Alec’s heart literally stopped beating. It contracted and held position, while his brain did a double backflip in recognition. A hundred thoughts, all terrible, all gut-clenching, slammed through his mind in the instant before his heart painfully restarted.
Emissaries. Rhozan. Rips. It was starting all over again. His knees nearly buckled and he barely managed to keep standing. His fingers clenched spasmodically around his orb.
“If you try to teleport, I’ll find the girl and Finn and make them pay,” the cold, empty voice behind him whispered. “You know how I can make them suffer.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Alec could barely get the words out past his numbed lips. It took a fair bit of strength to move through space and time, and the flood of weakness and pain he felt growing as the adrenaline ebbed away had him suspecting that any jump would be a disaster. And besides, even if he got away, what would happen to the others? Rhozan knew a lot about torture. He also knew Darius and Riley’s unique essence and would be able to track them in a heartbeat. Alec had been inside Rhozan. He knew what the alien was capable of.
“What do you want?” he croaked.
“What do I always want, Alec?” Alec could hear the smile in the voice behind him and a wave of despair washed through him. He’d beaten this guy only yesterday and it had cost him dearly. The struggle inside the rip had been horrific and even trying to remember what he’d done to overcome the invader made his mind scream in terror. He couldn’t do this again. He didn’t have it in him.
“I don’t know,” he answered wearily. Rhozan wanted so many things. How to pick just one?
The gun rapped against his skull for emphasis. “Think.”
Alec shuddered as another wave of pain ran through his flank. He pushed it aside and concentrated. Was it the same as last time? World domination and the total destruction of everything Alec held dear? All his memories; all that he was; his very soul ? Inside he was screaming but he forced himself to voice a response.
“You want me.”
“Ah, clever. You do remember. Excellent.”
A hand shoved his shoulder, spinning him around. He stumbled back and fell against the tree trunk as he got a look at the Emissary. His first suspicion was right. It was the cop he’d met outside the RV. But the intelligence and humanity he’d seen in her eyes a few minutes ago was missing. In its place was the blank, creepy nothingness of one of Rhozan’s lethal puppets. The gun barrel was only an arm’s length away. Alec could barely wrench his eyes from the darkness inside the gun.
“You will come with me,” the Emissary said in a harsh parody of the cop’s natural voice.
“Where?”
“Where the Guardian can see you.” The Emissary waved her gun indicating Alec should head towards the road. “Move.”
Sweat dripped into Alec’s eyes. He felt shivery and a bit unsteady on his feet, but his mind was now rapidly moving into overdrive. He had to keep his head. He had Riley and Darius to think of, not to mention the entire world. He swallowed the bile at the back of his throat and forced himself to push the overwhelming fear away.
If Rhozan wanted Darius to see them, it could only be a trap. There was no way he was going to let that happen.
“Now.” The Emissary struck Alec across the forehead for emphasis. The blow wasn’t hard enough to do serious damage but hurt anyway. Alec jerked backwards and nearly lost his balance. He ducked his head to miss a second strike and pushed himself away from the tree and the Emissary. He dragged his feet as he tried to give himself time to think of a plan. Running wasn’t an option. Police were trained to hit a moving target and even with Rhozan in charge of the cop’s body and what that might mean to a reduction of accuracy, Alec wasn’t going to take the chance. He’d hardly be able to run fast enough in this condition to put enough distance between him and the cop to improve his chances of escape anyway.
Overcoming her physically wasn’t an option either. Normally his reflexes were great and his kickboxing skills were good enough for winning a few tournaments and, he remembered, fighting off Emissaries. But now, the world was spinning around him and he might pass out any minute. Besides, kicking a gun out of someone’s hand and not getting shot only happened in the movies. There had to be another option. Think.
The gun poked him in the middle of his back and he stumbled forward. He had hardly traversed any distance when a familiar shout broke his concentration.
“Hey, Alec, are you okay?”
Oh no. Alec shook his head mutely and tried to will Peter to run in the other direction. His hand clenched tightly around his orb and he stopped walking as Peter ran towards them.
Peter skidded to a halt the instant he noticed the gun aimed at Alec’s head. His eyes raked Alec, then the police officer, and settled back on Alec. A look of uncertainty warred with wariness. Peter slowly raised his own hands into the air. “Is he under arrest?” he called.
The Emissary stepped to Alec’s side and cocked her head. Out of the corner of Alec’s eye he could see her, assessing the physical similarities between them. He sensed Rhozan’s perception of them both and internally groaned.
“Ah, the other one,” the Emissary said quietly, as if speaking to herself. “Two for one.”
“She only looks like a cop, Peter,” Alec said. “She’s just Rhozan’s puppet.”
Peter frowned but before he could respond the cop spoke. “You will die too. The signature is weak but present. Finn was wise to collect you both.”
Peter took a step back. “What do you mean die? You can’t kill me. I’m unarmed. And who’s Rhozan?”
“I am Rhozan,” the Emissary said. “I will take your life and Alec’s suffering will feed me. Won’t it, Alec?”
“He’s nothing to me, Rhozan,” Alec said. “I won’t suffer at all. I hate his guts.”
Alec watched the flash of what might have been pain cross Peter’s face before the veil of antipathy fell into place. He might have bought Peter some time but he’d just widened the canyon-like gap between them.
“You little—” Peter started.
He never got to finish. Moving almost too fast to see, Darius rocketed out of the trees behind them. His flying leap and kick at the cop’s head was as close to poetry as Alec had ever seen. There was a sickening crunch as her neck snapped and a deafening bang as her finger tightened spasmodically on the trigger of the gun. The bullet went wide, missing Alec and slamming into a tree trunk across the roadway. Peter dove to the ground and Alec followed.
Darius landed, rolled like a cat and was on his feet and wrenching the cop’s gun from her hand in one smooth motion. He straightened, raised his orb in Peter’s direction and said loudly, “Obey.” A flash of white light left the orb and almost instantly circled Peter.
Alec watched the expression drain from Peter’s face and an uneasy blankness replace it. Uncomfortably, he glanced over at the police officer. Already her open eyes were glazing into death.
“Jeez, Darius, I think you’ve killed her,” Alec’s voice broke.
“Alec, get a move on. There’s another one.” Darius ordered as he flung the gun into the trees.
Alec tried to reply but the pain in his back roared into life again as Darius spoke and a shivering chill drenched him. He started to get to his feet but the world around him slid into a sickening grey.
Oh crap, he thought as he fell into nothingness.