Page 11 of Zimon's Bride
“Meomee, we will get you green plants if you need green plants. You can fill our home with them. We can also program are hologram wall to show scenes from Earth for you.” With his arm around my shoulders, he caressed my arm with his hand. “Know that I will do all in my power to ensure your happiness on my world. It will be hard at first. I understand that, but I must return and take my place within our family. I gave my word when I took the commission with the Defense Force.”
“I know, and I have committed to you and our union. Just give me a little time to come to terms with changing my life forever.”
Zimon stood and reached for my hand. I took it and let him pull me up and into his arms for a heartfelt kiss. Although I felt torn by the prospect of leaving Earth, I knew there was no turning back now. I had already committed to being Zimon’s mate, and we were biologically bonded and quickly becoming emotionally bonded.
When we ended our kiss, I gave him a smile and said, “I really do like the house, though.” And I did. The neighborhood was really cute, too. The house's colors are blended beautifully with the colors of the flora.
We left the holographic chamber, walking side by side but without touching. Although Zimon was not on duty, it was not accepted protocol for us to act like lovers outside our quarters.
We made love again, slowly and tenderly, and I knew the choice between Zimon and Earth was no choice at all. We belonged together. I knew I would probably suffer some homesickness when we did leave, but I was determined to move to Narova with him.
The next day I went back to my job at the law firm. After being abducted by aliens and bonding with Zimon, things were pretty surreal. I had already given notice and spoken to the human resources director. I talked with her again to adjust my termination date once I discovered how long it would take for my immigration status to Narova to be approved.
She was happy because it would give me time to train a new person for my job. Because of the second kidnapping attempt, I was chauffeured to my office by a Narovian bodyguard. Meanwhile, Zimon was working on tracing Dalton Lane’s whereabouts.
Needless to say, I found it difficult to concentrate on the mundane tasks I had done for five years. It just didn’t seem to matter anymore. It took about a week, but I finally did get back into the swing of things. I had been back for about three weeks before they eventually hired someone to take my place.
Unfortunately, someone had been watching because about two weeks later, my driver was accosted, waiting for me outside the office.
Two men pulled him out of the car, rendered him unconscious, and stowed him in a back alley behind a dumpster. One took his clothes and assumed his role as my driver and bodyguard. I learned all that later.
I was surprised when I approached the car a different man was driving than brought me to work in the morning. This driver was sapien. My regular driver was a feline. However, the defense force comprised both homo sapien and feline humanoids, so it was not wholly implausible that an alternate driver could have been human.
That had never happened before. The man gave me his name and showed me his ID, which I could not read because it was in Narovian. But something about him was off in how he looked at me and his demeanor. Something familiar about him nagged in the back of my mind. I backed away and started to go into the building to call Zimon.
Another man grabbed me while the driver jumped out and opened the back door. I was shoved into the car, and the other man got in beside me while a driver took his place in front. When I tried to get out the other door, he grabbed my arm, pulled me toward him. He punched me in the chest and stomach, then punched me in the face.
They must have drugged me after that because the next time I awoke, I was in a room strapped to the table. My head throbbed like I had a terrible hangover. I had an awful suspicion that I was trapped again on an alien spaceship. Lane planned to get rid of me by returning me to the alien slavers.
If I was not already on the ship, I was ensconced in some holding area at the alien base. When Zimon discovered I was missing, I knew he would immediately suspect Dalton Lane as the perpetrator. Would it be in time for him to get me out of this before they shipped me off world? I never had the chance to escape the first time they took me, so I was even less likely to get away this time, either.
Chapter Nine
Zimon
I was mildly surprised when I returned from duty to find that Abby had not arrived home yet. I initially thought there may have been a traffic delay or a last-minute chore she had to finish. When 10 minutes became half an hour, I called her phone but got no answer. Then I tried the driver’s phone, and he didn’t answer either.
Now, I was concerned. I called each of them again and still got no answer as I paced the living room in our apartment, trying to decide what to do. I had put a tracker on her car for her safety, so I tapped into that unit and discovered her car was parked near the national forest preserve.
When I got an incoming call, I was about to report to the commanding officer thatIsnellTrins was missing. It was Isnell. He had been taken to the hospital unconscious when they had found him in the alley where And Lane’s men had left him. He had a concussion and a cut over his eye where they had struck him. He had seen both men who attacked him but didn’t recognize them. Isnell had no knowledge of what had happened to Abby. They had left him lying in the alley in his underwear.
It seemed clear that they had taken his uniform to fool Abby into getting into the car. As soon as I finished speaking to Isnell, I contacted Colonel Nyco to request a team to help track down Abby. He gave me three men whom I’ve worked with before, and we signed out a flyer to travel to the location of Abby’s car.
Ten minutes later, we landed beside it, where it was abandoned in an empty visitor lot. Scanning the car for fingerprints, I opened the door, and my heightened sense of smell told me that Abby had been in the car. Then I questioned whether they had switched to another vehicle or whether the car was near enough to their hideout that they walked or took an all-terrain vehicle.
I walked around the car and across the lawn to the edge of the woods surrounding the parking lot. Examining the ground carefully every step of the way, I discovered where branches had been broken and the soil disturbed. As I moved into the woods, I found tracks of two ATVs. Moving further into the woods, I saw that the trail widened and debated whether to follow on foot or take the flyer. Looking up at the sky, I did not think the craft could follow the path.
I quickly decided to follow on foot and asked the rest of the team to track me from the flyer. As soon as they’d acknowledged it, I turned and started running down the path. Occasionally, I caught Abby’s scent and wondered where they were taking her.
It took nearly 30 minutes to reach the small clearing holding the two all-terrain vehicles. A quick assessment of their tires told me they were the same tread as the tracks near Abby’s car. They were just sitting there beside a tree-covered hill. Entering the clearing, I circled, examining the terrain. There had to be a hidden entrance somewhere. Otherwise, it didn’t make sense for them to abandon their vehicles out in the open like that. I took out my communicator scanner, hoping it could find what I could not see.
While it did not exactly find an entrance, it found an anomaly caused by some cloaking field. My first impulse was to rush in after my mate. But my training reminded me it was an emotional response that could get me killed. The team had quickly located me, and they landed momentarily in the small clearing beside the abandoned vehicles.
All armed with proton rifles, we approached the suspected entrance. Once we were standing right in front of it, we could see that it was an opening into a cave. It was an obviously manmade opening, and I was sure we had found the Tenzari’s new base.
Again, I caught Abby’s scent and had to force myself not to rush in to find her. Instead, I called Colonel Nyco for backup. A ten-man transport arrived 15 minutes later, and we all stealthily made our way into the cavern. As we got deeper into the hill, we discovered it opened into a huge space dock, complete with a large space shuttle.
We saw both Tenzari and Earth humans moving about within. I did not see anyone who looked like Dalton Lane. I suspected quite a few of them were his men, though. I had my team spread themselves around the cavern's perimeter. Once we were all in place, I called for the Tenzari and their collaborators to surrender.
