Page 3 of Klora (Mates of the Mylos #6)

CHAPTER 3

KLORA

“I’m glad to see you all,” Commander Gundar said, looking at each of us in turn from behind his desk. “I’m sorry to have had to call you here, however, for such a grave matter.”

The L.T.C. gave a curt nod for all of us before saying, “We are ready to serve however we can,” speaking for each member of our team as we stood silently behind him, at attention.

Commander Gundar took a deep breath in through his nose. “It’s a huge mess. Long story short, as Darla likes to say, is that the first official Friendship Day Picnic has ended in disaster. As you know, the city of New York agreed to hold it as the flagship event for the first annual Friendship Day.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Central Park had a large area blocked off from the general public, with a designated area close to the picnic area cordoned off for the various schools to park the buses they were transporting participating students in. Crowd control was in place using local law enforcement and park officials, as well as members of our own security forces.”

“Yes, sir. All of the men selected for that duty were exemplary,” Sachuu replied, his shoulders stiffening. “I selected them myself.”

The Commander waved his hand dismissively. “They are not being called into question. Entrance to the parking area was restricted via a pass which would be scanned and verified by the park officials in charge of admission. Even our shuttle, which took a small number of our own youngsters down to the surface to join one of the human school groups, had to produce a pass in order to check in after landing. The intention was that this way, no one unauthorized made it near any of the children, and if someone’s bus failed to arrive, they could be looked for.”

Sachuu nodded. “It was agreed that protestors might try to prevent some of the participating schools from being able to go. I take it that despite all of the planned precautions, something dire has occurred.”

“Indeed. It seems that someone who shouldn’t have had a pass received one and used it to bring in children who mysteriously left the event. Some adults remained behind in order to return to their bus, waiting for the Mylos children to return to the shuttle.”

My veins filled with ice.

“Did they hurt the kids?” Peterson burst out.

“No, not as far as we know,” Gundar replied, shaking his head. “They swarmed them and their teacher, as well as the human fourth grade class who had hosted them. As a result, the two security members with them had their hands full trying to keep everyone together and moving towards their transportation. Human police noticed too late what was happening and before all was said and done, a human teacher and one of our children were herded towards the bus the miscreants arrived in and drove off with them inside.”

“And no one stopped them from leaving?” Sachuu demanded. “What happened to the park officials watching the entrance? It was the same as the exit! One way in, one way out!”

“They said they didn’t realize the bus was a phony until after our security told them.”

“How long ago was this?”

“They were taken less than half an hour ago. Armor up, and take stunners with you. Those of you qualified to fly a drop ship, report immediately to the hangar. Tyrone’s mother is distraught, but his father told me that after Tyrone wandered off a little too far after a visit to the San Diego Zoo two years ago, he placed a tracking tag in his backpack. Xeranos will send you the frequency so you can follow it. Hopefully he is still with the backpack and they haven’t discovered it.”

“One of ours or one of theirs?” I asked with a smirk.

“Ours,” the Commander replied with a grim smile.

I nodded in satisfaction. That just exponentially increased the odds of them not discerning the device as it was as small as a grain of the human cereal known as rice.

“Dismissed. Now go get our people back!” he barked and we all snapped out a salute before scrambling out the door.

“Oh, man,” Peterson remarked as he jogged to the express elevator. “This is gonna fuck things up for the wedding. Someone needs to let Oshar and Korah know what the hell happened so they aren’t expecting you guys.”

“Xeranos can inform them if we do not complete our mission in time,” Sachuu replied curtly. “With the tracker, it shouldn’t take all that long.”

I hoped he was right, for everyone’s sake, not the least of them being young Tyrone. Be a damned shame if I had to use my stunner twice in a row to make sure that the kidnapping fuckers stayed down, wouldn’t it? I could feel the ghostly hand of Agent Gibbs slapping me on the back of my head for that thought. Ugh! Fine. By the book, even if they did deserve far worse.