“No, and I do apologize for the medical unit being offline, thus not allowing the implantation of a transponder on the target.”
“I assume it will be repaired shortly.”
“Yes. Once we locate the female, we can ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Cade glanced at Jaspar. “Now what?”
“I don’t know. Could be her disappearance has a benign reason.”
“Females do like to primp,” Cade added, more to reassure himself.
“Or, could be she had a personal matter to attend, and, given she had no way of contacting us, could not inform us of a change in plans.”
That problem would be resolved once she got her implant, which would act as a beacon and communicator as well as a translator.
“What should we work on while we wait to see if she reappears?” Cade asked.
“Figuring out how we should approach the human leaders in a way that won’t cause panic.”
Which turned into a fruitless exchange, given they both couldn’t stop asking Beta if she’d located Colette yet.
A surge of relief hit Cade when Beta eventually crowed, “I’ve located the subject.”
“Where?” Cade bounded to his feet and stared at the screen, which switched from a display of the names, faces, and general information of current world leaders to the office where he’d first met Colette.
She paced the space before flopping into her chair, which she then spun to glance outside her panoramic windows, not that much could be seen with the fat flakes of falling snow.
“Do you still want me to be the one attending the meeting?” Cade asked without looking at Jaspar. Why would he want to eye his ugly partner when he could gaze upon delectable beauty?
“Go. I want to study one of the anomalies Beta detected more closely.”
“Is there a problem?” Cade glanced back over his shoulder.
“Probably not, but I want to be sure.”
“If you insist.” Cade stifled any hint of glee at being the one to spend time with Colette. “Beta?”
“Just say the word, Commander.”
“Beam me to the human.”
A blink and he stood in Colette’s office.
She didn’t swivel her chair, but she did notice his arrival. “Thanks for coming. Sorry, I’m late for our meeting.”
Something in her tone led him to ask, “Did something happen?”
“Yes.” She pivoted to stare at him. “The US military is aware of you.”
His brows lifted. “And you know this how?”
“Because they kidnapped me this morning and took me to a military base, where I was questioned.”
He balled his fists and rose up slightly on his toes. “Did they harm you?”
“No. Nothing like that, but I’m afraid I had to tell them about our meeting and why you’re here.”
“Don’t apologize. We knew exposure was inevitable. May I ask how they reacted??”
