Daggertail (9 page)

Chills racked her spine. Was it cold or was it nerves? How would she ever be able to tell again?

She pressed on through deserted backstreets she hoped would lead her from the not-so-prosperous outskirts of the gambling district, through a residential slum, and toward the more populated shopping district and Heidi. It wasn't much of a plan, but she didn't know what else to do.

She ducked down yet another dingy side street and twisted her ankle when she turned to glance over her shoulder. The heel of her left shoe snapped off. She lurched to one side but couldn't keep her balance. Tumbling to the hard ground, she heard a seam pop on her dress.

“Great, this is just perfect.” She unfastened her broken shoe and tossed it aside. It was difficult to see the frayed threads of her dress in the dim light, but it looked as if the slit in her dress now went a lot farther up her body than had been intended.

A stabbing sensation in the vicinity of her heart made her eyes slide shut. She shouldn't miss him. She shouldn't care what happened to him or where he went next or whom he went with. He was nothing more than a cold-blooded machine.

“He would've sold you back to Louie the minute he got Mendez,” she muttered to the empty air around her.

She struggled to her feet. She grabbed a grimy light pole to help her up and sheared off the nail on her right index finger. Cursing beneath her breath, she fought tears. Not because the nail break was painful, though it wasn't pleasant, but because it was all too much.

Sucking in a deep breath, she forced her emotions into a tight little ball and reached down to remove her remaining shoe. The street was cold beneath her bare feet. The beautiful dress Heidi had chosen was dirty and torn from the flight and her fall. She longed for Xave's comforting presence and hated herself for that weakness.

Why had she left Xave like that? Had it really accomplished anything?

Flickering directional arrows signaled an intersection ahead. She sped up, eager to see a street sign or some indication that she'd somehow managed to head in the right direction.

A strong arm wrapped around her midsection and snatched her back from the corner and into the darkness of a back alley. Before she could suck in enough breath to scream, a large hand clamped down on her mouth.

“Don't make a sound. They're already on high alert.”

Xave's gravel voice in her ear set off a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. He felt warm and hard at her back. Every curve of her body molded to each angle of his. She dragged in a deep breath of his familiar male scent, which triggered memories of his touch and their shared passion. Heat flared between her legs.

Common sense stirred beneath her arousal. How could her body respond when her mind wanted nothing more than to flee? What was wrong with her? Even at Louie's her physical responses hadn't been outside her control.

“They're searching for both of us now,” Xave murmured, interrupting her self-recrimination. “I think they're backtracking our trail.”

Tavish twisted her head to try and see his face, but the inky darkness hid the details of his expression. “Why bother coming after me? Your quarry is back at the casino.”

“I said I'd keep you safe.”

“I ran away from you.”

“Then I guess I'm saving you from your own stupidity.”

She yanked away from his grip. “Let me save you the trouble.”

He gripped her arms, stepping from the shadows and turning her to face him. “You aren't stupid, Tav. You're just too stubborn to think things through.”

“Like what?” she snapped, shoving against his unforgiving chest. “That you're nothing more than a cold-blooded machine? Or that you're too deluded to realize that for yourself?”

“Biology didn't make me a cold-blooded machine,” he said. “I made a choice to be one.”

She curled her lip derisively. “Why stop, then? It seems to work so well for you.”

“Because you came into my life and turned it upside down.” He pushed her back against the wall. He stabbed his hand through the ripped fabric of her dress, fingers seeking and finding her crotch. “And because I can't stop thinking about this.”

Her hands grasped his broad shoulders, what remained of her nails digging into muscle as his fingers probed the wet folds of her pussy. An ache built in her womb, a gush of cream soaking his hand even as he straddled her clit with two long fingers.

Her cunt made wet noises as he stroked her slit. Desire coiled tight in her belly, igniting intense waves of passion. Her extremities faded from her consciousness, every fiber focused on Xave's point of contact. His finger brushed the tiny bundle on the hood of her clitoris again and again until she shook with the need to come.

“Come for me, Tavish,” he ordered. “I need to feel you come.”

She panted with sexual frustration and the desperate need to climax. “I-I can't!”

“Relax,” he said. “Focus on the sensations, my fingers in your pussy, the scent of your cream, the heat of our bodies.”

His words drew an erotic picture in her mind, pushing her over the edge of arousal into orgasm. She squeezed her eyes shut and smothered a cry against his muscular shoulder. Inhaling deeply, she basked in the scent and feel of him. How would she have been able to live without this feeling?

His lips brushed the base of her neck. “It's a vicious cycle,” he whispered. “Your body responds whenever I'm near.”

A desperate whimper slipped past her lips.

“And I'm powerless to ignore your arousal.”

Tavish moaned, head falling back against the brick wall. His lips scorched a trail of kisses down the column of her throat, pausing in the hollow. His hot tongue laved a tantalizing path down her sternum to the cleft between her breasts. She'd climaxed not a moment before and still craved him.

“Is there anything about this that's cold-blooded, Tavish?” He nipped her lower lip. “What part of the things we've shared seemed mechanical?”

He pressed against her, the length and girth of his cock swelling against the confines of his dark pants. Her mind spun, flashing over their shared moments of passion. They burned together, like the suns, like the stars. He was gravity, and she was helpless against him.

Her hands tangled in his dark hair, pulling his mouth to hers for a deep kiss. Their teeth clicked together, tongues tangling in an ancient dance that mimicked their lovemaking. It was too much and yet never enough.

He pulled back, meeting her gaze in the shadowy alcove. “I'm nothing like them, Tavish.”

“I know.”

She hadn't realized how much she believed it until she said the words. But it was true. Xavier Kovuchenko might be a lot of things. He was a hard man. But he was a man, not a cyborg.

He groaned, hips bucking against her pelvis. “I wish I could take you back to the
Daggertail
and spend hours fucking you in every possible position.”

“What's stopping you?”

“Mendez.”

She stiffened. It always came back to Mendez, to duty. How could it matter that much?

He put a thumb beneath her chin and forced her to meet his pale blue gaze. “Mendez intercepted Alliance transmissions on their network. He has proof of the Alliance-ordered raids on civilian settlements.”

She caught her breath.

“Settlements like yours, Tav. This is a chance to find out what really happened and stop the lies.”

“They'll never let you get away with that, even if it
is
the truth.”

“Maybe not, but this is the first step in the right direction.”

This changed everything. It wasn't blind devotion to duty. He wanted to learn the truth about his past, about his father. And in doing so he would learn her truths as well.

“Tavish?”

She nibbled her lower lip, a whole new plan forming in her mind. “Can we still get into the Persian Maiden?”

He activated his comm link. “Xave to Warrick.”

“About fucking time,” Warrick said. “That stunt you pulled at the entrance was all over the Alliance network before you'd even made your escape.”

“Do we still have our window?”

“Not a chance. The front entrance is on lockdown, and they're doing scans of all customers upon entry.”

Xave gritted his teeth and forced himself to think past the failure to a solution, though there seemed to be none. “Then I'll find my own way in.”

“You'd better. If we give him too much time, that sleazebag is going to sell what he has and start planet hopping like a tourist.”

He tapped the comm to end his transmission and sorted through a few possible strategies. Unfortunately, Xave and subterfuge didn't mix. His direct approach was what had landed him in Louie's front entrance to begin with. Finding Tavish had made that fiasco a moderate success, but most of his methods resulted in a spectacular display of violence.

Tavish laid a hand on his forearm and gave him a conspiratorial smile. “I know how we can get in, but you're going to have to play along and follow my lead.”

He sighed. “You're the brains of this operation, Tav.”

“Damn right I am.” She glanced down at her feet and giggled. “But I'm going to have to find a pair of shoes.”

When Tavish said “plan,” Xave figured she knew of a service entrance. He just hadn't anticipated the type of entrance.

“Do these shoes match?” she asked, turning her foot this way and that to get a better look at her feet. “I miss Heidi's fashion sense.”

He lifted an eyebrow and jerked his chin toward the unconscious working girl and her bodyguard half a dozen paces away. “What do we do with them?”

“Hide them, I guess. You're supposed to be the expert at that kind of thing, not me.” She gave an unladylike snort as she picked up one of the blonde's long legs and attempted to drag her behind a stack of storage crates. They'd found the pair hurrying down a back alley toward the casino. It had taken minimal effort for Xave to overpower the bodyguard and use his railgun to stun them both into unconsciousness.

The network of alleys crisscrossing the more populated areas of Janus 5 made it a hotbed of criminal activity. In some sectors, the narrow access streets were like burrows tunneling between buildings.

“Here, let me help. The last thing we need is for you to break another shoe. Then we'd be doing this all over again.” He piled the overdressed blonde on top of her chemically enhanced bodyguard.

Tavish bounced on the balls of her feet, her breasts jiggling in her dress. “You remember what to say, right?”

“I'm not completely new to this, Tav. I'll get by.”

She picked a few imaginary bits from her dress. “I wish I hadn't made such a mess of this dress.”

He took her hand and placed it on his arm. “You look amazing.”

“You're not bad yourself.”

“Yeah, I play bodyguard pretty well.”

“You know”—her tone turned suggestive—“some people have a fetish for that.”

His desire stirred to life beneath her brilliant green gaze. “Do you?”

“I'd say I have a fetish for anything involving you and your cock.”

“No more, or I'll have you naked up against a wall.”

“Is that a promise?”

Xave grunted and made a few adjustments to the daggertail wrapped around his right arm.

She extended her fingers toward the silver links. “What is this?”

He snatched his arm back. “Don't ever touch that.”

“Why not?”

“It's called a daggertail. It's very difficult to handle. You'd probably lose your fingers.”

“Guess you'll be picking up your own clutter, then.”

He didn't have a ready response to that. Their relationship had taken so many twists and turns that he no longer knew where it was going or how it would end. How could there be a future for the likes of them?

“Check in, please.” A droid's mechanical voice greeted them on the other side of the entrance.

The vestibule looked like the receiving area of a prison. Licensed working girls arrived at this entrance to be checked in to the casino's system. The alloy walls were bare and antiseptic, like a med ward. A single droid manned the terminal in the center of the small cubicle. There were no benches, no chairs, and not a bit of decoration to show that the vestibule belonged to the opulent casino on the other side of the air-locked doors.

Xave started to speak, but Tavish squeezed his arm. She'd only done this once before, for a private party. But every working girl knew the process. It was part of the job.

Letting go of his arm, she took a deep breath and gathered her courage. If this went wrong, if they somehow got caught or she became separated from Xave, there would be no saving her from what she was about to do.

The droid produced a scanner. “Bar code, please.”

Comprehension dawned in Xave's eyes, and he moved to put himself between her and the droid. Knowing no other way to get inside without making a scene, she smoothly ducked around him and leaned over to present the bar code behind her ear for scanning.

“Name, Tavish,” the droid droned in his mechanical voice. “Health testing, current. Thank you.”

With a cool hum, the doors slid open, and they entered the Persian Maiden. Plush, imported carpet stretched the length of the corridor and intricate scrollwork covered the stylized alloy walls.

“You knew they would do that,” he said in a low voice. “You knew, and you didn't tell me.”

“Yes.”

“You're on the board now, Tavish. At some point this is going to get back to Louie.”

She stopped, staring up at him and wishing she knew his thoughts. “Mendez is the quarry, and this is the best way to get him.”

He was grinding his teeth again. Obviously she'd said or done something to make him irritated. She wasn't trying to make him take care of her. If he wanted her to be responsible for herself after they finished this job, she would be. She just wished she knew if there was any chance for a shared future.

Tavish had no answers for questions she didn't really want to ask. After everything they had been through, she hoped that they would have gotten past this confusion. But it seemed she was wrong. So instead of circling, she focused on the present. “Now we've got to find Mendez in this maze.”

“I could've gotten that information from the droid manning the service entrance.”

She shook her head. “It would've made him suspicious. It's a droid. You don't make small talk with it. “

“We'll have to find a way to get to Mendez in the main gambling area, then. If we get lucky, he'll be right there holo-dicing in the wide open.”

They approached a narrow door that would place them at a choke point between the service areas and the main gallery. The sounds of the casino were a low hum on the other side of the door. Tavish took a deep breath and paused while Xave twisted the crystal on his IID. He shook himself a bit, as if settling into a new skin. His avatar image looked much like the one she'd outed a few hours ago, with a few minor changes. She didn't know why, but she got the feeling he didn't much like the holo image dulling his sharp senses.

Forcing the events of the last fifteen minutes to the back of her brain, she focused on that moment, on the task of entering the main floor of the Persian Maiden like a trophy wife on the arm of her man. Even if the man whose arm she occupied wasn't really hers.