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Chapter One

She rattled the shackles against the edge of the stool Her ankles were bound to its legs and her wrists to the back of the s on the low stool with her knees pressed together to prevent the, she waited

The roo with its bare walls, lack of s, and low ceiling Central to the room was a vast desk and seated behind it was the anonyate her His face was cast in shadohile she was illuht

She was starting to perspire

He swiped his hand over the console and finished reading “Tell me why you are here” He articulated his words clearly, but she understood hi to be the issue What she needed to hide was the truth

“My name is Freya Caspari I’le Network I’raovernments to improve relationships between humans and the Vendu,” she rattled off the familiar response It wasn’t a lie She was a journalist and her visit had been sanctioned by both sides of the divide

He shrugged “I know all that, Freya What I want to knohy else you are here”

“I’m part of the cultural—”

“Enough lies”

“I’,” she retorted

“You’re not telling the whole truth either, are you?” He sighed and puffed out his lips “I really hoped we could avoid this”

She sed hard From out of the shadows stepped another man A bear of a man, and like many Vendu—the alien invaders who’d arrived on Earth decades ago and never left—he wasn’t ed to appear bigger and brawnier than a typical ator rose from behind his desk, stretched his arms and his reat actor Unlike the guard, this man was tall with lines etched about his eyes and ray or thinner

“What are you going to do tovoice She stared up at the loouard, who’d folded his ars firmly either side of the stool

“When our great e of our border to your eenerous access to our cities, we assus would honor our rules Sadly, Freya, you were caught trying to capture ies of our facilities” He re