Page 16 of Badass Alien Boss

“No, but the bar caught them on camera.” The vacant section of the alley appeared. No people. “Wait for it,” she said.

Seconds later, three men, faces covered, came racing around the corner—and vanished into thin air. There one second, gone the next.

“What happened? Did the camera cut out?”

“No. I checked with the bar. The camera is operating fine. The men just vanished. I believe theydidfollow you into the alley, but they were cloaked. That’s why they seemed to appear out of nowhere.”

“Why didn’t they wink out when the police arrived?” he wondered aloud and then answered his own question. “Because the authorities would know they had cloaking devices, which are banned on Luturna.”And that could launch a much bigger investigation.

“Let me show you something else. You never saw their faces, right?”

“No. They had their faces covered, and it was dark.”

“It’s a little lighter outside the bar. One of the men looked straight into the camera before he vanished.” She rewound the vid, stopping it two seconds before the men disappeared. “Now, magnify.” She tapped a button on the controller to enlarge the image and focus on the assailant’s face.

His wraparound facial covering had fallen back a little, still obscuring his nose and jaw, but revealing his eyes and forehead. Riveting on the five nodules arcing across the assailant’s hairline, Ruyn swore. “He’s Prellim. A member of the galactic cartel.”

Chapter Nine

“Don’t take this personally,” she said as they walked home from the police station, “but I think your authorities should have figured out your assailants were Prellim.” She was proud of the progress she’d made in her investigation but not fully satisfied. Like a grain of sand in her shoe, something about the situation bothered her. She couldn’t shake the feeling she was missing an important connection. And the police certainly weren’t helping.

“Why would I take it personally?” he asked.

“I’m an outsider criticizing your government.”

“I happen to agree with you. The police should have caught it. You uncovered more in a week’s time than they did in months.”

“They didn’t act happy to get the evidence we gave them. The commander had the look of ‘oh shit’ about him.” After Ruyn had identified the attacker as a Prellim, she’d copied the vids, and they hightailed it to central command of the Luturna Homeland Policing Agency. The presence of even a single Prellim posed a threat to the entire planet. The cartel could not be allowed to gain a toehold.

Prellim was the magic word that had gotten them past the desk flunky and in to see the commander who vowed to reopen the case.

“You made them look bad; they’d screwed up,” Ruyn said. “The commander is afraid it’s going to blow back on him, so he will hold somebody, maybe several somebodies, accountable.”

It amounted to too little, too late as far as she was concerned. While police had responded promptly to the scene, they’d then dropped the ball. They’d saved his life but put no effort into figuring out who’d tried to end it. They did not inspire trust. She would pursue her investigation with even more vigor. Rootingout the Prellims was the government’s problem. Her focus would be figuring out why they had attacked Ruyn in the first place.

Prellim…A wispy mental connection teased her consciousness again and then disappeared into the recesses of memory.What is it? Dammit! What am I not seeing?

“I don’t agree with what your brother suggested,” she said.

“I don’t agree with a lot of what he says, but what specifically are you referring to?”

“The Prellims’ motivation.” When they’d updated Korsan on what she’d discovered, he’d suggested the purpose of the attack had been to intimidate others and make them afraid to go about their business.

“I concur. I don’t think that’s it, either,” Ruyn said. “To cause chaos and fear, the attack needs to be public. Everyone would need toknowthe Prellims were responsible. But they’d hidden their identities. The authorities didn’t know. Nobody knew. People aren’t going to be intimidated if they don’t know about it.”

“Right.” And despite the terror they wreaked across the galaxy, the Prellims didn’t kill indiscriminately. They didn’t hesitate to murder somebody, but they killed for a purpose, to achieve something. So, why Ruyn? What did they have to gain from his death?

“I don’t know why they would want to kill me,” he commented, echoing her thoughts.

She noted how often they were in sync.We’re a good team.Her public boss, private client had become a partner. Normally, she insisted clients stay out of the investigation, but she valued his input.

He was surprisingly pleasant company. She enjoyed their conversations when they walked home from the office; it was her favorite part of the day. She always felt disappointed when they parted for the evening and disappeared into their apartments.He didn’t laugh often, but he had a great one—rich, robust, masculine. His smile, slightly crooked due to his injury, lit up his whole face. The facial scar added to his rugged handsomeness.

The Prellim…we told the commander about the Prellim…That elusive thought darted out and disappeared. Maddening! She hated not being able to remember, like when she went into the kitchen to get something and then forgot what she wanted. Except this could be a matter of life and death.

“Would it bother you to return to the alley?” she asked. Maybe seeing the area in person would jog her memory. She didn’t know how to get to the location on foot, but if he didn’t feel comfortable going with her, she could manage to find it on her own.

“I can handle it,” he said. “Besides—I have you to protect me.” He grinned.