Scarlet Assassin (8 page)

“Hey, how was the club?” Francesca’s roommate, Daphne asked. They’d lived together since college. Daphne was a product of the “me” generation, given everything by her parents, and that allowed her to spend her time on whatever social cause she fancied. Save the Oceans, Green Peace, anything that screamed
activist
was Daphne’s agenda. Francesca always wondered why someone like Daphne hung out with a nerd like her. Daphne’s smoldering, sexy good looks got her into places Francesca could only imagine. But they’d gotten along so well they decided to continue that tradition when they graduated.

“Oh, it was…interesting.”

“Really? Spill,” she said, sitting on the sofa and pulling her feet tighter under her.

“It was fine, really.”

“Oh come on, stop being coy and tell me every little detail. I’ve always wanted to go to a place like that but Mark isn’t into that kinda stuff.” Daphne wiggled her manicured eyebrows.

Francesca wasn’t trying to be coy, she just wasn’t sure how to described something so full of debauchery that it defied explanation.

“Oh there had to be one interesting thing tonight.” Daphne leaned in resting on the arm of the sofa. “There wasn’t even
one
cool thing about tonight, not one?”

“Well...if you’re into that sorta thing I guess it was interesting.”

“Okay, so what does
geeky
girl think about the night?”

They invented a game in college where if Francesca found it embarrassing and couldn’t talk about something, she would respond as “geeky girl”, her other persona. It sounded silly, but by making a game out of it, she found it easier to discuss difficult topics like sex, the opposite sex and her lack of dates. Her nerdy tendencies kept her focused, on time and able to earn a decent salary, but not quite enough to live on her own, at least that’s what she told herself. Besides, she liked the comfort and security of having someone else in the house. She’d been left alone as a child and she wasn’t ready for more solitude, not yet. It also limited her social skills, her ability to date, working out or being the social butterfly like Daphne.

“I’m glad I went. I’ve never seen anything like it before, but I doubt I’ll ever go again.”

“Really, so want happened?” Daphne plopped down next to her, grabbed a pillow and hugged it close.

“It was unbelievable. They had this woman named Mistress Rose and she came out and whipped this guy. He asked for it…”

“What? No way.”

“Yep, she had this long whip that she flicked out over the audience. We could feel the wind snap above us as she flicked it back, cracking it above our heads.”

“No shit?”

“Yep.” Francesca nodded. “Then she used it to whip this guy who was tied up on an X-shaped thingie. He would beg her to hit him. I couldn’t believe it.”

“No shit.”

“No shit.”

“What else happened?”

“Oh, then Dorothy harassed the owner, as she always does. It was embarrassing,
as usual
.”

“What? I thought she was married?”

“She is and you want to hear the topper?”

“Sure.”

“It was a woman.”

“Who was a woman?”

“The owner.”

“The owner of the bondage club is a woman? Wow, who would have guessed a woman would own a bondage club?”

“I know, right?”

Francesca hoped that Daphne wouldn’t ask any more questions. She had to admit the club and the actions contained inside its dark, secret-filled walls had an attraction she couldn’t explain. She hadn’t grown up in a repressed house, quite the opposite. With three brothers she often found herself the butt of their vulgarity laced humor. She would come home and find jock straps hanging from her bedroom door handle, her brothers daring her to touch the filthy things. Playboys randomly tucked in her clothes drawers. Looking back now it was her first hint that she liked girls. Maybe not the spread-eagle types displayed voyeuristically in the pages, but the kind that walked her high school campus. Her secret crush – a cheerleader that was nice to everyone, had a bubbly personality and a kind word for the
geek
with braces. Innocently enough, she had set the standard by which Francesca would judge all women by from then on. However, her attraction to the club owner defied explanation. The dark undertones of the woman made Francesca tingle. It was like looking over the edge of a cliff and knowing if you stayed rooted to where stood you were okay, but lean out a bit too far and you risked falling. Selene was edgy, intense and sexy as hell. The complete opposite of Anita, the high school cheerleader. Francesca didn’t have to worry, there was no way someone like Selene fell for girls like her. It just didn’t happen and playing with fire wasn’t her style. A girl could dream, though, and Francesca was sure Selene would fuel her fantasies for weeks to come.

“Hey, the lights are on but no one’s home.” Daphne’s snapping fingers brought Francesca back into the conversation and focused back where Daphne always wanted it.

“Sorry, I was just thinking…” Francesca thought about how she would finish the sentence without giving up too much information.

“About the club owner, huh?”

“What? No.”

“So, what does she look like?”

“Who?” Francesca said, before taking a sip of her diet soda.

“Oh, that good huh?”

“No, I mean yes, but—”

“Spill little sister.” Daphne settled in, pushing her feet under Francesca. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be deterred so there was no use trying to be vague. Francesca knew she would hound her until she whittled every little detail possible out of her. She felt like lying, but she wasn’t good at it and Daphne knew it.

“Not much to tell really. She’s okay looking, I guess. Average, tall—”

“Fat, skinny, long hair short hair, what did she wear?”

“Seriously?”

“Aren’t you the least bit intrigued about why a woman would own a bondage club? I mean think about it, it’s a dude kind of thing. Don’t you think?”

Francesca hadn’t dissected it that far. In fact, she hadn’t had time to really give it that kind of in-depth thought. She was good at analyzing a situation, searching for the obvious and expecting the unexpected. It’s what made her good at her job, but she had to admit, a woman owning a bondage club was kind of edgy, raw and completely unpredicted. Maybe that’s why she was so embarrassed by her co-worker’s behavior. If Selene had been a man and Dorothy had treated him like that she wouldn’t have had a problem with it—at least she didn’t think she would. Was she being sexist?

“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t really think about it like that, Daphne.”

“Oh, I want to go. You have to take me.”

“I don’t know…” Francesca felt herself shying away from a repeat of the night’s activities, sort of. Goose bumps prickled her skin.
Ah, a visceral reaction is never a good sign
, she thought, rubbing her arms. Selene’s touch had been like a spark charging through her body. Her nipples tightened instantly and she body flushed from her toes to the hair’s standing on her head. Francesca had to admit there was an entrancing quality about Selene. She still felt the rush of touching her in the bathroom.

“Cold, sweetie?”

“Yeah, a little,” Francesca lied.

Daphne wrapped her tight in a hug and rocked her. “It’ll be fun, I won’t embarrass you like Dorothy did.”

Hmmm. That’s what you think. It never works out that way when sexy, debauchery is involved.

When Daph set her mind on something, she rarely let it rest. So how was she going to get out of this? The thought of seeing Selene again had its merits, even if she watched from a distance. Selene would never have to know she was even there. Enough of the club was kept in deliberate darkness that she was sure she could hide. What was she thinking? This was creepy, provocative, and not something she would do, but the more she thought about the club and it’s dark, sultry owner, the more she wanted to see her again. Not talk, just see.

Chapter Ten

“So, what were the results of the new blood tests?” AJ leafed through the folder. She pulled out a spreadsheet and ran her finger down the page.

“Well, Ms. Lockwood, the results are promising. It’s the strongest concentration yet. A small amount can be reconstituted to almost ten times. The transfusion process has no effect on the blood. It’s really fantastic and will save lives in the field.”

“Interesting…the purity?” AJ studied the next sheet and then tossed the folder on her desk. Picking up the tin of red capsules, she moved them around and paused to focus on her lead researcher, Dr. Francesca Swartz. “Have we tested them in a real environment?”

AJ had been pressing her researchers to develop a stronger, purer blood concentrate. They had been working on something stronger to sustain her longer, to avoid feeding on warm human blood, or at least warm blood. The product she bought for research was passable, but it hindered her ability to be more mobile. She’d conditioned herself to stop feeding, but in a crisis, she found the cravings difficult to ignore, and lately the De Marcus situation had put her in crisis mode.

“The purity is almost ninety percent when reconstituted. As for testing, we’ve completed baseline testing and we’re ready to move forward with the military research center. They’ve expressed an interest in taking it into the field.” Francesca read through her notes. “Since this is a purer version of what they’re already using, we’re pretty confident that they’ll just replace the current supply with this.”

AJ liked Dr. Swartz. She was a research genius and AJ swooped her up as soon as she graduated from Harvard Medical School. AJ had been aware of the blood experiments Dr. Swartz did at the Thorndike Laboratory at Harvard. It had taken some convincing to get Francesca to reconsider the offer made by the Blood Center of Wisconsin, but money was no object for AJ and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. The deciding factor had been a state of the art lab with the latest equipment and no budget. All things that kept most labs mired in fundraising and partnering with big businesses to get the much-needed money for research.

“This is great news, Dr. Swartz. What’s the production schedule looking like?” AJ counted ten capsules in her hand. With the new formula these might last her twenty days. If she rationed them, they could last longer. 

“These take longer to process. The potency makes it critical that we don’t skip any critical steps.”

“How long?”

“If we have a steady supply of blood, we can probably produce…one hundred capsules per batch.”

The intercom buzzed. “Ms. Lockwood, You have a visitor.”

“I don’t have an appointment
now
do I?”

“No, you don’t have anything else on your calendar for today.”

“Then tell them to schedule an appointment,” AJ said, turning the intercom off. The intercom buzzed again. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry Ms. Lockwood,
she
said you need to see her now.”

Selene pushed past Maggie and into her office. She started to speak then appeared to stop when she spotted Francesca.

AJ watched with curiosity as Francesca flushed and then cast her eyes down, avoiding Selene’s gaze.

“Selene, I’m right in the middle of a meeting, couldn’t this have waited?”

No, I’m afraid it couldn’t.

AJ wondered why Selene wasn’t talking, but poking around in her mind explained volumes.

Get out of my head, AJ

“Dr. Swartz, may I introduce Selene Hightower. She’s one of my oldest friends.” AJ turned towards Selene and motioned towards her researcher. “Selene, this is Dr. Francesca Swartz.”

“Dr. Swartz.” Selene extended her hand, but refused to make eye contact with the doctor.
This is highly embarrassing.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

AJ wasn’t sure what was going on, but Francesca’s hesitancy to shake Selene’s hand and her sudden silence was interesting. Tension rolled off Selene in waves, which wasn’t something new, but she was more anxious than usual. Oh, something was definitely going on here and AJ was going to find out what that was.

“Ms. Hightower, it’s a pleasure to meet you. If that will be all, Ms. Locke, I need to get back to the lab.”

She was out the door and gone before AJ could say anything.

“What the hell was that all about Selene?”

“What?”

“I heard what you were thinking. Do you know the good doctor?”

“Not really.”

“That’s not what you were thinking just now.”

Selene became a little more aggressive and advanced on her. “Let it go AJ”

“Calm down, big girl.” AJ sat on the couch trying to look as non-threatening as possible. “Since you’ve canceled my meeting with Dr. Swartz and you refuse to tell me why her body went off the charts when you came in, why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”

Selene paced the office like a cage animal. AJ could barely make sense of her racing thoughts. Something about a guy named Ian, De Marcus and then a flood of emotions about Francesca.
De Marcus!

“What’s going on with De Marcus, Selene?”

“Stay out of my head AJ. Fuck.” Selene took a deep breath and slowed her pacing.

“Okay, so…”

“I got a call from this guy, Ian. Seems someone’s tapping him and he wants this guy dead. The guy, De Marcus.”

“Okay, so…”

“So, I think it’s a ruse.” Selene pulled a chair around and sat facing AJ

“Color me stupid, but why do you think it’s a trap?” AJ wanted De Marcus and she was willing to do whatever it took to kill the bastard. Trap or no trap.

“Just a feeling.” Selene pulled her fingers through her long dark locks and then flicked the ends back.

“I’m going to need more than that, Selene.”

”The word is out that we want De Marcus. How easy would it be to have someone set me up on the pretense of hiring me and then off me? I haven’t heard from Ian in decades and then out of the clear blue he sends me a note that he wants to hire me for a job. Then he names De Marcus as his problem.”

“Yeah, but why would he tell you the problem is De Marcus?”