Underworld Queen (17 page)

“Something. You know how everyone is down here. We don’t like all this upset and controversy. Makes everyone nervous.”

“God forbid, it would interfere with the consumption of Red-X and the local lovelies.”

“It isn’t what we promised the people we turned. We told them their worries would be over forever. Sort of makes us look like a pack of liars.”

“We are a pack of liars, Luke. We stretch the truth every day to get what we want. Otherwise, no one would come.”

“You need to get back here and start scorching people, clear the decks. Put the place in order. Make it run like it used to, before Peter even.”

“It was shit before. Chaos, really.”

“Yeah, but nobody got hurt, unless that’s what they wanted.”

“Nobody wanted to run for office.”

“So we always elected somebody who couldn’t read and didn’t care.”

“The good old days, huh?” Audray smiled.

“We need our freedoms back. Everyone’s looking over their shoulders all the time now.” He sighed in resignation, and caused the phone to go static. “Guess it can wait a few, but I just wanted you to know. Things are strange down here. Have a good trip.”

“Will do. Thanks for the call. I’ll think on it, Luke. I really will. I think we’re done here. You think I should get back tomorrow?”

“I think that’d be wise, Ma’am.”

“Sounds like I should be prepared for a battle.”

“Well, you should be. They say the Director shouldn’t have a paramour. Said it’s too distracting, your current love holiday being proof of that. They say Jonas has to go.”

Now this got her mad. “Who said this?”

“These…these rabble rousers.”

“Rupert?”

“Nah, he’s too smart for that. Lackeys. The guy has an army of lackeys they’ve been turning day and night. Everyone at the arrival center is way overworked and about to quit. You know what happened the last time…”

“I’ll be there tomorrow, and we’ll take care of business.”

“Good. I’ll start making my list.”

“Excellent.”

It was a
shock when they returned to the suite at the St. Francis. The room had been completely tossed. The sheets on the bed had been shredded, stuffing pulled out from the mattress as if a jealous female animal with claws had had her way. Nothing was missing, except some of Audray’s underwear. Her makeup was smashed, lipsticks ground into the carpet.

Even the hotel staff was nonplussed. They apologized profusely at the obvious breach of their security and offered them a room at a nearby hotel, complimentary, of course. They offered to pay for front row seats at the Curran Theater and dinner afterwards at Harris’s. Jonas didn’t appear to care much about the spoiled things, the room at the Stanford Court, or the theater, but he was excited at the prospect of dining at the best steakhouse on the peninsula.

My lover is indeed an eating machine.

Then her stomach heaved and she barely made it to the bathroom, where she threw up the single forkful of beans and lettuce Jonas had fed her earlier.

“You wish for me to send for a doctor?” the hotel manager blurted out, clearly scared. His brown eyes were the size of hardboiled eggs, Audray thought. And that led her back to the bathroom for a dry retching.

I’ve been poisoned. What have they done to me?

She recalled what she ate at the greasy spoon in Bakersfield. But that was too long ago.
Something in our breakfast?
But when she thought about it, her tummy had been sensitive throughout their mad sex last night. Just that the sex covered it up.

“No, thank you. I think we should get her out of here though. Could you please pick up all our things and have them delivered?” Jonas spit out the instructions with his centuries-old experience leading men into battle. He drew her to him, wiped her mouth with a wet washcloth. “There. All better. Do you need anything here?”

“No. Everything that’s important is in my satchel.” She pointed to her red leather bag, which had not left her side. “Just maybe some clothes.”

“You don’t need any clothes, my love,” he whispered in her ear. “Until you are ready to wake up and have a cappuccino. I think we’ll turn in early and stay in bed late, hmm?” The playful creases at the sides of his mouth deepened as his lips curled upward. He tipped her chin with his thumb and forefinger and placed a soothing kiss there. Their lips parted and he blew in her face so she could feel his erotic power wash over her, and, although she became a little dizzy, she felt absolutely wonderful.

The room was a beehive of activity. Several staffers in maroon smocks began cleaning, picking up their things and speaking in hushed tones.

“Again, let me express my sincere apologies on behalf of the St. Francis Hotel. We have never had anything like this, ever.” The manager’s hands were flapping in the breeze as he ran slightly ahead of them, pushing the elevator button so they wouldn’t have to wait more than a second. The doors opened two floors down, but there was no one there. Audray felt Jonas’ muscles spring to full readiness. He pulled an arm in front of the manager and peered up and down the hallway, and then leaned back in.

“Can you override the calls with your key?”

“Yes.” Shaking fingers produced a large brass key he slipped into a keylock bordered with a maroon plastic ring. One quarter turn and the elevator began its descent to the lobby.

“No. Make it stop at the parking lot underneath.”

“S…s…sure.” He kept his fingers on the turned key until at last they stopped. The sensor above the door read P2. “This is the second parking level. You have to take another elevator up, or the stairs to the right, one flight and out the emergency exit. We don’t keep it armed in the daytime since many of the staff use it themselves. Disregard what it says.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll call the Stanford Court…” his voice trailed off as the doors closed in front of him, sending him up to the lobby. Audray and Jonas stood in the middle of the parking garage. Alone.

Taking her hand, Jonas led her to the stairwell and up one flight. A car motor revved, so Jonas pulled her back inside the enclosure to wait until the sound of the vehicle and screeching tires faded. The overhead fluorescent lights buzzed. Mixed with the gasoline smell, Audray felt sick again, but she willed the nausea away and was surprised she could do that.

The red Maserati waited a few steps away. Audray began rummaging through her bag for her keys, but Jonas put his finger to his lips.

“We must leave it.”

She nodded.

A large red set of double doors plastered with warning signs was around the corner, on the other side of a concrete column. Jonas inhaled and pushed the doors open to the glare of the dying afternoon sun. Sounds of passing cars echoed off the walls of the hotel, getting louder as they made it to the street.

Jonas motioned to a taxi waiting nearly tenth in line at the entrance. He opened the rear door and handed the cabbie a fifty dollar bill. “You get another fifty when we get to the ferry terminal.”

Discreetly, the cab pulled out of line, switched on his yellow light and spun in the opposite direction.

“Where are we going now?” Audray asked. She was scared, her stomachache long forgotten.

“Ferry terminal,” he whispered so the driver couldn’t hear. “We’ll buy tickets and board, then you’ll transport us home. We’ll need to find some place private where no one will see. You need to get us back north to your home where we’ll be closer to the transport station.”

“What about the rest of our things?”

“I did that so they’d think we’re taking the room. We’re not staying there tonight. Too many people know about it.”

Once on-board the ferry, they stood at the brass rail and watched as the city began to shrink. Audray loved the feel of Jonas’ strong arms around her, holding her warm and secure on the windy deck. She could almost believe nothing would be able to touch her. She could almost imagine a forever without danger, where the only concern of the day was when she would next be able to lie naked with him and feel the pulse of his life force pumping into her soul.

A
udray put her
arms around Jonas’ neck and hiked her knee up over his hip. She was about to put her other leg on the toilet seat of the ferry’s unisex bathroom, but Jonas stopped her.

“Not here.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re trying to get away clean, remember?”

“But you don’t know how it works.” She steeled some of her thoughts from him, yet painted a vivid picture of them being transported, with a large appendage of his inserted deep inside her.

Jonas drew back, looking at her in askance. She willed herself to speak to him through her thoughts.
Oh yes, that’s the way it’s done. We must be connected, physically.

“No holding of hands?” he asked with a puzzled expression.

“Perhaps. But I wouldn’t want to take a chance and leave part of you in the bay.” She tried to paint a picture of that one too, and was rewarded with a shudder on his part. The thought that he would arrive at her home emasculated was no doubt troubling.

“Now, as your Director, I order you to impale me on your rod. See if you can make me come before we land.” His mouth covered hers and his tongue penetrated deep. He fumbled with his zipper but at last she felt the familiar skin slide against her white panties under her skirt, seeking plunder. She used one hand to pull the elastic to one side to give him entry. She heard the panties rip as his huge cock dove in and split her lips open.

“Deeper. It must be very deep.”

Jonas obliged.

“Ah, yes.” Audray leaned back and felt the delicious pleasure of him pumping into her core, while Jonas busied himself holding her back and kissing her neck. “Now we are ready, my love,” she said looking at him and the need in his eyes. And yes, he saw that she had played a little trick on him, just as she closed her eyes and sent the winds of transport swirling around them. She heard his attempt to speak.

“I can’t wait to get even with you.” His voice was distant and scratchy, coming through the static of the transport current.

The instant their feet touched ground she knew something was wrong. She had brought them to her bedroom, but the room was fully ablaze. Jonas sprung into action, grabbing a blanket from the bed. Covering her, Jonas carried her out into the night air through the front door. She watched in horror as her home, the one the former Director had constructed, went up in flames. Jonas was brushing down her clothes, swatting and patting away bits of smoke and soot.

“Are you alright?” he hurriedly called out, bringing her back to his side.

“The house. Just like my mother’s. Who is doing this?”

Jonas stood beside her and stared up at the second floor that was now caving in upon the first. “Someone who wants us dead,” he said softly. “Anything in there worth saving?”

“Only you,” she said.

He put his big arm around her waist and whispered into her ear, “And that you have, lass, mind, body and soul.”

Carl and Molly
arrived at the house just in time to watch a dark figure slinking off to the bushes. Unsure what to do, they decided to wait.

“I’m going to get out and walk around the place,” Carl stated. Before he could open the car door, the house in front of them exploded into flames. When he saw a couple run out of the burning building, he wasn’t sure if he was relieved or scared.

The big man might be the man Glenda mistakenly thought was Jonas Starling, but Carl knew it was more likely he was a distant relative. With his woman in tow, the man headed right for Carl, who instinctively held onto Molly while standing his ground. The man looked at him and Molly as if Carl were the devil himself. He pushed the blonde woman behind his massive frame and growled, straight at Carl.

“I—I saw someone come out of the house just before it exploded. He ran into the bushes, r…r…right over there.” Carl pointed again but he found it hard to raise his arm. The big man looked in the direction he pointed. He seemed to relax just a bit. Carl could feel Molly shivering behind him.

“Who are
you
?” The big man asked.

“My name is Carl Carrington. I’m a Professor over at Meriwether and Grant College.”

The man looked confused, then added, “I am Jonas Starling.”

Carl couldn’t believe what he’d just been told.

“Not
the
Jonas Starling?”

“Is there another?”

Carl realized if this was true, he was staring into the eyes of a three hundred year old ghost. “I was sent to find you, given this address,” Carl insisted, trying to diffuse some of the tension between them. He could see Starling was lowering some of his guard, assessing the threat and apparently had judged him safe. That relieved him.

“Look, I don’t mean you any harm. I was given a research project, and I’ve studied a lot about you.”

Both Jonas and the woman were scanning the area, and Carl sensed they’d be leaving shortly for safer ground, practically ignoring his statement.

“Look, I have a car. I could take you to the hospital if you are injured.” Carl couldn’t believe the size of this man, the tanned skin covered in arm tattoos, the silvering hair tied back in a ponytail with a leather strap. His eyes were jet black, as were the woman’s, and his jaw was firm. The muscles twitched as he appeared to be grinding his teeth.