CHAPTER SEVEN
ZURI:
I didn't really understand the logic of Majestic's attitude toward Seta and J. They trained them to prepare for a danger that wasn't even manifest yet. In fact, I began to wonder if it ever had been a possible danger. Seta justified it by reminding me of the encounter I'd had upon first coming to Earth, but I began to wonder if that had really been what they thought it was. If someone was genuinely after me, it didn't seem that they would give up after one attempt. The police had labeled it as a freak accident, perhaps a case of mistaken identity. After two years of wondering, on edge, I began to agree with them. If nothing else, it gave me peace of mind.
"So what did you think?" I asked Shannon of Titanic, which she'd just seen for the first time.
She shrugged. "It was okay."
"Just okay?" I laughed. "It was great! One of the most dramatic love stories I've ever seen."
She smiled. "I'm not much of a romantic," she informed me.
I laughed. "Bullshit! I've seen some of the stuff you've written."
"I don't write romance."
"Oh really, what do you call it?"
"I mix erotica into action/adventure. That's different from a romance novel."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."
"Besides, this movie had too much promotion," she mumbled. "I was sick of it long before it ever came out."
I sighed. "Would you have liked the story if you hadn't heard so much about it?" I questioned.
She thought for a moment as we walked out of the theater and into the mall. "It was a good plot," she admitted. "I'll give it that."
"You know what I don't understand?" I smiled. "I don't get how you can write stuff that's..."
Suddenly, she stopped cold, holding her hand up to silence me. I saw every muscle in her body tense all at once as her eyes darted around the eating area of the mall. I stopped and looked around. "What?" I asked.
"Something's not right," she mumbled, scanning the mall carefully. Her hand lowered slowly and went to her waist, covered by her jacket. She couldn't take the jacket off out in public because she hid her gun underneath it. I knew it was there, though. And I knew it was what she was reaching for. I suddenly realized how serious she was and tensed.
Her hand stayed ready, not yet exposing the weapon. "What is it?" I questioned.
"Something's weird," she tried to explain. "Like... I don't know. It's sort of like dejavu of some dangerous situation, only stronger. I don't know how to explain it. I just know. Something is out of place."
I looked around, scanning the crowd for any familiar faces. I saw none. Then, suddenly, something caught my eye. I saw a woman standing by the row of glass doors, leaning back against the wall and staring straight at us. She was probably six feet tall, incredibly thin, and wearing a leather jacket and a short red dress. She had on black boots that went to her knees and short, spiked, black hair. I drank in everything I could gather and looked away quickly. "Shannon," I whispered.
She turned to look at me and nodded slightly in the direction of the woman. Looking down, I could see Seta's fingers twitch over the gun, but she didn't draw it. She and the woman stared at each other. I glanced up and saw the woman smile and lick her lips slowly. She grabbed onto her wrist and circled it with her other hand, making sure I noticed her run her nails hard over her skin. I tensed and looked away, memories flooding my mind. "She's threatening us," I whispered, thinking out loud.
"How do you know?" Shannon replied.
"She's Andrian," I answered.
"They're the ones who attacked your planet," she observed.
"Yes," I mumbled. "And that's how they communicate. Through body language and telepathy. They don't speak."
"I know. I've learned about them."
She grabbed my arm and pulled me behind her. "And if I learned correctly, they're mind readers, right?"
"Not exactly," I tried to explain. "More of spirit readers. They sense emotion, not read thoughts like you would read a book."
She started to back up, forcing me to step back, too. "There's too many people here," she whispered. "We need to get outside. Preferably out back where there are no people."
"Clench your right fist and hold onto your wrist tightly with your left hand," I instructed.
"Why?"
"To tell her you don't want to fight."
"I'd have to take my hand away from my gun in order to do that."
"That's okay, she doesn't have a gun and it would take her long enough to get here for you to grab it even if you weren't ready."
"How do you know she's not armed?"
"She is armed. Just not with a gun. Trust me."
The threat was, literally, that she was going to slit our wrists and make us watch the blood run. That didn't take a gun. There were plenty of other ways she could've said it if she was planning to shoot us. Shannon raised her arms in front of her, holding onto her wrist. I watched the woman's reaction. She ran her finger down the center of her throat and clenched her fist as she pulled it away. She hid her fist behind her left hand and then moved it out in front. She pointed her finger and stretched out her arm, looking straight at me. I clenched my teeth in anger.
"What did she say?" Shannon questioned.
"She was threatening me, not you."
"So tell her you don't want to fight."
"Doesn't matter."
"Why?"
"You know how in your society when you flip someone off, that's the strongest way you can tell them what it is you're trying to say? Either that you're mad at them or that you won't do what they say or whatever?"
"Yeah."
"Well, she just told me in the strongest way possible that she wants to see me dead."
Shannon laughed briefly. "Well, that's subtle."
"She's warning you to stay out of her way."
Seta laughed again. "Well, let's see if she understands my sign language," she grinned, putting her submissive hands down. I watched her as she continued to smile and flipped the woman off with both hands. She lowered one hand and pushed her jacket aside, placing her hand on her gun to hide it. I was about two feet from the door, and I turned and pushed it open. A few seconds later, we both walked outside.
Seta pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed quickly, not taking her other hand away from her side. "J, it's me," she greeted. "I'm at Universal Mall on the east side. I was just confronted by a woman I believe to be an Andrian."
She listened to the reply. "Zuri's with me," she answered. "I wanted to get out of the mall where there's lots of people. But I'm outside now and expecting a potentially violent confrontation."
***
Our backs pressed to the brick wall, we waited. Shannon put the phone away. "Exactly how much can she get into my mind?" she questioned.
"I don't think she can read your actual thoughts."
"You don't think?" she snapped.
"Our brains are different, Seta. I've never seen an Andrian interact with a human. I know she can't get into my thoughts enough to be able to know what I'm thinking. But she can sense fear and anger and any other emotion you can put a word to. And even some you can't. If you come up with some brilliant plan, she'll know. Not because she can hear your thinking, but because she can sense your confidence. And she'll know if you're preparing to shoot at her because of the uneasy, nervous feeling you'll get right before you pull your gun."
Shannon breathed deep and closed her eyes for a minute. "Maybe we should just run," I suggested.
"No," she answered. "I've been trained for this for the past two years. And if we don't confront them now, we'll just have to do it later. I can't guarantee that I'll be any more ready then than I am now. There's more of a chance that I'll be less prepared."
The glass door opened and the woman stepped out into the bright, afternoon sunlight. I tensed, nervous but not really fearful. I knew Seta was right. She was trained for this. And if I place my life in anyone's hands, it would willingly be into hers or J's.
The woman approached slowly. Seta turned to face her and suddenly tensed. "She's talking to me," she whispered. "Telepathically. But I don't understand her language."
I swallowed hard. I did. But I couldn't hear what she said to Seta. And she had to initiate a conversation with me before I could tell her that. I stepped out from behind Shannon and held up my hand, telling her to stop. I ran my hand downward in front of my face, my palm facing me, trying to communicate that Seta wouldn't understand her.
The woman smiled and I felt a sharp stab of pain behind my eye as she invaded my mind. I am not interested in her, she whispered in her native tongue. It had been years since I'd heard it, but I still recognized it.
"Tell me what she says," Seta ordered.
"She says she's not interested in you," I mumbled.
"Tell her that she's on my planet now, that I work for Majestic, and that if she tries anything I'm going to have to shoot her."
I had reservations about relaying that message in that order or tone. I decided to rephrase it. We are not on Caara anymore, I communicated back to her. These people are not afraid of you, and neither am I. Agent Seta is law enforcement here. If you try anything, she will retaliate.
I heard the woman's laughter echo through my mind. What shall she do? If she should kill me, do you not think that others would come in my place? I have come prepared to die. But in the process of killing me, she would force herself to kill hundreds of others that would follow after me. I stared at her, not sure what to say back to that. I have studied Earth, she continued. The Majestic 12, as they call themselves, protect their people not from danger, but from the truth. I could make them fail at that mission with a single command. Hundreds of us lie on your borders, right outside of your atmosphere. And if you place such confidence in these law enforcement officers, you are truly an opportune target for inhibition.
Is that a threat? I demanded.
Perhaps. I suppose it depends on how cooperative you are.
I took a deep breath. "She says that if you hurt her, she'll give the command to her people, hundreds of them, to come to Earth and inhabit it," I relayed to Seta.
"What?" Seta cried. "What kind of bullshit is that?"
A noise behind us made us both turn. Six Andrian men had appeared behind Seta, not bothering to disguise themselves to fit in with Earth's civilization. Their bodies and long hair were all different shades of red, their eyes a deep purple and the rings underneath them almost black. They wore no clothes, but didn't have the human-like anatomy that my people did.
They were approaching quickly. Seta pulled her gun with lightning-quick reflexes, but they had already come too close. They knocked her hand and the shot went off into the air. I watched, horrified, as she dropped down, keeping her grip on the gun, and swept her foot along the ground, hitting the legs of one of the men. He was knocked off balance and crashed to the ground.
Seta stood back up and aimed her gun at another one of the men. The gun went off, soundless, and the man fell to the ground, curling into a fetal position. She didn't have a chance to re-aim before they were on top of her. One of them grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the gun. She turned her attention toward him and drove her knee into his groin. She turned, still held by the man she'd just attacked, and side kicked the one behind her. She wasn't fast enough and he grabbed her leg. It didn't stop her. She jumped, turning backwards in mid-air, and hit him in the side of the head with her other foot. It seemed to me like it was a reflex action, because her landing was impaired by the fact that she was still being held by her wrist. She fell, and was immediately grabbed around the neck in a headlock. Another man grabbed her free hand and the gun was wretched away.
I watched in horror as the men pinned her to the wall, stepping on her feet to hold her legs down, and holding her arms to the wall. I felt huge hands grab onto my arms, above my elbows, and cried out involuntarily as I was rendered incapable of movement. I felt anger overwhelm me. The woman smiled at me, but said nothing. Then she walked over to Seta. Tell your friend something for me, she said as she stopped inches in front of Seta and reached into her pocket.
"What?" I growled, speaking out loud as well as directly to her.
She pulled out a long, thin knife from her jacket. I felt my stomach twist in knots. Ask her if she ever considered what it would feel like to bleed to death.
"No!" I cried out as she lowered the knife and ran the thin blade slowly up the top of Seta's left hand, leaving a trail of blood. Seta cringed and tensed at the pain, but clenched her teeth and didn't utter a sound.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car behind us, screeching to a halt. The woman turned as J jumped out of the driver's seat of the car and pointed a gun over the top of it. "Let her go, bitch!" he ordered.
"She doesn't understand you," I yelled back.
More cars appeared. More agents emerged, pointing guns at various men. J kept his gun centered on the woman. She turned to me, dropping the knife on the ground. Blood ran from Seta's hand and dripped to the ground at a steady pace. Tell them to leave, she demanded.
Suddenly, surrounded by MIB agents, I found my strength again. Go fuck yourself, I shot back at her.
She lunged at me in anger and I sensed more than heard J's gun go off. He stayed in place, holding the gun toward her even as she fell, but the other agents moved in. "Can you communicate with them?" J asked me.
"Only if they initiate," I answered.
"Communicate this," an agent approaching me said to one of the men holding me, pointing a gun inches away from his forehead. He gestured to the woman on the ground with his free hand, and then at the gun, then at the Andrian man. The threat was obvious to any species. But the man didn't care. Or maybe he didn't think the agent was serious. He let go of me, but lunged at the agent.
It was a cue they'd all been waiting for. The other four who were still standing all attacked. But it was obvious that they were no match for a dozen armed agents. It didn't take long before they were all on the ground. J remained on alert for a few seconds, as if he was waiting for an ambush. Then he lowered his gun and approached Seta. Two other agents I didn't recognize came over to me, asking if I was okay. I wasn't hurt, and I told them that. Then I walked over to Seta.
She was sitting on the ground, her head back on the brick wall and her eyes closed as J wrapped his tie tightly around her hurt hand, trying to stop the bleeding. "You okay, Seta? Stay with me, chica, don't fall asleep."
The blood had pooled around her on the ground. Her eyes remained closed and I heard her try to control her breathing. "Just relax," he urged. "We're gonna get you out of here and take care of this, okay?"
She nodded slightly and he held her hurt hand, running his hand over the side of her face. "It hurts," she whispered calmly.
"I know," he mumbled back to her. He leaned over her and kissed her cheek. "We're gonna get you back to headquarters, just hang on."
A black van pulled up and K stepped out of the front of it. He immediately began ordering agents around, telling them what to do. Then he walked over to us. "She okay?" he asked J.
"She's lost quite a bit of blood."
He looked down at her. "You with us, Seta?"
She nodded. "I'm alright," she moaned.
K turned back to J. "Take them both back to HQ, I'll be there as soon as I get this mess cleaned up."
AGENT J:
She moaned slightly and I turned to look at her. She shook her head slowly and raised her hand to her forehead. Her eyes opened slightly and she closed them again. "That light is so bright," she slurred.
I stood up and walked to the other side of the room. I turned the light off and returned to her side in the dark. "That better?" I asked.
"What time is it?" she questioned.
"Almost midnight."
She groaned. "What am I gonna tell my parents?" she moaned.
"It's been taken care of."
"How?"
"You remember that voiceprint ID we got from you when you started working here?"
"We used that to simulate your voice and had Deanne call your parents. You're spending the night at Zuri's house."
She sighed. "We're lucky that it's a Friday."
There was a moment of silence in the room. "Where am I?" she finally asked.
"My place," I answered.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I saw her cringe in the dim light coming under the door. "Are you in pain?" I asked.
"More discomfort than pain," she mumbled.
I brushed my hand along the side of her face, running my fingers over her hair. "Anything I can do?"
"No, I'm okay."
"You sure?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Can you get me something to drink?" she questioned.
"Sure, what do you want? No alcohol though; it's a blood thinner."
"I don't care. Anything."
I left the room and returned a moment later with a glass of apple juice. She sat up as I approached and took the cup from my hand. "Anything else, your highness?" I joked.
"No, that'll be all," she smiled back, raising the glass to her lips.
She sipped the cool liquid slowly. "Do you remember what happened?" I questioned.
"Yeah."
"How much of it?"
She held the glass in her lap. "Last thing I remember is getting into the car with you and Zuri."
"You lost a lot of blood," I explained. "Rey had to do a transfusion."
"Stitches?" she asked.
"No, we thought you'd want to avoid explaining that. We used an adhesive patch we got from the Soleans. It's supposed to speed up the growth process of cells. It'll scab over and new cells will form underneath it. It'll leave a pretty prominent scar, but should be healed within twenty-four hours."
"Twenty-four hours?" she laughed. "Are you serious?"
"Does it hurt?" I questioned. "Because you're not on any painkillers right now."
"No it just... feels weird." She looked at the bandaging around her arm. "Kind of like somebody's pulling on my skin and stretching it."
"Good. That's how it's supposed to feel."
"You ever had it done?"
"Never needed to. I just know from K."
She was quiet for a moment. "What is K saying?"
"About what?"
"All of this."
"Nothing. He's avoided talking to me. I think he wants to discuss it with you first."
"Why?"
There was a knock at the front door and I stood up. "I don't know. But that's probably him right now."
I answered the door and discovered that I was right. "Hey, how are you?" I asked.
"How's Seta?" he replied.
"She's okay. Awake and fully conscious."
"That's good," he mumbled.
I led him back into the room and he immediately turned on the light. I glanced at Seta to see her reaction. She cringed, but adapted quickly. "Hey," she greeted.
"You feeling okay?" he asked.
"A lot better than I thought I would be."
He nodded slightly. I could sense a lecture coming on. Oh, please K, not now, I pleaded silently. At least wait until she can get up and walk out.
"I just wanted to tell you," he started, "that I'm really impressed with the way you handled yourself out there."
I turned and stared at him, shocked by the compliment. Seta's eyes got wide. "Excuse me?" she questioned. "I must be having auditory hallucinations because I could've sworn you just said you were impressed with something I did."
He smiled slightly. "I know I've been really hard on you these past few years," he mumbled. "But it was the best compliment you could've given to me when you held your ground with those guys and kept Zuri safe until your backup got there. And that you called backup in the first place. I've dealt with agents before who get themselves killed because they're so damn cocky, they'll never call for help. But you did the right thing, all the way."
I continued to stare, open-mouthed, at K. "Zuri told me the way that you dealt with the woman, how you tried to avoid the confrontation until she made a direct threat. You initiated conflict by threatening back. Whether she knew what you meant or not when you flipped her off, she certainly knew the way you meant it."
"And that was bad," Seta concluded. "I should've avoided conflict altogether."
"And run off with your tail between your legs?" K questioned. He shook his head. "The fact that you, a human, stood up to her proved that we will not stand back and watch them take over our planet if, in fact, that's what they intend to do. You spoke for all of us. And you delivered the right message."
She was shocked into silence. "Thanks," she finally stammered.
He nodded. "You're welcome. Of course you realize the severity of her threat," he continued. "We have no reason to doubt her claim that her people would retaliate by coming here and trying to inhabit our planet. At the very least, we have to believe that they would allow people to realize that we aren't alone in this galaxy and, hence, cause us a whole new set of problems."
She nodded slowly. "So what are we going to do about it?"
"We're working on that," he mumbled. "And I'll let you know."
