Free Alien Attachments by Sabine Priestley Page B

the odds of Torogs being in Bellagio by chance?”
    “Zero,” Ria said. “Question is, are they following us somehow, or did they stake out the portal? And if so, are they lurking around all the portals? Do they even know where they all are?”
    “Good questions,” Ian said. “I don’t see how they could know. But even if they do, why? Why are they pursuing us? All they’ve ever done is try to sneak in and out again. This will cost them their membership in the GTO for sure. What could possibly be worth that?”
    “Maybe they’ve decided to change the game,” Marco said. “Instead of hunting humans, they’re hunting EPs.”
    “Too high a price to pay for a little sport,” Armond said. “No, it must be something else.”
    Marco mimicked Armond in a high-pitched voice. “Must be something else.”
    “Easy, Marco,” Ian said in warning. He swirled the ice around his glass, brows drawn together. His hand stopped halfway to his mouth. “Hunting. That’s it. But not to kill. To capture.”
    Ian stared at Dani, which as usual caused an array of interesting sensations.
    “What?” she asked.
    “I’m not sure.” Ian pushed off the windowsill. “You thanked me for saving you, but did I?” He nodded his head, talking faster now. “Something was off about the alley situation. I couldn’t put my finger on it.”
    Dani snickered. “You mean besides me being covered in alien innards?”
    “Yeah, besides that.” Ian grinned. “When I rounded the corner, the Torog wasn’t trying to kill you. You’d have been dead long before I got there. No, it was dragging you up the alley. Alive. They’re after you, Dani.”
    Now everyone stared at her. “That’s crazy. What would they want with me?” she asked.
    Ian shook his head. “No idea, but we’ve got to get the off-world portal working again. Everyone have their bases shielded?”
    The EPs all nodded.
    “Good, keep them up,” Ian said. “If I’d had them up on Cat Island, we wouldn’t be here now.”
    Jared leaned forward on a plush chair. “You had no way to know, boss. They’ve never been to the island before.”
    “Like Marco said, it’s a new game. Just wish we knew what we were playing.” Ian finished his drink. “It’s been a long day. We’ll prep tonight and head out first thing tomorrow.”
    “Where to?” Marco asked.
    “Obviously,” Armond said, as though Marco was a child, “Cat Island. That’s where the main portal is. That’s where the problem is.”
    Marco glared at the albino.
    “He’s right,” Ian said. “We need to get the portal open.”
    Marco leaned back on the couch and took a long drink of his beer.
    Wanting to diffuse the mood, Dani asked, “How do they work exactly? The portals.”
    Marco livened up and sat his drink down. “Portal Masters make them. It’s pretty amazing stuff. They’re powered by psi. Anyone with psi can use the portals, but they can’t create them. There are limits too. Like the amount of mass that can be moved and the number of times in an hour they can be used.”
    “If they’re broken,” Dani said, “then why did the one in the tunnel work? You said that was a portal.”
    “It is, but the portals in the tunnels are terrestrial and independent. They stand alone and only go from one end to another. The off-world portals, however, are all tied together via the main one on Cat Island.”
    “How many tunnels are there?”
    “Enough,” Ian said, clearly not wanting to say more.
    Dani pushed a little further. “So, you can travel around the world, but you can’t leave?”
    “Pretty much,” Ian said.
    “What if the Torogs destroyed the main portal?” Dani asked.
    The EPs all shook their heads.
    “You could bomb the place, burn it to the ground. Only Portal Masters can remove a portal,” Ian said.
    Dani swung her feet around to drape over the arm of the chair so she faced the group. “If it’s so impervious, how did the Torogs break it?”
    Armond scowled at her, which was the