Page 8 of Zimon's Bride
Meanwhile, I went to my bedroom and took a small overnight bag from my closet to pack with a few changes of clothes for my stay at Zimon’s base. While we were still in Mars City, he arranged for us to have a holographic introduction with his family. We would have to use the equipment on the base because Earth did not have that technology yet. But I was also getting a holographic tour of some of the sights on Zimon’s home planet of Narova.
Zimon
While Abby packed a few things, I looked around her living room at her books and pictures on the wall and in the bookcase. There were mostly pictures of her family— brother, sister, father, and mother…. There was also a picture of the five of them together. I felt a little sad for her that her parents did not approve of our mating. I had offered to meet and talk to them, hoping they would be more amenable to our relationship if they got to know me better.
Abby didn’t think it would help. She believed that they would not see past our racial differences. But of course, we both knew it was already too late now that we had mated. She insisted that she was okay with it—that she had accepted it.
Ever since she had taken the job in Bentonville three years ago, she didn’t see them all that often anyway. When she did talk to her mother, it seemed like all she wanted to do was boss Abby around. She always seemed to forget that Abby was an adult.
A slight noise from outside caught my attention and stopped my inner musings. I stilled, my ears perked up, and I heard it again. Someone was outside, walking very close to Abby’s house.
I moved silently to the window and pulled the curtain slightly from the side. A male sneaked around the side of the house. Moving to the front door, I peeked out the window and saw a parked car across the street. A man inside was obviously watching Abby’s house. Then I saw another man standing beside the front porch steps.
They must have been watching the house for some time because there was no way for them to know we would be there now. The rescue of the abducted women had been on the news, so the men who abducted Abby would know she had returned to Earth.
This was my first time at her house, so I didn’t know the yard's layout or if there was a back door. I saw the house was surrounded, and I doubted there was time to call for backup from my people or the police. On my way to Abby’s bedroom, I ran several scenarios about escaping the situation.
My only weapon was my communicator, aside from my own martial arts skills. The comm could only stun, not kill. Taking on four guys at once was not a problem, except they were not all in one place.
Abby was finishing as I knocked on her bedroom door frame. “Meomee, your home has been surrounded, I’m guessing, by associates of Dalton Lane. I’m going to try to get rid of them. Is there a back door to this place?”
“Yes, out through the kitchen. Zimon, be careful.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I want you to go and wait by the front door and watch for me to come around beside your car. When I get there, I will call you to come out when it’s safe.”
I hated to leave her looking so distressed, but I wanted to get this done before they could move on us. I stopped and listened at the back door and peeked out the window from the side. The man was standing there, gun drawn.
Opening the inside door very slowly and quietly, I set my communicator to stun, unlatched the inner door then lunged out. The man turned toward me, and I stunned him. As he crumbled to the ground, I jumped off the back porch and ran around the side of the house, stunning the next man I saw.
Running back to the other side, the next man never heard me coming before I also stunned him. Only a man in the car and the one at the front steps were left. Moving stealthily along the side of the house, I stopped at the corner and used my stunner on him. Next, I hit the man across the street and called Abby, who came running out.
“Get in and drive,” I told her because she still had the keys.
She opened the back door, threw in her bag, and then jumped into the driver’s seat while I ran to slide into the passenger seat. Fortunately, the car started right up, and we got quickly away before any of the men regained consciousness.
“Who were those men?” Abby wailed.
“My best guess is they are involved with Dalton Lane. He must know that you can identify him as one of the kidnappers.”
“But I can’t be the only one who saw his face. There’s no way for him to know I recognized him from work because I only saw his picture. Some of the other women must have seen him as well. Is he going to come after each and every one of us?”
“It doesn’t quite make sense. You’ve been here long enough to be thoroughly questioned. You’ve given us all you knew,” I told her. “We already know who he is. He would be smarter to make himself scarce so we couldn’t find him.”
“Maybe he just wants to get rid of me as a witness who can testify against him. I know who he is; I can tell what he did. If there’s no witness to testify, he probably thinks he can get away with it.” She glanced at me as she stopped the car at a traffic light.
“Do you want me to drive,meomee?”
“Yes, that’s probably a good idea since I don’t know the way to the barracks drop-off point. There is a pull-off up ahead. I’ll stop there, and we can switch.”
A few minutes later, she pulled into a semicircle at the side of the road overlooking a mountain view. We switched places, and I adjusted the seat because my legs were much longer than hers.
“I am glad we are not doing the ceremony with your parents until tomorrow. I’m afraid I would be distracted, and I don’t want to be. This is too important.”
“It’s going to be fine. Everything is set up for the meal, and your outfit has been fabricated for the occasion. I will be wearing traditional clothing as well. In fact, our ensembles are quite similar actually.”
“That sounds intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”
Chapter Seven
