***

  Eric clenched his jaw. This wasn't the time, but damn it ate at him. No one kissed his girl and got away with it. If anyone was going to make her lips swell with passion, he would be that someone.

  First, he had Louers to take care of.

  He kicked the door wide and jumped in low. Darkness, complete and utterly blinding greeted them. There should have been some light from the windows, at least. Nothing. All his instincts screamed at him.

  "What's wrong?"

  He cast Storey a frown and nudged her to silence. Pulling his weapon forward, he entered the darkness. One step. Two steps. All he could hear was heavy breathing from those trying to peer into the room from behind him. A bright light flashed. He blinked, then blinked again. Black smoke wafted at the floor level.

  The smell hit him first. Sour and cloying, the fetidness filled his nostrils and threw him off stride. He bent slightly, gasping for air. The black smoke thickened. Then it hit him. He scrambled backwards. It was a portal.

  "Watch out," he yelled in warning. "It's an active portal."

  "I made it. Toss them through." Storey screamed back. "I didn't expect it to be that big."

  There was a shocked silence. Several of the men turned to stare at her, disbelief twisting their features. Eric, his temper barely held in check, said, "Next time, how about a little warning first, please."

  "Sorry." She hunkered down close to the floor, pinned against the wall. Not a good start.

  Louers rushed through the charcoal fog. "Don't let them grab you. They'll be able to take you through to their world."

  Storey scurried further back from the action, shaking so bad her legs couldn't hold her. Panic knotted her stomach down tight. She grabbed her stylus. She'd drawn the portal, but hadn't expected it to be so big or right in the front of the door. Making the best of the situation, sketching as fast as she could, she placed a Louer in the room then tossed him into the portal. A rasping scream sounded from the room. She ignored it, desperate to send the second and then a third into the portal. The intensity of the fighting increased and screams echoed down the empty basement.

  The smell seeped out to where she was. It caught her sideways, making her gag. She choked several times, her eyes watered.

  The sounds of fighting went on around her. She coughed a couple more times.

  "Storey, a little help please!"

  Crap, that was Eric. Still coughing, with tears running down her cheeks, she returned to her drawing, urging the stylus to increase the speed. Another male screamed. Sounded like Horath. She sank deeper into her focus and drew faster. The hell going on in there was beyond her experience. That Eric may not survive this hadn't been a serious consideration before.

  Then this hadn't been real before.

  Just then Jendron tumbled out of the room to roll to a stop at her feet. He groaned and lay there gasping in pain. Scratches raked from shoulder to elbow on both arms as if he'd been grabbed and had pulled free. She reached out with her right foot, planning to kick him, when he let out a roar, bolted to his feet and blasted back into the center of the fight.

  Gulping hard, Storey tore her gaze away from the fighting and tried to draw. Her nerves rattled making it hard to hold the stylus. Consumed with panic, she had to close her eyes to stay focused. Imagining Louers attacking Eric, she mentally picked them up and tossed them in, her hand mimicking her action on paper. It's as if she could see everyone clearly in the melee. Eric was there, so was Jendron at the back. Sketch, pick up, and toss. Sketch, pick up, and toss. Systematically, she picked them up - one, then two, then three. Suddenly she realized that Eric was in the air and flying toward the portal.

  "No," she screamed. She scribbled over the portal and Eric hit the closed wall – hard. She'd closed the portal. Shocked, everyone stilled and stared as they worked to catch their breath. Only two Loures remained. Eric bounced to his feet and shot them both. Stunned, they collapsed to the ground.

  "Oh, thank God." Storey clambered to her feet and raced over to Eric, throwing herself into his arms. "You're safe."

  He wrapped her up tight in his arms, his chest heaving from exertion. "Thanks to you. I've never seen a portal like that."

  Rearing back slightly, she asked, "Yeah, I had to use my imagination."

  "No, really." He set her aside, grabbed her hand and walked a few steps to stare down at the unconscious enemies. "Now what do we do?"

  The others shook their heads and walked around the two unconscious prisoners. Sweat now mingled with the noxious odor of the prisoners. Sewage couldn't have smelt worse. From the initial glance, everyone appeared to be alive and accounted for, although Horath held his arm at a funny angle. The others appeared bloody yet not seriously injured.

  Storey stared down at the creatures she'd yet to see up close. Her throat seized. Lord, they were ugly. Nothing she'd care to see late at night, that's for sure. They had human features, but disproportionate in size. And hairy. She could only see the face of one, but it resembled early Neanderthals with huge foreheads and thick jaws. She couldn't stand to be so close, their very skin reeked.

  "How do you attach codes to send your supplies where you need them?"

  "We attach tags generated by the codexes."

  "Will that work in this case?" She grabbed her sketchbook and asked the stylus to give her the sequence of numbers that the codex computer could pick up. Instantly, a series of numbers came up on the paper. "Okay, here they are."

  "Do we just write this on their skin?" she asked

  Yes, but use me to write on them. Then the computer will have my signature."

  Storey bent down to the skinny arm in front of her. "Then we'll do that now. I'm at the first one. Let's repeat the first number." Once she touched the stylus to the Louer's skin, the stylus scratched out a complex series of numbers on his skin. No blood or obvious tissue damage. Weird. It was almost like a temporary tattoo when she was done.

  She walked over to the other Louer and repeated the process. Then she stepped back and looked over at Eric. "This is your part now. Send them home."

  Eric nodded and punched his codex several times bringing out the musical notes she'd come to understand. "Paxton gave me the destination code that he'd found in the archives used for Mansfield. Let's hope that's still effective." Mist started to swirl about. "Get out, everyone. The mist will take whoever is touching it."

  The room filled with darkness. When Storey didn't move fast enough, she was grabbed and dragged out. The other men had filed out in front of them. They shut the door and waited.

  Eric and Storey stared at each other. "Is this going to work?"

  "It should. We send supplies to your world that way."

  "Interesting." Something to keep in mind.

  After a few minutes, Eric opened the door slightly, then threw it wide open. He grinned at her. "You did it. The room's empty."

  She stepped in to look for herself. "I did it? I think this was a team effort. Good. That leaves what about 31 or so others? Let's go."

  First though, they sent Horath and his broken arm back to Paxton for treatment. Now one man short, they needed smaller groups of Louers to keep the odds in their favor.

  Using the stylus, they found a group of five Louers. This time they transported to within 10 feet of their location, caught them by surprise and had them unconscious in minutes. The stun gun worked wonders now that the men were accustomed to using them.

  Storey stared down at them in shock. "I haven't adjusted to arriving, and they're already out cold. This is great." With Eric's help they did the code writing on all 5. Standing back, Storey watched as Eric shipped them home.

  "What's the chance of the other Louers being taken just as easily?"

  Eric shook his head. "Not."

  She grimaced. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Still, we have another 26 to do."

  The stylus came up with two in a group, and they were dispatched to follow their countrymen in a similar fashion.

  "Two is about right, given how tired we are."

  Eric nodded, fatigue pulling on his features. "Let's tell Paxton. He might have organized another team to help us. We're going to spend hours more doing this, otherwise. Not sure we'll be able to last. Let's find another smaller group and whittle these numbers down."

  Paxton reported everyone busy in rescue missions. It would be at least another hour before he'd have spare men.

  Groaning, Storey's group repeated the process with another group of 2 and then one of 3.

  Jendron said, "This system works better with small groups." He wiped his brow, his voice deepening. “I don't know how many more we're going to be able to do. Now we need to find more this size."

  "The stylus is looking." She glanced over at Eric. "How about an update from Paxton again. Reinforcements would be wonderful."

  He nodded.

  "According to the stylus, the last of them are heading our way." She groaned. "Oh no, apparently 3 more have joined that group. There are now 12 approaching. And no answer from Paxton."

  Silence.

  "Let's stay together and get the job done." Jendron had proven to be a great sergeant in this war. He took orders well and stepped up every time.

  "Agreed," the group cried out, flushed with their success. Tired but willing. You had to respect the foot soldier.

  Just then her stylus moved. Triumphantly, she read off, "Paxton is sending the other team to meet us at the last location." Watching the relief wash over the men, Storey could see how important it was for this last encounter to go fast and simple. She didn't want to consider failure and all that implied in this case. They'd been lucky so far. Horath's arm, a few scrapes and lots of bruises, but it could have been so worse.

  Just one more.

  And that one more time the other team joined right in, catching on to the workable system. The battle was short and intense, passing in a blur of men, screams, and action. Storey, huddled out of the way, hadn't even needed her sketchbook. The men handled this one all on their own.

  When the last one slammed to the ground unconscious, she jumped to her feet cheering. Using the same methodical system as before, they dispatched the last of them back to their homeland.

  Storey watched and waited. Standing there, she realized there couldn't have been a more anticlimactic ending.

  She was grabbed from behind.

  "Eric!"

  A vicious grip slammed her face against a hairy chest of an oversized Louer. The force of blow knocked her breath out. She fought to fill her lungs with air, the arm around her ribs squeezing her tight. Christ he was big. She struggled futilely against the iron grip. Black spots crept through her vision. Just when she thought it was all over, the steel band loosened, her world flipped and she was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of dog food.

  "Eric. Help!" Pushing against the Louer's back, she raised her head to see Eric racing behind them. The rest of the men were bringing up the rear.

  Shit. She'd lost her sketchbook. She still had the stylus, stuffed uselessly in her pocket for safe-keeping. Now it was pinned between her and this massive shoulder. Using her fists, she punched the heavily muscled back and kicked out wildly. Her kidnapper grunted once, but never slowed.

  Eric came fast. She could almost see him. She couldn't miss the blast of the stun gun. Catching the Louer in the side and narrowly avoiding her. The Louer stumbled. Storey bounced as the ground raced up to meet her. The Louer regained his balance, shifted her on his shoulder and struggled forward. She could respect his power and determination, but damn it, she was getting whiplash from all the bouncing.

  Eric got off another shot.

  The Louer slammed to a halt, swaying in place. It did a perfect face-plant on the ground. Storey was thrown on her back, her head slamming down hard.

  "Storey?" Eric raced to her side, his fingers gently stroking the line of her cheek and chin. "Are you hurt?"

  She groaned. "I'm fine. Or I would be if you could get this asshole off of me, please." She coughed, struggling for air under the deadweight. The men hauled the Louer off, letting fresh air pour into her lungs. Lying still, Storey shuddered in relief. They'd talked about death and dying earlier. It hadn't really sunk in that she might actually get hurt. She didn't have any problem imagining it now. Reality sucked.

  While she recuperated, the men dispatched the last of the Louers back home.

  Reaching out a hand, Eric helped her to her feet. He handed her the missing sketchbook. Touched, she realized one of the men had retrieved it for her.

  "Trust you to make things difficult, just when it's all over." He dropped a kiss on her temple. "I'm sorry he got the drop on you. We thought we had them all."

  "So did I." Glancing around at the men gathered, she said, "We need to get back to the lab and make sure those tears are closed and fast. We have to stop the monsters from ever coming back."

  "Paxton's on it. They'll be closed soon. It's over."

  Over. What did that mean? Her heart hiccupped.

  It meant the Louers were gone.

  It meant Eric's world was safe.

  It meant she wasn't needed any longer.

  It meant – it was time to go home.