Tanderon (14 page)

“It’s time the waiting was over,” he answered in a whisper, holding me tightly against him. “Did you think I could look at you lying on this bed, that gorgeous red hair spread out around you, and not have to have you? What do you think I’m made of?”

“Two parts satyr and one part mink,” I slurred in annoyance, struggling to get loose.

“How many women do you need in one night?”

He laughed softly at that, and if I could have seen him I probably would have seen a grin.

“Appetizers only whet a man’s appetite for the main course,” he said with a chuckle, bringing his lips down to my neck. “You taste good enough to eat – and you’ve got nowhere else to go.”

For some reason those words touched me oddly, as though they were painful rather than anger-making. I suppose that’s the reason I stopped struggling, in an effort to figure out why I felt like that. Val continued to kiss my neck for a moment, and then he raised his head again.

“You’re not responding to me any longer,” he said, sounding more shocked than simply surprised. “What’s wrong? Did I somehow hurt you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I managed to answer while staring into the darkness of the room. “How could you possibly have hurt me?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, disturbance flowing in the words. “But you don’t seem willing anymore – unless I’m mistaken. Am I mistaken, Diana?”

“No, you’re not,” I said, the words as flat as any I’d ever used. “The only thing I want to do right now is go back to sleep, on my own side of the bed and all alone.

Please let go of me.”

He hesitated for a moment, and then those arms opened and I was free. I lost no time in moving all the way away from him and onto my right side, but his hand followed to touch my shoulder.

“Diana, I’m sorry,” he whispered, a different oddness clinging to every syllable. “I was only trying to – I wanted to make you feel – I didn’t know you would – Please don’t be – ”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like some quiet,” I interrupted the rambling that made no sense whatsoever. “I’m really tired, and I’d like to get back to sleep.”

“Of course,” he said, and then the hand was gone from my shoulder as he moved around on his own side of the bed. Val tried to talk everyone into sharing his fantasies, but now maybe he’d understand that he hadn’t – and wouldn’t – be able to do it with me. He and I were nothing but partners, and that’s all we’d ever be. And I really did want to get back to sleep, but even he managed it before I did…

The next Station morning was a late one, but this time Ringer stayed out of the bedroom until Val went out to call him. I stretched lazily as I waited to be unchained, having taken advantage of being the first to wake up. I’d been strangely out of sorts when Val had awakened me in the wee hours, but this morning I hadn’t been able to figure out what it was I’d thought I’d felt. What I needed most was out of that strangling situation, and any way I got it would turn out to be the right way.

So I’d taken the opportunity to make professional love to Val, never a hardship under any circumstance, and he’d responded immediately. Sometime during our efforts I’d planted in his mind my desperate need for that magnetized lock pick Ringer had taken from me. Hopefully, the planted seed would mature into a magical beanstalk I could use to climb out of the pit of capture. I’d had to pretend to lose myself to Val’s lovemaking, of course, but I’m a professional so it wasn’t hard to do.

I’d also suggested in a roundabout way that I would meet Val later on Faraway Station, but Faraway had nothing I needed. What I did need was out of that bedroom and into a ship, and it was just possible I might make it.

I came back to the present to see Ringer’s grinning face, and realized that the chain had been unlocked a number of moments earlier. I hadn’t noticed Ringer coming in, but the grin on his face showed he’d drawn the wrong conclusions about my distraction. I snarled and kicked at him to keep him from rethinking his conclusions, and he stepped out of the way fast with a laugh, reacting just the way I knew he would. I got out of bed and went toward the bathroom muttering under my breath, but the mutter was more prayer than curse. I was almost out of time, and using Val had been a last-ditch effort.

After breakfast the rest of the morning went by slowly, doubly so because Val hadn’t come back. At one point I heard the mutter of voices out in the sitting room, but the words were too low to be intelligible. I tossed around on the bed, smoking one cigarette after another, knowing how lousy it was to have to depend on someone else to get you your freedom. I was used to depending on no one but myself, and I much preferred it that way.

I listened to the mutter of voices in the next room, chewed on the end of a strand of my hair, and wondered what the hell was taking so long. I was waiting for the door to the sitting room to open, but when it did it was Ringer standing there rather than Val. He had a bundle of something folded up under one arm, and he closed the door behind him before coming to the foot of the bed on my side.

“You can get into this in a minute,” he said, tossing the bundle at me before reaching into a pocket for the chain key. “The cruiser is scheduled to dock soon, and I want to have lunch before it does.”

I looked at the bundle he’d tossed at me, and as sure as space and starshine it was a cadet uniform. The midnight black kilt was wrapped around the long-sleeved gold uniform blouse with red blazing star insignia. The rest of it, the black regulation tie and belt, the gold knee socks, and the low-heeled, no-nonsense black shoes were probably hidden in the middle of the bundle, waiting to appear once the outer layer was opened. I looked back at Ringer with the sinking feeling that time had run out, and saw that he’d already unlocked the chain. With that done his fingers went back into his pocket, and he brought out something else that he threw to me.

“There’s the lock pick you wanted,” he said as my hand closed around it. “I’ve kept it with me ever since I took it away from you.”

He stared down at me from where he stood, the fury showing nowhere other than in his eyes. He knew I’d sent Val after the pick, but I didn’t know how he’d found out.

“Knowing you as well as I do,” he went on, his voice much too even, “I also know how curious you are about how this knowledge came to me. In a phrase, Valdon isn’t as innocent as you seem to think he is.”

He put his hands in his pockets and glared at me, and then his voice wasn’t even any longer.

“Damn it, Diana, you sent one of my own agents after me!” he shouted, really raw over the idea. “I knew he had something on his mind all during breakfast, but I didn’t know what it was until he asked me what you would do if you got away from us. I told him exactly what you would do, and he wasn’t surprised in the least. He knew it as well as I did, but he thought he might be wrong. When he found out he wasn’t, he growled something in another language and started to pace around. If I were you, I’d start to worry.”

I tossed the useless pick onto the bed, then stood up to face Ringer’s glare.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing you’re not me,” I said with a shrug, actually quite happy that Val now had a better understanding of the true relationship between us.

“I’ve got better things to do than worry. You don’t really expect me to put that uniform on, do you?”

Ringer’s glare changed to a frown, he stared hard for a minute, then his hands came out of his pockets to let his arms fold across his chest.

“Why do I keep feeling surprised?” he demanded, talking to me but not expecting an answer. “How long do I have to know you before I get used to your version of toujours l’audace? And why the hell do I keep letting it get to me?”

He moved his eyes to the ceiling, working hard to control himself, finally made it, then took a deep breath and brought his gaze back to me.

“Yes,” he said with a forced calm. “Yes, I really do expect you to put the uniform on. What’s more, if you don’t put it on I’ll do it for you, and I won’t be neat about it.

You have less than an hour to get yourself ready, and if you don’t use the time you won’t have another chance. Now it’s up to you.”

He backed off a step then turned and walked out, slamming the door closed with more force than was necessary. I stood where I was for a minute, drumming my fingernails on the bed’s footboard, but no matter which way I looked at it my chances were zero.

With the ankle chain off I could walk to the door and try to get past Ringer, but he wasn’t likely to be asleep out there. I wasn’t quite as unarmed as Ringer thought and the temptation to show him what he’d missed was strong, but doing that wouldn’t have accomplished anything. I couldn’t see myself putting Ringer away for keeps, and that was the only way I’d ever get past him. I shook my head for a decision long ago made, tapped the footboard in a final way, then headed for the bathroom.

Maybe I’d get a break once I was out of that room.

I took the bandages off my wrists before showering, then didn’t bother to put them back on again. Jane had come by on a regular basis to work on my wrists, but she’d never stayed long or gotten into another detailed conversation with me. She’d obviously decided to distance herself from the entire situation, and probably didn’t know just how wise she was being.

The long sleeves of the uniform blouse did a good job of covering the reminders of my last assignment, and that was really all I needed. Once I was completely dressed I took a hairbrush over to the room’s full-length mirror and spent some time brushing my hair and glooming at my reflection. Even without make-up the face I wore was beautiful, but it somehow went too well with the uniform of an Academy cadet.

The kilt was mid-thigh length, short enough not to be a complete nuisance, but the red of the Federation’s blazing star insignia was echoed and reinforced by my bright red hair. I stared at myself as I brushed, trying to pinpoint exactly why the picture seemed wrong, but the answer didn’t come immediately. I continued to stare for a minute or two, and then the knowledge came so fast that I threw the brush away and went to get a cigarette.

I looked like a very young girl in that uniform, just as young as I’d looked in that white shorts outfit, and I couldn’t stand it. I took my cigarette to a chair and collapsed into it, drew in a lungful of smoke, then rubbed at my forehead. Looking young and innocent might be an asset among enemies, but among friends it was killing me. I was a woman, a grown woman, and I wanted to look like one!

The thought was so obsessive I nearly went for my make-up kit, but instead forced myself to sit still until the urge went away. Covering myself with make-up wouldn’t solve the problem, only getting back to Dameron’s base would do that. I sat and smoked the cigarette slowly, getting myself calmed down, and by the time Ringer came in again I was nearly back to normal.

“You might have mentioned you were ready,” Ringer observed irritably from the doorway, giving me a fast but critical up-and-down. “Well, don’t just sit there! If you’re all set, let’s move!”

I didn’t know what his hurry was, but for obvious reasons I didn’t feel like sharing it.

I ground out my cigarette slowly, got to my feet, then took my time walking to the door. Needless to say, Ringer didn’t appreciate any of it, and as I passed him his expression was rising in Brinell and lowering in Celsius. Aside from noting the fact that his coat was back on, I ignored him completely and swept my gaze around the sitting room to see if it held any possibilities.

There was really nothing there to serve my purposes, but the one thing the room did hold was Val. He sat completely relaxed in an armchair, his arms on the chair arms, but his gaze as he looked at me was a deep, deep black. He waited until I reached the center of the room, then uncrossed his legs and rose to face me.

“How nice we look,” he commented, folding his arms as he inspected me. “That uniform really does suit you, doesn’t it? I’ll be looking forward to seeing you in it over the next three months.”

His tone was full of satisfaction, mostly because of what he’d nearly been tricked into doing, I think, but at that point I couldn’t have cared less about his motives.

“Your three months will be filled with learning,” I countered, folding my own arms.

“How would you like to start with a lesson on how many bones the human body can have broken and still continue to live?”

My own tone wasn’t very friendly, and it showed clearly that I wouldn’t have minded finding a fight. Val stiffened and began to unfold his arms, his expression darker than it had been, but Ringer stepped between us before any critical moves could be made.

“That’s enough, you two,” he growled, sending his eyes to each of us in turn. “Even if we had time for this, you’re both old enough to know better. Come on, lunch is waiting.”

Ringer urged Val to walk away with him and I watched them moving toward the door to the corridor, feeling the frown I’d suddenly developed. When Ringer had first mentioned lunch I’d been sure we would be eating in the suite, but nothing in the way of edibles had been brought and Ringer was obviously going somewhere. I couldn’t believe he was foolish enough to walk around the station with me, but if that was the choice he’d made I wasn’t about to argue it.

I followed behind after the two broad backs in front of me, waited for Ringer to open the corridor door – and only then saw the four big uniformed men waiting outside in the corridor. They came alert when they saw us, and each of four pairs of eyes focussed on Val. Their bodies were tense and ready beneath the yellow of station security men, their hands hovering close to the butts of the stunners they wore at their hips. Ringer blinked in surprise at their reaction to the sight of Val, then he shook his head and took one step toward them.

“Not him,” he grumbled to the security men, gesturing impatiently. “The girl’s the one you have to keep your eyes on. If she disappears I’ll have your hearts.”

The four security men shifted their gazes to me, stared very briefly, then looked back at Ringer.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” the one with sergeant’s stripes protested, the other three men obviously agreeing with him. “She’s pretty big for a girl, but what reason could there possibly be for needing four of us to watch her?”