The Storm That Is Sterling
Read The Storm That Is Sterling Online
Authors: Lisa Renee Jones
Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Renee Jones
Cover and internal design © 2011 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover illustration by Aleta Rafton
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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is
danger—a volatile storm that will sweep across the calm realms of humanity and shake it to the depths of its core.
And that storm is… Sterling.
Area 51
—Another name used for Groom Lake.
Blood Exchange
—A part of the Lifebond process done by choice, after the Lifebond mark appears on the female’s neck. This completes the female’s transformation to GTECH and links the two Lifebonds in life and death. (See Lifebond Process.)
Dreamland
—Though Groom Lake/Area 51 is often called Dreamland, in the Renegades series, Dreamland is the fictional military facility opened eighty miles from Area 51 by General Powell to take a stand against the Zodius who overran Area 51.
Green Hornet
—Special bullet that is so powerful it not only shreds human muscle and bone, it permeates the thin bodysuit armor that the GTECHs—both Zodius and Renegades—wear when no other bullet can do so.
Groom Lake
—Also known as Area 51, this is the military base where the Project Zodius experiments with alien DNA took place. It was later taken over by the Zodius rebels.
GTECH
—The Super Soldiers who were created under Project Zodius and who divided into two groups—Zodius and Renegades. GTECHs are stronger, faster, and more agile than humans; they heal rapidly and have low fatality rates. They can wind-walk. Over time, many are developing special gifts unique to them, such as telepathy and the ability to communicate with animals.
GTECH Body Armor
—A thin bodysuit that fits like a second skin. Extremely light and flexible. The material is made from alien technology recovered from a 1950s crash site. Until the Green Hornets were created, no standard issue ammunition could penetrate the suits.
GTECH Serum
—The serum created from alien DNA that was gathered at a crash site in the 1950s and then used to create the GTECHs. The original sample was destroyed. Since the alien DNA will not allow itself to be duplicated, there can be no new serum created without new scientific discoveries. The remaining serum disappeared the day Area 51/Groom Lake was taken over by the GTECH Rebels known as Zodius Soldiers. The GTECH serum cannot be created from GTECH DNA. This has been tried and failed.
Lifebond Mark
—A double circle resembling a tattoo that appears on the back of a female’s neck after her first sexual encounter with her GTECH Lifebond. After the mark appears, it will tingle whenever her Lifebond approaches. Only sexual encounters with one’s Lifebond will result in a Lifebond Mark appearing. After the mark appears, the female feels a tingling sensation whenever the male Lifebond first approaches.
Lifebond Process
—A Lifebond is a male and female who are bonded physically for life and death. If one dies, so does the other. This bond allows the GTECH male to reproduce, and it offers the females the same physical skills as their male Lifebond. The Lifebond mark, a double circle resembling a tattoo, appears on the back of the female’s neck after the first sexual encounter. A blood exchange is required to complete the physical transformation of the female to GTECH, if the couple makes that decision. There is physical pain and illness for the female during conversion.
Neonopolis
—The Las Vegas satellite location for the Renegades, covertly located in the basement of the Neonopolis entertainment complex off Las Vegas Avenue.
PMI
or
Private Military Intelligence
—A company run by General Powell, the officer who created Project Zodius. PMI is used as a cover for top-secret military projects that the government doesn’t want to officially show on the books.
Project Zodius
—Code name for the government’s top-secret operation—two hundred Special Operations soldiers who were assigned to Groom Lake (Area 51) and injected with what they believed to be immunizations, but which was, in fact, alien DNA.
Red Dart
—A red crystal found at the same UFO 1950s crash site where the GTECH DNA was discovered. The crystal enables a red laser beam that enters the bloodstream and creates a permanent tracking beacon that is sensitive to sound waves. These sound waves can also be used for torture and control of the GTECHs. Thus far, U.S. military attempts to use Red Dart have been fatal.
Renegade Soldier
—A GTECH who protects humanity and stands against the rebels known as “Zodius.” The Renegades are led by Adam Rain’s twin brother, Caleb Rain.
Shield
—A mental barrier that a GTECH uses to block their psychic residue from being traceable by Trackers.
Stardust
—An alien substance that is undetectable in human testing and causes brain aneurisms.
Sunrise City
—The main Renegades facility, an advanced, underground city located in Nevada’s Sunrise Mountain Range.
Trackers
—These are GTECHs with the special ability to track the psychic residue of another GTECH or a human female who’s been intimate with another GTECH. If a female possesses this residue, then only that female’s Lifebond can shield her from a Tracker.
Wind-walking
—The ability to fade into the wind, like mist into the air, and invisibly travel far distances at rapid speed.
X2 Gene
—A gene that appears in some, but not all, of the GTECHs by the fifteenth month after injection of the GTECH serum.
Zodius City
—Still known as the top-secret U.S. military facility. Located in Nevada and often called Area 51 or Groom Lake, it was taken over by the rebel GTECHs led by Adam Rain. This facility is both above and beneath ground level.
Zodius Soldier
—A rebel GTECH soldier who follows Adam Rain, the leader of the rebel movement. Adam intends to take over the world.
Rebecca Burns was sitting behind a scuffed wooden table in the Killeen, Texas, library when he sauntered by, and every nerve ending in her body went on alert. “He” being Sterling Jeter, the hot blond hunk of a guy who’d graduated a year ahead of her. And try as she might to keep her attention on Bobby Johnson, the second-year high school quarterback who she was tutoring for his SAT test, she failed pitifully. As if drawn by a magnet, her gaze lifted and followed Sterling’s sexy, loose-legged swagger as he crossed to the computer terminals he’d been frequenting the past three weeks.
Sterling yanked a chair out from behind a desk, and she quickly cut her gaze back to Bobby, who was still struggling through the worksheet she’d given him. Unable to resist, she slid her attention back to Sterling only to find him looking right at her. He grinned and winked, holding up a Snickers bar. She blushed at the realization that he’d brought it for her, after she’d confessed an undying love for their peanuty goodness just the afternoon before.
“I just don’t get why I need to know algebra on the football field,” Bobby grumbled. Reluctantly, Becca tore her gaze from Sterling’s and refocused on Bobby who, at six foot two with brown hair and eyes and stud status at the school, was no grand dictionary of knowledge.