Page 29 of The Alien's Private Redemption

Angela's heart raced. Some of it was fear but more of it was excitement. She wasn't going to be a prisoner much longer. Possible opportunities for escape rolled through her head and she knew she wasn't the one generating all of them.

By the time Zoric burst through her door, she was ready to go. The guards on duty outside were demanding answers but they didn't take the time to answer them. Instead, they followed as Zoric lead them down the corridor.

Scenarios for neutralizing the guards came fast from the voice in her head and she told it firmly to shut up. If the base was under attack because of her, she didn't want her fellow Marines caught in the line of fire. Even if she was disgraced, she was still a Marine. They hadn't kicked her out yet.

"We're meeting with Colonel Schuh," Zoric called to her, loud enough for their guards to hear him. "He agrees that something is not right."

"Has he figured out what's happening yet?" she called back, willing to follow his lead.

"No. And Ae-cha swears she doesn't know anything about it."

"Are the molemen finally attacking?" Angela asked with a laugh.

Zoric shuddered. "I hope not. They're creepy little bastards but they fight like hell. I'd rather not deal with them, too."

Angela had been joking but she suddenly didn't think it was funny. Molemen weren't real, were they? Of course, a few weeks ago, she hadn't thought lizardmen were real. And last year, she'd been absolutely certain there were no aliens. Just went to show what she knew.

They ran to a safe room filled with computers and monitors but Angela only got a glimpse before the Colonel was shoving them out the door.

"We're being extracted," the Colonel said.

Angela knew what that meant and turned to follow the Colonel down the corridor. Still, she couldn’t help but worry about the people she'd just seen in the room he'd come out of.

"What about everybody else?" she asked.

"They have their own orders," he said. "Move, Private!"

They ran through winding, twisting corridors until he stopped at an empty wall. With a wave of his badge over a seemingly random stone, the wall pulled back, and a stairwell lit only by emergency lighting appeared in front of them.

The corridors were a giant ramp, Angela thought. How far down did the base go?

They were hiding you underground. What were they afraid of if you were on the surface?The voice in the back of her head wasn't even breathing hard as it asked the question.

You were a bigger security risk than I realized,Zoric added, his voice across their bond amused.

If she stopped to think about it, Angela was going to have a panic attack. She wasn't important, really. Had never wanted to be important enough to be noticed. So, she didn't think about the security measures they'd used to hide and question her and focused on moving one foot in front of the other, each one landing firmly on the next stair.

Colonel Schuh was ahead of her, Zoric was directly behind her, and their guards were following him up the stairs. If any of them thought the hidden staircase was odd, they didn't say it.

Heat surrounded them as they reached the top of the stairs, and there was a landing before the heavy industrial door out. It was a dry heat, with a hint of desert sand, and a faintly spicy smell that she'd never manage to find anywhere outside of the middle east. She'd always thought of it as baked history, scoured by wind and sand, and solidified by the unrelenting rays of the sun.

They walked out onto the roof of the building, with the landing pad cleared for the helicopter she could hear in the distance. Ae-cha, Dr. Phillips and Dr. Torres were already waiting for them with their own guards.

Angela shielded her eyes from the sun and the wind, taking a look around to try and get an idea of where her latest prison was. The mountains in the distance looked familiar but it was the occasional wave of sand that caught her attention.

"There aren't sandworms here, right?" she asked the Colonel, pointing at the ripples in the sand.

"I hope not," he said. "We don't have time to deal with the ramifications of spice, as well."

The thump of the helicopter blades pulled her attention and she almost missed the vibrations from the building. They werehidden by the wind and everything else, but the rhythmic vibrations that had woken her were getting stronger.

Her eyes strayed to the moving sand and she knew whatever was causing the vibrations was under the sand. When the helicopter landed, she thought she could see something shining within the most recent mound of sand and dirt, then she stepped on the helicopter and she had to focus on everything else.

They were barely down long enough to get everyone on board and straps and buckles were being secured as they lifted back off. The thump of the helicopter blades sent vibrations through Angela's enhanced senses, each beat resonating through her bones. The sharp scent of aviation fuel mixed with metal, oil, and the acrid tang of fear-sweat from multiple bodies crammed into the tight space.

"What's going on?" Dr. Phillips yelled over the noise of the engines.

The soldiers on board were handing around hearing protection for everyone but Colonel Schuh. He had a headset and was listening intently to whatever was coming through it. He gave some instructions nobody else could hear and the helicopter headed out away from the worm sign in the desert.

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