Daphne Charlene shrieked in surprise as she saw five more men had entered her living room. “What are you all doing here?”
Wyatt tilted the open shoebox toward Diesel so he could see the megaphone inside, or rather the alien Defender. Indigo Smith obviously planned to shoot any humans along his getaway path in order to escape. He sure was resourceful to have gotten not only shackle stickers but also a Defender. Perhaps there really was some guard involved.
Daphne Charlene reached inside the shoebox before Wyatt could stop her and grabbed the device. If she pulled the trigger, they’d both be on the ground for an undetermined length of time.
“It’s just a mini megaphone,” she said, and pulled the trigger before Wyatt could stop her.
Wyatt’s eyes slammed shut and he braced himself to fall to the ground like last time in Cam’s office. He heard the thud as something heavy hit the ground, but after a count of three, was surprised to find he remained on his feet.
“That’s odd,” Daphne Charlene said. “Why did they all fall to the ground in a faint?”
His eyes popped open to see Diesel, Cam, Axel and Bubba on the ground like human dominoes, or rather alien. Luther was still on his feet, but had drawn his Defender.
“How are you not on the ground?” Wyatt asked.
“I’m from a different…” His gaze went to Daphne Charlene. “Uhm…country than they are.”
“Did I kill them?” Daphne Charlene’s voice was shrill. “I didn’t mean to kill them,” she said, waving the altered Defender around.
Luther raised his weapon and pointed it at Daphne Charlene.
“Wait.” Wyatt put a hand up to stop Luther. “I’ve got this.”
Wyatt calmed Daphne Charlene and convinced her it would be a good idea to lie down and rest in her bedroom. Once he accompanied her there, he insisted she hadn’t killed anyone as he carefully pried the Defender from her fingers.
By the time he returned to the living room, Luther had dropped to one knee to check that Diesel, Axel, Cam and Bubba were still breathing. He gave Wyatt a thumbs-up.
Wyatt put the obviously altered Defender back in the shoebox and put the lid on it securely. Turning back to the desk, he studied all the little square cubbies until he found the ID.
Yanking a laminated card from the lowest left-hand cubby, Wyatt studied it. It was an Arkansas driver’s license with an Indigo Smith picture, sporting his natural dark hair and blue eyes.
He held the card up and read, “Dane Gareth Asher.”
Luther said, “Well, at least we have what Indigo wants to trade for Valene.”
Wyatt was about to ask what they should do about the four Alphas crumpled on Daphne Charlene’s living room carpet when Bubba coughed and sat up. “What in the space potato farm just happened to me?”
Wyatt lifted the shoebox. “Looks like our celebrity prisoner altered the technology in a stolen Defender and made it work on Alphas.”
“That’s unexpected. And terrible.” Bubba rubbed his temples with both hands. “The abominable headache side effect isn’t very sporting, either.”
Diesel and Cam soon roused with the same aching heads and horrified attitude over what Indigo Smith had apparently accomplished.
Axel was last to wake up. He groaned. “Who hit me in the head with the freight train?” Bubba helped him to his feet, but the big Guardsman and Valene’s brothers all looked like the before picture on a pain relief commercial.
Wyatt held up the ID. “This is the ID Daphne Charlene somehow found for him.” He held up the shoebox. “And this is the altered Defender.”
“Where’s Daphne Charlene?” Diesel asked.
“She was freaking out because she thought she killed you all so I put her in her bedroom to rest. She fell asleep the moment she was horizontal.”
“A symptom of the other mind wipe we did, probably.” Cam sighed. “We’ll have to blast her with the Defender again to cover the time we were here.”
“It won’t hurt her, will it?” Wyatt asked. He didn’t see the need to punish her unduly.
“No. Unlike the reverse-engineered Defender used on us, it doesn’t cause splitting headaches,” Cam assured him. “It will make her sleepy, though.”
Wyatt nodded. “Well, she’s already asleep, so it won’t change anything.”
