Lover

by Valerie J. Long

  No, I won’t, I thought. As a test, I pulled at my bonds. They were still tight.

  “These are solid steel bands. You can’t break them, sweetie. Save your energy.”

  Thanks for the information, I thought and prepared a plan. But then I heard the sound of another helicopter from outside. At the same time, two guards came in and assumed position to both sides of the door. That wasn’t good at all!

  Oh well, then I’d have to wait another moment, until routine settled in again outside, and the guards would no longer be so attentive.

  I immediately recognized the footsteps in the hallway. Jana came to visit me personally?

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  “Hello, Hermann. How far are you?”

  “The paralysis has almost faded. We still have trouble with the suit. Very robust.”

  “Ah, yes. I’ve already asked myself whether you’ve changed your usual methods so much.”

  “I believe I can quickly convince her to remove the suit. I hadn’t expected you so soon.”

  “I was in the area anyway. Can she hear us?”

  “Hear and talk. Only the vision is impaired, as always.”

  “A pity. A little downside of the juice, isn’t it?”

  “In exchange, it makes the concerned quite compliant.”

  “Ah yes, right. Okay.” She came closer. “Are you compliant, little one? Velvet, right?”

  “I still know her as Johanna.”

  “Johanna?”

  “Johanna Meier, from Frankfurt in Germany.”

  “Where exactly did you meet her?”

  “In a wellness center.”

  “An Eva-Keller-House?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Lo and behold. Resurrected from the dead. So we finally have the Meier effect inventor here?” She poked me. “Compliant? She’s not very talkative, the little one.”

  “We’ll have that soon. Johanna, you’ll kindly answer now. Do you remember what a needle under your fingernail feels like?”

  Oh yes, I remember. “Bite me.”

  “That’s not kind. You’ve asked for it.”

  Jana harrumphed. “Compliant is different, Hermann. But I fear this person has become used to resisting. I don’t know if she’s worth the effort to break her.”

  Hermann fumbled with my finger. As if.

  “Ouch! Damn! Now I’ve broken the needle!”

  I suppressed a grin. My skin was reinforced against knives. With his acupuncture needles, he had no chance.

  “So Velvet is Johanna,” Jana repeated. “That explains why you know your ways with Dragon technology, but there are many open questions left.”

  “Fuck yourself.” Become angry. That makes it easier for me.

  “The questions are no longer important once you’re out of the game. You know, little one, we’d have found a place for you. You could have done your research undisturbed, now and then a hot guy in bed, a nice life. Bad luck, that you’ve decided to take us on.” She rose. Oh—no more questions? “Until now, you’ve only been a nuisance, but now you’ll die.”

  Hermann opened his mouth to protest. I was first.

  “Until now, I’ve only practiced—now I can afford to really trouble you.”

  Chapter Eighty-Six

  Jana and Hermann stood in a convenient place, that is, in the two door guards’ line of fire, and at the same time within my reach. A capital double botch!

  With my sharp claws, I effortlessly severed the steel bonds near my fingertips, jerked up and forward, let one hand swing across my ankle bonds, and with the other I struck at Hermann and then clawed Jana’s throat—and that was meant literally. Her high-pitched yell of pain made the guards freeze in their movement.

  “Weapons down and freeze again!” I ordered sharply. “One sound, and your boss fares badly.”

  “Do as she says,” Jana hissed. The pistols rumbled onto the ground.

  “Do you believe you can get out here alive?” she asked defiantly.

  “Do you believe that should bother you?” I returned. “You want to see me dead anyway.”

  “How do you plan to proceed, then?”

  I had already pondered that for a while. Should I kill Hermann and Jana? No, Hermann alone was no threat. Jana, on the other hand, was important for the Cartel. Her death would surely leave a gap. However, I knew more about her than she could guess, and that helped me to understand her and her actions. Moreover, my departure from here would deeply unsettle her, might cause her to make mistakes. Alive, she might be more useful for me.

  “That’s not your business, either.”

  With a slap, I sent her to sleep, and then I jumped at the startled guards and took them out, too.

  Gomez watched me from his place on the desk—no, he probably couldn’t see anything.

  “Be patient, Gomez. I won’t leave you behind.”

  A wink was the answer. Poor guy.

  Without him, I’d simply disappear. In order to take him along, I had to clear the path. Bad luck for the guards!

  The sleeping guards provided weapons and ammunition for me and my cleanup. If my departure wasn’t going to allow clues about my skills, it couldn’t go entirely silently.

  “Is there the Fort Worth Police Department? If you trace this call, you will find nineteen injured men with bullet wounds who urgently need your tender care. And the current Cartel security head surely pays a few of you well enough so that you’ll have her collected, okay?”

  “Who’s talking there?”

  “You can call me Velvet.”

  Then I placed the handset on the table.

  Gomez moaned.

  “Yes, okay, boy, we’re leaving now.”

  I had to carry him. The normal effect of the paralyzing toxin would eventually fade, my Analogy said. The antitoxin might accelerate that process, but I’d better spare him the unpleasant side effects. I also spared him the explanation. “I know you feel crappy, but you’re alive.”

  Two helicopters, which I couldn’t use, and four all-terrain vehicles were parked in front of the door. Naturally, I chose the Martian.

  First, I had to gain some distance, before the police could encircle the entire area. Then I needed a less conspicuous car, and finally a doctor for Gomez.

  Chapter Eighty-Seven

  “Good evening.”

  The man in the deck chair flinched and dropped the newspaper that he had just browsed through. His gaze briefly moved to his house, then back to me. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

  “I’m Jo, and my friend needs an eye specialist.”

  “Take him to the hospital.”

  “Then he’ll be dead tomorrow.”

  “Why?”

  “The Cartel’s after him. He’s been poisoned. The toxin has damaged his visual nerve.”

  “Damn!” He looked truly shaken. “Who’s doing such things?”

  “The Cartel.”

  “But you said they’re after him.”

  “Yes. I’ve freed him.”

  “You can’t free anyone from the Cartel’s hands.”

  “Wrong. I can. I’ve done it.”

  “I don’t even want to know how. Jo? Never heard of you.”

  “Did you hear the name Velvet before?”

  “Rumors, yes. She might be able to pull it.”

  “Sometimes I call myself so.”

  “You are this Velvet?”

  “Exactly.”

  “But your name is Jo?”

  “Johanna Meier, from Germany.”

  “That name rings a bell. Help me.”

  “The Meier effect?”

  “Curse me.”

  “Better not. I still need you.”

  “Yes, damn.” He jumped up. “Where’s your friend? Bring him inside, and I’ll look after him.”

  “How long has it been since he was poisoned, and in which way?”

  “Inhaled, about eight hours ago,” I replied.

  “That’s good. Then the damage is still reversible.
However, it will take some time until his sight will be restored.”

  “That’s possible?” Gomez asked.

  “Mostly. Surely not quite as well as before, but it will be good enough to read.” Then he glanced at me. “It will become unpleasant. Do you want to wait outside?”

  “No. I’ll stay here.”

  “As you like.”

  “Thank you. What do you want?”

  “Nothing. There’s not much I can do—what with the risk—but that little I’ll do gladly, and for free.”

  “In that case, thank you again.” I gave him a kiss. He briefly was surprised, then he willingly gave in.

  “You’re welcome. Basically, I have to apologize for being such a coward.”

  “You’re no coward. If you don’t know how you can fight the Cartel and stay alive, you’d better leave it. Suicides won’t help us.” I had an idea. “Maybe the Cartel will target all eye specialists. They know that I’ve escaped with him.” I pointed at Gomez, who still held a wound dressing before his eyes. “Tell them the truth—you don’t need to mention that you know we’re working against the Cartel. You’ve simply treated an emergency.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “Good. Then we’d better leave now.”

  “Yes—oh, Velvet?”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s good to know that someone’s still fighting. I’ll pass that on, okay?”

  I winked at him.

  I’d better keep my embarrassment to myself. Dragon piss.

  Chapter Eighty-Eight

  “What’s with you?” Gomez asked. “Something doesn’t suit you?”

  “Nothing suits me. Dragon snot—I don’t want to play the public hero.”

  Attentively, I examined the cars ahead of me, before I started to pass. Every car could carry a Cartel spy.

  “Then you should stop behaving like one.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like a hero. Stop conquering impregnable fortresses. Stop spotting invisible guards. Stop running faster and shooting better than any other human. Stop making yourself irreplaceable.” He showed a crooked smirk. “Just stop being yourself.”

  “That’s not me.”

  “Who are you then? What do you want?”

  “I want to be left alone. A comfortable life, good food, good sex, a little fun. Without a killer on my heels.”

  “Why don’t you do it?”

  “I’ve made a big mistake. I’ve studied Dragon technology. That way, I’ve put myself on their list.”

  “Why this subject?”

  “I just thought—why not? I had the chance.” No, that was wrong. “I wanted to learn the best basics for overcoming security installations that I could get.”

  “What—you’ve studied Dragon technology to burgle better?” Gomez began to laugh. He couldn’t stop. Minutes later, he fought for air, slowly recollected himself. “Jo, you’re great!”

  Another while later, he returned to the topic. “And why’d you become burglar in the first place?”

  “I thought I’d need a second income. I’d been a whore.”

  “Kiss my ass—aw, no, forget it. The easy money?”

  “That, and the thrill.”

  “Ah! That is it.”

  “What?”

  “You need the kick. That’s your hero motivation. If you’re the only woman on this planet who could save the world, you simply have to try. You need to know if you can. Am I right?”

  Was he right? And was I so easy to read?

  “I believe it’s not just that easy.”

  “Of course not. That’s only the shallow impression of a man who barely knows you. It wouldn’t be fair to reduce you to an adrenaline junkie. You probably have your very own definition for what’s fair to you, and you live by that definition. Yes, yes, you’re a burglar, a thief. But you’d never steal a poor hobo’s stale bread only because you’re hungry. That much I’ve learned about you. Oh yes—and instead of saving your own ass, you take a whole house full of killers on only to save a crook to whom you don’t owe a thing. That speaks volumes about you, believe me. You won’t find three people in Vegas acting like that.”

  “But yes, Gomez, such people exist, even in Vegas. More than you’d think.”

  Harold, my electrician. Miriam, if she was still working in her soup kitchen. Perhaps that was a part of my motivation—people who were worth campaigning for. Like Gomez’ eye specialist, you could find people everywhere who were ready to do the right thing if they only could recognize the opportunity.

  The more pressure the Cartel got, the more compromised their reputation of infallibility and invincibility became, the more people would see such an opportunity. That was my mission.

  “Let’s have some food soon. I’m hungry.”

  “No truck stop, please,” he pled.

  “I’ll take us to a carry-out, and then we’ll find a quiet place. Do you have any preference?”

  “Asian, please.”

  Chapter Eighty-Nine

  An Asian carry-out could quickly be found. I ordered once up and down the menu, as the detoxication had eaten from my power again—my body couldn’t metabolize the necessary nutrients as fast as they were used.

  The gray-haired innkeeper gave me a contemplative glance, before he passed my order on. Ah, a Japanese, I noticed. “I’m very hungry. The last day was strenuous,” I explained in his language. He only grumbled a confirmation and turned away.

  With my two cold soft drinks, I ambled to Gomez at the small bar table.

  “You speak Japanese, too?”

  “Yes. I learned it a few years ago.”

  “But it didn’t help you a lot—with this one.”

  “No.”

  Untrue. Only due to my fine hearing, I could overhear the phone call in Japanese language that he was conducting in the kitchen, and sadly only his part.

  “A short white woman with black hair…athletic build, yes…black clothing, could that match? Speaks good Japanese…no, with a guy. Hispanic type…Yes, I’ll do that…Yes…Yes.”

  “He just sold us out.”

  “What—why?”

  “I eavesdropped on his phone call. Damn.”

  From standing, I flanked over the counter, reached the kitchen in three steps and pushed the startled host aside, took the handle away from him and pressed the redial button.

  I gave the cook with his sharp knife just a threatening glare. He briefly thought about it, then he lowered his knife and turned back to his work.

  “What else?” I heard a Japanese voice from the other end.

  Can I speak with the host’s voice?

  —Confirmed.—

  “The white woman noticed something. What can I do?”

  “Involve her in a talk. We need ten minutes.”

  “I will do that.”

  Click. Disconnected. I placed the phone down and smiled at the host. He was about my size—that made it easier.

  My own voice, please.

  “A-a-a-are you a terminator?”

  What would that be? A pest control expert? Yes, in some way that applied. “Something like that. Now, who was that?” Briefly, I glanced at the cook. “Get our meals ready, quick.”

  “I may not tell,” the host explained, now in English again.

  “Who forbade you?”

  “I may not tell.”

  “Was it Fujita?”

  “How—?”

  “Thanks.” Three times stirred Dragon squitters. I hadn’t had that gang on my list anymore. After my hint to the Japanese, Fujita should have been busy caring for her own ass.

  Gomez appeared behind me. “All okay?”

  “Take the drinks and go to the car. I’m coming with the food. The bad guys will arrive in eight minutes.”

  “Eight? Oookay.” He disappeared.

  I winked at the host. “You know, they’ll blow up your shop first, only to be sure, and then they’ll dig in the debris to find me. I’d urgently advise you to watch the show from a safe dis
tance. Most importantly, close the gas for your wok, yes?”

  “What?”

  “Pack my food, close your shop and get lost. At least three blocks.”

  Chapter Ninety

  “What people is it about? Who are we running away from?” Gomez asked when I mounted the car.

  “Japanese Dragon cultists,” I explained. “And we won’t run away, we’ll only keep some safe distance.”

  I steered the car around the corner. Three blocks should suffice for Gomez’ safety, too.

  “Japanese Dragon cultists? Such exists? And what do they want from you?”

  “Well, they wouldn’t tell me. The last time, they shot missiles at a police station that I’d been visiting. I already had declined their first invitation because the messenger’d been so impolite.”

  “Missiles? And why of all do they hunt you?”

  “I must have angered them. That entire story goes back to a visit in Japan.” Where these people were still raising a Dragon. I’d been running away from this problem, too, and now it had caught up with me.

  One by one, Jo. First the Cartel, then the Dragon. And first and foremost, the current problem.

  “I’m having a closer look. Wait here.”

  “Yes, okay. I won’t leave without you.”

  So I was on my way again. Couldn’t I simply stay out? After all, I had escaped them! I was still hungry and my battery was near empty. My leg wasn’t entirely healed yet, I had just survived a poisoning, my lunch would become cold, and I had to join battle. Why?

  Because it was fucking inacceptable that some blokes were driving around and randomly blowing up an honest businessman’s carry-out only because they didn’t like that someone had stolen their secret!

  They arrived in a dark-green van with tinted windows.

  Two men in protective vests left one corner ahead of the rest and ran toward the rear exit, both armed with rifles.