Expendable, but ultimately useless despite their numbers.
Benoit’s lips curled at the corners as he remembered the fragmented images he had seen minutes before. Perhaps brute force wasn’t the answer.
“If they expect us,” he murmured, “then we won’t disappoint them.”
He lifted his hand, signaling.
From the edge of the formation, a tall woman stepped forward. Her blond hair was braided tight against her skull. Her cold blue eyes locked on him as she approached. The rifle slung across her back and the twin pistols at her waist didn’t seem like decorations.
Olga Morozova’s reputation proceeded her. He had chosen her with care. She had run multiple successful missions for him in Africa.
“Are your teams in position?” he asked.
She inclined her head. “Yes, sir.”
Benoit gestured toward Andre. “Explain what you found.” He turned to the woman. “Adjust your infiltration pattern accordingly.Divide into three groups. Pressure all fronts. Minimal subtlety. Maximum pressure. Do not engage until I give the order.”
Olga gave a crisp nod. “Understood.”
Andre quickly ran through security surrounding the cabin and forests. Olga listened carefully, asking few questions before she pivoted and strode away, calling out commands in Russian-accented English as her boots crunched over dead leaves and gravel.
Andre shifted nervously again. “Sir, what about me?”
Benoit looked at him. Really looked at him.
And smiled.
“You’re driving.”
Andre blinked with surprise. “Driving… where?”
“Me… to the front door.”
Benoit’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s time I introduced myself to the Aeto brothers. Let’s see what makes them so special.”
The air tightened as Benoit stepped past him toward the waiting convoy. Behind him, the woods seemed to hold their breath.
He had worked too hard, for too long, to let his prized pupil slip through his fingers again. He still had an ace up his sleeve.
Nikos stood on the wide wooden porch, the sun-warmed planks beneath his boots at odds with the chill skimming the late afternoon air. His fingers curled around the mug of cooling coffee, but his focus was on the two towering figures stationed at the edge of the forest—muscular, armored, and speaking in a guttural language that sounded like steel grinding over stone.
They didn’t belong in this world.
They looked like they’d stepped out of a sci-fi movie—long, black hair pulled back at the nape, eyes glowing silver in the shadows beneath their intense brows, black leather stretched taut across bodies built for war.
Nikos didn’t like unknown variables. And aliens? Those were right up there with Bigfoot. If he hadn’t been so worried about Kiki’s safety—and known that he was already dealing with the unimaginable—he probably would have been screaming like a banshee in terror.
Instead, he leaned slightly toward Cosmos, his voice pitched low. “You sure about these guys?”
Cosmos followed his gaze, then sipped his tea like they were discussing the weather. “Absolutely. Teriff is my father-in-law and Mak is my brother-in-law. Be thankful the others haven’t shown up. Mak,” He nodded toward the taller of the two aliens, “… could probably rip a tank in half with his bare hands, but he’s really a big teddy bear once you get to know him.”
Nikos snorted softly, not taking his eyes off them. “That’s sounds… comforting. Do you mind my asking how you met them?”
Cosmos’s mouth quirked. “A few years back, I was testing a teleportation prototype—something that was supposed to work like a quantum leap between coordinates. Tink, a friend of mine, was helping. Somehow, I made a miscalculation, and the gateway opened onto a Prime warship. The next thing I know, I’ve got a warehouse full of horny warriors and one hell of an intergalactic diplomatic incident.”
Nikos’s lips twitched despite himself. “Sounds like a party.”
The wry look Cosmos shot him made the corner of Nikos’s mouth lift—just for a second.
