Close Liaisons Read online

  “We’re all safe,” said the black-haired K in a perfectly accented American English. “All of us left the Center at various points this morning and last night. Are you ready on your end, General?”

  General? Mia felt icy terror spreading through her veins. These had to be the Keiths – and they were working with the human forces that John had mentioned. And since she was observing them this way, their identities were no longer secret. Korum knew exactly who they were and what they were up to. Nearly hyperventilating in panic, Mia stared in horror at the scene that she knew could not possibly end well.

  The general nodded. “We’re ready. Our people are stationed at the agreed-upon points outside the Centers. The operation will commence upon your signal.”

  One of the female Ks, a brown-haired hazel-eyed beauty, approached the image. “And the ones outside? Do you have someone ready to take each of them out?”

  “We do,” said the general slowly, “but there’s one small problem. One of them is missing.”

  The female’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, missing? Who?”

  “Korum. We haven’t been able to locate him this morning.”

  The Ks hissed in anger, breaking into angry speech in their own language. The female who spoke gesticulated wildly, trying to convince the black-haired male of something, but he merely shook his head, repeating some phrase over and over. Mia desperately wished she understood what they were saying, but all she could catch was the occasional mention of Korum’s name.

  Apparently deciding on something, the black-haired K turned to the image again. “General, this is a major problem. Why weren’t we notified of this earlier?” His voice was harsh with anger.

  “We had the situation under control up until thirty minutes ago. Our two best fighters were on him, tracking him as he left his apartment. And then he walked inside a Starbucks and just disappeared. We never saw him come out, and we searched the entire place top to bottom. I was notified of this development a few minutes ago myself.”

  “You idiots,” the female spat at him. “How many times have we told you how dangerous he is? Why would he disappear like that? Did he spot your fighters?”

  The general stared at her with an impassive gaze. “Do you want us to call off the operation?”

  The Ks looked at each other, discussing it some more in their language. After about a minute, they seemed to reach a conclusion of some kind. “No,” the female said in English, shaking her head, “it’s too late for that. If something made him suspicious, then the worst thing to do would be to retreat at this point. We’ll have to deal with him later, and hope that not too many lives will be lost in the process.”

  “Do we have your go-ahead to proceed then?”

  “You do,” said the black-haired male, and the female nodded.

  “Very well,” said the general. “Operation Liberty will commence at nine hundred hours, Eastern time.”

  Mia frantically looked around the room, trying to figure out the time now. An old rusted clock hung on one of the walls. It showed 6:55. If that was correct and she was indeed in Costa Rica, then the attack would take place in less than five minutes, since the Central American country was two hours behind New York.

  The image of the general disappeared, and another picture took its place. This one was of a forest, with the familiar greenish-brown circular structures in the background. It was the edge of the colony, Mia realized. The Keiths were going to observe the attack from this underground bunker, where they thought they were safe.

  Mia felt her hands beginning to shake. Oh dear God, if only she could warn them . . . But it was too late now. When Mia had walked into Korum’s office, it was already well after ten in New York. Had an attack taken place, Mia would have heard about it, would have gotten worried texts from Jessie or an urgent alert from some news source on her phone.

  No, the Resistance must have failed. All she could do now was watch helplessly as the disaster unfolded right in front of her eyes.

  The Keiths paced around the room, occasionally trading brief comments, but keeping silent for the most part. The holograph showed a calm and peaceful border, with only the occasional flying insect providing some entertainment. Time seemed to have slowed, each second passing by more leisurely than the next. Mia found herself biting her nails, something she hadn’t done since high school, and watching the Ks as they grew more and more anxious.

  The clock hit seven, and all hell broke loose.

  Something shimmered at the edge of the forest, and there was a flash of blue light. The Keiths yelled in triumph, and Mia realized that something had gone their way – perhaps a shield had been breached.

  And then there was a blinding light, and the circular structure disappeared, dissolving before her eyes. Another flash of light and another structure was gone. Oh God, realized Mia, the attack was real; it was actually happening. They were taking out the guard posts, breaking through the Center’s defenses.

  Suddenly, the human forces appeared, rushing toward the border. Dressed in army fatigues, they all seemed to be trained soldiers, and there were many of them – dozens, no, hundreds . . . They ran toward the border, everything in their path disappearing in those flashes of bright light.

  The holographic image shifted then, zooming out, and Mia could see the magnitude of what was taking place.

  Thousands of human troops had massed at the border, most of them armed with human weapons. As the guard posts dissolved, that seemed to serve as a signal of some kind, and the attack began in earnest, the massive wave of human soldiers rolling toward the Center and then spreading out to encircle the perimeter.

  She could hear the Resistance broadcasting their demand for the Ks’ surrender, announcing that they had the nano-weapon ready to be used.

  And in the blink of an eye, everything changed.

  As the first wave of soldiers approached the border, there was another flash of blue light and the shimmer was back. The Keiths shouted something, and Mia watched in horror as the people in the front were thrown back by some invisible force, their bodies burned to a crisp.

  Her mouth opened in a wordless scream of terror, and then it was suddenly over. A huge wave of red light blasted through the battlefield, and the remaining human troops fell to the ground in unison and didn’t move again. Thousands of human soldiers were now nothing more than bodies lying limply on the grass. It was as if a bomb had gone off, but instead of blowing them to bits, it had simply killed them with that bright red light.

  Mia couldn’t breathe, couldn’t tear her eyes away from the destruction taking place. Her chest felt like it would explode from the force of her heart hammering against her ribcage, and hot bile rushed into her throat. It was all her fault; if she hadn’t done what she’d done, none of this would be happening. There wouldn’t be an attack, and all these people would be home with their families, going about their day instead of dying before her eyes. Thousands of human deaths were now on her conscience.

  The Keiths were panicking now, and the room was filled with their shouts and arguments. They were deciding whether to run or to stay here, Mia realized with a sick feeling in her stomach. They had risked everything and lost – and now there would be consequences for their actions. And then the ceiling about their heads shattered, and the Keiths screamed in terror as the bright morning light streamed down, the hut above them apparently destroyed. Mia screamed too, diving for cover even as her brain told her that this wasn’t real – that she was not the one in danger. Petrified, she huddled in the corner, hugging her knees against her chest and watching helplessly as other Ks jumped down into the room, dressed in the simple dark grey outfits that she recognized as their military uniforms.

  The black-haired male sprang at one of the soldiers, his attack fast and sudden, his motions almost a blur to Mia’s eyes – and he was thrown back just as fast, his body jerking uncontrollably as he collapsed on the floor. Another soldier – their leader, Mia guessed – barked out a command, and the jerking
motions stopped. The black-haired Keith was now unconscious. The other Keiths stood still, unwilling to share his fate, their expressions ranging from rage to bitter defeat. Whatever invisible weapons the soldiers possessed were clearly enough to dissuade the Keiths from fighting any further.

  It was all over, Mia thought dully. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the soldiers place silvery circles around the Keiths’ necks. The K version of handcuffs, perhaps . . . The circles locked into place with a faint click, and there was a sense of finality within that sound – the sound of defeat. The Resistance had lost, their forces utterly decimated and their alien allies captured. Operation Liberty had failed, and thousands of human lives had been lost. There would be no liberation of Earth, not today . . . and probably not ever.

  Another K jumped down into the room then, his movements gracefully controlled. Unlike the others, he was dressed in human clothes, a pair of blue jeans and a beige T-shirt. And Mia recognized the familiar slash of dark eyebrows above piercing golden eyes, the sensuous mouth that now looked cruel, set in an uncompromising line in his strikingly beautiful face.

  It was Korum. Her enemy, her lover . . . whose kind had just killed thousands of people before her very own eyes.

  Chapter 24

  Mia couldn’t think, her entire body shaking from shock and fear as she watched Korum prowl toward the Keiths. The expression on his face was unlike anything she had ever seen before, a blend of icy fury and extreme contempt. He spoke to the brown-haired female in Krinar, his voice low and cold, and she flinched, as though he had physically slapped her. The other female interrupted, her tone pleading, and Korum turned his attention to her and said something that silenced her right away. The male Keiths just stared, their looks ranging from fear to defiance. Then Korum turned to the leader of the soldiers and asked him a question. Whatever answer he received made him nod, apparently satisfied.

  “I asked him if all the other Centers were secured as well . . . in case you were curious about the translation.”

  Mia froze, her blood turning to ice. Slowly turning her head to the side, she looked into the gold-flecked eyes of the alien she had just been observing on the other side of the room.

  This Korum was wearing the same clothes as his virtual alter ego, but the mocking half-smile on his face was different. So was the fact that he was looking straight at her and speaking in English. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the drama continuing to unfold in the room, but it no longer mattered. Instead, all she could do was stare at the real-life version of her lover . . . who now undoubtedly knew about her betrayal.

  “Fortunately, they were,” he continued, his voice deceptively calm. “With the exception of the traitors you see before you, none of the Krinar were harmed. Only a few of our shield posts were destroyed, and they will be easily replaced within the next hour.”

  Mia could barely hear him above the roar of her heartbeat, his words not registering in the panicked whirl of her thoughts. He knew. He knew what she had done, and nothing she said or did would change the outcome. All she could hope for now was to delay the inevitable.

  “H-how?” she croaked, her bloodless lips barely moving. Her throat felt strangely dry, and she could taste the saltiness of her own tears gathering in the corners of her mouth.

  “How did I know?” Korum asked, approaching her corner and crouching down next to her. Raising his hand, he gently tucked the stray curl behind her ear and brushed his knuckles down the side of her face, his touch burning her frozen skin.

  Mia nodded, trembling at his proximity.

  “How could I not know, Mia?” he said softly. “Did you honestly think that I wouldn’t realize what was taking place under my own roof? That I wouldn’t know that the woman I slept with every night was working with my enemies?”

  “Wh-what are you saying?” she whispered, her brain working agonizingly slowly. “Y-you knew all along?”

  He smiled bitterly. “Of course. From the moment they approached you and you agreed to spy for them, I knew.”

  “I don’t . . . I don’t understand. You knew and you let me do it anyway?”

  “It was your choice, Mia. You could’ve said no. You could’ve refused them. And even after you agreed – at any point, you could’ve told me the truth, warned me. Even last night – you could’ve still told me. But you chose to lie to me, to the very end.” His voice was oddly calm and remote, and that bitter expression still twisted his lips.

  “But . . . but you knew –” Mia couldn’t process that part, couldn’t understand what he was telling her.

  “I did,” he said, reaching out to pick up a lock of her hair. “I knew, and I let things unfold as they will. It wasn’t part of my original plan; it wasn’t why I was in New York. I wanted to find and capture one of their leaders, to extract the identities of the traitors you saw today. But when you chose to betray me, I knew that a rare opportunity had presented itself – that we could strike a blow to the Resistance from which they would never recover . . . and I could catch the traitors in the process.”

  He paused, playing with her hair, twisting and untwisting the strand around his fingers. Mia stared at him, hypnotized, feeling like a rabbit caught by a snake.

  “And so I played along. I gave you every chance to succeed in your treacherous mission – and you did. You turned out to be resourceful and clever, quite inventive really.” His eyes took on a familiar golden gleam. “That night when you stole my designs was . . . memorable, to say the least. I very much enjoyed it.”

  Mia swallowed, beginning to realize where he was leading. “Y-you planted fake designs,” she whispered, a searing agony spreading through her chest.

  He nodded, a small triumphant smile curving his lips. “I did. I gave them just enough rope so they could hang themselves with it. They learned how to disable the shields, but not how to keep them disabled. The weapon they were relying on wouldn’t have functioned properly; I had designed it to work under testing conditions but not when it was really deployed. And I let them have a few minor weapons, so they could do some damage and get caught red-handed trying to escape . . . like the cowards that they really are. I knew that they would trust you when you brought them the designs – because you had already given them enough real information by that point.”

  “So you used me,” said Mia quietly, feeling like she was suffocating. The pain was indescribable, even though logically she knew she had no right to feel this way.

  “It hurts, doesn’t it?” he said astutely, a savage smile on his face. “It hurts to be the one used, the one betrayed . . . doesn’t it?”

  “Was any of it real?” asked Mia bitterly. “Or was the whole thing a lie? Did you set it all up, right down to our meeting in the park?”

  “Oh, it was real, all right,” he said softly, now stroking the edge of her ear. “From the moment I saw you, I knew that I wanted you – more than anyone I’ve wanted in a very long time. And I grew to care about you, even though I knew it was foolish. With time, I hoped that you would feel the same way about me, that if I showed you how good it could be between us, you would realize what you were doing, the mistake that you were making. And you were close, I know . . . Yet you still betrayed me in the end, not caring what happened, whether I would live or die –”

  “No!” interrupted Mia, her eyes burning with a fresh set of tears. “That’s not true! They promised me . . . they promised you’d be all right, that they would give you safe passage back home –”

  “Back to Krina?” he asked, his voice dangerously low. “Where I would be out of your life forever? And how would they have ensured that I stayed there?”

  Mia could only stare at him. Somehow that thought had never crossed her mind. In the background, virtual Korum left the room, and so did the soldiers with their prisoners in tow.

  He gave a short, harsh laugh. “I see. That never occurred to you, did it? That deportation was a temporary solution at best? No, the traitors would’ve never deported me . . . I am
too dangerous in their eyes because I have both the desire and the means to return to Earth with reinforcements – and that’s the last thing they would want.”

  Mia felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She hadn’t known . . . They’d lied to her. She couldn’t have gone through with it, couldn’t have done it knowing that he would be killed in the process. She had to convince him of that. “Korum,” she said desperately, “I didn’t know, I swear –”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Even if you didn’t mean for me to get killed, you still had every intention of exiling me from your life forever, you still betrayed me . . . and that’s not something I can forgive easily.”

  “So what now?” asked Mia wearily. She was beginning to feel numb, and she welcomed the sensation, as it took the edge off her terror and pain. “Are you going to kill me?”

  He stared at her, his gaze turning a colder yellow. “Kill you? Did you listen to anything I said in the last ten minutes?”

  He wasn’t going to kill her? The numbness spread, and she could only look at him, unable to feel anything more than a vague sense of relief.

  At her lack of reply, he said slowly, “No, Mia. I’m not going to kill you. I’ve already told you that before. I’m not the unfeeling monster you persist in thinking me to be.”

  Getting up in one lithe motion, Korum waved his hand, and Mia shut her eyes, seeing the virtual world dissolving around her. When she opened them again, she was sitting on the floor of Korum’s office, against the wall, still hugging her knees to her chest.

  Bending down, he offered her his hand. Her fingers trembling, Mia placed her hand in his, allowing him to help her up. To her embarrassment, her legs were shaking, and she swayed slightly. Letting out a sigh, he caught her, swinging her up into his arms and carrying her out of the office.