DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) (33 page)

Deveraux gave a little bow. ‘When Fox suggested we go out for a drink with some friends, I admit that I was not expecting this.’

‘Not too far out of your comfort zone, I hope?’ Sam asked.

‘We adapt or we die. When Fox showed me the outfit she was wearing to come here, I decided that I could adapt with relatively little effort. So, Helen, you are no longer with NAPA?’

‘Cleared my desk and handed in my badge and gun today. Not that we have badges since it’s all electronic, but it’s the thought that counts.’

‘And you’ll get a new gun on Monday,’ Fox added. ‘Palladium’s already run the paperwork through for the permit.’

‘And Poppa has already fabbed-up one of the ones Fox has. Two product testers are better than one.’

‘You’ll want to take it to the range and get used to it. It’s not quite the same as firing a standard caseless.’

‘New type of pistol?’ Deveraux asked, his interest piqued.

‘Uh-huh. If
you’re
good, I’ll show it to you later. What would you like to drink? We need to toast the newly freed detective.’

‘Indeed. Let the celebrations commence.’

~~~

‘I like him,’ Sam said. ‘He seems like a serious sort of man, but not when it matters. He puts work aside to party. I know you’d rather be hunting this killer.’

‘Huh,’ Fox replied. ‘I’d rather there wasn’t a killer to hunt, but even then there’s nothing I can do. Kit and I, and Jason, Hell, even Cant, have been staring at the data we have for so long it’s just a blur. A break like this is a good thing. Either we get more data, and that probably means LifeWeb giving in and opening up, or we wait for the guy to hit again. That could be months away.’

‘But you don’t think so.’

Fox frowned. ‘Now who’s bringing work to the party? No, I think he’s going to do something sooner. Marie fits his victim profile as much as anyone, but there’s something off about him going after her. He’s challenging me, or Palladium, and that kind of behaviour suggests something’s changed. It’s… self-defeating. There’s too much risk in it. You’re sure we’re safe here?’

‘Marie has you, me, Helen, and a UNTPP captain looking out for her. She’s never on her own. I doubt she could be safer at home.’

‘Good point. Anyway, at the moment the investigation is in the hands of Jackson’s techs and the lawyers, so we dress up, go out to another weirdass club, and make merry. I’m going to use escorting Marie home later to get Jason back to my place.’

Sam grinned. ‘Far be it from me to fault your strategy, but he’s going to see through that in a heartbeat.’

‘God, I hope so.’

~~~

‘Ever been off-world, Helen?’ Fox asked.

‘Nope. This’ll be a first.’ Dillan was looking excited, which was to be expected.

Fox smirked and turned to Terri. ‘You’ve got the nausea pills packed, right?’

‘We won’t be in microgravity that much,’ Terri replied, ‘but I have, yes. We’re not up there long enough to worry over bones and muscles. I expect to get a fair amount of exercise anyway.’

‘Well, do take a break from the low-gravity sex now and then, won’t you?’

Dillan’s cheeks coloured. ‘I’d like to see the museum.’

‘I found it a bit boring,’ Fox admitted. ‘I mean, are toilets really that interesting?’

‘Before more people went into space,’ Deveraux said, ‘the question of how spacemen went to the toilet was a common one. That kind of thing is still a little perplexing to the average person. It is not like the majority of the population ever has to worry about it.’

‘It has to be worse for women,’ Dillan said. ‘I mean, men can stick it in a tube, right? And then it’s just suction.’

‘That’s what she said,’ Fox drawled. ‘It’s a little harder to get a good seal with the feminine kit, but it’s much the same.’ She grinned. ‘Some people get to enjoy it.’

‘I believe there are some similar devices in the private rooms upstairs,’ Sam put in. ‘The suction likely pulses more.’

‘Why do we always end up talking about sex?’

‘It is a primary part of my job, but in my defence I put forward the location.’

‘Which you picked.’

‘And the company. A man would have to be a monk to not consider the subject with such attractive company wearing revealing clothing.’ Sam fixed his eyes on Fox. ‘Some more revealing than others. Jason, back me up here.’

Deveraux gave a short laugh. ‘I admit I was a little dubious about the choice of venue, but it does have its compensations.’

‘You mean like the girl in the leather harness and pasties?’ Fox suggested.

Deveraux looked at her, quite serious. ‘I honestly had not noticed.’

Fox grinned at him. ‘Did you know that your accent gets thicker when you’re being charming?’

‘Mais oui, ma chère. They say that French is the language of love. I think it only really applies to those who don’t understand what is being said. It is the
sound
that works for us.’

‘I am going to have to learn some French, aren’t I?’

‘Expanding one’s horizons is always a good thing. Almost everyone in the RFQ speaks English, however. Ideology is one thing, but one must be practical.’

‘You were born there?’ Terri asked. ‘I assume you’re not actually French.’

‘I was born in Toronto. My father was born in France, my mother in Canada. It is one of those wonderful international love stories, très romantique.’ Deveraux flashed a grin. ‘I throw in snippets of French when trying to be impressive as well.’

‘It works,’ Fox said.

The captain smiled and raised his glass to Dillan. ‘In truth, I have not had such a pleasant evening in a while. I thank you for the opportunity, Helen.’ He pronounced her name like ‘Hélène’ and every time he did it, Dillan looked like she might melt. Terri seemed to be taking that in good humour, but then she was whisking Dillan away for the weekend.

‘You should relax more,’ Fox said. ‘Not only will too much work make Jason a dull boy, but it’s unhealthy.’

‘I have every intention of enjoying myself tonight, Fox.’ His eyes met hers, intense and lit with a fire that suggested there would be no need for subterfuge to get him back to her apartment. Melting seemed like a good idea to her about then too.

15
^th
July.

‘This is quite a place,’ Deveraux said as Fox walked him back to the rear stairs.

‘Sam inherited it,’ Fox replied, ‘and Palladium refitted it. We like being neighbours and he couldn’t have kept the place without a housemate. You’ll stay for a coffee, right?’

‘Coffee. Right.’ Fox ignored the hint of amusement in his voice, stepped through the door, and began up the steps in front of him. ‘The view is excellent.’

Quite aware that her skirt did not entirely cover her butt, Fox smirked and kept climbing. Should she actually make coffee? Maybe it was just too obvious that they would be going to bed. Get straight into it, that might be best. Should she just head straight for the bedroom or start in the lounge? She was still thinking of options as she pushed through the door into her hallway and Deveraux’s hand caught her shoulder, turning her about to blink at him.

‘I have changed my mind about coffee,’ he said.

‘Oh? What did you–’ Fox’s eyes widened as he stepped in, his mouth finding hers and taking over before she could think about it. She did not need to think about it anyway; she was responding an instant after she felt his tongue part her lips. Somehow he turned them, moved them, and she felt her back against the wall. His hands slid over her arms, down over her hips. She could feel him gliding over the plazkin, finding the hem, rolling it up. There was only the mesh teddy beneath it, no kind of barrier. She felt the leather of his jeans grind over her mound and she moaned, fumbling for his belt.

He stopped her with two whispered words. ‘Mais non.’ He slid the mesh off her breasts and kissed his way down. His tongue slid over the tape criss-crossing her right nipple. His leg pushed between her thighs, pressing hips to hips and grinding his body against hers.

‘Oh… God,’ Fox moaned, and then he was dropping, sliding down quickly. Even though she thought she knew what was coming, the shock of him pulling aside the teddy and pushing his tongue between her labia was like electricity blasting through her nerves. Her back arched and she slid her heels apart, spreading her legs to give him greater access. His tongue played over her clitoris, lapping, circling, each shift and stroke a flash of lightning through her body. His fingers entered her almost unnoticed until he began to press and circle, and then she felt the pressure there, knew she would last another few seconds at best, and then lost it all in the clamour of the blood rushing in her ears and the darkness which swallowed her.

He was there, in front of her, holding her up. How he had got there she was unsure, but her legs felt weak… and she could feel him, hard as stone, pressing against her sex. The heat which had ebbed with her orgasm flared up again, suddenly, instantly, taking her breath with it. ‘Want… want you,’ she breathed and his hands, under her buttocks, lifted. Her legs wrapped around his hips and he pressed her against the wall, trapping her there, pinned above his waiting cock. ‘I want you–’

‘J’vais t’l’introduire.’

She was about to ask what the words meant when he slid into her, thick, filling, and driven in with an urgency that indicated his own need. Pinned against the wall, she could barely reciprocate his movement, but she encouraged him with every thrust as he began to drive her upwards again. ‘Fuck… yes… yes… more…’

She felt him tensing, felt the muscles in his neck and back tightening, bunching under her hands. ‘Je jouis,’ he said, more a moan and nothing Fox understood. She was going to have to learn some French. ‘Je jouis,’ he repeated and she felt him swell inside her. ‘Je jouis!’ and he drove in, emptying into her and pushing her over alongside him.

‘Je jouis!’ Fox shrieked as her body sang and her brain melted into light. Maybe she knew more French than she thought.

~~~

‘You should call in sick,’ Fox suggested. ‘I mean, you’ve had… three hours’ sleep.’ She poured coffee and set it down in front of Deveraux and flashed him a smile. The smile was barely needed given that she was naked: Deveraux was definitely of two minds.

‘I cannot. Much as it pains me, we must part. I am still amazed that your fabricator could make me suitable clothes so fast.’

‘It’s a new design. The first full-size model will be coming online in September in the new MarTech tower. Jackson’s production testing it here. And we can’t have you turning up to your office in leathers. They might wonder where you’ve been.’

‘I have very observant staff. They will know. Several of them will breathe sighs of relief. They think I work too hard.’

‘I’m sure you do.’ Fox sat down opposite him, forked some egg and bacon into her mouth, and watched as he consumed his own food. When she was done and he was wiping the plate clean, an apparently satisfied man, she checked the time. Time enough. Getting to her feet, she rounded the table as he slid his chair back, and she was straddling his legs before he could protest.

‘Fox,’ he said, protesting after the fact, ‘I have to be at work soon.’ Her hands had his belt undone, his fly.

‘I’ll be quick and you can be a little late, can’t you?’ Her fingers infiltrated his briefs and wrapped around his shaft, which was in the condition she had hoped it would be in. ‘I think you can.’ She shifted her hips forward and settled the head of him inside her before pushing down.

Deveraux let out a groan. ‘I don’t think that I have any choice,’ he replied as her hips began to roll and he contemplated how he was going to get out of his slacks before she drove him mad.

Part Five: Storms and High Seas

New York Metro, 25
^th
July 2060.

Chantal Dandridge checked the weather through her implant. Sunday afternoon, a good time for a run, and tropical storm Hillary was still a tropical storm and still a long way away. The meteorologists were predicting that it would actually sweep east, back into the North Atlantic and not make landfall like Gary had, but storms were tricky things. Still, it was not going to turn up on the doorstep in the next hour or two.

She selected one of her sexier running sets, because there was a guy who ran Sundays in the park she was going to. He had caught her eye last time she had been there and she was sure there was something there if she could maybe get him talking…

Dressed and primped and ready, Chantal took the elevator down from her apartment to the station level in the LifeWeb Tower. Then she took the LI-line to the MarTech building where she could change to the HT-line, and that swung around the south side of Long Island, getting her to the Oakdale station, which got her to Connetquot River State Park.

The sun was hot, but there was shade from the trees and she would get a nice, long run. She set LifeFit to the route she had seen her potential conquest on, pulled up one of her favourite playlists on LifeBeat, and set off into the park at a brisk but measured pace.

She had gone about a kilometre when she saw someone coming in the other direction. She figured the heat was keeping people away and, if she was honest, she had considered turning around and going back herself. But the other runner, a man, seemed fresh as a daisy as he jogged closer. She got a proper view of him and straightened her back, pushing her chest out as she began lifting her knees more. Good form, he needed to see good form, and her boobs sticking out at him. This one was even hotter than the man she had hoped for. A real, live, Greek god in running shorts. No shirt and God, what a chest! Maybe now would be a good time to turn back. Say it was too hot and she had left it too late, and she could fall right into step beside him. That could work.

He was smiling as he approached her. There was something slightly odd she could not figure out about the smile. Chantal was busy considering her plan to fall in beside her new beau when he closed the gap and something hit her in the stomach. It was a tap, a brush, but the effect as it contacted bare skin was electrifying, literally. Chantal Dandridge’s jaws clenched, her body set in a sudden rigor, her brain exploded into pain, and then there was nothing at all.