Page 80 of Defying the Relic Hunter

The General appeared next to us. “Easy. You’re archeologists working this registered find. The Bjarke warriors attacked you, you defended yourselves and what dead guy?”

I did a doubletake. Huh? The dead guy was gone.

The police cars skidded to a stop outside the parking lot and the officers deployed.

This could get very messy. “I think they need a nap, don’t you Granny?”

“They do seem agitated.” A thick cloud of glittering white fog engulfed them and when it cleared all the cops were down.

Totally impressed, the General asked, “Can you teach Kizzy that?”

“No, I cannot.” Granny stated and vanished.

Quinn looked around. “Where did she go?”

“Probably checking for any disturbances on the esoteric plane,” I replied.

Xenia eyed the cops. “Anyone else curious why the SWAT team was paying us a visit?”

“Let’s find out.” Poof! The General appeared next to the Sheriff. He knelt down and placed his hand on the cop’s head.

Ethan linked with me and to my amazement, I was riding along as the General sorted through the cop’s mind. Whoa! Someone claiming to be General Jones had contacted the Sheriff. The imposter stated we were Earth First terrorists who had already released a hallucinogenic gas on Kanab. His orders were to stop us before we could unleash the gas again.

I was both fascinated and creeped out by the Coletti interrogation techniques.

“Someone very powerful is behind this,” Xenia said.

“Or someone too stupid to live,” I interjected. “I mean, who willingly takes on Qa’a, General Jones and Zarek?”

“Kizzy has a valid point,” Quinn agreed.

“Does the Bjarke mercenary guild even know how many warriors they’ve lost?” Ethan asked.

Something dark and predatory moved in the General’s eyes. “Let’s find out.” The guys teleported away.

“How long did it take you to learn to teleport?”

Xenia scrunched up her nose. “About a week, but Quinn insisted on linking with me until he was certain I wouldn’t end up in a wall.”

“I can’t wait until I can teleport everywhere. I want some chocolate. Poof! I’m at Cerreta’s candy shop. If I’m in the mood for a taco. Presto! I’m at Hilberto’s. Ethan pisses me off, I pull a Houdini.”

Xenia laughed. “It does come in handy.”

“You betcha it will.” I surveyed the unconscious cops. “What are we going to do with the Sheriff and his men?”

Xenia picked up a modified laser rifle. “They’ll probably mind wipe them and send them home.”

“Who’s doing the mind wipes?”

A sleek black shuttle landed in the parking lot. The ramp lowered and two deadly looking Coletti warriors walked out.

“They are,” Xenia answered and waved at them. “The bigger warrior is Wulf. He’s mated to Yakira, another Jones. The other one is Lothel and he’s mated to Ziyad.”

Both studied me for a long moment like I was an interesting, but odd specimen.

I took an instinctive step back. “Remind me to never piss them off.”

Xenia snorted. “Pissing off any Coletti is never a good idea.”

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