Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress #1)(18)
Author: Gena Showalter

From the corner of my eye, I watched Lilla shift her body and attention toward Jack and I knew what she was planning. My fists clenched. Damn it. That woman was a menace.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” I told the commander. Right now, I had to neutralize Lilla before she brainwashed the entire force.

I freed my pyre-gun, shifted the lever to stun, and flopped back into the driver’s seat. This time, I was facing the back. Lilla’s eyes widened as I lowered the separation shield and levered the barrel of my weapon at her forehead.

“My brother—”

“Fuck your brother.” I squeezed the trigger.

A single blue beam blasted and paralyzed her, slicing her words to a halt. God, that felt good. I nodded with satisfaction. I should have done that when I found her in the basement, but I hadn’t wanted to carry her. The downside now was that I wouldn’t be able to question her until tomorrow night, when the stun wore off. Oh, well. That’s the price I paid for peace. And I was now very willing to pay it.

Beside Lilla’s motionless form, Hudson blubbered like a baby. He’d somehow removed the tape over his mouth. The moment he realized I was watching him, he uttered a high-pitched, girlish scream that resounded through the sedan.

“I’m sorry, Mia. So sorry,” he babbled. “I swear I am. I’ll do whatever you want, tell you anything you want to know—just put the gun away.”

I longed to squeeze a round at him, but the stun only worked on aliens. Something about their chemical makeup. The fire beam, however, killed everything in its path, and I knew that’s what he feared. “We’ll chat a little later, Georgie boy,” I said, tapping his cheek with the side of my gun, “don’t you worry. And I’ll expect this same eagerness from you.”

“Whatever you want.” His already pale cheeks became even more pallid. I wasn’t sure, but I think he wet his pants. I didn’t want to look too closely to find out.

“Now, Commander,” I said, once again exiting the car. “What was it you asked me?”

His mustache twitched—I knew the sign. He wasn’t amused; he was furious. He didn’t like being brushed off, didn’t like being treated like one of my lackeys. His dark brown eyes were ablaze with emotion, and the lines around his mouth were taut. Just then, with his thick head of silver hair, his round belly, and his red flannel shirt, he looked like a psychotic Santa Claus.

“I’m this close, Snow. This close.” He pinched his index finger and thumb together, leaving only half an inch of air between them. “Do you know what I’m this close to doing?”

“Kicking my ass into next week, sir?” I said, because he’d made the threat a thousand times before.

“That’s right.” He straightened his shoulders and adjusted his collar, most of his bluster deflated by my lack of concern. “You have to follow the rules, Snow, and that means answering your phone like everyone else.”

“I turned it off. Didn’t need any distractions.”

“Every member of my unit is issued a phone so I can distract each one of you any damn time I want. Remember that.” He pushed out a breath. “Ghost and Kittie are inside, but they haven’t told me anything. I’m the head f**king commander of this team, and they want to wait for you.”

“No need to do any ass-kicking yet, Jack. I brought you a present.” With a sweep of my hand, I motioned to Lilla and Hudson. “A suspect and one of the A.I.R. team’s finest. George here has been a naughty boy and I think he can help us with the Steele case.”

Dallas moaned.

He was finally coming around. Both of his hands massaged his neck as his eyes slowly opened. He blinked, focused. I knew the exact moment he remembered the evening’s events—our little jaunt into Hudson’s, my refusal to explain…the fact that I’d almost choked him to death. Fire kindled to life in his eyes, making those perfect brown orbs blaze.

“Mia!” he shouted.

I backed away from the car, my hands up in a gesture of defenselessness. “I had to do it, Dallas. You know I did.”

“I’m still waiting for my explanation,” Jack interjected darkly.

“Help me get the prisoners in isolation, and I’ll explain everything. To both of you,” I added.

One at a time, they nodded.

Thirty minutes later, Jack had his explanation—minus a few of the seedier details. I breathed easier because daylight was quickly approaching. Hell, I even felt like gloating. I’d thwarted my vision. I’d won this time. Dallas was still furious with me, but he was alive. Even Ghost and Kittie were healthy and whole.

Nothing else mattered.

Life was good.

Lilla and Hudson had been separated and placed in isolation chambers. While Hudson complained during the trek to his cell, Lilla had thankfully remained silent, locked in the stun as she was. Sherry and the other woman from Hudson’s—I now knew her name was Isabel Hudson, George’s seventeen-year-old daughter—were being questioned by Ghost and Kittie.

The only thing left to do was talk with Dallas, but at the moment, that was impossible. Jack wasn’t finished with us yet.

The commander leaned forward in his high-backed gray leather chair. He was seated behind his large oak desk, the picture of authority as he shuffled papers to the edge of the cluttered desktop. The walls around dripped with pictures of Jack’s twenty-three-year-old daughter. His wife had left him years ago, so the only picture of her was the one decorating his trash can.

“You’ve done good work tonight,” he said. “Good work. Both of you. You found the break in the case we needed, and you brought in suspects for questioning. Albeit damaged, but at least they’re alive. Unlike last time.” His eyes lit on me when he emphasized his last words.

“What?” I muttered with a shrug.

Dallas and I were seated side by side. We hadn’t looked at each other since we’d entered Jack’s office. Tension radiated between us.

“Problem is,” Jack added, “we’ve had another disappearance. Victim’s been missing since last night. The roommate only filed a missing person’s a hour ago.”

“Why weren’t we notified immediately?” I asked.

“At first, the officers in charge weren’t sure this one had any connection. However, I had Jaffe review the notes, and he’s one hundred percent sure this case is connected to the others. Too many similarities, and too little evidence—which adds a bitch of a ripple to our case. This latest victim is female.”