Passion Model

by Megan Hart

  To give him credit, Declan didn’t sound surprised at the lengths to which his father was willing to go. “Let’s get out of here.”

  I crouched and leaped, and swiped the other lasergun off the pavement before the fallen secbot could reach it. The weapon’s weight and controls were similar to a stunner, but different enough that my first shot went wild. My second didn’t. The secbot on the ground fell back without another protest, its guts a smoking mess of burning wires.

  Declan grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back as the remaining secbot fired at us. The blast winged Declan, singed his shirt and crisped the hair curling over his collar. We both ducked as the bot fired again. I whirled with the laser in my hand and aimed for the secbot’s face. They’d been given weapons to carry but not the shielding to protect them against their own weapons. It took me two shots, but I killed that bot too.

  We stared at each other in the smoke-stinking alley. The hand holding the laser trembled, and I let it fall to my side. Declan put his hands to my face hesitantly, his eyes searching mine for permission to continue. With the adrenaline no longer pumping through me, I felt weak and more than a little close to tears. I couldn’t have resisted him even if I’d wanted to, and I didn’t want to.

  His mouth on mine pressed sweetly, then hungrily as I clutched at his shoulders and urged him on. It had been too long since we’d kissed, an eternity since we’d touched. I’d thought I’d never touch him again.

  His hands found the tangled lengths of my torn hair and smoothed them away from my forehead. His eyelashes brushed my cheeks as he pressed kisses to my face and neck. When he put his arms around me to hold me closer to him, I let out a sighing moan at the combined pleasure and agony the embrace provided. With the immediate danger passed, my brain was no longer blocking the pain from my wounds. I didn’t want him to let go of me, but I pushed him back, anyway.

  “Give me a few hours, Declan. And maybe a handful of pain meds.”

  “Gemma, I’m—”

  I put my finger to his mouth to shush the words. “Didn’t I tell you I don’t want your apologies?”

  “We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

  Declan ran his hands through his hair. “My father is not a generous or kindhearted man.”

  “Really?” I touched the burn mark on his bare shoulder, then bent to kiss the spot.

  A small sound from behind me made me turn. Kaelyn peered around the doorway, her eyes wide. Her wings fluttered so frantically her small feet barely skimmed the floor, a testimony to her nervousness.

  Declan made a small sound of surprise. “Who’s this?”

  “Declan, this is my—” I broke off. I’d been about to say “my fairy”, but Kaelyn was so much more than that. “This is my daughter, Kaelyn.”

  The smile on her face as she came to my side made me glad I’d caught myself. Declan looked at me with his eyebrow cocked. I put my arm around Kaelyn’s delicate shoulders.

  “Kaelyn, this is my friend, Declan.”

  She bobbed her head. The fluttering of her wings slowed, but only slightly. She didn’t offer him her hand. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Kaelyn.” Declan gave her a slightly milder version of the smile he’d wooed me with. It worked the same magic on Kaelyn, who blushed furiously and ducked her head against my side. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  I bent to look into Kaelyn’s eyes. “K, I have to talk with Declan about some important things. Why don’t you go watch the viddy for awhile?”

  She nodded, noticeably less anxious to stun her brain than she usually was. I could see her curiosity about Declan, but I feared I didn’t have time to do more than introduce them. We’d killed Adar’s secbots. I didn’t know what he’d do next, but I knew it wouldn’t be good, for any of us.

  I kissed her cheek and gave her a squeeze. “K, please.”

  She nodded again, her hair a fine, sweet smelling cloud against my face. Even her gentle embrace made me wince, and when she pulled away her face was pulled into a grimace of concern. “Is my Gemma all right?”

  “I’ll be fine, honey. Right now I need you to go watch viddy. Okay?”

  “Okay.” With a backward glance, she left the kitchen and went in front of the viddy.

  “We don’t have much time. Your father isn’t going to let us get away with this.”

  Declan sighed and ran his hands through the mess of his hair again. I reached out, unable to help myself, and smoothed the spiky dark strands. “I know.”

  His face was bleak, and my heart went out to him. What would it be like, to have your own father reject you so completely? To try to have you killed because you might be an embarrassment to the family?

  “My father died when I was a child,” I said quietly as I slipped into the seat across from him. I took his hands with mine. “My mother died when I was twenty. Neither of them lived to see my accident.”

  “But if they had?” He asked. “Would they have turned you out?”

  I squeezed his fingers. “I like to think not. But I don’t really know. My husband did.”

  “You were married?”

  I smiled at his growl. “Yes. For three years. It was Steve’s idea to go to Solaria, and his idea to rent the hoverbikes. After the accident, he dissolved our marriage.”

  “Bastard.”

  In that moment, I loved him for his anger on my behalf. I kissed his hand and then laid it briefly against my cheek. “It was a long time ago.”

  “My mother stopped looking at me like I was her son. Her eyes just…slide past me as though I were a stranger. She’s always perfectly polite, and perfectly cold. My sisters treat me as badly as they always did. But my father is the worst. He pretends nothing is different, nothing is wrong. When I told him I was ready to go back out into the world, he clapped me on the back and offered me a cigar. Like he was proud of me.” Declan’s face twisted and his hands bunched into fists beneath my fingers. “That son of a bitch. All along, he had me followed to be sure nobody found out who I really was. I’m not his son, I’m a liability.”

  “We need to get out of here, Declan.”

  He nodded. “I know. But where will we go?”

  My stomach dropped at the thought of it, but I knew as I answered him we had only one choice. The word caught in my throat like barbed wire. I swallowed to keep myself from choking as I replied. “We have to go Offworld.”

  System’s modulated voice startled us both. “Communication requested from Newcitizen 08111977.”

  “Eddie,” I explained to Declan’s curious expression. When his eyes narrowed, I continued the explanation. “My partner.”

  I crossed to the viddy screen and hit the acceptance code. “Eddie!”

  Eddie’s handsome face looked at me with worry stamped all over it. “G, what happened to you?”

  “I’ve had some problems, Eddie. I need your help.”

  He didn’t bother asking what trouble I was in. “Tell me what you need.”

  “We need to get Offworld, and fast. I’ve lost all my access codes, my credit account’s been garnished, and I’m sure my passport’s been put on restricted use.”

  Declan watched our interchange without speaking for a few minutes. Then he came and stood by my side. “I have money Offworld. It’s separate from the Adar accounts. My father doesn’t even know about it. If we can get Offworld, we can get to it. But I have nothing here.”

  Eddie thought for a moment. “You need to get to Oldcity. You can get everything there.”

  I nodded, refusing to think of Oldcity’s dangers. “I have Kaelyn, Eddie. I can’t leave her behind.”

  Eddie sighed. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “I know, Eddie.” I grinned. “I love you, partner.”

  Declan tensed beside me as the viddy screen went black. “I thought you meant you worked with him.”

  I had to take a mental step back for a moment to register his comment. “Eddie is my partner. I do work with him. But he’s also my friend.”<
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  “You tell all your friends you love them?” His dark eyes sparked, and his mouth turned down into a frown.

  “Are you jealous?”

  He allowed me to take his hand but didn’t return the squeeze I gave his fingers. “Do I need to be?”

  I shrugged. “Depends on you, Declan. Eddie and I have worked together for six years. Yes, we’ve been to bed together, in training and just for fun. But we haven’t been lovers off the job for about three years now. Eddie has always been there for me, and I do love him. But…” I paused to clear the block in my throat. “But not the way you think.”

  “Good.” Declan enfolded me in his embrace. “Because I really don’t want to have to kick his ass.”

  This time, I ignored the pain and let him hold me.

  It was hard to explain to Kaelyn that we had to leave. Her small body shuddered in fear when I told her to choose only the most important items to take with us. I held her close, hating myself for having to do this to her.

  I pushed her away so I could look in her face, but kept my hands on her shoulders. “Kaelyn, it will be all right. I’ll take care of you.”

  “My Gemma will take care of me,” she whispered, as though to herself. She looked around the bedroom, then at the small closet she’d always preferred to sleep in. “Take only the most important things?”

  “Yes,” I told her. I pointed to the small chest of drawers that held her robes and the few small items I’d bought her over the past year. “Pick the most important things.”

  Kaelyn put her arms around me again and squeezed. “My Gemma is my most important thing.”

  Tears filled my eyes at her words, and I squeezed her back. “I love you, K. I’m so glad I found you.”

  “I am so glad my Gemma bought me from that slave trader.” She wriggled a little in my arms to get more comfortable. “Can I take my ronagh-beast?”

  “Of course you can.” I reached to the side and plucked the stuffed toy from the dresser drawer. “But we have to go quickly.”

  “Before the hunters come?”

  Again, my heart ached at what she must’ve gone through. Kaelyn had been little more than an infant when the trader came through Eloven and took her from her family. Only the tiniest Elovenian could survive the trip and adapt to the change in gravity. She’d lived more than half her life in a cage before I’d bought her. Now I was subjecting her to more fear and upheaval.

  “K, remember when I first brought you home, and you hid in the closet all the time?”

  Kaelyn giggled. “I was afraid of my Gemma.”

  “But after awhile you started to come out, right? And you trusted me?”

  “My Gemma was nice to me. You gave me chocobars. You gave me the ronagh-beast.” She hugged the worn plush toy.

  “You have to trust me now. I won’t let anything hurt you. I promise you that, Kaelyn.”

  She hugged me again. “I will hurry.”

  I got up, my body making a million protests, and went back to the kitchen to Declan.

  “Is that smart?” he asked.

  “What?”

  He moved his chin toward the bedroom. “Telling her you won’t let anything happen to her. Where we’re going…you can’t really promise that.”

  “I can,” I answered grimly. I looked toward the glimmer of fair hair in the bedroom. “I will die before I let something hurt her, Declan.”

  “You really think of her as your daughter, don’t you?”

  “She’s the closest thing I’ll ever have.”

  Silence fell between us. Neither of us would have children the normal way. I didn’t know if Declan had ever thought of having children, but his citizen profile had shown he’d never had any.

  “We’d better go,” he said with a glance at the clock on the viddy screen. “It’s been twenty minutes.”

  Less than an hour had passed since we’d busted Howard’s secbots in the alley. I had the overwhelming sensation we’d wasted too much time. Information is instantaneous in Newcity. Howard knew the second his secbots went down.

  I looked around the small apartment I’d lived in for the past five years. Though I’d outfitted it with every luxury my Op salary and rank could provide, I couldn’t pretend I’d be sorry to leave it. It was my dwelling, but not really my home.

  Still, there were things in it that I didn’t want to leave behind. Memories, good and bad, but part of my life. How to pack everything in the small amount of time and with the small amount of space?

  I was saved from the dilemma by a knock at the door. Declan and I looked at each other, startled.

  “My father,” he whispered, though the door was three inches of plazsteel and nobody on the other side could possibly hear him.

  I was inclined to agree. System hadn’t beeped to warn us of any impending visitor—whoever it was had circumnavigated the building’s front door code. Cautiously, I drew the weapon I’d stolen from Howard’s secbot, and pointed it at the door.

  The knock came again, a brief series of taps followed by silence and another set of taps. My muscles released all their tension, and I winced at the aches that followed. I heal fast, but I wasn’t close to being fully healed yet.

  “It’s Eddie,” I told Declan and made for the door.

  He stopped me. “How do you know?”

  “The code.” I had downloaded Evadian code and taught it to Eddie during one particularly slow shift early on in our partnership. We’d used it many times since. “It’s Evadian.”

  He didn’t let go of my arm. “My father would know that about you, Gemma. He can access your entire citizen profile, remember? He’d know you can understand Evadian, and that you communicate that way with Eddie.”

  I hesitated, but then reached up to touch his hand resting on my arm. “The only way to know is to open the door. If it’s your dad’s army out there—”

  I stopped, aware of Kaelyn in the bedroom, packing her few belongings. My throat closed, but I continued. “We don’t have much choice, D.”

  It was the first time I’d used the Newcity slang term of affection for him. He grinned and jerked his head toward the door, then took the hand not holding the weapon.

  “Go get him, G.”

  I palmed the door open button and waited, weapon aimed. The door slid silently on its tracks, and revealed Eddie waiting outside. I lowered the weapon quickly, but the look on his face showed me he’d seen it.

  His glance took in me, then Declan behind me. Eddie’s blue eyes narrowed, and though he spoke to me, his words were meant for Declan.

  “You’re in a heap of shit, aren’t you, G?”

  “How’d you get up here without Gemma granting you access?” Declan came to stand by my side.

  Between the two men, I felt the testosterone pulsing in the air. Under other circumstances, I might have been flattered, or amused. As it was, we didn’t have time for a bunch of male posturing.

  “Eddie has my personal access code,” I told Declan. I looked to Eddie. “We don’t have much time.”

  “I’m surprised you have any,” Eddie said with another narrow glare at Declan. “Howard Adar doesn’t like to be crossed. Or so I hear.”

  No matter what Howard had done to him, he was still Declan’s father. My lover bristled. His hands bunched into fists. He didn’t advance on Eddie, not quite, but if I hadn’t been standing between them I can’t guarantee that fists wouldn’t have flown.

  “Are you going to help us or not?” Declan asked. “Because if not, then get the hell out of here.”

  Eddie grinned and shot me an approving glance. “He’s got balls, at least. Guess he’d have to, to take you on.”

  Kaelyn’s small voice interrupted the banter. “I’m ready to—Eddie!”

  The small form nearly flew across the room to leap into Eddie’s arms. Her wings fluttered, and she pressed her soft cheek to his with a sigh of rapture. Eddie, as always when presented with Kaelyn’s exuberance, patted her back somewhat awkwardly between her wings and then set h
er down.

  “I’m all ready to go,” Kaelyn said.

  “Visitors requesting access,” System announced, and we all froze.

  “Access denied.” I spoke even as I ran to the bedroom to scoop up the small bag I’d managed to pack. Declan followed, close on my heels.

  “Visitors requesting access,” System repeated, its modulated tone now coming from the bedroom speaker.

  “Access denied!” I shouted, but knew it was no use.

  I tugged open the top drawer of my dresser so quickly it fell out. Personal items scattered everywhere, and I grabbed whatever I could lay my hands on. Kaelyn’s purchase receipt, a holophoto cube…my wedding ring. Despite the urgency, I hesitated before tossing it in my backpack, but then did anyway. It was pure iridium, and could fetch a nice price in an Offworld market. We’d need the cash.

  Eddie appeared in my bedroom doorway just as System spoke again.

  “User command overridden. Visitors granted access. Level One.”

  “At least we have a warning,” Eddie quipped.

  Nobody took the time to smile. “We’ll have to exit through the roof,” I said.

  “Unless they have guards up there already,” Declan said grimly. He took the pack from me and slung it over his shoulder.

  “Keep your fingers crossed,” I replied. We had no other choice.

  “Level Two. Level Three. Level Four.”

  I lived on level twenty-eight. “Let’s move it, now!”

  Eddie grabbed up Kaelyn and her small bag. I followed with the bag I’d packed in the kitchen, and Declan came after me with my backpack. Instead of turning right to go down the hall toward the elevators, we went left, toward the stairs. Eddie banged open the door to the echoing metal stairwell, and we started climbing.

  I was closer to the top than the bottom, which was a blessing. We paused before bursting onto the rooftop, and listened for the sound of metal tread feet on the stairs behind us. So far, nothing, but we still had no time.

  Eddie eased open the roof door. Night had fallen since my encounter in the alley, and the bright neon lights of the District Lovehuts cast their glow into the sky. Nothing waited for us on the roof.