“Kate’s down,” Harry said. “Haven’t heard from Garrett or Sals either. Collin and Freeni are upstairs.”
They manned the west side of the house.
Staying low, Jill moved to the dining room as small fragments exploded from her house, raining debris all around her. She saw the knick-knacks she had painstakingly collected over the years scatter across the floor. Sure, the house was staged and made to look generic, but she had put a small personal touch into each and every item. Her family had made it their home, and there were reminders of them everywhere.
From the scratches on the floor caused by Roen dragging the dining table across the room to the crack in the wall from Cameron playing baseball indoors, this was the home she had worked so hard to build to give her family a semblance of normalcy. It wasn’t her house that these attackers were blowing apart, it was their lives as well. It pained her to see everything destroyed and blown apart, but mostly it pissed the hell out of her.
Jill peeked over the window and saw another crouched figure. She trained her sights on him and took him down. She swiveled to the left and saw another approaching. She took quick aim and fired. Something unbelievable happened. The second figure, whom she had dead in her crosshairs, dodged her shot, moving with a ghostlike grace.
An Adonis Vessel. Genjix attack.
“Crap.”
There weren’t any good scenarios here, but a Genjix attack was the worst. Add an Adonis Vessel, and the entire situation just took a hopeless turn. This wasn’t a regular Genjix patrol happening upon her operation, but a full-scale, planned attack. Adonis Vessels never participated in minor skirmishes.
Evacuate now.
Jill signaled to Harry and called for the retreat. She ran back into the kitchen and yanked Vladimir back from the door. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Have you seen Alex?” he said, eyes wide and voice slightly crazed.
“She’s with Cameron,” Jill lied. “They’re fine.”
“If anything happens to my little girl, I will kill your son.”
Jill grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him close. “Say that again and I will shoot you right now, you bastard.” She pushed the stunned Russian back toward the pantry. “Get your ass downstairs.” She waved at Harry to follow, and they were soon joined by Freeni and Garrett. That was all she had left. She had lost five good people in a matter of minutes.
You are going to lose more if you do not get going.
Jill made sure she was the last person down the trap door, locking it behind her as she clambered down the spiral staircase. When she got to the main room, she took a quick inventory: Vladimir, Ohr, Rin, Harry, Garrett, Freeni. She suppressed the scream in her chest. She had hoped against all hope that Cameron was here as well. He was upstairs still. Outside in the forest. Anywhere. Scared, possibly on the run, maybe even dead. It was too much for a mother to bear.
Focus on the task. There are others who are depending on you.
Jill allowed herself a split second to grieve, and then she was the commander again. She looked up as the sounds of heavy footsteps began to clomp on the ceiling. She heard faint sounds of “clear” being called out. The Genjix were in her home.
Vladimir still wore that desperate look on his face. “Please,” he begged, moving up to her. “My Alex.”
Jill pushed him back. She felt his pain as well, but she still had people to care for. “Everyone, silent. The trap door is barred and well-hidden. Maybe we can wait them out.”
A few minutes later, they heard the high-pitched whine of a drill as it dug into metal. The entire room froze as the whirling sounds made the entire staircase shudder. They would break in within minutes.
How did they find the trap door so quickly? And how did they know to carry a drill? Something is wrong.
“Only one explanation.”
There was no time for that, though. Jill pushed to the front of the group. “I’m taking our guests to the sub. Harry, you and Garrett go through the eastern forest exit and make your way to Mountain North base. Tell them what happened. Let the Keeper know we’ve been compromised. Tell them… tell them we have a leak.” She motioned to the agent in the back. “Freeni, you’re with me. Let’s go.”
“Sir,” Harry said as Jill led the group down the long tunnel toward the coast. “Be safe, and if I don’t see you, then to the Eternal Sea.”
“None of that. We’re still alive,” Jill said, and then she turned to her wards. “Let’s go.”
20 Non-Parental Guidance
I was on one of those colony ships seeking new worlds to bring into the Quasing fold. The truth is, your solar system is not ideal. Too many gas giants, no planets within our Goldilocks temperate zone, and far too few resources. Earth was also a unique and particularly undesirable case. It was one of the few planets that had already evolved an atmosphere of its own. That meant we’d have to do extra work to transform it for our use.
However, when our ship was damaged by asteroids, it leaked the compounds necessary to catalyze the process, and we did not have enough to begin gestation for a desirable atmosphere. Fortunately, we were able to locate something similar on Earth. At the time we did not know that the compatible atmospheres we detected were the living creatures on the planet.
Tao
Cameron put his arms around Alex and pulled her close. The two froze in place as gunfire popped all around, bouncing and echoing through the forest. He heard screams, followed by more gunfire. Then he thought he heard rustling beneath them, footsteps crunching leaves and snapping branches.
He closed his eyes and tried to make out a pattern, a location, a direction, anything that could give him any clue as to what to do next or which direction to flee. Unfortunately, it sounded as if they were completely surrounded.
Three distinct groupings. Originally one directly north. One in the far north. Then directly northeast. They must have hit the communication building first. Then the farmhouse.
“Mom!”
Calm down. Remember your training. Assess your situation. Get to safety. Plan.
Assess your situation. Cameron tapped Alex on the shoulder until their eyes locked. He put a finger to his lips and then motioned for her to stay put. He slowly released her and made his way up the branch, inching toward the far end of his treehouse to his emergency pack. He pulled out the 9mm pistol and loaded one of the three magazines, wincing as it made a sharp cracking sound when it clicked in, and then again when he chambered the first bullet.
You need to get away immediately. Deeper into the forest.
“Come on,” he whispered. “We need to get out of here.”
The two of them climbed down the tree as fast as they could, landing and kneeling at its base. Cameron had slung the backpack over his shoulders and kept Alex behind him. The night seemed to have come alive. The sounds of battle still raged at the house, and wind was rustling the leaves. Cameron could hear the flapping of wings, the hoots of owls, and even the howl of coyotes in the distance. The darkness felt like it was closing in on him. He grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled her south, deeper into the forest.
“You’re going the wrong way!” she said. “We need to get back to the house.”
He shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”
“My papa is there.”
“So is my mom,” he said, his hands shaking. First his dad and now his mom.
Focus, Cameron. Find the calm. I know this is hard, but you must.
“I need to make sure my papa is all right,” she said, pulling away. “He needs me.”