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  No Choice

  Kaylid Chronicles

  Mel Todd

  Bad Ash Publishing

  Atlanta, Georgia

  Copyright © 2018 by Melisa Todd

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  Bad Ash Publishing

  Atlanta, GA

  www.badashpublishing.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout © 2017 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover by http://www.ampersandbookcovers.com/

  No Choice/Melisa Todd. -- 1st ed.

  ISBN 978-0-9905182-4-2

  Ash – No Kissy Stuff, promise

  I wasn't born a cat, but it is what I am now.

  ―McKenna Largo

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 - Live on Police!

  Chapter 2 - WTF, Over

  Chapter 3 - Bigger than a Breadbox

  Chapter 4 - Viral

  Chapter 5 - After Action

  Chapter 6 - Paparazzi

  Chapter 7 - Animal Magnetism

  Chapter 8 - Q&A

  Chapter 9 - Dilemmas

  Chapter 10 - Grocery Shopping

  Chapter 11 - Research

  Chapter 12 - Mountain Time

  Chapter 13 - New Reality

  Chapter 14 - Showing Off

  Chapter 15 - Establishing Roles

  Chapter 16 - Home Life

  Chapter 17 - Daily Grind

  Chapter 18 - Lion Riot

  Chapter 19 - Talk About It

  Chapter 20 - House Hunting

  Chapter 21 - Premeditated

  Chapter 22 - No Good Deed

  Chapter 23- Setting Up

  Chapter 24 - Show Time

  Chapter 25 - Avoiding Tests

  Chapter 26 - Hospitals

  Chapter 27 - Moving On Up

  Chapter 28 - Ah Ha Moments

  Chapter 29 - Summer Day

  Chapter 30 - Taken

  Chapter 31 - Sit Rep

  Chapter 32 - Training Starts

  Chapter 33 - Consequences

  Chapter 34 - Compartmentalize

  Chapter 35 - Chance

  Chapter 36 - Roll the Dice

  Chapter 37 - Red in Tooth

  Chapter 38 - Calvary Arrives

  Chapter 39 - Finders Keepers

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  The wave, triggered light years away, flowed on its path towards the small planet. The planet cycled in and out of the waves trajectory as it traveled through space, moving ever closer to the target’s orbit. Full of tiny pods, there was no thinking, no intent, only programming. Heedless of anything coming their way, which included the solar flare that erupted and seared across their breadth. But radiation caused corruption, changes in the programming, and as the pods hit the atmosphere of the blue and white planet, most of them had been corrupted, changed, altered from what their creators intended.

  The pods burned away in the heat of entry, tiny flares so small not even the most powerful telescopes registered them as more than dust. Releasing their payloads as they dissolved.

  Free the tiny passengers spread out, intent on their programming, unaware of how they differed from their original intent.

  The troposphere welcomed them and they spread out, but a fraction of their original numbers. Tiny but packed with information, instructions, and possibilities they slipped into their targets with every breath. Some died rejected by their host’s biology, some never found a viable host, and some found the target incompatible. But a fraction, a percentage, found the home they were looking for and invaded, determined to fulfill their mission.

  Chapter 1 - Live on Police!

  It’s a gorgeous sunny day in the Sacramento Valley. The sun flare that started late yesterday, and is still hammering Earth today, hasn’t impacted anything other than a single satellite, so enjoy your summer Rossville. ~ KWAK News radio station.

  Officer McKenna Largo felt the eyes of the camera on her as she walked out of the convenience store. She stopped with her hand on the door of her cruiser, for a second, she closed her eyes caught in the foreboding that came every time she saw the damn camera.

  What if something bad happens and they film it, and I screw up? What if I have to do something to protect people and it all goes wrong?

  She shook her head, her ponytail lashing at her.

  Enough, you will do your job, just like you always have. You’ve already proven you’ll never be like mom. Hell, at this point you’re seven years older than she was when she….

  As always, her thoughts broke off and she refused to think about her mother anymore. Instead she worked up her indignation about having a camera crew following her around. The only way to make it through the day would be to get her mood up.

  “Why me?” McKenna kept the fake whine in her voice obvious as she slipped back into the patrol car, a bottle of water in each hand. She ignored the smirk from her partner, Joseph Daniel Davidson, known as JD to everyone, as she handed him one of the bottles.

  “Cause you got tits.” His response sarcastic, and he didn’t look at her as he worked on the laptop filing a report from their latest traffic stop. His short brown hair streaked with red from the laptop reflection as he typed, his huge fingers making the keyboard seem dainty. A fidget spinner sat on the dash board and she eyed it, wondering if she could toss it out the window before he could stop her.

  “That qualifies as sexual harassment. I could report you.” She pointed out though she didn’t even have enough energy to fake outrage. Between her worry, stress at the damn TV cameras, and the way her body ached, she just wanted a nap. With her luck she was coming down with the flu. Pushing that aside, she braided her long brown hair into a tight French braid and secured it with a band, tired of getting hit with her hair in a pony tail.

  “Then who in the world would you partner with? You really want to be stuck with Gruder or Samuels?” The amusement in his voice showed his lack of concern, even as he picked up the spinner and started to flick it. “And don’t even think about grabbing this.”

  How in the world did he notice me looking?

  “Oh god, no.” She shuddered. Gruder smoked like a chimney and nothing was going to make him stop when he only had two years left, and Samuels couldn’t be quiet for more than two minutes. He’d single handedly had ruined three stings before they busted him back to patrol.

  “Then I think my career is safe.” JD commented as he looked out the window at the camera crew for Police! waiting for them. “Maybe you'll get lucky and we’ll go someplace they can’t film.” The whirring of the spinner strangely soothing though it normally annoyed her.

  “Like where? They got approval from half the city.” McKenna knew her voice had hit full teenage sulk status, and she didn’t care. Being the star of an episode of reality TV had never been in any of her career plans. “I still don’t know why I’m the one they have to film.” JD started to answer, but she jabbed her finger at him. “And don’t say cause I’m a girl.”

  He shrugged huge shoulders. “Truth hurts. You’re pretty, got boobs, and even better Native American heritage. You’re a ratings dream. ‘Side’s you jiggle when you run. I bet it helps their viewer demographics.”

  She could clearly see his smirk and debated shooting him, but he was right; the last thing she wanted to do was get a new partner.

  “Arrgg.” McKenna slumped against the
steering wheel. Well as much as you could even think about slumping with a bullet proof vest and all her gear on. “I just want to do my job, why do they make this so complicated?”

  “Politics. Smile and bear it.”

  “Easy for you to say, they don’t focus the camera on you as much.”

  “A female cop who is half the size of some suspects is much more interesting than a cop that towers over and outweighs them by a hundred pounds.”

  “So lose weight,” she snarked back, a familiar joke between them.

  “I don’t think so. I’m on track to lift eight hundred. Any weight I lose would be muscle and you know it.” JD tapped his firm belly and cast a grin at McKenna.

  She rolled her eyes, but admitted every pound of him was muscle and bone, all three hundred fifty pounds and six feet eight inches. He had to get a special waiver to even be a cop, but the fact that he could ace every test, physical and knowledge, without much effort went a long way to helping justify the waiver. Unlike her, who had more than a few curves she’d give almost anything to get rid of.

  “Fine, all valid points. How much longer do we have as part of this reality TV farce?”

  McKenna knew the numbers, but hearing him say them made them sound shorter than when she replayed them in her head.

  “Three more shifts of twelve hours, so thirty-six if we don’t include today.”

  “Let’s not, I’d like to pretend today is already over.” She sighed and glanced in the mirror to make sure her make-up hadn't run. She'd been informed if she wore eyeliner and some lipstick the camera would not wash her out as much. McKenna hated wearing make-up on the job. Hazel eyes with dark green eyeliner peered back at her with narrowed annoyance.

  This whole thing sucks. But, if I refuse, I’ll fail. I refuse to fail. I am not a quitter. No matter what they thought.

  JD started to reply as the radio crackled and pulled her from her thoughts.

  “RVH11 we have a Code 211S from 1st Central bank. You are the closest unit, please respond.”

  McKenna growled at the radio, H was created just for them. For Hollywood, she hated it with a passion, but none of that changed anything. Besides, it had been made very clear to her, by the Captain no less, that her opinion didn’t matter. So she would do her job and even smile while she did it. Or maybe bare her teeth, that might be more accurate.

  “RVH11, Code 1.” She acknowledged and buckled in even as she flipped on the lights. She turned them on earlier than she would have under normal circumstances, but it had been made very clear she could not lose the camera crew of Police! when they took calls. With quick keystrokes she pulled up the address on the GPS, glanced to see that JD had buckled in and that the camera crew had at least gotten into their van. With that she tore out of the parking lot, hoping maybe they’d get a flat tire or something.

  I never have that type of luck, the good kind.

  “Silent alarm from a bank is not a good thing you know.” JD remarked as he checked his equipment, ignoring the weaving of the squad car with practiced ease.

  “Silent alarms almost never are. But it should make the rest of the shift go fast, right?”

  “If we don’t get killed.” His voice remained dry even as the car tore around a corner, lights and siren creating a familiar soundtrack. One she loved.

  JD snorted, and she glanced at him sideways. JD was a great guy, like her brother. He had become her best friend, family almost. Though she would have denied it if anyone asked. Family made you vulnerable. They had kissed once, and that was enough to convince both of them they were siblings from different mothers. He would have been a great catch though, smart, fit, good career, and all the stupid women he fell for couldn’t see past his downright homely mug. There really wasn’t any justice in the universe.

  “One mile out,” his voice calm as they hit that marker.

  McKenna flipped off the siren and continued with the flights still flashing.

  “Next block.” JD’s voice calm as he called out the distance.

  The lights flipped off as they pulled up to the sidewalk across from the bank.

  “See anything?” Her eyes darted around, taking in the few people looking at them curiously as they walked down the street. There was no screaming, no one seemed out of place, and it seemed normal.

  “Sedan, two-door, dark red, parked on the side street, idling, no driver.”

  Her eyes darted to where JD pointed and narrowed. “I see it. Get away?”

  “Most likely.” She mentally acknowledged the camera crew coming to a screeching halt behind them and scrambling out of the van, camera’s at the ready.

  “We still don’t know anything. I’ll call for back up, then maybe we can casually walk up and see if it is all just a false alarm.”

  “Yep. I’ll get out and scope and see if that causes any reactions.”

  McKenna snorted. Sometimes just having JD appear could cause some of the idiots they dealt with on a regular basis decide to cooperate.

  "Central - RVH11, at location. No activity. Calling for back up while we get out and check."

  "Ten-four RVH11, units ten minutes out."

  Damn, what else is going on that back up is ten out?

  McKenna shook her head, blinking at the wave of dizziness that followed that. Getting sick right now would just not be good.

  Suck it up and do your damn job. You can be sick later.

  She slipped out of the car, looking around, hand on the grip of her weapon. "I'm going to approach the bank, see if there is any activity."

  "I'll cover."

  With a brisk nod, she glanced both ways and walked across the street, trying to make it casual, though a few people paused to watch her walk, their steps slowing as she approached the bank.

  Her eyes took in everything, and the only thing that seemed out of place was the idling car — which while unusual people were still stupid and left idling cars if they thought it would only be a minute, and that no one had walked out of the bank since they arrived.

  Tuesday, 11:30 in the morning, there should be people doing things on their lunch hour.

  The sound of the glass doors shattering kicked off an automatic reaction, and she dove behind a car. Her movement swift and sure, and she came up holding her pistol, a Smith & Wesson M&P 9, aimed at the building. She saw a man standing between the now shattered double glass doors, with what looked like an AK 47 in his hands, though from the quick glance it might have been an AR 15. Another round of bullets hit the side of the car she was hiding behind.

  Dammit, what the hell did I walk into?

  "Central - RVH11, 998, one perp so far, unknown subjects. Need back up." She rattled off the code for shots fired and needing assistance, but the dispatcher was slow to respond. A delay that sent more chills up her spine.

  "Roger, RVH11, back up delayed."

  What the hell?

  None of this made sense, but McKenna would be damned if odd things made her not do her job. She refused to fail. Lifting her head, she took a cautious peek over the car.

  "This is the Rossville Police. Please put down your weapons and come out with your hands up and no one needs to get hurt." Her voice loud enough to carry over the silence that reigned in the streets. Most people had scattered when the first shots were fired, though she could see people scurrying out of the corner of her eyes.

  "Wait, is that a film crew?" The shooter asked, his voice cracking and McKenna glanced behind her to see the camera man risking his life, filming all of this.

  Bloody morons.

  "Sir, please put down your weapons and no one needs to get hurt."

  "Hey, guys, they're filming us. We're going to be famous,” he called back into the bank, which if nothing else verified she had more than one idiot to deal with.

  The desire to beat her head against the pavement in frustration surged higher than ever, match the wave of nausea that she had to fight to swallow back. A glance to her right showed JD, coming up low towards her, using the cars and angl
es of the buildings to hide his presence. She nodded in appreciation even as she wracked her brain for how to control this before anyone got hurt.

  He's got at least two other people in there, and figure it’s now a hostage situation. Joy.

  The bank window blinds, which previously had been closed, blocking any visibility opened, and she saw two other men, both in baklava's peer out. She could see at least four adults sitting on the floor in the bank, one a woman with two kids huddled next to her. Three people all stood, their hands raised high above their head behind the teller desks.

  Oh shit, kids.

  "Hey, fat pig bitch. Stand up and come over here." The man in the door yelled, his voice rising and falling oddly.

  I am not fat!

  McKenna’s mental voice was cranky at that slap, yes she had curves, but she met all the physical requirements tests, she just put on weight without trying.

  "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that. If you put down your weapons and come out I can guarantee that it will help your case with the courts."

  She didn't stick her head up too high above the car when she called out; no reason to provide the suspects an opportunity for a head shot.

  "You okay? They hit you?"

  JD's whisper at her ear almost caused a squeak, but she fought it back, appearances were everything.

  How the hell does a man that large move that quietly?

  "Yeah, they must have been aiming high, cause I didn't get hit, and if they had any abilities, they could have killed me."

  "Where's back up?"

  "I don't know. Dispatch said they were delayed. The dispatcher is slow and sounds off, I think for right now we're on our own."

  JD frowned and cast a look up at the sky above and behind us, then shrugged.

  "What was that for?"

  "Figured I’d see if I saw any bombs going off, mushroom cloud, stuff like that. Don't see it, so let's just figure Murphy's Law has kicked in full force."

  McKenna's mouth went dry, and she scanned the skies too. But they remained blissfully bright and sunny, the brilliant blue sky almost obscene compared to the stress ratcheting through her body. The scream of a child wrenched her attention back to the door where the gunman had stepped out, holding one of the two kids against his chest, having switched out for what looked like a 9mm Glock.