.

Gaze sparking, Thompson leaned forward. “As soon as you say yes to the job and start assembling your squad. You’ll have access to our best agents and the sciences team. Just tell me who you want.”

Blake pushed his seat back. “I’ll get started right away.”

Thompson gave a single approving nod. “Don’t blow it, Whittaker,” he warned.

Blake answered with a curt nod. He couldn’t suppress the little smile that drew the corner of his mouth into an upward arc.
Blow it
? Oh, he was going to do more than that. He knew exactly what his next step was going to be.

And why.

He was going to take the A51 down from the inside and watch it burn.

When he walked out of here tonight, Gwen and her sisters were going with him.

Blake didn’t know how he was going to make that happen.

He just knew he would.

A
s far as travel went, teleporting from point A to point B was a terrific way to take a trip. It was fast and efficient. Unfortunately it also had side effects, particularly if you were a human unaccustomed to having your feet swept out from under you without notice.

Having the world around him disappear one minute and reappear the next sent Jake’s senses spinning into overdrive. All at once, the atmosphere around him was not so peaceful or calm.

The air around him shifted, and for an instant he had the queer sense of passing through space and time. Spectral voices warned him to run. He clamped his hands over his ears as the force swept him away, and locked his teeth against an outcry. The energy surrounding him reeked of death and decay. It lashed against him, intermittently at different angles, as if manipulating him in a specific direction. If he tried to resist moving with its flow, the force grew colder and colder until he found it unbearable. It warmed when he complied.

Every molecule in his body was disassembled and reassembled, a process happening with such speed that the human mind could barely comprehend the switch in locations. The human body, however, registered the change. And it didn’t feel good.

Jake panted for a long moment, then gulped in air as he fought for control. The stillness surrounding him became a heavy, suffocating cloak, so weighty it took all his willpower not to sink to his knees. He gulped to keep the contents of his stomach from rising into his throat. Pressing a hand to his gut, he fought to focus his eyes.

What he saw chilled him to the bone.

The ruins of an undersea metropolis stretched out in front of him. Like a carcass stripped to the bone, only relics of the city remained, skeletal and plundered by the war of an age remembered only as a myth. The recent quake had torn jagged crevasses along the seabed, making navigation treacherous.

He swallowed and clenched his teeth, then shook his head hard to clear his mind. Could he really believe his eyes? He wasn’t sure. It all
looked
real, but was it?

His gaze roamed the rock walls and discolored mortar in his immediate line of view. Crumbling temples constructed in a vaguely Grecian style were surrounded by quake-torn pathways that had once been paved with polygonal stones. But nothing was new, bright or gleaming. Everything was crusted with the degradations and decorations the sea inevitably imposed on its land-loving visitors.

Hardly able to believe his eyes, Jake blinked to clear his blurry vision. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like water should surround the fallen objects. Except there was none. Every last drop seemed to have dried up, as if sucked away by a giant vacuum.

Jake’s gaze dropped to examine the ground beneath his feet. The soles of his shoes crunched against the silt-laden sea floor.
How is this possible?

Seeming to appear out of nowhere, Magaera advanced. The last four of her remaining soldiers followed on her heels, obediently awaiting her next command.

Dizziness receded enough to allow him to think. “Where the hell are we?”

The Mer queen clutched the precious trident in a death grip. Her profile revealed wide eyes and pale, taut skin. “This was once the isle above the water that marked the entrance to our great city.” She glanced around, taking in the devastation. As unwelcoming as the remnants were, this was the only place on earth she knew or felt safe. “The elements have all but erased it from the face of this planet.”

Vague images filtered through his sluggish mind. He last recalled catching a glimpse of the ruins after Tessa had destroyed the temple guarding the sea-gate. Magaera herself had granted him the Mer’s precious breath of life, allowing him to survive the cold depths of the sea.

His brow wrinkled. “Where did the water go?”

Queen Magaera smiled and pointed above her head. “The hand of the goddess shields us.”

Jake tipped his head back. Majestic in height and breadth, a ceiling of shimmering water quivered above their heads, as if some giant invisible glass dome had been lowered into the water.

“Holy shit,” he murmured. “That’s incredible.”

For the first time he heard a low, almost undetectable humming. It was just beyond the level of sound, but it was definitely there.
Some sort of sonic vibrations,
his mind filled in.

The one thing he’d learned about Mercraft was most of it was grounded in science. How such a primitive people had harnessed and manipulated such forces to bend to their will was still beyond him. Perhaps he was wrong and the Mer weren’t entirely indigenous to planet Earth. Who knew how many interdimensional wormholes might riddle the planet and where they might lead?

Their present location reminded him of a giant terrarium, and the relics inside it were part of the display.

Magaera smirked. “To see is to believe.”

The pieces were starting to come together, however slowly. “Then it is the Jewels of Atargatis that makes all this possible?”

Magaera’s eyes narrowed and a half smile appeared on her lips. “The orb and choker gave us control of the sea-gate.” She lifted the trident. “The scepter allows control over the elements above and below the water.”