An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) by A.L. Bridges Page B

I scream as I pull my 10mm auto from the holster behind my back and fire.
    “Cole, are you feeling alright? That’s the third time you’ve discharged your weapon and we’ve been here for less than thirty minutes.” Natasha says.
    “He’s terrified of Australia and is convinced everything is trying to kill him.” Cheza explains with a tone of tired disbelief; like the family member of someone who constantly claims they were abducted by aliens.
    “Oh, right!” Natasha exclaims while I’m in the process of replying to Cheza.
    “Because everything is trying to kill me!” I exclaim; especially now that the sun has set and all the critters are out looking for food!
    “Of course it is.” Cheza says like she’s talking to a child while rubbing my back.
    “So why are we meeting this contact of yours in the middle of nowhere?” I ask Natasha once I’ve calmed down thanks to Cheza, as the wind picks up and whips dust around us.
    After returning Alice to her home, I ported to Houston to pick up Cheza, and then I ported us to Arizona to pick up Natasha. Natasha showed me a satellite image of the coordinates where we needed to be, so I ported the three of us here: to the fringe of the desert/ Outback part of Australia.
    “Because all of the Australian United Supernatural Special Investigations and Enforcement… wow that is really a mouthful … I’m just going to say AUSSIE; anyway, all of AUSSIE has retreated to a secret location.” Natasha replies.
    “Why?” I inquire.
    “It seems the vampires are trying to take over Australia, and I don’t mean just from the azeman.” Natasha answers.
    “That’s insane! It will reveal the existence of the supernatural to humans!” which is something that would be beneficial for Loki. If you were trying to destroy a world, wouldn’t it be easiest to start a war and have the citizens of that world destroy each other before you come in to clean up whoever survives?
    “They’re late.” Natasha comments.
    “And I’m thirsty. Did you two bring anything to drink?” I ask, feeling that it’s a bit hot to be wearing my armored jacket and jeans; I suppose it is summertime in Australia though. Both of the girls shake their heads in response.
    “I know! I’ll just use Neptune’s power over water.” I say and move the bandages on my left hand until I can see my silver palm.
    My left hand turns black and I hold my palm up to my mouth. After invoking my control over water, I not only blast about a liter of water into my mouth, but salt water at that. Cheza and Natasha laugh at me as I sputter the sea water back up; I really should have thought this through.
    “ Here,” Cheza says, grabs my left hand, and holds it out with the palm up. About ten seconds later, three ice cubes form in my hand, the salt having been stripped from the water due to the freezing process.
    “Thanks , Cheza.” I reply with a smile and pop the ice cubes into my mouth as I see a red Jeep Wrangler approaching in the distance. The Jeep pulls to a stop in a cloud of dust as the driver’s window rolls down.
    “Sorry I’m late ; getting the fourby here took a bit longer than expected.” A bulky blonde man in his thirties says with an Australian accent as he pats the exterior of the door through the open window.
    “No problem. I’m Natasha Holmstrom; this is Chezarei Vaele, top class operator; and this is Cole Vaele, consultant for The Agency and the Azeman Queen, as well as Chezarei’s husband.” Natasha introduces.
    “Nice to meet you; I’m Agent Simmons. We have quite the drive ahead of us.” Simmons says and we pile into the Jeep with me sitting shotgun.
    After buckling in and noting that he is a few inches taller than me, I scan Simmons and see an unfamiliar aura that looks like a pile of tan scales.
    “So, Simmons… What are you?” I blatantly inquire.
    “What do you mean?” Simmons asks.
    “I’m pretty sure you’re a Were of some sort; something to do with tan scales.” I