Read Online Alien-Under-Cover by Maree Dry - Free Book Online

across from them where a small child, no more than ten years old, lay eerily still. “I won’t leave the children behind.”
    He didn’t answer. She got up on her knees and grabbed his thick bicep. “Please, John, we cannot leave children here. I would never be able to live with my conscience.”
    “I will think on this.”
    She couldn’t detect any concern or compassion for these people in his voice. Given his profession, it shouldn’t distress her as much as it did. Her own father was an enforcer and she had seen firsthand the atrocities he committed.
    They were quiet for a while.
    “Do you like children?” he asked her and though he studied his boots she could see the tension in his shoulders.
    “I love them. One day I plan to have five.”
    He stiffened. “I heard Earth women do not want many children.”
    Earth women? “I do. I want an ordinary husband who has an ordinary job that comes home to me and our children every night.”
    Never did she want to be involved with the kind of people she escaped from. Her husband would be decent and hardworking. Not some thug who thought nothing of selling people and using dangerous drugs. Who killed on command.
    “You will be a good breeder to your man,” he said, sounding strangely hollow.
    It was almost as if her dream of having a family saddened him. Julia shook off that strange impression. She couldn’t afford to forget that he was a monster. One who called women breeders.
    Julia tugged at her blouse plastered against her skin. “Why aren’t you sweating? Aren’t you hot?”
    “No.”
    Was that another effect of the drugs?
    “Are you cold?”
    She realized she shook so hard, the fabric of the jacket rustled under her. “No.”
    “I will warm you.”
    With that eerie speed, he moved and picked her up. She found herself settled on his lap before she could think to protest. His heat surrounded her. In this stuffy place, she would’ve thought it would be overly hot and uncomfortable to be this close to him. Instead, the warmth radiating from him comforted her. How was this possible? He used to make her stomach turn and now she had to resist the urge to press closer to him. He smelled good among all the unpleasant odors of the basement. She must never forget what a monster he was. His unfeeling attitude toward the other prisoners showed more than anything what he was.
    “We have to get out of here.” Before she convinced herself he was one of the good guys.
    “Soon.”
    She moved and blushed when his thigh muscles rippled under her. He either used steroids or worked out every hour of every day. She placed a hand on his knee to brace her and frowned. He wore black cotton pants but she didn’t feel cotton under her hands. Even his hands felt different from what they looked. When he’d lifted her, the texture of his palms had been hard, leathery. He made her shy and it infuriated her. How could her stupid body like such a man?
    “What are you using?”
    “Using?”
    “You know the drug that gives you the strength to break us out of here.” She had to tread carefully.
    So far he seemed remarkably stable. If he was on Superman Crack, he could turn violent anytime.
    “I do not use drugs. I am warrior.” His voice had dipped low, dangerously low.
    “Uh, okay.”
    His crazy mind must have come up with the fantasy of him being a warrior. She could think of a few apt words to describe him but warrior wasn’t one of them. They sat in silence again, until she couldn’t bear the agonized moans of their fellow captives and the smells and his nearness anymore. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he lifted the cap off her head and allowed her hair to tumble down her back.
    “Your hair is like Solari Silk.”
    “Uhm, thank you, I think.”
    Solari must be a new company or place where the family found a way to do business. Or maybe this mysterious Zacar owned it.
    “How do you care for it?”
    He moved his fingers through her hair and starting at her scalp he