"One of your sandpoppers." Zain scanned the room. "It disappeared into the sand."

She could tell something else was on his mind.

"What's wrong?"

"Besides everything?"

"I'm serious."

"I think he was ... spying on us."

Her jaw dropped. "Spying? It's a sand crab, for crying out loud. The only fear it has is being caught and dipped in butter."

"Haven't you noticed that they're everywhere, watching us?"

She crossed her arms, feeling mildly triumphant. "Well, well. And I thought only Earthlings were paranoid of being spied on by aliens." "Paranoid works for me. It would really help if you could decipher these images.

That's our only hope of figuring out what's happening here."

"Or happened," she reminded him.

He glanced out the door. "Right now, I'll take whatever I can get."

Chapter Seven.

T minus four days and counting. . .

At 1650 hours on the planet of Rree, a gentle chime interrupted Major Schuler's sleep, and he glanced at the bedside console. One light glowed indicating that a transmission had been received on his private line. Normally any messages could wait until morning, but access to this line was restricted to a select few.

He rolled to the edge of his bed, careful not to wake his sleeping mate. She snored lightly as he left their sleeping chambers and made his way through the house to his private office. Once inside, he took a seat at the circular desk and ordered up the computer. The security program scanned his retina and cleared him.

On the miniature holodeck, an image of a hulking man appeared and gave the briefest of bows under the weight of several weapons strapped to his chest and waist. Schuler raised an eyebrow in surprise. He rarely heard from his hired assassin unless it was urgent. This message could only be about one thing.

Ferretu's gold helmet gleamed, and the man patted the weapon on his hip. With his usual brusque style, he wasted no time on pleasantries.

"There is activity in the Zain Masters case. I have intercepted messages to him from his sister on Dun Galle. She has been attempting to make contact for the past twenty hours. No response from Masters. However, the sister departed her planet and met with one of Masters's associates, Rayce Coburne. I am tracking her movements now." He nodded. "Out."

The transmission ended, and Schuler was left to sit in the darkness of his office. For five years, Ferretu had monitored Masters's family and friends, and waited for a break. Every passing day brought Schuler an equal measure of frustration and relief. Even with a multitude of bounty hunters and all of InterGlax searching for him, Masters had seemed to disappear from the galaxy like a dead man. But InterGlax operatives as good as Zain didn't perish easily or quietly.

Schuler mulled the poor timing of this new development. Why now? Just when his scheme was so near execution. Why did the ghost of the only man who had ever come truly close to discovering his operation have to appear?

He leaned back and pondered the disturbing turn of events. The monitor in front of him displayed the remaining days and hours until the galaxy would finally know what he'd worked on for twenty years: plotting, waiting, and double-crossing InterGlax-his employer and his enemy.

Using Ferretu's gun, Schuler had left a trail of blood behind him: people who got too close, asked too many questions, or couldn't keep quiet. With that blood, Schuler had brought InterGlax to the brink of collapse. One more blow was all it would take. And that blow was finally days away.

All the pieces and operators were in place, and the countdown had already begun. Nothing was going to stop him from unleashing the most deadly force in the galaxy, not even the ghost of Zain Masters.

Zain watched Lacey work. He should be concentrating on finding what that little spy crab was up to but distractions abounded.

To be precise: Lacey. She rested her small hand against the wall, absorbed by a tangled image that only she could see. A little crease formed between her eyebrows as she concentrated. He wondered if she knew that. He wondered what that sleek, heavy hair would feel like in his hands. He wondered who Bob was, and what Bob had done to become the namesake for the biggest, baddest beast on the planet. But it was none of his concern. She'd made that clear. Everyone had a right to their secrets.

Still, the company was nice. It had been a long time since he'd had someone to talk to-and spar with at every possible opportunity, he added grudgingly. But then again, it had been a long time since he'd smiled,too. Perhaps it was worth the disagreements.

He surveyed the room again. There was more to this mystery than lasers, a few shipwrecks, and some odd little creatures. Something big. Something he'd really rather not get involved with.

Like a shadow, restlessness haunted him. This was the longest he'd ever stayed in one place, and he could feel the growing threat. Besides the trapped physical energy that he'd normally be able to vent on his now inoperative exercise equipment, he could also sense another urgency: the same intangible foreboding of danger and entrapment he had when he worked for InterGlax, usually just before all hell broke loose. And with that foreboding, guilt crept in, overshadowing all other distractions. Zain closed his eyes, trying to ward off the image of Crista's lovely body, shredded and battered, floating in a swamp of blood. But it was futile; those visions were his penance.

Crista. Her name alone still had the power to resurrect painful memories with violent clarity. He'd cursed the day that InterGlax had given him a partner, and a woman at that. But Crista had proven herself almost immediately, matching his drive and ambition and yearning to explore with equal measure. Their shift from partners to lovers was seamless-no arguments, no discussions over what needed to be done. She's been a good partner and understood that he was her senior, he was in charge. Right up until he'd got her killed.

Lacey started humming badly and Zain jerked back to reality. He shook off the past and the tension in his body that remembering always left. Why was he thinking about Crista again? He'd thought he had those memories under control, at least during his waking hours. His eyes settled on Lacey and he knew why.

She didn't have Crista's auburn hair or her tall, powerful body, and she didn't take orders worth a damn. She was petite and soft-vulnerable. She didn't have the body of a warrior. Didn't possess the skills of a woman who could hold her own.

She wasn't his type at all.

Right.

The last rays of daylight filtering through the arched doorways reminded him that time was slipping away. He pulled out his comm and activated it. "Status report, Reene."

"Nothing significant, sir. Power levels are holding steady."

It was the best he could hope for. "And the cat?"

"Has not moved in the past hour. I still have yet to determine its purpose or function."

Zain chuckled. Reene was developing a sense of humor. "Just make sure it doesn't escape. Lacey will have your circuits. I'll check in before we head back." He disconnected.

Lacey straightened and arched her back, presenting a distraction no red-blooded man could ignore. Zain looked away in self-preservation. He doubted she'd find his attention amusing.

"I need a break," she announced, rubbing her eyes. "Decoding alien script is hell on the old Earth brain."

He watched her walk over and hop up to sit on top of the counter. She handed him his datapad. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time, cowboy."

He grinned. "I try. You're not the traditional type, and I didn't want to bore you."

"Next time, try dinner and a movie." She pulled her legs up, folded them, and wrapped her arms around them. "I have fifteen of those designs sketched. I'm not sure if that's enough, but I can at least tell you that each image has the same number of layers and the same types of layers."

Zain nodded. Time was going to be a problem. He didn't know how to tell her without scaring her to death. Beside him, she sighed and rested her forehead against her knees, leaving her slender neck bare. His hand itched to reach out and massage the ivory skin. Of course, then he'd have to figure out what to do with the other hand.

Instead, he paged through her drawings on his pad, looking for anything familiar. Dots and lines, a jumble of codes, something that resembled a language he'd never seen before. Maybe Reene could identify it. Suddenly, he stilled. One code set looked like... "Map coordinates," he said aloud.

Lacey lifted her head. "To where?"

"Don't know yet. Could be local, planetary, solar system, galactic. Very unusual."

"That's not the only weird thing," she said. "Why does every one of these have a Stonehenge map? That part is just too bizarre to fathom."

She turned to him. The last bit of daylight filtered through the haze of sand dust inside the dome, illuminating her like a goddess. The soft light on her cheeks heightened the blue in her eyes and shadowed the pout of her lips. With one look, she had the power to chase everything from his mind. Almost.

Behind her, one of the images slowly lit up. Zain looked around and up to find that a dot above them had also come to life. The ground trembled, and from outside a bright light flooded through all four doorways. His senses went on full alert in direct proportion to the torrent of energy that suddenly surged into the room.

With eyes huge, Lacey took in the changes in the walls and the bright lights. She jumped off the counter.

"Wait!" he yelled as she dashed to the door. She reached it before he did and stopped dead. A tall, digital arch of light had filled one of the ground circles surrounding the dome.

Chapter Eight.

Inside one of the rings, a huge arch rose out of the sand until it stood about fifty feet high, casting shadows across the darkening desertscape. Lacey gripped the doorway behind Zain and held on for dear life as the ground rumbled beneath her. The arch glowed white and began to rotate faster and faster until it turned into a giant bubble half-buried in the sand.

"Zain, what is that?"

He had his rifle aimed at the arch. "A first-class transportation portal."

She glared at him. "Like I said, what is that?"

Before he could respond, there was a flash inside the sphere, and a giant metal capsule appeared out of thin air. It hovered, bathed in an orange glow, then lowered into the ground and was gone.

"Whoa," Lacey whispered. Then she gasped at another burst of light, another capsule, and the sequence continued. She looked behind her. Light blasting through the other doorways was probably from the other three rings. She noted a distinct pattern as they seemed to flash in a clockwise rotation.

Her eyes adjusted to the strobing lights, and she spotted thousands of sandpoppers scrambling away from the spheres. A few disappeared into the bubble and never came back out. Then another sound drew Lacey's attention: a discord of roars, followed by the unmistakable pounding of big feet.

Bobzilla was back. And he had friends. Three of the creatures charged around the circle of light. Lacey watched a clawed hand swoop into view of the doorway and scoop up a small sandpopper. Bobzilla tossed it into the air and then swallowed it whole. Lacey screamed, covering her mouth in horror. Zain pushed her back against the wall.

"Don't make any noise," he said, his rifle pointed out the doorway. Helplessly, she watched Bobzillas capture and eat sandpoppers like bears scoop fish out of a stream.

"Stop them, Zain," she begged.

"I can't," he replied. "I don't have enough firepower to hold off more than one. If they know we are here, we'll be next on the menu."

She knew he was right, but the slaughter was too horrible to witness. She buried her head against his big shoulder. Minutes passed and then, as suddenly as it had started, the floor stopped trembling. Lacey looked up just as the glow disappeared and the giant sphere dissipated.

To her relief, the remaining sandpoppers all burrowed into the sand. The Bobzillas roared in frustration as they swatted at the ground for sandpoppers. After a few minutes, the sand was quiet and the trio of Bobzillas lumbered away. That's when the other desert creatures scurried out and cleaned up any bits and pieces of dead sandpoppers. Within minutes, the carnage was gone. The wind picked up and swept the surface until the desert looked as if nothing had happened. Night took full possession, yielding to a starlit sky.

Zain disappeared outside. Numbly, Lacey made her way back into the dome, rubbing her arms. The glowing image on the wall was fading, along with one of the pinpoint dots on the ceiling. Good God. Bobzillas, sandpoppers, bizarre images that flashed on and off, and giant teleportals? This had to be real because her imagination wasn't that good.

Zain came up behind her. "Are you okay?"

She let out a semihysterical laugh. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He retrieved his pack. "I guess this must be a little overwhelming."

"It's turning into a regular Twilight Zone episode." She massaged the bridge of her nose. "What just happened?"

"Four teleportals opened up. Those were storage units being teleported in. Shippers."

There was something about the way he said that which worried her, but she had so much to worry about at the moment that it didn't really matter. "Teleported from where?"

"Using relay accelerators, their range is galaxy-wide. Portals that size are usually reserved for large shipping operations."

"Underground shipping operations?" she asked.

"Not usually," he admitted, and he didn't look happy about it. He activated his little communications gizmo. "Reene, come in."

"Sir. There was substantial activity in your vicinity-"

Zain interrupted. "I know. Teleportals activated around the dome. I need you to run some deep subterranean scans."

"That will require significant power," Reene replied after a brief pause.

"I realize that." He kept his eyes on Lacey. "See what you can do in the next thirty minutes. We're on our way."

"Howdy, sir," Reene chimed as they entered the rear hatch.

Zain noted the steamy interior of the ship. Reene must have had to cut the climate controls to conserve power. With each passing hour, he felt the danger of their situation increase-and their options decrease.

Lacey entered behind him and scooped up a waiting Oliver.

"Howdy, Lacey," Reene said.

"Uh, you too. Wow, it's warm in here."

Zain took her pack. Beneath it, her clothes were covered with sand and clung to her like a second skin. He failed miserably at not noticing the fine line of her collarbone and the way her small breasts stretched her shirt's knit fabric.

"Why don't you wash up first? Give me your clothes, and I'll have them clean by morning."

Her eyebrows rose delicately. "And what will I wear until then? I didn't exactly bring an overnight bag."

He opened one of the wall compartments where he kept a stack of shirts-some heavy, some lightweight. He paused, eyeing the lighter shirts, his imagination taking over. Well, it was hot in here. He withdrew one and handed it to her.

"This should do."

She unfolded it and held it up. It was nearly sheer, sleeveless, and hung to her knees. He tried not to appear the least bit interested.

She frowned skeptically. "This is the best you can do?"