A hand touches my knee, and I close my eyes. Isabella. Her mom. She fought in the war, and I’m a complete and total ovian bastard.
"My mom fought in that war, and she used to tell me all the time that if the Novans hadn't shown up when they had, she would've died. As it was, she became seriously injured in her efforts to save us," Isabella says firmly. She stands. "Strol and I will see this through. If we have to play by the rules, so be it."
I stand too. "No. We play by my rules. I'm taking point on this. Frankie made this personal when he went after Nina because of her wanting to go to my planet."
Isabella stiffens slightly. I glance at her, and then I realize she’s not upset that I called Kuria my planet. She’s trying to hide a smile.
I lift my eyebrows, and she mouths, “Overlord.”
I roll my eyes and refocus on General Janius and Donnell. “This is unprecedented, this attack, or has there been incidents of prejudice against Novans and Kurians on Earth before?”
The general clears her throat and eyes the representative.
Donnell coughs. “There was one incident, yes.”
“Just one?” I press firmly, lifting my eyebrows.
“Well, one town. The issue has been dealt with, let me assure you. The mayor of that town is actually in a relationship with a Kurian.”
“Which one?” I ask, curious now.
“Dax I do believe is his name.”
“Ah, I will have to talk to him and the mayor,” I say firmly. “Does my father know about this?
“I, ah, I do not know,” Donnell admits.
"Well, that is unfortunate because I do believe it would be in the best interests of the Novans and Kurians to know how exactly the Earthlings see us." I glower at them. "Don't you agree?"
“Yes,” the general admits.
Donnell nods. “Perhaps we can come to some kind of agreement.” He eyes the general.
The general wearily rubs her forehead. “I’ll admit that this is a, ah, sensitive situation. We cannot allow anyone to think that cruelty toward Novans or Kurians or their sympathizers will be tolerated. A united front will go a long way to showing that none of us will stand for such actions.”
“Then we’re agreed?” Isabella asks. “Strol will take the lead on this. I will go with him.”
“How many men does this Frankie have under his thrall?” the general asks.
Nina clears her throat. “Thirteen, but I don’t know if Kyle could’ve survived.”
“You saw?” Isabella asks her.
“That he climbed into that plane? Yes. There’s a window in the captain’s quarters. I was watching. I didn’t know why you came, but I’m grateful you did.” Nina sits on the edge of her seat. “Is there any chance—”
“No,” the general, representative, and I all say at the same time.
“I think you’ve done enough,” Isabella says softly. “We’ll take it from here.”
“How many soldiers will you need?” the general asks.
I grin and make a short list of demands that the general readily agrees to, and I rub my hands. Frankie might have gotten away on his boat, but he won’t be free for much longer.
18
Isabella
The combat gear I’m wearing fits like a second skin, and for whatever reason, it feels good, right even. Like I was made to wear this. A sense of comradery hits me as the other soldiers joke around with each other. We’re all gearing up and getting ready to ship out, and the others all know each other. I don’t know any of them, and I wonder whatever happened to Greg and Derek.
I get a few nods, and I nod back and then ease my way to the front of the line where Strol is talking to the general.
“Do we know where Frankie is going?” I ask Strol.
The general eyes me and nods. “We do. Once we learned who it was that took Nina, we did a background check on him. He has some property along a shore, accessible by the water he’s currently on.”
“You mean you assume he’s on.”
“No. We have aerial coverage above him, and we have eyes on him now. As much as I would like to just blow his boat sky-high, it would be better to have him locked up and put away to deter future attempts.”
I lift my eyebrows. “You sure about that? Because being executed for—”
“Our aim is peace,” the general says coolly. “Unless you have no choice, you do not kill them.”
“Roger that. I can’t promise I won’t knee him in the nuts again.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I never said you couldn’t do that.”
I gape at her and then I grin as she winks at me.
Strol clears his throat. "We know where our target is headed. We can be there in half an hour. With the speed of his ship, that gives us roughly ten minutes ahead of his arrival time. We're going to need to hustle, move out, and cover the house without making it noticeable that we're there."
“And if he thinks something’s up, and he just continues to stay on his boat?” someone asks.
“We have a boat waiting for you,” the general says. “You can race to it and follow him on that. There’s already a crew on it who can handle directing it where you’ll need to go, but I’m hoping that’s a precaution we won’t need to utilize.”
“Don’t worry, General. We won’t need it. Will we?” Strol asks.
“No!”
Shouting that response with the others warms my heart. It feels good to be one on the team, and even though Strol is the lead on this, I still feel like we’re one, that we’re fighting Frankie together, not that I’m his underling. That can’t change if we’re to ever move forward in our relationship, and I don’t think I have to worry about that. Strol cares about me. Who knows? He might even
