Authors: Lauren Dane
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Erotic fiction, #General, #Adult, #Erotica, #Mercenary troops
Mesmerized (23 page)
The meeting ended, and Andrei looked to Piper when she spoke. “Let’s get started. We’ll head down to the Market. I take it you’ll have a pile of credits so we can get this process moving at the swiftest of paces?”
He waved toward Julian and Vincenz, and followed her out. “Yes. I have the ability to handle a problem however it is necessary to do so.”
She put on her sunshades and looked back over her shoulder as they headed outside. “Do I get that, too? Say I bump into one of those Imperialists who were in those airships, and I could shove him out the window screen of my zipper at full speed?”
He shook his head, but she saw his smile.
Chapter 14
T
he streets were full of soldiers.
he streets were full of soldiers.
Soldiers who bore the same look of shock and anguish many of the citizens had. This part of Mirage was stylish. The kind of neighborhood a man posing as a tech consultant for a large multi-’Verse company would live in.
They walked the long way to the public transit stop and headed to the stretch of the Portal City called the Market. A body could find anything to buy in its long rows of shadowy stalls, at long lunch and dinner counters, past the houses of prostitution and the ale vendors.
“By the way,” she tiptoed up to whisper in his ear as the tram began to slow down for their stop, “it’s best that you pose as my lover, too. Elsewise I’d never share all this loot with someone not my family.”
She hadn’t expected him to take the role so wholeheartedly. He slung an arm around her, holding her to his side. Not that she was complaining. It was actually quite delicious, so she went with it. They had good rhythm when they worked together.
Subtly, she led him to the public house she and Kenner drank at when they were in Mirage. In the old days on Earth, bars like this one catered to pirates and brigands, to highwaymen and all those who lifted tankards with them.
They pushed their way through the doors and took a look around before heading to a table on the far side of the room. Andrei rolled his smokes and watched the room while she patiently drank some ale.
Soon enough they were approached, but before she could speak, Andrei stood and clasped forearms with the woman he then invited to sit with them. Piper tried to indicate with her eyes just how much she wanted to kill the woman for being so friendly with Piper’s man.
“Piper, this is Aya. She is the wife of another friend. Aya, this is Piper Roundtree.”
The woman turned her gaze to Piper, taking her in carefully. “Benni sends his well wishes. I can’t stay, but I wanted to say hello while I saw you.”
Andrei finally released the breath he’d been holding, and Piper figured this Benni had to be important to him.
“Of course. You’re welcome to share a drink with us if you’ve a bit of time.”
She blushed, and Piper, now charmed by the woman, wanted to pat her hand and tell her not to feel bad, that he made all sorts of women respond that way.
“I appreciate the invitation.” She turned back to Piper. “And I’m glad to have met you, Piper. But I have an appointment. I expect I’ll be seeing you here and there.”
She left quickly, and they settled back again. They’d need to be seen first. No one just rushed up on a body to seek their skills to run cargo unless they were desperate and therefore trouble, or the polis working undercover.
She knew many of the faces in the pub that afternoon. A few very good avenues to make some connections with the Imperialists. She’d bide her time and then make the move.
“You know,” Andrei spoke low as he moved his chair closer, “it’s so dark back here I bet I could make you come without putting my hand into your pants.”
My. She took several swallows of her ale, but it did nothing to cool her off. And then his hand slid up her thigh, over the material of her pants. Up some more until he reached the notch between her thighs.
Piper couldn’t believe she was not only allowing a man to make her come in public but also pressing her clit against the knuckle he had pressed against it. Even through the pants it felt good.
Being so totally exposed while having an incredibly intimate moment with him was so hot it made her a little dizzy.
He looked so casual there she knew no one suspected anything, but still, the thrill of possible discovery made her entire body tingle, especially the part he rubbed over with his knuckle.
She pushed harder against him as she scooted her chair in, and it took everything in her not to scream out when the sharp shock of climax hit her hard enough to jar her teeth.
He loved the way she looked right after he made her come. Loved the relaxed muscles and the gleam of pleasure in her gaze.
“Now I’m ready to go say hello to a few people.” She pushed to stand, and he followed, keeping his attention on the crowd. Most weren’t anyone he’d have worried about. Common thieves mainly. None of them would get close enough to Andrei or Piper to pick any pockets. No, it was the man near the back bar, the one with flat eyes and an expensive pair of boots Andrei would watch closest.
Which was easy enough when Piper’s rather greasy compatriot invited that man over after Piper had made the query about running goods for him. After Piper had paid a referral fee, of course.
“This is Arge, and he just might be able to help you.” The other man made his good-byes and left the three alone.
Arge ignored Andrei and put his focus on Piper. Andrei said nothing but moved to stand between them until Arge got the message. He told himself it was all in keeping with his cover, but it sure felt good to mark his territory in any case.
The chrono he wore was a fake and not even a very good one. The kind soldiers often wore because they couldn’t afford the real thing. His hair was short, regulation short. His clothes were nice, but not too nice. The boots were genuine, though. But Andrei was a soldier, too; he knew what a truly well-made pair of boots could do for you when you were on your feet all the time.
Piper fenced with him, being cutting and clever. He kept an eye on the rest of the room, all while being totally confident in the way she was going about this transaction.
This Arge hadn’t the brains to be as important as Cheney and his like, but he was here in Mirage and clearly a soldier and that in and of itself made his life less than worth a damn to Andrei. His only use was to get those ingredients back to them so the lab could complete a device of their own.
His haggling showed a man with more debts than brains, but before long, Piper had finished the transaction, and they had walked away, both breathing easier to be away from that place.
The plan was in motion now, the cargo engaged. They’d hear soon when they could expect to receive the goods.
Nothing else to do then but go back to Vincenz’s house and check in.
Andrei checked over the new data and sent his report on the meet to Daniel. He needed to run some recon in town, and he anticipated reticence from Piper on being left back while he did.
So he waited until after they’d checked in and had eaten dinner. He caught her alone in their room.
“I need to do some work. Alone.”
Her eyes hardened and her spine went rigid. It annoyed him, even as he found it attractive. And then he wondered at himself for finding bossy women so hot.
“Why can’t I help? I’m your backup. That’s what Ellis said. I remember that even if you don’t.”
“I remember it, but some things I do, I need to do alone. I know my job, Piper, and I know I’m damned good at it, especially with reconnaissance. I need to go see what’s what. I need to seek out people in far seedier establishments than the one we were just in, and I need to do it alone. None of my sources will talk to me if you’re around. They don’t know you.”
She snorted. “All right. Fine. I understand that. I’m going to wait up. If you aren’t back by the moon set, I will come looking for you.”
He growled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Gods above and below, no. If there’s trouble, leave it to Julian and Vincenz to deal with any extraction.”
“You think I can’t handle myself?”
“I know you can. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to drag you along to a place so dangerous your simply being there would put you in danger. I can’t have my attention shifting. And if you were there, I’d be worried about you the whole time.”
She hugged him. “From you these little statements are the most passionate of love sonnets.”
“Stay in the house.”
He shed her as he left, not wanting any part of her to be sullied by what he’d be dealing with. Moving silently, steadily and down toward the part of town where law and order were a long distant memory. Where murder was common, fights like communion. He moved, letting it all roll off him, slicing through the crowds, barely noticed.
His quarry lay in an establishment full of the worst society had to offer. As such, he had the information he needed within a few minutes and headed out again.
He climbed the exterior fire stairs to a one-room, coldwater flat above a whorehouse. Inside it was the man who’d been trading credits for Imperialist access to the Waystation.
Andrei dropped to the floor and shook his head at the man who rose and made toward the door. The man didn’t listen, and so Andrei used his blaster on the man’s left knee.
Then they came to an understanding.
T
rue to her word, she waited up for him, tucked into a chair next to a monitor, reading aerial film. She saw him and began to rise, but he held a hand out to stay her.
rue to her word, she waited up for him, tucked into a chair next to a monitor, reading aerial film. She saw him and began to rise, but he held a hand out to stay her.
Julian put a hand on her forearm. “Give him some time to clean up.”
Andrei tossed a disk to him and went up the stairs.
“He’s up there feeling guilty and dirty for whatever he did out there tonight. I need to go to him.”
“Piper, being with someone who does what we do every day can’t be easy. Most of us don’t have long-term relationships.”
“I understand what you do. Don’t you see that? We can’t all be pilots or bakers or bricklayers. There are dark characters about who mean to be the end of us. You face that every day, and thank the gods for it.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t wash the blood off sometimes. Doesn’t mean we don’t feel as if what we see and do taints those we love. We want to shield you from the ugliness.”
“But sometimes, Julian, it’s better that the person you’re with faces that ugliness, too, and stands with you to fight it.” Vincenz spoke, startling Piper, who’d forgotten he was in the room.
She stood. “I’m going to him.”
“Good for you.” Vincenz waved her toward the stairs. “Sometimes if another person is holding the mirror up, we see ourselves more clearly.”
A quick check of the laundry showed a shirt with blood at the collar. Panic ate at her insides for the time it took her to get to their room. Had he been hurt and hadn’t said?
No, if that were so, Julian and Vincenz would have said so. Would have stopped him and made him get treatment. These warrior men she found herself surrounded by looked out for each other.
No, the blood wasn’t his.
She went to him, standing outside the door to the bathing suite, gathering her wits and removing her clothes.
He stood under the water, head bowed, motionless.
Moved beyond words, she stepped in with him. She hugged him tight, pressing against his back, pushing her own emotional response away because he so clearly needed it himself.
“Baby, no. I’ll be out in a little while.”
The way he’d whispered
baby
had torn at her. He wasn’t the sweetheart name sort of man. She couldn’t recall him ever calling her baby. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said what he needed to hear. What he needed to know. “I love you, Andrei. There’s no other place I should be right now.”
baby
had torn at her. He wasn’t the sweetheart name sort of man. She couldn’t recall him ever calling her baby. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said what he needed to hear. What he needed to know. “I love you, Andrei. There’s no other place I should be right now.”
“I don’t want you near me when I’m like this.”
“Like what? Ashamed?”
He turned and backed her against the wall. Her heart pounded, but not from fear.
“I’m not ashamed. I do not feel bad when I kill them. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“You shouldn’t be ashamed unless you’ve used your power to harm someone who didn’t deserve it. Did they deserve it, Andrei? The person whose blood was on the collar of your shirt?”
He cursed.
“What, you didn’t think I’d look in the laundry?”
“That I didn’t shows how much you distract me. I needed to wash the violence away before I touched you.”
His face was suddenly very close. She was rabbit to his wolf, and it thrilled her to her toes.
“He’s not dead. That part wasn’t my choice. He would be if it were up to me. But he’s in custody, and he gave us the information we needed.”
“Why, then, are you trying to push me away when it’s so clear you need me?”
“You don’t need to be exposed to blood on my clothes and my hands still sore from beating someone enough to spill the details of how he betrayed his own people.”
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