by Jenna Ives
Fucking hell. This was bad. Theus had told Marque he’d be dead right now if not for Theus’ influence with the Council. So Carron’s informant must be on the High Council itself!
Five men. Four possibilities. Which one was it?
Carron shrugged negligently. “This time my plan will work. I intend to funnel those two stingers your brother-in-law just sold me to a rogue country which will use them to cause a lot more damage than just the death of one insignificant Regulator.” Carron waved his gun again. “Besides, I’m a much better ally for the Council than you could ever be. I can make robot soldiers. Now that’s a weapon Theus can hardly refuse.”
Robot soldiers? Shit, with Marque gone, Theus just might go for an ally who could provide a weapon like that. Still, the thought of his beautiful J in battle instead of in bed made him sick to his stomach.
Stop it! She’s not your J, she’s Jai Turner. Not a sexbot. A human woman.
The woman he loved but had just left.
“Why didn’t you try the sex toys, Callex?”
Marque reined in his wayward thoughts. “What?”
“The sex toys. Why didn’t you try them? I had them specially coated in liquid mercury.”
Marque’s eyes went wide. Liquid mercury? Holy shit. As a manufacturer of weapons, Marque knew the poison well. One drop of dimethylmercury would have been enough to kill him. Not instantly, but definitely painfully. It was one of the most lethal of neurotoxins. Colorless. Sweet-smelling. Able to penetrate the skin through almost any barrier.
The symptoms of infection were grim. Loss of vision, loss of hearing, loss of speech. Coma, and then death. Three weeks, max.
And worst of all, if Marque had used the toys on Jai, it would have meant a death sentence for her, too.
A red veil of anger clouded Marque’s vision. “How do you know I didn’t play with the toys, you bastard?”
An evil smile settled on Carron’s face. “Because all your sessions here at Beautiful Dolls have been recorded. The police insisted on it. I haven’t seen the discs personally, but I made damn sure to ask if you’d used the toys. Everything that took place in your boudoir room is on digital discs in the hands of the authorities.”
In shock, Marque took a small step back. What Carron had just told him should be impossible. Bursus had combed every inch of that room before Marque had agreed to the sessions with a Beautiful Doll. And yet… Carron seemed very smug on this point.
Good God. All of his sexual predilections had been recorded?
Carron shrugged. “It would have been a lot less messy for me if you had used the toys, but I guess I’ll just have to shoot you. After all, no one will mourn the loss of the world’s most notorious arms dealer. Hell, even Tau Cetus’ police want to put you away! I’ll actually be doing everyone a favor.”
Despite still reeling over the shocking information of the sex discs, Marque had the presence of mind to know that Anson Carron had just given him an opening. “You’re wrong, Carron. I turned Chavis Smith over to the authorities yesterday. The High Council knows that he was the one selling weapons illicitly, not me. Theus and the police both know I’m innocent.”
Carron frowned. “I don’t believe you!”
“If you’re not lying about the discs, it should all be on today’s recording. Killing me will gain you nothing in the High Council’s eyes.”
Carron momentarily digested that information, before letting out a dangerous growl. “Then the Council will never know that I was the one who killed you. I’ll shoot you here, but dump your body where no one can trace it back to me.”
Fuck. The man was diabolical. Marque had to figure a way out of this.
His eyes scanned the distance between him and Carron, calculating quickly. There was no way for Marque to get to Carron behind the protection of his reception desk, at least no way to do it before Carron got off a shot or two from that dangerous-looking gun. And considering the ever-efficient Bursus was dead, Carron must be a fairly good marksman. Marque briefly considered running, but the large open reception area provided no cover, and the entry door was undoubtedly locked. He supposed there was a chance that Jai might come out of her room and offer a distraction, but he prayed she wouldn’t. He didn’t want her to become collateral damage in this, no matter how much she’d hurt him.
And if he tried to take cover in her room, he’d basically be a sitting duck while Carron quickly hunted him down. There might not even be enough time to barricade her door.
What about a client coming out of another boudoir room? Idiot. There are no other clients here. Right. This had been a sting operation. That’s why neither he nor Bursus had ever seen another client during their week here.
A sick feeling settled in the pit of Marque’s stomach. He’d always known the risks of his job; hell, that’s why Bursus was with him 24/7. So a violent end to his life would be no surprise. Thank goodness he’d at least been able to make peace with his sister yesterday.
Still, if there was any chance… he wasn’t going down without a fight.
Narrowing his eyes, Marque raised his hands. “Go ahead and shoot.”
Jai’s tears fell in earnest the moment Marque left her room and slammed the door on any possible future between them.
What an idiot she’d been to think that Marque – given the highly secretive and dangerous nature of his business – would consider a relationship with her. Hell, that’s the reason he’d taken Anson Carron up on his invitation for a free week at Beautiful Dolls in the first place! Marque Callex didn’t do relationships. He didn’t have room for them.
Besides, she didn’t deserve a relationship with him. He’d made it clear that he’d felt betrayed by her. His pained words still rang in her ears.
You tricked me. Lied to me. Used sex to manipulate me. And you would have coldly betrayed me if you’d gotten the information you’d expected.
It was nothing but the truth.
Still, it hurt.
She and Marque were so much alike. Both dedicated to their jobs, both orphans who’d had to make their way in a post-apocalyptic world, both determined to prevent another generation of kids from losing parents in war and having to face a similar future – alone.
Plus – and the one that hurt the most – she’d thought they loved each other.
“Shit.” Jai swiped at the tears in her right eye, then popped the blue contact lens out of her left. Damn, she was glad to finally be rid of these awkward starburst things!
Unfortunately, her clear vision brought into focus her Beautiful Doll boudoir room. The chair where Marque had ‘awakened’ her every day. The bed where they’d made love. The headboard where Marque had hung on for dear life while she’d rode him to orgasm.
She would remember every inch of this room – and everything they’d done here – for the rest of her life.
The tears threatened again, but she determinedly blinked them away.
She took a deep breath, then two, trying to calm herself. The case was over. She’d done her job. It was time now to get on with her life.
Jai glanced at the clock on the wall. Where was Wyatt? Her partner usually came to let her know it was safe to come out of her room after a session with Marque. Wait a minute. Wyatt had said he’d be breaking down the surveillance equipment today, since their assignment was now officially over.
And considering that Jai had confessed she was human to Marque during today’s final meeting and he’d stormed out in a rage, she supposed it really didn’t matter when she left her boudoir.
She needed to get out of this room, with all its memories. Plus, Carron’s staff needed to strip off Jai’s synthetic skin before she and Wyatt headed back to brief Commander Rainey in his office. She should get a start on that.
With a sigh and a final look around the boudoir, Jai crossed the room and threw open her door.
Then froze.
She took in the scene in front of her in an instant. Marque with his hands up. Carron with a gun trained on him. Shit. Wh
y hadn’t she heard anything? Oh, right. Her boudoir room was soundproofed. As Anson Carron’s aim steadied, Jai threw herself in front of Marque without thought or hesitation. The last thing she heard was the gun go off.
No, no, no!
Marque had been poised to rush Carron, to count on the element of surprise to avoid a fatal hit. Instead, he was relegated to trying to shove Jai out of the way as she threw herself in front of him.
He was too late. He felt the impact of the bullet as it hit her body, and the force of it sent them both crashing into the wall behind him.
Instinctively, he reached out to wrap his arms around her, cushioning her blow against the wall, and the slow slide they both made down to the floor. His frantic gaze flew back to Carron, who was now juggling his gun, trying to get a bead on Marque behind Jai’s limp body, in order to get off a second shot.
Behind Carron, a door opened silently and the assistant, Leith Wyatt, appeared in the doorway. Fuck. There was no way Marque could defend against two men. If not Carron, his assistant would surely finish Jai and him off.
Marque cradled Jai’s body in his arms, her back to his chest, her warm blood flowing freely over his left hand. “I love you,” he whispered fiercely, kissing the side of her head. “I’m so sorry about this, Jai. I love you.”
If he was going to die, he was glad Jai was cradled in his arms at his last moment.
A final glance at Carron and Wyatt had Marque thinking the shock of all this was affecting his mind. He watched in disbelief as Leith Wyatt smashed a heavy object down on Anson Carron’s head. Carron dropped like a stone.
Marque blinked, his vision suddenly blurry.
Wyatt shouted feverishly into some device he snatched out of the pocket of his white lab coat, then came rushing around Carron’s desk toward them. “Jai!”
Marque’s arms tightened protectively around her, even as he struggled to make sense of what Wyatt was shouting at him.
“I’m with Tau Cetus. I’m her partner. Let her go, man! We have to stop the bleeding.”
Help? Wyatt was going to help them? He was Jai’s partner?
Thank God.
Marque relinquished Jai’s body into Wyatt’s frantic hands. The police agent gently pulled her away from Marque so he could lay her flat on the floor.
“Shit.”
Wyatt didn’t have to explain. If Marque’s guess was right, the bullet had hit Jai’s heart. Her blood was still flowing freely from the wound.
As he watched Wyatt try to stanch the flow of Jai’s blood using both his hands, Marque became aware of a searing pain in the right side of his chest. He looked down at his white shirt, now red with blood. And one odd hole.
Marque squinted to get a better look. Fucking hell. The bullet had gone right through Jai and into his own body. The blood on his shirt was his.
His mouth eased into a small smile.
Good. It was better that they both die. He couldn’t have lived with Jai’s death on his conscience anyway. He blew out a breath, feeling his body getting weaker.
He took one last look at Jai, before slumping onto the floor himself.
Chapter Ten
Marque had survived.
He shifted his right arm in its hospital-issued sling, and stuck his left index finger under the fastening at the back of his neck, in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure from the traction device.
He should feel lucky to be alive. When Jai had thrown herself in front of him yesterday, she’d knocked him slightly out of Carron’s line of fire. The bullet had gone straight through Jai and lodged in the right side of Marque’s shoulder, but, thankfully, it had missed any of his vital organs. He’d lost a lot of blood and was sore as hell, but he’d live.
However, his survival had come at too high a price. Jai Turner, his Beautiful Doll, had been critically injured. Bursus, his loyal bodyguard, had been killed.
For the first time in his life, Marque questioned whether his life’s work was worth it.
The thought was a sobering one. He’d never had doubts before. He shoved a rough hand through his hair, and began to pace in his office.
As soon as he’d been released from the hospital yesterday, he’d sent word to Theus about the traitor on the High Council. Knowing Theus, that traitor wouldn’t be alive for long. Theus was not a man who reacted well to having his authority undermined.
Odd how the investigation which Theus himself had instigated to entrap Marque had wound up exonerating Marque but exposing so many others.
The police had Anson Carron in custody, but Marque knew they were debating a charge. Attempted murder seemed the obvious one, but Marque’s carefully-crafted reputation as a deadly arms dealer would garner no sympathy from the general public, and Theus’ wish to keep Marque’s true relationship with the High Council secret could very well mean Carron would walk away a free man.
Or end up a dead one.
Theus was capricious that way. And in his capacity as the head of the High Council, his word was pretty much law. Which is why Marque knew his brother-in-law Chavis Smith would never be seen again. And that there’d soon be one less counselor on the High Council.
Marque sighed. The run-in with Anson Carron had been the closest Marque had come to death in his ten years in this job, and he was still shaken by it. He’d turned over the day-to-day operations of Callex Industries to his production supervisor, Alyn Rekos, figuring his best strategy was to lay low for a while.
A loud bustle in his outer office made Marque freeze in a PTSD-type panic, until he heard a familiar female voice. Leora.
Damn. He’d requested the services of her lead bodyguard to replace Bursus, but Marque hadn’t counted on Leora coming with him.
Marque’s office door flew open, and his sister – distress written all over her face – rushed in and threw herself into his arms. Well, one arm. His good left arm.
“Oh, Marque!”
Marque grimaced at the stab of pain her embrace triggered in his shoulder. “It’s okay, Leora. Really. It’s all right.”
“It’s not all right. You were almost killed. I hate this life!”
He held her tightly against his chest. It was odd how he was the one who’d been hurt, but she was the one needing comfort.
What a fucked-up life he led.
“I want to know every detail of what happened,” she demanded, her cheek pressed hard against his good shoulder.
Mark debated silently. Well, why the hell not? It was over now, and he’d survived.
With a sigh, he told her. All of it. The Beautiful Dolls sting. J the sexbot. Jai confessing to being human. The bullet she’d taken to save his life.
It felt better than he’d expected to get it all off his chest.
Hell. Maybe he was the one in need of comfort after all.
By the end of the story, Leora was dry-eyed and staring at him. “You love her.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement of fact.
“Yes, I love her, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone who has contact with me is
automatically put in jeopardy. You. Bursus. Jai. Being involved with me is just too dangerous.”
“But— ”
“No.” Marque cut her off. “There’s no chance for Jai and me. Hell, I’d love to be at the hospital right now, to see how she’s doing, to thank her for the unbelievable sacrifice she made for me, but it’s better, safer, for her if I stay away.”
Leora stared at him, her eyes wide. “But that means you may never see the woman you love ever again...”
Marque felt an odd twinge in his chest. Trust Leora to get right to the heart of the matter with just one simple statement. Was she only now realizing that his life was just as miserable as hers?
Those doubts about his career choice assailed him once again. Shit. Why did life have to be so damned difficult?
The look of profound sadness on his sister’s face was almost too much for Marque to bear. He was about to suggest they go sit on his couch when a quiet knock on his office door drew
his attention. The door opened, and his assistant, Talesin, gave Marque an apologetic look, and then stepped aside.
Theus swept into the office.
Fuck.
Leora sucked in a frightened breath, and Marque didn’t blame her. The dangerous-looking man in black would send a chill of fear down anyone’s back.
Theus took one look at Leora, and raised a questioning eyebrow in Marque’s direction. Marque ignored it. As notoriously reclusive as Marque had to be in this job, he didn’t owe Theus any explanation for the presence of a woman in his office. Especially when that woman was his beloved sister. Damn it, he was fucking sick of this life.
Wait a minute…
An idea sprang into his brain. There just may be a way out of this life.
He sent Theus a sharp glance. “Carron?”
Theus shrugged casually. “Alive. But not for long. Just until he gives up the name of the traitor on the High Council. I’m…working…on that now.”
Marque could just imagine how Theus was ‘working’ on Carron. There would be pain involved, probably a lot of pain. Marque never, ever wanted to be on Theus’ bad side. “The traitor on the High Council is your real problem, not Anson Carron,” he said. “I may have a better suggestion for what to do with Carron after he talks.”
Theus’ eyebrow rose higher.
#
Jai had no idea how long she’d been drifting in and out of consciousness. Hours? Days? Weeks? The first thing she’d become aware of when she’d opened her eyes was that she was still alive. And she was certain she was alive because every single cell in her body hurt. Hell, it even hurt to breathe. In fact, it hurt most to breathe.
How on earth had she survived Anson Carron’s bullet? He’d been close enough to use her for target practice.
Her first few moments of lucidity didn’t last long, and unconsciousness brought her blessed relief from the pain.
The next time she’d surfaced, she’d become more aware of her surroundings. She was in a large hospital room. And by the look of it, the ICU. So. Her wound was as bad as she’d expected. Aside from the occasional ghostly visitation by a nurse or doctor dressed in white who came in to silently check on her, the whooshing of machinery and steady beeping of monitors were her only companions.
