Alien Mine Ch. 11

"That is another problem," she said; the FBI is still working on that. They don't know what to make of the killings and the way they were eaten." Leslie still felt nauseous thinking about it, there was a raw anger inside her as well.

"One problem at a time, there is nothing we can do about it. So in the meantime, get dressed," Rhys said again, "unless you want to go home naked."

She got dressed but thought it was actually a waste of time. Amancia would have her naked again five minutes after they got there.

As Amancia got up, Rhys swatted her left bottom cheek hard as she went by and felt an instant rush of arousal from Amancia. I have been neglecting that part of her; he mused and resolved to take care of it when she returned.

The following morning Mei let them know she wanted to talk. She had been sitting in the chair, barely moving as she explored until her brain hurt.

Rhys was drinking coffee when Mei and Thea came in. Mei looked exhausted; she had been awake for at least 36 hours. The lines of stress were evident in her face, but there was something else there as well, excitement. Rhys did not know for sure, but he expected it was the scientist in Mei fighting her for the opportunity to investigate alien technology.

She sat down tiredly, accepted some tea, and took a few bites of food. She seemed resigned but determined; Rhys suspected the conversation had a little way to go yet.

"I have spent almost 18 hours with your AI, and I am convinced of your story," Mei said firmly with more calmness than might be expected.

Rhys just nodded, waiting for her to continue. "If I do this, I do not want to be forced," said Mei.

"What do you propose?" asked Rhys, curious to see where this was going.

"I want something from you," she said, "I will bargain. If you agree, I will willingly have sex with whoever is required; I will accept this symbiont and do my best to help understand this technology, do you agree?"

"I can't agree without knowing what you ask of me," said Rhys cautiously.

"Mei gathered herself, looking Rhys in the eye. I want you to bring another woman, a graduate student at the university I work closely with. She is important to my work, a mathematical genius, probably better than me. She must not know of my involvement, though, and she must get a symbiote as well."

Rhys was surprised at the request. He didn't want to bring another woman into this, but it might be beneficial after all.

"What is her name," Sandy asked, accessing the records of the university.

"Her name is Bao," she said.

Sandy quickly found her records; scanning them, she nodded. "She is brilliant for a graduate student at a small provincial university."

"She was an orphan," said Mei, "with no funds or social standing. I helped her gain admission, but now she is in a difficult position. Her professor wants her to become his mistress; women are in short supply due to the one-child policy. She must give in soon or lose her position. She will be much more valuable here than as his mistress."

"What do you think," he asked over the uplink. He regretted that Thea and Leslie could not communicate this way yet.

"Seems reasonable; two scientists can work faster, three including Thea," Amancia said.

"I agree, we should be able to get her with no problem, though we may have to wait for a while. Two quick disappearances will set off alarms," Sandy added.

Rhys looked at Thea with a raised eyebrow. She nodded vigorously. "Someone with her background would be invaluable."

"Ok," Rhys said, "We agree, but we will have to plan it carefully. The authorities will know by now you are missing, and there will be a nationwide search; you were an essential person to the research team."

"How long?" demanded Mei.

"Probably a month; people cannot just start disappearing."

"A month is too long; he will force her into bed before then."

"What do you think? Can we just remove him," Rhys asked Kiania?

"He cannot force her if he is dead," she said, thinking about her Uncle. "I will take care of it."

"We will take care of him," Rhys said; "Bao will be ok until we can get her."

"How will you take care of it," Mei demanded.

"He will have an accident, something fatal," Rhys said, looking at Mei. "Will that be sufficient?"

"Mei looked at them, the intensity in her eyes evident to all of them. "As long as you agree to protect her, I am ready to accept the symbiont she said, standing up."

"Why don't you rest first," said Sandy, "you are in no shape to do anything right now. So you go lay down, and we will start to plan on how to take Bao. Go with Thea; she will show you to a bedroom."

"Come with me; let's get you something to eat first," Thea said, taking Mei by the hand and leading her into the kitchen.

Mei watched as Thea went to a wall and started pushing buttons. Then, returning with two cups of tea, setting one down in front of her. Mei picked hers up, taking a sip. Her mind was whirling with everything she had seen, the craziness of the alien technology and these people.

"It will be alright; you will be happy here," Thea said in perfect mandarin as she reached out and took Mei's other hand in hers.

Mei looked at the woman in surprise, both at her kind words and that she spoke to her in perfect Chinese. Also, the shy smile seemed to light up her face. Before she could say anything, a robot of some kind detached from a wall and glided over to the table with two plates full of food. Mei gasped in astonishment as the food and chopsticks were placed in front of her.

"Pretty cool, isn't it. Not what the Drans envisioned for their equipment, I'm sure, but we have been able to repurpose and even design new ones as needed. These are limited in intelligence, pretty smart, but just appliances."

Mei had seen too many new things, and mentally shrugging, she started to eat, just now realizing how famished she was. After a few bites, she stopped and looked at the woman in front of her. The woman was beautiful, tall, blonde, with long hair and clothes designed to show off her figure. Everything Mei was not. Will I really be happy here she asked; how can you know? I have just been taken away from everything I know, my friends, and colleagues; she started to say family but stopped. "I am here," she said after a moment, "I have survived many things in my life; I will survive this. I have very rarely been happy, life is hard, but if Rhys honors our agreement, it will be enough. It doesn't matter if I am happy; it never has," she said quietly while going back to eating.

"We will make sure you are happy, '' Thea said firmly. "You will see. Just give us a chance. We know your life has been difficult, at least what we have been able to discover."

Mei's eyes flashed with alarm, "What do you know?"

"Only what's in the records, that your husband died, then you show up on records employed as a maid, then suddenly you are in school. We tracked your progress, the papers you wrote, of course, but also the records of your supervisors, what they thought of you, and your work. We had access to your research, even the most classified, so we know a lot about the professional Mei, but not much about you as a person. I want to get to know that part, we all do, and we want you to be happy."

Mei was quiet; she didn't want to talk anymore. She didn't like people knowing about her; she had hidden much of her life from everyone. Even in China, records from backward villages were hard to come by; many things were not written down. "I am ready to sleep," she said as fatigue overcame her. Thea led her to a spacious bedroom with a large bed. Too tired for a shower, Mei crawled into bed without taking her clothes off. In seconds she was asleep.

Thea watched her fall asleep, then took a blanket and covered her up. She will be happy here, she said to herself, thinking how wonderful it will be getting to know someone like her. Closing the door, she smiled, thinking about the many ways Rhys would make her happy. Soon she won't be able to get enough of him, she giggled to herself.

Rhys had thought they were stretched too thin, the Om were not letting up, and they needed more bodies that could fight. It's time to reach out to the mercenaries, see if we can recruit some hard asses, men that would fight, he said to himself. There were plenty of veterans who get out of the service but don't really fit into civilized society again, men who liked the adrenalin rush of combat and would welcome the opportunity to return to action. Some tried the life he had been in, gun for hire, while some wanted to make ordinary life work but never really fit in. He had leads, a few people he could contact, and Leslie would have more.

"So, what do you think of my idea, ladies?"

"There are problems with control Rhys; what if one of them says no, or tries to sell us out, you know, like run off with his combat armor and weapons," Kiania said.

"We do need more bodies; we are spread too thin. So I think we either do that or find five women and let Rhys infect them. Though we are sharing him enough as it is, so I prefer the first option," Sandy said. What she didn't say was that bringing trained soldiers onboard would help keep her lovers out of combat.

"What do you think Amancia," Rhys asked?

"I agree with Sandy, but there is a solution to control. We can implant the comm gear like Leslie has but include a self-destruct, something big enough to kill them but not too big. This would have the added advantage of letting us keep them out of the Om's hands if they were taken prisoner."

Rhys was surprised at Amancia's comments. He had thought of that but hadn't brought it up, but she had cut right to the core. He was glad he couldn't hear Leslie's comments right now.

"That would solve the problem of loyalty," Sandy said, "I think it's a good idea."

"Ok, that's what we will do,'' he said to cut off discussion. Kiania, we need Leslie's contacts in the special forces guys. There's a Major I knew; he might be a good place to start; he will know who is getting out, perhaps make some recommendations.

"Leslie says why not use active-duty guys, just get them reassigned."

"Can we run off with people like that for up to a year or more without someone starting to look for them?"

"She says yes, but wants to think about it."

"OK, let me know. In the meantime, I want to meet with someone I worked with occasionally when I was independent. He had contacts in the mercenary community; I wouldn't mind bringing him on board. Kiania, this will be your assignment, I will help train, but you are going to command these guys."

"That should be interesting," Sandy said; "they will be in for a shock. You do realize this means bringing them entirely on board?"

"Yes, that is the only way I think; this will be an experiment." Rhys didn't like to think what would happen if one or more decided they didn't like it and tried to leave. On the other hand, perhaps it was time to pursue the Israeli option. They had lots of weapon systems they could bargain with. A nice antiballistic missile system that worked would get some interest. Perhaps the Israelis could be convinced they were cooperating with the CIA, and he could get a small combat team from them as well.

Later that day, while Mei slept, Rhys sat in a bar waiting for his colleague. It was a bit of a cliché, a secret meeting in a dark bar, but he couldn't help that Dave was a regular here. He had worked a couple of assignments with him, one government-sanctioned and the other a private contract. Both had involved some combat, and Dave had done well. A former Marine sergeant who had tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and a good combat record.

The place was small, five tables, the bar in front that had seen better days, and it had a limited selection of booze. Better stick to beer, Rhys had thought, looking at the selection of bottles behind the bar. Alabama wasn't known for its breweries, so he got a Budweiser while he waited. It was a typical country bar with country music playing, a few old-timers hanging around. It was early afternoon, so none of the working crowd was here yet.

When Dave walked in, Rhys recognized him immediately, short, wiry with a big grin. Rhys noticed Dave was carrying a concealed weapon but not making much effort to hide it, even though firearms weren't allowed by law in a bar. He stood to shake hands.

"Good to see you again; you are looking good; did you grow some more?" Dave asked, looking him over as he sat down.

Rhys motioned for another beer. No, just living good; it makes me look better," he said with a grin. You look like you're doing ok yourself." They made small talk until the waiter went away. Dave raised his bottle, and they clinked beers, "too old times."

"Too old times and future endeavors," Rhys replied.

Dave took a long drink from his beer, setting it carefully in front of him. "Not to be rude, I am happy to drink your beer all day, but what's up. We never contact each other except for a job. So I take it your 'future endeavors' comment means you have something cooking you need my help with."

Rhys nodded. "If you are interested, I have something that pays well, but it would be long term, perhaps a year," Rhys said, not telling the truth at all. Dave was a complicated man. Fiercely loyal but independent. That's probably why he got out of his beloved marine corps. Dave, somewhere along the line, had decided he would only follow the orders he thought were good. It led to some lively discussions with his officers, but his men stayed alive more often than not. Now he chose the jobs he wanted, usually for the CIA, though some were contract work. He could work well on a team, especially if he was in charge. Rhys wondered for a moment how he would like taking orders from Kiania.

I am looking to put together a team, a combat team, not assassination. There would be multiple assignments over the year. Not going to lie, they will be dangerous, but the pay is good.

"How good?"

"One million at the end of a year, all expenses covered until then."

Dave sat back, thinking about that. Rhys could see his mind working, wondering what it involved if the pay was so high.

"I am not an assassin," he said finally, "and despite the movies, no one pays that much to have someone killed, lots of guys out there that would do it for $20,000."

"No assassinations," Rhys assured him, "combat, bad guys Dave, nothing internal. I am putting together an initial team of five men. You will get some excellent body armor, advanced tech stuff, and a rifle that will make you wet your pants. Assignments around the world, but dangerous, I won't lie," he added again.

"What kind of assignments? You are pretty vague here; it's hard to tell just exactly what I would be signing on for?"

I can't go into specifics until you are on board, but this is sanctioned. The guys we are going after are seriously bad and dangerous. You will get to train with some of the best gear you have ever imagined, but the job is for a year, no payout otherwise unless there are casualties. You will be working directly for me, and I will be on most of the assignments with you.

Dave took another drink of his beer. He knew Rhys, not well, but he seemed like an honest man, a good soldier. They had worked together a couple of times on jobs that went ok. "I am going to have to think about it," he finally said, "that's a long commitment."

"I know, but look at the upside. You are employed for a year, all expenses paid. It's dangerous, but nothing you haven't done before. The backing on this is solid, and the payout at the end of a year is pretty good. But don't wait too long, the offer is good for a week. Besides, you don't have anything else going, you're divorced, your girlfriend threw you out, and your bank account is running low."

Dave's eyes got angry. "Just how the fuck do you know all that," he said, his hand dropping down below the table.

Rhys carefully kept his hands insight, both of them resting on the bottle. "Just doing a little homework, I am careful who I work with. Right now, I am looking for guys like you, real hard asses who don't panic in a fight, and people that can disappear for a year without too many questions. That's all, but I have to be careful."

"Who are the others?"

Rhys just smiled and shook his head. "Agree to join, and you get to know all kinds of interesting things, but if you have any suggestions, someone you want to work with, I will consider them."

"Who is going to be in charge of this?"

"I am, and a woman who is very, very good at her job."

What's her job," he said with a laugh," keeping you happy?"

"Killing bad guys. And Dave, before you go all macho, you have never seen someone like her."

Rhys could see thoughts running through his head, considering what he said.

"Well, a million dollars is very tempting, I give you that. But Rhys, it's also one of those things that seem too good to be true, so I will need some serious guarantees before I consider it."

"I am sure we can come to a mutually beneficial financial arrangement."

Dave just nodded, "Perhaps," he said, "I will give you my answer in a few days."

They talked some more about previous work, people they knew, just professionals catching up. In the end, Dave left, saying again he would think about it.

"Do you think he will go for it," Sandy said from across the bar where she sat? No one looking would recognize her; she looked like a middle-aged, overweight woman with wrinkles.

"Yeah, he's just being coy; Dave is going to check me out to see if the offer is legit. Leslie will handle that; his inquiries will go to her. And besides, Dave loves a good fight. He got out of the Marines for several reasons, but the main one of those was that they were not going to send him back into combat anytime soon.

He is one of those guys that love it no matter what he might say. Some men are like that; others sometimes end up with PTSD or want to settle down, but not Dave. That's why he has an ex-wife and several ex-girlfriends. He will call in a few days. One more, and then Let's go back and talk to our new scientist.."

"Talk? Is that your new euphemism for fuck?"

"Well, that too, but I am sure there will be some talking first; Mei is a woman after all," he said with a smile and a chuckle.

"That she is, and soon to be a beautiful one. Do you have anything particular in mind for her?"

"No, I don't think I have that kind of control. It just seems to happen."

"You should talk to Bob about it; the instructions for Amancia and I came from you; perhaps you can control the changes."

They left the bar separately and headed out of town in separate cars. The recruitment had to stay person to person, no phone calls that could be traced back to them. Thea was in the shuttle waiting for them, just out of town.

Mei slept for almost 24 hours. She had woken up disoriented, but then reality had come crashing down. Thea was there and had shown her the shower and gotten her some clean clothes that fit surprisingly well. She was grateful for breakfast, but it was awkward knowing what she had agreed to. Mei had little experience with men, first her husband, then a few lovers along the way. But it had been several years now, she was too involved in her work, and she had no wish to be involved with colleagues at the research center. However, the other women, Sandy and Thea, if those were their names, were nice. And every time she looked at Rhys, she felt a flush of excitement. That confused her; why should this American excite her, make her feel things she had never really felt before. Mei never became aroused by merely looking at a man, but here she was suddenly panting with need.