Lana's Comet (Outer Settlement Agency) (7 page)

“Is someone questioning your ability as a security chief?”

“Just me. I doubt myself sometimes.” Few things shocked him, but an unconfident Vin was one of them. His brother’s hands shielded his face, muffling his words. “When I heard that two of my brother’s trainees disappeared, I told my boys to send notice to you and get on with their business. Imagine my surprise when I come to check on you and you’re not here? I find that you’ve been kidnapped. Held prisoner by some buxom—”

“You finished?”

“Did you finish? How many times? I don’t know whether to arrest you or cry out in pride. Help me, Cyprus. What do I do?”

He almost wished he’d splurged on a water bath. At least then he’d have a wet towel to throw on the dick’s face. He’d beat the smile off him, as soon as he wiped his own away. And that might take some time.

A shove got his brother’s feet off the sofa and Cyprus slid in next to him. “I like her.”

“But she’s all...humany.”

“I know that.”

“But you’re prejudiced.”

“I am not!”

“Mother will be happy to hear that.”

“Mother doesn’t think—”

“Give her a call sometime. Let her see your face. Tell her about this girl who has you pissing off protocol. Good gracious, you’re smiling again.”

“I’ve gotta get rid of it before the first session...and keep it off when I get there.”

“What the hell has this girl done to you?”

“Woman. Not a girl. Here.” He got up, but not before he handed over Yoshisumi’s omnitablet. “I need you to break the biolock.”

“That’s illegal.”

“Highly. And I need you to scan my office for recordings...in the next ten minutes.”

“Who
are
you?”

“And I need that tablet soon, Vin.”

“Is this the girl’s, sorry, woman’s? Are there incriminating pictures up here?”

“No, it belongs to the other one. The runaway. She left it behind and I need it for personal use.”

“Yeah, we need to talk about her.”

“We need to talk about a lot of things. After today’s training, I’ll stop by.”

S
he woke up alone.

Not a great feeling.

His rich musk lingered on the pillow, but his warmth was gone. The one thing tangible thing left behind was a long string of blond hair.

Had she made a mistake?

Last night felt good – real good – and she wanted more of it. But she wasn’t an idiot. This was too dangerous to continue while they were here. If something was meant to grow between them, it had to wait. It would take getting through this section of training before finding out where she’d go for her upper level preps. And that could take a few months.

At least they’d be able to date.

Assuming they were on the same planet or moon...or at least shared a lunar orbit.

And also assuming Meash didn’t kill her.

And super assuming he left this morning because he
had
to, not because he wanted to.

She looked out the full-length window and realized they hadn’t bothered to close it during last night’s festivities. Good thing they were too high up for anyone to see them.

Probably.

If he’d been here, they might have laughed about it. But he wasn’t and Lord, it hurt. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. It made sense for him to leave trainee quarters before first bells and maybe he didn’t want to wake her up. Yep. That’s what she told herself.

Twice.

And she held on to that hope with tightly clenched fists as she got ready and headed for the gymnasium. Her heart banged a steady trillion beats per second, but she kept her head straight and took her position in line. She didn’t acknowledge Cyprus and he didn’t acknowledge her.

He spoke to the group at large in a voice stretched thin and hollow, not at all sounding like a man happy from a night of lovemaking. “I know I have been hard on you all. It isn’t to break you. It’s to make you understand that you no longer represent Titan or Mars or Venus or Earth. I am building you up to represent the Outer Settlement Agency and our job is the universe. You stand here on the precipice of greatness. That you made it this far proves your caliber.”

She turned, just a touch, and bit back a grin at the open looks of shock directed at their Commander Dhoma.

He wasn’t finished.

“I’m gonna tell you something and you’ll have to latch on to it when you need it. Today, you have your final round of mental stress assessments. I see the looks on your faces. I understand it firsthand. Everyone in charge of your training has gone through this. You’ll make it. Visualize what comes next. The fun stuff, hmm? Planetary sims, shuttle runs, all those things you thought you’d be doing instead of running laps for me.”

A few of her comrades grinned, others wept. She didn’t blame them. Meash Corp had similar programs, only with far less stringent commitments to psychological safety. OSA protected people and planets. Meash Corp protected their money. They went to great lengths to ensure that secrets couldn’t be plied out of its higher-level employees. She shivered in empathy and tried to center her mind on him.

“Any questions?”

When no one responded, Cyprus sent them away with a “You’ve got this,” and after the last person left, he turned to her. “A word in my office?”

“Sir.” She followed, keeping her eyes on a rear end she might not be able to see again. Might as well enjoy one final view. She prepared herself for a talking to and was ready to fire back. She was grown. If he had any regrets, that was on him.

She didn’t.

She enjoyed last night and happened to know he did too. She’d call him out on any bullshit he might try to fling her way.

He said nothing as the door opened for his retina scan and he waived her through. Unlike the silver and tan that colored most of the facility, his office was a dark blue with soft green lighting emanating from the corners.

His desk was as she expected. Clear. No mementos and, “OH!”

In one breath, she was off her feet and on said desk, with one very attractive OSA agent looking down. “I had my brother scan my room today. It’s clean.”

“So?”

“New rule.”

“Okay?”

“As long as you’re in that uniform, you’ll do what I tell you to do.”

“That’s illegal.” She shimmied out of her top. “However, out of uniform...”

Teeth latched on her neck while his hands went to work on her trousers. She tried to help, but he didn’t need it, having her naked in two smooth movements. A massive palm pushed against her stomach. “Lay back down.”

She did.

“Spread you legs.”

She did that too.

But nothing happened. She looked down the length of her body to find him still clothed and staring at her. A rough thumb rubbed against her clit and she took a sharp huff of air. He smiled and brought his chair closer to the desk. “I missed breakfast. That’s your fault.”

Hands hooked around her calves, dragging her to the edge of the desk.

“I’m going to eat now and you’re going to be a good little recruit and not interrupt me while I do.”

Good
was such a relative term. If good involved keeping her mouth shut, that wasn’t happening. The man’s tongue traced her labial walls from one side to the other. The dance of his flesh across hers was both too brief and too long.

She slammed her hand across her mouth and damn near bit her lip off to keep from moaning. Then he started sucking, working her as if he meant to consume her. “Please.”

“Please, what?”

“Please, don’t stop.”

“Oh, I agree.”

Cyprus’s tongue froze.

Right about then it registered that this last voice hadn’t come from between her legs. Nor did it belong to Cyprus, who shot up and threw some clothes over her. She jumped behind him, scampering into her suit.

“Vin, get out, NOW!”

Who the hell was Vin?
She wasn’t about to stop dressing to find out.

“I have the thing you wanted. Who is that,” this Vin person asked.

“Brother, I swear to you...”

Brother?
She did peek then. The beautiful, and very human looking Vin, waved four fingers in the air. “Hello, there.”

She didn’t wave back. Vin shrugged and took a five-fingered grip on an omnitablet - one decorated with black Martian lilies. “That’s Michi’s!”

Vin’s eyes rolled back and he pointed from the tablet to her face. “This involves her too? Oh man, you’re in deep.”

Cyprus took a step, hands curled into fists at his side. “Shut up and get out.”

But none of this seemed to faze Vin. He shot her another toothy smile and his shoulders shook with laughter. “I am not judging this. If my brother wants to service a woman—”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“– on his desk to start his morning, who am I to stand in his way? Are you going to introduce us?”

“No.”

Cyprus snatched the omnitablet and dropped it on the desk. She took a deep breath and stepped from behind him. “I’m Dr. Lana Kagen.”

Vin bypassed her extended hand. To her horror, he saluted. “Trainee, Lana Kagen. This is getting better by the minute. I checked the files of both people in your room, Doc. In case you were involved with Ms. Yoshisumi’s disappearance. You left behind a profitable employer for this and it raises questions. Mind telling me what I’ve just risked my career for?”

“It’s rather complicated.”

“I see. Listen, I understand that I’m just a simple security director, barely able to walk and talk at the same time. And I get, truly I do, that I’ve interrupted a very important business meeting about this very serious and, as you say, complicated issue but—”

“Meash Two is attempting to control the galaxy by bioengineering a disease to which only they have the antidote.”

“Oh. Right. Shall I save this as ‘that thing I didn’t hear’ and move on with my day?”

“Not exactly. I mean—”

“Lady, either you’re crazy or the universe is. This is so out of my purview.”

“Out of...you’re top level security!” She looked from one brother to the other, brain clearly incorrectly reporting everything he’d just said. Meanwhile Cyprus rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air.

“Just saying,” Vin continued. “I don’t get paid enough to handle that.”

“I’m here because I can’t do this on my own.”

“You’re here so my brother can eat—”

Cyprus’s face turned a muddy, angry red and he pointed to the door. “Leave. Now.”

“All of this...you two are serious, aren’t you? Aww, shit. Look, fix it.” The man turned, but didn’t leave just yet. “Rough translation, I’m kicking this up to my superiors. You get a week to sort this out, prove what you say is true and submit it to OSA.”

“Or that, brother?”

“Or I will. We can’t sit on this.”

“They’re still months, maybe years out,” she offered.

“I don’t care. Maybe you can’t read it in my features, but I know what those bastards can do.” Vin pulled out his omnitablet and started typing. “Meash logistics qualifications don’t transfer over without upper level approval. Congratulations, you just got upper level approval. You’re skipping simulations and going straight to the two-day space training. Take the unlocked tablet. Use the time to make all the connections you need to bring this to light.”

For the first time since Vin’s entry, Cyprus looked at his brother with soft eyes and unclenched fists. “You don’t need to get involved with this.”

“You got me involved. You leave this afternoon. And, would you look at that? Because of scheduling conflicts, I’m putting you down as her onboard facilitator.”

“I can’t abandon the rest of my recruits.”

“You won’t. They’ll need a day to recover. That gives you just enough time to come back and hit the ground running.”

“Wait.” Cyprus paced in the small room, arms crossed, chin resting on his fist. “I’ll note that we’re trying something new and testing it on Lana. They’ll record everything we say, so we’ll have to communicate via Yoshisumi’s omnitablet.”

“We could do a loop on the dark side of—”

Vin’s clicking tongue cut her off. “Too suspicious. You literally have to save the world and pass a flying test. And not in that order.” Vin’s head dropped and he typed some more. “You’ll have one of the older training shuttles. Do I have to remind you to keep your hands off one another?”

Cyprus’s feet skidded to a stop and he had the nerve to smile. “No and thank you.”

“Yeah, well, my name’s all over this now. As for you, lady, make sure you’re right before you go ruining all of our lives.”

I
t was a four-person shuttle with the back seats removed and a sleeping cot built for one. She dragged up the rest of her things and tossed them in the rear. He wanted to help, but couldn’t. Such an action would be noted. He couldn’t risk anything out of character.

They played it safe during the load up, take off and had to continue to do so. To be this close and so artificially removed qualified as excruciating. For the first time in modern memory, he was sick and tired of OSA.

“Systems check complete?”

“Yes, sir. We’re closing out on the mesosphere, shifting for the thermosphere.”

“Looks good. Kagen. Expect a bump.”

“Yes, sir.”

To her credit, she didn’t jump or scream as many did when they hit the bubble. Then again, this wasn’t her first time. The craft glided under the hands of a pure natural. She settled into a smooth resting point and sighed, falling back into the seat. “Clear.”

Of all the inventive ways he wished to congratulate her on a job well done, he simply nodded and uploaded the flight stats to her files. Without a word, he handed her the unlocked omnitablet and passed the time reviewing files of other trainees.

The urge to rest a hand of support over her shoulder was there and strong, but anyone at any time could look in on their shuttle. It wasn’t worth the risk. Unable to stare, let alone help, he left her to her espionage and worked on what suddenly felt trite and inconsequential.

Hours passed and he fought off sleep. She still worked, fingers darting across the screen, a million kilometers a second. She’d sigh every so often, but otherwise worked in silence.