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  “I can understand why you did it. I would have done the same thing if I was in the same position.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed down at the sleeping infant.

  Ten

  The hovercraft landed in front of the house. Kai jumped out and noticed that the Bot was standing completely still in the yard next to the black hovercraft. With his heart beating at a much faster pace, he ran over to the Bot. Kai dropped to his knees as he quickly scanned the Bot with a hand held device that he had pulled out of the hovercraft. The scanning process was completed. The Bot checked out fine.

  Kai rose to his feet with a confused look on his face. He couldn’t understand why the Bot was not moving at all. He turned and dashed into the house and called the Botics Department. Kai told the woman over the link what had happened, asking if there was something that they could do.

  “I’ll send someone out to fix the problem,” the woman, who had introduced herself as Lucinda, said before the call was disconnected.

  Kai raked his fingers through his hair as he turned to look the window and saw the still form of his Bot who would be able to give him the answers about what had happened to Shana. While he waited, Kai went through the house and noticed that there had been no struggle inside his home. He ran his hand down his haggard face as he opened the door to let in the repairman. Kai led the man, who introduced himself as Stu, through the house and out the back door where the Bot still stood. Stu picked up his pace and walked over to the Bot, dropping his toolbox on the ground near it.

  ~ * ~

  Shana opened her eyes to bright sunlight. She quickly shut her eyes again and tossed her arm over them, letting out a small groan. She moved her arm from her eyes and slowly sat up on the couch, her gaze scanning the empty living room. Shana stood up and quickly scanned the rest of the living room and didn’t see any of the men who had brought her here. Or Carlos.

  She eased herself over to the window and scanned the horizon in front of her. Shana walked over to the door and opened it softly. She stepped outside and placed her back against the house and eased herself along the wall looking down the side of the house. She didn’t see any hovercrafts in the yard. Just as carefully she eased her way to the back of the house and didn’t see any hovercrafts in the backyard.

  Shana eased herself away from the house and stood in the backyard with her hands on her hips. She was alone. “And I have no idea where I am,” she said softly as she walked back to the house and entered the kitchen. She began to feel hunger pangs and opened the fridge door, peering inside for food. “At least Carlos is not going to let me starve to death.”

  She pulled out some fruit that she recognized she had eaten at Kai’s. Thinking of his name brought a soft pain to her chest. Shana raised her hand and placed it over her trembling heart. She closed her eyes as she wished with all of her might that Kai would find her before it was too late. She may not know what Carlos had planned for her, but she knew, deep down inside, that it was not going to be good.

  ~ * ~

  “So, Shana is alive and well on Paradise,” Grogan mumbled as he stared at the dark-haired man on the view screen.

  “Yes, sir. I have her in one of my houses in the country. No one will find her. There is no way that she can escape either. The house is fully guarded with a Mambo Liz,” Carlos responded as he used a finger pick to dig the dirt from under his fingernail.

  “I’ll have someone pick Shana up while he is there and take her to Manaor,” Grogan said, he reached out and terminated the com-link. He sat back in his chair and gazed out into nothingness. His hands on the desk shifted and with his forefingers steepled in front of him, a small grin formed on his lips before he reached out and turned on the com-link once more.

  ~ * ~

  “Can you have him recall the last several minutes of what he saw?” Kai asked Stu as he tightened the last screw on the Bot’s back.

  “Sorry, Guardian, No can do. His circuit’s are fried. His whole memory has been erased,” Stu said. He lifted the toolbox from the ground and walked over to his hovercraft.

  Kai stood next to the Bot with a grim face and his hands fisted on his hips. He mentally swore as he walked away from the Bot toward Stu. “How long will it take to fix the problem?” Kai asked as he gave Stu a hard look.

  “It could take days,” Stu answered, giving Kai a puzzled look.

  “I don’t have days to fix the Bot. My mate is missing and the Bot is the only one who knows where she has gone.” Kai spoke in a hard and lethal voice. Kai gave Stu an even harder look.

  “I’m sorry man,” Stu said with much sympathy. “I’ll see what I can do. I also will try to regain the memory loss,” Stu added as he turned from Kai and walked over to the Bot. Stu lifted the Bot in his oversized arms and carried the machine to the hovercraft. After Stu made sure that the Bot was strapped in, he turned and looked at Kai once more.

  “I’ll do my best. There are no guarantees about the Bots,” Stu said before climbing into the hovercraft and lifting off the ground.

  Kai stood there, watching the swift red hovercraft fade into the horizon. He turned and faced his house. With his hands deep in his pockets, Kai slowly walked into the house. It stood empty and silent. With a deep, heartfelt sigh, Kai walked down the hallway and into his office. He turned the com-link on and quickly dialed Prix’s number. Kai leaned back in the chair and waited for Prix to answer the call.

  ~ * ~

  Shana munched on a small organge as she gazed out the window. “I’m alone. I can get up and leave,” Shana told herself. She gasped out loud and her mouth gaped open as she watched a greenish, scaled creature slither up to the window. The creature stared at her with small, beady red eyes. Shana backed away from the window in small steps until her back reached the wall behind her. She placed her hands against the wall as she breathed in deep gulping breaths, and her heart began to beat rapidly.

  The creature’s forked tongue slid out of its mouth and touched the window. Shana cried out and placed her hand over her mouth. Her heart, still beating wildly in her chest, pounded harder and faster. The creature roared at her before it turned and slithered away from the window.

  Shana watched the creature slither away into the yard. Her breathing was still ragged and hard. She reached up and rubbed her chest to try to soothe her pounding heart as she walked slowly up to the window and stared at the departing creature. “What in the world was that?” she whispered, her eyes on the creature’s back. Shana took a step away from the window and turned to dash into the living room.

  Her steps halted in front of the door, her hand over her mouth. “No wonder they left me here alone in the house. With that creature out there...” Shana stopped in mid-sentence. With one last, longing look at the door that could give her freedom, Shana turned away with a heartfelt sigh. She slowly made her way to the couch and slouched down into the cushions, her head pressed against the back of the couch.

  ~ * ~

  It was early in the evening when Shana heard another loud roar outside the house. It was followed by a second roar off in the distance. Her head whirled to the window as the creature slithered past the living room window. It stopped and looked into the dense forest. Shana slowly stood up from the couch, not wanting to draw the creature’s attention. She walked over to the window. The creature’s back was to her.

  Shana watched the creature’s belly puff out as it was getting ready to let out another loud roar. She jumped at the sound that it made. Seconds later another loud roar was heard that sounded several miles away from the house. The creature slithered on its legless body away from the house into the forest. Shana placed her hands against the window pane, feeling the warm glass against her cold fingertips. She stood and watched the creature’s body fade into the green foliage.

  She knew that this was her chance to make her escape. Shana turned away from the window and ran to the front door. Leaving the door wide open, Shana dashed out into the dusky evening.

  ~ * ~

  K
ai sat at the table in the dining room, staring at the place where Shana always sat when they shared their meals. He pushed the plate away and stood up. Kai walked down the hallway, pausing in the doorway to the bedroom that they shared, his hand braced against the doorframe. His head hung low. He gulped around the lump in his throat. His stomach churned at the thought of losing her. To what fate? He didn’t know. What he couldn’t understand was why she had left, or even if she left willingly or not. His first thought was that she had gotten her memory back.

  Kai had sent out a team of searchers looking for her. As far as he knew, Shana hadn’t left Paradise. He would somehow know if she did.

  “Where in the hell is she?” Kai muttered as he stepped into the bedroom. He stripped off his clothes as he made his into the bathroom. The Robo cleaner came out and picked the clothes up off the floor. Kai turned the shower knobs and water streamed out of the showerhead. He stood there, letting the water stream down his muscular body. He tilted his head back against the shower stall and closed his eyes, letting the images of Shana fill his mind.

  With a loud groan, Kai opened his eyes and quickly washed his body. He stepped out of the shower and dried himself with a coarse towel. He dropped the towel onto the floor. Once more, the Robo cleaner came out of the wall, picked up the towel and moved silently back into the wall.

  Kai walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. He tossed himself on the bed, lying down on his back with his arms tucked under his head. He gazed up at the ceiling as his thoughts turned once more to Shana.

  ~ * ~

  Shana ran with all her might. She came across a small hill and slid down to the bottom, dust following her trail. Her breathing was hard and fast. Once she was at the bottom, she sat down to get her breathing under control. She leaned her head against her bent knees. She wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand then raised her head and looked up at the night sky. She had no idea where she was or what the time was at the moment. All that Shana knew was that she had pressing matters that needed to be taken care of immediately. She rose to her feet and began to pull down her pants.

  When that pressing matter was taken care of, Shana walked toward the edge of the forest. She gasped out loud at the scene that her eyes beheld her. Lights twinkled like stars from the city below her. She pressed a hand over her mouth. “Why didn’t Kai bring me here?” she asked herself as she took a hesitant step toward the city.

  A sound vibrated the air above Shana. She looked up to see what appeared to be an outline of a hovercraft. With a rapidly beating heart, she ducked down into the thick foliage that she had just left. Shana waited until the sound of the engine faded into the distance. She left the refuge of the foliage and looked over at the city with the twinkling lights. She gulped several times as she looked over at the direction the hovercraft had gone, then back to the city.

  Her mind was made up quickly. She didn’t know when Carlos would find out that she had made an escape from the prison where he had left her. She ran with all her might toward the city.

  ~ * ~

  Kai bolted upright in bed with sweat pouring off his body, a ringing sound in his ears. It took him several minutes to realize that the com-link was indicating there was an incoming call for him. He pulled a blanket over his torso, covering his naked regions. Kai reached over to the nightstand and turned the com-link, answering the incoming call.

  “What?” Kai growled into the small com-link.

  “We haven’t found her,” Prix said in a serious voice, knowing what Shana’s absence was doing to his friend.

  “Keep looking,” Kai said in a hard voice as he raked his fingers through his hair. He looked over at the clock on the wall and noted the time. He rose from the bed as Prix continued. Kai pulled on his black jeans.

  “Look, Kai, we’re all tired and its past the Midnight Hour.” Prix stressed the words, Midnight Hour. “And you know what happens when the Midnight Hour comes.”

  “The hovercrafts are equipped with defense mechanisms. You can deal with the creatures of the night,” Kai responded as he pulled a dark blue shirt over his head and turned to glare at the com-link. “I want her found before she becomes a meal for the creatures.” His voice was lethal when he spoke and his eyes were hard and looked determined to find his lost mate. He left the house to go in search of her.

  ~ * ~

  When Shana approached the city’s edge, she noticed that the lights were being turned off, one by one. She was puzzled by this. The street was empty as she stood and gazed around where there had been people only a little earlier.

  She walked along a dark street trying to find someone who could help her find her way back home. All of the shops along the street were closed. Empty. Shana sighed as she past by another store that was dark. She stood alone on the sidewalk and spun around in a circle hoping to find a window where she could see a light shining. Even the houses were dark. She had no idea where she was at the moment. As far as Shana knew, she was in a city. “I don’t even know what time it is,” she muttered to herself. She looked up at the dark sky and her gaze found the moon hanging high in the sky. “It must be close to midnight,” Shana muttered to herself as she looked inside a darkened window, taking note of the now empty store that was a grocery market. Her hands touched the glass pane and felt the coolness beneath her fingertips before she pushed herself away from the gray building. A noise caught her attention and she looked up into the sky. She didn’t see what had caused the noise. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she continued to search through the night with the help of the twin crescent moons.

  There! She heard the noise of what sounded like flapping wings. Shana continued to search the dark sky until her gaze landed on what appeared to be an oversized bird. The creature was a tan color and five feet long, with a large, pointed beak. Her mouth dropped opened and she couldn’t speak. The bird resembled ones that had roamed over Earth in the early centuries. She had seen pictures when she was at the Historian.

  “Oh my God,” Shana whispered. The bird must have heard her mutter, because red eyes looked down at her suddenly and the creature let out a loud screech.

  Eleven

  Kai heard the Tetre bird’s call. He turned his gaze as he saw the Tetre looking down at his prey. His heart began to beat at a faster pace as he looked away from the Tetre and onto the street below him. He could not see what the bird’s prey was.

  He looked back to the bird and saw that the Tetre’s gaze was still on the prey. Kai jerked the shifter in the hovercraft to a hard right. The hovercraft moved in the direction he indicated. Kai swooped down and caught the bird’s attention with his black hovercraft. The Tetre caught sight of the hovercraft, lifted its wing and batted the hovercraft away from him.

  His vision blurred as Kai did a three-sixty away from the giant bird. He fought to regain control of the hovercraft and did so a few moments later. Kai was surprised at how far he had gone when he found the giant bird on his radar screen once more. His vehicle had been batted at least a mile away.

  His heart was in his throat as he pushed the hovercraft to its limits as he saw the Tetre swoop down to his prey. It was then that he noticed the prey was Shana.

  ~ * ~

  Shana let out a loud scream as the bird swept down and lunged its beak at her. She ran for the cover of the store’s awning and hit her head against the glass door--hard.

  Pain exploded in her head and she cried out, catching the attention of the bird as he flew up and past her. The bird stopped in midair and turned its red gaze on her. Shana raised a shaky hand to the back of her head. Unbearable pain brought her to her knees, and she shook her head to gather her bearings as the bird swept past her once more. Visions of her past suddenly filled her mind as she watched the bird.

  “I remember everything now,” she told the bird as she rose up on her shaky legs and continued to face it. At that same moment she also heard the loud roar of a hovercraft above her. The bird tore its gaze away from Shana and let out a loud screech
of anger. Shana watched as the bird flew up and batted at the hovercraft with its wing. She chose that moment to run from under the safety of the awning and darted to her right to another storefront’s awning, with her heart beating at a fast pace. She knew to whom that hovercraft belonged. It belonged to the man that she was sent to assassinate. And the man who held her heart in his hands. Shana slid down onto her buttocks and raised her knees to her chest. Tears slid down her face as she tried to figure out what to do next.

  One thing that she did know, she needed to escape this giant bird.

  Shana wiped the tears from her face as she stood up and looked up at the sky. The bird was on the street looking under the awning where she had hid under just moments earlier. Shana knew from the bird’s stance that it was not happy to find its prey gone. She ducked back under the awning before the bird could see her.

  ~ * ~

  There was only thing that he could do. Kai landed the hovercraft on the street, a hundred yards from the Tetre. He grabbed the laser cannon and handgun from under the pilot’s seat. He jumped out of the hovercraft and turned the safeties off the cannon and handgun. The Tetre watched Kai slowly approach him. The Tetre’s spine stiffened as he slowly walked toward Kai.

  Shana watched with her heart pounding as the bird passed by her hiding place. She did not dare to move a muscle until the bird was way beyond her and she was out of his visual range.

  Kai stopped a few yards away from the bird. A safe distance when he knew what the bird would do next. He watched as the Tetre stopped in his tracks and began to shake his body, his wings tucked behind his back. Kai tucked his handgun in the back of his waistband. He lifted the cannon onto his shoulder, and waited.

  The bird had stopped shaking then pointed his beak at Kai. Kai had waited for this moment when the Tetre opened his mouth. Before the bird let out a ball of fire, Kai pressed the trigger on the cannon. A loud boom filled the silence of the city. The laser hit its mark and entered the Tetre’s mouth. The bird let out a screech as he landed on his back.