Raging at the Stars Read online

  “Emory?” She softened her voice and she took a tentative step nearer.

  “Ellie won’t go anywhere without Elsa bear. I bought it for her last Christmas after she’d made me sit through Frozen three times in a row one night I was babysitting.” Emory clutched the bear to her. “She’s only five years old. She takes this bear everywhere with her, and my brother bitches to me about it because she throws a fit if Elsa gets left behind.”

  Not letting go of the bear, Emory swept past Sofia and hurried onto the landing to pull down the ladder to get up into the attic. Only then did she entrust Sofia with the bear with a look that warned her not to let it out of her sight. As Emory clambered up the ladder, Sofia stared at the bear. The pretty blue dress was covered in snowflakes and sparkled. The bear was a soft cream with a feminine furry face. Sofia recognized the make; she had friends who took their kids to the store to build their own bears. She held it close for comfort.

  “Dink, they’re not here.”

  Sofia listened as Emory tore the attic space apart. She looked at the phone in her hand. “Dink? What can I do?”

  “Let her look until she can’t anymore.”

  “I can fucking hear you, Dink.” Emory’s voice carried down from the attic.

  “I know you can, Em. Come out of the attic. You can see they’re not there.”

  “Then where?” Emory climbed down the ladder and landed with a tired thump at the bottom. She reached out for the bear.

  “Check the garage,” Dink said and Emory thundered off down the stairs at his bidding. Sofia followed at her heels.

  A very expensive looking sporty red car was parked beside a more staid family vehicle in the spacious garage that housed the children’s bicycles and a myriad of tools.

  “This is his pride and joy.” Emory trailed a finger over the hood of the car then laid her palm down. “It’s cold. They never had a chance to escape.” She kept her hand on the shiny paint job. “This is the car he throws in my face when I park my VW Bus in his driveway and scandalize the neighbors with its vintage.”

  “Emory, do you think you can salvage anything from that house? Tools, fuel, food?” Dink asked.

  Emory nodded and opened the garage door. She handed the bear to Sofia again who took it silently. She was very aware that Emory was skating on thin mental ice. She’d held on to Emory tightly while she’d cried and mourned for her loss. It had torn at Sofia’s heart to witness Emory so broken as the saucers left the area as if they’d never been there. This was the woman who had rescued her from Area 51, the fearless idiot who searched where she ought not to be looking. Listening to her sob her heart out had been distressing and had made Sofia see another side to Emory Hawkes. The sister who risked her own life to save a brother who wasn’t the best of brothers to her. The aunt who loved her nieces so much she was prepared to be abducted to get them back. Sofia looked at the teddy bear in her hands.

  “We’ll get them back,” she muttered.

  “I hope to God you’re right,” Dink said over the phone.

  Sofia jumped, forgetting that he was listening in at all times. Big Brother at his best, she mused. She heard the familiar sound of the VW Bus being started up and then a teeth jarring screech of metal on metal as Emory pried it free from the boat they had been slammed into.

  “Ooh, that’s going to leave a mark,” Dink said.

  Sofia watched Emory reverse the van onto the driveway and backed it into the garage. Emory got out and opened the one undamaged side door. She made a grabby hands gesture toward Sofia, and Sofia obediently handed over the bear. Emory set the bear on the empty seat and fastened a seat belt tightly around it. Sofia realized that Emory’s priorities had now dramatically changed.

  Emory turned to go back into the house. “Captain, take whatever you think we’ll need from anywhere in the house. My brother and his family are all gone so feel free to loot the place. You have my blessing.”

  Sofia trailed after her, curious as to where Emory was going. “And what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find my brother’s stash of fine wines and whiskey, steal his cigars, and make up a care package for Dink.”

  “Don’t forget my chocolate,” Dink reminded her.

  Sofia looked down at the phone with a quick smile.

  “How did I come to be partnered with the weirdest pair in the whole of Nevada?”

  “Technically, I’m not in Nevada,” Dink said.

  “Where are you exactly?” Sofia asked.

  Dink just laughed. “Like I’m going to reveal that while you’re still threatening my best friend with this whole national security nonsense and the brandishing of handcuffs. And not even the fun fuzzy ones either.”

  “I’ll find out who you are. I can promise you that,” Sofia said, her words for Dink but her eyes following Emory who moved around the kitchen picking through the cupboards as if on autopilot.

  “You can try. But for now, I need you two to stay alive, so you’d better keep my friend safe, Captain. Otherwise I will be forced to leave my hole to hunt you down and kick your ass.”

  Sofia heard Emory snort at that, but she continued to mindlessly gather food and stuff it into bags. Sofia wandered off to see if Brad Hawkes had any weapons lying around. She would feel safer with a little more firepower by her side. Her thoughts drifted to the sports car left in the garage. She wondered if Emory would consider swapping that for her beat-up van. She had a feeling Emory wouldn’t want to be seen dead driving her brother’s car. Pity, because it was much more Sofia’s style than the vintage VW she was currently traveling in.

  Chapter Eight

  The shotgun in the study had been a surprising find for Sofia. It barely looked used and was in pristine condition. She quickly collected all the extra shells for it and picked up the small handgun that was also in the makeshift gun case. She didn’t feel too bad that she’d had to bust open the rather flimsy lock to get into them. The vandalism had yielded a nice cache of extra weapons.

  She sat at Brad Hawkes’s desk and checked the shotgun over before loading it. Eventually, her eyes were drawn to a framed family portrait that sat on the desk. Brad looked every inch the successful businessman in his suit and tie with his picture-perfect wife beside him. Callie was expertly coiffured from top to toe. Obviously no expense had been spared for her to fulfill her role as a trophy wife. The two little girls were the only ones genuinely smiling for the camera. Ellie was sporting a gap-toothed grin while Missy tried to match her mother’s poise. Sofia could spot traces of Emory in both little girls. An older lady, stern looking and stiff, had a proprietary hand placed on Brad’s shoulder. Sofia hazarded a guess this was their mother. Emory was also in the photo, her unease of being a part of the portrait obvious. Not for the first time, Sofia wondered why she’d fought so hard to reach a family that were so obviously uncaring of her. Then she remembered the bear. It wasn’t so much the adults Emory had been desperate to get to; it was her nieces.

  Sofia snapped the barrel of the shotgun closed and rested it comfortably in the crook of her arm. It was a nice weapon, obviously one more for show than for use judging by its wear. She could hear faint sounds coming from the garage as Emory worked on the van to make sure it was road worthy after all the damage it had sustained on their wild ride away from the base.

  But it was the unexpected noise from outside that drew Sofia’s full attention away from everything else. The street where Brad’s home lay was now deserted. Everyone had packed up and driven off to anywhere in their fear and flight modes. Those that had stayed had locked and bolted their doors, drawn their curtains, and were probably hunkered down in their basements to wait out this storm. Sofia and Emory had stayed behind to gather what they could before setting off again on their own road trip. Sofia still had to work out where she needed to go next to be of the most use.

  Sofia rose to investigate the noise. When she stepped into the kitchen she found Emory already at the door, nervously peering out the window.


  “You heard it too?” Emory looked at the gun in Sofia’s possession. “Oh, I see you found Brad’s big bad bear gun.”

  “He hunts?” Sofia couldn’t quite see him as someone who got his hands dirty.

  “No, it’s all just for show. Like everything else in his world.” Emory slowly opened the door to look out at the backyard. “It’s probably just a dog or something that got left behind in the panic.” She looked at Sofia for agreement. “Right? I mean, what else could it be?”

  Sofia instinctively stepped in front of Emory to shield her and scoured the area. She could see some definite movement in the bushes at the back of the yard. She raised the gun automatically. Her senses were on high alert. Something was definitely there and she wasn’t taking any chances.

  What came out of the greenery screeching at them like a banshee was no stray animal. It was small, gray-skinned, with the biggest soulless black eyes Sofia had ever seen. Its small lips were drawn back in a snarl, and there was a very strange high-pitched sound coming from it. A noise like an earsplitting electrified static. It grated on the eardrums and set Sofia’s teeth on edge. Whatever it was, it was definitely not human. The creature rushed toward them on spindly legs that looked barely strong enough to hold it up. Its hands were shaped into lethal looking claws.

  This wasn’t going to be a polite first contact.

  Sofia never hesitated. She released both barrels of her gun at point-blank range into its scrawny little chest. The impact blew it high into the air to land with a thump on the ground.

  “Butterfingers,” Emory muttered beside her.

  Sofia noted Emory’s face was even paler than before. At Sofia’s puzzled gaze, Emory smiled weakly.

  “I owe Dink chocolate. He was right. There are aliens after all.” She let out a breath. “That fucks up years of arguments I have had over their nonexistence.” She rubbed at her forehead with a very shaky hand. “I hate being wrong.”

  Sofia ejected the shotgun shells from the gun and swiftly reloaded it. Then she took a very cautious step forward to check on what she had shot.

  “Dink wants to know if it’s dead,” Emory called after her, not moving from her position at the back door.

  Sofia made sure to check the surrounding area just in case this wasn’t the only intruder in the yard. She leaned closer to the corpse and reached a hand out.

  “Don’t touch it!” Emory screamed. “It could be carrying all kinds of space borne diseases that we have no cure for. Don’t touch it to see if it’s dead.”

  Sofia gave her an impatient “then how the hell do I find out” glare.

  Emory shrugged. “Shoot it again and see if it flinches.”

  Sofia spared her an incredulous look but didn’t touch the body. She nudged it with the barrel of her gun instead. Mercifully, it didn’t move. Sofia wasn’t wholly surprised considering the damage the shotgun had done to its body. Whatever innards it had were now ripped apart in its chest. It didn’t seem to be bleeding blood; instead, the secretions were a strange mix of a gray/black substance. It resembled an oil patch, the shiny black viscous fluid was shot through with a rainbow tinge. Sofia moved to study the creature more closely.

  “Hey, Captain?” Emory had stepped out from the house but seemed reluctant to go any farther. “Dink is giving me all kinds of hell for not letting him see the alien. Is it safe for me to come closer?” She took another tentative step and muttered, “Even though I really don’t want to get anywhere near that thing.”

  “I’d have thought you’d have been excited to see a real live alien.”

  “Nooo,” she drew out the word as she finally came to Sofia’s side. “I prefer Wookies, or Sullustans, Betazoids or Bajorans. Fantasy over reality is my mantra. These things aren’t supposed to exist in my world.”

  Sofia couldn’t resist watching Emory’s face as she saw her first real, true alien in the flesh. Emory’s movements were slow and deliberate, obviously making sure Dink got to see his fill.

  “I don’t think it’s something I can stick into a Ziploc bag,” she said and Sofia frowned at her. “Dink wants me to bring the alien along with us. He wants it.” Emory stared silently at the body. “One of the last things I said to my brother was that raging at the stars wasn’t any use because the threats I saw didn’t come from there. At least, so I believed.”

  She shook her head at the dead creature before her. “I’ve never believed in the existence of aliens.” She frowned and crouched down to get a closer look. “I guess I could squeeze it in the cooler Brad keeps for his fishing trips with his boss. We’ve just got to work out how to get it in without touching it. I’ve read one too many reports of people supposedly touching aliens’ skin and were found to have contracted radiation poisoning. Which led to them receiving the diagnosis for an aggressive form of incurable cancer. I’m not taking that chance.”

  “But you didn’t believe their stories.”

  “I believed they were experimented on by humans for purposes known only to the military and the government.”

  Sofia tempered her need to roll her eyes at Emory’s endless rage against authority. “And now that you’ve seen this with your own eyes?”

  “The jury is still out on certain theories I hold, but I’m more open to new ones now.” She took a step back from the dead alien. “But new discovery or not, that thing is not coming in my Bus.”

  *

  The house was oddly still when Sofia wandered into the living room. She found Emory fast asleep on the settee, her mouth open slightly and her soft breathing the only sound in the room. Sofia couldn’t help but think she looked less confrontational when she was asleep. Carefully, Sofia removed the glasses from Emory’s face and set them on the coffee table. Spy glasses, she thought with a sigh. Thank God this damn woman never got any farther into the base. Sofia wanted to check them over to see if she could see where the technology was hidden but knew that Dink was on the other side of that camera and would be watching her every move. She purposely turned the lenses away from the door and tiptoed out of the room to let Emory sleep while she could.

  Outside, the early morning had dawned clear and bright. Sunshine, with a good chance of saucers, Sofia mused as she stealthily slipped away from the Hawkes property and jogged toward the next block. She made sure she was well out of sight of prying eyes as she hid out in an abandoned carport. Only then did she remove the radio she had hidden on her belt. She prayed there was still someone out there to answer.

  “Damocles Five reporting in. Do you read me? Over.”

  She waited then repeated her message again. She jumped as the radio spewed forth a burst of loud static. Hastily, she tried to turn it down before it drew any unwanted attention her way.

  “Damocles Five, we copy. State your location.”

  Sofia let out a relieved breath. “Winchester. Hiding out in the suburbs. The sky is clear here. Requesting relocation orders.” Sofia chewed at her bottom lip pensively as she waited for where she needed to go to next.

  “Damocles Five, request you join your group at Mirror Base East.”

  Utah. Sofia closed her eyes and let out a relieved breath. That meant the secret base there was still intact; she just had to get to it.

  “Roger that. Driving to location. Will inform you of estimated arrival.” She paused for a second. “Fifty-one is gone.”

  The air silence spoke volumes. “Acknowledged.”

  Sofia’s thoughts went to Emory’s VW Bus and the peril from above. “Air traffic is a problem. Are you aware of the abductions?”

  A longer radio silence made Sofia almost wish she hadn’t asked. Then she heard the mic being keyed twice as a nonverbal yes. It was followed by a terse “Out,” and the radio fell silent.

  Sofia stared at the now silent radio in her hand. “That’s all you’re going to say? Yes, we know?” She sighed and got back to her feet. “Goddamn priorities. What good is protecting and serving if there are no people left on the fucking planet to protect?” She jammed the radio b
ack under her jacket and hid it again. With watchful eyes both on the ground and to the sky, Sofia made her way back to the Hawkes house to let Emory know they needed to go to Utah. To a top secret, underground base. A mirror base, so called because it was the mirror image of Area 51. This time its secrecy hadn’t been compromised by flying craft taking photos from above to expose it. This would be Emory’s dream base.

  Sofia considered how far she could trust Emory, and Dink by extension, with the knowledge of this hidden fortress. It would be like releasing a chocoholic into a candy store. She certainly couldn’t entrust Emory with that kind of information, not given her whistleblower mentality.

  Sofia knew what lay deep underground there. Emory’s theories had more truth to them than she could have ever imagined. But Sofia still couldn’t let that be revealed.

  Chapter Nine

  “Emory?”

  Dink’s voice woke Emory with a start. She dimly remembered sitting down for a minute to process all she’d seen and had obviously fallen asleep. Woken up by the ever present voice in her ear, Emory was brought crashing back to the here and now.

  “Sorry to wake you, but you have to see something. Can you check if the Internet connection is still working in your brother’s home? If so, go grab your laptop.” He deliberately emphasized which laptop he wanted. “It’s time you and Sofia see what’s going on outside of Nevada. Put me on speakerphone when you’re ready. I’ll disconnect if I just want to talk between us.”

  Emory reached for the glasses that aided Dink in seeing through her eyes and put them back on. She had already tried to see if the TV in the house still got a signal, but only static had shown up on the screen. Still half asleep and feeling sluggish, Emory dragged herself off the settee and padded out into the garage.

  Sofia was out there, attaching a small trailer to the back of Emory’s VW. The trailer held a cooler that now housed the dead body of one alien invader. Emory walked past to reach inside the van and pull out her laptop.