Anaz-Voohri (37 page)

Drowning in doom, Tia had no doubt that Zack knew exactly what she was and why she had come. As she tried to bolt, his hand clamped her arm. She could probably struggle and even escape, but the contact of his hand heated her skin through the jacket, and his gaze mesmerized her like that of a leopard. His face came closer. Was he going to kiss her?

“Don’t be scared, Tia, not now. I have dreamed of this moment so many times. Haven’t you?" His sweet breath now brushed her lips.

How was this possible? Zack, the Hybrid Hunter, knew she was a hybrid and still wanted to kiss her? Overwhelmed, Tia felt her own repressed passion well up to respond in kind. Her lips opened to his kiss. When he braced her against his chest, Tia clung desperately to his strong shoulders through the soft leather of his jacket. Her mind whirled with drunken lust. She couldn’t get enough of his mouth, of the contact of his muscled torso against her breasts, and she wanted more.

When they reluctantly disengaged, she flipped back a rebellious strand of hair to hide her bewilderment. “Your boss would not approve of such a public display.”

Zack still held her arm as if he would never let go. “I don’t work for Carrick anymore.”

“You don’t?" Tia didn’t dare believe him. “I didn’t know anyone could ever leave ORION, except in a wooden box or at the bottom of a river, like with the CIA or the Mafia.”

As Zack shook his head, the setting sun caught golden strands in his thick chestnut hair. “It’s not quite that bad, but it took some maneuvering. I couldn’t stand the growing insanity in ORION, so I just moved to a private branch of the Department of Defense." He nodded toward the tower. “I work here, now.”

“Here?" Tia couldn’t believe such a coincidence. So, he was just getting off work?

“You remember Lawson Archer? You met him at the fund raiser.”

“Sure.
Lanky, shy, not bad looking."
Every detail of that fated evening was permanently burned into Tia’s memory.

“He offered me a job in his company." Zack gave her that frank look she’d learned to trust long ago.

Tempted to relax, Tia could not afford to let her guard down. Zack might have changed in all these years. God knew she had. “What kind of job?”

He seemed to enjoy their conversation but still hung on to her arm. “
Officially,
or unofficially?”

“Both." Tia could probably escape if she really tried, so she didn’t struggle.

“Straight to the point, that’s what I’ve always liked about you." Zack sighed as if what he had to say could cost him. “Officially, I work for an international defense project inside Haepheon Technologies, the development of new anti Anaz-voohri weapons and body armor.”

“Really?"
Tia couldn’t imagine Zack working at a desk job day after day.
“And unofficially?”

“Well, I know because I read your mind that I can trust you, so here goes." He gazed into her eyes. “My code name is Prometheus, and you just passed your first test, Tia." He lowered his voice. “I work for Mythos.”

“Mythos?"
She kept her voice low.
“You?"
Was this a trick? Were ORION’s agents waiting to pounce on her?

He nodded mysteriously. She could tell he enjoyed the situation.

Her whole being wanted to trust him, but Tia’s mind reeled with warnings. The compassion and the desire evident on Zack’s face, however, melted her barriers. How she yearned to find safety in his arms. “I find it difficult to trust anyone lately.”

“You don’t have to trust me. Just come inside, and I’ll show you." Never letting go of her arm, he stood up, bringing her to her feet in the process. “We have much to discuss, and there are a few people I would like you to meet.”

The glass tower loomed in the declining light, reflecting the orange sunset. Only a few stragglers trickled out the main entrance. Still uneasy about Zack’s hold on her arm, Tia decided to give him a chance and accompanied him inside. Certainly ORION had no jurisdiction in a private corporate building.

At the security desk, the guard nodded to Zack. “Working late again tonight, Mr. Duncan?”

Zack winked. “Keeping the planet safe is a thankless job, Ned.”

“How about the young lady?"
Ned gave Tia an appreciative look.

“She’s with me. I’ll vouch for her." Zack let go of her arm almost reluctantly but remained close.

“I see..." Ned smiled at Tia. “Any electronic recording devices, Miss?”

Tia scanned the lobby but didn’t see any soldiers. Reassured, she fished her epad out of her jacket pocket and gave it to the guard.

Ned stored it in a small locker then handed her a plastic badge. “The magnetic badge serves as a key to the locker as well, for when you get out.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

After Tia went through the metal detector, followed by Zack, the guard returned to his bank of monitors.

Zack led Tia to the elevator. He slid his security badge in the slot, but instead of pushing buttons on the elevator panel, he used a small remote and they went down.

“Down?"
The elevator pad indicated no floor below the lobby.

Zack winked. “In our line of work, we like privacy." When the door opened on a brightly lit facility, he smiled. “Welcome to Mythos.”

Surprised, Tia took in the work stations of cutting edge design, with sophisticated equipment, and the flat monitors high around the walls. The place reminded her of a NASA Mission Control Room design.

Several men rose and applauded. A tall Chinese man in black observed quietly. A very young man in jeans, with pale skin and dark hair, and a stocky man with a moustache smiled at her.

Tia recognized Lawson Archer as he stepped forward and shook her hand. “Down here, I go by Zeus, and this is our bunker. These are a few of our men. Others are out in the field. I must say you are the first female in this group, but we heard of your prowess as a soldier and we are looking forward to working with you. Welcome aboard, Tia Vargas.”

“You remember my name?" Then Tia realized one of the monitors on the wall focused on a bench outside, on which lay a forgotten red rose. The very bench she and Zack had just vacated. “You watched us from here?”

Zack cleared his throat. “Sorry about that, but they had to make sure. As soon as I saw you on the surveillance screen, I insisted on doing the interview myself. Not only they watched, but they listened to every word.”

“You have no shame, Zack Duncan, kissing me on camera." But deep down, Tia wondered. Did he kiss her to impress his friends? Or should she feel flattered that the usually reserved Zack had displayed his feelings for her?

Archer motioned everyone toward an oval conference table surrounded by chairs. “What’s your sphere of expertise, Tia?" He sat down and indicated for the others to do the same. He looked quite the business mogul, not irritated and awkward like at the fund raiser.

Tia took a chair and Zack sat next to her.

“It’s been a while since I applied for a job." Tia chuckled nervously. “Let’s see... I’m good at tactical, I speak Spanish, I know the jungle,
I
can organize a camp, drill new recruits...”

“Boy, can she ever!" Zack erupted into soft laughter.

Archer raised a surprised brow at the mild outburst then focused on Tia. “I also have to give you an official title for payroll, something that won’t look suspicious or inconsistent to the IRS or the FBI, a position that will allow you to travel extensively with an expense account.”

“Field Weapons Testing?"
Zack leaned back into his chair, like a jungle cat digesting a lamb. “She’s even tested torpedoes in space.”

“Perfect!" Archer flashed a wide smile. “Field Weapons Specialist it is. You start tomorrow.”

Tia couldn’t believe these men would so readily welcome her in their midst. “If you listened to every word, you know I’m probably a hybrid, right?”

The stocky man with the moustache offered a friendly smile. “I’m a hybrid myself. It must have been difficult to avoid DNA testing as an officer in the military.”

“I had a few close calls, but I managed." Tia considered herself lucky that her tour of duty expired just in time. She couldn’t have dodged the next test.

Zack squeezed her hand under the table. “Mythos does not discriminate. It doesn’t matter to us what you are, as long as you embrace our cause. You don’t even have to take the test."

This acceptance of her hybrid nature melted Tia’s last reservations, but she would not shrink from the truth.
 
She’d made too many mistakes by assuming too much. She wanted to know for sure, and there was only one way. “Actually, I’d like to be tested.”

“As you wish."
Archer waved, encompassing the men around the table. “In the meantime, meet the gang. You already know Prometheus, of course. Then there is Apollo, Icarus, Deer Hunter...”

*****

Two hours later, over dinner at Bacchanals, a friendly but discreet Greek restaurant on the other side of Central Park, Zack and Tia filled in the blanks of each other’s lives. Tia couldn’t believe that Zack never stopped loving her, even in the midst of the most terrible trials any human being could ever endure.

Sobs strangled her throat and tears rolled down her cheeks when he confided in sober terms the misery of his formerly disabled state and the horrible death of his sister. How could she have been so blind? She’d let her guilt and her fears get in the way of finding out the truth. She’d behaved like a coward.

Tia appreciated the good fortune that gave her a second chance at happiness. But she also realized that Zack wasn’t the young rebellious soldier who made her blood rush, so many years ago. He had grown into a circumspect and logical man, still passionate and dedicated to his ideals. What he’d lost in spontaneity he’d gained in mystery and depth. Tia very much wanted to get to know him again.

After dinner they hailed a cab and went to his Manhattan loft. Zack called the elevator from the street by punching a code in his epad. While going up the large freight elevator that clunked as it rose slowly, he drew her close and drank from her lips.

Altogether strange and familiar, the embrace thrilled Tia, but she didn’t really know who this man was anymore. She would have to learn everything about him again, and the prospect of what she might discover made her giddy. Would she still love him beyond the lust that blinded her right now?

As the elevator door slid open, Zack picked her up and carried her over the threshold. “Welcome to my secret lair.”

The wide open space with high ceilings had no separating wall whatsoever. All steel, glass, mirrors and black leather, everything looked neat and clean. A shiny motorcycle sat to the side, all chrome.

“You still ride?" The slick machine evoked memories of their carefree time in the Florida Keys, although it looked much more sophisticated than the Kawasaki, with an overhead protective shell.

“This does better than just ride." Zack let her down gently. “It’s a prototype than can hover twenty feet over the ground.”

“You mean it can fly?" Tia had heard of such a machine but she’d never seen one.

“It’s exhilarating. You’ll see...”

The kitchen at one end had an island and a breakfast nook. It flowed into the living room, then into a bedroom. Mirrored cabinets and closets lined the windowless walls, making the space look much wider. A recess probably housed the bathroom. At each end, floor to ceiling windows brought in the lights and the sounds of the city.
 
“I love this place." She shed her white denim jacket and dropped it on the black couch.

“You are the first to see it. Even my closest friends have never been up here." He took her jacket and hung it with his own on a hat peg.

“Why is that?" The bedroom seemed to open on a small patio, with a tiny flower garden. On the black comforter, a white cat unfurled and stretched then rose and jumped down to the hardwood floor to greet them. The cat rubbed against Tia’s leg and purred. “Did you just move in?”

“Hardly.
I guess I was saving it for someone special.”

Crouching, Tia petted the cat but couldn’t get her eyes off Zack. “What about your lady friends?" She couldn’t believe that in all these years he hadn’t had another relationship. She sat on the couch and the cat leapt onto her lap.

Zack chuckled.
“Nothing worth mentioning.
Cleopatra, here, is the extent of my female companionship. Women weren’t an option when I was confined to the chair, and since I’ve recovered... well, I’ve been too engrossed in my work to even think about girlfriends."

“I know the feeling." Tia hadn’t tried to get involved with anyone else, either. She’d used her job as a pretext to avoid getting close to anyone. She petted Cleopatra, who purred loudly. The cat had aqua blue eyes like Zack. “I feel privileged to be invited.”

“Well, for what I have in mind, a public place would hardly do." Zack winked. “Would you like a drink?”

“Definitely."
Tia shot him a coy glance. “But you know what alcohol does to me." She remembered with fondness their first kiss on a dare, before their Shuttle flight.