AL:ICE-9 Read Free Page B

violence, just petty theft and mischief. They would do enough odd jobs around here to stay useful, but no one here would vouch for ‘em.”
    “And the women, has the whole experience put them off?”
    “Just the opposite, they wanted to know if this ruined their chances for recruitment.”
    “OK, unless you feel the need to hang around there any more, why don’t you gather those four and head back. ALICE, is there another access port they can use to avoid the main hangar?” Jake asked while keeping an eye on the second half of the split display.
    “Not for the helicopter, but they can use a man entrance. Afterward I’ll park the helicopter in a safe place until the all clear.”
    “Do it. See you soon,” Jake replied, indicating the conversation was over and turning his full attention to the four men in the other half of the holograph. He was now sure the only valuable lives before him were the three women huddled to one side. The question was how to retrieve them unharmed.

Chapter 2
    First Lieutenant Bonnie Sullivan was just checking in on her infant daughter when the call about ALICE-4 came in. As commander of the Texas ALICE facility, she had a few perks, one of which was a nanny to watch the baby while she was on duty. Lately that seemed to be 24 hours a day. She had no more than peeked in on the girl when she received notification about the trouble in Washington. She had to rush back to the command center, where she expected a complete brief would be waiting that for her.
    As she entered, she acknowledged Robert on the far side of the room, with a smile. He had been using her facility as the center of his operations, scouring the region for the refined materials the ALICE manufacturing units required to meet their ever-expanding production needs. Jake had also tasked him with recovering as many precious metal stashes as reasonable without risk, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. The prevailing thought was they were valuable as payment for future purchases from their new trading partners. The “friendly” aliens, who they freed from domination by the NeHaw, were a potential source of ships and weapons to fight the common enemy. Only time would tell if the hunch paid off.
    Robert returned the smile with one of his own, and then was back at his tasks, huddling to one side of the room with several analysts. The team was going over old maps and querying the databases for leads to abandoned material stockpiles and known manufacturing areas.
    She and Robert had been spending a lot of time together lately, mostly meals and down time. She remembered her first impressions of the man as intelligent and with a kind face. She had regretted that he was wasting his life riding with that gang of outlaws, a group she was intent on eliminating. Later he had come to her, at great personal risk, asking for a chance at redemption and she had jumped at the opportunity to recruit what she thought was a valuable addition. That insight had proven a true prediction, and even Jake had praised her intuition regarding him and his group.
    The thought of Jake gave her a pang of guilt. She almost felt like she was cheating on him with Robert though nothing had ever happened between them and Robert treated her with the utmost respect. All their time together was strictly hands off. She remembered Jake had always said he was in no position to claim exclusivity, but now as the mother of his child, she was not sure that held true anymore.
    Pushing all that from her mind, she headed over to the other side of the room, sat down at a console, and started reviewing all the reports from Washington. Wow, Jake had a real mess there. She noted that he had placed a freeze on all further recruiting until they worked out additional security measures. She was concerned about Sharon’s injuries, but could find no updates on her status.
    Once she finished reading all the available Intel and verified there was nothing further she could do to help, she sat back in