Alien Hunter: Underworld by Whitley Strieber

Diana.”
    There was the slightest hesitation.
    â€œDiana?”
    â€œYou said we need to get out of here, Flynn.”
    He started the Range Rover as Geri and Diana tumbled in and locked their doors. He drove to the end of Plainview and out into the flat prairie beyond, bouncing along the same dirt track that he and Mac and Eddie had used going deer hunting together, and later taking dates to look at the stars.
    He took out his cell phone and called Eddie.
    â€œStay the hell out of the town until further notice. It’s quarantined, do you understand? Everybody out.”
    â€œFlynn, what in God’s name are you doing? What were those shots?”
    â€œYou didn’t hear anything. You have nothing to tell the press or anybody else, any of you. National security.”
    â€œOkay, Flynn, I hear you.”
    Flynn hung up.
    Diana was on her own phone. “I want a big cleanup crew to Elmwood, Texas, before dawn. There is alien material on the streets, and we want it gone. Out of there. Every trace.” She listened. “Call out the whole operation, everybody you need.” She glanced at her watch. “Get here no later than four.”
    He did not hate; it was inefficient. He said, “It’s not over. They’re going to come after us again.”
    He was driving through a grazed-down pasture on the Triple Horn Ranch, a forty-thousand-acre spread bordered by the railroad and the interstate.
    If they got out of this situation, which he doubted they would, he had quite a number of questions for Geri, and she would not fail to answer—he would see to that.
    â€œWhere are we going?” Diana asked.
    â€œAway. Far away.”
    â€œThey went to your town to break your heart.”
    â€œThey did.”
    â€œGeri,” Diana said quietly, “we need an army with Flynn’s capabilities.”
    â€œWe do,” he agreed.
    â€œYou can’t raise an army?” Geri asked.
    â€œOur problem is that we can’t find anybody else as fast as Flynn who can also do this work. So he has to be an army of one.”
    â€œThat can’t last.”
    â€œThat’s for damn sure,” he said. “We barely got out of Elmwood, and that’ll be the last time we escape, if we have. Geri, what abilities do they have to track us right now?”
    â€œA vehicle on an isolated roadway like this would be easy.”
    â€œAnd are they likely to be doing that?”
    â€œI would think so. But remember, we’re dealing with a few hundred individuals. They’ve come here because Earth is easy. It’s undefended.”
    â€œWhy don’t you defend us? Your military could surely handle a small force like that.”
    â€œIt was a miracle that I got here. I have no idea if my pilot will even get home alive. Or if I’ll ever be able to leave Earth.”
    Diana said, “Oh, Jesus.”
    Flynn said nothing.
    â€œYou’re displeased?”
    â€œJust how much trouble is Aeon in, anyway?” Diana asked.
    â€œI’m not supposed to talk about it.”
    â€œBut you’re going to,” Flynn said.
    She said no more.
    He decided that he’d come back to this when the time was right, but one thing was very clear: Aeon was not some sort of giant United States or European Union like the exo team imagined. He could see that what was happening here on Earth was such a sideshow to them that they had only seen their way clear to sending a single officer, and a kid at that. Geri was no Oltisis, not wise, not deeply professional. Unlike him, though, she could breathe the air without getting allergies and walk the streets without spreading terror. Progress of a sort, but he would rather have had a seasoned cop.
    He finally reached the interstate and slid into the traffic pattern. Hopefully, they would be a little less conspicuous in the flow of vehicles.
    â€œIsn’t Menard behind us?” Diana asked.
    â€œWe’re not going to