“I appreciate your understanding. I’m just doing my job.” He keyed his helmet mic. “Seven Tango Niner to Dispa—”
He caught the flash of metal and plastic out of the corner of his eye, but it was far too late. He was reaching for his sidearm when she fired her pistol, hitting him in the neck. Her pistol was set on “FULL STUN.” He hit the ground like a sack of rocks.
With empty eyes, she stood with her pistol still trained on him, making sure he was out cold before reaching down to relieve him of his. She stuck it in her belt and turned to scan herself into the room.
“Good job, my dear,” she heard Frost’s voice in her helmet speaker. “Now, let’s do what we came here to do, shall we?”
“Yes, Father,” she replied, entering Jocko’s room and locking the door behind her.
***
“Hold it right there, you two!”
The Space Guard captain had shouted, and Tiger turned, prepared to and fire. He would take as many of those black-suited bastards with him as he could. The decision had already been made. He wasn’t spending the rest of his life in Penal One, and he wasn’t going to let them do a brain drain on him. That would not only give away Amber’s whereabouts but incriminate Lulah and Tex as well. It was bad enough to be taking Dee down with him. No other innocent people had to be hurt.
No … it would end here.
But, before he could turn and fire, the captain was speaking again, “Y’all just hang tight a minute! I got incomin’ backup! I might need y’all to lead ‘em in!”
“What? You’re kiddin’ me?” Tiger looked to Dee, who was sweating bullets. Behind the captain, a shuttle was coming in hot. Both men blew out a sigh of relief. That was a close one! Damn close!
As soon as the shuttle touched the tarmac, the squad it carried was out the door and running, rifles at the ready. The captain held up a fist. “Awright, you glorified baggage handlers … form up on me!”
Tiger knew instantly where these troopers were coming from. They were part of the security detachment at Von Braun. He knew because he recognized one of the troopers. How could he not? One of those men was not like the other. He was different from all the rest.
Ruff! The anthropomorphic German Shepherd/ human splice who’d checked him through upon arriving back on earth a few days earlier.
Shit! Just when I thought I was outta the woods! If he recognizes me …
“Ok, here’s the sitrep!” The captain was briefing the detail from Von Braun. He pointed toward the main entrance with a black-gloved hand. “The portal is active again. We got incoming, and it appears to be organic and … very … very … large. We’re setting up a containment perimeter just outside the portal with a secondary one right here. If things go bad in there, our orders are to Alamo here. Under no circumstance is anything non-terrestrial allowed out of this gate.”
Tiger and Dee shot each other a quick glance. Non-terrestrial? What the fuck?
“If the shit hits the fan like it did last week, we have new orders. We’re not worrying about evacuation. First sign things are going wrong, we’re to blow the main entrance and seal whoever and whatever is left inside. Again, I repeat … Nothing is allowed to get past this checkpoint. Are we clear on this?”
There was a murmur of acknowledgment from the contingent, and then the captain continued, “Awright! Take positions. All rifles on full! We ain’t here to take prisoners!”
The sound of pulse rifles charging filled the morning air. By now, Tiger and Dee realized they were in the middle of some serious shit. Tiger also had the additional fear that Ruff would recognize him. That, in itself, would be disastrous.
The captain’s PDC squawked and he spoke into it, “Yessir! Right away, sir!” He snapped his fingers at Dee, “You two need to get inside now. They’re wanting every available gun! I’m sure your unit’s waitin’ on you.” He turned to the VBS group, “Any of you volunteering to go?”
“Take Ruff!” Tiger recognized the man who spoke up as the trooper giving the creature such a hard time at the terminal a few days ago. “He’s just the dog for the job!” There was some amused snickering from some of the others and eager nods of agreement.
“Awright,” the captain agreed. To Tiger and Dee, he ordered, “You two take this here animal with you!”
“Shit!” Tiger muttered under his breath. Could they not catch a fucking break? He pulled the helmet lower over his eyes. There wasn’t anything else he could do.
“Get moving!” The captain was shouting.
“Yessir!” He looked over at Dee and winced. The ice was starting to crack. Over his shoulder, he called, “Let’s go, Dawg!”
The trio trotted into the tunnel. Ahead of them, they heard shouts and the sounds of machinery. A panicked-looking man in a white lab coat ran past them in a sprint, going the other way. What was he running from? Tiger wondered.
“Halt!” Suddenly, they heard Ruff yell behind them. They both kept moving, pretending they didn’t hear him.
“I said, halt!”
The blast from the pulse rifle that hit the wall in front of them did an impressive job of stopping them in their tracks. A chunk of magnicrete exploded into hundreds of pieces, leaving a smoking hole in the wall, a tiny blue flame still burning in the center.
“Don’t move! Either of you!” Ruff warned. “Drop your weapons! Hands in the air!”
“You stupid fleabag!” Tiger tried to bluff. “You lost your mind? It’ll be a court-martial for you after this!”
He felt the still-warm end of the pulse barrel on the back of his
