The general’s face was a strange grey white. “Having the Overlord of the Coletti Empire in your head is quite alarming.”
“More like terrifying. He’s scary as hell,” I replied.
Quinn pulled him to his feet. “Did the alien hurt you?”
“No. He saved my life.” Uncle Saul removed his helmet. “They hate the Tai-Kok as much as we do. Zarek is determined to wipe them from existence.”
A muscle twitched in Dad’s jaw. “If we are to stop the Tai-Kok, we need the Coletti as allies.”
“There will be a price to pay for their help,” Quinn growled.
A faraway look in his eyes, Uncle Saul nodded. “Yes, there will be, but the alternative is the human race will cease to exist.”
I smiled as I felt the Tai-Kok soldiers on the battle cruisers cease to exist. “The ships have been destroyed.”
“I’m verifying that.” Quinn pulled out his satellite phone and stomped off.
What a jerk. “We need to go to Mars and see what’s going on there. I volunteer for the job.”
“No,” Uncle Saul growled. “The Tai-Kok have put a bounty on you. Zarek was very clear. He wants you grounded.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Seriously? He can’t tell you what to do.”
Uncle Saul held up his hand. “Yes, he can, and I gave him my word. You start the police academy next week.”
I opened my mouth to protest then subsided with a resigned sigh. It was better than being locked in a bunker with Quinn.
Chapter Nine
COPS…
After the Tai-Kok invaded Earth the police departments morphed into the Civic Order of Protective Services or COPS. It was run like the old military reserves.
The police academy was still standing, and the training had a lot in common with the military. Lots of physical fitness, learning how to handle firearms, crime scene investigations, and the proper way to deal with bad guys; including hungry aliens. My favorite course was defensive driving. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, my instructor didn’t feel the same way and the wuss brought in my father to complete my training. Ugh.
Most of the cadets were a lot older than me and treated me like a dumb kid even though I could outshoot, outrun and out fight all of them.
My link with Kaelen had gotten stronger and while his faint presence in my mind was oddly comforting, he’d pop in from time to time to check on me. Which could be a bad thing or a good thing. Example: Cadet Jesse Boyd was seventy years old. How he passed the physical agility test and got hired as a recruit, I’ll never know. He could do the push-ups okay, he ran the two miles in the required time, but he couldn’t get over the six-foot wall. He tried and tried until Kaelen projected the image of a Tai-Kok soldier into his mind. Damn! He was over that wall like a twenty-year-old. Unfortunately, he landed badly and broke both his ankles.
Another example was when I was in the women’s shower at the academy. The other women had perfect bodies. Me? Not somuch. I cringed at all the horrified looks I was getting for the hideous claw marks on my back.“You received those scars in battle, wear them with pride.”
Dammit. He was right. I had survived and killed a shitload of monsters. I had nothing to be ashamed of. My chin came up,and I stood there proudly. Let them look.
“Your breasts are magnificent,”Kaelen announced.
My jaw dropped. What? How? My gaze fell on the full-length mirror by the door. The pervert was looking at us through my eyes. I averted my gaze. “You are a damn peeping-tom.”
“I am a male. We like looking at naked females,”Kaelen replied without a hint of remorse.
“How would you feel if I started ogling naked men?”
I felt Kaelen scan the area.“Where are these males? I will kill them.”
“What? You can’t do that.”
“I can and I will.”
Ugh. Testosterone should be outlawed.“I have no interest in looking at naked men, well, except for the strippers at the male revue. Those guys were hot.”
