“We did,” Jake said. “We go in just before dawn.”
He didn’t bother to mention the part about the plan being absolutely certifiable with a minuscule chance of success. Luckily, McKay didn’t ask for details.
“Good,” their boss said. “I know you probably still have a lot of planning to do, so I won’t take up a lot of your time. I’ve only got two things for you anyway. First off, and most importantly, we finally have something on those bodies you sent back. The autopsies are done and Davina has looked at the photos I sent her, as well as the medical examiner’s report. There’s not a lot more we can tell you from a tactical perspective, since you already know how to kill them, but at least we think we know what we’re up against.”
“Youthink?” Jake repeated.
McKay nodded. “Davina believes we’re dealing with an underground dwelling creature known asnatum. I said Ithinkwe know what we’re up against because these creatures have been nothing more than folktales, even in the supernatural world. Davina said no one knows much about them, other than that they’re supposed to live deep in the earth near geothermal hot spots and areas of intense volcanic activity. When they have been seen on the surface—which hasn’t been confirmed for hundreds of years—it’s only in places that are extremely hot. Think the Sahara or the equator.”
“If they haven’t been aboveground in hundreds of years, it must be something big to make them resurface after all that time,” Jake said.
“Exactly,” McKay replied.
Jes frowned. “What’s the deal with their stomach area being so vulnerable?”
“Ah, that.” McKay picked up a coffee mug from his desk and took a sip. “Turns out, their hearts are directly in front of their stomachs. According to the doctor who did the autopsies, the heart is located there, so it can absorb heat better, to keep them warm. The creatures also have essentially no eyes, ears, or nose, at least not as we think of them. They see the world through taste sensors on their tongues and have a complex sonar mechanism in place of eyes.”
Huh. That explained why their faces looked like they did.
“What about the shape-shifting thing?” Caleb asked. “How do they do it? Can they just look like anyone they want? Is there a way to tell if those three Bilderberg guys are really the real deal or natum?”
McKay shrugged to the only damn question that mattered. “It’s difficult to say. There’s so much we don’t know about these creatures. Obviously, they can take on a human appearance, but as for how they do it, or if there are limitations, we have no idea. But since Jake and Jes saw the creatures dig their claws into those men on the yacht, that might have something to do with the process. And since Jake and Jes watched Darby execute Arsenault, Khan, and Marconi, it’s safe to assume the natum have taken on their forms.”
Crap.
It occurred to Jake then that the man they’d been thinking of as Arran Darby might not be Darby at all, but could instead be a natum. If that was the case, where was the real Darby? Lying dead in a ditch somewhere? More likely, the natum had incinerated the body, so no one would accidentally expose the fact that the thing walking around in Darby’s expensive suits and driving his expensive cars wasn’t really him.
“You said you had two things for us,” Jake said, prompting their boss. “What’s the second?”
“We got information from one of the people involved in the transportation of those satellites Arsenault mentioned at the press conference,” McKay said. “Four large cargo planes flew out of Abu Dhabi two days ago. While the entire operation was conducted under high security, our informant was able to get close enough to confirm that at least one of the aircrafts was carrying a large amount of a flammable gas called chlorodifluoromethane. Interestingly enough, our informant didn’t catch sight of the satellites.”
Jake wondered what that meant, if anything.
“What’s that chemical used for?” Misty asked. “Methanewas in the name somewhere. Does that mean it’s some kind of fuel?”
“Maybe,” McKay said. “I’ve been told it could be some kind of coolant, too. But there seemed to be a lot more than you would expect for a satellite, even an experimental one.”
As far as what they could do with this new information, the short answer wasnot much. Other than the obvious: lighting matches around the satellite probably wouldn’t be a very good idea with a bunch of chlorodifluoromethane lying around. McKay logged off a little while later, telling them to stay safe and report back as soon as the mission was completed.
Everyone went their separate ways after that, with Harley and Caleb going to grab dinner at the hotel restaurant while Misty and Forrest said something about hanging out by the pool.
“You want to go get something to eat?” Jes asked after everyone left, taking Jake’s hand and lacing her fingers with his.
He took her other hand with a sigh. “I do, but I told the twins I’d Skype with them tonight, and I’m already twenty minutes late. I don’t want them worrying any more than they probably already are.”
Jes nodded, understanding but also clearly disappointed. “How about I grab takeout from the restaurant and bring it back here? We can eat after you talk to the girls.”
Jake resisted the nearly overwhelming urge to pull Jes into his arms and kiss her until neither of them could breathe and had to come up for air—barely. But he did give in a little, bending his head to lightly press his mouth to hers. Even that little taste made his heart thump like mad. He had it so bad for her.
“That’d be great,” he said. “I’ll only be a little while.”
“Take as long as you want. And let Zoe and Chloe know I’ve been thinking about them and can’t wait to meet them.”
Smiling, Jes went up on tiptoe to kiss him again, then left, closing the door with a soft click. Jake stood where he was, focusing on her scent. It was funny what it could do to him.
Giving himself a mental shake, Jake got his head screwed back on, took his laptop out of the safe where he’d left it, then set it on the desk and opened Skype. As soon as it connected, Zoe and Chloe were both on the screen, their expressions a mix of eagerness and worry.
“You were supposed to call half an hour ago,” Zoe said.
