by Lisa Lace
I laughed. "How ironic that I worked so hard to be worthy of someone's trust, and I ended up a criminal."
"I trust you," Sam said, tilting her head to look in my eyes. "I told you that, and I meant it."
I drifted off, thinking about my family and how my job had torn them apart. She put her hand on my face and made me look at her. Then she kissed me softly on the lips, pulling back quickly.
I continued my story before I could get distracted by the warmth of her mouth.
"I was in training for three years. I got a college degree, and we learned combat skills, studied martial arts, explosives, guns...a bunch of things that were exciting at the time, but seem mundane now."
"Right."
"The best part was a sense of belonging I hadn't felt since my mother had died. They organized us into teams, and we stayed with our team for the whole training period. We took care of each other. We ate together and fought together."
"Did you sleep together?" Sam said, one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, there was a fair amount of dating, though we had to keep it quiet because we were supposed to focus on training and school."
"I can see why you would have enjoyed it. That feeling of being a part of something. It's important. Without it we just feel like we're drifting without an anchor."
"When I finished, they offered me a job. Not everyone went into the secret service. There were other jobs in the military or the civil service. They needed people with certain backgrounds, contacts, and skills."
"You were ultra-rich, had a bit of a playboy reputation and could easily get in with the crowd they wanted you to infiltrate."
"Exactly."
"So that's your cover. You're a selfish, brooding, jaded guy. Partying and out for himself."
"I'm afraid Harrington has figured it out. I'm not certain, but I believe he's the one that tipped off Nat and Freya to my supply nightmare."
"What did you truly do to divert supplies?"
"It was an idea of one of my 'buddies'. I went along with it to see if I could stop him or sabotage the operation. I didn't think I would get convicted for it."
I didn't want her feeling sorry for me, so I pressed on.
"Now he's threatened us, and a bomb has gone off in my apartment. It's getting difficult for me to believe he doesn't know who I am and how close I am to taking his whole racket down."
She shivered. "This isn't what TerraMates is all about."
"I'm sorry about that, Sam. I keep thinking I should never have married you. I've put you in danger, and that wasn't fair."
"What's done is done," she said, her voice matter-of-fact. She took my other hand. "I'm not sorry."
The look in her eye made my heart jump. I wanted to know why she wasn't sorry, but I didn't have the courage to ask yet.
"The government thought it was best for me to go to jail temporarily and remain out of sight rather than blow my cover. At the time, the extent of Harrington's knowledge was unclear."
"You had to go to jail as part of your job? That sucks."
"It would have looked suspicious if I had been convicted and released immediately. That's how they explained it to me." I tried to keep any doubts out of my voice.
"I guess so. It seems rather drastic." She looked at me with compassion.
"It wasn't as bad as you are imagining. They protected me as much as they could, and Vandwan prisons are some of the cushiest and least violent in the galaxy."
"Still," she shook her head. "I never thought about what it was like for you."
"I don't want you to. I got through it, and that's all that matters." But I felt the darkness and despair that had overtaken me during that miserable time threatening to overwhelm me now. I took a deep breath and suppressed my emotions. I was out. I was free. I was never going back.
She studied me. "If you're telling the truth this time, you're quite different than I imagined."
I didn't like how she was looking at me. "I'm no hero, Sam. I'm just a person trying to do his job. Once I rescue these kids, I'm out. I'm getting tired and burned out, but I have to finish it. It's become an obsession."
"The kids. He kidnaps children?"
"Yep. And then he sells them."
She looked disgusted.
"It sounds bad because it is bad. If possible, he sells them for adoption to the highest bidders. There's a lot of credits in that business, much more than mail-order brides. If no one wants to adopt, he sells their organs on the black market. Plenty of aliens want to do research on our underwater breathing and attempt to duplicate it for themselves. He's got quite an impressive operation going on."
After I saw the expression on her face, I hesitated before telling her everything I knew. She looked horrified. I wished I hadn't mentioned that part at all.
"Jori, you have to stop him."
"I know. He's preying on the environmental refugee camps where children are rarely cared for and have more freedom. Some camps aren't good at making the kids go to school. They're easy pickings."
"This is awful."
"I need to check in with my supervisor. I'm sure she already knows what happened, but I have to talk to her."
"Do you do that often?"
"Periodically. It's necessary right now. Then I'll see what they want me to do."
"What about me?" she asked.
"You?" I looked around the hotel room, trying to stare at anything except her. She deserved an answer. "I don't know, Sam."
"I understand," she said. A look of disappointment crossed over her face.
"The rose concealed an explosive device. One of the miniature ones designed to be hidden in small objects."
"That sounds like something Harrington would do," Mara, my supervisor said. "It's his style. Something he thinks would sound poetic, but is just stupid."
"What now?" I said. "My cover is probably blown."
"You have to maintain your cover until we know for sure."
"That's easy for you to say. I had to tell Sam."
Mara barely reacted. "Is she trustworthy?"
"Yes."
"Then don't worry about it. We'll need to flush him out. If he's figured out your cover, he will attack again. It's safer for her if she knows what to expect."
The thought was terrifying. Harrington had the reputation of being the most powerful and nasty criminal on Vandwa. However, part of me looked forward to a confrontation and putting all the subterfuge behind me.
"You don't have to march up to him and ask him if he knows you're a secret agent. But we can force his hand. Get in his face and talk to him. Because if he knows, he's not going to be able to resist showing us how smart he thinks he is. Remember what happened to Carlyn."
"Of course I remember," I said. I shook my head. "How could I forget? After he blew her cover, he dropped her over The Barrier." I repressed a shudder at the thought.
"She almost had him. She was a good agent, and she helped us get more information on Harrington than we ever had before."
"It came at quite a cost. She had to pretend to be his girlfriend, and she lost her life," I said, feeling sick to my stomach. Carlyn had been my friend.
"We're going to get him this time, Jori. There's a party happening at his place."
"Perfect."
"Yes. Take your woman as an escort."
"I don't want Sam around me if her life is going to be in danger. She was almost killed because of me once, and I'm determined not to let it happen again."
"Be reasonable. I understand your reluctance, but you just got married. If you show up at this party without your wife, it's going to look weird. Rumors will start. Rumors that we don't want to float around before your meeting with the parole board."
I sighed. "If I work for the government, why can't they talk to someone on the parole board and get me a waiver? Why do I have to set up an elaborate facade that ruins two people's lives?"
"We've been through this before, Jori. Our government is big, and there isn't a lot of communication betwee
n the departments. It's impossible to explain your situation to the correct people in time to help you. The analysts said this was the most effective way to keep you in the field." She looked at me shrewdly. "Besides, when do you get to do anything you want?" she asked. "I thought your marriage had a single purpose. You can keep her safe, right?"
"Of course I can. But it's not right for me to endanger her."
"It's part of the job. The sooner we get evidence, the sooner we can send him to jail, and the sooner Vandwa will be safer for everyone, including your blushing bride."
I knew she was right, but it didn't make me feel any better. Mara sensed my capitulation and pressed forward.
"Go dancing. Dig around and see if you can find anything. Let's find out what he's going to do. We'll insert Damien and Joley for backup in case he goes after you. Do you think you can get them in?"
I shook my head.
"We'll figure out a way. You can help them from the inside if necessary. We have to get something on him, Jori. He has another shipment of children waiting to go. If we can arrest him before he gets them off-planet, then we have a chance of saving them."
"Have you found where he's keeping the kids?"
"We have no idea. All we have are scraps of intel from one of our hackers, and it doesn't divulge the location. Harrington's systems shut us out about thirty seconds after we penetrated his defenses. I don't know who he's got working for him, but they're excellent. We should have them on our side."
"Impossible," I said, feeling cynical. "We don't pay nearly enough to get them to jump ship. We barely pay enough to keep us on the team."
"True."
"All joking aside, we need to do something else to protect Samantha. She's going to be defenseless."
Mara pursed her lips. "What if we put in a couple of body doubles. People who look enough like you and your wife to make someone do a second assessment if they're searching the entire room. It's not a lot, but it will buy you some extra time."
"Okay," I said. "And you'll provide us with bulletproof bodysuits we can wear under our clothes?"
She nodded. "It will be fine for you. Your clothes will cover any body armor. But what about your wife? How much skin does she like to show in her fancy dresses?"
"We'll get her a long sleeved, floor length ball gown or something like that. I'll figure out some excuse, but she needs protection."
Mara eyed me speculatively. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were starting to care about this human."
I shrugged. "You said it, not me. After this assignment's over, I'm done. I can't do this anymore."
Her face fell. "That's too bad, Jori. You're one of our best."
I shook my head. "Consider this my two week's notice."
"I'll get the paperwork going. You know it doesn't happen overnight."
I couldn't believe it. After all these years, I was finally going to be free.
All I had to do was help take down the biggest crime lord on the planet.
Chapter Nine
SAMANTHA
Another night. Another huge fancy party. Another ridiculously expensive dress. Another bullet-proof bodysuit.
The bullet-proof outfit was new, as well as the element of danger. Jori thought I might get shot at tonight.
I had initially refused when Jori asked me to come to this party. I signed up for a year of marriage and some credits, not deadly missions for the Vandwan government. But when he told me that it was essential to his task for me to be there, I relented. The decision became easier once I knew I would be bulletproof.
Jori had been quick to remind me that my armor didn't completely protect me. "Your head's not going to be covered. If people start shooting at you, duck and put your arms over your head. Get behind something if you can."
I had nodded, like a good little student. I'm sure he could condense years of special forces training into a few minutes.
Now that we were here and mingling, I felt short of breath. Was there enough air in the room? I didn't want to die tonight.
"What's wrong?" Jori asked. His neutral expression didn't change.
"I feel like I can't breathe in here," I whispered.
"It's probably just anxiety," he said. "Let's go out on the terrace, okay?"
"Sure."
I let him guide me towards a set of open double doors. People were out here as well, mingling on the patio where it was cooler than inside.
"Is that better?" he asked. We were outside and seated on one of the benches near some shrubbery. I drew in a deep breath and shook my head. He took my hand. "You're safe. I won't leave your side tonight. I'll take the shot myself if I have to."
"No," I said. My voice was barely above a whisper, matching his low voice. "I don't want you to do that." I continued breathing deliberately, but the dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach wouldn't go away. "What if one of us has to go to the bathroom? Are you still going to stay by my side?"
"We'll have to go together," he said, waggling his eyebrows at me. The intimate sound of that made me blush, and my dirty mind flew back to the moment before the explosion, when we had been about to consummate our marriage. Thinking about it made me ache down there.
He smiled. Did he know what I was thinking?
"We'll get to that someday, Samantha," he said. There was a sad note to his voice. I didn't hold out much hope that anything would ever happen. Still, he seemed different today after he came back from his meeting. His demeanor was lighter than before.
Without warning, two other people were sitting on the bench beside us. I felt like they materialized out of the shrubbery. My conversation with Jori had absorbed my attention.
"And then my boss was telling me that she was taking three whole days off, and I was like, yeah, whatever." A blonde in a short skirt sat beside Jori, and a man with black hair and black eyes sat beside me.
"Seriously?" Jori answered as if the conversation had been happening all along. Some of the people on the patio glanced at us because the blonde was loud and obnoxious. After a moment, they went back to their conversations.
"She's jealous. Wants to take three days off herself," the man said, directing his comment to both Jori and myself. I nodded, playing along. These must be the team members that Jori had been talking about, Damien and Joley. We had also spotted our body doubles wandering in the crowd already. They had infiltrated earlier in the evening. We tried to stay away from them, not wanting to attract unwanted attention to a set of identical twins.
"We all want some time off," Jori said. I sensed a subtext to the conversation.
"Well, see you," the man said, clapping Jori's shoulder. "We have to mingle."
"Sure. Stay safe."
The man laughed and patted his pocket where the unmistakable sound of a condom crinkled.
"Always, buddy," he said. Jori grinned, and I smiled too. They seemed nice. Too bad I'd never see them again.
"See you, Sam," the blonde said.
"Take care, you," I said, not sure what name the woman was using.
She kissed me on the cheeks three times, one cheek, the other and then back to the first. As she kissed me, she passed instructions. "Turn your back and duck your head if you have to. It's the safest position for a woman," she whispered. "Taking a bullet in a bodysuit is easiest in the back when you're wearing a dress."
"Call me, okay?" she said. Her volume increased as she walked away.
I smiled back, not knowing what to say and not wanting to lie. I would never be calling her. I felt overwhelmed by the idea that I was an actor in a spy movie. Except this wasn't pretend and the stakes were high. Our lives were on the line tonight.
I was reminded of my peril every time I shifted in the tight body armor. It felt like a full-body bathing suit, but the material was slightly thicker.
I was so caught up in my thoughts of playing secret agent that I didn't notice that my personal secret agent was moving closer to me. I jumped when he was suddenly close enough to whisper in my ear. I felt li
ke I was a teenager about to make out with my boyfriend.
"Don't mention anything," he said, his breathing making me shiver. It didn't help he was looking fantastic in a gray suit that made his eyes look even greener than before.
"Of course not," I whispered back, wanting to nuzzle him but not daring to. "I'm poor, not an idiot."
"Are you never going to forgive me for that stupid comment about your social standing?" he asked, pulling back suddenly.
"I don't know. Why don't you convince me that I ought to?" I said, feeling brave. What would he say to that?
The conversation continued as he moved close again, his cheek brushing mine, and almost making my heart stop. He had shaved. His skin felt smooth.
"What if I told you I was acting back then?"
"I'd call bullshit. I don't believe you're that good of an actor."
"Quite a few people are convinced I'm an asshole."
"That's because you are," I said, feeling my heart rate go up.
"I'm telling you that I'm not."
"Prove it."
He moved away so that I could meet his eyes, but he was still close enough so I could feel his warmth on my cheek and smell the mint from his toothpaste.
"Would an asshole give up five years of his life, his name, the love of his family, and the possibility of a relationship with an amazing woman just to save some kids that he doesn't even know?" he said. His eyes were full of emotion. If I hadn't known better, I'd guess he was about to cry.
Jori had a heart and soul after all, it seemed. And a conscience as well.
If he was honest with the look in his eyes, maybe he even had feelings for me.
He grinned. "Convinced?" he said.
"Not yet," I said, unwilling to let him off the hook. "But let's say it's a good start."
"We need to go back inside," he said, sitting back.
