Page 81 of Stealing Jia

LeeLee and LooLoo scooted up my body and perched on my head. “You belong Momma Jia?”They said at the same time.

“I do and you all belong to me. You can call me grandpa,”Dad said.

“Grandpa,”the twins crowed.

Pepe jumped on Dad’s leg. “Me belong you?”

“You do and Adoz and Chiara. You’re all my grandchildren.”

Adoz landed on Dad’s shoulder and chirped happily.

How had I gotten so lucky? Not only had Trayon claimed the children, but now my dad had too. My family was awesome.

“We hungry,”LooLoo cried.

“When Zarek is finished talking to Rakk, you may eat him.” Good Lord, I sounded downright ghoulish.

LeeLee and LooLoo bounced up and down on my head.“Hurry Uncle Zarek.”

“I will summon you when I am done,”Zarek replied a little testily.

I interjected, “How about some mealie bugs to hold you over?”

“Kay.” LeeLee peered down at me.“We go now?”

“We go now,”I said.

Trayon handed Cason to my father. “Guard them carefully.”

“With my life.”Dad cradled Cason against his chest.

I snorted.“Relax, I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to attack our children again.”

Cason patted Dad’s chest. “Papa.”

Trayon raised his eyes heavenwards.

“Come on kids, Zarek needs to talk to Rakk.”

Chapter Sixteen

Zarek’s mind meld with Rakk led to a treasure trove of information. Our traitor wasn’t as dumb as he appeared. He wore a modified version of Earth First’s sensors that blocked telepathic abilities. He couldn’t have his fellow warriors eavesdropping on his traitorous thoughts, now could he? In case the monsters turned on him, he had downloaded the locations of every Rodan base, and the codes to disable their shields and weapons systems. The data would be sent to the Bjarke High Command upon his death. Why them? That was the million-credit question. Rakk also inserted a virus into the monster’s mainframe that would shut down life support on every battle cruiser in their fleet. Zarek now had the codes and could trigger the virus any time he wished.

I had to say I was impressed by Rakk’s attention to details. Too bad he was ready to sacrifice billions for a pleasure house on a planet called Paradise.

What was even more impressive was the traitorous bastard had discovered who was aiding the Rodan. Everyone was shocked when it turned out to be Xabiere, the Commander of the Coletti eastern sector. His hatred of the hybrids had driven him to fund the Legionnaires and feed the Rodan classified intelligence. The assassins he hired to kill Zarek botched it so badly, Xabiere gave the Rodan the location of Zarek’s warbird. He figured the odds were in his favor. Seven battle cruisers against Zarek’s warbird was a win-win situation. But he didn’t factor in Trayon’s ship or me and Chiara. He was beyond furious when he learned Zarek still lived.

The fact that Xabiere was over ninety-two million miles away didn’t stop Zarek from destroying his mind and those who had aided him. The man was scarily powerful, but thank the Lord, he had a soft spot for children.

It took Rakk four hours to die and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Was his death horrific? Without a doubt, but his actions would have destroyed civilization as we knew it.

The battle plan to take the Rodan base and free the prisoners was a simple one. Sariel and Commander Zan would use the codes Rakk had stolen to take down the Rodan defenses, and life support systems. Jubal and his fighter pilots would engage the Rodan Marauders. At the same time, the Gorum would port in with an assault team to rescue the prisoners. Trayon and Zarek were part of that team.

There was only one problem with their plan. I wasn’t included. I stepped in front of Trayon when he tried to leave. “I’m going with you. Adam knows me. He’ll listen to me. If he’s becoming something other, I know I can control him.”

“No. I will not take you into a battle zone,” Trayon stated flatly.

I glared at him. “Earth was a battle zone for over eight years, and I survived.”

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