Captured (The Prometheus Project Book 2) (7 page)

They had made it!

Regan’s heart beat like a jackhammer, so loudly that if she didn’t know better, she would have sworn
that everyone in the building could easily hear it as it pounded explosively against the walls of her chest. Ryan’s pulse matched his sister’s beat for beat and his stomach churned nervously.

While they could hear chatter from the main room quite clearly, several people were talking at once and they couldn’t make out anything specific being said.

Ryan motioned his sister to follow him. He gestured to a series of quarter-sized holes bored through the smooth, bright-orange wall about a foot off the ground, evenly spaced about every ten feet.
“Dad’s samples,”
explained Ryan telepathically.

All they needed to do was lie on their stomachs and line up one eye with a hole and they would both be able to observe the entire main room. So far, so good.

Regan felt an odd tingle in her brain. She had the feeling it was a telepathic signal, but a very faint one. Was it the Teacher trying to contact them? If so, the Teacher was weaker than ever and was using a strange frequency that didn’t quite work.

“Do you feel that?”
she broadcast to her brother.

“Yes. Could it be the Teacher?”
asked Ryan.

“I don’t know,”
she replied.

Ryan was about to broadcast something else when he was stopped cold by an eerie sixth-sense.

He froze! What was that?

Ryan strained, his senses extended to their farthest
possible limits. He heard an incredibly faint, but unmistakable, shuffle coming from directly behind him!

Someone—or some thing—had snuck up on them.

Ryan remained perfectly still, just able to fight off his instinctive urge to almost literally jump out of his skin. His stomach was in knots and the tiny hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.
“Regan, behind us,”
he alerted his sister telepathically.

But as he was about to wheel around to face whatever was approaching, he felt hot breath on the back of his neck, and he knew with a horrible certainty that he had waited too long.

C
HAPTER
9
Captured

B
efore Ryan or Regan could even think about moving a pair of giant hands lashed out from behind them, one clamping itself firmly over each of their mouths. Their startled grunts were entirely muffled by the large hand. Ryan fought for control and while doing so finally caught a glimpse of his assailant.

It was Dan Walpus!
Captain
Dan Walpus. He was wearing civilian clothes as usual—tan slacks and a blue knit shirt—but a military assault rifle was slung over his shoulder.

Regan recognized him an instant later and both she and Ryan immediately ceased struggling.

What a relief!

Dan caught each of their eyes and gave them a reassuring nod and then gestured with his head in the direction of the main room. They nodded back, letting him
know that they would stay quiet. He gently removed his hands from around their mouths and crouched down to their level. “Sorry,” he whispered, so quietly they weren’t sure if they were hearing it or reading his lips. “If I just tapped you on your backs you might have called out in surprise and given away our position. Had to do it this way.”

“What’s happening?” whispered Regan.

“Not sure,” mouthed Dan. “But I’m the only adult not captured. I was doing reconnaissance when I saw you and decided to follow. Glad I did. Didn’t know about the back-door access to this building.” He looked around and spotted the quarter-sized holes in the wall. “Very glad I did,” he remarked with a slight smile.

Dan removed the rifle from around his neck and propped it gently against the wall. “I’ll watch from this position,” he whispered. He pointed to the next two small holes in the wall that appeared at ten-foot intervals. “You man those. We need to learn as much as we can. If I think I have a chance to take them out at any point, I’ll signal you. If I do, I want you out of the building. Quickly and quietly. No hesitation, no argument. I will not have you in this building when the shooting starts. Is that understood?”

Both kids nodded.

“Good.”

They spread out, each lying on the floor. They cautiously put their eyes to the holes, slowly enough
so no one in the other room could possibly catch any movement.

Against the far wall of the main room, about twenty scientists were huddled together on the floor, bound and gagged. Regan fought off an inadvertent gasp.

Two of the captives were her parents!

They didn’t look injured, nor, fortunately, did any of the other captives. The hands and ankles of each captive were bound together with thin, but extremely tough, strips of black plastic. These plasticuffs, also referred to as zip-strips, were currently in favor with Special Forces teams because they were light, easy to carry, extremely fast and extremely effective. They resembled tie strips used to bind bundles of electrical cable. A soldier could pull a zip-strip from his belt, wrap it around an enemy’s wrists, insert the end in something resembling a tiny, hard plastic belt loop that was attached to it, and pull. Small teeth in the strip would ratchet it to the desired tightness in seconds. Unlike metal handcuffs, there was no lock mechanism to pick. They could only be removed if someone cut through the ultra-hard plastic, a surprisingly difficult task. It was virtually impossible for a prisoner to free themselves from these restraints.

Carl and seven of his men were separated from the scientists, and each also had their hands behind their backs, their wrists locked tightly together with plasticuffs and their ankles bound in the same way.

In the middle of the room, five enemy soldiers were
milling about. When they spoke it was in low tones and they appeared to be waiting for something. A few minutes later it became clear what when an imposing, black-clad soldier entered the room. He was unmistakably different from the others. He was unusually pale and towered over everyone in the room, including some of Carl’s men who were well over six feet tall.

As he entered the soldiers stopped talking and a hush fell over the room. He looked around and scowled. “There’s still one man left to collect,” he barked. “Were you all planning to just stand around here all day!” he demanded.

“You assured us that you would locate him yourself once he regained consciousness,” protested a soldier who was as thick as a tree trunk and looked strong enough to lift a car. “If you like, we can send out another search party.”

The tall man radiated an unmistakable air of authority. “No, Captain Hanly,” he said, calming down. “That won’t be necessary. He isn’t going anywhere. I’ll get him myself in due course.”

He walked up to where the members of Prometheus security were tightly bound and lying on the ground and pulled Carl roughly up off the floor. The head of security looked small in the giant’s grasp. After he was let go, it took Carl several seconds to steady himself on feet that were bound tightly together. Once he was balanced, the newcomer pulled the gag roughly from his mouth.

“So this is the great Colonel Carl Sharp,” said the tall, pale soldier, sneering. “It’s my understanding that while Dr. Harry Harris is in charge of this entire project,
you
are in charge when there is any threat to security.” He raised his eyebrows. “Would it be safe to assume that
I
qualify as a threat to security?”

Carl met his captor’s eyes unflinchingly. “Who are you?” he said evenly. “And what do you want?”

The man laughed. “I already have what I want. I want this city. I have one last man to capture and then I’ll have it completely locked down.”

“You are sadly mistaken. I have over twenty men remaining in this city who are planning their attack even as we speak. To secure this city they will consider me and the others expendable. If they can’t take you out any other way, they’ll bomb this building back into the stone age.”

This caused the man to laugh even louder. He stepped forward and stooped until he was directly in Carl’s face. “Nice try, Colonel,” he growled. “But you can’t bluff me. I know everything there is to know about your security. I know the name and background of everyone in this room. And finally, I know Captain Dan Walpus is still at large—the only person in this entire city who is. Once we neutralize him, there won’t be anyone left who can stop me. So don’t think you can scare me with your imaginary force of twenty men.” He smiled cruelly. “You have no idea what you’re up against here.”

“Then why don’t you tell me,” said Carl evenly.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Colonel,” he assured him. “I have every intention of telling you. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he added, smirking. “My name,” he began, pausing for effect, “is Tezoc Zoron. I come from a planet thousands of light years away called Morca.”

The eyes of every Prometheus team member in the room widened, and this would have been accompanied by numerous gasps if not for the gags. Even Carl couldn’t help but shrink back in surprise at this announcement.

“What are you doing here?” said Carl, recovering quickly.

“Try not to ask stupid questions, Colonel Sharp. We both know it doesn’t take a highly decorated colonel to fathom what I’m doing here.”

He paced back and forth in front of Carl, never taking his eyes from him, and continued. “I was a prisoner on my planet for twelve years. Twelve years!” he shouted suddenly. Then, regaining control he added in almost a whisper, “And for the past seven years, do you know what I’ve been doing?”

Carl remained silent.

“I’ve been studying your species,” he said. “That’s what. I’ve learned everything about you. I know your history, I know your cultures, and I know your technology and military capabilities. I’ve even learned the English language.”

“Okay, so you studied us. So you wanted to take a
vacation here on Earth once your prison sentence expired. Good for you.”

“My sentence did not expire!” snapped Tezoc. “I escaped. And despite the fact that my people have all turned into such sheep that their prisons are like luxury resorts, escape is considered impossible. In fact, I’m the only one who has ever escaped a Morcan prison in hundreds of years. I am unique, even on my own planet. I am superior. You should feel honored that I chose to come to this planet.”

Carl looked up into the alien’s pale blue eyes. “In case you haven’t heard, Tezoc, Earth is off limits. When the Qwervy find out you’re here, they won’t be happy.”

“Silence!” shouted Tezoc in rage. “Never mention the name of that putrid race again. Those arrogant fools won’t ever find out I’m here. I’ve planned too carefully. I found a way to escape prison, I found a way to come here, and I found a way to take this planet off their grid. They’re so busy sitting in judgment of other species they won’t even realize Earth is off the grid for another fifty years, and they won’t get around to checking up on it for another hundred.” Tezoc’s eyes burned with hatred. “And by that time, I’ll be ready for them.”

“Are these men from your planet also?” Carl asked, gesturing with his head toward the men standing behind Tezoc.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not. The men you see here are mercenaries: highly trained soldiers from
around the world who sell their services to the highest bidder.”

“Thanks for the vocabulary lesson,” said Carl sarcastically. “But I know only too well what a merc is,” he added distastefully, using the common military abbreviation for a mercenary.

Carl tilted his head in thought. “So you came directly to the city through a portal. But your men didn’t. They came from the outside. How did you manage to get them through all the levels of security and take down this city without a single alarm going off? I don’t care if you are an alien. I don’t care if you have technology that men can only dream of. It’s impossible. Maybe we could be breached through the use of sufficiently advanced alien technology—maybe—but not blindsided like this. An entire army couldn’t pull it off, let alone a sorry bunch of mercs.”

“And yet here we are,” said Tezoc, very pleased with himself. “I’m afraid I’m not going to tell you how we did it, Colonel. Think of it as a trade secret.”

Carl frowned, not surprised. “Once you breached the city, you knocked us all unconscious somehow. It couldn’t have been gas; we were too far spread out for that. How did you do it?”

So that was how they were able to gather up the scientists and Carl’s crack security team so quickly and without a fight, thought Ryan from his post in the hallway. Tezoc had put everyone in the city to sleep remotely
somehow. He and Regan were
already
asleep at the time and so nothing changed for them. Dan must have also lost consciousness, but they had obviously been unable to find him before he had regained it.

“You know what I’m beginning to think?” said Tezoc. “I’m beginning to think you’re trying to keep me talking. I think you’re stalling. Waiting for something. Am I right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Carl evenly.

From behind Tezoc one of the mercs raised his rifle and pointed it at Carl’s leg. He had an olive complexion and a cruel demeanor, as if he truly enjoyed hurting people. “Play any more games and I’ll take out your leg,” he said coldly.

Tezoc went berserk, pushing the rifle aside angrily. “What are you doing!” he demanded. “Captain Brice, I’m paying you a king’s ransom to follow my orders, not to think for yourself.”

He turned to all the mercenaries behind him and pointed at Carl. “If any one of you as much as scratches this man—
ever
—I will kill you in ways so horrible they are beyond your imagination. Is that understood?”

They all quickly made it clear that it was.

“And make sure the two men guarding out front get the message also,” snapped Tezoc. He began to pace silently, gathering his thoughts and attempting to calm himself.

Several of the mercs had their backs to the hidden observers peering out through the small holes in the orange wall. One of these, the shortest soldier of them all, had been so totally still the entire time Tezoc was speaking he could have been asleep. But suddenly, he jerked his head to the side. Then, without warning, he wheeled around and fired precisely on Dan’s position. His rifle was set on single-shot, and the bullet shattered the ceramic wall in front of Dan, creating a three-foot hole. Dan’s assault rifle was knocked from its perch against the wall. The tall captain executed an expert roll and grabbed the weapon from the floor, ready to come up firing, when a second bullet pierced his arm.