Page 41 of Sublime Target

How still and silent he could be, like granite.

Galaxies of difference lay between them. She could hardly believe this was happening—that she’d scored a lunch date with the very same guy that had appeared as a grainy image on her holo late last night.

He was famous—or infamous.

She stood beside him, not making eye contact but stealing furtive glances at the sculpted outline of his arm and shoulder.

As the elevator reached the top floor, he took a deep, shuddering breath. A faint tremor went through his body, but he didn’t say a word.

What was that reaction just now?

They reached the top floor.

Her thoughts were so scrambled by his presence that she’d forgotten to ask the obvious. “Why are we going back up here again?”

“Easiest way to access my ship,” he said matter-of-factly.

The idea that an alien craft could swoop down undetected in the protected airspace of Sydney’s Central Business District was mind-boggling and more than a little terrifying. “Care to explain?”

Before they stepped out of the elevator, Jerik uttered a command and activated his armor, protecting his skin from the harsh sunlight. Clarissa couldn’t believe her eyes. The suit responded immediately, extending from his neckline in a series of interconnecting segments, creating a semi-transparent lens across his eyes, the apparatus seemingly forming out of thin air. “My ship has been above you the entire time. The official process for entering Earth’s airspace is unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming, and your people always become disproportionately alarmed. So we use cloaking technology to avoid detection.”

“Oh.” Who would have thought it was so easy for these aliens to enter Earth’s atmosphere undetected? Clarissa was only beginning to realize how overwhelmingly powerful these Kordolians were.

If only people knew...

There was so much the Federation’s media concealed from ordinary citizens.

They walked out into the blazing sunlight. The wind whipped at Clarissa’s hair as she shielded her eyes and looked up into the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of the Kordolian ship.

She couldn’t see anything even remotely resembling an alien ship.

She couldn’t hear anything, either. The ultrafast landflyers crisscrossing Earth were horrendously loud. She couldn’t fathom a completely silent ship capable of going into space.

Jerik walked across to the center of the rooftop, beckoning her with a subtle yet imperious gesture—a slight tug of his fingers.

Something lazily dropped from the sky—a long, thin black tendril.

Jerik caught it with ease.

She realized it was a cable of some sort.

He wrapped it around his hand—loops and loops of thin, flexible cable.

Clarissa could guess at his game plan. Was he… going to haul them up on that flimsy-looking thing?

Once again, doubt and anxiety washed over her.

“Come,” he said, extending his arm. “Since we’re in a hurry, this is the quickest way.”

Did he want her to… hold onto him?

The thought of being pressed against his powerful body sent her into a mini-meltdown.

This was madness.

How did she know he wasn’t just going to abduct her? He could make her disappear off the face of the earth, and nobody would be the wiser.

She thought she was a pretty good reader of people, but she’d never had to figure out an alien before.

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