by R S Penney
“Would you believe the Justice Keepers?”
The bartender arched an eyebrow.
Ben took the second shot glass and threw that back before slamming it down on the counter. “I used to work with the Keepers as a consultant,” he added. “But we didn't see eye to eye.”
“That a fact?”
Setting both elbows on the counter, Ben rested his chin upon the knuckles of both fists. “Come on now,” he teased. “You don't really want to talk about the Justice Keepers. Why don't we get to what's really on your mind?”
A sudden outburst of nervous laughter told Ben that he had hit the target dead on. “Maybe I don't,” the bartender said. “So what's your name?”
“Tanaben.”
“Pleased to meet you, Tanaben. I'm Damos.
The doors to his quarters aboard the star-liner Alarinto slid apart, and Jack found the small sitting room inside lit by candles. There wasn't much in the way of floor space. Just a small table and a couch along the back wall.
Cassi sat on that couch with one leg crossed over the other, hands folded primly on her knee. Her pink hair had been shortened to a pixie cut that seemed very much at odds with the stern expression on her face. “You didn't get back to me last night,” she said. “A girl might think you're pushing her away.”
Biting his lip, Jack took one look around the room and then felt his eyebrows climb up his forehead. “Again with the candles,” he said. “This is really becoming a motif with you; if you're not careful, someone might think you're running out of ideas.”
“You don't enjoy the ambiance?” she asked. “You know, I did go to quite a lot of trouble to arrange this.”
Grinning as his cheeks burned with furious heat, Jack shook his head. “Don't ever underestimate the romantic potential of a good halogen flashlight.” He marched into the room and noted the sound of the door closing behind him. “So, what's up?”
Cassi looked up at him, blinking slowly. “I thought we could resume our date,” she said, rising to stand before him. “But if you'd rather sit alone and mope in the dark, I'll try not to take it personally.”
“It's not that I don't like you.”
“No?”
“I promise.”
She crossed her arms and stood before him with her head bowed, heaving out a soft sigh. “Then precisely what is it, Jack?” Like a ghost, she flowed around him and paced to the opposite wall. “Are you still moping over Lenai?”
What he wouldn't give to avoid having this uncomfortable conversation; the disdain in her tone was turning his blood to acid, and he was going to have to watch himself or he might say something stupid; God help him; this was why sane people didn't get involved with coworkers.
Jack dropped onto the couch, setting elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. “I don't want to talk about this.” His voice grated as he spoke. “I'm really not looking for advice.”
With his eyes shut, he could still perceive Cassi leaning against the opposite wall, drumming fingers on her thigh. Her gaze was directed at something in the corner, as if she couldn't bring herself to look at him. “It's fairly simple, Jack,” she said. “Anna is not coming back, and you need to accept that.”
In three quick strides, she strode across the room and stood over him with a great big smile on her face. “So you can either pine for who doesn't want you,” she said. “Or you can have a romantic evening with a woman who does.”
He looked up and then squinted at her, holding her gaze for a very long moment. “Okay,” he said, nodding once. “You've convinced me.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Cassi's hands seized his shoulders and pushed him back against the couch cushions. Before he could speak even one word, she was crawling on top of him, locking lips with him and kissing him hard.
Of course, it wasn't nearly as simple as Cassi made it out to be. Somewhere in the back of his mind, thoughts of Anna distracted him. He could ignore them for now – lose himself in the moment – but wouldn't that be wrong? He didn't love Cassi! Not that love was required for sex, but if she was looking for something more…
But then, wasn't this what he was supposed to do? Move on? Get over his broken heart? Anna had made it clear that she didn't want him to contact her. Maybe this would make it easier to forget. Maybe he wouldn't feel tempted to call Anna and ask her what the hell went wrong.
“Are you sure-” Jack mumbled.
Cassi's lips found the soft skin on the side of his neck, and she kissed him fiercely. “Shut up and enjoy yourself.”
Ben woke to the feeling of warmth against his cheek, and when his eyes fluttered open, he saw only a dark room. The sound of Damos's breathing in his ear was soothing, to say the least.
Curled up with his head on the other man's chest, Ben took a moment to just enjoy the contentment he felt. This wasn't love; he had experienced that enough times to know the difference, but it was nice to feel connected to someone. To feel wanted even after all of the pain he had been through in the last few months.
He rolled onto his back.
Through the window on his left, he saw the city lights under a night sky. The warm breeze of a summer night was a pleasant sensation, and he saw purple moonlight glinting off the windows of nearby skyscrapers.
He sat up.
Next to him, Damos stirred and opened his eyes. “Hey,” he whispered, staring up at the ceiling. “Everything all right?”
Ben felt warmth in his face as he looked down to stare into his lap. “Yeah, I'm all right.” He reached up to run fingers through his hair. “I just…wasn't expecting any of this to happen tonight.”
In the soft, violet light, he saw the other man's lips curl into a smile. “Well, I wasn't expecting you to stay,” Damos said. “At the bar, you seemed like the kind of guy who is not really interested in commitments.”
Ben rose from the bed, stretching his arms into the air as he cleared the cobwebs from his mind. He was too wired to sleep anyway. “Sometimes I feel that way,” he said, making his way over to the window. “I've had people shoot at me; I've had telepaths mess with my head. Bleakness take me, I've had a room try to suck the air away and suffocate me. But I've discovered that one of the most dangerous things you can do is fall in love.”
“Someone hurt you real bad.”
Bracing hands on the windowsill, Ben leaned forward to peer into the empty night. He frowned, shaking his head. “You have no idea,” he said. “Sorry if this hurts, but I just don't think I'm ready to trust.”
He looked over his shoulder.
Damos was sitting against the headboard with the blankets pulled up to his belly, staring blankly at the wall. “If I was in any danger of being hurt by a man who just wasn't ready to commit,” he said, “I wouldn't have brought you home.”
“Fair point.”
“So, what happened with you?”
“The last time a guy I liked found out about that,” Ben said, “he ended up telling me he wanted nothing to do with me.”
“That bad, huh?”
Mopping a hand over his face, Ben let out a grunt. “It was pretty damn bad,” he whispered. “You might say that I broke one of our culture's most sacred taboos. I gave weapons to colonists on the Fringe.”
“Oh, is that all?”
When he turned around, the other man was sitting with arms crossed, shaking his head as if his nonchalance about Ben's crime should have been obvious. “I don't buy into the party line about the Fringe.”
“You think our colonists should defend themselves?”
“Damn right, I do.”
Well…Was it really that easy? Join a team of people who appreciated his technical expertise, find a man who accepted his past? This last year had convinced Ben that pretty much nothing was that easy. A part of him kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.
He'd experienced more than his fair share of pain, and he knew what it was like to have everything taken away from him. It gave a man
perspective. If he was going to lose everything he cared about tomorrow, he may as well enjoy having it today.
Ben made his way back to the bed.
He threw himself down on the mattress, rolled over and caressed Damos's face with one hand. Then he was kissing the other man, losing himself in this simple act of passion. For once, everything was all right.
Morning sunlight hit Anna's face, and consciousness slowly crept into her mind. She became aware of several things: the mattress beneath her was soft; the air was sweet, and she was content.
Rolling onto her side with a soft sigh, Anna felt the soft skin of Milli's back against her body. Anna slipped an arm around the other woman's tummy and sighed. “Well…that was a lovely evening.”
Milli laughed.
Anna pressed her lips to the other woman's neck, then pulled away, blinking a few times to moisten her eyes. “You have no idea how much I needed that,” she murmured. “It's been a stressful few months.”
Milli rolled over to smile up at her, and once again, Anna found herself transfixed by the woman's angelic face. “Your family can be quite demanding,” Milli said. “I mean I don't want to offend you, but your mother-”
“Don't get me started on my mother.”
They both laughed.
It was still early, but Anna realized that she should get going. She was supposed to meet with Director Andalon later this morning and discuss next steps for the task force, and she would need to go home first. It wouldn't do to show up to work in the same dress she had been wearing yesterday. I guess I'll be walk-of-shaming it back to my place.
Not that she was the least bit ashamed. The whole concept of a walk of shame was one of those annoying bits of Earth culture that had seeped into her brain. She buried it before she got too annoyed.
Anna got out of bed with a sigh.
In less than a minute, she was pulling the straps of her dress over her shoulders and checking her hair in her mirror. Thin white locks fell into her eyes, and she brushed them away with one hand.
When she turned, Milli was still lying in bed with hands folded over her stomach, smiling up at the ceiling. “It was a nice night for me too,” she said. “Maybe we could do it again sometime.”
“I'd like that.”
They were cut off by the sound of the front door opening and someone stepping into Milli's apartment. “I'm here!” Alia's voice called out. “Where are you? We've got a lot of things to go over.”
Milli sat up, hunching over with elbows on her thighs and massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers. “Oh no,” she muttered. “I forgot I was supposed to meet with your sister this morning.”
“Where are you?” Alia shouted.
Anna leaned against the dresser with her arms folded, frowning down at the floor. “This should be interesting,” she muttered under her breath. “And for what it's worth, I'm really sorry.”
“For?”
“You'll see.”
A knock at the bedroom door was followed by Alia's muffled voice saying “Milli? Are you up yet? I wanted to talk about the plans for the reception.”
With a groan, Milli got out of bed and began putting on clothes while Anna tried to think of what she would say when her sister opened that door. “Just a sec!” Milli shouted as she pulled a t-shirt over her head. “I'm just getting dressed!”
“Okay, well I've got pictures of floral arrangements, and I was hoping you would go over them with me!” Alia sounded impatient. The sound of footsteps made it clear she was moving off to the apartment's living room, dutifully waiting for her friend to emerge.
Milli left the room.
For a moment, Anna just stood there, contemplating what to do. Yes, she could stay in here, and it was likely that Alia would never catch her, but she had things to do today, and there was a good chance the two of them would be looking at photos together for at least a few hours.
Touching three fingers to her forehead, Anna massaged away the beginnings of a stress headache. Well, you may as well get it over with, she told herself. We're all adults here. No need to make a fuss.
She stepped out of the bedroom into a cozy little living room where a couch faced a slanted window. The kitchen, on the far side of the room, was really cute, and she could here coffee bubbling in a pot.
Sitting primly on the sofa with hands on her knees, Alia looked and then flinched at the sight of her own sister stepping out of her best friend's bedroom. “Leana…” Her face went crimson. “In the same dress you wore yesterday.”
“Put it all together, Sis,” Anna teased. “I can't be the only one in this family with some mad detective skills.”
“The two of you…”
“Had sex,” Anna finished.
Alia seemed to deflate like a balloon, her shoulders slumping as she stared into her own lap. “I can't…” she began. “Why…What would possess you to do something like that a week before my wedding.”
“Maybe because it felt good?”
On some level, Anna felt sorry for Milli, who had wandered into the final round of Lenai vs Lenai: this time, it's personal. On the other hand, the woman had to know Alia as well as Anna did.
In the blink of an eye, Alia jumped to her feet and just stood there, red-faced and panting hard. “You always do this!” she snapped. “Somehow, you always find a way to make everything about you!”
Anna forced a grin and nervously brushed a lock of hair off her cheek. “Is there some reason my sex life shouldn't be about me?” she asked. “I mean I'd like to think that Milli got something out of it, but-”
“This is my wedding!”
“And this affects your big day…how?”
Alia threw her hands up and began her usual brand of pacing, the kind where she marched to the wall, then whirled around and came back at you with a look that said she intended to plow through anyone in her path. “The hair, the lateness,” Alia said. “The comments you make at the dinner table. I ignore all those things because that's just how you are. But then you go and sleep with my friend?”
Alia stopped right in front of her, wearing that look of stern disapproval that she'd inherited from their mother. “I want to know why you would do this!” she whined. “And right before my wedding!”
Pursing her lips, Anna looked up to blink at her sister. “Then I repeat my question,” she said. “And you might want to note the fact that Milli is a big girl who can make her own decisions.”
“Thank you.”
Milli was slouching on the couch with arms folded, frowning at Alia's back. “Ali, I love you,” she added. “But you've got no right to tell me whom I can and can't have sex with. This isn't about you.”
Alia's blush deepened, and she looked over her shoulder to glare at her friend. Her features softened a moment later. “Yeah, I guess…It's just you have no idea what it's like to have a famous sister.”
“Well, your famous sister has work to do,” Anna said, making her way toward the door. “I'll leave you two to plan. Have fun.”
Chapter 5
As he entered Larani's quarters aboard the Alarinto, Jack noted that her sitting room was very much like his own. A sofa on the back wall was sandwiched between two small tables that supported lamps, each one filling the room with golden light.
Larani sat in a chair that faced the wall to his right, a tablet held up in front of her face as she perused its contents. “Thank you for coming,” she murmured, barely aware of his presence.
Jack stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, his lips compressed into a nervous frown. “You asked to see me,” he said, stepping into the room. “And since we're going to be disembarking in an hour, I assume it's serious.”
“It is.” Larani tossed her tablet onto the coffee table with no care for whether she damaged the electronics. Not that there was much to worry about. Leyrian tech was built to last. Still, Jack cringed to witness it. “I just received a status update an hour ago, when we dropped out of warp to make contact with Leyria. Leo
has escaped.”
Jack looked up to fix his gaze upon her, then narrowed his eyes. “Leo escaped,” he said, nodding once. “The man I locked away over a year ago is now loose and most likely terrorizing my family.”
“It's unlikely he would go that far.”
It was all he could do not to snap at his new boss. After all the shit he'd put up with in his short life, he'd developed something of an outer zen composed of snark and random pop-culture references, but even he had his limits. Damn it, did this woman even read the reports that came across her desk.
The last time Leo was free, he went after Harry and promised him that Melissa and Claire would be his next targets. He did that because Jack had survived not one, but two of Leo's attempts to kill him. The man seemed to take it as a personal challenge. He went after the people Jack loved most. “When did this happen?”
“Two nights ago,” Larani said. “Just after we left Earth.”
A frown tightened his mouth, but he nodded slowly in response to that. “So, we start looking into Leo's mysterious benefactor,” he began, “and not twenty-four hours later, he decides to go all Virgil Hilts on us?”
“What are you saying?”
“Methinks the timing doth coincide too much.”
Of course, Larani would have reached the same conclusion, and when he saw her in that chair with her hands folded over her stomach, staring blankly at the wall, Jack knew that he had voiced her biggest fear. “I thought the same thing,” she said. “And that means someone has been keeping an eye on us.”
“Any ideas about who?”
“We have very little to go on,” Larani said. “Remember Onica Myers? The young woman we met the other day? Her code was used to open the door to Leo's cell, but she fled Station Six before anyone knew that something was amiss. No one knows where she is now. Most likely somewhere on Earth's surface. And it gets worse.”
“There's worse?” Jack spluttered.
Larani got up with a grunt, standing with arms folded and shaking her head. “The man you and Harry brought in six months ago,” she said. “The one that you encountered while retrieving the first cipher.”
