Resolved, Gina strode through the forest, aware of the tripwires and other devices monitoring her progress toward the hidden cave.
Gina made it to the entrance to the old tunnel system that led to the underground facility. It was dark—inside and out. Night had fallen and there was only a sliver of moon. Its illumination didn’t reach inside the old tunnel complex. Gina walked into the darkness, sensing the others there…waiting. Clearly this was an ambush, but there was no other way. She controlled her breathing, ready for anything.
A fist came at her, out of the dark.
Gina ducked and spun, coming up fighting as her opponent engaged. She was fighting blind. She’d trained to do this many times in her youth, and many more since then in her time with the Zxerah. Her psychic gifts also allowed her to sense displacement in the air. That skill usually helped her stay well ahead of the blows headed her way. Her opponent either had to be as telekinetically gifted as she or else he was using night vision goggles or something similar. There was no hesitation in his strikes or his blocks. He was one hell of a fighter, whoever he was.
Gina marveled at his skill even as she spun into a flying roundhouse kick aimed at his head.
“Hold!”
It was the single command given in the proper tone of voice that would stop Gina dead in her tracks, as she’d been trained since childhood to do in her father’s dojo. She landed and stood ready, waiting, prepared for anything that might come at her out of the darkness.
“Lord help me, but I’d know that flying roundhouse anywhere.” The man’s voice stirred a distant memory. “Is there a Hanson under that ninja suit?”
“Show yourself.” Gina whispered, careful to keep her voice husky and low.
A flame flared in the darkness and a torch was thrown down in front of her. Gina wasn’t fool enough to follow the torch’s progress. Instead, she protected her night vision as best she could, seeking the shadowy man who stood some distance in front of her in the darkness.
The man strode forward into the small pool of light created by the torch. His face was only a little older than she remembered, his eyes even harder than they’d been when he’d trained with her father. She knew this man. He’d been one of the elite the government had sent to study with her father¾one of the few men who had caught her eye when she was just a teenager, striving to compete for Olympic gold.
He’d been a defender of the innocent in those days. Some kind of top secret operative she hadn’t been supposed to meet, but had run across from time to time as he came and went from her father’s studio. On one memorable occasion, she’d been part of an advanced class he’d participated in. He was a good fighter. Honorable and fair. It was good to see his skills hadn’t diminished over the years.
But was he the same man of honor her father had trained? Many years had passed. He looked roughly the same, thanks to the aliens changing their DNA to slow everyone’s aging. She needed to know what kind of man he was on the inside.
There was really only one way to find out.
Gina took off her mask and held his eyes as she bowed. The shock written plain on his face was almost comical. The joy that followed made her feel warm inside.
“My God, little Gina Hanson. I thought you must be long dead.”
“A touch of foresight saved my life.”
“And the rest of your family?”
“I don’t know.” She dropped her hands to her sides. “I was traveling when the bombardment started. I never made it home, and I don’t know what happened to them.”
“Then how—” He cut himself off, remembering their circumstances. This girl had always had a way of ruining his concentration, though when he’d known her, she’d been only a charming teenager, well protected by her family and totally off limits. “Forgive me.” He stepped back and gave the signal to his men.
Lights flared and the chamber came to life. He watched Gina blink in the sudden light and take in her surroundings. She was just as petite as he remembered, though there was no doubt she was fully grown. She had the curvaceous figure of a woman and the sleek muscles of a fighter under her close-fitting black garb. The fabric was of alien origin he saw immediately. He had to tread lightly. For all he knew, she was an Alvian spy. He had more than just his own life to think about.
“I’d love to reminisce about old times, but that will have to wait.” He hated the wary look that entered her lovely dark eyes, but he had to think of his people before his own desires. “How did you find the tunnels and why are you here?”
“I got the schematics of this place from one of its smaller partner sites. There’s an old NORAD installation in California. I’ve lived there for the past few years, under the protection of a secret sect of Alvians called the Zxerah. They’re sort of like old world ninjas. They answer only to the Alvian High Council and sometimes not even them. The Patriarch of the Zxerah has known about this network of installations for a long time.”
“Then why haven’t they come for us before? And why send you? Are you the scout for a larger invasion force?”
“The Zxerah have no interest in capturing humans. They took me in, and I’ve lived and trained with them as a member of their clan since just after the cataclysm. They have quite a number of human adoptees in the clan. One of them is a gifted visionary, and she works directly for the Patriarch. She foresaw it was the right time to act, to put all the enclaves of humans in touch with one another. I’m the one she said had to be sent. And now I understand why…it’s because of you, Jim. We knew each other in the old world.”
“I knew your father and your oldest brother. You were just a shadow in the dojo—a pretty face that looked good wearing a gold medal at the Olympics. I didn’t really know you.” Her face crumpled at his harsh words, but he had to take her measure. “I’m willing to listen, Gina.”
“That’s all we ask.”
“We?”
“You have allies you can’t even imagine, Jim. The resistance is building and every day more Alvians see the light. They’ve begun experimenting on themselves—returning emotion to selected volunteers among their population. Do you ever wonder why the only humans who survived had some kind of extra-sensory ability?”
Her change of subject caught him unawares. “Of course I’ve wondered. Do you know the answer?”
Gina stepped closer to him, putting herself into his personal sphere. “We all have some of their DNA. The Alvians sent an expeditionary group here centuries before the rest of them arrived. Those early explorers never made it back to Alvia. Instead, they settled here and mingled with the locals. We’re the result. Didn’t you ever wonder why the Alvians shared so much in common with our mythology about elves? As near as I can guess, the explorers mostly settled in Northern Europe and the DNA spread to every corner of the globe from there.”
“No shit?” That certainly would explain a lot.
“Apparently when Alvian and human DNA mix, the result is something altogether new to both races. Telepathy, foresight, telekinesis, healing, you name it, we’ve got it. They’ve been running experiments. One of their top female researchers even had a child by a human. He’s more powerful than any of us psychically. From all accounts, the kid’s like the second coming of Merlin or something.”
“He’s half alien. Where do his loyalties lie?”
“He has full human emotions and was raised by his human family. Where do you think?”