Manipulate (Book 1, Alien Cadets)

Chapter 18

“Well, and who are they? What makes Earth any of their damn business? Why can’t they leave us alone?”

“That’s not the point,” Sam said. “We drew the notice ourselves, with the Hadron explosion. Now we have to deal with the consequences.”

“You sound just like them,” Roland said.

“And you sound just like the kind of people who got us into this mess!” Sam said, fed up with Roland’s refusal to face facts. “You’ve got an innocent family in there, and two fairly innocent Spo that you want me to kill. What if I did it? What next? Are you going to slaughter that family if the Spo don’t leave tonight?” Sam took a deep breath. ”I thought you might be a reasonable person, someone I could work with. That’s why I came. But you want me to undo the last six years.” Sam strode in front of Roland, getting between him and the door.

“I can’t change the past.”

Roland’s eyes narrowed. “You’re one of them.”

“That’s all you can see, isn’t it?” Sam said. “Let me tell you something else. My presence here is protecting you. The Spo can gas you at any moment. They can free those hostages. The minute I walk out that door, you’re done. And you know the Spo policy, right? If you go, so goes your family. Does that kid of yours deserve to die? You ready to sacrifice him for this? How about those guys, and their families? Are you willing to take responsibility for their death?”

“You’re sick,” Roland said, nearly spitting in Sam’s face. “You’re just like them. You lecture me about hostages, but you kill families all the time.”

The sight of those blue bombs in Malaysia surged behind Sam’s eyes. He had been involved in killing those families. More than that, he was part of the Spo program. He shared the guilt for everything they had done.

“But I’m not Spo.” Sam stepped closer to Roland.

“If I walk out of here alone, you’ll die, the hostages will go free. But I’ll spare your family. That’s the best I’ll offer. Or, you can let me walk out with Lucio’s family and the Spo, and you can watch the Spo leave Earth after the trial.”

Roland went for his gun. He was no polished cowboy. It took him over two seconds to get his gun out of the back of his pants, which was plenty of time for Sam to use the Spo energy shield. Humans weren’t supposed to use them, but Greg had given him one before he came in.

Sam used the energy shield to throw Roland across the room. He smashed into a tool bench against the far wall with a deafening metallic crash and lay still, blood pooling from his head. The way his neck was twisted meant his head wouldn’t bleed long. He was already gone.

The men in the lobby jumped to their feet. Two of them foolishly ran toward the door, and Sam’s next energy wave sent them flailing back into the front desk. They weren’t as close to Sam, so the force was appreciably less.

The other three men took cover in the lobby. Sam pressed his back against the wall, presenting less of a target for them. He inched forward, freezing when one of them took a shot at him. The Spo energy weapon was strong, but it took a moment to activate. It wouldn’t stop a bullet unless you activated it before you heard the shot, which would be a neat trick indeed. In other words, a bullet would kill him. The next time the shooter popped up Sam sent an energy wave toward him. Most of the orange energy was caught on the low wall between them, but the top of the shooter’s head was still visible. The force wave smacked the top of his head hard, slapping him down to the floor. He wouldn’t be getting up soon.

“Stop, stop!” one of the other guys shouted. “Don’t shoot us! We’ll come out.”

Sam waited a minute, and two middle-aged guys edged slowly out the door, their hands spread wide, palms out.