A professional thief goes up against an off-world spy in a race to steal a piece of dangerous alien technology that he must have to save his sister’s life.

CHAPTER ONE

San Francisco, USA — 2016

After we know we’re not alone

“Always nice to meet fans of my unique skills,” Nick said to the two Pleiadian officers as he studied the white and gold body suits that passed for their uniforms. “Doesn’t change the fact that what you’re interested in is a one-of-a-kind item that a lot of other people want.” He casually scratched his jaw where his month-old beard kept itching. “It’ll be locked up tighter than a virgin sacrifice.”

The angelic looking humanoids gave him a blank look, and Nick let out a long breath. Man, he hated dealing with these guys. “The security will be…um, embeccas.” Closest translation of the feline alien word: impossible to breach even with a lot of determination, but glorious and honorable if you’re a moron.

“Then you accept the job?” the male Pleiadian asked. Nick wondered if he realized that he’d just insulted him.

Moisture from rain the night before dripped sporadically into a bucket somewhere in the depths of the half-built high rise where Nick had agreed to meet. The Pledes twitched at the sound, and he suppressed a smile. Nick liked spots like this. Lots of junk lying around for improvised weapons and plenty of places to climb or duck behind if escape became necessary. Plus, the fastidious Pleiadians hated what they considered crude, primitive construction. Keep the home field advantage whenever you could, was his philosophy.

The human standing behind the aliens scowled, and his gaze darted around the deserted construction site as if he expected an ambush any minute. Short and compact, wearing jeans and a black knit shirt, the other guy’s cropped wirey hair and swarthy coloring reminded Nick of a wrestler he’d known in college over a decade ago. That dude had been pretty decent. Nick wasn’t ready to say the same for this guy.

“I told you we shouldn’t deal with this one,” the wrestler guy hissed, his hand twitching near the Sig holstered on his hip. “His work is sloppy with unpredictable results.”

Nick didn’t blame him for being nervous. It was always smart to be jumpy when one of the alien races contacted a human to do a shady job for them. They weren’t supposed to interact with the population until the quarantine was off. Acclimating humanity to their “space family,” as the politicians liked to call them, was the job of talk show hosts and bogus news reports filled with smiling goodness.

But accusing him of mediocre, erratic results was unnecessarily rude, and Nick considered taking exception to it. True, his personal policy leaned toward looking out for himself with only a few exceptions, but if there was a dangerous and hard-to-get item to be stolen, Nick was the guy to do it. Unless it was a job like this.

“Stealing the alien technology you want is impossible,” he said to the Pleiadians. “If I can manage it, the price will be high.”

“We should go with a more reliable source like I suggested,” the human growled. “One that’s familiar with the delicate requirements of dealing with your people.”

Nick smelled a personal agenda. “Be my guest,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Looks like I made a mistake in coming here tonight.”

If it wasn’t for his sister, he wouldn’t have risked meeting with them anyway. A lot of people found the tall, blonde and freakishly good-looking aliens the most palatable of the five groups that had stepped forward, but Nick wasn’t one of them. If something looked too good to be true, it probably was. Give him the felines any day. At least they knew how to party.

But the Pledes were willing to pay, and he needed money. What his sister needed was so rare and secret, unless you were the Queen, a Rockefeller or had a boatload of money, you could forget it.

“Your resources are too well known among our enemies,” the male said to the wrestler.

The woman who could be his twin nodded her head solemnly. “We cannot get involved.”

“Not directly,” the male Pleiadian finished.

Yeah, because as big-deal as these guys were, there were even bigger guys hanging over them, Nick thought. And from what he’d heard, they were more than happy to come down like a hammer on a cockroach if their underlings broke the rules.

The crystal blue eyes of the Pleiadians gazed steadily at him in the creepy way they had, and Nick got the impression that they knew exactly what he’d been thinking.

“He’s a wildcard,” the other man argued.

“He is the best. That is what we need, is it not 344?” the female asked, a definite edge to her voice.

The guy scowled and glanced at Nick, who kept his expression neutral. No need to let on that he knew exactly what a number name meant where Pleiadians were concerned. When they coded you, they considered you theirs.

“The part we seek in exchange for the ormah that you seek is our offer,” the male said.

Nick’s heart jumped into a stuttering, excited beat. He tensed as he reflexively pulled in his focus to keep his equilibrium centered and his emotions under control. The cure for his sister’s cancer was the one thing he was willing to do anything to get. How they’d discovered that was disturbing on more levels than he wanted to think about, but it also clinched the deal.

“You said you know who has the tech you’re after?” he asked, keeping his tone just short of bored. Never appear too eager in front of the client.

The human stepped toward Nick, and his hand touched his gun. “Don’t tell him anything. We can’t trust him.”

The Pledes turned chilling smiles on the guy, their eyes ice cold. “Remember who’s business we conduct,” the female said. “Remember your place.”

Tension pressed the swarthy features of the other human into antagonistic lines and a muscle ticked along his jaw, but he backed off. Nick noticed that his hand stayed on his gun.

The aliens turned back to him, their expressions snapping instantly into warm approval, their smiles nearly blinding him. “An Earther named Halifax Burk,” the male said.

At the mention of Burk’s name, Nick felt the ormah and his sister’s life slipping through his fingers. He forced his best poker face and didn’t let the sinking feeling pouring over him show. “Newest inheritor of the third largest black market operation in California? That Halifax Burk?”

Raised in luxury by his late father and sheltered from the business when his two older brothers took over, Burk was known for being a sucker for a pretty face and having a desperate hunger to be number one. Also a little paranoid. Probably because three months ago a car bomb had left him alone and holding the reins.

“Can you do the job, or not?” snarled the human.

From somewhere near the street a dog barked, and the guy’s head swiveled toward the sound. The aliens continued to look pleased, but uneasiness crawled up Nick’s spine like a large, hairy spider. His senses jacked up into overdrive, registering the soft crunch of a footstep on a gritty cement floor and the faint ringing of a nail accidentally kicked into a supporting beam.

Nothing like unexpected company to liven up illegal, covert meetings with people from outer space.

Chapter One, Part Two coming next week!

Book One in Judy Teel’s new YA paranormal-mystery series coming June 1, 2013!