One of the men says something to Master. He immediately relaxes. He says they’re from some place. It must be ok. Still, they should not have come unannounced. Master will make that known.
Everything is ok, he says. She is to stay there while he talks with the men. He finishes putting his clothes on and walks over. Conversation. Pleasant at first. Polite. Laughter.
Master seems upset. His voice begins to rise. How small he now looks, compared to these men. One starts to move toward her. Master steps in front of him. He holds his hands out in front of him. Trying to reason.
He never sees one of the other men pull his weapon and fire. A flash and Master grabs his midsection and falls to his knees. She is running now. Running to him. Master holds his hand out to the man who shot him. Reaching out.
Please. No. Mercy.
They laugh. Another man pulls his pistol, calmly aims at his back and fires again.
She is there now, to cradle his head in her hands. Lifeless eyes look past her into the beautiful, spring sky. His back and stomach are smoking, charred ruins. The smell. Burnt flesh. Never smelled that smell before. Sickening!
They reach for her. They pull her away. She fights them. Savagely. Instincts take over. What instincts? Where did they come from? Claws rip at eyes. Teeth sink into the soft flesh of cheeks. Ears and noses are easy targets. But these are violent men. They know how to subdue.
She is subdued.
She’s dragged away. She looks back one last time. Master’s lifeless face slowly transforms. In death, he is someone else.
It is the face of Tiger Thomas.
She screams. No one hears.
***
“There!” Cee Tee pointed to the thermal imaging scanner on the cockpit instrument panel, as he leaned in over the pilot’s shoulder. “Get us down there … now!”
He turned back to Six and Seven. “I want you in and out in less than sixty! Copy?”
Roger that!” Six answered as he was already in a crouching position at the main hatch, ready to leap into action.
“What about the exo-suit?” Seven asked.
“No time. Once we’re back airborne we’ll blow it to hell. But I wanna be in and outta here before anybody realizes what’s happened. That understood?”
“Crystal, sir!”
Cee Tee knew time was of the essence. With Frost, Two and Three down, he was now in charge. He had invoked Frost’s “Alpha” status to keep the ZiP’s away why he gathered up his boss. He’d even insisted they close the byway down and halt traffic while they performed their retrieval mission. This had infuriated that Inspector, Burrows or Burke, whatever his name was, but he really didn’t have a choice. By law, he was required to provide assistance to an “Alpha” class agent, as long as there were no illegal activities involved. Still, that didn’t mean the man had to like it.
“Ten seconds to LZ!” They all heard the pilot’s voice now in their earpieces. “Five seconds. Cee Tee hit the hatch button, and it slid open. The chilly night air rushed in.
“Three … two … one …”
They were out before the pilot could say ‘Go!’ They moved quickly through the dark, their NV goggles lighting it up in full color.
Twenty yards away, they found him, exactly where Cee Tee said he’d be. He had been moved out of the road by Tiger, who in spite of emotions to the contrary, felt that was the least he could do for the man. He now lay on the outer shoulder, sprawled out on his back. The two men worked quickly, each on either side of him now. Pulling him to a sitting position, both reached under an armpit and grasped the other’s forearm. Using their interlocked limbs as a support cradle, they then lifted the man higher. Bending slightly, each one reached under Frost’s knee and lifted it, the change of his center of gravity causing him now to fall back into the cradle their arms had created. Wasting no time, they scampered immediately back toward the command craft.
Cee Tee was waiting there to help pull him in. Once he was safely in, and the two operatives back on board, Cee Tee signaled the pilot.
“All aboard! Get us airborne ASAP!”
“Roger that!” He was already lifting off before he’d finished the two-word sentence.
Cee Tee looked from Six to Seven, giving each one of them a stern, hard look. He pointed his finger, first at one and then to the other to emphasize what he was about to say.
“Not a word of this to no one!”
***
“Tiger!” Lulah threw the door upon, abandoning any pretense of caution, throwing herself into him. “Goddamnit! I’ve been worried sick!”
“Sorry about dinner tonight. Think maybe we could just stay in … pop some popcorn and watch a rental on the tube?” he replied as she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him tight into her.
“Shut up, you asshole!” she whispered in his ear. “Just shut up and hold me!” She relished the feel of his hands, as his arms slid around her waist, pulling her even closer. She just wanted to hold him tight for a minute, appreciating the fact that he was here, alive and well and in her arms. Instantly, she was reminded just how good his body felt against hers. It was funny how moments like these made one so conscious of the little things. How it heightened the senses. His hands on her
