Page 27 of My Alien Angel (Supernova Casanovas #6)

Fin

The cell is nice. It’s actually more like a hotel room with a comfortable bed, seating area, and even a small en-suite.

If it wasn’t for the fact that the door is locked from the outside and there’s a camera blinking at me from the ceiling, I’d be quite comfy.

“Hey!” I yell at the door again, my voice hoarse already. “You can’t just keep me in here!”

I bang on the door again then rub my sore hand. “Open the fucking door, you stupid assholes!”

“Are you ready to answer our questions?” a disembodied voice asks through a hidden speaker.

Probably the same asshole who came to “interrogate” me earlier.

I told him to fuck off and that I wouldn’t tell him anything until I saw Omni.

He nodded as if expecting that and ever since then, I’ve been alone in here.

Save for the time a uniformed woman brought me a sandwich and a few bottles of water.

She didn’t say a word and when I tried to rush past her through the open door, a guard in the hallway aimed his rifle at me.

That…yeah, that scared the shit out of me.

I can be brave while mouthing off to a voice coming through a speaker or an interrogation officer behind a desk, but I’m not stupid enough to take on someone pointing a gun.

“Are you ready to answer my questions?” I shoot back, clinging to my irritation. It’s the only thing keeping me from succumbing to a very real, and very justified, fear.

“You aren’t in any position to be asking questions, Ms. Young,” the voice replies, and then it’s quiet again.

Screaming loudly, I kick the door in frustration.

Bad idea because now my foot hurts. I’m tempted to throw my food at the camera but a deep-rooted sense of caution holds me back.

If I piss them off too much, they could move me to an actual prison cell or somewhere even worse.

Some dark, dank hole where they keep illegal prisoners, a place where no one ever leaves to tell the world about it.

The second reason for not making a mess is a little more pragmatic.

I’m hungry and I don’t know when, or if, they’ll bring me any food again.

So far, I’ve avoided touching the food and water, thinking perhaps it could be drugged, but I won’t be able to keep this up for long.

I was so not made to be a black site prisoner.

“I just want to know if Omni is okay,” I whisper, desperately blinking away the tears as my bravado falters. There were so many weapons aimed at him in that parking lot. What if they just shot him? What if they brought him to some creepy lab and are hurting him right now?

To my surprise, the voice responds. “The extra-terrestrial is alive and unharmed.”

“Thank you.” They could be lying, of course, but a sense of relief still washes over me. Omni is okay. That’s all that matters. “Can I see him?” I don’t really expect a positive answer, which is why the prompt “soon” throws me for a loop. “Wait, really?”

“Step away from the door,” the voice commands, just like it did earlier when the woman brought in the food. This time, I scramble to obey without hesitation or cursing, throwing a pointed look at one of the cameras as if to say, See? I can be a good prisoner when you actually communicate with me.

Two men in uniforms enter, both carrying assault rifles and eyeing me suspiciously.

I don’t blame them. If they’ve been stationed outside my door, listening to me scream and curse at them, my sudden compliance must seem rather suspicious.

“Come with us,” one says. His hand hovers over the handcuffs clipped to his belt but, after a quick inspection of me, he doesn’t grab them, pointing the rifle instead.

I don’t know if I should be flattered, offended or frightened out of my mind.

One walks out of the door in front of me, the other one gestures for me to go next while he follows.

Unlike when they brought me in here, they don’t bother blindfolding me this time, so I’m treated to the view of identical grey corridors dotted by the occasional door.

I’m not sure that foregoing the blindfold is such a good thing, though.

It kind of seems like they’re not bothering with it because they don’t expect me to ever leave this place again.

As we enter a large conference room, my eyes immediately scan for Omni, finding two other figures instead. “Caleb! Imani!”

“Fin!”

Hovering by the door, the guards don’t stop us from engaging in a lengthy group hug. Tightly squeezing my best friends, guilt assaults me so hard a few tears slip down my cheeks despite my heroic efforts to hold them back. “I’m so sorry for dragging you into this, guys.”

“Oh, please.” Caleb waves his hand. “Getting into Area 51 has been on my bucket list forever. Although, I have my suspicions that these military people are actually robots,” he stage-whispers.

I cast a startled look at the two soldiers who seem completely unperturbed by Caleb’s comment. “What do you mean?”

“Well, not one of them responded to my flirting! I mean, seriously? They’re clearly not human.”

“Caleb!” Imani smacks him upside the head. “Stop being an idiot. This is serious.”

He shrugs. “It’s not like there’s anything we can do. Did Omni make it out?”

“No. There were so many people with guns I—”

As I start tearing up again, Imani rubs my shoulder. “They won’t kill him. An alien is worth much more alive than dead.”

“Jeez, girl, your bedside manner sucks,” Caleb quips. “How did they even get you?”

“Came to my house in the middle of the night.” Imani shudders.

“It was fucking scary. This place is even scarier. You do realize what us being here means, right? They’re never letting us go.

At best, we’ll spend the rest of our lives locked up in here.

At worst, they’re going to transfer us to some third-world country black site prison. Or kill us.”

“Wow,” comes a familiar voice from the doorway. “Doctor Rhodes, you really do have a very low opinion of the military.”

Colonel Lewis strides in, all smug grins.

Before I know what I’m doing, I march up to her.

“You bitch! Where’s… Omni!” I yell. He enters the room behind the colonel.

Heedless of our audience, I’m immediately launching myself into Omni’s arms and tugging his head down for a kiss.

He obliges, our mouths meeting in a soft, reassuring caress that quickly turns heated.

Someone clearing their throat pulls me back to reality, only now realizing that my legs are wrapped around Omni’s waist and he’s holding me up by my ass. Uh. Oops?

“I’m guessing it’s safe to assume that exposure to extraterrestrial fluids isn’t lethal,” Lewis quips a little too smugly for my liking.

Glaring at the woman, I snarl, “You’re an insufferable bitch. Has anyone ever told you that?” Seeing Omni safe and sound seems to have reanimated my bravado. “This is a private moment, do you mind?”

Lewis doesn’t move a muscle. “Actually, Ms. Young, I do mind. We have more important matters to deal with than your alien love affair. I’m more interested in getting Doctor Rhodes’ cooperation on this very time sensitive problem, so if you could please shelve your hurt feelings…

and your impropriety, for a later date, that would be greatly appreciated ”

“What problem?” I ask through gritted teeth.

I’m desperate to keep arguing with the condescending bitch for no other reason than to release some of the pent up frustration I’m feeling, but the way Omni’s tension is rising next to me reminds me that she’s right. There’s more at stake than my hurt ego.

“What makes you think I’d help you?” Imani bites out, scowling at Lewis. “You literally kidnapped me from my house when I’ve done nothing wrong!”

Lewis hikes up a brow. “Nothing wrong, doctor? Aiding and abetting an undocumented immigrant while actively helping them avoid authorities is a crime, even if they aren’t from another planet.”

I scoff. “Right, because protecting someone from being cut open and experimented on is such a fucking crime.”

Closing her eyes, Lewis takes in a deep calming breath, probably counting to ten before releasing it.

When she speaks again, the saccharin cordiality is so fake it makes my teeth ache.

“Ms. Young, despite what popular culture has made you believe, we are not a bunch of mad scientists here. Do you really think we’d squander potential relations with intelligent and technologically advanced alien races by strapping the first alien we find to a table and cutting him to pieces?

To repeat your alien boyfriend’s words, we are not the enemy. ”

I’m opening my mouth to object to her calling Omni my boyfriend, but ultimately snap it shut. Now is probably not the best time to argue over trivialities.

“If you had come to us straight away,” Lewis continues, “all of this could have been avoided. Instead, your naive little mind turned us into horror movie villains. Did you really think we would buy your silly decoy trick?”

“Hey!” Caleb protests, looking affronted. “I was a great decoy.”

Lewis’ smile is as dry as the Sahara desert.

“I’m sure you were,” she says in a tone that says, “shut up and let the grown-ups talk,” as clearly as if she’d said it out loud.

“Now, if we could please get back to the matter at hand? One hundred and eighty-seven people were taken last night and, if we’re to believe the winged Casanova here, they will soon be taken off planet and sold as slaves. We’re not letting that happen.”

My breath catches as I turn to Omni with nothing but horror in my eyes. One hundred and eighty-seven people? Oh my god. His solemn nod punctuates the severity of the situation. “Imani—”

“I’m not buying it,” Imani interrupts, still scowling at Lewis. “You’re interested in rescuing a measly one hundred and eighty seven people and not in that shiny spaceship or in the chance to study a real fucking alien? What’s the real deal here?”

Sighing, Lewis sinks into a chair. “We are interested in protecting people, Doctor, believe it or not,” she says, her words lacking the previous bite.

“However, it’s true that there are special circumstances in this case that allow us to allocate more resources and slightly…

shift our priorities. One of the people taken last night is the daughter of someone very important and we’ve been instructed to pull out all the stops to assure her safe return.

That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be searching for these people and doing everything in our power to rescue them if this woman wasn’t among the kidnapped.

It just means our budget is bigger and we can use all of the resources at the government’s disposal. ”

“Like satellites,” Imani concludes.

“Like satellites. Fighter jets, submarines, aircraft carriers…” Lewis smirks. “I could probably get a nuke here in under twenty minutes.”

“Um,” Caleb clears his throat. “I don’t think that would be beneficial?”

Lewis rolls her eyes. “Yes, Mr. Fisher, I’m well aware of that. Thank you for your brilliant observation. Dr. Rhodes?”

Imani glances over at Omni and only when he nods, she agrees, “Fine. But my program is on my laptop. I…”

“We brought your devices here with us.”

“Of course you did. I hope you fed my cat, too.”

Lewis’ face brightens with the first genuine smile I’ve seen on her. “It is being cared for. By the way, once this is over, you will be offered a job here.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Imani challenges Lewis with a once over and a smirk, “And if I refuse?”

Lewis’ smile only grows wider. “You won’t. Follow me, please.”

As they leave the room, Caleb sighs. “I must be losing my charm. Why is the hot military chick flirting with Imani and not me?”

“What?” I gasp, nearly choking on my own tongue. “Lewis was not flirting with Imani!”

“Finnie, darling, she totally was flirting, and our girl was dishing it out as good as she was getting! Hate sex is a given in this situation.”

Omni, the traitor, chuckles. “I agree. They have connection.” At my look of disgruntlement, Omni shrugs as if to say, it’s true.

The momentary argument over who is going to fuck who fades as I remember the gravity of our current situation.

Dropping the attitude, I stare dejectedly at Omni and Caleb.

Omni’s mirthful expression fades and for once, Caleb keeps his inappropriate comments to himself.

“Hopefully, we are not late to save kidnapped humans,” Omni finally says, breaking the silence.

“Yeah,” I agree, guilt gnawing at me as I recall what Lewis’ had said.

If we’d gone to the authorities straight away, Garresh’s ship would have been found long ago and none of those one hundred and eighty-seven people would be in danger right now.

It’s all my fault. I was the one who kept feeding Omni’s fear of capture with my own until we’d convinced ourselves that contacting anyone would be a death sentence for Omni.

In my stupid quest to protect one alien, I’d put one hundred and eighty seven human lives in danger and now I have to do everything in my power to fix it. Which unfortunately, is not a lot.