Domestic Duet: Domestic Alliance & Asset

by Cora Blu

  Twenty minutes later, she paced while the doctor ran scans and injected meds into Oliver’s system. He held a wand over her partner’s heart recording his pulse.

  “How is he, Doctor? Any permanent damage?” His clammy skin finally held color, and felt less pasty than earlier.

  Stepping away from Oliver, the doctor came to stand before Sadie, hands buried inside his lab coat pockets. “No arterial damage. The bullet lodged just under the bicep, severing muscle and tendons, but it’s not his first gunshot wound. The commander’s seen my medical bay more than once this month. I’ll get him patched up. He’ll need a few hours before he tries to use it so I’m keeping him here for observation. Bullet wounds tend to leave a bloody trail inside the body, depending on the trajectory of the shot and the caliber of the weapon.”

  “357 Magnum,” she informed him fishing out the check in tickets still in her pocket. “I checked it into evidence.”

  “I received the log, thank you, Detective,” he said with an appreciative nod and she tucked the paper back into her inner pocket.

  She just wanted the doctor to say Oliver would be okay. “He doesn’t have any family up here, so can you contact me if something happens?”

  “Of course. Are you his wife?”

  Heavy footsteps echoed around the room.

  “She’s his partner, Doctor Cabot, nothing more.” She whirled around. Aroc’s voice boomed through the archway as the doors slid apart.

  “Aroc, you can’t be on the station uninvited.”

  “Who’ll stop me? I go where I need to when I hear you’re hurt,” he declared and no one appeared to have enough nerve to stop him. “I about came out of my skin when my males informed me you were seen with blood on your face. Are you okay?” he asked, grouping her to his chest, checking her over with long sweeps of his hand. His kiss caught her off guard and she leaned into his caress, loving his touch. Separating herself from his delicious warmth, she straightened her clothes, avoiding the open-mouthed stares from the medical staff.

  “Captain, I’m fine—who told you we were here?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He raised his eyes to the doctor. “Can I take her home?”

  “No, Captain, you can’t,” she answered for the doctor. “I’m meeting contacts at the diner that work for Windamere. They’ll know of things not mentioned at the Edwards’,” she replied stiffly under his brutish stare. “I’ll be okay, Aroc, I promise,” She whispered, attempting to understand his concern. She left his wounded gaze to look at the doctor. “Will Oliver be okay? I don’t want to leave with him unconscious.”

  Doctor Cabot chimed in. “The commander will be sedated for at least three hours and even then I’m keeping him overnight.”

  “Go to your meeting, Sadie, then I want you to sit in on a meeting with my staff.”

  Sadie leaned back, offering a raised brow. “So you can watch over me?”

  As surly as ever he smiled. “Side bonus. Yes!” He kissed her, tossed a searching glance to Oliver, and then walked them from the ER. “I want your input, Sadie.”

  “They’ll think you’re showing me favors.”

  “I am! You’ve earned them.”

  Who told him she was there?

  Together they transported to her home where she changed clothes before going back down to retrieve Oliver’s car.

  Chapter 15

  Back on Earth, Sadie stashed Oliver’s car in a safe place a block away in the parking garage. Transporting to the back of the coffee shop, she took a breath then hustled inside. Once there, she inhaled the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans and honeyed pastries caressing her. Spotting Mr. Wixom and Colson, she kept her back to the men and made her way to the counter. Undoing the rain bonnet from her hair, she placed her order, leaving the cashier with her last five. Blowing her cover over three dollars wasn’t worth it when she only used cash on Earth.

  Neither man noticed her maneuvering her way to a table, feet from theirs. Drawing the chair from under the table, careful not to scrape the legs across the floor, Sadie lowered herself on the vinyl seat. Two tables behind them, Sadie slipped a pair of reading glasses from her pocket, pushing them up onto the bridge of her nose.

  The waitress dropped off her coffee cake then picked up the empty cup and saucer on the next table. Effortlessly, she moved behind the counter to the swinging doors of the kitchen.

  Sadie’s attention came back as one of the men spoke. “What do you think of Cantrell? I don’t trust him…too shifty.”

  “Edwards’ cousin,” the man replied, stuffing a slice of pie in his mouth before he continued. “I think he’s holding out on us…keeping the big deals for themselves.”

  Sadie strained to hear more over the hum of the other patrons’ conversations.

  “Tomorrow after the meeting, at the bank, we'll follow Cantrell; see where he’s getting all his information. He’s not sharing something. You see the car he drives. That model’s only been out a month and he’s had his for six months already. Someone’s bank rolling him, and I intend to find out who.”

  “How long has Edwards known him?”

  The other man paused as if in thought, then raised the cup of coffee to his lips.

  Sadie heard him glug down the coffee, then the thwack of the cup hitting the saucer. “Says he’s a cousin by marriage from Ohio and somehow he has all these government connections that he’s sharing with Richard.” Suspicion filled the air.

  “Are you sure everything’s set for tomorrow? Last time, someone tipped off the state police, now eight former bankers are sitting in federal penitentiary doing life,” the man spoke so low, Sadie strained to listen.

  “Those men were amateurs with no experience in this. Richard’s never been caught and he’s made millions over the years.”

  “Millions!” The man snorted setting down his cup of coffee. “Do you know what I’d do with that kind of money?”

  “Nothing, after they catch you, locking you in the prison cell for the rest of your life.” He leaned forward and Sadie had to strain to hear. “You can’t spend a dime for a year. Let the heat die down first.”

  “A year?” The other man cursed, the blotchy sunburned cheeks flushing up to his hairline. “I can’t sit on cash like that for a year. I’ve got my eye on a little island off the Caymans where I can retire with the wife.”

  “And the big guy doing twenty to life, in the next cell, will have his eye on your bony ass. Spend a dime before we get the okay—we all go under.”

  The man fumed, dropping his shoulders in an exaggerated gesture, then drank his coffee.

  “You heard Richard. Extravagant purchases draws too much attention. If you’re in a tight, I’ll float you for a few months, but don’t stiff me.”

  He rubbed his hands together. “The new Plymouth’s coming out soon and I got my eye on a white and cream little beauty.”

  “Are you listening to me?” Colson huffed and Sadie could make out the edge of his lip curling into a snarl. “Let me know where to send the china once the guy in the cell next to you proposes marriage. I’m not giving your greedy ass money for a new car. I meant making the mortgage or your kid needs braces. Get smart or we all go down.”

  “Alright, alright.” He gave on a haughty breath. “I’ll sit on it for a year.”

  “We’ll meet at Richard’s, like always, and see this through and make our money.”

  Sadie held the newspaper to her face. They didn’t know their other man never made it to the check point and was in the medical bay coming to life in handcuffs. Colson scanned the room. “We’ll leave going our different ways then meet at the launch with our deliveries pocketing the cash. I have a lot riding on this shipment.”

  “According to Richard, everything’s ready to go.”

  “What about security? Dealing with a second party, these things go bad the minute somebody says the wrong word.”

  They were scum. Sadie brought the cup close to her face sipping slowly, and shifted back, pretending to grab a pac
ket of sugar from the next table.

  The cafés doorbell dinged announcing the arrival of two black women. With an acknowledging glance only she noticed, they made their way to her table.

  "Sadie,” Norma, another detective working on the Eastside said as she pulled out a chair resting her bag on the table. She sat down with Earnestine from three blocks over working for the Windamere’s, a retired couple and owner of a number of local pharmacies that did their banking through Edwards’ bank.

  Sadie whispered, “Don’t make any noise.”

  Norma mouthed, “Is that your mark?”

  With a quick nod, Sadie gently pushed the rectangle packet of sugar to the center of the table.

  The men reclined in their chairs and Sadie held her breath she hadn’t been made.

  The two men lit cigarettes, the glow hovering like red eyes moving in two different directions. Colson, finished his coffee, then drew on the tip of the cigarette. He reclined in the chair after blowing out a ring of smoke.

  Sadie split her attention between the tan suits, the waitress circling the tables, and her comrades.

  Norma pulled out a compact as she sat and feigned checking her face and angled it to the couple at the end of the counter.

  "Windamere has the family’s prescriptions filled at his pharmacy across the street, instead of the one close to home, so I can spy on his employees.” She snapped the compact tucking it into her suede patch purse in her lap.

  “You’re spying for…” Sadie prompted under her breath, while digging in her purse, then handing Norma a slip of paper.

  Norma took a quick glance then stuffed it in her purse, scanning the patrons around the café.

  “I’m not a snitch...for free. Pay me and we can talk.” She set her umbrella on the empty chair. “The cheap skate, always worried somebody’s stealing the Bromo Seltzer in aisle three.” Norma’s deep southern accent put a sultry twist on each word. “It’s not that he’s hurting for dough.”

  Sadie couldn’t agree more. Workers don’t spy on other workers for the boss.

  “Sadie?” Earnestine leaned in and Sadie had forgotten she’d sat down. “You shacking up with the Karuntee Captain?”

  “Where’d you hear that?” It wasn’t a secret she visited Aroc weekly, just not everybody’s beeswax to be burning around town. “Don’t believe all the gossip.”

  “Are you?” Norma waggled her thick brows.

  Sadie glared at her for even asking. “The captain’s a friend. There’s no laws stopping you from talking to one of them, Norma. Go for it.” She nudged her hand on the table. “You’re single. What’s the problem?”

  “Not my taste,” she replied.

  “Then why’d you ask?”

  Norma appeared taken aback. “Because I’m nosy and an unasked question never gets answered.”

  “And some answers should never be questioned.”

  Earnestine chimed in, tearing off a corner of her donut. “I haven’t had one kidnap me yet. I’m cute and tall, just their type.” She inhaled expanding the chevron print on her cardigan to swell around her breasts under her uniform. The tiny pockets straining under the assault.

  Sadie pinched the bridge of her nose before she spoke. “I’ll send a big one down to your home in Sector Two...maybe Montage. He’s got that long ponytail, like a Hell’s Angel.”

  The woman’s eyes widened. “A big bad biker looking karuntee.” She licked her lips. “Don’t jive a sister dangling that much male in front of me.”

  “It was a joke, Earnestine. Montage isn’t a lover of humans; thinks we’re dirty.”

  The woman sank back on the metal chair, arms folded, pumping up her breasts then let out a suppressed huff. “Montage…that’s a sexy name. I can dream, Sadie. Don’t throw a wet blanket on my party.”

  “Have you ever spoken with Montage before? He’s nothing to play with if you’re not into karuntee males.”

  “I think I can handle him. Set me up.”

  “Okay,” she conceded with hesitation, but it wasn’t her place to say what another woman could handle. “I’ll mention you’d like to have dinner, see what he says. Montage’ll eat you alive.”

  “Now we’re on the same line of thinking.” Her smile widened. “A man willing to serve dessert as a first course.” She fanned her face. “See, was that so hard?” she said brightly.

  She hadn’t felt hard yet, Sadie mused. Wait until you’re under a Karuntee seconds before he climaxes, that’s hard. The memory of being with the captain swamped Sadie down to her toes. Sadie needed ice water, but drank her coffee instead and peered around the café. The hum of voices had dropped, then rose as a bus load of workers came through the door.

  Norma took advantage of the noise to lean into Sadie. “Taking another down tonight?”

  “Tomorrow night,” she said. “It might be my last for a while.” Sadie extended a hand low beside the table, and gave the okay sign. Taking down a mark was always tricky when it came to a head. If things didn’t line up and fell apart, at the least, you lost your job. At the worst, you lost your life.

  “Ryner ordered myself and Candice to assist at the launch. We’d leave the festival and meet you somewhere close.”

  “Sadie this one’s going to be tough with you working for the Edwards all these years. Not all of us are that close to our employers. I can go in your place and help Captain Farkus.”

  Sadie felt a zing of pride flowing through her. The sisterhood among the detectives was strong. “I can’t…I have a personal stake in this battle. Leave me a communication and we’ll meet you there.”

  “I’ll message you, be ready and be careful.”

  Norma gripped her forearm, then slid her hand down her arm to clasp their fingers in a hand shake, before the other woman repeated the motion.

  “I'll see you around,” Sadie said craning her neck to see around the cars. The parking lot was clear.

  ***

  Sadie walked outside, tapping her communications device in her ear now and waited to hear Captain Ryner's deep voice.

  “You’re trying to kill me, Sadie.”

  “Captain, how’s Oliver?” Raising her brows, she walked to the end of the sidewalk and stood beside a large shrub blocking her from view.

  “Spitting mad I made him listen to the doctor. And if I find out you went back injured—”

  “Captain Farkus already bent my ear, sir.” She stepped around the building. “I’m fine, just scuffed up a bit. Did our prisoner give up anything useful?”

  “The Hortzberg brothers are in this somehow helping these guys steal from Aroc.”

  Why would anyone steal from a karuntee? “So what I overheard was true. They’re getting back at Aroc for suspending them from traveling to Sector Three during blackout?”

  “Appears that way. They had enough contaminated fuel to poison the oceans around the world twice.”

  That turned her stomach. She paced a circle, eyeing the cracks in the sidewalk.

  “Sadie, the warehouse is being cleared out and shut down. He’s still being interrogated. We’ll return him after a clean of his memory from the last twenty four hours. He won’t remember going to the warehouse.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Richard was responsible for the last shipment that came up. The shuttle was seen bound for the dark side on Farkus’s dock,” he said. “I spoke to the Captain. He’s pissed, and that’s mild for Aroc. He’s handling his end. On a different note, Aroc said something about you and he taking this thing between you deeper?”

  “Am I the only one who didn’t see Aroc’s attraction all this time?”

  He laughed. “You saw it, Sadie. You just weren’t ready to face the drastic change it’ll take on your life. Giving up your life on the planet to make a family with him and Norese on the space station is a big deal. Talk to him and do something for Sadie for once.”

  What had Aroc told him? After this case. She couldn’t deal with personal issues right now.

  She tipped her
gaze slightly. A mother with a child rolled by in a stroller. "Captain, I’m at the coffee shop on the strip. I have a meeting with Aroc in twenty minutes. Colson and some of the others are questioning if Oliver’s holding out and keeping the bigger pay offs somewhere else.” She sensed Ryner’s apprehension of something bigger brewing, the same as she felt.

  “Does Oliver know?”

  “I doubt it; they’re suspicious of him right now. They’re meeting with a karuntian gone rogue—tomorrow. Somehow, I have to get Mr. Edwards to have the meeting at the house. I’ll leave the commander a message.”

  Captain Ryner cursed over the line. “This couldn’t have come at a worse time. Leslie’s in the hospital and the baby’ll be here in the next few hours. I hate to do this to you but treaty rule. Since Captain Farkus’s males are involved and I can’t be there, he’s in charge.”

  Shocked by that admission she picked anxiously at the leaves on the shrub sprinkling them around her feet. “You’re not serious?”

  “My wife’s in labor, Ochi…”

  “Understood…What happened to the last shipment delivered to Farkus’s station?”

  “Tainted fuel. He’s pissed. I talked him into letting you and Oliver handle this one and we’d deal with the humans.” He paused. “Ochi, I’m counting on your relationship with Farkus right now. We need him to stop this rogue karuntee.”

  “Captain, I’m standing in the rain. I’ll contact you after my meeting with Captain Farkus and his security in an hour.”

  “You’re my Ace, Sadie. Take it however you need to, but we couldn’t do this without you.”

  “You’ve always been fair with me.” Her device chimed in her ear. Aroc’s alert. “Captain, I have to go.”

  “Aroc?”

  “Yes,” she muttered, eyeing the parking lot. There was no point in lying about who was calling. From now on, it would always be him.

  “You’re amazing, Ochi.”

  “I’ll need a vacation after this.” A long one.

  She ended the connection. Sadie sent a message to Oliver, slipped around the gas station by the air pump where no one could see her, then transported to Aroc’s.